For this issue of Diálogos sobre educación we have decided to address the issue of sex education as a main topic, with the aim of contributing to the construction of knowledge about an issue that encompasses aspects of pedagogy, citizenship, public health, wellbeing, social justice, and human rights. It is a timely moment to address an issue that has led to discursive dispute for over a century in Mexico and Latin America, and which requires theoretical analysis and production of scientific evidence that helps support future actions in the field of education. As the twentieth century ended, it seemed that debate about whether parents have the right to decide on the contents of their children’s education had been put behind as a result of scientific, political and cultural advancement that brought about the recognition of the principle of the higher interest of the children established in the Convention on the Rights of the Child. This advancement led to the acknowledgement of sex education as one of the rights of minors, where the role of parents is to assume the responsibility of educating and helping education benefit the comprehensive development, wellbeing and dignity of children and adolescents. However, in recent years a debate has arisen again on which contents are valid, as well as on the legitimacy of the role of the State in defining and sharing them; multinational campaigns such as “Con mis hijos no te metas” (“Do not mess with my children”), the “Freedom Bus” and different political interventions of organizations that oppose secular sex education have been deployed in our region. This issue is pertinent now that the discussion has reached the legislative bodies: in late May 2020 an initiative that intended to give parents the authority to veto sex education for their children was debated and discarded in the State Congress of the Mexican state of Nuevo León, but it was passed in the state of Aguascalientes without any public debate. Many of the texts included here help understand the advancements, pending matters and processes taking place in the current educational context.

One of our lines of analysis is about the contents of sex education. The document in the Debate section discusses the progress made and the challenges faced in this area in Mexico. The paper on “The discourse about sexuality: a comparison of two sex orientation books for adolescents” analyzes two complementary materials with opposing outlooks that were implemented in secondary schools in 2008 and how religious influence managed to pervade into Mexico’s Federal Government, while Mexico City’s local government adopted a secular and sexual rights position. The document addresses the conditions in which the texts were produced, their ideological positions, and their goals of creating moral positions in their addressees.

Another line of study is the effects of comprehensive sex education directed towards adolescent students. The article “A panorama on Comprehensive Sex Education, desire and prospective pregnancy among adolescents in Querétaro, Mexico” analyzes quantitative data that document how the issue is addressed in schools, and identifies several limitations of sex education policies, gaps in the information and gender gaps that become barriers to the prevention of unwanted pregnancies and violence. The text “Comprehensive sex education in the classrooms of Argentina” is a quantitative approach to the perceptions, satisfaction, knowledge and attitudes that result from the educational processes of youths throughout their school education.

A third line of research consists of qualitative approaches to the reality of schools and the experience of individuals in aspects of gender and sexuality. The article “Subjectification processes of high school students as subjects of sexual rights” addresses the meanings that young students of high schools attach to sexuality and the stage of life they are going through, as well as the way in which they construe themselves as subjects in regard to their rights in a school environment, which involves daily contents and situations linked to sexual and reproductive rights. The paper “Generational confrontation and gender issues: an active struggle within and outside schools in Uruguay” explores the processes of politicization of adolescents about their sexuality within their school environment in Uruguay, as well as their tensions with adults around them over gender, sexuality and sexual rights issues. Finally, the paper “Heteronormativity and sexual diversity in teachers’ training: an ethnographic study in a teachers’ college in Mexico City” is an interpretive study on the practices and discourses about sexual diversity in teacher training that establish the teaching of a hegemonic sexuality and train teachers to become heteronormative models in schools.

This issue of Diálogos sobre educación also includes works that contribute to the knowledge of the intersection between education and gender, a closely related and necessary field required to understand sex education, because it implies identifying the cultural challenges faced by women to develop their careers within the patriarchal structures that run through education and professional work. The paper “Female civil engineers of the Autonomous University of Aguascalientes, 1973-2018: Women against the current?” retrieves the experience of women who work in a profession traditionally considered “for men”. It explores the processes of inclusion, exclusion and resistance they face, as well as the strategies they deploy to deal with them. The paper “Women’s history and gender, what for?” retrieves the voices of history teachers and explores the reasons why teachers include this topic, the meanings they attach to it, and their epistemological, historiographic, and pedagogical scopes and reflections.

This issue also includes studies on other subjects in the field of education that offer new elements that enrich our knowledge of educational processes, including teacher training. The article “Action research and professional development in Mexican teachers’ colleges” documents the relevance of the use of this tool as a strategy for teacher development, and explores the knowledge, experiences, expectations and challenges of public school teachers, identifying the methodological and institutional challenges involved in implementing this resource. The paper “An analysis of the topics on Physical Education in schools in graduate courses on Education stricto sensu in Brazil” analyzes dissertations and theses that allow us to learn about the life, organization and identity of a growing field of knowledge in which daily school life is being increasingly studied.

Another line of research is studies of educational programs aimed at building skills and competencies. The text “Teaching how to solve mathematical problems” analyzes the pedagogical aids as well as the participation and collaborative work structures used as pedagogical resources, an also identifies some limitations faced in the process of encouraging argumentative skills, implementing collaborative work and incorporating feedback into the student-teacher relationship. The paper “Intercultural competencies in college students” explores the incorporation of an international perspective into the academic development of students of a Bachelor’s degree in Tourism who are learning a third language. The text “An Intervention Programme to Facilitate the Preschool Transition in Mexico” is a quasi-experimental study that explores the efficacy of a psychoeducational program that included different activities coordinated between teachers, school administrators and parents, which resulted in an increase in cognitive, social and fine motor skills.

Finally, this issue of Diálogos sobre educación includes other studies that provide new information on the field of education. The article “Dr. José María Cano y Noreña (1787-1848)” reconstructs the career of a physician, analyzes his academic achievements and some key elements of professional education in Guadalajara, Mexico, in the early nineteenth century. The paper “Evaluation Paradigms: from the Traditional to the Socio-formative” is a comparative study of educational evaluation models that have evolved towards the socio-formative, pointing out each model’s advantages and how they complement each other. The text “Employability and employment status of accounting graduates in Mexico” identifies the current trend in the insertion in the labor market, characterized by increasing conditions of low salaries and heavier workloads than those established in labor law.