Abstract:
Increasingly sexuality education teachers in Australian secondary schools are being drawn from the Physical Education (PE) discipline area. Many have little background in sexuality education, are concerned about parental backlash and are reluctant to cover some of the more sensitive socio-cultural issues with students, such as gender and violence, gender and sexual diversity, pleasure and desire. The reality is many PE teachers will end up teaching sexuality education without the undergraduate preparation to effectively cover the breadth necessary to provide the comprehensive, sex positive, socio-critical and inclusive approach outlined in new Heath and Physical Education curriculum guidelines (ACARA 2014). However, data collected from the first cohort of pre-service teachers (64) in a new integrated Health and Physical Education degree required to undertake intensive study in sexuality education, indicate that HPE teachers might just provide the answer to improving practice. The unit is taught in an intensive mode one day per week for 6 weeks and is modeled on an elective unit ‘Teaching sexuality education in the middle years', introduced to third year students in 2009. The unit draws on post-structural feminist underpinnings and is designed to build knowledge, skill and confidence in teaching sexuality education, shown to be important enablers for effective practice (Ollis 2013, Flood et al, 2009). It requires students to engage in a micro teaching activity that is inclusive of a range of students and issues that are often ignored in school based programs such as pleasure, masturbation, desire, culture, gender and sexual diversity. Data collected using pre-and post unit surveys, classroom observation and student assessment indicates that the gendered lens used to examine sexuality education in the unit; exploration of personal and professional discourses and subject positions in sexuality education, plus the assessment and opportunity to practice teaching sensitive issues has the potential to assist pre-service teachers to build a teaching framework, understanding, comfort and confidence that has the potential to broaden the approach to sexuality education in secondary schools.