Sexual Health Education in the Context of Quebec Educational Reform

Sexual health is a state that will influence each individual at one point in his or her life regardless of its manifestation. Individuals could experience sexually transmitted infections, pregnancy, self-esteem related problems or harassment. This study looked at the experiences of both educators and students as they adjust to Quebec curricular reforms in the context of sexual health education. Interviews were conducted with six educators and six students in a private school in Quebec. Findings from the interviews implicated a general unawareness among educators concerning the sexual health education reforms and indicated a need for greater support in their implementation. Furthermore, findings indicated that students are an important source of information concerning sexual health education and could provide invaluable suggestions concerning its implementation. Running Head: SEXUAL HEALTH EDUCATION 40 Sexual health education in the context of curricular reform in Quebec: Perspectives from the field For as long as young people have been sexually active there has been great debate over what should be done about adolescent sexuality. According to a recent article reporting trends in sexual behaviours in Quebec, in 2005 58% of teens (aged 15-19) in the province of Quebec had reported engaging in sexual intercourse already (Rotermann, 2008). Rotermann (2008) goes on to highlight that this value is significantly higher than the rest of Canada. Sexually active teenagers seem to be at an elevated risk for a plethora of troubling, dangerous and stigmatized health outcomes such as teen pregnancy, abortion and sexually transmitted infections (STI’s). Rates of Chlamydia and gonorrhoea are increasing among Canadians (Maticka-Tyndale, 2001). In Quebec in 2007, 65% of all Chlamydia cases were seen in young people between the ages of 15 and 24 (Lambert, Ringuette & Minzunza, 2008). A recent statistical trend analysis of STI patterns in Quebec indicates that despite a dip in incidence rates in the 1990’s they have been steadily increasing since 1997 (Lambert, Ringuette & Minzunza, 2008). This survey discovered that a substantial percentage of young people, 15% of boys and 18% of girls respectively, had not used a condom during their first sexual encounter, or their most recent. Furthermore, approximately 6% of 16-year-old girls who participated had experienced a pregnancy at some point in their adolescence (Duquet, 2003). All three of these outcomes, teen pregnancy, abortion and contracting STI’s remain highly Running Head: SEXUAL HEALTH EDUCATION 41 stigmatized by many Canadians. Nonetheless, while these numbers may seem low to some, they indicate that there is still a great deal of room for improvement. In addition to the growing problems of STI’s and teen pregnancy there are also a number of outcomes related to an individual’s sexual development, sexuality and general well-being such as self esteem, body image and bullying. Harjunen (2003) notes that it appears to be in school where girls begin to be taught “the boundaries of an acceptable or ideal female body” (pp. 90). To this end, Janssen, Craig, Boyce and Pickett (2004) demonstrate that school-aged children with higher body mass indexes (BMI) are more likely to be both perpetrators and victims of bullying including name-calling and sexual harassment. What is more, a study looking at the psychological and sociocultural predictors of two aspects comprising body image, body esteem and figure discrepancy, in young girls found that those with higher BMI’s were more likely to internalize idealistic images often resulting in a lower self esteem (Clark & Tiggemann, 2008). Research has also suggested that interventions should address how media images influence youth ideals because both girls’ and boys’ selfesteem and body image have been negatively associated with the numerous images of popular cultures version of beauty and strength that are present in the media today. (Polce-Lynch, Myers, Kliewer & Kilmartin, 2001). Furthermore, Lehtonen (2003) explains that the interactions between the students, including those instances of name-calling, aid in the formation of a youth’s understanding of gender and sexuality (pp. 207). Research conducted in North Carolina Running Head: SEXUAL HEALTH EDUCATION 42 indicated that homophobic name-calling was reported as being heard frequently by nearly 70% of their students (Phoenix et al., 2006). Stader and Graca (2007) continue by pointing out that homophobic bullying is often associated with negative consequences such as poor grades and feelings of being unsafe at the school. These outcomes as well as those more intuitively associated with youth sexuality elucidate the importance of sexual health education for youth. Despite the evidence for the need for sex and sexuality education, how and whether it is offered to youth generally remains a contentious issue, suggesting that it needs more careful study in Canada. The discourse surrounding sex and sexuality is complicated at any age; however, discussing it with youth within the formal context of an educational institution can be especially problematic. Furthermore, talking about sexuality and, particularly, sex with youth is conventionally considered taboo. The shift in cultural acceptance of certain phenomena such as young women becoming pregnant is fascinating. Maticka-Tyndale (2001) notes that society tends to “postpone entry into adult status and prolong adolescence” and that these developments are social in nature and not biological (pp.2). Historically, “adolescence” has been a stage in which youth have progressed through more rapidly and in many cultures, childbearing during this phase is culturally and socially acceptable. However, in the Canadian context occurrences such as these are disapproved of both socially and culturally. The taboo status of adolescent sex and sexuality in Canada is problematic in that it often makes educating these youth concerning their biological development very difficult (Maticka-Tyndale, 2001). In light of these problems, this study Running Head: SEXUAL HEALTH EDUCATION 43 seeks to explore the sexual education experiences of educators and youth in the context of recent educational reforms in Quebec. Curricular reforms in Quebec Recently, the Quebec Education Program initiated a reform in their curriculum. This reform affected a number of subject areas including sexual health education, the primary concern of this analysis. The Sexual Health Education Reform document is intended for the entire school community including teachers, complementary education providers as well as individuals in other departments such as Health and Social Services (Duquet, 2003). There have been a number of changes within the Quebec education system in the last decade. Of primary concern to this section however is the means in which the recent reforms have influenced the delivery of sexual health education to Quebec youth. Traditionally, sexual health education has been a part of the Personal and Social Education program within the Quebec school curriculum (Duquet, 2003). As a part of this program, students were required to take approximately 25 hours of sexual health education throughout secondary school. However, the Personal and Social Education program has been gradually eliminated throughout the past decade in favour of a renewed focus on what are considered more fundamental competencies such as language, science and technology (Duquet, 2003). Therefore, formal sexual health education classes will no longer be a part of the school curriculum despite the fact that the Ministry of Education holds that personal development remains an important goal of education. Instead of a formal course taught by an individual educator, sexual Running Head: SEXUAL HEALTH EDUCATION 44 health will become integrated into multiple disciplines and become the responsibility of an entire community of educators and administrators (Duquet, 2003; Inchauspe et al., 1997). Quebec’s Ministry of Education refers to this approach as resultant of an overall approach emphasizing cross-curricular learning. What still is unknown however is how this approach will shape the delivery of sexual health education in actual schools. Sexual health education is an extremely important subject that must be included in order to help adolescents develop into sexually healthy adults. Not only must we educate youth on how to protect themselves from sexually transmitted infections and unwanted pregnancy but also educate them on how to develop positive sexual identities and tolerance of differences between ideologies. The Sex Education in the context of Education Reform document is the foundation for the delivery of sex education within the context of curricular reform in Quebec. Therefore, it is essential for research to look closely at strategies aimed at improving the implementation of these topics because if the proposed strategies are ineffective it is important to look for alternatives. Similarly, however, if these strategies are successful it is also critical that the mandate for sex education be more greatly enforced. With this is mind, this study looked at how Quebec curricular reform and its impact on sexual health education are being experienced by educators and students in a secondary private school. This study is important in that it looks at a number of different aspects of the implementation of the reform and attempts to understand better the circumstances that will either help or hinder its success. In Running Head: SEXUAL HEALTH EDUCATION 45 order to comprehend the impact of educational reform on sexual health education in Quebec, the purpose of this study was to better understand the individual experiences of those directly involved with curricular health reform in Quebec. A more clear understanding of these experiences could be used in order to continue improving the delivery of comprehensive sexual health educ