School Sex Education in Korea and the U.K.

한국과 영국의 학교 성교육 비교연구

Sex education in the U.K. follows an ideal model, co-operation where ever possible between homes, schools, and communities, whereas in Korea schools are mostly responsible for sex education. Moreover, Central Government and LEAs are deeply involved in school sex education in the U.K., in contrast, the concrete help at Government level is very limited in Korea though the necessity of sex education is acknowledged. These differences be accounted for by the different social and cultural backgrounds of the two countries, especially given the different thoughts of the people-oriental and occidental-. In the U.K., sex education has been a compulsory subject in secondary schools since 1994 (by the Education Act 1993), and it is well managed with the support at Government level as compared with that of Korea. Sex education in the U.K. may give some lessons for practising and developing sex education in Korea because the people in both countries have similarly conservative thinking about school sex education and it is implemented very carefully in the U.K.. In this article, a general comparison of background, policy, aims, content, management, teacher training, and materials of sex education between the two countries is made.