Comprehensive Sexual Education: Analysis of Psychoeducational Materials

Introduction

In the last decade, Comprehensive Sexual Education (CSE) has become an important part of education. In fact, many countries have advocated for legislation to promote CSE, and o international organizations have highlighted its importance for student health. One of their recommendations involves improving the resources promoting educational practices of comprehensive sexual education (CSE) and prevention of gender violence (PGV). In relation to this, it has been observed that to facilitate the instruction of CSE, it is important to promote the comprehension of CSE and PGV materials, especially when they are part of teacher training courses. This chapter focuses on analyzing the causal connectivity of statements, as a textual feature that facilitates comprehension, in two psychoeducational teaching materials on CSE and PGV. These materials are part of teaching training materials that are included in teacher training courses by the Department of Education of Argentina.

Psychoeducational materials on CSE are crucial for the prevention of complex social problems. There is extensive literature that highlights how psychoeducational interventions on CSE, and systematic training can help solve and prevent social problems such as gender violence, teenage pregnancy, dating violence, absences and limitations of parental co-responsibilities in upbringing and care, etc. (Badriah et al., 2023; Fonner et al., 2014). These problems have been observed to have a high prevalence, especially in societies and communities in which relationships exhibit asymmetry, and in which gender minorities face exclusion and social disadvantages.This social injustices are transmitted from generation to generation. These patterns in which unequal relationships are formed with gender norms that perpetuate violence are usually characterized as “patriarchal schemes of domination” (Gregorio et al., 2023; Makleff et al., 2020).

Evidence about the positive impact of promoting learning about CSE has generated that in different countries, especially in Latin America, CSE content has been included in the school curriculum. As was suggested, the importance of CSE has been highlighted by international organizations. It should also be noted that legislation must be accompanied by resources that allow its implementation (UNESCO, 2021). Considering this, it is crucial that teachers have appropriate training. Materials that are part of teacher training courses tend to include booklets or handbooks with focus on expository content and include self-assessment and reflection activities (Carman et al., 2011). However, teacher training courses do not tend to include instruction on how to teach CSE (Ahmed et al., 2006).

This gap points to the need to promote CSE training in Teacher training institutions and, and to develop teaching training materials that facilitate learning (Vanwesenbeeck et al., 2016). Considering prior studies, we can propose that if these materials are revised, learning can be facilitated. In consequence, the aim of this work is to contribute to the promotion of the development of psychoeducational materials focused on CSE. With this aim,we will examine the establishment of causal connections among statements in sample texts that were developed in Argentina. We focus on these connections, given that previous studies have recognized that establishing causal connections facilitate comprehension (Cevasco & Acosta Buralli, 2023). The aim of this chapter is to analyze the role of causal connectivity in two psychoeducational materials: one based on general CSE content and another on PGV. Both materials are included in a handbook for highschool teachers designed by the Ministry of Education of Argentina (2022).