All schoolchildren must be taught a "curriculum for life" that helps them deal with modern issues such as "sexting" and revenge porn, Education Secretary Nicky Morgan has insisted.

In a speech to the Bright Blue think-tank, Mrs Morgan said schools need to do more to help youngsters "manage their lives" and "stay safe".

"NSPCC research shows that six in 10 teenagers have been asked for sexual images or videos online," Mrs Morgan said. "And many feel compelled to do it because of peer pressure or coercion.

"Let's be clear that the internet and the advance of the digital age are things to celebrate and embrace, but let us not deny that they bring new pressures that require new responses too."

Mrs Morgan added that personal, social, health, and economic education (PSHE) was key to creating successful adults; developing a sense of democracy, tolerance, and respect for those with different faiths and beliefs.

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"I am clear that schools have a critical role to play in turning out rounded, resilient young people that can face the challenges of the modern world with confidence. A strong academic core is the start, but it's just that: a start. It's not enough. We need to address the whole child," she said.

While sex education is "an important element" of the PHSE programme, the Minister said it's just one part of it.

"In fact, proper PSHE should be much broader and should offer young people what I like to think of as a 'curriculum for life'," she added. "I want more schools to put high-quality PSHE at the heart of their curriculum. It is an essential part of their responsibility to prepare young people for life in modern Britain."

This weekend Mrs Morgan will announce a range of measures to improve the quality and provision of PSHE education in schools. A new charter mark, in conjunction with the PSHE Association, will be awarded to schools that demonstrate excellence in this area.

Labour's spokeswoman on tackling violence against women and girls, Seema Malhotra, said a more specialist approach was needed.

"When we know violence in teenage relationships is on the rise, when one in three teenage girls report unwanted groping at school, when sexting and 'revenge porn' is commonplace for far too many young people, updating non-statutory guidance is just not good enough," she said.

"We need compulsory age-appropriate sex and relationship education and the curriculum needs to give young people the tools to recognise the difference between healthy and abusive relationships.

"The Government has had at least two opportunities to vote in favour of this important change. At each point they have failed to do so and they have let young people down."

Bradford mums Heather Buchan and Maria Pearson have teenage children and are concerned about pressures that come from digital technology.

"Our kids have grown up with the internet and digital equipment, they live their lives by it," said Heather, 42. "I try and monitor what they have access to but you can't do that all the time, especially when they're getting older. I know my sons will come into contact with online porn at some point, and I worry about what images they'll see and whether they'll become acclimatised to them so they seem normal.

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"I worry how they will see girls and women, and what kind of respect they will have for them. The whole "sexting" thing concerns me because it shows a lack of respect."

Maria, 44, added: "My daughter, who is 14, has told me about girls she knows who come under pressure from boys. They're already under pressure to look a certain way and be under a certain weight, and then there is the issue of sex. When I was at school there wasn't the same kind of pressure; girls had more freedom to develop at their own pace and you didn't feel the need to have sex when you were too young to deal with that.

"But we didn't have much in the way of sex education and that wasn't healthy.

"I think schools need to address the changing nature of childhood and adolescence, which has evolved in the digital age. Young people come across a very complex world online and need guidance in areas like respect. PSHE education is a way towards that, and it should include a focus on sex education."