SEX EDUCATION AND (BIO)TEACHING: (DE)CONSTRUCTIONS BASED ON CURRICULAR STAGES

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.55028/747yc836

Abstract

Biology education comprises a set of teaching knowledges and practices regarding the multiplicity of life, integrating knowledge of the anatomical, physiological, and genetic composition of bodies. However, it is essential to incorporate Sex Education into the Biology curriculum, as themes of gender, sexuality, and the body — alongside other sociocultural and political insights — permeate this (trans)disciplinary field. Thus, we begin with the guiding question: What forms of (bio)teaching regarding Sex Education are (de)constructed during supervised curricular internships? We aimed to problematize the discourses of (future) Biology teachers through a questionnaire administered to four interns and three supervising teachers at a public school in the Cariri region of Ceará. We adopted a Foucaultian discourse analysis to capture the four elements of the enunciative statement. The results revealed essentialist discourses within teaching knowledges and practices—both in Biology education and in the approach (or lack thereof) to Sex Education—rooted in binaries and hegemonic models of masculinity and femininity. Conversely, (bio)teaching practices emerge as catalysts for (trans)formation, drawing on the (auto)biographical narratives of (future) teachers and allowing supervised internships to be explored as more than merely a curricular requirement for undergraduate degrees. Therefore, (bio)teaching practices embody ethical, inclusive, empathetic, subversive, political, cultural, and (trans)formative commitments.

Keywords: (Bio)teaching. Sex Education. Stages.

Author Biographies

Published

2026-09-21