With the growth in film,video and website content, alongside technological developments making the access to these easier and, at times, less regulated or filtered, teachers and parents are ever more aware of the need to help young people to safely navigate the world of visual media. This is something young people themselves also worry about.

These PSHE education lessons use the context of films and the BBFC’s film classification to explore the BBFC’s role in regulating pornography, the potential harms of online pornography and how online content can shape young people’s attitudes towards relationships and sec. They have been designed to equip students with the tools to understand how consent works online and what they can do to protect themselves and respond to age-inappropriate content.

This two-lesson resource is aimed at Key Stage Four learners, or children aged between 14 and 16, and has achieved the PSHE Association Quality Mark – awarded exclusively to lessons that meet best practice principles for safe and effective PSHE education. The lessons promote self-regulation, independent choice, critical thinking, and safeguarding; vital and transferable skills for life.

Pornography and regulation aligns with the Department of Education’s statutory RSHE guidance and the PSHE Association Programme of Study.