Sex Education in Europe

In some parts of Europe there is a societal openness and comfort in dealing with sex education as well as governmental support and policies that favour it. In France, sex education has been long part of their school curricula and is expected to dedicate 30 to 40 hours of lecture time or activities on sex education. They also distribute condoms to grades eight and nine students. In Sweden, sex education has also been a mandatory part of their school’s education, incorporated into subjects like biology and history. The same goes in Finland where sexual education is usually incorporated into biology lessons but later on incorporated to general health issues. While in the United Kingdom, sex education is not compulsory in schools because parents may refuse that their children take part in the lessons.

Sex education is part of the national curriculum

In Germany, sex education is by law a governmental duty. It has also been surveyed that among the European nations, German teenagers are the most knowledgeable about contraception. In the Netherlands, the Dutch government also subsidizes sex education to its youth and gives them the skills to make their own decisions with regard to sexuality and health. Poland on the other hand has had some struggle with the acceptance of sex education because of opposition by the Catholic Church, which is an influential institution in Poland.