This is an ethnographic study based on participant observation and semi-structured interviews that aimed to describe the teachers' work in sex education and to learn their values and attitudes toward adolescents' sexuality in the school environment. The fieldwork was carried out in a state school for elementary education and high school in Juazeiro do Norte-CE, Brazil, from September 2009 to February 2010. Despite the issue being raised by some students, teachers omitted to perform any intervention. We observed the presence of moral and personal values in the conduct of educational practices, silencing attitudes concerning homosexuality and virginity, and the maintenance of gender inequalities. Data showed the weaknesses of pedagogical action and the need for paradigm changes in the teaching/learning process.
Sex Education; Sexuality; Basic education; Secondary school; Public education