‘Talking about relationships and sexuality in the classroom is no longer a difficult task.’

Veiligwijs: a value driven course for relational and sex education

Continuous learning path with lessons about relationships and sexuality for grade 1 through 8 of primary schools.

Love

RESPECT

Safety

A value driven course: a unique view on relational and sex education

For everyone

The theory and exercises are structured in a way that makes it easy for a teacher to complement the group’s level of understanding. Personal and cultural differences are taken into account.

Values

The theoretical information and the practical exercises are linked to one of the core values: respect, love, care or safety.

The development of Veiligwijs and the work our foundation does, is not financed by the Dutch government. Our way of working and our vision is substantially different from the way Rutgers, the Dutch, government funded expert centre on sexuality, works. There are similarities, such as our mutual efforts toward sexual resilience. The way we shape our relationship and sex education however, show clear differences.

Safety

The Veiligwijs structure and content are based on scientific guidelines for a course about relationship en sex education and is recognized as theoretically sound by the RIVM (Dutch acronym for Centre for Healthy Living Programmes).

Culturally sensitive

Personal norms and values, culture, religion and diversity: they’re a part of relationship and sex education. Listening to each other and respect are central to the Veiligwijs course.

We believe that you are allowed to be yourself and that you are allowed to know your boundaries (among other things). This means that, in a conversation about relationships and sexuality, nobody has to cross their boundaries. Taking differences into account, being careful and meticulous when speaking about relationship and sex education and complementing existing knowledge: these are components that Veiligwijs – partly due to the value driven approach – provides tools for.

CONTENTS OF THE COURSE

What makes Veiligwijs unique?

Value driven approach. Theory and exercises are linked to respect, love, care or safety.

For everyone. Differences in culture, beliefs and background are taken into account.

Involves parents. We invest in the important role that parents/guardians play (through exercises, informative material and the parents’ evening).

Continuous learning path. Grade one through eight, appropriate information. The course can be used for the ‘Week van de Lentekriebels’ (Week of Spring fever, annual occasion. A week many Dutch schools use to educate about sexuality).

Personal teacher’s guide. A good story starts with self-reflection. Includes practical training for the whole team.

Folder with teaching materials. Convenient for teachers, removable, structured with ten lessons on various themes for every double grade.

Online portal. Supplementary material and worksheets. Relevant current event? An extra lesson will be uploaded to the portal.

Advice and support. Need to organize a parents’ evening, or help navigating an incident at school? Contact us, we’re here to help.

Workshop for teachers. Formulating a vision statement and increasing self confidence are central in the workshop for teachers.

About Veiligwijs

The Veiligwijs course is developed by Zorg voor Seksualiteit (Care for Sexuality Foundation), a non-profit with an ANBI-status (Dutch acronym for Public Benefit Organisation or PBO). It is developed from the belief that every human is to be respected and that everyone has the self esteem, knowledge and skills to make personal and safe choices when it comes to sexuality.

Veiligwijs is a course suitable for relational and sexual education in primary schools (public and private/ideological) that offer regular education. Veiligwijs offers a continuous learning path for grade 1 through 8. Children get reliable information about their bodies and their physical, emotional, social and sexual development. They learn more about safety in relationships (family relationships, friendships, crushes, romantic relationships) and online (e.g. sexting). They grow in self-esteem, practice their resilience (talking about boundaries, asking for help) and learn to respectfully handle differences in background, belief and sexuality.

Veiligwijs works from a value-driven perspective. Theoretical information and practical exercises are linked to the values of respect, love, care or safety. This way, children learn to think about the meaning of these values with regard to sexuality and relationship development.

Goal

The main goal is to promote healthy relational and sexual education for children ages 4 through 12. To achieve this goal, children learn what the words relationships and sexuality include and to deal with themselves and others in a respectful way. In addition to that, children learn to be resilient, ask for help, communicate and guard their desires and boundaries and they learn how to make safe choices.

What are the starting points of Veiligwijs?

Every child is unique
Sexuality is personal and vulnerable
There is room for differences
Respect for and listening to each other are central
Safe relationship development is the basis for sexual health
Veiligwijs serves as a framework
No explicit imagery is used. This includes (Dutch) tv-program’s like Gewoon bloot (Simply naked) and Dokter Corrie.
Openness is not a goal in itself. Communicating your boundaries through not sharing something (personal) is allowed – educational and valuable even!

Development of Veiligwijs

The Veiligwijs course is developed by Zorg voor Seksualiteit. The work that is needed to realize the development and execution of the Veiligwijs course is done through this organization as well. Zorg voor Seksualiteit was founded in 2016 by, among others, Arjet Borger.

The new organization (Zorg voor Seksualiteit) was founded to ask for more attention regarding safe relationship development, to encourage working sensitively and to offer a wider range of courses in primary education. There was a need for a course that took into account the personal, social and cultural differences while also carefully and meticulously providing the necessary information. This is the motivation behind the development of the Veiligwijs course. During the development, which took more than a year and a half, many professionals were consulted and interviewed.

The development of the course was done at our own expense – without any subsidies. There are donors who endorse the goals and core values of the foundation. Their financial support partially enables the realization of this course. To continue our work, we are still largely dependent on donations from private donors and a few major donors. (Do you agree that our work is important? Learn here how you can support us)

About Zorg voor Seksualiteit

The Zorg voor Seksualiteit foundation invests in safe relationship development and the promotion of sexual health through the sharing of knowledge and expertise about sexuality and relational and sexual education. We do this through the development of courses and material, by advising, supporting and collaborating with parents, educators, schools and (healthcare and welfare) organizations and by taking a visible stand in society.

Zorg voor Seksualiteit works from the core values of respect, safety and autonomy. Our core principles are: To equip children to develop safe relationships, to take differences into account, to operate in a value driven way and to provide reliable information. These values distinguish us from other organizations.

Want to know more about Zorg voor Seksualiteit? Visit www.zorgvoorseksualiteit.nl