Reimagining RSE

Reimagining RSE
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At Reimagining RSE, we believe that good education is not about providing simple answers to complex questions. Instead, it is about creating spaces where curiosity, critical thinking and dialogue can flourish. Dr Emily Setty, Associate Professor in Criminology at the University of Surrey, and Jonny Hunt, Senior Lecturer in Childhood and Youth Studies at the University of Bedfordshire, are joined by educators, researchers and practitioners to explore how we can do relationships and sex education better.

Episodes

  1. 20h ago

    Youth-led RSE: Creating space for young people’s thinking

    This week, we are joined by Anna from Split Banana to explore what happens when we move beyond telling young people what they need to know about sex and relationships, and instead create opportunities for them to think, question and make sense of their own experiences. Split Banana is a social enterprise working to make Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) more inclusive, engaging and relevant to young people's lives. Through creative resources and participatory approaches, Split Banana encourages educators to move beyond information delivery towards developing the skills young people need to navigate relationships throughout their lives. In this episode, Anna joins Emily and Jonny to discuss some of the limitations of conventional approaches to RSE. Teachers are expected to deliver an expanding curriculum of complex and sensitive topics, often with limited training, time or support. But what happens when RSE becomes primarily about communicating the right information and securing the right answers? We explore the limitations of legalistic and risk-focused approaches, particularly when teaching about consent, intimate image sharing and online harms. Understanding the law is important, but legal compliance is surely the minimum we should aspire to in young people's relationships. This means exploring the ethical, emotional and social dimensions of young people's lives. How do we navigate pressure, uncertainty, desire, vulnerability and conflicting feelings? What happens when relationships don't go as expected? And how can we help young people make thoughtful decisions, recognise mistakes, seek support and respond to difficulties? We also discuss why we need to resist framing these challenges as problems unique to adolescence. Relationships are complicated throughout our lives, and none of us reaches adulthood having mastered them. Rather than expecting RSE to eliminate mistakes or friction, perhaps we should think of it as supporting lifelong relational learning. Anna shares how Split Banana uses images, scenarios andopen-ended activities to invite young people's interpretations and experiences into the classroom. But youth-led education doesn't mean simply opening a conversation and leaving young people to it. This brings us to a central question of our Safe Uncertainty approach: what does it mean to facilitate open-ended conversations responsibly? We discuss how educators can create respectful, appropriately bounded spaces for exploration, while retaining the confidence. and skills to introduce evidence, challenge assumptions and offer alternative perspectives. Rather than requiring teachers to have all the answers, this approach recognises their expertise in listening, questioning and helping young people make sense of complexity. It also invites educators to learn alongside young people. Ultimately, Anna invites us to ask whether our ambition for RSE should be bigger than helping young people avoid getting relationships wrong. What might education look like if we focused instead on helping young people develop the skills, understanding and confidence to navigate relationships well, throughout their lives? Mentioned in this episode Split Banana – educational resources and work with schools. Read Anna's reflections about using open-ended scenarios inRSE via her blog for Reimagining RSE. Next episode: Thursday 19th November 2026. Production: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Terry Lee from the University of Bedfordshire's Radio & Audio team.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ --- Reimagining RSE event, 9 February 2027, full details and booking information here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://store.surrey.ac.uk/conferences-and-events/fabss-faculty-of-arts-business-and-social-sciences/conferences-and-events/reimagining-relationships-and-sex-education-in-practice⁠

  2. Nov 5

    Is RSE ever neutral? Faith, values and living with difference

    This week we are joined by Dr Gary Keogh to explore faith, values and Relationships and Sex Education – and to ask a bigger question: is RSE ever really neutral? Gary has worked in education for more than 15 years and brings together expertise in theology, philosophy and education. Alongside his work as a teacher and school leader in a Catholic school, his research has explored young people’s experiences and perceptions of RSE. Faith and RSE are often presented as being in tension. Discussions can quickly become organised around apparent oppositions: religious versus secular, traditional versus progressive, restriction versus openness. Our conversation with Gary complicates this picture. We discuss how religious traditions have long grappled with questions of sexuality, relationships, morality and what it means to live a good life. Rather than treating faith simply as a set of fixed answers, Gary reflects on the diversity, disagreement and change that exist within religious traditions themselves – and on the ways individuals interpret, negotiate and sometimes challenge the beliefs and values they encounter. But this also prompts us to turn the question around. If faith-based approaches to RSE are recognised as being shaped by particular values, what values are embedded within supposedly secular approaches? Educational resources, policies and teaching practices inevitably contain assumptions about relationships, sexuality, gender, autonomy, risk and wellbeing. Making those assumptions less visible does not necessarily make them neutral. We also explore the classroom as a microcosm of the wider world. Young people arrive with different beliefs, identities, experiences and values. Those differences cannot – and perhaps should not – simply be designed out of RSE. Instead, education can offer a space in which young people learn to encounter different perspectives, examine their own assumptions, ask questions and navigate disagreement. That does not mean that anything goes. Gary reflects candidly on the history of shame surrounding sexuality within Catholicism and the importance of recognising where religious ideas and practices have caused harm. At the same time, we consider what might be lost if faith is understood only as a problem for RSE rather than also as a potential resource for ethical reflection, dialogue and thinking about relationships and human flourishing. This conversation takes us to the heart of Safe Uncertainty. How do we create space for genuine difference without retreating into relativism? How can educators facilitate difficult conversations without needing to resolve every disagreement? And how might RSE prepare young people not simply to form relationships, but to live alongside people whose beliefs and values may be different from their own? Ultimately, this episode asks us to think beyond the question of how faith ‘fits’ within RSE. Instead, it asks something relevant to every classroom: how should we educate for relationships in a pluralistic society where people genuinely disagree about some of the things that matter most? Next episode: Thursday 12th November 2026. Production: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Terry Lee from the University of Bedfordshire's Radio & Audio team.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Find out more about Reimagining RSE, including navigating 'culture wars' and 'cultural conflict' in RSE. --- Reimagining RSE event, 9 February 2027, full details and booking information here: ⁠⁠⁠https://store.surrey.ac.uk/conferences-and-events/fabss-faculty-of-arts-business-and-social-sciences/conferences-and-events/reimagining-relationships-and-sex-education-in-practice⁠

  3. Oct 29

    Knowing the risks isn’t always enough – talking to young people about strangulation

    This week we are joined by Bernie Ryan OBE, Chief Executive of the Institute for Addressing Strangulation (IFAS), to tackle one of the most difficult emerging issues in Relationships and Sex Education: strangulation during sex. Bernie is a nurse, psychological therapist and clinical supervisor with more than 20 years’ experience working in the violence against women and girls sector. Before joining IFAS, she led St Mary’s Sexual Assault Referral Centre, and her work has brought together healthcare, safeguarding, research and practice to improve understanding and responses to strangulation. Strangulation has become an increasingly prominent concern for educators and safeguarding professionals and is now explicitly addressed within Relationships, Sex and Health Education. The message about physical risk is clear: there is no safe way to strangle someone. But what happens educationally after we have communicated that message? In this episode, Bernie joins Emily and Jonny to explore the tension between being unequivocal about risk and remaining curious about the complex reasons why young people might nevertheless encounter, consider or participate in strangulation during sexual activity. We discuss findings from IFAS research into strangulation during sex, including the importance of distinguishing sexual contexts from the strongly gendered patterns associated with strangulation in domestic abuse. We consider what this complexity means for educators trying to talk about gender, power, consent, pleasure, pressure and risk without either minimising harm or reducing young people’s experiences to a simple story. The conversation also raises a much broader question for RSE: what do we do when knowing something is risky does not necessarily stop people doing it? Young people – like adults – make decisions about sex and relationships within complicated emotional, social and relational contexts. Simply increasing the strength of a warning may therefore be insufficient. Bernie reflects on the importance of giving young people accurate information while also creating spaces in which they can ask questions, explore motivations and pressures, and talk honestly without anticipating shame or judgement. This brings us to an important distinction within the Safe Uncertainty approach. Being open to complexity does not mean being uncertain about everything. We can be clear about evidence and safety while remaining curious about people: their experiences, motivations, relationships and the meanings they attach to what they do. Although our starting point is strangulation, the conversation ultimately takes us much further. Pornography, consent, image sharing, alcohol, social media and other areas of RSE present versions of the same educational challenge. The particular issue may change, but the deeper question remains: how can we talk honestly with young people about risk while keeping open the conversations that might actually help them navigate it? Mentioned in this episode The Institute for Addressing Strangulation (IFAS) – research, guidance and resources on strangulation. IFAS Strangulation During Sex report Next episode: Thursday 5th November 2026. Production: ⁠⁠⁠⁠Terry Lee from the University of Bedfordshire's Radio & Audio team.⁠⁠⁠⁠ More information: ⁠⁠⁠Reimagining RSE website, including ⁠our resource on strangulation.⁠⁠⁠⁠. You can also ⁠⁠⁠⁠follow Reimagining RSE on Linkedin. ⁠ --- Reimagining RSE event, 9 February 2027, full details and booking information here: ⁠⁠https://store.surrey.ac.uk/conferences-and-events/fabss-faculty-of-arts-business-and-social-sciences/conferences-and-events/reimagining-relationships-and-sex-education-in-practice⁠

  4. Oct 22

    “Pull the brave socks up and own it”: Preparing teachers to deliver RSE

    This week, we are joined by Jodie McGoldrick to ask a deceptively simple question: how do we prepare teachers to teach Relationships and Sex Education well? Jodie is the PGCE History Course Lead at the University of Portsmouth and co-leads a sex and sexuality education special interest research group. Jodie is a trained History teacher with experience in both British and international schools, having worked both in Hong Kong and the Netherlands. In her career, Jodie has held a range of teaching and leadership roles, including MYP Coordinator, alongside teaching PSHE. Jodie is currently in her final year of her PhD where she is exploring how Initial Teacher Training (PGCE route) supports teachers to develop a professional identity needed to teach effective Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) effectively. Her research aims to develop a framework for embedding RSE within Initial Teacher Training and provides the starting point for our conversation about how teachers can be better supported and prepared for the challenges of delivering RSE. We explore a persistent problem in RSE: teachers are professionals with considerable pedagogical expertise, yet many enter the classroom feeling underprepared for the particular demands of teaching relationships and sexuality. RSE can be marginal within initial teacher education and within schools themselves, while teachers are increasingly expected to navigate sensitive, personal and politically contested issues. But is the answer simply more training and more subject knowledge? Our conversation with Jodie takes us deeper. We discuss the structural barriers, alongside what it means to develop a professional identity as an RSE educator: being able to hold space for difficult conversations, tolerate discomfort, remain genuinely curious and open, and reflect on the values, experiences and assumptions that we ourselves bring into the classroom. This means acknowledging something that professional discourse can sometimes obscure: teachers are human too. RSE can touch upon educators’ own identities, experiences and emotions. We discuss the importance of reflexivity and self-awareness, the emotional demands of this work, and what happens when teachers are expected to navigate all of this without adequate preparation or support. And this raises some bigger questions. Should RSE be taught by specialists, or should being able to facilitate these conversations form part of a broader professional identity for teachers? What does it mean to be politically neutral when teaching a subject that is itself shaped by contested values? And what would it take for teachers to feel sufficiently supported to, as Jodie puts it, “pull the brave socks up and own it”? However, it is not all doom and gloom – there is hope. This was a fabulous conversation which could have continued much longer, and left us with lots to think about. We hope you enjoy the discussion as much as we did. Mentioned in this episode: Jessica Ringrose et al., (2021) Girls’ Experiences Negotiating the Ubiquitous Dick Pic: Sexual Double Standards and the Normalization of Image Based Sexual Harassment Jacqueline Hendriks, Lauren Mayberry and Sharyn Burns (2024), Preparation of the pre-service teacher to deliver comprehensive sexuality education: teaching content and evaluation of provision Ollis, D. (2016). “I felt like I was watching porn”: the reality of preparing pre-service teachers to teach about sexual pleasure. Sex Education, 16(3), 308–323. Next episode: Thursday 29th October 2026. Production: ⁠⁠⁠Terry Lee from the University of Bedfordshire's Radio & Audio team.⁠⁠⁠ More information: ⁠⁠Reimagining RSE website⁠⁠. You can also ⁠⁠⁠follow Reimagining RSE on Linkedin. ⁠ --- Reimagining RSE event, 9 February 2027, full details and booking information here: ⁠https://store.surrey.ac.uk/conferences-and-events/fabss-faculty-of-arts-business-and-social-sciences/conferences-and-events/reimagining-relationships-and-sex-education-in-practice⁠

  5. Oct 15

    Reimagining RSE: Teaching young people how to think, not what to think

    In this introductory episode, we’ll turn the tables on our usual format. Our hosts of the podcast, Emily and Jonny, are in the hotseat, interviewed by our wonderful producer, Terry Lee, about the ideas behind Reimagining RSE and the questions that brought them together. Why does RSE so often become about giving young people the ‘right’ answers? What happens when educators are expected to provide certainty about relationships, sexuality and digital life that are, in reality, complex, contextual and sometimes contested? And can our understandable desire to protect young people sometimes close down the very conversations they need to have? Emily and Jonny explore some of the pressures facing RSE and why well-intentioned, risk-focused approaches can have unintended consequences. They discuss the pressure educators can feel to be the expert in the room, and make the case for a different kind of expertise: being able to hold difficult conversations, introduce evidence and different perspectives, and support young people to think critically without needing to prescribe exactly what they should think. Emily and Jonny will explain the aims of the Reimagining RSE project, and introduce the framework of Safe Uncertainty which underpins their approach. Safe Uncertainty does not mean abandoning boundaries, safeguarding or evidence, nor does it mean that every perspective is equally valid. Instead, it asks how we can combine care, respect and appropriate boundaries with curiosity, dialogue and openness to complexity. Visit our website to find out more, including our resource on a safe uncertainty approach to enacting England's statutory guidance for RSE. This episode lays the foundations for the conversations to come. Across the series, Emily and Jonny will be joined by educators, researchers and practitioners who bring different perspectives to the question at the heart of Reimagining RSE: how can we better prepare young people for the complexity of relationships and life? Each week, we'll discuss what's working, where the challenges lie, and how we might imagine better ways of supporting young people. Whether you're an educator, parent, researcher, practitioner or simply interested in these issues, we're really pleased to have you with us. New episodes will be dropping every Thursday. Next episode: Thursday 22nd October 2026. Production: ⁠⁠Terry Lee from the University of Bedfordshire's Radio & Audio team.⁠⁠ You can find more information about the project, our resources, blogs and upcoming events on the ⁠Reimagining RSE website⁠. You can also ⁠⁠follow Reimagining RSE on Linkedin. --- We'd like to let you know about our next Reimagining RSE event, taking place on 9 February 2027. The event will bring together educators, researchers and practitioners from across the UK to explore how we can respond to the challenges facing relationships and sex education with curiosity, confidence and care. Throughout the day, we'll explore what a Safe Uncertainty approach can look like in practice: how we can hold appropriate boundaries around safety and safeguarding while creating space for dialogue, critical reflection and the complexity of young people’s lives. We'll hear from a range of speakers, share practical examples from schools and organisations, and create opportunities for discussion, reflection and collaboration. Whether you're already familiar with Reimagining RSE or you're joining us for the first time, we'd be delighted to welcome you. You can find full details and booking information here: https://store.surrey.ac.uk/conferences-and-events/fabss-faculty-of-arts-business-and-social-sciences/conferences-and-events/reimagining-relationships-and-sex-education-in-practice

  6. Oct 8

    Coming Soon: Reimagining RSE

    Subscribe to our new weekly podcast series exploring how we can approach some of the most difficult questions in Relationships and Sex Education (RSE). We are a small team of social sciences researchers at the Universities of Surrey and Bedfordshire, with over 20 years of experience in RSE and facilitating challenging conversations with young people and educators. RSE is increasingly expected to respond to wide range of complex and contested issues like consent, online harms, misogyny, social media, pornography and emerging concerns such as non-fatal strangulation – which has recently been added to the curriculum. Many educators tell us that they feel unprepared and insufficiently supported to navigate these conversations. Reimagining RSE is about doing things differently. We aim to support educators and practitioners with an evidenced-based approach to tackling challenging conversations with young people. We are not here to provide another programme of prescribed answers or tell educators exactly what to think or say. Instead, we want to support educators to create spaces where curiosity, critical thinking and dialogue can flourish. We call this a safe uncertainty approach: one that encourages us to stay open to complexity whilst remaining committed to the values of care, respect and inclusion. Rather than reducing complicated questions to simple messages, it creates space for young people to think critically, encounter different perspectives and make sense of the social and relational worlds they inhabit. Throughout this series we'll be talking to educators, researchers and practitioners about what good RSE can look like in practice. We will be exploring some of the most challenging topics we all struggle with as well as issues of safeguarding, digital lives and what it means to support young people in an increasingly complex and pluralistic world. Hosted by Dr Emily Setty & Jonny Hunt⁠, each episode explores a different perspective on these challenges. Our guests bring a wealth of experience from education, research, policy and practice, and together we'll discuss what's working, where the challenges lie, and how we might imagine better ways of supporting young people. Whether you're an educator, parent, researcher, practitioner or simply interested in these issues, we hope you'll join us. New episodes will be dropping every Thursday. First full episode: Thursday 15th October 2026. Production: ⁠Terry Lee from the University of Bedfordshire's Radio & Audio team.⁠ You can find more information about the project, our resources, blogs and upcoming events on the Reimagining RSE website. You can also ⁠follow Reimagining RSE on Linkedin.

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About

At Reimagining RSE, we believe that good education is not about providing simple answers to complex questions. Instead, it is about creating spaces where curiosity, critical thinking and dialogue can flourish. Dr Emily Setty, Associate Professor in Criminology at the University of Surrey, and Jonny Hunt, Senior Lecturer in Childhood and Youth Studies at the University of Bedfordshire, are joined by educators, researchers and practitioners to explore how we can do relationships and sex education better.

Information

  • Creator
    Reimagining RSE
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    6
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Reimagining RSE
  • Show Website
    Reimagining RSE