Step Forward with Understanding - Bangkok, Thailand

This programme is based on the notion that sex education involves much more than learning about sexual intercourse. The objective of sex education, according to this model, is "to encourage young people to learn about themselves, learn to build and maintain relationships with others and be quality members of society, with good sexual health and quality of life". That is, the curriculum development process focussed on encouraging children to learn about sexuality in its broader aspects, rather than just bodily functions, hygiene, and sexual acts. Examples of topics covered were: nature, safety, culture, emotional engagement, problematic consequences, readiness of both people, and desire.

Similarly, this curriculum's HIV/AIDS prevention strategy was designed to enable children to assess their own risk of contracting HIV and to explore appropriate risk reduction alternatives without restricting themselves to condom use only. The idea here was to go beyond HIV/AIDS by enabling children to gain information about sexuality; explore attitudes and values related to growing up, gender roles, risk taking, and sexual expression and friendship; and to practice skills such as critical thinking, communication, and decision making.

Exploration of such topics required that the teacher promote continuing learning experiences by acting as a facilitator who has a trusting, open relationship with his or her students. A key strategy, then, was to help teachers become effective sex educators in the sense that they were non-judgmental and built trust among their students. To foster this kind of interaction, PATH conducted a 3-day training session for teachers that focussed on understanding the goals and content of sexuality education; exploring attitudes toward sex and HIV/AIDS; participatory learning approaches, student-centred teaching, and the process of behaviour change; and listening, questioning, and summarising skills. Information given to teachers emphasised how to integrate sex education into principal course content (for example, teachers were showed how information on bodily functions could be interwoven with information on modes of HIV transmission). Role playing exercises were used to enable teachers to recognise how their own attitudes could influence the tone and message of the education they provided (and, by extension, the degree to which students would feel comfortable opening up to them). The teachers were helped to see their responsibility to organise sex education for kids in many formats such as providing knowledge, familiarising (discussing sex), practising skills (communication), and providing service (counselling) or equipment (contraceptives, condoms).

A final curriculum development strategy shaping this programme was enabling the participation of adults in various sectors such as policy makers, school administrators, teachers, and parents. The idea here was that this participation was crucial in terms of encouraging and implementing sex education activities. Specific activities included:

• Notification and consultation with school administrators or teachers' committees about the goals and parameters of the curriculum, as well as discussion of the need for technical support such as training for teachers, preparation of materials, and provision of equipment for activities.
• Creation of a support system among teachers, including co-organising activities with teachers, class visits and observation, feedback after activities, and an experience-sharing seminar to exchange lessons learned.
• Communication with parents through letters informing them of and explaining planned activities and presenting options in the event that a particular activity struck a parent as inappropriate. (Surveying parents in this way revealed that only a small number were opposed to the programme, which gave the teachers greater confidence to proceed).
• Development of networks of cooperation between teachers and local agencies such as with nurses in health centres in Bangkok and NGO staff who had received training and conducted activities jointly with teachers.

Development Issues
Children, Sexuality, Sex Education, Family Planning, HIV/AIDS.

Organisers observe that sexuality and decision-making about sex is determined by many deep-seated values. For example, gendered values that can lead to unsafe sex include the idea that males are expected to express themselves sexually and given every opportunity to do so. Virginity is valued in women; many women lack the power to express their own sexual desires, or even to protect themselves from harm.

Organisers make the point that communication about sex at all levels in Thai culture is taboo. Even though many of the teachers who participated were guidance counselors who knew that their students had already experimented with sex, this knowledge was not sufficient to eliminate the worry that sex education would lead kids to engage in sex. In response, one student said, "...it's like being full after eating rice. Once you find out all about it, you don't need to go and try it out or find out about it from somewhere else..."