Most people, including children, have access to the Internet. Modern children usually encounter information of a sexual nature for the first time on the web quite early. The pictures presented there often shock the unprepared childish psyche and induce the wrong behavior. In general, the current generation, compared with the previous one, is characterized by an earlier start of the sexual life. As a result, the need for sex education in schools is extremely acute. The issue of sexual education is actively studied in Europe (Sweden, UK, Germany, and Israel) and the United States. Therefore, it is necessary to review the major foreign studies about the sex education of children and adolescents in order to identify the global trends in this domain.
Sex education standards have been developed in most European countries decades ago. For the first time, lessons on sex education became mandatory in Sweden in the middle of the 1950s. In the 1970s, the lessons were introduced in Germany Austria, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. In the 1980s, educating the young on sexual development became popular in the UK, France, Spain, Italy, and Portugal. In the 1990s, it appeared in Belgium, Greece, Latvia, Estonia, as well as Slovakia (1990s), and in 2003 in Ireland (Zimmerman, 2015). In general, the compulsory sex education is observed and implemented in almost all European countries. Only a few of the states still do not have this subject in the school curriculum.
Sweden was one of the first countries in the world that incorporated the sexual development lessons into the educational process. The Swedish researchers from Uppsala University conducted a survey on the content of sex education in the country. According to its results, most respondents noted that the topic of the development of the human body was well covered when they were studying (Carroll, 2016). However, several topics, such as rape, sexual harassment, abortion, emergency contraception, fertility, and pregnancy were not sufficiently disclosed in the lessons.
From the mid-1990s, sexual education in schools turned from a separate subject into a multidisciplinary theme, which was incorporated in biology, civics, and religion lessons. In grade 5, the students in a Swedish school know about reproduction, puberty, and maturation, in grade 9 – about sexuality, contraception, and sexually transmitted diseases (Lamb, 2013). Starting from the elementary level, sex education lessons are held in all public schools in Sweden. This discipline in the country’s schooling is aimed at encouraging students to reflect on the norms and values of modern society, as well as discussing various topics covering sexuality, reproduction, relationships.
The issue of sex education is also on the necessary level in the United Kingdom. British author, D. Kirby, argues that sex education should be aimed at reducing the manifestations of risky behavior (Carroll, 2016). Moreover, the approaches to learning should be diverse and depend on the age and cultural level of the student. In addition, proper sex education should include topics related to homosexuality. Homosexual students need lessons on their type of sexuality, which will teach them to cope with different life situations, as well as help to get rid of prejudices among their peers.
Learning about sexual development should begin early enough before puberty. Siobhan Freegard, the founder of the Netmums shared data from the forum. According to the forum poll, 89% of parents agree that modern children mature much earlier than those of previous generations do, and they are interested in sex before they are actually ready for this (Weale, 2015). Suitable for sexual education age depends on the physical, emotional, and intellectual development of young people. According to British researchers, at an early age, students can learn the basic information, which will serve as a foundation for more complex knowledge in the future. For example, teachers can talk about how people grow and change. In pre-adolescent age, students should learn information on the period of puberty, viruses that affect the human body, and sexually transmittable diseases. The British Government made the sex education obligatory in primary and secondary school and deprived parents of the right to prevent their children from attending the lessons after reaching 15 years of age. British government emphasizes that parents need to understand that sex education is safe, and it will not provoke their children to immoral behavior. In addition, it would have been more effective if parents talked with children about adolescence, sex, and relationships more. School and parents must work together to teach children to be critical consumers of the information provided in the modern media.
In Germany, sex education is included in the curriculum of the fourth grade of the general education school. The main themes of the lessons are body and health, physical differences between boys and girls, gender roles, friendship and love, pregnancy and childbirth, sexual needs, prevention of sexual violence, and cultural differences in perception of sex. The curriculum of the next grades is more complicated. Lessons include topics such as sexuality, sexual intercourse, homosexuality, reproductive systems of men and women, conception, human embryos, sexually transmitted diseases, contraception, and birth control (Haberland & Rogow, 2014). In Germany, many parents, especially Orthodox and Muslim believer families express concerns that the lessons can push children into immoral behavior. Teachers of German schools conduct conversations with the parents and acquaint them with the themes of upcoming lessons, with the content of the curriculum, thereby removing the unnecessary excitement surrounding the topic.
The issue of sex education in the schools of Israel is ambiguous. In 2012, religious schools in the country began to introduce a new subject called “Home, Education, and Family.” The students have been taught about contraception, premarital relationships, sexual abstinence, and the status of women. Moshe Weinstock, one of the initiators of the curriculum, noted that such ambiguous topics were first considered in the framework of religious education. Students began to discuss the issues of love, gender relations, and the use of contraceptives, which were previously regarded as taboo (Zimmerman, 2015). However, a year later, after the decision of the Israel Minister of Education on the censorship of textbooks for the course, lessons on sexual education were canceled in state religious schools. The situation aroused a dispute among the population of Israel. It showed its dissatisfaction with the interference of the religious organization in private life.
Researchers at Georgetown University believe that formal sex education should begin from 10 years of age. They emphasize that sexuality and sexual identity begin to form in children between the ages of 10 and 14. With the help of creating awareness programs suitable for each particular age, the unnecessary risk can be avoided by teaching students the rules of safe sex and sexual health. Fir instance, the majority of US schools begin sex education in grades 3 to 4. In the United States, the first sex education curriculum emerged in the 1940s. In the late 1960s, classes on sexual education began to be introduced into public schools. By the 1990s, about 93% of American public schools adopted the sex education curriculum (Weale, 2015). Contemporary educational curriculum is aimed at helping parents and children to talk about sex more openly.
If in some countries such as Sweden and the USA among others the subject of sex education has been included in the educational program for decades, in other countries such as Germany and Israel the issue still remains debatable. Despite the availability of the information in the media, some parents believe that the lessons on sexual topics will push their children to compromising behavior. Nevertheless, the basics of sex education are necessary to be provided to children before the beginning of the puberty period in order to prepare them for some more difficult topics over time.
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