Session Information
08 SES 04 B, Teachers’ Professional Development, Their Roles and Sexuality Education
Paper Session
Contribution
The research aimed to:
1. Identify the range of issues faced by teachers when implementing a sex education and relationships program.
2. Identify the strategies used by teachers to address these issues.
3. Elicit teachers’ views on the nature and extent of in-school support they receive to address the issues they face.
4. Determine teachers’ needs for further training and development, and curriculum materials support.
Theoretical Framework: (296 words)
International comparisons of approaches to sex education have revealed quite significant differences in aims, scope, methods, and outcomes in sexually ‘open’ and liberal European nations like the Netherlands, France and Germany and more sexually ‘closed’, anglophile nations like England and the United States (Weaver, Smith & Kippax, 2005; Strange, Forrest, Oakley & Stephenson, 2006). According to McKay (2000), a majority of developed countries have sex education programs in schools that are a ‘vital resource for providing ... young adults with the knowledge and skills they need to make and act upon decisions that promote sexual health’. However, the form of sex education varies from basic biological information to comprehensive programs that cover reproductive health, sexual identity, gender issues and interpersonal relationships. European approaches are generally more comprehensive and research based, unlike many of the politically supported ‘abstinence’ programs promoted in the US. According to Lewis (1998), (cited in Weaver, Smith & Kippax, 2005), sex education policies tend to reflect the broader social and political cultures of the countries in which they are implemented, and are influenced by historical and religious factors. Interestingly, Australian approaches to sex education have historically reflected English trends (due to its colonial links) (Gibson, 2007), yet more contemporary programs have been strongly influenced by exposure to the European literature on comprehensive sex education (Johnson, 2006).
In this paper, we present a brief overview of the history and essential features of a major sex education and relationships program developed in one Australian state (Johnson, 2006; Gibson, 2007). We then detail some of the dilemmas teachers face teaching the program in the context of widespread homophobia in Australian society, the increasing exposure of Australian youth to narrow and misogynistic conceptions of ‘masculinity’ (Connell, 2000), and the ready availability of web based pornography.
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Connell, RW 2000, The Men And The Boys, Allen & Unwin, NSW, Australia. Gibson, S 2007, ‘The language of the right: sex education debates in South Australia’, Sex Education, Vol. 7, No. 3, pp. 239-250. Johnson, B (2006) An evaluation of the trial implementation of the Sexual Health and Relationships Education (share) program 2003-2005. Report to Sexual Health information network and education SA, May, 2006. Lewis, M (1998) Thorns on the rose: the history of sexually transmitted diseases in Australia in international perspective. Canberra: Australian Government Publishing. Madriz, M 2000, ‘Focus Groups in Feminist Research’ in Handbook of Qualitative Research, eds Denzin & Lincoln, Sage, Thousand Oaks, California. McKay, A 2000, ‘Common questions about sexual health education’, The Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality, vol. 9, no. 130. Patton, M 2002, Qualitative Research & Evaluation Methods, 3rd Ed, Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, California. Strange, V, Forrest, S, Oakley, A, Stephenson, J 2006, ‘Sex and relationship education for 13-16 years olds: evidence from England’, Sex Education, Vol. 6, No. 1, pp. 31-46. Weaver, H, Smith, G, Kippax, S 2005, ‘School-based sex education policies and indicators of sexual health among young people: a comparison of the Netherlands, France, Australia and the United States’, Sex Education, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 171-188.
Search the ECER Programme
- Search for keywords and phrases in "Text Search"
- Restrict in which part of the abstracts to search in "Where to search"
- Search for authors and in the respective field.
- For planning your conference attendance you may want to use the conference app, which will be issued some weeks before the conference
- If you are a session chair, best look up your chairing duties in the conference system (Conftool) or the app.