PhD Thesis
Faith, Relationships, and Sex Education: Giving voice to young people of different faiths and none in regard to relationships and sex education
By Dr Jo Sell
Abstract
The intersection between religion or faith and relationships and sex education (RSE) is understudied. Yet, worldwide, levels of religiosity remain high, and in parts of inner-city Britain are increasing, even though much of Britain is seeing a decline in religious observance. Using only student voices to inform the design of data collection methods and the direction for the study, I investigate the views, wishes and struggles that young people, including young people of faith, face when forming their relationships and sexual identity on their journey through adolescence. I also examine how high-quality relationships and sex education can support that journey. A pragmatic, constructivist, grounded theory methodology was developed and a total of around 460 year ten students from three very different inner-city schools in areas of high religious observance and one rural school in an area of low religious observance were involved in the research. The findings reveal the wish of students to receive effective, relevant, age appropriate, faith- and student-sensitive relationships and sex education. This was seen, by all groups of students, not only those from religious backgrounds, as important for enabling the provision of high quality, equality-based teaching. Student views as to the content and age at which topics should be taught in RSE varied, often, but not always, dependent on the religious or cultural background of students. On average students of high religiosity felt that most topics should be introduced a year later than students of no religious faith. Responding to these findings requires flexibility, understanding and sensitivity on behalf of schools when formulating policy and planning the curriculum concerning relationships and sex education. Overall, this area of education was found to be fraught and contested, so, following a review of the literature and data analysis, models to support those teaching RSE were developed.