Have you ever wondered what it would be like to work in Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE)?
We asked some of our unembarrassable team for their expert insight on a career in RSE.
Working in RSE is a great job that combines unique challenges with really important and impactful work. It’s a big responsibility. RSE is a way of safeguarding young people and protecting their rights, ensuring the information they have access to is complete and inclusive.
People often ask us how to get into working in RSE and what it’s like day to day, so we’ve pulled together some answers to some of the most common questions.
We’ve provided a mixture of information about working in the sector in general, as well as advice for people wanting to work for School of Sexuality Education in particular.
What does being an RSE educator involve?
All good RSE educators take responsibility for safeguarding and advocating for young people. They understand their position of power means they have the ability to positively change lives and protect young people from harm.
In the UK, relationships and sex education is part of the statutory national curriculums for 11 to 16 year olds. This means that schools have to provide education about a wide range of related topics, such as respectful relationships and consent, sexual health and period health.
Much of this is provided by teachers. People who work in RSE through this route are usually qualified teachers in a core subject. They usually spend some of their time teaching their core subject and part of their work week delivering RSE sessions.
Many schools choose to have some part of their RSE content delivered by external providers. This is the type of work that School of Sexuality Education does. Working for us involves delivering our workshops, usually in secondary schools to a whole class.
Typically, you will be asked to deliver a series of workshops during the school day, to different classes. Each workshop usually lasts from 50 minutes to 2 hours. You might be delivering the same workshop several times during the day, or different workshops, depending on the school’s needs. We sometimes deliver workshops as assemblies too.
There are also people working within academic research and/or who create RSE content for the public and professionals. We do an element of this work, but as a small charity very rarely recruit for jobs that just involve doing this.
What kind of qualifications do I need to be a relationships and sexuality educator?
Our facilitators have a range of backgrounds and professional qualifications - for example teaching, sexual violence prevention work, academic research, youth work, psychotherapy, and healthcare. There are no specific qualifications or training route. When hiring, we assess someone’s overall skills, knowledge and experience through their written application and their interview performance. We then provide in-house training - both initially and as part of an ongoing development programme.
We are aware of courses aimed particularly at those who wish to work in RSE. Sometimes we receive facilitator applications from people who have completed them and describe themselves as ‘accredited’ or ‘qualified’ sex educators. Whilst we recognise that many people find these courses useful in getting started in RSE, there is no specific course or training that we either require or recommend to be a School of Sexuality Education RSE facilitator.
I am interested in working in relationships and sexuality, but not with adolescents. Is this possible?
We do occasionally carry out work with younger students - for example in Primary and Prep Schools. There is no mandatory sex education curriculum for these age groups (KS2 and 1) and the relationships curriculum is different from that for older students, so the nature of this is slightly different from our core work.
We occasionally provide workshops to adults - including RSE workshops to University students and in specialised health and social care settings. Additionally, we provide staff training in delivering mandatory RSE or generally supporting young people around sex and relationship needs.
However, both of these types of work represent a small amount of what we do overall. Our core mission as a charity is to support young people around RSE and most of this work is in secondary schools. If you are not interested in working mainly and regularly with 11-18 year olds, then a role with us is probably not for you!
Who makes a good RSE facilitator?
There are a few different skills we look for in facilitators. Below are some of the main skills and aptitudes we look for. Someone who:
Understands the importance for RSE in safeguarding young people and children.
Is a confident and engaging communicator, who shows that they would be able to present material to students in classroom workshops or in assemblies to larger groups, given the appropriate training.
Can demonstrate that they are passionate about inclusive RSE - for example, through previous work, volunteering or involvement in relevant projects.
Has realistic expectations of what working with secondary school aged students is like - and can demonstrate this through experience (paid or voluntary) of working with this group and adequate reflection on these experiences.
Is willing and able to name and challenge any discriminatory or harmful behaviour that arises in the classroom - particularly when it is transphobic, misogynistic or racist/Islamophobic as these are the harms we most frequently encounter.
Is able to learn and take on board feedback without becoming defensive. This is really important in terms of being able to develop your RSE practice and work collectively as a team!
Is organised and motivated enough to be able to do the practical aspects of the job - like turn up to a new site on time and begin lessons at a school with an early start time.
Understands the nature of the role and our dedication to supporting schools in rural or hard to reach areas - which can mean lots of travel!
When we recruit, we often receive applications from people with considerable experience in a specific area - e.g. has a decade or more in education, or postgraduate qualifications in a field related to RSE. To be a good facilitator you need to be a good ‘all rounder’ in all of the above.
Do young people make good RSE facilitators because they just ‘get’ other young people?
We sometimes get young adults telling us that they feel they would make good RSE facilitators particularly because they are close in age to the students we work with.
We believe that people of all ages - including those who are over but close to 18 years - can make really great facilitators. However, it’s really important to remember that often students view facilitators as very separate to them and the authority figure in the room. This power difference exists, even if you feel there is only a small difference in time between you and students. We believe that good facilitators are aware of this power difference and are comfortable challenging harm, to keep young people safe.
I have a degree, masters or PhD in a field related to RSE. Will I make a good facilitator?
Possibly! We need you to demonstrate an interest in and passion for inclusive RSE. Academic qualifications in a field like gender studies, sexual health research, psychology, sociology or similar might be a great way to do this. But this is just one of the skills we look for and it’s really important that you have all of the skills needed to be a great facilitator.
I’m keen to work in RSE, but don’t have much experience. What would you recommend I do?
First and foremost - try to get experience of working with young people, specifically those aged 11 to 18 years. We find that supporting this group is often extremely rewarding - but comes with very specific and real challenges. It’s not for everyone and if you want to work for us, it’s essential that you can demonstrate you have realistic expectations of what this will be like.
Gaining work experience in education - for example as a student support worker or teaching assistant - can be a really useful way of gaining an insight into the UK school system and typical classroom dynamics.
Relevant experience doesn’t have to be in schools, or paid work either. Lots of people who come to work with us have experience of volunteering in community youth settings, for example. However, we work in a broad range of schools, from inner city academies to rural independent and faith schools, or specialist provisions for students with special needs or who have been permanently excluded from mainstream education. The more that you can demonstrate that you understand the realities of working with young people in a broad range of educational settings, the better.
Interested in working with School of Sexuality Education?
Any open roles we have are posted here and we also share new opportunities on our social media channels, follow us on Instagram and LinkedIn to stay informed.