Segregate versus coeducate: A framework to educate sex and relationships education and gender violence prevention in adolescence

Abstract

This papers analyses data from a research on sex and relationships education at school that attends socially and educationally disadvantaged students across the province of Granada. These data show gendered discourses and practices in a patriarchal social context, marked by vulnerability and risk of social exclusion. This paper defends the thesis that segregating proposals introduced by the Ministry of Education with their imposed educational reform, LOMCE (2013), have a direct impact on the educational system and society such as to reinforce sexism, inequality and, thereby, different manifestations of gender violence in adolescence. These data check the presence of the democratic principles of equality and diversity in recent educational legislation in Spain: LOGSE (1990), LOCE (2002), LOE (2006), and LOMCE (2013). Next, the paper focuses on the debate reopened nowadays between segregated school versus coeducational school. The data allow to conclude by noting the persistence of gender inequality among adolescents, leading even to gender violence at this age. Thereby, the paper ends up defending the importance to coeducate sex and relationships education from the formal curriculum.