The discourses of sexuality in curriculum documents on sexuality education: an Australian case study

Abstract

This paper identifies three underlying discourses on the nature of sexuality evident in two Department of Education curriculum documents on sexuality education in Victoria, Australia, over the past 15 years. These discourses are a cultural ‘preservation’ perspective, a risk minimisation perspective, and a view that sexual expression should enable cultural and individual enlightenment and emancipation. This analysis of underpinning discourses is used as the basis for identifying a range of issues relating to course content, implied characteristics of learners, and appropriate teaching methods that need to be addressed in future documents if diverse goals in this area relating to knowledge and attitudinal outcomes are to be met.