Although there is an increasing body of evidence underpinning arguments about the need for in-

curriculum sexuality education programmes and their effectiveness in improving knowledge and

some reported behaviors, there is less clarity about how to implement these programmes and how

to scale them up in diverse contexts. Good quality sexuality education needs to be delivered at

scale on a sustained basis to make a significant impact, and it needs to become institutionalized

within national systems of education. Sexuality education offers protection against unintended

pregnancy and prevents sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including HIV and AIDS. These

are the key health outcomes on which many programmes are focused. However, if taught

appropriately, curriculum-based sexuality education can also help young people to develop

communication skills, as well as enhancing their self-esteem and capacities in making decisions.

It can also help them to forge positive and equitable relationships. In this write up, sexuality

education will be defined.

Sexuality education is a lifelong process of acquiring information and forming attitudes, beliefs,

and values. It encompasses sexual development, sexual and reproductive health, interpersonal

relationships, affection, intimacy, body image, and gender roles. It involves a comprehensive

course of action by the school, calculated to bring about the socially desirable attitudes, practices

and personal conduct on the part of children and adults that will best protect the individual as a

human and the family as a social institution (Kearney, 2008). Sexuality is a central aspect of being

human throughout life and encompasses sex, gender identities and roles, sexual orientation,

eroticism, pleasure, intimacy and reproduction. Sexuality is experienced and expressed in

thoughts, fantasies, desires, beliefs, attitudes, values, behaviours, practices, roles and relationships.

While sexuality can include all of these dimensions, not all of them are always experienced or
expressed. Sexuality is influenced by the interaction of biological, psychological, social,

economic, political, cultural, ethical, legal, historical, religious and spiritual factors (WHO, 2000).

Implementing sexuality education requires curricular change and more participatory pedagogic

methods, which are often new to the modus operandi of educational systems. Teaching sexuality

education is challenging for teachers, since it requires imparting skills and values as well as

knowledge. During my Teaching Practice I faced problems during execution of these lessons.

These were, curriculum presentation, culture (values and norms, religion), discomfort during

teaching, lack of training, parental reactions and lack of their support and also lack of resources.

Four of these will be explained.

During my Teaching Practice, the way the curriculum is developed was a challenge to implement

to the real class as some of the staff were hard to implement in real world. These may be due to

lack of resources, age of learners and the society around. While sex education curricula are

developed and evaluated under ideal conditions, their implementation occurs in real-world settings

in which the conditions such as location, programme exposure and student exposure, vary.

Anecdotal reports suggest that many community organizations adapt curricula presenting a

challenge, because for science-based programmes to maintain their effectiveness, adaptations need

to be made without compromising the core content, pedagogy, or implementation.” (Ott et al.,

2011, p. 170). It was still unclear for who were the main responsible person in school. Should that

be health education teacher? Or should it be guidance teacher?

Sexuality education is an area imbued with moral values and judgements, since it addresses one

of the most sensitive aspects of human experience – sexuality. Teaching about sexuality to young

people before marriage is acutely sensitive in many cultures. Teachers tend to treat sexuality as a
cognitive subject or behaviour rather than viewing sexuality as part of the construction of personal

identity. Moreover, teachers have difficulty fostering personal autonomy among students and often

prescribe their own or other ‘established’ values and norms concerning sexuality and sexual

relationships. Certain issues continue to be sensitive, including premarital sex and abstinence,

contraception and emergency contraception, sexual diversity and the provision of condoms in

school settings for HIV prevention. Cultural and religious views together with the attitude of the

society posed challenges in the teaching of sexuality education. This hindered me from

successfully executing the topics of sexuality education. Sexuality education should focus on

moral and religious issues, aligned with (Dever and Falconer 2008) who state that religious

education improves the moral character of learners and controls negative influences from society.

Although religion is a fundamental part of the lives of many learners, religious institutions, as well

as schools, should keep abreast with changes in society. It is difficult for most teachers with a

strong religious conscience to approach sexuality education without drawing on this background,

and with it the associated feelings of guilt. (Wood 2008) reported that we are all shaped by our

culture (and religion) and life experiences, and that our behaviour is determined by what we were

taught. This is a challenge because teachers teach from the perspectives of their own social class

affiliation (Beyers, 2011). If adults communicate effectively, learners should receive the message

that sexuality is not necessarily sex, but that it includes issues such as intimacy, sensuality and

physical needs. The studies of Francis (2010) and Rooth (2005) also asserted that it should be the

responsibility of parents and parents alone to teach their children about sex. This may be a

reflection on their own feelings of inadequacy to teach these sensitive topics. This attitude may

furthermore hinder their effectiveness as sexual role models, as they do not want to share the

responsibility. (Masinga 2009) elaborated on what causes teachers to prevent themselves from
talking openly about sexual matters to learners in that they lack knowing themselves as a means

to understanding their prejudices and outlooks in order to be better teachers.

One obstacle to achieving impact was teachers’ evident discomfort with discussing condoms. The

syllabus did not provide any formal guidance on the discussion of condoms in the classroom, but

did allow that teachers had a responsibility to answer pupils’ questions on sexuality and health

issues. This led to a compromise whereby teachers did not plan lesson material to teach about

condoms but could provide factual information when asked by students. Many of the topics involve

discussions on sex, puberty, HIV and AIDS. Personally, I become very uncomfortable discussing

such topics with children. Though I know how important they were for them to be exposed to such

information at that age, it still caused great concern for me. Once I tried discussing sexual abuse

and there was a child who had experienced an incestuous attack from her step dad and she had to

be counselled. So most times I just had to avoid such discussions.

Lack of resources was a major challenge. Another challenge for me was lack of technological

resources to boost sex education classes so as to make use of power points, videos, pictures.

Students at that age are always fascinated by some form of technology. Maybe that would have

made them and also me less uncomfortable with the topic. According to a research by (Emmanuel,

2015), “children are becoming more and more aware of technological devices. Those same devices

could be used as learning tools to teach this theme.” I think a separate curriculum guide should be

provided by the Ministry of Education in this area complete with a list of websites, CD and

workbook with various activities. This would really help with an age-appropriate breakdown of

the topics.
In conclusion, Since the findings of this write are similar to those espoused in international and

local literature relating to other teachers’ challenges regarding the teaching of sexuality and sexual

health education, it is important that they be considered when determining strategies that may help

to alleviate these challenges. These challenges are also supported by a number of authors for

example (Francis 2010) who concluded that lack of parental support was a hindrance for teachers

in implementing sexuality and sexual health education. These concerns were found to be in closely

related to findings in the literature which suggests that this phenomenon does not only exist only

in the Zimbabwe, but globally as well.

References

Beyers, C. (2011). Sexuality education in South Africa: a sociocultural perspective. 192-209.

Dever, M & Falconer, R. (2008). Foundation and change in early childhood education. United

Kingdom: John Wiley & Sons

Francis, D. A. (2010) Sexuality education in South Africa: Three essential questions. International

Journal of Educational Development, 30(3), 314–319. Retrieved from

http://dx.doi.org.ezproxygateway.sastudents.uwi.tt:2048/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2009.12.003

Kearney, M. S. (2008). Teen pregnancy prevention as an anti-poverty intervention: A review of

the evidence. University of Maryland Research Papers.

Masinga, L. (2009). An African teacher„s journey to self-knowledge through teaching sexuality

education. In Making Connections: Self-study and Social Action. New York: Peter Lang

Rooth, E. (2005). Investigation of the status and practice of Life Orientation in South African

Schools in two provinces. (Unpublished PhD thesis). Cape Town: University of the

Western Cape.

World Health Organization (2000). Sexual and reproductive health. Retrieved on 24/09/2019

from http://www.who.int/reproductivehealth/topics/sexual_health/sh_definitions/en/