Homosexuality through the analysis of curricula, textbooks, and school practice

Ksenija Komidar and Saša Mandeljc

Summary:  The article presents an analysis of selected syllabuses and textbooks for Slovene primary school, focusing primarily on the presence or absence of homosexuality. It presents the results of the research, which was conducted among pupils of the eight and ninth grades in two primary schools regarding their knowledge about homosexuality. Based on the analysis of the research, and illustrated by semi-structured interviews with a biology teacher and a civic education and ethics teacher, the authors assess that the school system in Slovenia is still very heteronormative and in contradiction with the European Convention on Human Rights (protection of pluralism and tolerance in education and training), as the analysed textbooks present exclusively heterosexual images. There are practically no explicitly mentioned goals regarding homosexuality in the curricula, and at the same time, pupils reported not having learned much about homosexuality in schools.