Heterosexism and homophobia in Scottish school sex education: exploring the nature of the problem.

This paper focuses on instances of heterosexism and homophobia, as well as examples of good practice in sex education, observed in 25 Scottish schools. Possible reasons for why good practice is not more widespread are explored. Qualitative and quantitative data are presented. Various constraints to good practice are identified by teachers, and are discussed in the context of survey data on pupil attitudes towards same-sex sexual relationships, and on teacher confidence in teaching about homosexuality. Copyright 2001 The Association for Professionals in Services for Adolescents.