Gender, affectivity and sexuality in primary education: case study of a Chilean program

Authors

Abstract

Contributing to the many initiatives around the globe that foster gender education in primary school, we present the pioneering case of Paillaco (Chile). An educational program on “gender, affectivity and sexuality”, implemented since 2014, which has been influential in challenging gender injustice in education in the region and offers a potential template for others to follow. This case study, framed as Feminist Activist Research, aims to identify: the theoretical and pedagogical discourses that shape the program; the subjectivities of the schoolteachers appointed as “gender monitors”; and the effects and challenges perceived in and by the community. Results show that the program draws on critical-feminist pedagogies, queer theory and appeals for the provision of a comprehensive sexuality education. Training the teachers emerges as the key for raising gender awareness. Finally, positive changes such as reduction of gender violence are perceived because of the implementation of the program.

Keywords

sexuality education, primary education, teachers’ subjectivity, critical feminist pedagogy

References

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Author Biographies

Valeria Breull-Arancibia, Universidad Diego Portales

Valeria Breull-Arancibia is MSc in Educational Research, specialized in intersectional inequalities in education at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. She works as an educational psychologist at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and Universidad Diego Portales. Her areas of work focus on school coexistence, civic training and non-sexist education.

 

Ingrid Agud-Morell, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

Ingrid Agud-Morell, PhD. is lecturer at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. She teaches in the degrees of Gender Socio-Cultural studies and Primary Education; and in the Master’s Degree on Educational Research. Her research focuses on educational inequalities, particularly in the intersections of gender, sexuality, age, and origin with an approach from the feminist critical pedagogy, gender studies and queer theory and the use of qualitative, ethnographic, collaborative methodologies. She is the coordinator of the innovation and research Group Education&Gender - UAB.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.5565/rev/educar.1582

Published

2023-01-31

How to Cite

Breull-Arancibia, V., & Agud-Morell, I. (2023). Gender, affectivity and sexuality in primary education: case study of a Chilean program. EDUCAR, 59(1), 131–145. https://doi.org/10.5565/rev/educar.1582

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Copyright (c) 2023 Valeria Breull-Arancibia, Ingrid Agud-Morell

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