AASECT Requirements for Sexuality Educator Certification

The AASECT Office will verify your membership upon receipt of your application.

A check-box in the application will ask you to confirm that you are a current AASECT member, and that you remained a current member throughout your AASECT Supervision.

Be sure to read the AASECT Code of Conduct for Certified Members. By submitting your application, you agree to adhere to this Code of Conduct.

There will be a signature line in the application verifying that you have read and understood the AASECT Code of Conduct for Certified Members.

Only coursework from regionally accredited colleges or universities, nationally accredited faith-based institutions, and/or AASECT sponsored (offered by AASECT) or AASECT approved (offered by an AASECT CE provider) trainings will be accepted to fulfill this requirement for certification.

You can determine if a college or university is accredited by searching the institution’s website for “accreditation.” Visit this link for more details on regional vs. national accreditation: https://www.edsmart.org/regional-vs-national-accreditation/

Applicants from outside the United States must document equivalent academic experience.

A copy of your official academic transcripts. Digital versions are accepted and do not need to be sent directly to AASECT from your college or university.

There is no time-frame for accumulating the minimum 1,000 hours of professional experience as a sexuality educator. This requirement can be fulfilled at your own pace and may start prior to obtaining your degree.

What Qualifies as Professional Experience?

Professional sexuality education experience may be paid or volunteer and may include classroom teaching at the elementary, secondary, and higher education levels. It also includes education for groups of children, adolescents, or adults, training for professionals, and outreach and education in community-based, healthcare, corporate, and faith-based settings.

Examples of professional experience include, but are not limited to:

1. Participating in professional development seminars, training, conferences, and courses.
2. Designing and conducting workshops, courses, and seminars.
3. Contributing to the sexuality education literature; developing curriculum.
4. Planning and administering programs.
5. Delivering educational interventions that may be lectures or other forms of group interactive learning, as well as one-on-one (participant/educator) education sessions. Sexuality educators teach and train about a range of topics, including, but not limited to, sexual health; sexual and reproductive anatomy and physiology; family planning, contraception, and pregnancy/childbirth; sexually transmitted infections; gender identity and roles; gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender issues; sexual function and dysfunction; sexual pleasure; sexual variation; sexuality and disability; sexuality and chronic illness; sexual development across the lifespan; sexual abuse, assault, and coercion; and sexuality across cultures.

Supervised sexuality education experience is the crux of AASECT Certification. It is in the educational milieu in which competency is demonstrated. The applicant shall have completed a minimum of providing one hundred (100) hours of sexuality education while under supervision.

Sexuality education shall have been conducted in settings such as, but not limited to, the following:

• college and universities
• public schools
• professional schools
• religious institutions
• on-line formats
• human service agencies
• community and public health clinics

Field work or professional training experience should include but not be limited to:

1. Development of an educational/learning philosophy.
2. Curriculum and syllabus development.
3. Direct observation of teaching/training activities by AASECT Certified Supervisor.
4. Discussion and development of pedagogic styles and strategies.

A document tracking your hours of professional experience. This can be a table of professional experience hours and/or a description of how your current role meets these hours.

The documentation of at least 1,000 hours of professional experience should clearly identify which hours were direct education (at least 100 of the 1,000 hours).

All candidates must have knowledge of the following as they relate to sexual health and pleasure:

1. Ethics and ethical behavior.
2. Developmental sexuality from a bio-psycho-social perspective across the life course.
3. Socio-cultural, familial factors (e.g., ethnicity, culture, religion, spirituality, socioeconomic status, family values), in relation to sexual values and behaviors.
4. Issues related to sexual orientation and/or gender identity: heterosexuality, issues and themes impacting lesbian, gay, bisexual, pansexual, asexual people; gender identity and expression.
5. Intimacy skills (e.g., social, emotional, sexual), intimate relationships, interpersonal relationships and family dynamics.
6. Diversities in sexual expression and lifestyles, including, but not limited to, polyamory, swinging, BDSM and tantra.
7. Sexual and reproductive anatomy/physiology.*
8. Health/medical factors that may influence sexuality, including, but not limited to, illness, disability, drugs, mental health, conception, pregnancy, childbirth & pregnancy termination, contraception, fertility, HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted infection, other infections, sexual trauma, injury and safer sex practices.*
9. Range of sexual functioning and behavior, from optimal to problematic, including, but not limited to, common issues such as: desire discrepancy, lack of desire, difficulty achieving or maintaining arousal, sexual pain, penetration problems and difficulty with orgasm.
10. Sexual exploitation, including sexual abuse, sexual harassment and sexual assault.
11. Cyber sexuality and social media.*
12. Substance use/abuse and sexuality.*
13. Pleasure enhancement skills.
14. Learning theory and its application.
15. Professional communication and personal reflection skills.
16. History of the discipline of sex research, theory, education, counseling and therapy.
17. Principles of sexuality research and research methods.

*Please note: CKAs G,H,K,L are time sensitive and should have reasonable up to date information and training.

Coursework from accredited academic institutions will be accepted towards the Core Knowledge Area requirements at a 1 clock-hour to 1 AASECT CE credit hour calculation. For example, a 3-credit college or university course on a semester cycle is calculated at 45 clock hours.

AASECT sponsored or approved CE credit trainings will also be accepted to fulfill content required for AASECT Certification, with one (1) hour equaling one (1) AASECT CE credit hour.

All other professional trainings that offer CEs from other certifying bodies (e.g., APA, NCHEC, ACCME) are considered ‘non-AASECT CE credits.’ These CEs will apply at half value, with two (2) non-AASECT CE credits equaling one (1) AASECT CE credit hour.

Acceptance of coursework, AASECT sponsored/approved CE credits or non-AASECT sponsored/approved CE credits is at the discretion of the AASECT Certification Committee member reviewers.

More information about alternate methods of earning credits can be found here.

If you completed a comprehensive training program for sexuality educators (all Core Knowledge Areas), submit the transcript, certificate of completion, and/or any other relevant documentation.

If you did not complete a comprehensive training program, submit documentation such as certificates of completion, syllabi, course outlines, etc.

1. Sexuality education training will include, but is not limited to: theory and methods of general education (including curriculum development, delivery and evaluation).
2. Theory and methods of sexuality education (including curriculum development, delivery and evaluation).
3. Ethical issues in sexuality education.
4. Theory and methods of approaches to sexuality education with specific populations (e.g., youth, older adults, couples, ethnic/ cultural/ faith-based populations, LGBTQ people, people with disabilities).**
5. Theory and methods of different approaches to sexuality education delivery (e.g., small group work, one-on-one education, large group lectures or interaction, online delivery or use of other electronic means)

**Please note: Content area D is time sensitive and should have reasonable up to date information and training.

The difference between the requirements in Section 5 (Human Sexuality Education: Core Knowledge Areas) and this section is that the education requirements in Section 5 are directed at general knowledge about human sexuality, while the training requirements in this section are directed at specific skills in sexuality education. The two categories of requirements are sufficiently different; therefore, documentation is necessary in each.

If you completed a comprehensive training program for sexuality educators (all Sexuality Education Skills Training content areas), submit the transcript, certificate of completion, and/or any other relevant documentation.

If you did not complete a comprehensive training program, submit documentation such as certificates of completion, syllabi, course outlines, etc.

Such training may not be personal psychotherapy or an academic experience in which the primary emphasis is on cognitive information. It is strongly recommended that this experience occur early in the applicant's training to be most beneficial.

If counting SAR hours, the applicant must have been an attendee in the SAR and not been functioning as a facilitator or co-facilitator in any capacity. The SAR requirement can be fulfilled either virtually or in-person.

The SAR must be AASECT sponsored or approved.

• A certificate of completion or similar documentation for the 14 hours of experience.
• A one-page teaching philosophy, which must include how this attitudes and values training experience affected this philosophy.

Individuals starting supervision must hold an active AASECT membership at the time supervision contract begins and must maintain AASECT membership throughout the supervision period.

The minimum duration of supervision will have been at least nine (9) months, across which a supervisee has facilitated 100 hours of sexuality education (direct teaching experience). Applicants may work with up to three (3) supervisors in total, including the primary supervisor.

Supervision should occur with some regularity once initiated (e.g., once a week or twice a month for a minimum of one hour per supervision session and a maximum of four hours per session). The Supervisor will review and evaluate the applicant's academic preparation, professional experience, and educational/facilitation skills. Through observing the provision of a sexuality education program developed and implemented by the applicant, the Supervisor will seek to determine the Supervisee's ability.

Any hours of AASECT supervision accrued prior to signing a supervision contract with an AASECT certified supervisor will not count toward certification.

The following examples do not qualify as supervision:

• Supervision with a family member or a significant other.
• Supervision with a colleague with whom one is involved in a business partnership.
• Management or administrative meetings with an organizational director or executive.

We acknowledge that some supervision may include some didactic training. We continue to support that concept. However, if you have the need, you can complete a maximum of five (5) additional hours of supervision to meet the requirements in Section 6. Sexuality Education Skills Training. Please note that these five (5) hours cannot be double counted toward the minimum of twenty-five (25) hours of supervision required in this section.

• Supervisor Endorsement Form and Letter of Recommendation from the primary supervisor.
• Supervisor Endorsement Form and Letter of Recommendation (when applicable) from any additional supervisors.
• First Professional Colleague Endorsement Form and Letter of Recommendation from a professional colleague.
• Second Professional Colleague Endorsement Form and Letter of Recommendation from a professional colleague.

These letters should comment on the applicant’s professional responsibilities, professional ethics, and overall ability as a sexuality educator.

Educator supervisors may have a maximum of eight (8) supervisees in group supervision. Minimum group size is two (2) individuals. The minimum group supervision length for Educator Supervision groups with four to eight (4-8) people is two hours. The maximum group supervision length for one (1) Educator Supervisor with four to eight (4-8) people is 3 hours.