Taking account of what young women want from school sex education

PURPOSE: This study seeks to explore what young women want from their school-based sex education. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: Qualitative methods were used to explore the perspectives of two groups of young women from Uganda and Scotland. FINDINGS: Of particular importance to all the young women were: a diverse sex education curriculum appropriate to the ages of the students, being taught by an outside female facilitator, single-sex classes and access to a female teacher. Furthermore, they proposed that discussion between small groups of friends is very useful. The Scottish group said that having a young teacher, teaching about emotions and relationships and being guided through their own decision making is also important. The Ugandan group emphasized the importance of being taught by female family members and having written materials provided on sex education. ORIGINALITY/VALUE: The study showed that young women from different backgrounds have strong opinions about sex education, and are an important resource for policy makers.