A Qualitative Assessment of Australian Teacher’s & Parent’s Perceptions of Sexuality Education & Communication - Linda Berne & Judith Peppard

Nineteen focus groups were conducted with Australian parents and teachers of secondary students about important messages they give at home and school regarding sexual behavior and sexual responsibility. Using secondary schools as the unit of measure and selecting schools corresponding with Australian demographics. 19 state, church and private schools were selected within 250k of Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney. The focus groups included 2S7 parents and teachers.

Parents indicated that sexuality is an important pan of their children’s ljves and they want their own children to be better informed than they were as adolescents, They believe it is both unethical and futile to try to dictate the sexual decisions of their children; instead they strive to provide their children with the knowledge and skills to make informed choices. Both fathers and mothers dearly value sex within relationships over casual sex, and encourage their children to protect themselves and others when engaging in sexual behavior. They expressed appreciation of school sexuality education programs and said they made it easier to talk about sex at home. There was strong support for safer sex messages in schools and in media. Most opposed abstinence until marriage messages, explaining not only why they wouldn’t work but what consequences could be expected.

Australian teacher responses were similar to parent messages, but were more cautionary and expressed with a curricular focus. Nine messages were consistently given in Australian schools Including strong support for protection of self and others, being responsible for ones actions and their consequences, and operating from a basis of complete knowledge and clarity of one’s values. Most Australian teachers also opposed providing abstinence only messages in the schools suggesting it would be a waste of money.