ERIC Number: EJ1436493
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2024
Pages: 15
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1468-1811
EISSN: EISSN-1472-0825
Navigating with Pre-Teenage Children for Sexuality Education
Sex Education: Sexuality, Society and Learning, v24 n5 p602-616 2024
Sexuality education is important for children's well-being, peer relationships and safety, yet pre-teenagers and their diverse experiences have remained largely overlooked within the field. In Finland, the national curriculum obliges schools to prevent sexual harassment and homo- and transphobic violence, to provide knowledge on gender diversity, and to support children and youth in developing their sexuality and gender identities. However, there are severe deficiencies in sexuality education that reinforce heteronormativity and leave pre-teenage children to cope with the pressures of normative cultures on their own. Drawing on our creative praxis with Northern-Finnish pre-teenage schoolchildren aged 10-13 years, we explore the ways in which pre-teenagers' knowledge of age, sexuality and gender, including their diversity, are negotiated and how pre-teenagers disseminate this knowledge to their peers. We also analyse pre-teenagers' political expression with respect to non-normative genders and sexualities via our arts-based Friendship Workshops. Based on our analysis, we discuss ways in which to develop sexuality education that takes into account pre-teenage children, their diversity, and their safety.
Descriptors: Sex Education, Sexuality, Early Adolescents, Knowledge Level, Sex, Diversity, Sexual Identity, Political Influences, Foreign Countries, Workshops, Grade 5, Grade 6, Elementary School Students, Student Attitudes
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Elementary Education; Grade 5; Intermediate Grades; Middle Schools; Grade 6
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Finland
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A