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AIDS Awareness - Sex Education that works
What is sex education
What are the aims of sex education
What skills should sex education
develop?
Forming attitudes and beliefs
So what information should be given to
young people?
When should sex education start?
Who should provide sex education?
Effective school-based sex education
Taking Sex Education Forward
Sex education, which is sometimes called sexuality
education or sex and relationships education, is the process of
acquiring information and forming attitudes and beliefs about sex,
sexual identity, relationships and intimacy. It is also about
developing young people's skills so that they make informed choices
about their behaviour, and feel confident and competent about acting
on these choices. It is widely accepted that young people have a
right to sex education, partly because it is a means by which they
are helped to protect themselves against abuse, exploitation,
unintended pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases and HIV/AIDS.
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Sex education seeks both to reduce the risks of
potentially negative outcomes from sexual behaviour like unwanted or
unplanned pregnancies and infection with sexually transmitted
diseases, and to enhance the quality of relationships. It is also
about developing young people's ability to make decisions over their
entire lifetime. Sex education that works, by which we mean that it
is effective, is sex education that contributes to this overall aim.
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If sex education is going to be effective it needs
to include opportunities for young people to develop skills, as it
can hard for them to act on the basis of only having information.
The kinds of skills young people develop as part of sex education
are linked to more general life-skills. For example, being able to
communicate, listen, negotiate, ask for and identify sources of help
and advice, are useful life-skills and can be applied in terms of
sexual relationships. Effective sex education develops young
people's skills in negotiation, decision-making, assertion and
listening. Other important skills include being able to recognise
pressures from other people and to resist them, deal with and
challenge prejudice, seek help from adults - including parents,
carers and professionals - through the family, community and health
and welfare services. Sex education that works, also helps equip
young people with the skills to be able to differentiate between
accurate and inaccurate information, discuss a range of moral and
social issues and perspectives on sex and sexuality, including
different cultural attitudes and sensitive issues like sexuality,
abortion and contraception.
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Young people can be exposed to a wide range of
attitudes and beliefs in relation to sex and sexuality. These
sometimes appear contradictory and confusing. For example, some
health messages emphasis the risks and dangers associated with
sexual activity and some media coverage promotes the idea that being
sexually active makes a person more attractive and mature. Because
sex and sexuality are sensitive subjects, young people and sex
educators can have strong views on what attitudes people should
hold, and what moral framework should govern people's behaviour -
these too can sometimes seem to be at odds. Young people are very
interested in the moral and cultural frameworks that binds sex and
sexuality. They often welcome opportunities to talk about issues
where people have strong views, like abortion, sex before marriage,
lesbian and gay issues and contraception and birth control. It is
important to remember that talking in a balanced way about
differences in opinion does not promote one set of views over
another, or mean that one agrees with a particular view. Part of
exploring and understanding cultural, religious and moral views is
finding out that you can agree to disagree.
People providing sex education have attitudes and
beliefs of their own about sex and sexuality and it is important not
to let these influence negatively the sex education that they
provide. For example, even if a person believes that young people
should not have sex until they are married, this does not imply
withholding important information about safer sex and contraception.
Attempts to impose narrow moralistic views about sex and sexuality
on young people through sex education have failed 9. Rather than
trying to deter or frighten young people away from having sex,
effective sex education includes work on attitudes and beliefs,
coupled with skills development, that enables young people to choose
whether or not to have a sexual relationship taking into account the
potential risks of any sexual activity.
Effective sex education also provides young people
with an opportunity to explore the reasons why people have sex, and
to think about how it involves emotions, respect for one self and
other people and their feelings, decisions and bodies. Young people
should have the chance to explore gender differences and how
ethnicity and sexuality can influence people's feelings and option .
They should be able to decide for themselves what the positive
qualities of relationships are. It is important that they understand
how bullying, stereotyping, abuse and exploitation can negatively
influence relationships.
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Young people get information about sex and sexuality
from a wide range of sources including each other, through the media
including advertising, television and magazines, as well as
leaflets, books and websites which are intended to be sources of
information about sex and sexuality. Some of this will be accurate
and some inaccurate. Providing information through sex education is
therefore about finding out what young people already know and
adding to their existing knowledge and correcting any misinformation
they may have. For example, young people may have heard that condoms
are not effective against HIV/AIDS or that there is a cure for AIDS.
It is important to provide information which corrects mistaken
beliefs. Without correct information young people can put themselves
at greater risk.
Information is also important as the basis on young
people can developed well- informed attitudes and views about sex
and sexuality. Young people need to have information on all the
following topics:
• Sexual development
• Reproduction
• Contraception
• Relationships.
They need to have information about the physical and
emotional changes associated with puberty and sexual reproduction,
including fertilisation and conception and about sexually
transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS. They also need to know
about contraception and birth control including what contraceptives
there are, how they work, how people use them, how they decide what
to use or not, and how they can be obtained. In terms of information
about relationships they need to know about what kinds of
relationships there are, about love and commitment, marriage and
partnership and the law relating to sexual behaviour and
relationships as well as the range of religious and cultural views
on sex and sexuality and sexual diversity. In addition, young people
should be provided with information about abortion, sexuality, and
confidentiality, as well as about the range of sources of advice and
support that is available in the community and nationally.
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Sex education that works starts early, before young
people reach puberty, and before they have developed established
patterns of behaviour. The precise age at which information should
be provided depends on the physical, emotional and intellectual
development of the young people as well as their level of
understanding. What is covered and also how, depends on who is
providing the sex education, when they are providing it, and in what
context, as well as what the individual young person wants to know
about.
It is important not to delay providing information
to young people but to begin when they are young. Providing basic
information provides the foundation on which more complex knowledge
is built up over time. This also means that sex education has to be
sustained. For example, when they are very young, children can be
informed about how people grow and change over time, and how babies
become children and then adults, and this provides the basis on
which they understand more detailed information about puberty
provided in the pre-teenage years. They can also when they are
young, be provided with information about viruses and germs that
attack the body. This provides the basis for talking to them later
about infections that can be caught through sexual contact.
Some people are concerned that providing information
about sex and sexuality arouses curiosity and can lead to sexual
experimentation. There is no evidence that this happens. It is
important to remember that young people can store up information
provided at any time, for a time when they need it later on.
Sometimes it can difficult for adults to know when
to raise issues, but the important thing is to maintain an open
relationship with children which provides them with opportunities to
ask questions when they have them. Parents and carers can also be
proactive and engage young people in discussions about sex,
sexuality and relationships. Naturally, many parents and their
children feel embarrassed about talking about some aspects of sex
and sexuality. Viewing sex education as an on-going conversation
about values, attitudes and issues as well as providing facts can be
helpful. The best basis to proceed on is a sound relationship in
which a young person feels able to ask a question or raise an issue
if they feel they need to. It has been shown that in countries like
The Netherlands, where many families regard it as an important
responsibility to talk openly with children about sex and sexuality,
this contributes to greater cultural openness about sex and
sexuality and improved sexual health among young people.
The role of many parents and carers as sex educators
changes as young people get older and young people are provided with
more opportunities to receive formal sex education through schools
and community-settings. However, it doesn't get any less important.
Because sex education in school tends to take place in blocks of
time, it can't always address issues relevant to young people at a
particular time, and parents can fulfill a particularly important
role in providing information and opportunities to discuss things as
they arise.
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Different settings provide different contexts and
opportunities for sex education. At home, young people can easily
have one-to-one discussions with parents or carers which focus on
specific issues, questions or concerns. They can have a dialogue
about their attitudes and views. Sex education at home also tends to
take place over a long time, and involve lots of short interactions
between parents and children. There may be times when young people
seem reluctant to talk, but it is important not to interpret any
diffidence as meaning that there is nothing left to talk about. As
young people get older advantage can be taken of opportunities
provided by things seen on television for example, as an opportunity
to initiate conversation. It is also important not to defer dealing
with a question or issue for too long as it can suggest that you are
unwilling to talk about it.
In school the interaction between the teacher and
young people takes a different form and is often provided in
organised blocks of lessons. It is not as well suited to advising
the individual as it is to providing information from an impartial
point of view. The most effective sex education acknowledges the
different contributions each setting can make. Schools programmes
which involve parents, notifying them what is being taught and when,
can support the initiation of dialogue at home. Parents and schools
both need to engage with young people about the messages that they
get from the media, and give them opportunities for discussion.
In some countries, the involvement of young people
themselves in developing and providing sex education has increased
as a means of ensuring the relevance and accessibility of provision.
Consultation with young people at the point when programmes are
designed, helps ensure that they relevant and the involvement of
young people in delivering programmes may reinforce messages as they
model attitudes and behaviour to their peers.
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School-based sex education can be an important and
effective way of enhancing young people's knowledge, attitudes and
behaviour. There is widespread agreement that formal education
should include sex education and what works has been
well-researched. Evidence suggests that effective school programmes
will include the following elements:
• A focus on reducing specific risky behaviours;
• A basis in theories which explain what influences
people's sexual choices and behaviour;
• A clear, and continuously reinforced message about
sexual behaviour and risk reduction;
• Providing accurate information about, the risks
associated with sexual activity, about contraception and birth
control, and about methods of avoiding or deferring intercourse;
• Dealing with peer and other social pressures on
young people; Providing opportunities to practise communication,
negotiation and assertion skills;
• Uses a variety of approaches to teaching and
learning that involve and engage young people and help them to
personalise the information;
• Uses approaches to teaching and learning which are
appropriate to young people's age, experience and cultural
background;
• Is provided by people who believe in what they are
saying and have access to support in the form of training or
consultation with other sex educators.
Formal programmes with these elements have been
shown to increase young people's levels of knowledge about sex and
sexuality, put back the average age at which they first have sexual
intercourse and decrease risk when they do have sex . All the
elements are important and inter-related, and sex education needs to
be supported by links to sexual health services, otherwise it is not
going to be so effective . It also takes into account the messages
about sexual values and behaviour young people get from other
sources, like friends and the media. It is also responsive to the
needs of the young people themselves - whether they are girls or
boys, on their own or in a single sex or mixed sex group, and what
they know already, their age and experiences.
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Providing effective sex education can seem daunting
because it means tackling potentially sensitive issues. However,
because sex education comprises many individual activities, which
take place across a wide range of settings and periods of time,
there are lots of opportunities to contribute.
The nature of a person's contribution depends on
their relationship, role and expertise in relation to young people.
For example, parents are best placed in relation to young people to
provide continuity of individual support and education starting from
early in their lives. School-based education programmes are
particularly good at providing information and opportunities for
skills development and attitude clarification in more formal ways,
through lessons within a curriculum. Community-based projects
provide opportunities for young people to access advice and
information in less formal ways. Sexual health and other health and
welfare services can provide access to specific information, support
and advice. Sex education through the mass media, often supported by
local, regional or national Government and non-governmental agencies
and departments, can help to raise public awareness of sex health
issues.
Further development of sex education partly depends
on joining up these elements in a coherent way to meet the needs of
young people. There is also a need to pay more attention to the
needs of specific groups of young people like young parents, young
lesbian, gay and bisexual people, as well as those who may be out of
touch with services and schools and socially vulnerable, like young
refugees and asylum-seekers, young people in care, young people in
prisons, and also those living on the street.
The circumstances and context available to parents
and other sex educators are different from place to place. Practical
or political realities in a particular country may limit people's
ability to provide young people with comprehensive sex education
combining all the elements in the best way possible. But the basic
principles outlined here apply everywhere. By making our own
contribution and valuing that made by others, and by being guided by
these principles, we can provide more sex education that works and
improve the support we offer to young people.
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