(S-)existential Questions among Students : Sexuality and Relations Education as part of Controversial Issues with importance for Citizenship Education

This chapter emanates from a research mission from the Public Health Agency of Sweden and the study was a mapping of Sexuality and Relations education and Reproductive health and Rights (SRHR) in the various Teacher Education programs throughout Sweden during the year 2016. Together with two colleagues, a survey of 875 syllabi from all universities in Sweden was analyzed through a qualitative textual discourse analysis. The theory behind the study is based on the fact that syllabi at Swedish Universities are designed based on the theory of constructive alignment. The overall result shows major differences between various universities. In the quantitative part, graphs show a great variation of the presence of indicators related to the subject area, such as i.e., ethics, gender, democracy, norms, norm criticism, core values, convention on the rights of the child, human rights, discrimination and offensive treatment. During 2018, questionnaires was administered to 175 student teachers from various Teacher Education Programs exploring the educational insights they have gained during their education regarding Sexuality and Relations and SRHR. This chapter presents results from both these studies and places them in a larger context of the debate of the subject area of Sexuality and Relations and SRHR in Education at various levels in Sweden today and involves agents such as the Swedish ministry of Education. (S-)Existential questions are urgent questions and are currently debated as controversial issues among young students in Sweden today, and thus considered to be an urgent part of an active citizenship education.