Affective-sexual education in the Province of Ibérica

On April 15, 16 and 17, the Province of Ibérica held the first Marist Conference on affective-sexual education in Lardero. A group of almost 50 educators from the different educational centers and social works gathered to begin to reflect and train themselves about the model of affective-sexual education based on the model of the person of the institutional educational project.

The participants said yes to sex education in the classroom inspired by the words of Pope Francis and taking into account the technical guidelines at the international level on comprehensive sex education, and also from the study of different educational proposals developed by administrations and other institutions. They also said yes to affective-sexual education because they know that today it is a family, social and educational urgency and a need of adolescents and young people.

During the conference, the participants devoted time to training and reflection on the ethical and legal issues surrounding affective-sexual education and also entered into a social and cultural analysis of sexuality in childhood and youth. They also had the opportunity to collaborate in the revision of the Framework for affective-sexual education in the Province of Ibérica, which was born in the light of the Marist European Framework for affective-sexual education. The work in small groups served to deepen the analysis of the needs of the students, as well as the model and criteria from which the Maristas want to educate in this area.

There is awareness that excellent work is being done in the prevention of child sexual abuse, but it is necessary to broaden the objective to respond to a true integral education, as demanded by the educational system itself and the Marist institutional mission.