Viewing Sexual Health Education through the Lens of Critical Pedagogy: A Case Study in Chicago Public Schools
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Data Collection
2.1.1. Interviews
2.1.2. Focus Groups
2.2. Analytic Approach
2.2.1. Data Analysis
2.2.2. Member Checking
3. Results
3.1. Sample Characteristics
3.2. Key Themes
3.2.1. Incorporate More Student-Centered Learning Opportunities and Allow for Tailoring to Each Specific Group of Students
Those Power Points were awful and kids got bored with them… [one lesson] was going over like the laws and stuff, and my kids did have a lot of questions about it… but the writing [the ways it was presented in the slides] was just way too much for kids to fully take in.Teacher #2
If you look around, not many teachers are doing straight lecturing any more. That’s really not a practice that we’re following these days. We want to make sure that the student has more control. Discovery I think is important, so having them discover the answer as opposed to me just delivering the answer.Teacher #12
3.2.2. Use Discussion and Dialogue to Encourage Students’ Exploration of Their Own Opinions and Identities and Development of a Sense of Agency over Their Own Learning
So I go by how much the kids get out of it. If it’s going to take more than a class period, because we got a lot of good class discussion going on I’m not going to stop it and move on… The kids, if they have questions and there’s good group discussion I’m not stopping.Teacher #8
So when you go ahead and pull out whoever has a question [from the question box], SHE also not only gives her answer to it, but SHE lets the other students if they have an answer as well, and she’ll agree or disagree and explain what they’re really saying, if no one else really understands what the student is saying. I feel like that is really good, because it’s not just her answering the question, also being engaged with the class as well.Focus group #3
[If I were a sex ed teacher] it’s just more of a discussion thing more than me standing up in front of the board and teaching you from a power point, or from writing on the white board… so like everyday I would probably allow my class to have [a discussion], because I think that that’s creative and think that’s a good way to still keep order in the class but allow them to share their opinions…Focus group #2
Nothing was really forced on us, as to how to think, what to do, all of that. It was like I’ve been repeating is that the decision is up to us. I think she probably was stressing on that the entire time. Whatever we do, the choice is up to us.Focus group #3
I think it’s important to always focus on how are we getting students to learn from one another? How are we getting kids up out of their seats and learning on their feet? Like I said, the importance of prenatal care, where you have kids moving around or working together to try to figure out these definitions. Just seeing where you have kids up and engaged is always going to help… It gives the kids some responsibility to learn on their own as well.Teacher #4
3.2.3. Shift Focus from Risk Reduction to a More Holistic Focus on Healthy Sexual Wellbeing
When we talked about it, it was always male and females. Nothing else was ever brought up about other situations. It was always, “Don’t get pregnant. Don’t ruin your future.”Focus group #2
3.2.4. Directly Discuss Current Health Inequities, Contributing Factors, and Intersectionality
There’s always going to be a risk–guy to guy–girl to girl–I don’t like getting into this “has a higher risk than”–no one is exempt–there is no disease that discriminates against race, gender, etc.Teacher, #16
3.3. Alignment to Key Dimensions of Critical Pedagogy
4. Discussion
Limitations
5. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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School Characteristics | Number | Percent |
---|---|---|
School type | ||
Charter | 1 | 6.0 |
City-wide option | 1 | 6.0 |
Magnet | 1 | 6.0 |
Military academy | 1 | 6.0 |
Neighborhood | 7 | 44.0 |
Selective enrollment | 5 | 31.0 |
School demographic profile | ||
Majority African American/Black | 5 | 31.0 |
Majority Hispanic/Lantinx | 5 | 31.0 |
Majority African American/Black or Hispanic/Latinx | 2 | 12.0 |
Mix of African American/Black, Hispanic/Latinx, White, and Asian students | 4 | 26.0 |
Characteristic | Teachers, n = 16 | Students, n = 46 | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Number | Percent | Number | Percent | |
Gender | ||||
Female/Woman/Girl | 8 | 50.0 | 27 | 59.0 |
Male/Man/Boy | 8 | 50.0 | 16 | 35.0 |
Non-binary | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4.0 |
Not reported | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2.0 |
Age | ||||
14–17 | - | - | 46 | 100% |
25–34 | 8 | 50.0 | - | - |
35–44 | 5 | 31.0 | - | - |
45–54 | 3 | 19.0 | - | - |
Race/ethnicity | ||||
Black or African American | 3 | 19.0 | 16 | 35.0 |
Latino/Hispanic | 0 | 0 | 26 | 57.0 |
White or European American | 13 | 81.0 | 2 | 4.0 |
Bi-/Multi-racial | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4.0 |
Teacher type | ||||
Health/PE Teacher | 15 | 94.0 | - | - |
Special Education Teacher | 1 | 6.0 | - | - |
Key Themes in This Study | Example Quotations Supporting Key Themes | Alignment with Characteristics of Critical Pedagogy |
---|---|---|
| Do I start off the class in a circle, because I know that this needs to be a very structured, formal conversation? Or if I know that my class is a little more mature and they can handle a conversation like that when you’re talking about things such as sexual assault, can it be more of an open format where kids are allowed to freely speak however they want? It really just depends on the student body itself, and it changes from year to year. Teacher #4 | |
| I asked her if we could do a fishbowl so that we could talk more that [about different opinions on when it’s ok to have sex], cause I like fishbowl talks… everybody writes a question and you don’t have to put your name on it and put it in the bowl and be pulled... Because I feel like sex ed shouldn’t really be a lesson. It should be more of a discussion, an open discussion. Focus group #3 |
|
| I feel like just talking about how all the different ways like people could have sex because they didn’t talk about sex is for pleasure at all. …They mentioned sex for reproduction, that’s it. Focus group #3 |
|
| If I was going to make my curriculum about this, make sure to not make it cis or heteronormative… So when they try to bring this and point out to somebody who’s non-conforming or trans, they’re like, “There’s only two genders, there’s only two sexes.” You are absolutely wrong… This is ‘Wham!’ Those myths can be shattered… Just talk about that make sure they acknowledge their privilege when they talk about certain things and make sure to acknowledge the question at the same time… There are definitely nuances. I feel like it’s damaging. It can be harmful [not to address those topics]. Focus group 5 |
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Jarpe-Ratner, E.; Marshall, B. Viewing Sexual Health Education through the Lens of Critical Pedagogy: A Case Study in Chicago Public Schools. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18, 1443. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18041443
Jarpe-Ratner E, Marshall B. Viewing Sexual Health Education through the Lens of Critical Pedagogy: A Case Study in Chicago Public Schools. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2021; 18(4):1443. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18041443
Chicago/Turabian StyleJarpe-Ratner, Elizabeth, and Booker Marshall. 2021. "Viewing Sexual Health Education through the Lens of Critical Pedagogy: A Case Study in Chicago Public Schools" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 18, no. 4: 1443. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18041443