The Human Rights Act 1998 is the most significant British statute to have been passed in the last decade. It has already been the catalyst for a series of high profile cases, ranging from the privacy rights of celebrities ("Douglas v Hello!" [2001] QB 967) to the Home Secretary's sentencing powers in murder cases ("R (Anderson) v Secretary of…

A multi-method project was conducted in a Local Education Authority (LEA) in the north of England. The relationships between girls' friendships, bullying, school attendance and transfer were explored through documentary analysis, LEA school admission statistics, group interviews and q-sort technique. This paper reports selectively on those…

This paper derives from research that had the aim of understanding more about adolescents' views of sex education and adolescent sexuality. The data are taken from three separate pieces of research conducted in 1984, 1998 and 2003. This paper presents data about gender, information and knowledge relating to sexuality. It seeks to demonstrate that…

Young people engaged as peer educators are increasingly important in sex and relationship education (SRE) programmes in a variety of settings and are particularly valued in the APAUSE programme (Rees et al., 1997). The increase in popularity of peer education raises a need to value the inputs of young people and to give formal recognition to…

This paper examines the construction of sexual knowledge in contemporary China through a typical instance of its production--the marriage manual "Marital Medicine". China's reform era has seen rapid changes in attitudes to sex and in sexual conduct, and recent government interest in sex education has been motivated by a desire to halt the…

This paper presents data from a study of four projects in which young mothers deliver school sex education sessions, with the aim of giving pupils "informed choices" regarding their sexual behaviour. Eleven focus group discussions were carried out with pupils, and semi-structured interviews were carried out with 14 young mothers in order to assess…

The social and political climate of sex education over the last two decades has dramatically changed, with parents now being encouraged to work in partnership with professionals. This paper seeks to further the argument that involving parents in their child's sex education does matter and can have an impact on their child's future sexual health.…

This study focuses on interviews with six lesbian, gay or bisexual trainee teachers, and explores their experiences in relation to sexual orientation. Initial analysis reveals interesting perspectives on the lives of trainees in Higher Education, during school-based work and socially; it also provides a window onto the attitudes to sexuality…

This article suggests that sex education in Church schools should address the personal as political through proclaiming the liberating potential of incarnational theology. The author suggests that Christian sex educators should be alert to the construction and commodification of desire and its attendant capitalist implications. While resisting…

This research explored how Muslim immigrant girls' communication and education about sexuality was mediated through their mothers and school-based sexuality education (SBSE) classes. Thirty mothers and their 38 daughters living in Illinois participated in focus group discussions and individual semi-structured interviews that gauged girls' and…

The family--via communication (or lack thereof)--is a primary avenue for sexuality education. While most research on family sexuality communication has examined the content of parent-child communication (e.g. topics discussed), relatively few studies have assessed the process, the way in which communication occurs. This paper presents an analysis…

Pupil discomfort in sex education lessons is high, often manifesting itself in reluctance to participate constructively. Low levels of participation are problematic, jeopardizing effective learning. Teacher interview and lesson observation data, collected in 25 schools in the East of Scotland, reveal that there is much variation between classes…