EEH315 - Teaching Sexuality Education in the Middle Years

Unit details

Note: You are seeing the 2013 view of this unit information. These details may no longer be current. [Go to the current version]
Enrolment modes:

(B, S)

Credit point(s):1
EFTSL value:0.125
Unit chair:D Ollis
Campus contact:

D Ollis (B) Tri 2, L Harrison (S) Tri 3.

Prerequisite:

Trimester 2 - Students commencing E377 from 2011 require EPP203 and EEH201 as a prerequisite.

Trimester 3 - Students enrolled in courses other than E377 must contact the Student Support office to enrol in this unit.

Contact hours:

Trimester 2 - taught intensively for 6 weeks - weeks 1-6 x 6 hours per week for E377 students at Melbourne Burwood Campus.

Trimester 3 - taught in intensive mode over 7 days (5 hours per day) at Geelong Waterfront Campus.

Note:

(i) Trimester 2 offering is only available to E377 students as it is a compulsory unit in the E377 program. E377 students may however undertake the trimester 3 offering.

 

(ii) Trimester 3 offering is available to E359 and E377 students completing their 3rd year of study.

 

(iii) Although Trimester 3 option of this unit is open to students at the Melbourne, Geelong and Warrnambool campuses quota restrictions apply. This unit is run over a three-week period at the Geelong Waterfront Campus. It runs from 10 am til 4pm over 6 days (20th to the 22nd November and the 25th to the 27th November) with an additional day for assessment around on the 11th December 2013. Students living outside Geelong will need to find accommodation or organise transport.

Content

Sexuality does not suddenly emerge at secondary schools. Primary school age students live in a social context where they are exposed to messages about sexuality on a daily basis in the media through television, music, and advertising and from their peers. Sex is often joked about and discussed in derogatory or stereotypical ways. The correct information about human sexuality, including the positive aspects, is often kept hidden from children.

Generally children who receive a comprehensive sexuality education from an

early age:

  • Understand and accept with confidence physical and emotional changes
  • Feel positive about their bodies
  • Appreciate individual difference
  • Are more likely to make informed and responsible sexual decisions in later life
  • Feel good about themselves and their gender
  • Are capable of communicating about sexual matters
  • Understand appropriate and inappropriate behaviour
  • Are less vulnerable to exploitation and sexual abuse (Family Planning  Queensland 1996).

Sexuality education can be confronting and challenging for teachers and currently there is very little professional development in the area of health and sexuality education, particularly for primary teachers. Current programs in primary schools are often taken by outside agencies in one off blocks. This approach does not provide any continuity in teaching and goes against research that suggests classroom teachers are the best people to teach sexuality education. Research also indicates that secondary school teachers find this a difficult area to teach. Graduating teachers need to be equipped with the knowledge, skills and confidence to integrate sexuality education content, issues and activities in health education programs in line with VELS and student wellbeing policies and practice. Teachers need skills to provide effective teaching and learning activities, assess resources, deal with potentially sensitive issues with students and allay possible parental concerns. This unit is taught in intensive mode and includes the following content:

  • Setting the context: the current situation;
  • Discourses in sexuality education;
  • Conception and reproduction;
  • Frameworks and policies;
  • Gender and sexuality;
  • Sexual diversity;
  • Dealing with sensitive issues;
  • Roles and responsibilities.

Assessment

1. Micro-teaching presentation, 50%, 2000 words equivalent

2. Resource Development, 50%, 2000 words

Unit Fee Information

Student Contribution Rate*Student Contribution Rate**Fee rate - Domestic Students Fee rate - International students
$733$587$2299$2449

* Rate for all CSP students, except for those who commenced Education and Nursing units pre 2010
** Rate for CSP students who commenced Education and Nursing units pre 2010
Please note: Unit fees listed do not apply to Deakin Prime students.