Sex Education Within Australian Schools

For quite some time there has been an on-going debate over the influence sex education has on students, but the argument has transformed itself from whether it should be taught to how it should be dealt with. From religious beliefs, to a variation in schools and to individual teachers, there will always be a contrast in the way children are being taught. But when recent studies suggest the increasing rate of teenage pregnancy and the rise in sexually transmitted disease numbers, is it fair to place the blame on the lack of quality sex education within schools? Or is the problem much bigger, and based on the current sociological structure? Although each child has their own habitus, along with the right to individual decisions and standards, we can be somewhat further shaped by knowledge we aren't acquainted with. I believe the underlying issue relates to the lack of information concerning sex education, and if given the right amount, would provide teenagers with the ability to make informed choices based on factual and relevant knowledge.

Emile Durkheim, an influential sociologist, introduced the theory of Functionalism, claiming education had three main functions. These include education assisting to reinforce social solidarity, schools maintaining a social role in which a mini society is present, and that there was a lot more to schooling than the academic achievement of students (Cruey, 2006), which I believe this issue falls under. Functionalism within schools is associated with the agency of students, and the structure of schools.
The individual agency of students is very crucial to the amount, if any, of relevant information they receive and to what they do with it. A child has to have the desire to obtain information and put it to use before success is obtained.
The structure in schools is to provide the skills and knowledge that will effectively prepare students for their individual roles in life, along with the capability to act as an individual within...