Browsing by Author "Nyström, Sandra"

The Finnish National Core Curriculum for Primary and Lower Secondary Education mandates equal treatment of all students and emphasizes the importance of increasing visibility for the appreciation of sex, gender, and sexual diversity. Despite the growing discourse on the mental health of Finnish adolescents, less attention has been paid to gender and sexual minorities, who face more bullying, loneliness, and school exhaustion than their peers, resulting in even poorer mental health. This has largely been explained by the prejudices and heteronormativity that remain widely prevalent, even within schools. Science subjects have been criticized for enforcing these heteronormative narratives through their practices. However, studies suggest that science subjects, especially biology, have the potential to challenge these narratives and foster a more inclusive and safer space for sex, gender, and sexual minorities. In this study, I aim to explore the experiences of lower secondary school students regarding the teaching of sex, gender, and sexual diversity in biology classes. Despite that the educational material used in science subjects has been fairly well studied, there is a gap in previous research regarding the actual experiences of students about these issues, and there are no studies done on this in Finland. Employing a mixed methods approach, this study integrated both semi-structured interviews, an online questionnaire, and observation of lessons. The results indicate that the perceived coverage of sex, gender, and sexual diversity is minimal or brief. Student engagement during lessons where these topics could be discussed was also shown to be minimal, and students raised several wishes for improving the teaching of these topics in biology. These findings highlight the unused potential that remains in the teaching of biology and present students’ wishes for change in the ways diversity issues could be covered in biology to create more inclusive science classrooms.