Getting students' voices heard in sexuality education: the case of implementing a radio drama in a Hong Kong school

Abstract

The importance of sexuality education is to equip students with the knowledge and skills to make responsible choices in their lives. Effective sexuality education programmes have to provide students with the age-appropriate and culturally relevant information. Thus, listening to students’ voices is essential. Student voices offer valuable insights into curricular improvement as they are in the best position to talk about the immediacy of their experiences. Nevertheless, it is not uncommon that students are usually kept silent. This phenomenon works against in developing effective sexuality education curricula with the interests of young people taken into account. To listen to students’ voices, they should be provided with a safe learning space so as to freely express their concerns about sexuality issues. This study aims to elicit students' voices in the production of a school-based radio drama. While the junior secondary students and teacher produced and broadcasted the radio drama, both parties became action researchers who were deeply involved in reflecting upon their experience and modifying their plans. Based on the data, students generally agreed that they were the key stakeholder in sexuality education. However, even if multiple measures were adopted to establish a sense of safety, students existed signs of struggle that could be either intrapersonal (e.g. personality) or interpersonal. For instance, they could have personal discomfort when discussing sensitive issues at school. When they participated in the subsequent stages of programme, they refrained from voice-acting certain characters/episodes. Students felt unsafe as they worried about unforeseeable social consequences. This study suggested that interpersonal struggle (e.g. a negative comment from peers) is the most influential among students. The research also indicated that getting students’ voices heard in school-based sexuality education is not as easy as it seems. Important measures have to be adopted to alleviate the possible struggles experienced by students. The research findings will also give educators insights into the future design of school-based sexuality programme.