Sexual education coalition seeks more government funding

Teachers in Quebec are left to their own devices, often involuntarily, when it comes to sexual health education (sex ed), but the Coalition Édusex plans to change the current model.

The coalition, which is made up of over 100 local and provincial community and labour groups, launched a petition on Jan. 21 calling for the government to meet two simple demands: increase funding to sex ed and implement support systems for educators.

According to Édusex spokesperson Jess Legault, within the first few hours, the petition garnered over 1,000 signatures. They want the government to fix their attitude towards sex ed and make it more appropriate in today’s context.

“The demand is higher than ever in the community groups because the teachers are having a really hard time right now, as everyone is, but they can’t be asked to do this work without any training, without any funding to support them,” Legault said.

Édusex formed in 2018 after the provincial government once again made sexual health education compulsory content in elementary and high schools. Everyone benefits from making sex ed a priority in society, Legault added.

“There’s less unplanned pregnancies, there are fewer STIS, there’s more positive sexuality, and also just being able to live their sexuality fully,” she said.

But for a long time, sex ed has largely been ignored by the Quebec government. Teachers are rarely trained properly to educate students on the subject matter. Legault said that most of them don’t even feel comfortable teaching sex ed.

“We did a survey in November of almost 500 people and half of the respondents were teachers and of those teachers 75 per cent of them had not received any sex education training,” said Legault.

They are usually sent out to do their own thing, she explained, which falls on their own professional integrity. But if they are mandated to do this, Legault continued, then the government needs to give them proper training sessions.

She added that alongside a more structured teacher training program, there must also be continuous education. The terminology in sex ed changes rapidly, so they need to stay up-to-date, she said, and they need to be aware of the impact of their lessons.

“When you talk to the sexologists who are in the coalition, so much of what needs to be learned isn’t really the content, it’s how to teach it and how to be positive and inclusive in the way that you teach it,” said Legault.

While she believes teachers need more elaborate training in sex ed, Legault also wants the government to acknowledge the work of community groups — the backbone of many sex ed classes for more than 20 years.

These groups have extensive sex ed knowledge, she said, but they are constantly vying for the same government grants. If the government acknowledged their existence with universal funding then everyone could focus on teaching sexual health.

“It’s really confusing and we really want the government to come out with a clear position and to recognize the importance and necessity of quality sex education,” said Legault.

The goal is also to eventually make sexual health education a mandatory part of Quebec’s university education degree. But that is just a pipe dream at the moment, she said, current training sessions vary between three hours and two days.

Édusex is already receiving positive testimonials from parents, teachers and sexologists, according to the spokesperson. The coalition hopes that by uniting their voices, they will be able to send a stronger, more decisive message to the province’s education officials.

“The petition is really what we’re pushing right now to make sure we have a very clear message to send the government,” Legault said.