Schools Dropping Sexual Education from Their Curriculum?
The Portuguese government has unveiled its new National Strategy for Citizenship Education (ENEC), marking a significant change from the 2017 version. This revised strategy aims to reorient the focus of Citizenship and Development education, placing greater emphasis on financial literacy and entrepreneurship.
The new ENEC strategy includes a roadmap of essential learning objectives, providing more structured guidance for educators. This roadmap did not exist in the previous 2017 version. The strategy emphasises the school as a pivotal space for cultivating active, democratic, and responsible citizenship.
One of the key changes in the new ENEC is a reduction in emphasis on topics related to sexuality. Instead, the strategy prioritises financial literacy and entrepreneurship, addressing criticisms from conservative sectors about a perceived strong focus on gender ideology in the prior curriculum.
Younger students will learn about the importance of saving and loan differentiation, while older students will prepare personal and family budgets, budgets for entrepreneurial projects, and validate innovative ideas.
In addition to financial literacy and entrepreneurship, the ENEC also places a second level of emphasis on health, risk and road safety, pluralism and cultural diversity, and the media. High school students will critically reflect on cultural consequences of globalization, analyse various forms of discrimination, and debate the role of intercultural dialogue in culturally diverse societies.
Primary school students are encouraged to express openness and curiosity about other cultures. Second and third-year students are asked to value cultural diversity in the school context and discuss the rights of minorities.
The ENEC also includes topics such as animal abuse in the sustainable development chapter for second-cycle students, and discussions on gender (in)equality between the 7th and 9th grades, in contexts such as education, work, and political office.
The new strategy highlights human rights, democracy and political institutions, sustainable development, financial literacy, and entrepreneurship as mandatory and cross-cutting themes. It aims to encourage children and young people to adopt appropriate attitudes and behaviours for the critical and safe use of digital technologies.
In a global context, educating for citizenship corresponds to investing in social cohesion around shared values of human rights, equality, and non-discrimination. The new ENEC strategy is expected to ensure clearer and more consistent implementation across schools, starting from the next academic year.
References: 1. Portuguese Government's Official Website 2. Education and Science Ministry's Official Website 3. Publico.pt
- The new ENEC strategy, as detailed on the Portuguese Government's Official Website, not only focuses on human rights, democracy, and political institutions, but also places a significant emphasis on education-and-self-development areas such as financial literacy and entrepreneurship.
- In addition to promoting general news topics like animal abuse in sustainable development and gender (in)equality, the ENEC strategy also delves into politics by educating high school students about critically reflecting on cultural consequences of globalization and debating the role of intercultural dialogue in culturally diverse societies.
