Limits to empowerment‐based sex education

The goal of empowerment is widely aspired to in health promotion. In practice, however, there are several limitations to this approach when applied to school‐based sex education. It is frequently difficult for pupils to express their perceived needs, there are strong arguments for not leaving the sex education agenda entirely to young people, and several barriers exist which constrain pupils from actively participating in sex education exercises. The practical difficulties in implementing empowerment principles suggest that compromises should be made, recognising that participation in decision making has to be consistent with age and capabilities, that social factors inhibit pupils from negotiating their learning needs and that considerable research findings on young people’s sexual health needs already exist.