An evaluation of health and sexuality education in Turkish elementary school curricula

Research was undertaken to evaluate whether and to what extent the health-related domains, including sexuality education, specified by the Development of Health Awareness in Adolescent Project Science Committee overlapped with the goals and objectives of the 2002/03 elementary school curricula (grades one to eight; ages 7-14 years) in Turkey. For this aim, the goals and objectives of the courses in the curricula that include health-related and sexuality-related subjects were compared by the seven domains with a total of 230 subcategories. The analysis demonstrated that 147 of the 230 subcategories matched the goals and objectives of the curricula with the highest frequencies in the domains of physical development, protection from detrimental-external factors and healthy living habits. However, the domain of healthy beginning to life was found to have the lowest frequency. Moreover, subcategories such as pregnancy-birth, unintended pregnancy, sexual identity, changes in adolescence, sexual violence and abuse, birth control and sexual discrimination were not covered at all. These results are discussed in relation to the missing points that might have implications for policy and practice in health and sexuality education in Turkey.