Towards Building a Bridge: Exploring Adolescents and Their Teachers’ Perceptions of Comprehensive Sexuality Education in Ecuador

Although it is widely recognized that the educational system is a key setting for the implementation of sexuality education there is little evidence about the stakeholders’ opinion regarding the approach that might be addressed, particularly in contexts where there is evidence of lack of sexuality education and where it is considered a transversal axe within the curriculum. Prior work indicates that the fundamentals for the development or improvement of any sexuality education programs should be identifying the target groups’ voices.

Grounded on a study performed in Ecuador, this paper aimed to explore the perceptions of adolescent students regarding their interests in learning Comprehensive Sexuality Education on the one hand, and the perceptions of how important is for their teachers to address this approach within their role, on the other hand.

A 6 points Likert scale questionnaire was built considering the seven components of Comprehensive Sexuality Education proposed by the IPPF: gender, sexual health, sexual citizenship, pleasure, violence, diversity and relationships. Participants were N=780 adolescents and N=360 teachers both groups from the same public schools of urban and rural areas.