Teenage pregnancy facts

90,000 teenage pregnancies in England each year Of these 7,700 are under 16 2,200 of these are aged 14 or under Half of under-16s do not use contraception the first time they have sex

Britain has the highest teenage birth rate in western Europe and each year, in England alone, almost 8,000 girls become mothers before they are 16.

The government sees sex and relationships education (SRE) as key to reducing teenage pregnancy, but Ofsted inspectors found that despite much good teaching, there are serious weaknesses.

Ministers say education about HIV and AIDS is receiving less attention than in the past and that parenthood issues are not taught in all secondary schools.

The inspectors also conclude that schools need to broaden sex education beyond factual knowledge to give greater emphasis to relationships, values and personal skills.

And they say too little attention and support is given to school-age fathers.

"In most schools the teaching about sex and relationships is effective and conscientious," said chief inspector for secondary education Mike Raleigh.

"But there are some issues... in some schools there's not enough attention being given to developing attitudes and values to enable young people to make sensible well-informed choices," said Mr Raleigh.

Media pressure

The inspectors drew attention to magazines, which they described as "increasingly influential sources of information".

"While many magazines now stress the importance of safe sex, the underlying, but inaccurate, message is sometimes seen to be that all young people are sexually active," the report said.

Magazines can be very influential

"Problems may arise if the messages received from reading this material clash with parental and other local cultural norms, or if unnecessary anxieties arise from reading about practices and risks that the readers are not ready for and are not able to discuss."

The inspectors suggest teachers should use these media sources of information and include critical study of the information and messages that they carry in lessons.

But acting editor of the teenage magazine 19, Debbie Attewell, said: "We do take our responsibilities seriously and we are not about to do a sex feature just to sell copies of the magazine.

"It is there to give practical and emotional advice.

"Of course we do have features on sex because we know that many of our readers are having sex or are thinking about it and we want to make sure that they have all the necessary information, practical and emotional, so they are armed and ready as much as we can make them before they take the next step."

Public health minister, Yvette Cooper, said: "Research shows that SRE is most effective when it is taught in the context of relationships and values and is linked to contraceptive services that young people trust."

"This report forms an important part of raising standards in SRE to prevent teenage pregnancy," she said.