Involve parents and caregivers in their children's
school-based sexuality education program.
To involve parents and caregivers in their children's school-based sexuality education, schools should at minimum give them the opportunity to preview the curriculum before it is implemented. Familiarizing parents and caregivers with the curriculum topics and keeping them involved can encourage them to share family values and beliefs and complement the lessons that their children learn in school. By offering workshops and other events for parents and caregivers throughout the year, schools can provide support and maintain interest.
Choices and Changes
Organization: Health Promotion Unit, Health and Social Services,
Government of Yukon, Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada
Original Target Audience: Parents and caregivers of young people in grades
four through seven in the local Yukon community
Language: Materials and sessions in English
Created for the Yukon community by the Health Promotion Unit of the Government of Yukon, Canada, and Elijah Smith Elementary School, Choices and Changes is a curriculum for students in grades four through seven. Based on the Canadian
Guidelines for Sexual Health Education, it consists of eight one-hour sessions per grade. Topics vary by grade level and include healthy relationships, friendship, boundaries, personal space, fetal development, puberty, parenting, body image, contraception, HIV/AIDS, STDs, gender roles, and sexuality and the media.
Choices and Changes invites parents and caregivers to become involved in their children's sexuality education by introducing them to the curriculum before it begins. It also encourages subsequent parent sessions such as video screenings, question-and-answer sessions, or group discussions based on the needs of parents in the community. Facilitated parent discussions can include activities related to values clarification and communicating with children about sexuality. An evaluation of the Choices and Changes program is published in the Winter 2000, SIECCAN Newsletter.1
Choices and Changes
"Individuals cannot master healthy relationship skills in a one-hour session. People need to practice them over a long period of time. It would be beneficial to devote more time to this subject."
-Health and Social Services, Government of Yukon
For more information:
Choices and Changes
Health Promotion Unit, Health and Social Services
Government of Yukon
#2 Hospital Road, Box 2703
Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada
Y1A 2C6
Web site: http://www.yukonhealth.com
Reference
- J.Wackett, L. Evans, "An Evaluation of the Choices and Changes
Student Program: A Grade Four to Seven Sexual Health
Education Program Based on the Canadian Guidelines for Sexual
Health Education," SIECCAN Newsletter in the Canadian Journal of
Human Sexuality, 2000, vol. 9, no. 4, pp. 265-73.
