a seedling towards sexual health education: empowering the erotic through educators' approaches to comprehensive teaching

Abstract

This thesis explores the ways teachers and sexual health educators in the greater vancouver area of british columbia, canada are implementing and engaging with the current student health curriculum. The project looks in-depth into the student health guide presented by the provincial ministry of education and child care and gathers knowledge from semi-structured conversations with five educators to identify challenges regarding the instruction of sexual health education. This work intends to shed light on the powerful influence that cultural, social and institutional factors have on the effectiveness of comprehensive teaching and aims to highlight the complexities of providing education that is consistent, inclusive and transformative. In its essence, this thesis seeks to advocate for further support for educators, to draw attention to the institutional requisites needed to enact these changes, and to re-imagine a curriculum that is responsive to the needs of students to ensure a safe and hopeful future for youth.