Children should be taught about contraception while they are still in primary school, according to a report published today. Condoms should be free or sold at low cost to teenagers in schools and sports centres, according to the report by the Institute for Public Policy Research, which notes that almost one in three 15-year-olds did not use a condom the last time they had sex. British teenagers are the most sexually active and have the highest birth rate in Europe.

The study, which will be published in full next month, recommends children learn about contraception in their final primary school year, when aged 10 or 11.

The school lesson personal, social and health education (PSHE) should become statutory in all primary and secondary schools in England and Wales, instead of just being a recommendation as at present, according to the report. Currently, all schools have to teach sex education during key stage 3 (11- to 14-year-olds) as part of the science curriculum, but schools can choose to teach it through PSHE.

The report notes that Britain has the highest rate of births to teenagers in Europe, with an average of 26 live births per 1,000 girls aged 15-19. That is almost a fifth higher than in Latvia, which ranks second, and more than four times the rate in Cyprus, Slovenia, Sweden and Denmark.

The study, Freedom's Orphans: Raising Youth in a Changing World, recommends that teenagers are offered a full choice of contraception, including long-lasting forms such as under-the-skin implants.

Julia Margo, IPPR senior research fellow, said: "Over the last 50 years, the average age of first sexual intercourse has fallen from 20 for men and 21 for women in the 1950s to 16 by the mid-1990s.

"The proportion of young people who are sexually active before the age of consent has risen from less than 1% to 25% over the same period.

"Our education system must respond in kind and start teaching children about the risks involved in sex before they even consider taking those risks."

A spokesman for the Department for Education and Skills said teenage pregnancy rates were at their lowest for 20 years and had fallen by 11.1% since the government's teenage pregnancy strategy began in 1998. "We are taking steps to improve the support we give to parents to talk about sex and relationships, and we have made clear that local authorities and primary care trusts must make sure they are providing young people with access to advice and contraception."