Hidden religious beliefs in sex and relationship education

Mesarec Hercog, Maja (author)

In the field of relationship and sex education, a clear consensus on which values should be taught is missing, with the field being a battleground of competing ideologies, each defending its own version of truth. Despite being designed for the general population and being frequently implemented in public schools, many prevention programmes incorporate religious principles. Through discourse analysis, the article reveals these hidden beliefs (often embedded in terminology or objectives), stressing that religious principles do not need to be completely eliminated from those programmes. Such principles should instead be presented transparently to allow participants to make informed choices about their romantic relationships and weather the programme is suitable for them.

• Language: English
• Keywords: sex education, adolescent romantic relationships, prevention programmes, hidden religious beliefs, human rights, adolescents, psychology of romantic relationships, religion, and education
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.02 - Review Article
• Organization: FDV - Faculty of Social Sciences
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Publication date: 09.07.2026
• Year: 2026
• Number of pages: Str. 223-240
• Numbering: Letn. 63, št. 2
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-184726
• UDC: 316.362.4:2-42
• ISSN on article: 0040-3598
• DOI: 10.51936/tip.63.2.223
• COBISS.SI-ID: 284559875
• Publication date in RUL: 14.07.2026

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Teorija in praksa : revija za družbena vprašanja
• Shortened title: Teor. praksa
• Publisher: Fakulteta za družbene vede
• ISSN: 0040-3598
• COBISS.SI-ID: 763652

Licences

• License: CC BY-NC 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
• Description: A creative commons license that bans commercial use, but the users don’t have to license their derivative works on the same terms.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Title: Prikrita verska prepričanja v spolni vzgoji in vzgoji za partnerstvo

Abstract

Na področju spolne vzgoje in vzgoje za partnerstvo manjka soglasje o tem, katere vrednote naj bi posredovali mladim. Namesto tega področje ostaja bojišče različnih ideologij, od katerih vsaka zagovarja svoja normativna izhodišča. Številni preventivni programi vsebujejo verska prepričanja, čeprav so izvorno zasnovani za splošno populacijo in se pogosto izvajajo v javni šoli. Skozi analizo diskurza članek razkriva skrita prepričanja, ki se pogosto pojavljajo v terminologiji in ciljih programov, pri tem pa poudarja, da verskih prepričanj ni nujno povsem izključiti iz preventivnih programov. Preventivni programi morajo biti zasnovani transparentno zato, da lahko vsak izbere svoj način oblikovanja partnerskih odnosov.

• Keywords: spolna vzgoja, mladostniški partnerski odnos, preventivni programi, skrita verska prepričanja, človekove pravice, mladostniki, psihologija partnerskih odnosov, religija in vzgoja in izobraževanje