Perspectives of Indonesian parents towards school-based sexuality education

ABSTRACT

Internationally, school-based sexuality education programmes have shown to improve sexual practices and health outcomes for young people. However, perceived parental discord is commonly cited as a barrier to implementation. Within Indonesia, there is limited empirical evidence regarding parents’ attitudes towards school-based sexuality education. A sample of 768 Indonesian parents and caregivers completed an online Qualtrics survey to determine their level of support or disapproval towards the provision of sexuality education within primary and secondary schools. The majority of parents supported school-based sexuality education (n = 756, 98.4%) and suggested certain topics should commence as early as kindergarten and elementary school (n = 615, 80.0%). Religious affiliation was not associated with permissiveness. When presented with a range of sexuality topics, most parents agreed their inclusion was important. However, for some topics, there was significant variability in opinion based upon the age, gender, or educational background of the parent; thereby providing opportunity for further work. This preliminary study challenges notions that parents, particularly those with religious affiliations, are barriers to the delivery of sexuality education within Indonesia schools. Further research and advocacy will hopefully encourage educators to expand their current levels of provision, to align with international and evidence-based guidelines.

KEYWORDS:

• Indonesia
• sexuality education
• schools
• sexual health education
• parents
• attitudes

Acknowledgments

The authors are sincerely grateful to all the parents who participated in the survey, and to the various parties who assisted us with promotion.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Notes on contributors

Sanyulandy Leowalu

Ms Sanyulandy Leowalu, MC-SXLGY, BPubHlth is a citizen of Indonesia and recently spent two years living in Australia, whilst she completed a Masters of Sexology at Curtin University. This journal article is a result of her dissertation research. Sanyulandy currently works as community development coordinator and sexual health counsellor, supporting people with diverse backgrounds throughout Indonesia. She maintains an avid interest in sex education and the cultural aspects related to it, and is a strong advocate for comprehensive delivery of sexuality education throughout Indonesia.

Jacqueline Hendriks

Dr Jacqueline Hendriks, PhD PGradDipSexol PGradDipHltProm BSc is affiliated with the Collaboration for Evidence, Research and Impact in Public Health in the School of Population Health at Curtin University. She has held research roles at both the University of Western Australia and Curtin University, and has delivered sexuality-related education for more than 18 years. Jacqui’s research experience has involved both qualitative and quantitative methodologies. She has worked with numerous participant groups from secondary students through to older adults throughout Australia and the broader Asia-Pacific Region. She has a strong background and interest in sexual health research as it applies to both young people and their parents.