Relations, Values and Sex Education : Changes and challenges in school curricula and the Swedish political context 2014

• Relations, values and sex education: Changes and challenges in school curricula and the Swedish political context 2014. The government and the Swedish National Agency for Education have initiated research and also educational initiatives on gender equality, anti-discrimination laws, diversity in relation to sex education. In cooperation with the Swedish National Agency for Education we have developed syllabuses and organized short term courses at Malmö University, Sweden, around “Honor-related violence and oppression” and “Sexuality education, relations and values” for mainly headmasters, teachers, students, nurses and counselors working in schools . In light of these experiences we see a great need for developing a knowledge area in social studies on relations and sex education with norm critical perspectives and honour-related problems for compulsory school as well as for higher education. On basis of course evaluations we have found that the most valued content is education around norm critical perspectives and identities. This is most important in the Swedish diverse classrooms of today. We have initiated a research project with the aim of addressing relations, values and sex education in different schools subjects, such as social studies. Useful theoretical perspectives focus on body, gender, diversity, power, equality, othering and culturalization, as well as inclusion, exclusion, co-existence, democray and marginalization. One important outcome, as we see it, is to develop a research based knowledge area grounded in an ethical awareness and sensitiveness in social studies. In addition to developing this knowledge area, the project strives to highlight good experiences/best practices from teachers and schools that have worked with these issues. Preliminary results from evaluation sheets and questionnaires will be analyzed and discussed in this paper.

Keyword

Sex Education

gender

diversity

young people

school curricula

Sweden

political context

Publication and Content Type

vet (subject category)

kon (subject category)