GRSJ224/SexualityEducationPedagogy

Sexuality Education in Canadian Schools

What is Sexuality Education?

Sexuality education (or sexual health education) is the means by which a society equips “individuals, couples, families and communities with the information, motivation and behavioural skills needed to enhance sexual health and avoid negative sexual health outcomes.” It can take many forms, and can be taught formally or informally in schools or other institutions like community centres, doctors’ offices, peer groups, and in the home by parents. However, many young people in Canada access sexual health education in a formal context within schools.

The Sex Information and Education Council of Canada (SIECCAN) recommends that sexuality education be taught in schools because they are the “only formal educational institution to have meaningful (and mandatory) contact with nearly every young person, they are in a unique position to provide children, adolescents and young adults with the knowledge, understanding, skills, and attitudes they will need to make and act upon decisions that promote sexual health throughout their lives.” In schools, it can be taught by teachers, nurses, doctors, guidance counsellors, or private sexual health educators.

Comprehensive Sexuality Education

Comprehensive sexuality education is a kind of education that does not simply teach abstinence as the only method to avoid unwanted pregnancies, and contracting sexually transmitted infections (STIs). While it does teach scientific information about the body and intercourse, comprehensive sexuality education goes further and discusses safety in relationships, building healthy relationships through communication, and growth and development. A nonprofit American organization called Advocates for Youth endorses this kind of education. This kind of sexuality education is often practiced in Canada, albeit can be taught in many different ways across the country. This was reflected in a report by Global News in 2015, in which sexual health curricula across the country were compared. It showed many differences in the ages at which students were expected to know things like the names of body parts, when students were introduced to the concepts of sexual orientation and gender identity, as well as how to prevent STIs.

Abstinence-Only Education

Abstinence-only sexual education, or “abstinence-only until marriage education,” (AOUME) supports “the belief that sex is private and sacred and that abstinence is the only morally correct option for unmarried people.”  This kind of sexual education is popular in the United States, yet, there is “a mounting body of scientific evidence indicating the limited success of AOUME programs in meeting their stated goals.” This kind of education often leaves out discourses of pleasure, discusses only heterosexual relationships, and is heavily influenced by spirituality. One researcher in Canada describes sexuality in abstinence-only education as a complex issue within sex education itself. Jen Gilbert says that: “sexuality is understood as having the capacity to undo a whole host of social good: moral precepts; social convention; physical, emotional and spiritual health; ideals of chastity, marriage, and heterosexuality; and claims to innocence and even childhood itself, for instance, can be ruined by sexuality.” Making the choice to teach abstinence-only education versus comprehensive education is therefore a complicated decision. In Canada, abstinence-only education is less-popular than in the United States, but is still practiced in some schools, particularly schools with religious affiliations.

Lack of Training

While most schools across Canada teach some form of sexuality education, it is not standardized, and varies greatly between provinces, school districts, and even between schools. One of the alarming traits of this kind of sexuality education, is that most regular teachers who are asked to teach sexuality education are not trained adequately. In fact, “most health education is taught by teachers with little or no collaboration from health experts.” A Canadian study from 2009 by Rye et al. reports that many Canadian teachers receive little training before having to teach sexual health education. Another study found that “only 16% of Bachelor of Education programs at Canadian universities provide compulsory training in sexuality education,” and that “only one half of Canadian school districts regularly offer in-service training in sexuality education and only one third of teachers report having participated in in-service training.” The level of training of sexuality educators is important, because talking about sexual intercourse, the gender spectrum, sexual preferences, avoiding STIs, HIV prevention, consent, and unplanned pregnancy can be uncomfortable topics of discussion for many people. Teachers who are not trained specifically to teach sexuality education can choose to omit certain topics they are not comfortable discussing (like masturbation, sexual diversity, and orgasm), they can use slang or incorrect names for body parts, and can make students feel less inclined to ask questions. These untrained educators can also create higher levels of discomfort in a sexuality education class.

What is a Private Sexual Health Educator?

Private sexual health educators are those who are trained specifically to teach this material, and who are paid to come into schools and deliver sexual health lessons. These can be organizations like Options for Sexual Health (OPT), Saleema Noon Sexual Health Educators, or even peer educators like Bold Learning for Understanding Sexual Health BLUSH , (All of which are organizations out of British Columbia, Canada). It is possible that these kinds of educators are more effective than regular teachers with no training, but this idea requires further research.

Another Challenge in Sexuality Education: The Absence of Queer Pedagogy

Despite progress in the pedagogy of sexuality education in recent years, sexuality education is still frequently framed in a binary way. In many instances, it frames discussions in a heteronormative way, and discusses safety in heterosexual relationships, avoiding pregnancy, and often leaves out discussions of the gender spectrum and the multitude of sexualities. It can also marginalize groups that do not fit into what is classified as “normal." “Some acts, bodies and relationships are constituted as ‘natural’ and ‘normal’ while others are viewed as precarious.” Furthermore, it has been found that sexuality education often lacks “appropriate sexuality education offerings” for LGBTQ students, and can overlook “risks for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among [LGBTQ] youth.” By framing sexuality education in heteronormativity and binaries, educators could be alienating and confusing students, and are therefore not teaching comprehensive sexuality education.