Towards a reconceptualised sex/sexuality education policy: theory and cultural change

At present state schools can be seen as a key institutional arena of contemporary sexual politics. A new moralism has resulted in an increased self‐policing and contestation about the way students should live their lives. This paper sets out the case for progressive educationalists to engage in recent theoretical developments within sexual politics in order to work towards constructing an alternative policy framework for sex education in schools. The paper begins with the political context of recent policy interventions before examining how current theoretical developments have been explored in recent work in schools. This is followed by a reflection on the mediation of theoretically‐led policy formulation at the local level of the school at a time of contradictory legislative demands. It is suggested that there is a need to think through the necessary conditions for a real institutional shift in the balance of sexual power/ knowledge relations experienced by young people. A key element of such a shift is the need to engage with young people's accounts of school as a critical sexual site in their coming of age. This approach involves a focus upon students’ subject positions and the accompanying power relations existing within current institutional arrangements.