School-based sexuality education in Portugal: strengths and weaknesses

Abstract

Portugal, like many other countries, faces obstacles regarding school-based sexuality education. This paper explores Portuguese schools’ approaches to implementing sexuality education at a local level, and provides a critical analysis of potential strengths and weaknesses. Documents related to sexuality education in a convenience sample of 89 schools were analysed and findings confirm both the results of the few existing Portuguese studies on the subject and commonalities in sexuality education between Portugal and other European countries. These include strengths, such as the existence of teams in charge of sexuality education in schools and the provision of resources, but also weaknesses, such as too heavy a focus on health-related issues, difficulties in cross-curricular teaching, low levels of community participation and poor-quality evaluation. Findings point to the need for a greater sharing of information and good practice between countries, and the need for clearer guidelines. Suggestions are made for improving the quality of sexuality education in Portuguese schools.

Keywords:

• Sexuality education
• schools
• Portugal
• documentary analysis

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Funding

This work was supported by the Foundation for Science and Technology, Portugal [grant number SFRH/BD/74347/2010].

Notes

1. The Portuguese educational system is divided into four levels: 1st cycle (1st–4th grades), 2nd cycle (5th and 6th grades), 3rd cycle (7th–9th grades) and secondary education (10th–12th grades). The 3rd cycle can be taught in elementary schools (5th through 9th grade) or secondary schools (7th through 12th grade).

2. The main focus of a positive and holistic approach is sexuality as a positive human potential and a source of satisfaction /pleasure. It includes concern for the social, psychological and physical aspects of sexuality. A negative and more cautious approach is one that remains overly focused on negative consequences of sexual behaviour (e.g. unwanted pregnancy) and risk practices.