Systemic guidance, help and support? It was non-existent: Teachers experiences of delivering relationships and sex education for children and young people with learning difficulties.

In 2020, England implemented a significant legislative change, making Relationship and Sex Education (RSE) compulsory for all schools, including specialist provisions (Department for Education (DfE), 2019). Before this, the provision of RSE for Children and Young People with Learning Disabilities (CYPwLD) was inconsistent and often questioned (Office for Standards in Education Children’s Services and Skills, 2013), with outdated harmful stigmatisation and discrimination creating barriers in access to meaningful and appropriate RSE (Brown, 1994; Young et al., 2012). This legislative shift has signified a move towards supporting the rights of CYPwLD to go on to develop happy and healthy intimate relationships. However, research has not yet investigated how teachers in special schools have navigated its implementation. Thus, this research aims to explore how secondary school teachers are experiencing the delivery of RSE for CYPwLD in light of this legislative change. Individual unstructured interviews were conducted with four secondary special school teachers who had been involved in the delivery of RSE for CYPwLD. The data was subsequently analysed using Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis revealing five Group Experiential Themes: RSE is vital, implementing ambiguous guidance, carrying emotional loads, seeking support in solitude, and working with diverse minds. This research offers valuable insights into teachers' experiences in delivering RSE for CYPwLD. It sheds light on the current challenges and identifies areas where additional support is needed to ensure best practice in RSE for CYPwLD. These findings have implications for a range of stakeholders including policymakers, Educational Psychologists, healthcare professionals, local authorities and education settings.