Teaching RSHE at Home: What Home Educators Told Us

At RECAP, we’re passionate about sharing research that helps families access trusted, evidence-based information.

This latest report, Teaching RSHE in the Home: Perspectives, Practices, and Support Needs of a Sample of Home Educators in the UK, explores how home-educating parents approach Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) and what support they need to do it confidently.

This study was conducted by RECAP’s founder, Lucie Wheeler, as part of her role at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU), in collaboration with Education Otherwise, a leading charity supporting home-educating families across the UK. The research sought to understand:

How do home educators in the UK understand, approach, and deliver RSHE, and what support do they feel they need?

Why this research matters

RSHE is a statutory part of the school curriculum, helping young people learn about relationships, health, consent, online safety and wellbeing. But for home-educating families - who are not required to follow the national curriculum - there’s far less guidance available. This study fills an important gap, shining a light on how RSHE is currently being taught in home settings, and where families would value more help and resources.

What we found

From 33 survey responses across the UK, an overwhelming 97% of home educators said they deliver RSHE to their children. Most described doing so informally, through open, everyday conversations rather than structured lessons - a flexible, child-led approach that reflects the ethos of home education itself.

Parents viewed RSHE as much more than “sex education.” They described it as covering:

• Healthy friendships and relationships

• Consent and boundaries

• Emotional wellbeing and mental health

• Physical and sexual health

• Online safety and digital awareness

• Identity, diversity, and inclusion

  
  

While many respondents felt confident in their understanding, 42% said they would welcome more support, particularly around complex or sensitive topics such as gender identity, pornography, and online risks.

How families resource their RSHE teaching

Home educators are creative and resourceful. They draw on books, YouTube videos, BBC Bitesize, Talk to Frank, and peer recommendations, alongside their own life experience. However, many said they struggle to find inclusive, trauma-informed, and age-appropriate materials that reflect their values and their children’s needs.

Several parents also shared that they’d appreciate guidance on how to start tricky conversations or training opportunities to help them navigate sensitive topics with confidence.

Key recommendations

Based on these insights, the report suggests five ways to better support home-educating families:

1. Provide flexible frameworks, not prescriptive curricula.

2. Curate a trusted directory of age-appropriate, inclusive, values-aware resources.

3. Offer conversation guides on sensitive topics like consent, online risks, and pornography.

4. Develop trauma-informed RSHE pathways for families with lived experience of trauma.

5. Create opportunities for parental training and peer support.

   
   

In summary

This research highlights the commitment, creativity, and care home-educating parents bring to RSHE and the need for trusted, accessible guidance to help them continue doing so effectively.

By amplifying home educators’ voices, we can ensure that every child - wherever they learn - has access to the knowledge and skills they need to thrive in a complex, connected world.

📄 Read the full report: Teaching RSHE in the Home (Wheeler, 2025)📧