Calling for a Change: Sex Education in German Schools
Exploring a complex system using the JUNGLE framework
An article written by Teresa Blaschka, Antonia Diemer, Nelly Karsch, Anisha Mohil, Alexander Pirkebner, and Marissa von Wolff
Introduction
It was 1969 when the German government published its first-ever schoolbook on sex education. In 2002, sex education became mandatory in every state in Germany.
Sex education is essential for children and teenagers. Not only do they need to be aware of human reproduction, but they need to understand how to lead a responsible and mindful sex life, and live in a sexually diverse world. Naturally, this must include teaching about different sexual orientations and gender identities. Learning about self-awareness, sex, emotional intelligence, and societal influences of their views of sexuality empowers young people to navigate relationships with others and with themselves. This would also foster better inclusion for sexually marginalized communities.
On the other hand, children need to be taught about the associated risks — including what sexual harassment is, how to detect it, and how to prevent it. Additionally, in the age of social media, (primarily) young women and girls face harassment and lowered self-esteem. Recently, the German TV moderator duo “Joko & Klaas” demonstrated an “art gallery” of fear and harassment called “Männerwelten”, showcasing the stories and experiences women have to encounter in their everyday life. We also see campaigns such as the “Wo ist Luisa?” (eng. “Where is Luisa?”), which shows that women of all ages group are regularly sexually harassed.
Each one of our group members had a unique experience with sex education in school. But looking back, none of us think it was sufficient, exhaustive or even appropriately taught. This is why we see a problem in the sex education programs at German schools and feel motivated to dive deeper into this issue.
Understanding the problem
One thing was clear from the beginning: sex education is an important topic because it affects us all in sometimes unforeseen magnitudes. Furthermore, we were curious: what does sex education in Germany look like? What can we remember from our own sex education? What would we like to see in a curriculum and, importantly, are teachers still using bananas and cucumbers for condom demonstrations?
The common denominator
Naturally, for everyone in a team, different focus-areas and passions arise. This works perfectly well as long as the values in a given team are shared among all members. For this matter, we used a silent discussion to begin.
We started to collect different suggestions from each team member via virtual post-its. We initially planned to vote which one to explore further, but when the post-its were all together on our virtual whiteboard, it quickly became clear that they are symptoms of a bigger problem: sex education! We could easily derive this from post-its stating “lack of understanding of homosexuality”, “sexual harassment”, “bullying”, and more. This was a positive sign of great value alignment within the team. This was a complex system we all wanted to explore at a deeper level.
Getting a grip on the problem
In order to gain a better overview of what we are actually talking about and for us to better comprehend the complexity of this topic, we mapped it out. We aimed to identify the different elements moving within the “system”.
First, there is the framework. The framework regarding sex education can be described as the curriculum which is taught to students. From our point of view, the curriculum lacks science-based and emotion-focused content and is based primarily on ideologies from the post-war generation. Then there is the setting of sex education. Teachers face enormous difficulties in teaching pubescent teenagers about sex — unfortunately, the age group which needs this essential knowledge the most. Third — we already named them — the educators themselves. In Germany, we lack LGBTQ+ friendly teachers who are bearing enough knowledge and empathy to be able to teach pubescent children about such topics. Another problematic area we mapped was pornography. While not exactly part of the curriculum taught in schools (though we will discuss this fact later), pornography plays an integral part in the sex education of almost everyone. This is mainly due to the widespread access to free pornographic content — and needless to say that oftentimes, the content shown does not reflect authentic sexual experiences. In fact, it often does the opposite: youth get a distorted image of what sex looks like. The last field we mapped is the decision process of what to teach. Many actors have and are trying to increase their influence on the content of the curriculum. Apparently, parents and educators themselves play an important role. But as sex and reproduction affects everyone’s daily life, everyone wants to influence how it is taught: religious and cultural institutions are (in)directly influencing their community. Especially questions along the lines of what is appropriate to teach and when to teach it (i.e. at what age children receive which lessons), is debated.
Breaking down the spiderweb
The initial relations we found were mainly between people educating and people trying to influence what is being taught. In the graphic below, we mapped different actors around the central stakeholder of our system: the students. They are surrounded by the other stakeholders (from top to bottom): the government, schools, formal sex educators, the media, societal and psychological supporters as well as informal sex educators, who are, for example, influencers on social media using their channels to spread information, but also parents, peers, and the porn industry.
The relations between the different elements in our problem become clear when we look at interactions between actors (in green). For example, we see that the curriculum itself, influenced by the government and schools as an entity, is standing on top, indicating that every element below is somehow affected by the quality of the curriculum — while the curriculum itself is influenced by other actors (such as parents and community who oppose some content, or teachers’ ability to implement the curriculum).
The key elements
To focus further on the major aspects of the problem, we decided to vote using the mind map of ideas surrounding the issue of sex education. We continued to place the students at the center of our problem and treat them as ‘customers’ receiving not only formal education but also being influenced by various other sources of information.
To narrow things down, each of us distributed voted on topics they felt were most important. Based on this, it was quite easy to decide which elements we wanted to explore. Condensing these down into a simpler mind map gave us the web below. We also found three sub-categories of actors in the system. The pink points relate to what students learn at school, the blue points are what they are taught from their families and social circles and the yellow points represent influence through other sources and the media. These 7 main aspects are what we concentrated on for the next step:
- Sex educational content/curriculum
- Training/education for sex educators
- Counsellors, therapists, and psychologists
- Independent sex educators (eg. on YouTube and Instagram)
- Media (incl. pornography, social media, television)
- Friends and family
- Cultural and religious influence
Quantifying what needs to be achieved
Moving on to the next step of the Desirable State Model, we discussed metrics that could be used to quantify the effectiveness of each of the 7 elements determined in the previous section. We discussed possibilities as a group and finally came to the following possible measures:
We were not able to identify quantifiable OKRs for each element. For example, the content of the sex education curriculum, which we see as a major factor, cannot be measured in numbers. Other points were quantified only in a yes-or-no sense, e.g. requirement of special training for sex educators. The elements we struggled the most with were the last two — friends and family and cultural/religious influences. Rather than quantifying to what extent or in what way students may be influenced by their friends and family, we decided instead that a more controllable factor would be to encourage the discussion of these influences during sex education classes. Thus, this became a yes-or-no criterion as well.
Status quo and the narrative for a future state
As a group, we first tried to do some general research to evaluate the current state of the key results we identified. In some cases, we were able to find data online, and in others, we had to make some general assumptions.
Before continuing to discuss the future state, the team split up and took a step back to imagine what an ideal sex education system should look like. We then went through a process of converging narration, where the team split into three sub-groups and developed a consensus. After consolidating and discussing, the final narrative we agreed on is as follows:
We would like to see a sex education system in Germany that is comprehensive, inclusive and effective in teaching students self-awareness and the tools to navigate puberty, relationships and sex. These topics should be taught in engaging and appropriate classes for every age group, by teachers who are specially trained and qualified. Every student should have easy access to further resources as well as counsellors/therapists within schools. In addition to the regular curriculum, independent sex educators should be invited to speak/teach at schools. This way, students should receive education from diverse sources so that they feel empowered and free to be their authentic selves. Finally, the effects of misinformation and misrepresentations spread through social circles, the media and pornography should be eliminated by promoting open discussions about these sources in class.
We were then ready to quantify our future state using the key results criteria we established previously and the current state as a baseline.
Zooming in
Within the broader understanding previously described, we’re left to identify leverage points best-suited to change the sex education system in Germany. Accomplishing this requires identifying significant actors currently or ideally operating within the system. But first, we must understand the role of these actors within the system, as well as how they might fit into a more desirable system.
Students remain at the center
Given that students are the consumers of sex education, they can reveal strengths and limitations in the current system. For instance, it’s not uncommon for youth to seek information from external sources, such as friends and media, which may indicate both curiosities about the subject as well as distrust of formal sex education providers. Consequently, the impacts of misinformation or misconceptions about sexual health can have multiplying adverse effects as sex learning spreads from peer to peer. These adverse effects are found to be greater in communities where greater cultural inhibitions and puritan attitudes limit the availability of information to adolescents, and also reduce the likelihood that students will seek information from authoritative sources. An example of such a gap is revealed by uncertainties surrounding consent where considerable nuance exists. This leads to unclear or even harmful sexual experiences. Overall, the experience for students is a vulnerable one.
The desirable activity of students, and thereby the overall desired outcomes of the sex education system, is multi-leveled. The most visible (surface-level) behavior is for students to be engaging in safe and informed sexual experiences, the indicators for which are clearer (e.g. teenage pregnancy and abortion rates, STI/STD prevalence, sexual assault cases, etc.). Additional desired activities would be for students to openly seek quality information from formal educators, eliminate bullying of marginalized sexual groups, and demonstrate improved mental health and self-esteem.
Accomplishing these outcomes requires adaptive work from a variety of perspectives. For one, it’s required that the sex education students receive is accessible, holistic (broad subject matter and consistency with other courses), and high quality. Some of the adaptive work needed requires changing the surrounding environment through the normalization of subject matter and ‘uncomfortable’ topics, increasing feelings of ‘safety’ in the educational space, and improving perceptions of trustworthiness and reliability of educators or authority figures in school.
Some roadblocks may occur when looking at the potential pain points for students. These ‘pains’ become particularly evident in students who encounter contrary or misaligned values in their home life. In such cases, additional reform may exacerbate discomfort and confusion experienced by students.
Conversely, changes to the system are for the benefit of students who would experience the greatest gains through both improved experiences with sex and their sexuality — as well as accompanying improvements to self-esteem and mental health — and avoidance of negative sexual experiences such as harassment, assault, or unwanted pregnancy.
Policymakers finding the balance in public opinion
In Germany, federal sex education legislation like the ‘Pregnancy and Family Aid Act’ establishes large national programs for sex education, but responsibility for provision in schools is left to the Bundersländer. This leads to varied quality of sex education across the country, which is often dependent on the preferences of regulators of the Bundersländer who may be swayed by personal or public opinion.
For example, few states cover LGBTQ+ acceptance in schools, and its introduction to the curriculum in Wiesbaden led to a 2,000-person protest. It can be assumed that other policymakers fail to follow-suit for fear of similar backlash affecting their political careers. Similarly, increasingly liberal views of the population have led to some reform. Policymakers as actors within this system play a significant role in enforcing through support and resources and normalizing sex education so that educators and school administrators are best-equipped for the task at hand.
The desirable behavior by these policymakers is to implement policies for the best interests of the ‘consumer’ — the students — based on a well-informed and adaptive approach.
Though policymakers are powerful levers in systemic change, their actions are significantly influenced by other actors in the system (e.g. parents, community). The adaptive work required would entail working closely with relevant members of the public in favor of legislative changes, and is essential in mitigating pain points and avoiding misalignment between the policymakers’ political agenda and desired outcomes for the system.
Sex education is a touchy topic for parents
Traditionally, parents have played a major role in the sex education of their children. However, their role has changed or alleviated over time as formalized sex education took on a greater role in schools. Many parents still believe youth should receive sex education from parents. For example, a study in Minnesota found that 98% of parents felt this way, and they are often the most vocal opposers of curriculum that conflicts with household values. In fact, the aforementioned 2,000 protesters in Wiesbaden were parents!
The subject of sex is not an easy one to broach for parents. Online, you’ll find endless articles and resources intended to help parents with the ‘talk’. It’s not unusual that parents are anxious, as negative outcomes to poor sex education can be significant and sometimes life-long.
Ideally, parents would approve of and reinforce the sex education curriculum their child experiences at school. In this case, rather than causing potential confusion, embarrassment, or shame, parents would play a critical role in creating comfortable spaces for their children to seek support in their private lives. This would require higher levels of engagement, transparency, and communication between parents and schools, so parents comprehend and enforce sex education in parallel terms. Additional support and resources for parents may be required, as they may also be vital parties in identifying whether their child is, for example, a victim of sexual violence or facing other challenges.
Though the major pain points would involve, as mentioned, a potential conflict between personal or household values and curriculum material, the potential gains of improved sex education involves significant benefits to their child. Reconciling these differences may be a noteworthy undertaking to leverage systemic change.
School administrators play a major role
In Germany, schools are obliged by law to teach sex education to their students, however, as society’s view on sex and sexuality rapidly changes, keeping up is a challenge. Young people are discovering porn at an earlier age, the state has added a third sex to the register, and the mother-father-child model is becoming less common. It is challenging to take all this into account, especially when school administrators are already struggling to find teachers, particularly once that are willing to teach sex education.
In the ideal situation, school administrators would be able to deal more intensively with the subject of sex education. They would have enough time to devote to this sensitive topic. In addition, the school administrators would have the good fortune to be able to choose between highly qualified teachers in terms of employment. All this could lead to the school administration recording a lower number of school drop-outs due to unwanted pregnancies and, on top of that, gaining a high reputation in the community to the advanced sex education they offer.
Teachers need to be educated
Sex education is one of the great challenges in teachers’ life.
The topics to be covered have hardly changed in the last 50 years and teachers have difficulties in addressing topics such as homosexuality or sexual violence. It is often simpler and less strange for them to talk to adolescents about just the sexual organs of men and women and about contraceptive methods. There are teachers who want to address topics such as homosexuality in their lessons but lack the right tools and resources. Teachers who want to take the step of training on the topic of sex education usually do so because they are in direct contact with students who, for example, express themselves sexually in a disturbing way.
The desired situation would be that teachers receive pedagogically valuable tools already during their studies to deal with this topic. Additionally, teachers should be willing but also supported to participate regularly in further training in the field of sex education.
In order to improve the quality of sex education, teachers need to have resources that enable them to do so. For this, they need the support of school administrators. Additionally, the school administration must ensure that teachers are protected in the event of complaints from parents. Only then will the teacher be able to discuss the issue with his students in an objective manner and be perceived as a contact person for them.
When community members support change
In Germany, about 23 million people belong to the protestant church and about the same number as the catholic church. Many of the parishes offer help for victims of sexual violence. Since 2018, there are some protestant churches that have issued a church law for presentation and intervention against sexual violence. The protestant and catholic churches are missing papers on sexuality though.
Further, the Protestant Church welcomes the fact that in the curriculum of schools the diversity of sexual orientation should be included, but the Catholic Church has a different view.
Since such a large part of the population belongs to different religious communities (Catholics, Gospels, Muslims, etc.) it would be the desired situation that the community supports positive sex education rather than present barriers. Ideally, the communities show more openness when it comes to different sexual orientations and can be a point of contact for young people.
Informal educators step up as the teachers of tomorrow
Informal educators use online platforms like blogs, Instagram, and Snapchat to talk about sex education. Starting with your period, your orgasm, side effects of contraceptive methods, to uncertainties with your sexual orientation or gender. All topics are addressed and everyone is welcome to read or listen. The direct nature of the posts — informative, fast, and casual — makes sex education bloggers very successful and popular with young people. However, since the topic is still off-limits for many, it’s not surprising these bloggers also receive some negative reactions. After all, they are not doctors or therapists, they have not studied this subject academically. This is true. Yet the fact that they are amateurs is the reason why these blogs meet with so much positive response from adolescents.
For students, it would be beneficial to involve these informal educators in the school curriculum. The informal educators should be invited to the schools as guest teachers to make lessons more interesting and ideally limit students’ insecurities to talk about sex and sexual orientation.
The role of non-educational content creators in the media
As previously mentioned, one of the major sources of sex education for students is through the media. Though portrayals of sex have become more commonplace, so have portrayals of increasingly diverse characters and experiences. This is driven by content creators, who both seek to receive acclaim for their work, but are also forced to adhere to popular media or the preferences of their producers who are footing the bill. As culture becomes liberal and aware about sex education topics, these portrayals become more attractive and feasible for content creators.
Ideally, the media would play a responsible role in depicting real-life diversity of sexual experiences and preferences, as well as clear portrayals of healthy and safe relationships. The adaptive work required would be for viewers to be driven to sex-positive content which, in turn, increases investment in content creators with sexually progressive messages suitable for adolescents.
Medical students can take on the role of educators
Though this is already the case in some schools (or through social services and NGOs), medical students are potential future actors who can play a greater role in the future of sex education in schools. Currently, this service needs to be requested by educators but isn’t always utilized. However, these students can assist in addressing capacity and knowledge gaps for teachers, and can also serve as trusted sources for students as independent medical professionals who are closer to students in age, while serving as third parties apart from the school system. This type of service would need national reach — including to rural areas — perhaps requiring a multi-platform approach. Though these experiences are unpaid for these medical students, volunteers already exist in this role. To reduce pain points, the experience gained needs to be rewarding enough to compensate for the lack of pay.
Leveraging school administrators as the place to start
Ultimately, it seems general political support exists as German attitudes towards sex education are quite liberal, but a bottleneck obstructs progress in the implementation stages. Facing potential backlash from teachers and parents as well as, seemingly, lacking the time and resources necessary, means that addressing the pain points of school administrators may be a promising way to achieve systemic change. Therefore, our starting hypothesis is that if we are able to provide enough resources and support to school administrators, high-quality sex education can be properly delivered.
Probing The System
Sprint 1 — How big is the problem?
In order to start the third and final phase, we decided to focus on one of the previously established hypotheses for our first verification sprint.
If we are able to provide enough support and resources to ensure that school administrators can implement change, high quality sex education can be properly delivered.
After developing and proposing different testing scenarios, we agreed that the testing scenario of the initial sprint would take place in the form of extensive online research. Our team looked for available and reliable resources and teaching materials for sex education in Germany. This would put us in the shoes of teachers searching for information online as well as give us an immediate overview of how developed the market of sex education in Germany is.
One of the first websites that can be found is Aufklärungsstunde. To start with, the website looked professional and trustworthy. They provide educational material about topics like menstruation and offer instructive videos as well as free packages with worksheets, brochures, and even tampon samples. At second glance, it became evident that this website is owned by the consumer goods corporation Johnson & Johnson. The educational material contains numerous forms of advertisement that promote their sanitary products to young girls. Despite the obvious intentions of the corporate-funded website, a link to Aufklärungsstunde can be found as a source for sex education on the website of the German educational server led by the German society for educational sciences and linked to the ministry of education. Nevertheless, we found YouTube videos for sex education. The channel ‘Biologie — Simple Club’ offers appropriate educational content and shows a scientifically accurate approach. Additionally, one syllabus from an Austrian school system provided useful and promising material for a variety of topics.
Overall, our team was disappointed by the limited availability of reliable and broad quality content and materials that can be found online. Germany is missing nationwide requirements regarding their sex education programs at schools and only seven of the sixteen states provide an explicit topic related framework curriculum — all being limited to elementary schools. Furthermore, it is concerning that a big company like Johnson & Johnson is the one taking responsibility — or rather the marketing opportunity — to teach girls about their bodies. School systems, resources, and standards are evidently lacking.
Sprint 2 — What do students say?
During the first sprint, we found out that school administrators and teachers may fail to implement change because they are lacking a comprehensive curriculum. Thus, we adjusted our second hypothesis as follows:
If the curriculum was more comprehensive and inclusive, students would be more satisfied with the sex education they received at school in the long-run.
In order to verify our hypothesis, we decided to ask German students and former students about their experience and satisfaction level with the sex education they received. To do so, we sent out a short survey to Millennials and Generation Z-ers from Germany within our personal network.
When being asked to rate the quality of their personal sex education in school on a scale of 1 (being “very bad“) and 5 (being “very good“), people answered with an average of 2.58 being below moderate. The quality of sex education at German schools, in general, was rated even lower. Over 94 percent of the respondents stated that they do not believe the current curriculum is comprehensive. Furthermore, they indicated that topics like LGBTQ+, emotional aspects of puberty, threats of pornography, masturbation, sexism, and sexual assault where either missing from the current curriculum or not illuminated enough.
The respondents of the survey confirmed our teams’ personal experiences as well as the previously done online research. It is clear that students and former students are not satisfied with the current curriculum.
Sprint 3 — Could external resources be the solution?
For the third sprint, we decided to explore the availability of resources further and established a hypothesis that looks at the opportunities provided to schools by third parties relatively to official authorities.
If reliable external parties can provide versatile and extensive resources, schools can provide high-quality sex education without having to rely on the requirements and resources of the ministry of education.
As mentioned earlier, medical students in Germany have stepped up to take sex education into their own hands. To get further inside on this topic, we interviewed a medical student from the University Rostock taking part in the nationwide MSV (‘Mit Sicherheit Verliebt’) initiative. The medicine students visit schools and teach children between the age of eight and fourteen — but with a major focus on the seventh grade — about a variety of topics related to sex. The classes cover the emotional levers of sex as well as LGBTQ+ topics which schools have been struggling to integrate successfully into their curriculum. Students are also given the opportunity to ask any questions.
„It seems easier to talk about those delicate topics with us rather than with teachers, […] we are just a couple of years older than them, so I guess it feels like talking to an older brother or sister.“ — Niklas S.
On the downside, not all schools take advantage of the MSV project because teachers or principals have to get in touch with MSV in order to take part and not all are aware of the initiative. The medicine students work voluntarily and often choose to support the initiative because of their personal experience. For Niklas S., it was the lack of sufficient sex education at his school.
“[…] It was not necessarily bad but it completely lacked LGTBQ+ topics and already knowing that I was gay at that time made me think there was something wrong or at least not completely right with me. Inclusive sex education helps everyone to be more open minded and I just want to be part of something that makes this possible.“ — Niklas S.
In order to test whether this initiative is in fact solving problems that schools are facing, we talked to the principal of a middle and high school in Schleswig-Holstein. We were reassured that Each state makes its own requirements for sex education and that the requirements mainly cover elementary schools with the focus on children exploring and recognizing body parts and functions. A forerunner for sex education, according to the principal — Dirk B. — is the Thüringen. They include LGTBQ+ content early on which has been initiated by the Green Party. The requirements for middle and high schools are incorporated in the biology classes which vary from state to state as well as from school to school. There, students learn more about sexual intercourse, protection, venereal diseases, and more. But, sex education is primarily thought on the biological science-based level and the current resources and materials provided are school books. Furthermore, teachers are free to use worksheets, book content, or visual representations from other sources like the internet after consultation with the student council in charge. Nevertheless, schools are aware that this is often not enough.
“I am aware that [the content] is limited and does not live up to what should be a standard already today. […] There is surely a lack of resources for LGTBQ+ related topics.“ — Dirk B.
When being asked about the likelihood to include external sex educators in the curriculum the principal stated they „had external parties come to school and educate students about sex in the media as part of a project“ and that since “[…] the feedback was very positive“ they are “open to future projects.“ In addition, Dirk B. says that the “[…] MSV initiative could be a great add-on to our current curriculum.”
Therefore, we can conclude that it is easier and faster to implement change by getting external parties involved in the process to provide quality content rather than waiting for changes by official authorities.
Sprint 4 — What are parents concerned with?
For verification sprint number four, we have defined the following hypothesis:
If school resources and the curriculum are updated, German schools can provide high-quality sex education that most of the parents will be satisfied with.
In order to test this hypothesis, we have established that the satisfaction of parents is a crucial part to be observed more thoroughly. In order to do so, we aimed at exploring parents’ concerns and thoughts on the topic of sex education in online forums and groups of parents with LGBTQ+ children at school age. By accessing these forums and discussions, we would be able to take on the perspective of parents and evaluate their pain points further in order to establish which resources and curriculum content they currently miss.
We searched for the best ways to access such discussion groups of parents with children at school age and figured out that Facebook would be the best platform for our purpose. As a next step, we developed a short survey in order to collect the information we needed, ranging from children’s ages, whether or not they have participated in sex education classes yet, and which aspects they currently miss in sex education. We have distributed this survey to parents in the Facebook groups to which we have been granted access after an approval procedure: ‘Berliner Mamas und Papas’, ‘Regenbogenfamilien’, ‘LGBTQ+’, and ‘Kölner Mamas’.
The evaluation of the survey results has provided us with some valuable insights into parents’ opinion on sex education in german schools. It has made it more evident that most of the parents that have been surveyed are unsatisfied with the sex education that is being offered to their children at school. Furthermore, results showed that based on this parents would welcome changes in the current curriculum of sex education into the direction of more openness to the diversity of genders and sexuality (particularly homosexuality and transsexuality) and the thematization of sex in media. Everyone has started to believe that the topic of homosexuality should be included in the curriculum of today's sex education which shows that current educational models do not serve well enough in this field and it displays an essential field for improvement. Lastly, the wish for expert talks held by guest speakers at school as an integral part of sex education has been expressed. This is thought to promote the inclusion of a broader range of topics into the class discussions and would, therefore, enable the aforementioned concerns to be addressed as well.
We aimed at reaching out to a larger group of parents in order to get more results, but unfortunately, the time limitation and the current contact restriction has limited us in terms of conducting an online-survey only. Nonetheless, we have managed to test our hypothesis successfully and found out that parents are currently requesting the sex education curriculum to be updated and extended.
Sprint 5 — How to best provide content?
If we can provide an extensive curriculum for sex education in German schools, they can guarantee high quality education.
Given the current situation with limitations in public life and closed schools in Germany, we have decided to set the testing scenario online. Therefore, we have set up a website for our project named ‘SEd+’ which stands for ‘Sex Education Plus’, where the ‘+’ symbolizes the open potential for inclusion of a broader range of topics into this field of education.
Our name is our goal: SEd+ stands for a modern sex education class that covers all relevant topics and thus ensures a complete basic understanding of all ages. In order to establish an online presence, we have developed a website, showcasing all relevant content to an interested audience. We have defined our target group as the actors participating in the system, being school administration, teachers, counselors, experts, parents, and students.
On the website, we are presenting our team and mission, events offered by us, and curricula drafts which we have developed during the previous work stages.
Firstly, we have put a lot of work into the development of a draft for both primary and secondary sex education curricula. For this, we have established a list of topics and tips for the design of the lessons. In terms of primary school, we have focused on the introduction to the topics of sexuality, body, and health, whilst deepening the education and concentrating on self- determination, sexual orientation, and risks at the secondary school level.
Secondly, we designed a collection of exemplary events that we would offer in the future. These include online workshops, expert talks, and webinars revolving around a range of topics focusing on sex education, curriculum design, online teaching, and trust-teaching.
Thirdly, we have allocated roles within our team that correspond to each member’s skills.
Having shared our website with a group of teachers, parents, and students, we were able to collect some feedback on the idea of an ideal curriculum and inclusion of online tools to support German schools in providing high-quality sex education.
From the teacher's side, we have requested feedback from Johann M. who is a young and nascent teacher. Overall, he stated that he can see potential in our project’s aim and specifically in the networking and co-operational aspect of it.
“I really like the comprehensive curriculum. It is very similar to what we teach but with some complements. It’s cool that you also offer events. I wonder if we could do some cooperation [with MSV] for the events and reach out to more people through your website.” — Johann M.
Furthermore, we have received positive feedback from students who have had sex education in school a few years ago. They were asked to reflect on their experiences and have stated that the inclusion of new topics into the curriculum is overdue and could be very useful.
“The curriculum is very up-to-date compared to what I learned in school a couple of years ago.”— Tessa C.
Parents seemed to be a bit more skeptical of the idea of choosing an online channel for the communication of sex education at the beginning. However, it seems useful that both parents and their children can access all materials at the same place online.
“As a member of the parents' council at my child’s school, I like that this is a website where everything is in one place. But I feel like it would be more useful to already provide material like worksheets, videos, etc.”— Constanze A.
Regarding the expert talks, we got mixed feedback varying from excitement and support to skepticism and distrust. The latter was mostly resonated with the perceived lack of control that schools would experience over the content that is being taught. However, we would aim to establish more positive feelings towards this aspect through thorough information flows between teachers and parents.
“Offering events with field experts could be very valuable for schools”— Elsa G.
Summing up, it can be said that this testing approach for our hypothesis, that ‘German schools can guarantee high-quality education if we can provide an extensive curriculum for sex education’ resulted in positive outcomes.
However, there are some aspects that need to be taken into consideration. Firstly, we had wished to test our approach rather online and in person, with instant feedback from students and teachers at schools around Germany. This way, we could have implemented feedback loops right away and progressed more quickly. Given the circumstances, this has unfortunately not been possible. Moreover, we have taken a step back after looking at the results from sprint number five and realized that a more extensive curriculum is an important and good starting point, but an online platform might be more helpful to all parties involved.
Conclusion
To conclude we would like to highlight some key takeaways from the time we spent exploring the complex issue of sex education in German schools. We learned that it is a touchy subject with many stakeholders and diverse interests. Even in a relatively progressive country like Germany, sex education is not where we would like it to be since most students who reflect on their time in school are unsatisfied with the quality of sex education they received.
We also learned that the LGBTQ+ community is underrepresented in the curriculum and in the demographic educators, which we believe is problematic for students who might be questioning their sexuality and gender identities and in need of recognition support.
We were happy to find out there seems to be enthusiasm related to new initiatives aiming to broaden and diversify sex education in schools. But we also realize that there is still a long way to go and that legislative and legal obstacles make it harder to implement change. We believe there is still lots of space for innovative ideas.
