Typically, proper condom use isn’t discussed after
a history lesson, and—in most high schools—you won’t see teachers
following up a math quiz with a brief discussion on sexuality.
This could be an ideal situation—sex being talked about with such
ease that it wouldn’t be out of place to discuss pregnancy options after
having a lesson with a teacher you’ve known since middle school.
If that was the case, the issue at hand would be much less
important. Maybe then, we wouldn’t be reporting statistics like Quebec’s
159 per cent increase in chlamydia cases over the past 13 years.
That’s not what’s happening, however.
Since the 2005 education reform put in place by Jean Charest’s
Liberal government, curriculum changes have pushed sexual education from
something discussed in health class to something that can easily be
eliminated by teachers who don’t include it in their lesson plan—whether
that’s because they’re receiving hardly any instruction on how to teach
it, because they don’t feel the need to or simply because there isn’t
the time.
“The idea is that every teacher from math to science should
integrate sex ed into their classes,” said Juniper Belshaw. “What
happens is that teachers are often not trained and might not feel
comfortable talking about sex.”
Belshaw is the fundraising and development coordinator at Head and Hands, an
NDG-based not-for-profit group that aims to promote the physical and mental wellbeing of youth.
Youth Teaching Youth
Head and Hands started their Sense Project in order to prevent sex
education from slipping through the cracks of the often-vague high
school curriculum since the education reform.
A peer-based sex ed program geared towards informing youth to make
empowering decisions about sexual health, they target 14- to
17-year-olds—not only in school, but in group homes and community
centres as well.
“I think back to my sex ed growing up in BC, which sort of felt
similar to [the current Quebec system], where in biology class our
teacher called blowjobs something like, ‘kissy-wissies,’” said Belshaw.
“Some teachers […] feel comfortable talking about it—but the vast
majority don’t. So that’s where we get this gap, where students aren’t
getting sex ed, or they’re not getting comprehensive sex ed or they
aren’t getting sex ed at all.”
It’s that exact variability that makes sex educators, health practitioners and parents nervous.
The reality is that it’s entirely possible youth are receiving
proper teaching on things like contraceptives, consent and sexually
transmitted infections, but it’s still likely that they aren’t. When
considering the states, it’s an all too uncertain of a risk to take.
“It’s a real public health issue,” said Belshaw. “Some youth are growing up thinking that there’s a cure for
AIDS
and when youth don’t know how to properly use a condom, those are
issues. It’s really important to empower youth when they’re young to
make informed decisions.”
Whose decision it is to make sure this happens is a sort of grey
area, especially through the current system where no regulation exists
to say who should teach what, or when.
“We use harm-reduction at Head and Hands, which is the idea that you
meet people where they’re at,” said Belshaw, explaining that reducing
harmful consequences related with risky behaviour is their priority,
rather than trying to stop any and all behaviours that could lead to
harm.
“I kind of think about sex ed in Quebec in the same way, I think
that it’s better if kids get some education. I think if the teacher’s
willing to do that then that’s rad, and if it’s another community
organization that does it, that’s also rad,” she said.
“The Liberal government was talking about bringing sex ed back in a
more real way and we would love to have a say in that process if the
government was to decide to make sex ed a priority again—which we think
it should.”
Teachers Teaching Teachers
One of the major difficulties since the reform—other than making
sure teachers are, in fact, incorporating sex ed into the curriculum—has
been making sure that teachers are qualified and comfortable doing so.
While external organizations, like the Sense Project, can come into
schools to teach, it’s easier to reach more classrooms if teachers are
following what the reform called for.
Formulating a sex ed curriculum that’s able to be incorporated into
every class from biology to religion isn’t simple. The Teachers’
Toolkit, made by
AIDS Community Care Montreal, helps teachers to do just that.
By having a database of comprehensive lesson plans, the toolkit
offers teachers a way to educate themselves, and in turn become
resources in sexual education for their students.
“It was actually quite difficult to picture what sexual health
education would look like after the reform since the change really was
put on us on teachers,” said Kimberly Wong,
HIV educator at
ACCM, the organization who started the toolkit after the reform.
“Ideally, sex ed would be taught in the classroom by individuals who
specialize in the subject so that students can get accurate and
up-to-date information.”
Quebec has one of the highest rates of denominational schools per
capita in the country, another factor that comes into play when ensuring
each and every student has access to the same comprehensive sexual
education, no matter what their school or background.
“It really depends on the staff and administration at each
individual school,” said Wong. “There are ways to integrate sex ed in
the classroom of these schools and I think the lesson plans in our
Ethics and Religious Culture section are great examples of how to do
so.”
Those lessons include chapters like first romantic and sexual
relationships, myths about sexual violence, and pregnancy options,
highlighting things like dispelling common myths associated with sexual
practices.
“It’s really difficult to know what direction sex education will
take in the future,” she said. “I think what’s most important is
providing teachers and schools the tools they need to be able to teach
sex ed comfortably in the present.”
Women hold up half the sky
