My body belongs to me
Interdisciplinary approaches to the topic of "sexual education" in the classroom

The Me-Too debate, Orange Day and the numerous reports on child endangerment and domestic violence highlight the relevance of the topic of sexual education. The topic of gender and sexual diversity also affects pupils in their everyday lives and at school. According to a study by IPSOS (2024), around 17% of 16-28-year-olds describe themselves as queer. More than half of all queer children and young people report being discriminated against (ibid.). One in ten state that they have been physically assaulted (cf. Krell & Oldemeier, 2015). Addressing gender and sexual diversity in the classroom can help to reduce this discrimination (ibid.).

This shows that sexual education is highly relevant for prospective teachers, as they will be responsible for the sexual education of children and young people in their future careers, as the core curricula of biology, values and norms and subject teaching also show. This also shows that the topic of sexual education cannot be viewed from a one-sided biological perspective, but is interwoven with pedagogical, social and philosophical issues and challenges. Section 96 of the NSchG therefore also states that sexual education must take place in several subjects.

Our project aims to offer student teachers of all subjects the opportunity to expand their theoretical knowledge of sexual education in schools, to put it into practice and to reflect on it. The programme is divided into three parts: Starting with a panel discussion with representatives from schools, extracurricular education, universities and politics. This will be followed by various presentations and discussions that will shed light on sexual education from various perspectives. Finally, the theoretical knowledge acquired can be put into practice in a workshop.

Lecture series & panel discussion:

The lecture series and panel discussion is aimed at student teachers of all subjects and school types, teachers, lecturers and interested parties. The lecture series and panel discussion can also be followed via livestream. You can find the link here the days before or contact: The programme can be found at the bottom of the website.

Workshop:

The workshop is aimed at student teachers of all subjects and school types. The knowledge acquired on sexual education can be applied directly to your own subject. Methods and materials from the Ethics Workshop are available to support this. The self-planned teaching units can then be tried out with pupils in the ethics workshop. Please register for the workshop by 03.07.2026 at

Dunne, M. (2024). Ipsos Pride Survey: Gen Zers most likely to identify as LGBT+. 2024. https://www.ipsos.com/de-at/ipsos-pride-umfrage-2024-angehorige-der-generation-z-identifizieren-sich-am-ehesten-als-lgbt

Krell, C., & Oldemeier, K. (with Müller, S.): Coming out-and then...?! A DJI research project on the life situation of lesbian gay, bisexual and trans* adolescents and young adults. DJI, German Youth Institute. 2015

Lower Saxony School Act 2025. https://voris.wolterskluwer-online.de/browse/document/62638c18-3a2f-34f3-bbe8-44f5695c9307