Sexual Health Education Implementation Challenges: Teacher Experiences with the Revised 2015 Ontario Health and Physical Education Curriculum in Diverse Schools

Controversy has been a defining feature of the sexual health education curriculum since its introduction in the early 20th century (Morgan, 2000). The announcement and subsequent implementation of the revised 2015 Ontario Health and Physical Education (HPE) curriculum saw a resurgence of opposition in some diverse schools and communities throughout the province, specifically the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). Although sexual health education has been widely discussed and researched, there is limited data on the implementation of sexual health education in Canada or Ontario and the data that is available is generally not current. For this qualitative research study I conducted semi- structured interviews with two current elementary teachers from GTA school boards, who identified that their diverse schools were coping with challenges implementing the revised 2015 HPE curriculum. The interviews revealed five main themes, each with associated subthemes: 1) Community demographics and influence; 2) Parent response to the implementation of the revised 2015 HPE curriculum; 3) Teacher feelings and experiences with the initial implementation of the revised 2015 HPE curriculum; 4) Impact of implementation of revised 2015 HPE curriculum on teaching practices; and 5) Curriculum content concerns. The findings from this research study highlight a need for more comprehensive support from the educational community for teachers and schools that have challenges implementing the revised 2015 Ontario HPE curriculum