Details of consultation on abortion lessons in schools 'due out within weeks' - and it looks set to include teaching about gay and transgender issues too

The news appeared at the end of a letter sent on Monday to school principals by officials from Northern Ireland’s currently minister-less Department of Education.

It is the latest step in a roll-out of a pledge made in June by the Tory secretary of state Chris Heaton-Harris to reform the curriculum.

Specifically, he promised: “The curriculum for every grant-aided school shall, in relation to key stages 3 and 4 [spanning ages 11 to 16], include age-appropriate, comprehensive and scientifically accurate education on sexual and reproductive health and rights, covering prevention of early pregnancy and access to abortion.”

The department’s letter on Monday said that “officials have already commenced work on a full public consultation… I’ll write to you again at the end of August to advise of the launch”.

This will inform the guidelines schools will get about what to teach, due to be published by the end of the year.

But it turns out the consultation will also cover the findings of a recent report by the NI Human Rights Commission, according to the letter.

This may be controversial, because that report had criticised schools for permitting different views about transgenderism.

It had lamented that “many schools promoted and protected pupils' rights to holding 'diverging opinions' and used the notion of 'tolerance'… implying that young people are permitted to hold prejudiced opinions towards people of different sexual orientations and gender identities, so long as they are held in a 'peaceful manner'.”

It also found that whilst 99% of secondary schools “included a reference to sexual orientation and related terms (LGBT, queer, lesbian, asexuality, homophobia) in their RSE policies” and 58% “made reference to gender identity”, that was not good enough.

It argued that more must be done to promote an “affirmative and positive approach to sexual and gender diversity” (“gender diversity” being not the mix of boys and girls, but the idea that there exists a spectrum of hitherto-unknown genders besides male and female).