Responsibilities, tensions and ways forward: parents’ perspectives on children’s sexuality education

TLDR

Children’s sexuality education remains fraught with tensions and controversies, limiting access to adequate time, content, delivery, and responsible educators. The authors investigated parents’ perceptions of the relevance and importance of sexuality education for primary school children, their views on responsibility, and which topics should be addressed at home. The study surveyed 342 Australian parents of primary school‑aged children. Most parents considered sexuality education relevant and important and favored a collaborative family‑school approach, yet many noted that certain topics should be taught at home but are rarely addressed.

Abstract

Children's sexuality education continues to be plagued with tensions and controversies. In consequence, children's access to sexuality education is severely compromised, especially in terms of the time dedicated to this topic, the content addressed, how it is taught and by whom. Based on a study of 342 Australian parents of primary school aged children we explore: (i) parents' perceptions of the relevance and importance of sexuality education to their primary school aged children and the discourses that inform their perspectives; (ii) parents' views on who should be responsible for the sexuality education of young children; (iii) whether there are certain aspects of sexuality education considered more appropriate for the family to address with children; and (iv) what the implications of these findings are for sexuality education policy and practice in Australian primary schooling. Despite the controversial nature of the topic, the majority of parents in this study believed sexuality education was relevant and important to primary school children and that it should be a collaborative approach between families and schools. However, some parents/carers acknowledged that while that they believed that some topics should only be addressed at home they also indicated that this often does not happen.