Introduction
Despite its relevance for adolescents’ well-being, sexuality education in Hong Kong’s schools does not get enough attention. Aids Concern found that in 2018, less than half of young people polled had an accurate understanding of contraceptive techniques, demonstrating a severe deficiency in adolescent sexuality education (Isaksen, Musonda & Sandøy, 2020). I think it is essential for the Education Bureau in Hong Kong to update the rules and enhance teacher training to better the quality of sex education in secondary schools. There has to be a set of clear rules for local schools to follow to provide proper sex education that takes into account the most recent societal trends and challenges. According to Leung & Lin (2019), the government released sex education guidelines in 1997, outlining five fundamental principles and associated issues to be taught via a systematic curriculum. While the Education Bureau did not update its instructions on sex education in 2008, it offered a new framework for moral and civic education that briefly touches on the subject. The following recommendations are necessary for promoting sex education in Hong Kong.
Use of workshops
Workshop participants will leave with the necessary information and tools to make safe and responsible sexual decisions. The approach is all-encompassing, age-appropriate, and sex-positive; it covers a wide range of topics related to sexuality, such as human progress, partnerships, decision-making, negotiation, permission, prevention, unwanted pregnancy, and disease prevention (Peter et al., 2019). The framework should be set up so that as students advance through the program, they return to previously covered material and explore it in greater depth each time. Fundamental pedagogical ideas center on making lessons as engaging and relevant as possible for individual students. Instructors should create four short films to supplement the workshop teaching materials and supplement the face-to-face contact with students. Given the delicate nature of sexuality, these films can also be used to train educators to lead seminars on the subject.
Social worker-counselor guidance
This social worker and guidance counselor intervention aim to provide participants with the knowledge and skills necessary to assist adolescents experiencing a sexual health crisis by connecting them with the appropriate community services. Social workers and guidance counselors at schools are often the initial contact points for students with sexual concerns and the conduit through which they may be sent to appropriate sexual health services and counseling assistance. Therefore, it’s crucial to train this personnel to have a sex-positive mentality and a deep understanding of the community’s sexual health resources. It’s important to offer two tiers of instruction, each of which may be tailored to the learner based on their own goals in sexuality education.
Parent intervention
Parents should be provided with resources and encouraged to take advantage of teaching moments to discuss sexual health with their children. Two parent workshops on sexuality, relationships, and maturing will be held at each school. Also, the school will provide letters to parents that expand upon the material provided in the student workshops and offer helpful hints for guardians. When teaching their children about sexuality, parents should take the lead. However, Asian parents are hesitant to talk to their children about sexual concerns due to the taboo nature of the subject and a lack of awareness about sexual health. Therefore, parents in Hong Kong must be made aware of and encouraged to provide their children with sex education.
Government
The Hong Kong government has initiated restructuring sex education curricula in the city’s secondary schools. The Education Bureau’s recently released Value Education Curriculum Framework includes specific sex education topics but provides nothing in the way of specifics for designing a comprehensive sex education curriculum. The department should lay forth recommendations for how many hours should be spent in class, what subjects should be covered at what ages, and how those recommendations are to be implemented. The bureau should consider students’ needs and expectations while developing these recommendations and consult with local sex education organizations and policy papers quoting international norms (such as UNESCO’s International technical advice on sex education). In an ideal world, these norms would be updated every five years to account for shifting cultural norms and views on sexuality and relationships.
Engaging the media
Adolescents may look to the media as a source of sex education. Yet, many of these shows and movies promote harmful sexual practices and relationships while ignoring the need for open dialogue about sexual health. Media Aware is an online resource that promotes media literacy and sexual health awareness among high school students. Its goal is to help young people develop more nuanced, informed responses to the media messages they encounter and to equip them with better communication and sexual health skills. The ability to critically analyze and deconstruct media messages relies on a solid foundation of media literacy education. The communications’ veracity and correctness, as well as any inherent biases or gaps in knowledge, are being assessed, and reliable medical resources are being made available. This course concentrates on the media’s portrayal of sexuality and gender, the health of relationships, sexual assault, and open dialogue. Students engage with the material through peer films, interactive instructional slides, quizzes, and simulations that provide them with opportunities to put what they’ve learned into practice.
Use of communication tools
Teachers in sex education should be encouraged to emphasize the benefits of sex education while communicating with their pupils rather than just relying on the cautionary tone that is often taken. In sex education, it is beneficial to promote interactive communication strategies, including debate, discussion, and role-play. According to Leung & Lin (2019), the curriculum development group should increase the number of textbooks, classroom activities, and other materials available for sex education instructors. Concerning the difficulties in discussing sexuality in the classroom, educators should be provided with in-service training.
Since culture and religion were recognized as barriers to communication, it is crucial to involve the larger community in understanding the value of parent-adolescent sexuality communication and creating treatments to improve communication on sexuality. It is essential to promote frank discussions about sexuality between educators and students (Secretariat, 2018). There should be an effort to provide kids with the knowledge and skills necessary to break down the taboos associated with discussing sexuality. To achieve this goal, it is possible to invite them to participate in “straight talk” programs and seminars (Cheung, Kwan, & Yim 2021). Continuing to use mass media to educate young people about sexuality and break down cultural barriers in this area of communication is crucial. The reasoning goes like this: participants in this study reported hearing about or seeing content linked to sex matters on radio, TV, and film.
Conclusion
To facilitate an open dialogue on the topic of sexuality in Hong Kong, it is essential for both instructors to be well-versed in the subject matter, receptive to students’ questions and comments, and comfortable engaging in frank and honest discourse. It is possible that this method of expression will not find favor with people of different faiths and backgrounds. Nevertheless, the community should be reassured that open dialogue with young people will not prevent them from imposing whatever limitations they see fit. In order to improve dialogue between educators and students on sexuality-related topics, it is necessary to address the concerns voiced here. This will help close the gap between adolescent and teenage sex awareness and the adoption of healthier sexual behaviors.
References
Andres, E. B., Choi, E. P. H., Fung, A. W. C., Lau, K. W. C., Ng, N. H. T., Yeung, M., & Johnston, J. M. (2021). Comprehensive sexuality education in Hong Kong: study protocol for process and outcome evaluation. BMC Public Health, 21(1), 1-7.
Cheung, S. K., Kwan, J. L. Y., & Yim, K. Y. K. (2021). Pre-service early childhood teachers’ perceptions about sexuality education and behavioural intentions towards children’s curiosity about sexuality. Journal of Education for Teaching, 47(1), 89-103.
Isaksen, K. J., Musonda, P., & Sandøy, I. F. (2020). Parent-child communication about sexual issues in Zambia: a cross sectional study of adolescent girls and their parents. BMC public health, 20(1), 1-12.
Leung, H., & Lin, L. (2019). Adolescent sexual risk behavior in Hong Kong: prevalence, protective factors, and sex education programs. Journal of Adolescent Health, 64(6), S52-S58.
Peter, A., Kumar, P. S., Deana, L., Daniel, M., & Lou, R. M. (2018). Youth, sexuality and sexual citizenship: An introduction. In Youth, sexuality and sexual citizenship (pp. 1-16). Routledge.
Secretariat, L. C. (2018). Sexuality education.
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