Unlocking the Potential of Comprehensive Sexuality Education in Upper Primary Schools

Abstract

Sexual education has been a topic of great debate and controversy for decades. While some argue that it is essential for young people to learn about it in order to make informed decisions about their bodies and relationships, others believe that discussing it at school is inappropriate and goes against traditional values. Despite these differences in opinion, there is a growing recognition that comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) can play a critical role in pupils' lives, such as reducing rates of sexually transmitted infections or unwanted pregnancies, healthy relationships, and addressing issues related to gender and sexuality. However, there is still no consensus about the best way to implement it. Therefore, this dissertation focuses on CSE, describing the main topics to work on and exploring the benefits and challenges of putting it into practice. The objectives of this research is to propose an educational project that promotes healthy sexual development while it also explores the current level of youth. To do this, a review of the relevant literature was conducted along with consideration of the opinions of various experts and 139 participants who attended primary school in Catalonia more than ten years ago. The results show agreement among experts on the importance of applying CSE in ways that go beyond biology and include the entirety of sexual life. The survey of people in their twenties showed that sexual education in the past decades did not achieve this. The final proposal that resulted from this research is a series of activities designed to implement CSE the fifth and sixth primary education grades.