Teaching Elementary Sexual Health Education - The Importance of Keeping It Current

Oct 15, 2026

The paper examines challenges in Canadian elementary sexual health education as language, social norms, and learner preferences shift faster than curriculum updates. It analyzes how outdated materials, heteronormative bias, and negative or outdated messaging can harm LGBTQ+ students and reduce safety in school environments. Proposed solutions include explicit inclusivity policies, continuous professional development for staff, and active Gay-Straight Alliances to create welcoming, safer spaces.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages4

Reading Time10 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Issues With Current Practices

Heteronormative Bias and Classroom Delivery

Cisnormativity, Safety, and Inclusive Solutions

REFEREED ARTICLE Teaching Elementary Sexual Health Education: The Importance of Keeping It Current Shannon Dube Abstract At the rapid rate that language. content, and preferences are changing around topics related to sexual health education, it is no wonder that curriculum in Canada is lagging behind. With a focus on the elementary classroom, this paper analyzes the problems associated with sexual health education in elementary classrooms and also takes a close look at some solutions for these issues. The purpose was to look at how outdated curriculum, heteronormative bias, and the negative messaging or outdated language have adverse consequences for LGBTQ+ students and the school space. Solutions include creating explicit policies within the school division that support inclusivity, continuous professional development opportunities for staff, and having active Gay-Straight Alliances that support safe spaces. Sexual health education in elementary school is a hot topic issue in Canada. There are many different views about what is considered appropriate content at varying grade levels. Parents, teachers, trustees, and government all have opinions about what children should and should not be taught. One of the difficulties is that there is no standardized Canadian curriculum; each province is left to create their own. Often, these curricula are long outdated and school divisions are then left to fill in gaps to create policy that supports inclusivity. To solve the problem , updated curriculum and more professional development can be game changers. With ongoing training, teachers become aware of their own “heteronormative bias” (Bryan, 2012 , p. 44) , and this alone can create very meaningful change. As more educators understand how crucial it is for them to create safe spaces for all students through supporting Gay-Straight Alliances, stating pronouns, and using picture books to create opportunities for explicit conversation about diversity , the more students are going to be positively affected. The Issues With Current Practices Canadian students deserve the most up-to-date sexual health education curriculum. When current information is taught in the classroom, this alone can lead to safer and more responsible student sexual decision-making (Alberta Health Services, n.d. ) throughout their lives. In many curricula across the country, even when outcomes were reviewed by education ministries in the past, they were drafted with no requirements for review or rewrite (Robinson et al. , 2019) . This leaves students behind in areas such as current social practices, vocabulary, and information. This also means that existing curricular resources can be limited (Frohard-Dourlent, 2018) . In my own first years of teaching, I struggled to reconcile what I knew was current and inclusive, versus what I was reading in the sexual health outcomes of the grade I was teaching. This lack of current curriculum can affect the very important formative years as students learn about who they are on the sexual and gender spectrum and their role within the classroom, school, and even society. Students will have a hard time to begin on equal ground when, for many, sexual health education in early elementary school is usually the first school-based curricular introduction that they receive (Slovin, 2016) , and is potentially being taught with a biased perspective or not taught to the depth it was intended. When left unreviewed, the way the curriculum is taught is left open to heteronormative bias. Canadian elementary students are not being given explicit opportunity to analyze, discuss, or be aware of how the society in which they live is influencing their beliefs about their sexual health or gender identity (Robinson et al. , 2019) . Because heteronormativity continues to be the prevalent model for society, it remains difficult, even impossible, to ensure that sexual health education curriculum and outcomes are being taught explicitly,

FAQs

Why does the paper argue that current sexual health education curriculum is important?

The paper argues that when up-to-date information is taught, it can support safer and more responsible student sexual decision-making throughout life.

What problems are associated with current practices in Canadian elementary classrooms?

It describes outdated curricula, lack of standardized national guidance, and limited resources, which can leave students behind in relevant vocabulary, social practices, and accurate information.

How does heteronormative bias affect students and classroom environments?

The paper states that heteronormativity influences how content is taught and can shape student messaging about what society considers normal, potentially creating unsafe or unwelcoming spaces.

Oct 15, 2026

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