As of the end of October, a unique educational experiment is now playing out in several Montréal high schools. Local NGO Head & Hands has spent the past two years developing and perfecting a sex education program to be taught in part by students themselves. Their daring new initiative is called the Sense Project.

“That’s ‘sense’ as in sensuality,” explains the group’s health Animator, Adriana. “Also, it’s important to be sexually informed and able to make sensible decisions. Plus, we believe our approach to sex-ed makes sense. So there’s a triple meaning.âe

Head & Hands is a well-established health-services centre dedicated to youth empowerment, located in the Montréal suburb of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce (NDG). They devised the Sense Project in response to a recent education reform which struck formal sex-ed from the Québec curriculum.

Making Sense

Adriana (Head & Hands providers do not provide their surnames to media) is half of the two-woman Sense Project coordinating committee. She says workshops will emphasize “sexual harm reduction, how to negotiate and be confident about your sexual limits.”

Discussion topics will range from sexual experimentation to relationship health to sexism and homophobia in the media, and Head & Hands will provide emotional support, information, and health services. The project’s primary goal is the reduction of sexual violence and sexually-transmitted infection (STI) rates.

The Sense team has trained eight volunteers, who will give three workshops in each of five local high schools, including one girls’ school, one boys’ school, and two alternative schools. Schoolteachers will sit back and provide support while the project facilitators assume control. Adriana hopes the workshops will be “fun, engaging, and communicativeâe¦ students should want to open up about sex.” One day will be devoted to artistic development; the Atwater Library has partnered with Sense to help students produce creative educational videos.

After three workshops, facilitators will defer to the students. Not just any students, though âe” prospective peer-educators will be selected with scrutiny and subjected to thirty hours of training. “We don’t want someone harboring homophobic or racist ideas,” explains Adriana. “We’ll make the effort to ensure these students are representing the values of Head & Hands âe” where everyone is accepted and not judged.”

Training will stress development of communication techniques, and peer educators must take oaths of confidentiality. The system is designed to shape listening ears and helping hands from those who understand adolescents best âe” their fellow adolescents. But the experience and wisdom of adults cannot be downplayed. “Sometimes we do know best, so the [peer educators] will stay in close touch with Head & Hands.”

While most seem excited about this approach, not everyone is thrilled. “Condom distribution is the main area of resistance, mainly from parents. Some adults think that if you give kids condoms, you’re telling them to have sex,” Adriana says. “Also, that peer-educators will maintain confidentiality âe” it’s an empowering concept, and not all adults are comfortable with that.”

Still, reception in the school community has been warm, according to Annie Ogle, who teaches moral education at the alternative Outreach High School in NDG. Outreach is one of the schools piloting Sense this fall. Special challenges arise in NDG, which, combined with Côte-des-Neiges, vies for the title of Montréal’s most ethnically and religiously diverse borough. Teachers and facilitators recognize that topics must not be presented in an ideologically sweeping, one-size-fits-all fashion. “We really work hard to accommodate different students’ needs and approaches,” Ogle claims.

Sex-Ed Dropped

The Québec education reform, which took effect in September 2005, removed a provision for sex-ed as a unit under the banner of moral education. The new curriculum expects all teachers to incorporate elements of sexuality awareness into their classes. In math class, students may deal with statistics on STI transmission. Philosophy teachers can lead discussions on the nature of sexual desire, drawing on material from history’s great thinkers. Social-science classes can cover sexism and marriage from an objective standpoint.

A progressive idea, perhaps, but detractors worry it’s destined to fail, as its triumph depends upon the cooperation of individual teachers with no training and no administrative oversight. And according to Ogle, not all teachers choose to co-operate. “Some of them are excellent. Some teach what they learned back in school, which might not be excellent. Others just don’t teach it at allâe¦ And the administration has no idea who’s doing what.âe Ogle welcomes the province’s acknowledgement of sexuality as a cross-curricular topic, but regrets what she sees as serious shortcomings. “Who’s going to teach condom negotiation? Who’s going to provide information on birth control? Math, English, History?”

The Ministry of Education cannot approve nor disapprove programs like the Sense Project, according to Ministry spokesperson Stéphanie Tremblay. “A school commission or individual school can formulate a ‘local’ programâe¦ If it is four units or less, it’s not necessary that the commission obtain approval from the Ministry,” Tremblay explained.

Talking Over Controversy

Bill Ryan, a professor of social work at McGill with ties to Head & Hands, agrees that the government’s intentions are admirable, if flawed. Ryan helped author a report requesting the Ministry of Education take a more radical and aggressive approach to combating homophobia in schools. “In 2007, in Québec, we are still not doing what needs to be done. It has to start with very clear policies at the level of the Ministry of Educationâe¦ Schools need to create cultures where it is known, long before someone is victimized, that homophobia is unacceptable.” Pleased that Sense will address and condemn sexual bigotry, he argues this approach of moral combat has already helped significantly reduce racism and misogyny in the education system.

While facilitators will talk frankly on controversial topics like lesbian sex, the only view they claim to push is tolerance. Says Adriana, “If a student approaches me and asks, ‘Why do I need to hear this? My religion demands I remain abstinent until marriage,’ I will answer, ‘You say that now when you’re 14, but what if you reach 21 and change your mind?’ That’s very well, but it never hurts to have information.”

Head & Hands are not the first to experiment with peer-led sex-ed. Researchers from Oxford conducted the RIPPLE study earlier this decade, selecting 14 UK schools to test-run a similar program. They concluded that peer-education can provide distinct benefits, especially for the peer educators themselves. But such programs have yet to catch on; the territory is not yet well-charted.

The project relies upon charitable donations, so its potential for expansion is limited. Adriana will measure success one school at a time, and future plans will rest upon its reception this fall. But Head & Hands audaciously envisions Sense as a model for sustainable community-based sex-ed across Canada. “We have this 150-page manual. If people want to borrow from us, and learn from usâe¦ you are very welcome!”