Sex Education & Schools: Getting Started
Sex education in schools is different than sexuality education at home. And for good reason.
Young people spend a majority of their day in a school setting, and in many ways, this makes it an avenue to provide equitable access to sexuality education to all kids. Sex education in schools should be inclusive and comprehensive, meet all youth’s needs, and respect the diversity of every student’s family, including a wide variety of cultures, identities, and value systems. Healthy sexuality is related to our self-esteem and emotions, our relationships, and our understanding of respect, boundaries, and consent. Sex ed should be taught in schools just like social, emotional, and physical health.
There is overwhelming public support for medically accurate and age appropriate sexuality education in schools. (13). School-based, comprehensive, and inclusive sexuality education is critical for student’s health and overall wellbeing. To be able to provide this, schools must have Policies, Practices, and Programs that support high quality and effective sexuality education.
Policies
Sexual health education policies are created at both the state level and the district level. They allow for (or restrict) a greater range of topics, and more inclusive curricula to be introduced into the classroom.
Curious what your school or district should be teaching? The evidence-informed National Sexuality Education Standards outlines what youth should know by the end of each grade level. View the Sex Education Standards, developed by the Future of Sex Education, here.
If you’re curious about your local school or district’s sexuality education policy, we encourage you to do some research at SIECUS, who has done a lot of the ground work in creating and maintaining state policy profiles. And, if you’re looking for ways to support comprehensive sexuality education in your community, use SIECUS’s Community Action Toolkit.
Practices
Virtually no teachers who are assigned to teach sexuality education are provided specialized training. It is essential that sexuality education teachers are provided rigorous training and professional development, both before they enter their profession and as they continue to teach. This ensures they are providing high quality sexuality education in ways that affirm every student at each school. There are some great resources for professional development:
Professional Learning Standards for Sexuality Education - Developed by the Sex Education Collaborative review foundational knowledge and skills necessary for effective sexuality education. They also provide trainings.
Answer - has a suite of online courses to support professional development.
Contact Talk More if you’re interested in learning more about training for sexuality educators.
Programs
Sexuality education programs should be medically accurate, age-appropriate, inclusive of all people, and comprehensive in content. This means they should include everything from diverse family structures to setting boundaries and consent, to sexuality and media, and contraceptive methods. Some programs that meet this criteria and are easy to access for educators are below:
If you’re looking to evaluate the effectiveness of a program that is used in your community, consider reviewing the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s evidence based approach to health education programs.
If your school or district is looking for technical assistance in reviewing sexual health education policies, curriculum selection, or staff training in effective practices in sexuality education, please contact Talk More.