Resum
Objectives: Although sex and relationship education
(SRE) represents a key strand in policies to safeguard
young people and improve their sexual health, it
currently lacks statutory status, government guidance
is outdated and a third of UK schools has poor-quality
SRE. We aimed to investigate whether current
provision meets young people’s needs.
Design: Synthesis of qualitative studies of young
people’s views of their school-based SRE.
Setting: Eligible studies originated from the UK,
Ireland, the USA, Australia, New Zealand, Canada,
Japan, Iran, Brazil and Sweden.
Participants: Studies of students aged 4–19 in fulltime
education, young adults =19 (not necessarily in
full-time education) or adults =25 if recalling their
experiences of school-based SRE.
Results: –69 publications were identified, with 55
remaining after quality appraisal (representing 48
studies). The synthesis found that although sex is a
potent and potentially embarrassing topic, schools
appear reluctant to acknowledge this and attempt to
teach SRE in the same way as other subjects. Young
people report feeling vulnerable in SRE, with young
men anxious to conceal sexual ignorance and young
women risking sexual harassment if they participate.
Schools appear to have difficulty accepting that some
young people are sexually active, leading to SRE that is
out of touch with many young people’s lives. Young
people report that SRE can be negative, gendered and
heterosexist. They expressed dislike of their own
teachers delivering SRE due to blurred boundaries, lack
of anonymity, embarrassment and poor training.
Conclusions: SRE should be ‘sex-positive’ and
delivered by experts who maintain clear boundaries
with students. Schools should acknowledge that sex is
a special subject with unique challenges, as well as the
fact and range of young people’s sexual activity,
otherwise young people will continue to disengage
from SRE and opportunities for safeguarding and
improving their sexual health will be reduced.