Does sex education make a difference? Available to Purchase

Despite widespread professional support for school sex education, there is little evidence about its effects on sexual behaviour. This article describes a project to evaluate rigorously the potential of teacher‐delivered sex education to reduce sexual risk taking. SHARE (Sexual Health and Relationships: Safe, Happy and Responsible) is a 20‐lesson course for 13‐15‐year‐olds designed according to the best educational theories and practices, and incorporating insights from recent social science research on young people’s sexual behaviour. The programme is underpinned by a five‐day teacher training course and is now being evaluated through a randomized controlled trial involving 25 Scottish schools that have been allocated either to deliver SHARE, or to continue with their existing sex education programmes. The impact of SHARE will be assessed in terms of pupils’ greater skills to negotiate sexual encounters and reduced sexual risk taking.