| Summary: | A new dialogue-based parental and sexuality education program using infant simulators intends to show students in Greenland the level of responsibility involved in a healthy sex life and in caring for a baby. The purpose of the article is to examine the ways in which the infant simulators operate to include and exclude, embrace and marginalize, offer access and create barriers to students’ learning of parental roles and responsibility, pregnancy and sexuality. Methodology: The empirical findings are draw from the account of the education effects observed in a aforementioned “Doll Program” that is implemented in secondary school in Greenland, partly through an extensive survey of students and parents (n = 1068). The sample includes 802 answers to questionnaires from Greenland students, predominantly aged 13 to 16 years, and 266 parental answers. Classroom observations have been supplemented by personal interviews with the principal organiser and the local educators. Additionally, figures on teenage pregnancy, abortion and sexually transmitted diseases were collected from the Greenlandic statistics to get an overview of (presumed) health effects. Findings: The short-term impact of the parental and sexuality education, including the effectiveness of infant simulation is the teenagers’ new perceptions of pregnancy and parenting. In addition the evaluation shows an impact on teenage pregnancies according to geographical diversity and social contexts. The article focuses critically on the professional health education competencies implied in the “Doll Program” to cut across methodological boundaries and address educational issues that intersect with youth health, urban development, Inuit values, social welfare and parenting. Introduction: This article examines processes related to teaching and learning through implementation of a new dialogue-based parental and sexuality education program using infant simulators. Aim: The purpose is to examine the ways in which infant simulators used in sexuality education in ...
|
|---|