As with many areas of education, abbreviations and names can cause a lot of confusion. In this blog I want to go back to basics by defining some common terms and abbreviations used around PSHE education. We will also look at how this impacts on what you do in school and names you might use for this subject.

PSHE education

We will start here, as PSHE education is the umbrella term for children and young people’s learning in various important areas. The name has been around for a long time and is used in the National Curriculum. The letters stand for

P = Personal

S = Social

H = Health

E = Economic

It is worth noting that historically the final ‘E’ stood for ‘education’ and that ‘economic education’ is a recent but important addition.

Relationships, Sex and Health Education.

In 2019 the government made many aspects of PSHE education statutory for all schools. This was a massive step forward for the subject but has resulted in some confusion around terminology.

The statutory guidance refers to Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) and Health education.

The following abbreviations tend to be used to reflect these 3 topic areas RSE, RSHE and RHE. The important thing to understand is the status of all these areas

Relationship education – compulsory for all pupils receiving primary education

Relationships and Sex education - compulsory for all pupils receiving secondary education. Sex education is the only aspect parents have the right to withdraw their children from.

Health education – compulsory for all pupils (apart from independent schools)

The updated guidance (2025) has increased the number of areas covered and this makes virtually all of PSHE education statutory. The wider programme of PSHE education which all schools are required to have can be decided by the school and could include areas such as financial education and careers.

Citizenship

This is a separate subject and focuses more on learning about society and how this works. Currently this is statutory in secondary schools but not in primary. However, many primary schools do teach citizenship as it forms an important part of personal development. Primary schools may therefore refer to PSHCE education to include Citizenship.

Subject leaders should have a good understanding of the different names and aspects of their subject and understand which elements are statutory.

What name should we use in school?

I tend to recommend PSHE education as it encompasses all the content and is understood by staff. Sometimes people say that children do not understand this and they have come up with different names. This is fine as long as you are clear on this and staff and parents and carers have an understanding of what is being taught. You might also want to ensure inspectors are aware so they can use your school’s terminology when talking to children and young people.

I would avoid using Personal Development and Wellbeing as a subject name. This can cause confusion as the areas outlined in the Ofsted toolkit go much wider than your PSHE education curriculum. In a future blog we will look at the distinction between PSHE education and wider Personal Development and Wellbeing.

Questions to reflect on

• What do you call PSHE education in your school?

• Is this understood by your whole school community?

• What else can you do to increase understanding and raise the profile of the subject?

Further support

If you have any questions or need any support, please get in touch.

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