Abstract:

The participatory research project Teach LOVE analyzes the state of sex-education in Northern European schools from multiple stakeholders’ perspectives. Based on the empirically ascertained needs, a digital further education for teachers and student teachers is developed, implemented, and evaluated. The participants receive psychologically based, paradigmatic polyphonic further education in collaboration with scientists (psychology, pedagogy, sociology) and practitioners (therapists, midwives) about not only sex, but love, emotions, norms, and relationships in the contemporary (and digital) societal context.

In this contribution, we, first, describe the situation in schools from the first-person perspective, relying on interviews with teachers. The findings show educational material is primarily an outdated relic focusing on hygiene and reproduction, or is politically biased. Teachers have merely no access to (further) education, besides short (2-4 hour) training from third-party providers, and experience the public discourse as highly normative loaded. As a result, teachers feel left alone, overburdened, and politically at risk while simultaneously reporting a personal desire to make a positive change.

Secondly, we present the Teach LOVE four-step approach and the digital format, its didactic, and the results from the multimethodical (quantitative and qualitative) ex-post evaluation of the courses from 2021 (n=140). Besides evaluating format and scope, we emphasize psychological effects, e.g. on self-perception, perceived confidence, and change in the attitude of the participants. We conclude on potentials and challenges in teaching sensitive topics in digital formats.

Keywords:

Sex education, digital further education, evaluation, student teachers, further education, psychological education for teachers.