Sex education and the teaching of citizenship: towards a more inclusive conception of childhood

Abstract

Sex and politics as curricular issues in England and Wales have traditionally come under the umbrella area of Personal and Social Education, which has usually been dealt with in an ad hoc and unsystematic manner by the political centre. As concerns over values, public order and child protection have become progressively more central, sex education and the teaching of citizenship have crept on to the national educational agenda, and are likely to occupy a more formative role within the national curriculum. This article addresses these education initiatives in four ways: (a) as a challenge to the historically weak tradition in England and Wales for educating children in sexual and political matters and encouraging pupils to participate in school affairs; (b) as a counter to the deterministic thrust of recent education reform; (c) as part of a shift towards the development of children's roles as citizens in terms of their rights to physical integrity and rights to participation in public affairs; (d) as developments which further the debate within the social sciences over the relationship between childhood and agency. The article will conclude by suggesting that despite the demands on adults to restrict and regulate the quality and quantity of knowledge on offer to children, the introduction of sexual and citizenship-type issues within the national curriculum creates a more socially inclusive role for children.