Interview by: Accelerated Education Enterprises
Article source: JOY! Magazine
Although sexuality education topics have been part of the South African Life skills and Life Orientation school curriculum for many years, the recently implemented Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) programme has provoked controversy. There is unanimous agreement, on the one hand, that knowledge is empowering, and that the younger generation needs guidance and support in this area of development. On the other hand, Christian parents, church leaders, and educators are concerned about the ‘comprehensive’ content, its origin, and more importantly how it is presented in the classroom.
Parents need to be vigilant
Dr Darleen Edwards-Meyer, founder of the Smart Life Movement Educational Package, asserts that parents must be vigilant at monitoring what is being taught to their children and how it is taught!
“Sexuality Education is a specialised field. Teachers need to be trained to ensure a positive learning experience for all children. Apart from the sensitive nature of the content, it is vital that educators consider the age and phase of development of each child. Some children will be at a different level of development and readiness, and some might have already encountered negative and harmful exposure. Other children may not be emotionally ready for some information.
“Confusing messages and early sexualisation of children is harmful to their well-being. There is already a high risk of this happening through the use of social media. Therefore, Sexuality Education should be presented with the utmost care, empathy, sensitivity, understanding, and teaching skill by thoroughly equipped educators and parents,” Dr Darleen shares. “When Sexuality Education becomes sex information it may lead to unwise relationship choices and sexually related problems.”
Sexuality Education is a mandatory part of the South African school curriculum.
Q. Who is Dr Darleen Edwards-Meyer?
Dr Darleen is currently an education consultant. She conducts workshops for master trainers, educators, counsellors, parents, and youth. With 24 years’ professional research and experience in the field of relationship, family, and sexuality education, she is a specialist who is positioned to offer opinion, advice, and guidance. She is committed to a calling of positively impacting society by contributing towards relationship and sexual health, wellness, wholeness, and well-being for all, as well as ultimately nurturing healthy, harmonious, fulfilled relationships and families.
As a previous service provider for the Department of Education, numerous official South African programmes have been developed by Dr Edwards-Meyer and have been implemented in schools and other organisations. She has authored and co-authored various articles and books in this field.
Q. What is Smart Choices?
Smart Choices is a programme that has been carefully and prayerfully developed by Dr Edwards-Meyer. It meets the CAPS alignment requirements, caters for staff training, and provides both teacher guides and learner workbooks. Information is presented in a sensitive manner and the training of teachers ensures a teaching methodology that considers the well-being of each child. These components make it a comprehensive solution for schools that are committed to providing a values-based and safe approach to the teaching of this sensitive material.
At the training stage, schools can choose to follow the Christian programme that will equip Christian teachers with biblical context and supporting scripture referencing.
Q. What is the challenge?
Sexuality Education is a mandatory part of the South African school curriculum, and the intention is to equip young people with knowledge that will empower them to make positive choices and decisions for themselves as they navigate their lives towards adulthood. The greatest challenge is that many children are living in a sex-saturated world, and many may have been exposed to far too much, far too early. This is compounded by the influence of broken and/or distorted relationships in homes and through multimedia that has found its way directly into homes and bedrooms. This makes for a complex and sensitive challenge in the classroom! Sadly, the biblical perspective does not always receive attention. For Christian parents, a programme that is not based on the Word of God may mean that children are learning a set of values that may contradict those that are upheld in their home. This may lead to a premature questioning of their values and could sadly lead to conflict in the home and put relationships under strain.
Q. What can Christian parents, educators, and schools do about this situation?
It is crucial that parents, educators, and schools begin to seek out a well-researched, wholesome curriculum that will meet the CAPS requirements, whilst ensuring a balanced and beneficial learning experience for all young learners.
The Smart Choices programme adopts a positive and age-appropriate approach to this challenging topic of education. Smart Choices considers the holistic development of each child, the value system of the community, and provides a framework for sensible education in the classroom.
Q. What grades does the Smart Choices programme cater for?
The programme provides age-appropriate learner workbooks, training, and scripted lesson plans for teachers, parents, and counsellors covering the entire programme from Grade R – 12.
Q. How can parents, educators, or schools find out more information?
Dr Darleen Edwards-Meyer can be contacted through her website www.drdarleen.co.za or via email smartchoices@drdarleen.co.za
Dr Darleen Edwards-Meyer
Qualifications:
• Higher Education Diploma
• Bachelors in Education Degree (Cum Laude), University of Pretoria
• Master of Education Degree (Cum Laude), University of Pretoria
• Doctorate (Ph. D) in Social Education (Investigating problems among youth in Parenting, Sexuality and Alcohol & Drug Abuse), University of Pretoria
• Post Graduate Diploma in Family and Sexuality Education. University of Pretoria
• Senior lecturer at Vista University, Pretoria University, and the University
of Stellenbosch respectively
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Date published: 23/08/2021
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