The good teacher in the spotlight : Changing teacher ideals in the teaching of sexuality and relationships

• This paper is concerned with the construction of teacher ideals in the teaching of sexuality and relationships - an area wherethere are many, sometimes conflicting, expectations of teaching and of those who are expected to deliver it. According to theSwedish curriculum, everyone working in the school should start from a norm-conscious approach. This means that teachers may need to develop their teaching and that teachers may need to change their ways, for example in terms of critical self-reflection (Langmann & Månsson 2016). As a result, teachers and other educators who have adopted this approach toteaching about sexuality describe it as transformative in a number of ways (Bengtsson & Bolander 2020; Sherlock 2015).Relevant here is also research that highlights teachers' ideals in terms of desexualised heteronormativity (Reimers 2020).Conceptions of sexuality are thus linked to teachers' identities and roles more generally. For teachers in the area of sexuality and relationships, a further dimension emerges as sexuality is included as content. All in all, this means that this area toucheson issues related to both the professional and personal identity of the teacher and potentially generates specific teacherideals related to this.The empirical material consists of Swedish teacher's manuals on sexuality and relationships from 1956 to 2023. Theoreticallyand methodologically the study is carried out in a curriculum theory tradition and we specifically use Basil Bernstein's (1971/2003; 1990) code analysis to investigate how the language used in the teacher's manuals produces particular conceptions. Normative documents such as teacher's manuals are assumed, according to this kind of code analysis, to reflect three regulatory principles which determine through specific language use: 1) the meaning of an area of knowledge, 2)possible forms of realisation of the meaning of the field of knowledge, and 3) its place in particular educational contexts. This type of analysis makes it possible to identify not only how an area of knowledge takes shape over time but also how theteacher is expected to relate to it and build teacher identities.The results of the study indicate that there are recurring and relatively intact ideas about the role of teachers in terms ofpersonal and professional characteristics over time (1956-2023). In parallel with this continuity, new ideals emerge and shiftover time. These shifts tend to be associated with changes in emphasis in teacher manuals. For example, the emphasis onco-existence and pluralism in the 1977 guidelines both implicitly and explicitly called for a change in teacher ideals.The study contributes to the growing body of research on the teaching of sexuality and relationships in the Nordic countries.Further it is a contribution to research on the idealised image of teachers' professional and personal qualities (Furuhagen etal. 2019; Rusu et al. 2012). In sum, we can contribute with knowledge of the conditions for teaching complex issues such assexuality and relationships in the light of changing normative conceptions of the teacher as a role model and a moral example.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Utbildningsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Educational Sciences (hsv//eng)

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