SEX EDUCATION IN SCHOOLS - Fullstudy
SEX EDUCATION IN SCHOOLS - Fullstudy
SEX EDUCATION IN SCHOOLS - Fullstudy
In December 2012, the Philippine government passed a landmark law called the
Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act of 2012, also known as the Reproductive
Health (RH) Act. This act provides for government funding for contraceptives and sex education
in the public school curriculum. According to this bill, sex education should be age-appropriate
and be taught to students ranging from ages 10 to 19. The RH Act also provides for subsidized
contraceptives, which will be stocked at government health centers and be made available to the
poor.
Even though the bill is now a law, the government is faced with fierce opposition to this
act and its implementation. One of its strongest opponents is the Catholic Church. The Catholic
Church believes that sex education in the school system will, among other things, promote
promiscuity. Promiscuity and sex outside of marriage go directly against the core values of the
Catholic belief system. Regardless, the bill was passed and the government attempts to decouple
the act from the religious grip that is still pervasive and preventing it from getting implemented.
I did my research on one of the important aspects of the RH Act --- sex education. I
wanted to find out what are the perceptions/attitudes of the students, the parents, and the teachers
of sex education in public high schools. I believe it is important to find out what they believe and
if they believe it is important and beneficial to them. Hence, my research was focused on the
perceptions/attitudes of the students, the parents, and the teachers towards sex education in
public high schools. The absence of research on the perceptions of the necessity and benefits of
sex education in public high schools is what convinced me that research on this topic is
Sex Education in the Schools 4
necessary.
Two different forms of sex education are described --- the Comprehensive Sex Education
encompasses a wide-ranging and multi-faceted debate on whether sex education should be taught
as early as the primary school up until high school. It is a rights-based and gender-equitable
educational form of sexuality, gender, sexual and reproductive health, and sexual behavior. It
highlights the notion that sexuality plays an important role in personal development, and it
empowers young people to make autonomous and informed decisions, without undermining the
idea that young sexual desire is natural and normal. It encourages students to withstand the
pressure to have sex by helping develop personal attributes such as self-esteem, personal
responsibilities, relationship skills, and respect for self and others (Simson & Sussman, 2000).
hand, encourages the abstinence of sex until marriage and often avoids the discussion of the use
of contraceptives and disease-prevention methods (Dailard, 2001; USDOH, 2002). The goal was
to emphasize the notion that abstinence until marriage was the morally right thing to do and that
premarital sex could lead to destructive and uncontrollable results (Simson & Sussman, 2000;
Wellings et al., 2006). Moreover, abstinence-only sex education claims that condoms and other
contraceptives have no use, could fail to provide the anticipated protection, and could even lead
to health risks, whilst also asserting that they do not protect emotional and/or psychological
problems derived from having premarital sex. It teaches that abortion is both morally and
medically irresponsible, highlighting physical complications that can result from it. Finally, it
supports the concept of dating as a means to get to know one another better before marriage.
Sex Education in the Schools 5
The influence of parents on the education of their children is quite significant. It is often
difficult for them to come to terms with the idea that their child will need to learn about
reproductive and sexual health. The perceptions and rationale that justify why parents prefer their
children not to learn about sex at a young age is often logical. However, it is not always practical
in a world where teenage pregnancies are rampant and population growth is ever increasing
(UNFPA, 2012).
parents when recognizing the benefits of sex education curriculum. After having a thorough
understanding of what exactly this program would entail, and the implications it would have on
their child, parents would be much more likely to allow their child to take part in sex education
program.
requires special expertise in program design and delivery by teachers (Schaalma et al., 2004). It
is absolutely pertinent that those who teach these skills are confident and are able to create an
atmosphere of trust and safety. The teacher should be open to the different experiences and
insights that students express, and can use these as the bases of learning. Teachers should have
confidence and knowledge base that can be deployed when necessary (Bernstein, 2000;
Schaalma et al., 2004; Goldman, 2012). The challenge, however, is whether teachers can be
attributed with such capabilities that make them able and suitable to teach in social contexts that
may be intimidating in a debate about sex, or to see entirely in terms of imposing the prevailing
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to acquire knowledge of the under-researched perspective
for the necessity of sex education in public high schools. This study sought to identify what
students, parents, and teachers believe the needs, challenges, and potential outcomes are of sex
education in public high schools. Further, it sought to find out what the different stakeholders’
Research Questions
1. What are the perceptions/attitudes of students, parents, and teachers of sex education
a) Needs?
b) Challenges?
c) Potential outcomes?
The Reproductive Health Act (RHA) was finally passed in 2012 and has since become a
law. Because this is such a new law, not much research has been done on the perspective of the
implications of integrating sex education in public high schools. The RHA was made into law to
empower women from the poorest sections of the society to be able to access facilities operated
contraceptives of their choice. The Philippine government wants to make an indigent married
Sex Education in the Schools 7
woman to become aware of her reproductive rights and provide her with the opportunity to make
This study is relevant because I believe this could be a basis to recognize the importance
of sound sexual/reproductive health care. Many have perceived that those with influence refuse
to acknowledge the need to educate people about sexual/reproductive health. Many have
perceived such negative attitude as cruelty to the poor. Some even argue that the reason for poor
people’s misery is that they just have too many children (Sales, 2012). Providing information
about sexual/reproductive health through government intervention by way of sex education is the
most humane thing the government could do for the poor (Padilla, 2010). Government
intervention could aid the poor in escaping the vicious cycle of poverty. Providing awareness of
sexual/reproductive health care and responsible parenthood and family planning gives the poor
options to manage their sexual behavior, plan the size of their families, and control their
procreative activities. Moreover, through this study people may become aware of their
reproductive rights to include the idea of being able to make sexual/reproductive decisions free
According to statistics (DOHPhil, 2012), the mortality rate of poor mothers during
childbirth increased over the past few years. This finding suggests that not only women but also
children suffer from the lack of reproductive health care and awareness of access of maternal
care (GMA News, 2012; Padilla, 2010). Children remain undernourished and uneducated
because of their parents’ lack of empowerment, ignorance, and unawareness of their reproductive
rights and health care choices. Hopefully, through sex education all these necessities could be
satisfied. For poor women and children to feel empowered, as this study would show, sex
Sex Education in the Schools 8
education is essential to combat unplanned teenage pregnancies, high abortion rates, marriage
and/or live-in at a very young age, and the contraction of HIV/AIDS and other sexually
transmitted diseases.
Since sex education is more or less a new topic to research, this study could be used as
basis towards more researches to substantiate findings to further contributions in the research
field. There is still a great need for sex education. I hope this study opens up the eyes of many to
continue doing researches about what the needs are and developing ways of meeting those needs.
Theoretical Framework
The theoretical foundation of this study is mainly based on research in psychology and
education. These researches are applicable as they explain the underlying psychology behind the
need for sex education in public high schools and its importance in helping individuals make
informed decisions. I address three main categories of my framework --- the Role of Education,
Theories on Perceptions of Sex Education, and the Global Sex Education Debates. These three
main categories combined could give an overall understanding of how the perceptions/attitudes
of the stakeholders --- the students, the parents, and the teachers --- of the need, of the
challenges, and of the potential outcomes of sex education in public high schools can be formed,
and which practical approaches could later become recommendations for future improvements.
This study honed in on the implications of improving sex education and on the
importance of a sound approach through incorporating sex education in public high schools.
Education in general should be used to empower children and adults to become active
should empower individuals to make informed decisions about their reproductive health, as
responsible family planning, the availability and use of contraceptives, respect for their bodies,
empowerment, provides large developmental gains. Investing in education would lead to a long-
term increase in economic growth (Cordoba & Ripoll, 2007). Sex education, in particular
promotes freedom and empowerment in individuals because it helps them make educated choices
about their reproductive health, their bodies, and the size of their families. Investing in sex
education would most likely lead to a decrease in the population growth rate which seems to be a
necessity to combat poverty. This may potentially help close the gap in knowledge of
reproductive health among the rich and the poor. Therefore, it is inevitable that the role of
education is highly important, mainly as a long-term investment in human capital and benefits in
economic stability. Education plays an important role in developing a nation, and sex education
in particular would play an important role in developing a nation where individuals are
Theories of Perception
Different learning and development theories could shape the way in which one perceives
the world and his/her surroundings. I would relate them to sex education and how these
perceptions could be accounted for in the transformation of people’s minds as they go through
different stages of cognitive development. I would apply these concepts as they relate to my
study.
Social Learning Theory. Social Learning Theory (SLT) was developed by Albert
Sex Education in the Schools 10
Bandura (Bandura et al., 1961 as cited in Myers, 2008) and claims that individuals learn within
the social context by watching and imitating the behaviors of others. People learn behaviors from
the surroundings and environment in which they find themselves. SLT focuses mainly on the
social influences of the individual’s behavior and claims that behavior is learned through
interaction with and observation of others. Certain reinforcements, such as reward and
punishment, and the individual’s attitudes enhance behavior. Its practical application is that an
individual’s sexuality can be seen as a learned and socially constructed behavior (Gabb, 2004).
By teaching the youth how to modify sexual behavior and providing them with choices,
individuals may learn how to prevent unwanted pregnancies, and in turn influence those around
them through interaction and observation. Applying SLT, it is merely accomplished by observing
Relating SLT to this study, it is assumed that children learn gender-based promiscuous
sexual behavior through the media and through observing other individuals in their gender group.
By integrating gender-based sex education in public high schools may encourage children’s
exposure to a different angle of sexuality, one of preventing sexual promiscuity and another of
developing healthy relationships among genders. It is assumed that the youth would most likely
imitate what they learn and observe about prevention (e.g., HIV and unwanted pregnancy
preventions), healthy relationships, and saying ‘NO’ to peer pressure, and become much better
equipped to deal with real-life situations and be able to make informed decisions.
(CDT) which categorizes cognitive development into four pre-determined stages (Piaget, 1955 as
cited in Myers, 2008). CDT claims that individuals become more aware and understand things
Sex Education in the Schools 11
and concepts more intricately as they pass through these stages. The two stages that Piaget
identified as relating to this study are concrete operational and formal operational stages. In the
concrete operational stage, an individual is able to identify different features of objects and is
able to order them in series along a single dimension (e.g., according to size). In the formal
operational stage, an individual becomes aware of and concerned with hypothetical issues, as the
specific age. Hence, educators need to be fully aware of what aspect of sex education needs to be
taught at these stages of cognitive development. Moreover, according to Buston and Wright
(2004), there is a direct correlation between the level of maturity of a child who engages in sex
education and the level of participation in sex education. They claimed that when integrating sex
education in the public schools, the educators must tailor-fit their subject matter to the level of
cognitive maturity of their students. The more mature the individual, the more likely he/she
participates.
Brown and Eisenberg (2005) claim that cognitive development in the adolescent years is
strongly linked to behaviors that result in unintended pregnancies. They compared unintended
pregnancy rates among different age groups and determined the level of cognitive development
of individuals in these groups. They concluded that in order to combat unwanted pregnancies, it
is important to teach sex education to individuals who are approaching these particular stages of
cognitive development so that they could make informed choices and prevent unwanted teenage
pregnancies.
Sex Education in the Schools 12
developed the Psychosocial Development Theory (PDT) and discussed eight stages he called
psychosocial stages. Erikson believed that individuals should pass through these eight stages
from infancy to late adulthood in the life cycle. Each stage is characterized by the individual
learning new skills and overcoming difficulties. Each stage builds on the successful completion
of the previous stage. If the individual has not completed the previous stage, the individual
encounters unexpected problems at a subsequent stage. Two directly opposing outcomes are
The psychosocial stage that relates to this study is the fifth stage which addressed identity
and role confusion that takes place around the period of adolescence. Individuals who constantly
look for their identity would have a bigger chance of getting excluded from the ‘mainstream’.
These are the individuals who are more likely to drop out of school. Gest et al. (1999) argued
that this pattern of behavior was strongly associated with teenage pregnancy. Their conclusion
was that individuals who fit the ‘non-mainstream’ norm were more likely to engage in risky
sexual behavior at an early age. Following Erikson’s theory, it would be important to include
issues of identity, roles, and relationships in sex education. It is also important to include gender
roles. Experiencing gender roles could help adolescents achieve a sense of well-being which
Global Sex Education Debates. This study is framed between two major opposites in
global sex education debates --- the Comprehensive Sex Education and Abstinence-until-
Comprehensive Sex Education (CSE) highlights the notion that sexuality plays an
important role in people’s personal development and empowers young people to make
autonomous and informed decisions, without undermining the idea that young sexual desire is
natural and normal. However, it is still up to the individual to decide whether or not he/she
chooses to engage in sexual behaviors and activities. Simson and Sussman (2000) state that
children should begin receiving sex education as early as kindergarten (about 5 years old) until
grade 12 (about 18 years old) so that they can be provided with opportunities for developing
skills as well as learning information that fits contextually the current needs of youth today.
the abstinence of sex until marriage and often avoids the discussion of the use of contraceptives
and disease prevention methods. This exaggerates health risks related to abortion, or the risks of
pregnancies despite the use of condoms, in order to deter individuals from sexual activity, and by
doing so, they actually disseminate misinformation. It supports the concept of dating as a means
to get to know one another better before marriage, but also asserts that a return to the traditional
arranged marriages could be beneficial, claiming such marriages could likely put together two
individuals of similar educational and economic backgrounds, and could therefore be more
‘harmonious’ rather than mixed marriages (SIECUS, 2001). Finally, it provides little information
to avoid homosexual behavior in order to prevent the spread of the disease (USDOH, 2002;
Kirby, 2001).
Sex Education in the Schools 14
Conceptual Framework
I decided to do my research on one of the important aspects of the RH Act --- sex
education in the public schools. I wanted to find out what the perceptions/attitudes are of the
students, the parents, and the teachers. What exactly are the perceptions/attitudes of these
stakeholders of sex education as part of the public school program? What are the perceived
needs, challenges, and potential outcomes of sex education in public schools? What do these
stakeholders perceived the recommendations to be for future improvements? Since the youth
would be most affected of sex education, I believe it is important to find out what these
stakeholders believe and if they believe that sex education is important and beneficial to them.
Methodology
At this juncture, I would discuss my research methodology and the strategies I used to
collect my data and the different techniques I employed throughout the process. In addition, the
limitations of the study, particularly in the collection of data, and the ethical considerations are
also discussed.
Research Design
My study was primarily descriptive and exploratory to gain understanding and insight of
the perceptions and attitudes of students, parents, and teachers on the issue of sex education in
the public schools. It looked and described information in themes and patterns exclusive to the
questionnaires, interviews, and focus group discussion. Data collected from interviews and
focus-group-discussion were probed and content analyzed. They were given more emphasis
Research Techniques/Instruments
Analysis of documents. The documents that were analyzed consisted of reports from
DOHIligan, DepEdIligan, the RH Act of 2012, social media websites/webpages, as well as local
integral parts of the techniques in that they provided reliable information and supported
Interview. Semi-structured interviews were conducted alternately in groups of five --- one
group consisting 5 parents (male and female parents), another group consisting 5 teachers (male
Sex Education in the Schools 16
and female teachers), another group consisting 5 female students, another group consisting 5
male students, and the last group consisting 5 students (male and female). Overall, a total of 25
participants willingly underwent the interview process. During the process, each group was
asked a set of 6 questions. Responses to each question were further probed for clarification and
validation. All that transpired were cautiously recorded in a voice recorder. On average, each
Focus group discussion (FGD). FGD was conducted with student-participants only.
Fifteen students (8 females and 7 males), whose ages ranged from 11-18 years old, willingly
participated. Each student was given paper and pen and was asked to write down all related
terms that came to mind about sex education. A wide variety of teenage appropriate questions
that dealt with dating relationships, anatomy, contraception, and the sex act were asked about.
The point was to test their knowledge on what they were taught and where they learned them.
Their perspectives on each topic differed greatly, which was probably due to the co-ed
Questionnaire. The questionnaire is composed of two parts. Part 1 consisted of items that
describe the demographic profile of the participants. Part 11 consisted of 6 open-ended questions
translated into the Visayan and/or Tagalog dialect for easy comprehension. The questionnaire is
the main research tool used in this study. It is self-constructed which underwent the process of
item analysis employing a panel of experts. All participants were requested to answer the items
in both parts.
Sex Education in the Schools 17
Research Locale
My study was conducted in Iligan City, Lanao del Norte. Three randomly selected public
high schools of the city provided the necessary data --- Iligan City National High School, Iligan
City East National High School, and MSU-IIT Integrated Developmental School.
Iligan City is located in the northeastern part of Mindanao and facing Iligan Bay 800
kilometers southeast of Metro Manila. It covers an area of not less than 813.37 sq. km.
comprising 44 barangays. It has a type C climate characterized by short, low sun dry season.
Rainfall is evenly distributed throughout the year. It is located outside the typhoon belt, relatively
less 308, 046 (August 2014 Census) which is predominantly Roman Catholic and speaks the
Iligan City National High School (ICNHS) was the former Iligan City High School
(ICHS) established on July 1, 1963 by the Honorable City Mayor Camilo P. Cabili. It started to
offer the first and second year high school with an initial enrollment of 264 students and 13
teachers. Twenty years later, the school’s enrollment increased tremendously and the budget
Abdullah Dimaporo. The bill was signed into law, and ICHS became ICNHS. ICNHS pursues
the educational goals and objectives of DepEd and directs all efforts to contribute towards the
attainment of national development. It is one of the biggest public high schools in Region X in
Iligan City East National High School (ICENHS) is the former Regional Science High
School. It is a public/state high school located at Brgy. Sta. Felomina, Iligan City established in
1985 and use English and Filipino as the media of communication. ICENHS offers a curriculum
based on the idea of educating students in four specific disciplines --- science, technology,
(www.iligan.gov.ph)
MSU-IIT Integrated Developmental High School (IDS) is the high school department of
MSU-IIT in Iligan City. It was established in 1946 as the Iligan High School (IHS) to respond to
the need of the Iligan constituents to have their own high school. Later, it was named Lanao
Technical School (LTS) specializing in vocational and technical courses, but was never
12, 1968, under RA 5363, it was annexed to MSU-IIT and was renamed Developmental High
School (DHS). Currently, under BOR Resolution No. 147 s 1992, it is known as Integrated
located at Saray-Tibanga, Iligan City and has a population of 2635 students and 30 teachers.
(www.iligan.gov.ph)
Research Participants
Two hundred twelve participants from three randomly selected public high schools
provided the necessary data for this study. They were randomly chosen and further clustered into
90 students (29 males and 61 females), 90 parents (20 males and 70 females), and 32 science
Sex Education in the Schools 19
teachers (9 males and 23 females). Student-participants’ ages ranged from 11-18 years old (mean
age is 14.3 years); parent-participants’ ages ranged from 32-50 years old (mean age is 35.8
years), and teacher-participants’ ages ranged from 26-35 years old (mean age is 29.2 years).
Majority of the participants are Roman Catholics and are females. Participants were more or less
evenly distributed in the three randomly selected public high schools. In addition, parent-
participants were actually the parents of the student-participants. For a more descriptive
Table 1
There were quite a few limitations in this study. To start, the sample was too large to
accommodate every opinion of the participants due to lack of time. This is the reason why only
the willing participants were included in group interviews and focus group discussion. Further,
the notion of sex education is a highly sensitive topic and many were not very comfortable
discussing such a taboo topic. For example, religion and gender limitations often prevented a
participant from answering completely, or feeling like they were allowed to talk about a sexual
issue without going against their faith. Boys and girls did not like to discuss their answers in the
presence of one another. Moreover, very unfortunately, some interviews were conducted in a
noisy environment, and there might be some information being missed in recording. Most of all,
participants might be supplying only ‘socially acceptable answers’ and were not being honest
and truthful in their responses. Furthermore, findings hold true only to participants of this study.
They could not be considered true to all others --- students, parents, and teachers in other
Ethical Considerations
Before data collection, a written proposal was presented to a professional in the field.
Lengthy discussions were carried out to ensure clarity and transparency of purpose. All collected
data were kept strictly confidential. A written informed consent was presented and participants
Sex Education in the Schools 21
were requested to sign them. Before any interview and FGD started, participants were informed
that their responses would be treated with utmost confidentiality and their identities would be
anonymous. After all data collection activities ended, debriefing was conducted, after which
This section relates to the various perspectives of the participants when asked about sex
education in the public schools. Participants discussed their concepts of sex education and from
where they learned them, a diverse profuse needs, challenges, and potential outcomes that they
perceived important for future improvements. To some extent, there were different responses to
some other items, although it was observed that some responses overlapped in relation to needs,
This section presents the participants’ responses to the items in the questionnaire “1.What
is your concept of sex education?” and “2.What are your sources of information about sex
education?”
Table 2
A family concern 50 68 15
Reproductive health 20 60 21
Premarital sex 19 45 10
Unwanted pregnancy 15 43 10
Contraception (e.g.,condoms, 14 40 13
etc.)
Source of information*
Social media 85 80 25
Teachers 80 75 24
Health workers 78 68 22
Parents 61 81 15
*multiple responses
Results indicate that majority of students and parents have limited knowledge about what
sex education really is. They maliciously perceived and associated sex education to the sex act
itself. Both students and parents considered sex education as a family concern. Moreover, most
participants identified the social media as the primary sources of information. However, students
indicated that they also wanted to know more about it from their parents, and are willing to have
sex education in the schools. Parents, on the other hand, identified themselves, teachers and
health workers as responsible agents of sex education, and favored that it be taught in schools.
In this section, I illustrate the process how I organized and structured my data. To start,
all audio recordings from the interviews and focus group discussion were accurately transcribed
verbatim. Once all transcriptions were completed, I developed a code list which came through
the patterns I noticed in the interviews, focus group discussion and questionnaire. I especially
looked out for perceived needs, challenges, potential outcomes, and recommendations, which are
Sex Education in the Schools 23
actually the main questions that this study aims to answer. It is important to notice that an item in
Item 3: What are the perceived needs for sex education in public high schools?
Table 3
Influence/guidance of parents 81
Contraception use 68
*multiple responses
As Table 3 indicates, majority of high school students expressed that they felt a need for
a sex education to be taught in schools. They claimed that this was mostly because of
Sex Education in the Schools 24
experiences with friends or family members who had gotten pregnant early on. They discussed
what their personal feelings were regarding the content and subject matter they believed would
be most helpful to them as youngsters. They found the influence of parents to be very strong and
saw family bonds to be of utmost importance. One girl (13 years old) stated that:
“The guidance of parents is still the most powerful weapon against early teenage
pregnancies.”
Furthermore, the students felt strongly about discussing with their parents the potential
consequences and benefits from engaging in sexual acts. They reported a strong need for
information regarding sex and related issues to prepare them for real-life situations. In addition,
they felt a strong need for learning assertive refusal skills and other practical necessities.
Students felt that boys and girls should learn differently about sex and related issues. Girls and
boys should both learn about the reproductive systems of the opposite sex. Gender specific
teaching should be provided in a separate classroom setting. Gender-specific sex education was a
paramount concern because students felt that high school is the average age when they start
learning about their sexual orientation and preference. As one female student (15 years old)
responded:
Moreover, students felt that sexual and reproductive health needs tend to differ among
individuals based on socio-economic status. Women in lower social status do not think they need
contraception. The perception was that these women had less knowledge, which creates even
On the other hand, parents felt that sex education is needed to transform children of a
Sex Education in the Schools 25
society in order to turn around a society as a whole. The guidance of the Catholic Church was a
major perceived need. Nevertheless, they do not bother about becoming apprehensive of what it
does as it is not within their reach. They still considered contraception use as a major perceived
“The benefits of sex education are that individuals can care for their bodies and have
time for their families. Because when you are married and you are on early pregnancy, every
year will bring more things to worry about. So, even if you are using contraception, you still
need a plan for your next child, and with this contraception, that can be possible. Then
individuals can go to school if they would like, even if they already have kids. People can really
avoid teenage marriages was needed. He reported that this should start on a practical school-
based level by restricting interactions of boys and girls. Some parents described the lack of
knowledge that women had of the possibility of using contraceptives to prevent pregnancies.
They reported that women often are against the use of artificial family planning methods due to
the influence of the Catholic Church. One parent, a respected physician in her community shared
“We are a Catholic country. Our people listen to the Church for guidance. What the
press tells us is what people do. No questions asked. I am a doctor but I cannot help people to
understand the benefits of contraception unless they want to hear it. And when the Church tells
them they will get cancer if they use it, they do not want to hear it.”
Sex Education in the Schools 26
The teachers differed in their perceptions of what the needs were concerning sex
education. Their perceptions were based on what they noticed and what they believed their own
needs were in effectively teaching subjects concerning sexual/reproductive health. One female
“In order for women to make money, they must prostitute their bodies every night. They
get their body used because their job is to provide sexual entertainment for the men. How are we
going to protect their health for them to minimize sexual contact with anyone, especially with the
men who have STDs and AIDS? If they are educated about having sex, and about the many
consequences of having a lot of sexual contact with different men, they can be able to protect
themselves from any health risk brought about by sex. As a teacher, I am here to educate. That is
In the meantime, teachers perceived that they should be mandated to attend sexuality
education sessions where they can learn how to get more comfortable teaching strategies and
come to grips with their personal value system and with reality.
Item 4: What are the perceived challenges of sex education in public high schools?
example of a friend, or his/her own personal story. One of the students (16 years old) shared an
anecdote about her two friends who dated casually and ended up getting the girl pregnant. The
student informed that often kids do not realize what they are getting themselves into. It is very
difficult to teach healthy dating relationships when students are not interested in learning. One
“Rich kids learn more easily because they have better facilities and more opportunities.
But the poor kids are too hungry to even go to school, and when they are in school they do not
Another student said that creating a safe environment conducive to learning is difficult
because the whole class needs to be engaged in order for it to be effective. His experiences were
that other students would begin to feel awkward asking about sex, especially since it is still seen
as a taboo subject. Another student (15 years old) reported that girls lacked power over their own
bodies. She continued by saying that women are dying due to abortion complications, but the
government does not address these concerns. Thus, empowerment is seen to be a very important
Table 4
*multiple responses
Most parents felt that more extensive and truthful media coverage was needed but it was
a major challenge to disseminate this information due to opposing religious views among people.
They stated that there should be a balance between other unofficial educators, such as them, and
the social media. The problem with unofficial educators and social media though is that what
they share with the youth might not be always relevant, or might be even misleading.
education and expediting it into the curriculum of educational institutions. They fear that their
children might become more curious after learning about sex which might lead eventually to
more promiscuity. They felt that this is something that cannot be avoided and should be
addressed immediately. In addition, the lack of male interest in dealing with sexuality is one
more challenge that has to be addressed. Men often do not feel that this is an important topic to
learn because it is more about the woman and her body. Lastly, parents view educating their
children about sex as a challenge. Successfully educating children about sexuality issues should
be the result of parents and children learning together and breaking down the negative stigma
and taboo placed on sex. This could decimate the encumbrance of preventing the progress of sex
Teachers seemed to face the most pressure as they are the educators and felt more
responsible in shaping young minds to be able to make wise and educated decisions.
Interestingly, they faced the fear of teaching sex education with neither in-depth knowledge of
Sex Education in the Schools 29
the subject nor adequate instruction on how to teach it. They felt unsure of their ability to teach
sexual health as elaborately as they believed the students were entitled to learn. They did not
want to teach a watered-down program as they personally felt they were taught as children. They
felt that they need to be fully equipped to deliver an effective sex education as they often did not
Item 5: What are the perceived potential outcomes of sex education in public high
schools?
Overall, the perceived potential outcomes of sex education in public schools were rather
Table 5
Decline in promiscuity 72
*multiple responses
The perceived outcomes that students felt were unexpected. Overall, most girls reported
that they felt more comfortable purchasing contraceptives in a public store once people started to
learn about sexual/reproductive health and sex was no longer a taboo. Students felt good about
the possibility of practicing safe sex and about being able to better understand boys and how to
have a healthy relationship with them. They reported that they were positive about learning what
their personal rights were. One female student (18 years old) hoped:
“I am hopeful that we will start to receive proper sex education in school. However, I am
really concerned about how the education will be administered, as regards gender. Students
should be more aware about how normal sex is so that they won’t grow up to be bigots or
extremists like what the Church teaches. I also think a school-based sex education will teach the
truth about sexual health and other students will know that having sex without protection could
drastically decline. Many girls admitted that even with sex education in school, they still did not
feel the need to experiment with boys and test their bodies out. Being knowledgeable about
sexuality, many did not feel it would cause an increase in promiscuity. Through sex education in
Sex Education in the Schools 31
schools the culture could shift from a taboo-based concerning sexuality to a culture where
“I introduced the kids to what family planning is. I have gained their trust and they listen
to me. I am educating them on things they are not learning in school. We are open with one
another about the sexual challenges we face and the unavoidable peer pressures. I told them to
invite their parents to our meeting, especially teenage mothers. The outcomes were that children
were able to be more open with their parents about their concerns, and were not faced with such
monitoring and doing something because we are volunteering our time to do it. Our efforts will
likely create positive outcomes on the children because we plan to work with them alongside
their parents. Children are not the only ones who need to learn. They will start to be more
Parents felt that they could have a strong influence and are able to work with schools in
offering help to teachers who are struggling with teaching sex education. Although it could be
added pressure on them, they still believe that teachers will be encouraged to perform in a good
Teachers believed the youth would become more responsible as individuals if they
learned about sexual/reproductive health. The youth would become more cautious as they
learned about the consequences. Accordingly, the outcomes are uncertain and teachers felt that it
Sex Education in the Schools 32
was not up to them to decide what the child would choose, but they could try to be supportive
role models regardless. Notwithstanding, teachers felt that sex education would be a failure. It
seems that teachers are more pessimistic about the possibility of sex education in the public high
schools. Still and all, teachers felt more empowered to stand up for what they believe in. They
Table 6
*multiple responses
Students noted that learning about sexual health should start as early as the first year of
high school (about the age of 11 or 12 years). This age is recognized as the age when students are
most curious and parents have the least influence on their child. This is the age when girls
generally go through puberty. Further, students recommended that academic institutions should
not necessarily be the sole teaching area. To illustrate, one female student (18 years old)
suggested:
Because for me, our country is a Catholic country. It is part of our religion and culture that we
must respect our religion. If they do not want it taught in schools, then that is fine. But we still
need to learn. This is a good compromise, because for me, sex education must be taught at home
Moreover, students believed that sex education could be implemented while still keeping
close ties to one’s religion, and respecting the seemingly conservative nature of their values.
Students suggested that it need not be an either-or approach, but that a healthy balance in
transferring knowledge to a household setting would be appropriate. Students mentioned that sex
Most parents were very positive about giving recommendations and they seemed highly
interested in getting as involved as possible about improving sexual health standards in public
schools. They collaboratively agreed that sex education must especially be taught by parents,
teachers, religious officials, government officials, and most importantly, the social media. They
should all work together to teach age-appropriate sex education. Parents should be able to teach
their children by first taking their own sex education course. They should also learn to monitor
their children because apparently most sexual activities among children take place while the
parents are not at home or while the kids are playing promiscuous games on the school
playground. Religious officials should keep the values of the Catholic Church, but still agree to
allow contraception. Government officials should agree to change the standards of the school,
and work with educators to create visually creative and interactive teaching approaches. Lastly,
social media should interactively incorporate free websites and distribute these links where
students can learn on their own in a private setting, and be able to ask questions on a Q&A
board. Lack of exposure to extensive social media coverage may be what is preventing them
“The program should be taught every year starting in grade 3 (8 years old) together
Sex Education in the Schools 35
with biology program that goes into detail on the reproductive organs and processes of fertility. I
think the program should progressively increase in difficulty and should have medium length
standardized test. The results should be tabulated in tandem with biology course 40/70 making it
Teachers seemed to share common view that sex education must be accelerated in order
to make knowledge transfer more permeable between sexes. They indicated that sex education
may also break the stigma of talking about sex and create an open forum that can increase
learning and can jumpstart the practice of safe sex. Moreover, creating and distributing
pamphlets about the most important points of sexual/reproductive health would allow students to
The vast majority of participants were in accord with one another as regards having a
positive vision for change relative to sex education in public schools. Many felt that not only the
very rapid rate of teen pregnancies, early marriages, and abortions would decrease, but that also
individuals would be more likely to understand their gender roles. This is congruent to Erikson’s
PSDT (cited in Myers, 2008) as individuals who understand their gender roles have smaller
chance of feeling left out of societal mainstream. Those who cannot, however, find their identity
according to Gest et al. (1999), is a pattern of behavior that is strongly associated with teenage
gender roles, and relationship goals in sex education. I personally perceive that gender struggle is
very real and a very difficult situation for youth to be in. Without adequate understanding of
Sex Education in the Schools 36
gender role in society, and how to fit into the norm, there can be many challenges to experience.
Moreover, participants perceived that sex education would not be an easy task. Practical
concerns should be taken into consideration, such as age of students and extent to how they
should be taught about sex. Older participants feared that if students were too young when
receiving sex education, they would more likely become promiscuous. This fear of promiscuity,
according to Bandura’s SLT (cited in Myers, 2008), could be a result of observing and imitating
behaviors of those in one’s environment. Children are more likely to imitate what they are
exposed to. Hence, it is very important that children would be exposed to as much positive
influence as possible, in hopes that they would mimic healthy and mature relationships.
Summary
education in public schools. What did these stakeholders perceive were the needs, challenges,
and potential outcomes of sex education in public schools? What were these recommendations
for future improvements be? Moreover, I conducted my study by conveniently sampling 212
participants which were clustered into 90 students, 90 parents and 32 science teachers from three
randomly selected public high schools --- ICNHS, ICENHS and MSU-IIT IDS of Iligan City. I
employed document analysis, interview, focus group discussion and questionnaire in data
collection. I explored and described information in themes and patterns exclusive to the
participants.
Sex Education in the Schools 37
Conclusion
This study showed that the participants indeed do want sex education to be taught in
schools. It particularly dealt with the perceptions/attitudes of the participants relative to needs,
challenges, potential outcomes and recommendations for future improvements of sex education
in public schools. Personally, I believe that sex education is a necessary component for the
education of the youth. The information imparted would result in more intelligent decision
making regarding the sex act, and allows people to know the options whether they have to avoid
pregnancy or to achieve it. Therefore, a strict curriculum that would provide sex education
should be in place. While eliminating the topic of sex as a taboo and also providing a conducive
and effective sex education program, it is important for educators to be fully aware of what
aspect of sex education needs to be taught at a particular age. Once sex can be openly discussed
on an age-appropriate level, students would soon find out that the negative stigma that sex has
will soon become more of an everyday topic rather than an awkward classroom-only subject.
Thus, teachers have the greater role and responsibility. Further, it is understandable that parents
are apprehensive towards allowing their children sex education. They felt that promiscuity would
still be inevitable as sex activities are even happening at school. Therefore, positive behaviors
should be taught so they can be imitated. This is where social media could have a great and
healthy influence on youth today. Once children observe great role models of women who
protect and respect their bodies, they would hopefully imitate similar behaviors. Participants
suggested that the social media should help educate the public, and that campaigns should take
place in the poorer areas where the media could not reach them.
Sex Education in the Schools 38
Recommendations
Based from the results, I recommend that school attendance in sex education classes
should be mandatory up to age 19 years (since this is the oldest target age in the RH Act). This
mandatory school attendance would expose youth to sex education curriculum which is essential
in combatting teenage unplanned pregnancies, high abortion rate, marriage at very young age,
For those who are poor and hungry to want to go to school, a practical solution is to offer
Moreover, classes should also be taught for women by skilled professionals on how to
protect their bodies and how to deal with violence, abuse, and other related issues. They need to
be empowered.
On the other hand, I believe Church and state should respect one another as regards sex
education. They should work together even if it means compromising values for the good of the
youth. This could be done by working closely together to show statistics and real-life scenarios
not only of early teen pregnancies but also of sexually transmitted diseases. Overcoming the
opposing strength of the Church by working together is an important goal that should be
achieved.
More research needs to be done to substantiate the findings of this study. This study can
be used as basis towards further contributions in the field, yet perhaps larger study design would
greatly benefit anyone who wishes to continue on. This study has demonstrated an urgent need
for drastic change in the educational system. The importance of an elaborate and effective sex
education has been emphasized, but more researches could still be done. It is hoped that this
Sex Education in the Schools 39
study opens up the eyes of many to continue researching what the needs are and developing ways
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