My friend and former colleague Hilary Dixon, who has died at 71, was a leading figure in sex and relationships education (SRE) for more than 40 years. Author and editor of many publications, including Taught Not Caught: Strategies for Sex Education (1985) and Working With Uncertainty: A Handbook for Those Involved in Training on HIV and AIDS (1990), she helped change thinking about SRE. Her trailblazing work in the area of special educational needs and disabilities inspired a generation of teachers and carers.
Born in Reading, Hilary was one of three children of Cyril Tyler, a professor of agricultural chemistry, and his wife, Myra (nee Batten), a teacher. She attended Kendrick school for girls, then took a teaching diploma in Leicester (1967-68).
Teaching in London schools in Brent, Fulham, and then, in 1972, Hackney, at Dalston Mount school for girls, where she was head of liberal studies, laid the foundations for a challenging career. After her marriage to David Dixon ended in 1978, Hilary took a master’s at the Institute of Education, London (1978-81) and joined an innovative community of SRE trainers at the Family Planning Association.
In the mid-80s, Hilary moved to Cambridge to manage a groundbreaking Aids education unit. She invited me to join her team as a trainer, and was an inspiring manager, deeply respectful of staff and clients alike and skilled at getting the best from people. The team helped change the face of Aids education within the professional community. Collaborating with Professor Martin Johnson, Hilary also helped in setting up a revolutionary third-year Cambridge medical course, Aids, Society and Sexuality.
In 1993, as a freelance trainer of SRE professionals, Hilary moved with her partner, Dave Collier, to Sedbergh in Cumbria. She wrote the Picture Yourself material for people with additional support needs, and the Share (sexual health and relationships education) programme for young people in secondary schools, jointly funded by the Health Education Board Scotland and the Medical Research Council. Shirley Windsor, from NHS Health Scotland, said: “The Share resource greatly informed the development of Scotland’s first ever sexual health strategy.”
Hilary worked with the Home Office on the Blueprint programme for drug and alcohol education, using techniques from Share. Her collaborators remember how she created a “training family” built on laughter as well as challenging work. She and Dave established Me-and-Us, publishing SRE resources, which, with typical generosity Hilary freely passed on for publication by others when she retired in 2012. Typically too, she used her own experiences of early Alzheimer’s to work towards Sedbergh becoming a “dementia-friendly community”.
A life member of the Sex Education Forum, transformative trainer and manager, and lover of Italy, Hilary is above all remembered for her beaming smile. She is survived by her son from her marriage, Sam, by Dave and his son, Cy, by her grandchildren, Gus, Archie, Florence and Woody, and by a brother, Jonathan.
