Sensoa, the Flemish expertise centre for sexual health, has launched four new guidelines for teachers. These are designed to help teachers so they know what sex education they can give at what age. "It is important to be well-timed with information," says Wannes Magits, youth policy officer at Sensoa.
Is it appropriate for a nine-year-old pupil to know what menstruation is? From what age should I prepare a pupil for puberty? And what about pupils with mental disabilities? These are a handful of questions that teachers are confronted with on a daily basis.
That is why Sensoa, the Flemish expertise centre for sexual health, developed four new guidelines: two for primary education and two for secondary education, each for regular and special needs education.
"These curricula are a guide for teachers who sometimes do not know exactly what they can say to their pupils, what they are ready for and with which guidance they might come too early or too late," Wannes Magits, youth policy officer at Sensoa, says.
"For example, you are teaching 12- to 14-year-olds. We know that a small fraction of these 14-year-olds have already had sex. Then it's important at that age to provide information about safe sex. We try to be ahead of the age where the behaviour sets in and respond to the questions young people have."
Learning objectives for 12- to 14-year-old first grade pupils in the secondary school curriculum:
Young people know how their bodies change in puberty: hair growth, hormones, sexual characteristics, menstruation, ejaculation.
Young people know how pregnancy occurs and how to recognise pregnancy.
Young people can talk about the emotions associated with puberty.
Some children engage with their sexuality earlier than others. So how do you decide which guideline is the right one? "I think the teacher is best placed to make that assessment. There are classes that are engaged with sexuality much earlier, or that feel a certain peer pressure. It's important to start sexual and relationship education a bit earlier there. But it is an assessment that each school, class or teacher has to make for themselves. They know the pupils best."
For now, what Sensoa is proposing remains purely informative. "It is not an obligation," says Magits. "It is not fixed in a curriculum, but we do refer to educational objectives. Unlike the attainment targets, our guidelines are based on developmental psychological research. The guidelines can help give some concrete substance to those goals, which are often vaguely formulated."