The influence of sexuality education on learners' relationships.
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Date
2003
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Abstract
Sexuality education is a controversial subject, which gave rise to many heated debates
about whether sexuality education should be taught in schools. Many studies found
that parents, although the primary educators of sexuality, were abdicating this very
important responsibility. This led to their children seeking information from their
peers and the media. A few children turned to their teachers whom they could trust.
With the increase in teenage pregnancies, child rape and HIV/AIDS, the Minister of
National Education, Prof. Kader Asmal, advocated that sexuality education should be
taught in schools and not left solely to the parents. Hence, he mandated the
implementation of sexuality education in schools in 2002. One of the vital
components of sexuality education is teaching children about relationships, not
specifically sexual relationships but relationships with significant others. An
extensive literature survey revealed that there was a paucity of research in this area.
Hence, this study investigated the influence sexuality education in schools was
having on Grade 7 learners' relationships with parents, teachers and peers. Learners
needed to communicate with their parents, teachers and peers on matters pertaining to
sexuality as they experienced it, in order to improve their relationships. Schools were
expected to use the whole school policy approach in implementing sexuality
education in order to fortify the learners' relationships with others. The purpose of
this study was to find out if implementing sexuality education in schools was
improving learners' relationships with significant others.
Indian and Black learners from two schools in Tongaat, KwaZulu-Natal, were
selected to participate in the study. Data were gathered by means of a questionnaire
and selected semi-structured interviews. A qualitative and quantitative analysis of the
results revealed that many learners were turning to same gender learners and Life
Orientation teachers to talk to on matters pertaining to sexuality. However, they
expressed feeling uncomfortable and shy when discussing sexuality related issues,
especially with parents, other teachers and opposite gender learners. Most of the learners preferred confiding in their mothers or female teachers on issues regarding
sexuality. It was also found that boys and girls preferred to be separated during
sexuality education sessions because they felt more at ease with their own gender
peers. Overall, it was found that the whole school policy approach to teaching
sexuality education was not very successful, as reflected in the variable responses to
the influence of sexuality education on learners' relationships with others.
The findings of this study led to the following recommendations being made to the
Department of Education: engaging in more intensive workshops to promote the
whole school policy approach to teaching sexuality education in schools; devising a
proper monitoring system to check the implementation of sexuality education in
schools; engaging female Life Orientation teachers and screening sexuality education
teachers. As the relationship between Life Orientation teachers and learners appeared
to be positive, Life Orientation teachers could serve as facilitators to bridge the gap
amongst all relevant stakeholders involved in the learners' education regarding
sexuality. Other teachers could improve their relationship with learners by trying to
integrate sexuality education into their learning areas, which would allow learners to
develop rapport and trust with them when discussing sexuality issues. Most
importantly, a suggestion was made to parents to form a partnership with schools to
strengthen their relationships with their children. Children are bound to communicate
more effectively with their parents about sexuality if they see their parents liaising
with the schools and showing an active interest in their progress.
Finally, it must be noted that this study is not without limitations. The chosen sample
was not representative of the entire population of KwaZulu-Natal. Therefore the
results cannot be generalised. This study was also limited racially to Indian and Black
learners.
Description
Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of Durban-Westville, 2003.
Keywords
Theses--Education., Sex instruction.