Sex education in Britain is poorly practised, in schools as well as in the home. British so called ‘Puritanism’ has been seen as one of the reasons. At a time and age when teenage pregnancy, Sexual Transmitted Infections (STIs) and viruses (AIDS/HIV) are on the increase more attention to the education of sexual behaviour is needed. Government initiatives are leading in that direction for schools as well as families, but it is unclear how these are materialised. Especially, how families discuss sexual matters is underresearched and poorly understood. Therefore, the aims of this study were to explore the potential facilitators and barriers of the communication of sexual topics, with and without the use of a Sex and Relationship Education (SRE) multimedia program, and to explore the impact of this program on the knowledge of sexual issues and concerns. A mixed-method design was employed by using Strauss and Corbin’s (1998) modified grounded theory to develop a model reflecting the findings. Knowledge was assessed on data gathered from twenty British families over a ten-month period. Using semi-structured interviews, observational field notes and quantitative measures, it was found that trust, respect, spending (leisure) time together and children’s perception of their parents’ sexual knowledge were facilitators for sexual communications. Older siblings and other family members who were regarded as role models also facilitated the discussion of sexual matters. The barriers for discussing sexual issues openly within families included authoritative parenting, lack of parental sexual knowledge, presence of younger siblings and parents’ direct questioning of children’s personal relationships. In light of this, the multimedia program could be beneficial in many more families when initiating and communicating sexual matters.

This is a qualitative essay that deals with students' experience of primary school sex andrelationship education. The purpose was to gain new knowledge into how students in theirfirst year of high school experienced primary school sex education about sexuality, consentand relationships in terms of both its form and content, with a hope to contribute knowledgethat may be relevant to the school's actors who from 2022 will implement new curriculumchanges. The subjects we have chosen are students who are in their first year of uppersecondary school and have a relatively recent and clear picture of the teaching they receivedfrom primary school. To collect our data, we used a qualitative method of focus groupinterviews that were recorded and transcribed. The data has been analyzed with the help ofPeter L. Berger and Thomas Luckmann’s socialization theory and Judith Butler's queertheory, as well as five articles with previous research. The results of our study reveal, asdescribed in background and previous research, a failure to provide an education that isadapted to today's societies problems and youth culture. Specifically there is a lack ofconversation and up-to-date knoledge about LGBTQ identities, the course literature'spresentation of heteronormativity and the teacher's need for competence development andinterpretation of the curriculum's content in this subject. There was also a lack of deeperdiscussions regarding relationships, feelings, consent and desire, and a greater participationand engagement in the teaching was desired.