Pre-service teachers’ experiences of a core Bachelor of Education (primary) unit: Teaching and learning about relationships and sex education for and about sex, gender and sexual diversity

ABSTARCT

The expectations placed on teachers and teacher educators have increased particularly in relation to education topics such as relationships and sex education. One group of four pre-service teachers and a teacher educator based in an Australian university studying a Bachelor of Education (primary) share their experiences of teaching and learning in a fourth-year core curriculum unit of study in health. The aim of this paper is to explore narrative accounts using Archer’s approaches to reflection (Archer, 2007) of our teaching and learning experiences. The reflections are shared within the context of making decisions about learning effective practices for relationships and sex education for and about sex, gender and sexual diversity as part of the curriculum, policy and pedagogical imperative in Australia. We found that queering pre-service primary school teacher practices for RSE is possible through deep reflection as part of teaching and learning in an initial teacher education course work core unit of study. Making this practice visible has implications for initial teacher educators in university contexts globally.

KEYWORDS:

• Teacher education
• sex education
• queer
• health and physical education
• relationships and sex education

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Lisa van Leent

Lisa van Leent is a teacher educator in the School of Teacher Education and Leadership within the Faculty of Creative Industries, Education and Social Justice at QUT.

Chelsea Kay

Chelsea Kay was a pre-service teacher in the School of Teacher Education and Leadership within the Faculty of Creative Industries, Education and Social Justice at QUT.

Abbey Wighton

Abbey Wighton was a pre-service teacher in the School of Teacher Education and Leadership within the Faculty of Creative Industries, Education and Social Justice at QUT.

Courtney Peters

Courtney Peters was a pre-service teacher in the School of Teacher Education and Leadership within the Faculty of Creative Industries, Education and Social Justice at QUT.

Brianna Ryan

Brianna Ryan was a pre-service teacher in the School of Teacher Education and Leadership within the Faculty of Creative Industries, Education and Social Justice at QUT.