Sexuality Education

INTRODUCTION

Sexuality Education in schools is about enabling students to:

• understand the physiological, social and emotional changes they experience as they mature;
• develop healthy and rewarding relationships including those with members of the opposite sex; and
• make wise, informed and responsible decisions on sexuality matters.

Sexuality Education covers the following dimensions of a person’s sexuality:

• Physical: Physical sexual maturation and intimacy, the physiology of sex and human reproduction;
• Emotional: Sexual attitudes and feelings towards self and others;
• Social: Sexual norms and behaviour and their legal, cultural and societal implications; and
• Ethical: Values and moral systems related to sexuality.

GOALS OF SEXUALITY EDUCATION 

To help students make wise, responsible and informed decisions through the provision of accurate, current and age-appropriate knowledge on human sexuality and the consequences of sexual activity;

To help students know themselves and build healthy and rewarding relationships through the acquisition of social and emotional skills of self-awareness, management of their thoughts, feelings and behaviours, development of empathy for others, possession of effective communication, problem-solving and decision-making skills; and

To help students develop a moral compass, respect for themselves and for others as sexual beings, premised on the heterosexual married couple forming a nuclear family as the basic unit of society, through the inculcation of positive mainstream values and attitudes about sexuality.

Conceptual Framework for Sexuality Education

The model comprises three components:

The child at the centre highlights the child-centric aims of Sexuality Education. Sexuality Education helps our children love and respect themselves, build positive relationships with others, and be equipped to make wise, informed and responsible decisions in sexuality matters. These aims are anchored on the key values of Love, Respect and Responsibility.

1. The themes in the outer ring encapsulate what is essential in our Sexuality Education curriculum, namely, Human Development, Interpersonal Relationships, Sexual Health, Sexual Behaviour, and Culture, Society and Law. The requisite knowledge, skills and attitudes that show love, respect and responsibility will undergird each theme.
2. The triangle enfolding the child and themes for Sexuality Education represents the tripartite relationship between the home, school and community. For Sexuality Education to be effective, it requires (i) parent-ownership and quality parent-child communication in the Home; (ii) supportive school leadership and a team of specially selected and trained teachers in the School; and (iii) partnerships with relevant expertise from the Community.

THE GROWING YEARS PROGRAMME

The GY programme is developmental and spiral in nature, beginning at the Primary 5 through to the Junior College or Centralised Institute levels. The programme provides for the developmental needs of students at the different stages or levels.  Themes covered at each stage are revisited and discussed in a greater depth at the next higher stage.