'We've got a lack of family values': an examination of how teachers formulate and justify their approach to teaching sex and relationships education

Abbott, Keeley and Ellis, S.J. and Abbott, R. (2016) 'We've got a lack of family values': an examination of how teachers formulate and justify their approach to teaching sex and relationships education. Sex Education, 16 (6). pp. 1-14. ISSN 14681811 (ISSN)

Preview

Text 494.pdf - Accepted Version Download (573kB)

Abstract

Sex and Relationship Education (SRE) in England has been the focus of critical scrutiny on several occasions, but there has been little attention paid to how teachers formulate their provision, especially given their crucial role in determining what is taught in the classroom. While current policy suggests that provision should be inclusive of sexual diversity, it simultaneously gives educators the scope to determine the form this takes. This is an important issue given the substantial impact that teachers' views and discourses have on what is taught. Using a discourse analytical framework, this study sought to examine how teachers of SRE formulate and account for their provision, with a particular focus on how their assumptions about young people's sexual health needs underpin their actions. Initially, teachers sought to formulate their activities in terms of an overall ethos, providing legitimacy for the key elements of their programme being aligned with official government health promotion strategy, as opposed to other areas such as pleasure and diversity. This was supported by their constructions of young people, particularly young women and individuals from 'at risk' communities, as being particularly vulnerable. © 2016 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group

Item Type:	Article
Identification Number:	10.1080/14681811.2016.1169398
Dates:	Date Event 11 April 2016 Published Online 19 March 2016 Accepted
Uncontrolled Keywords:	curriculum, England, Sex education, teachers' justifications, young people, family, female, government, health promotion, human, human experiment, pleasure, sexual health, teacher, teaching
Subjects:	CAH22 - education and teaching > CAH22-01 - education and teaching > CAH22-01-01 - education
Divisions:	Faculty of Business, Law and Social Sciences > College of Psychology
Depositing User:	Users 18 not found.
Date Deposited:	15 Nov 2016 09:46
Last Modified:	11 Jun 2024 13:03
URI:	https://www.open-access.bcu.ac.uk/id/eprint/494

Actions (login required)

View Item