presentationEECERA

TEACHERS’ PERCEPTIONS OF SEX EDUCATION AND ITS EFFICIENCY IN PREVENTING SEXUAL ABUSE AMONG STUDENTS WITH LEARNING DIFFICULTIES

European Early Childhood Education Research Association (EECERA) 31st Conference 31st August 2023 Lisbon, Portugal

Pinar Celik Chippari

Queens University Belfast

“Young people with disabilities are no different from other kids in their need to understand their bodies and relationships: they, too, need to understand how their bodies work, and may have romantic longings and sexual interests”.

(University of Michigan Health System – Your Child, 2010, p. 1)

INDEX

05. Results&Discussion

03. Research Gap

01. Introduction

06. Conclusion

04. Methodology

02. Sex Education

01. Introduction

Children with Learning Difficulties

• have been researched less

• have less knowledge of sex education

• are 3-4 times more likely to be sexually abused

than children without Learning Difficulties.

• The Department of Education states that all children, regardless of whether they have a disability or not, must have access to Relationship and Sex Education.

(DfE, 2019).

02. sex education

• Lack sex education, face stigma.

• Limited communication & resources

• Sex education vital for well-being, rights.

03. Research gap and objectives

The objectives of this research are

• 1. To explore teachers’ views on sex education efficiency for students with Learning Difficulties,

• 2. To identify teachers’ role in preventing sexual abuse among students with Learning Difficulties.

Research questions are as follows.

• 1. How is sex education taught in a special school classroom environment?

• 2. To what extent special school students be safeguarded through sex education?

04.Methodology

Population and sample

Sampling method: Maximum variation sampling using purposeful samplingParticipants: Five special education teachers with diverse backgrounds and experiences

04.METhodology

Qualitative research techniques used: Reflective research diary and semi-structured interviews Data analysis process: Thematic analysis was conducted using NVivo software to identify key themes and subthemes.

05.Results and Discussion

"Teachers' Attitudes/Perceptions/Experiences"

Views on Sex Education

The Safeguarding Process

Potential Challenges

Working with Parents

Qualifications of Teachers

05.1Views on Sex Education

“I think it's important because they need to be aware of certain situations that they may find themselves in in order to be able to protect themselves from abuse or an inappropriate behaviour taking place whether from them or from other people so if we educate them about it, they can be more aware of what's right and what's wrong.”

05.2The safeguarding process

“I'm aware about that and I know how important it is for kids to learn how to communicate what's happening around them. We as a teacher we need to be so attentive that if we observe that something is going wrong, and the child is giving us a message we need to pass it to the safeguarding team.”

05.3Potential Challenges

“They are not able to focus this, they started to laugh as soon as you showed mannequin it's kind of a taboo subject for them, they start to laugh and it's hard to make them focus especially with my boys, it was really difficult to make them attentive and make them take this seriously came to our class.”

05.4Working with Parents

“in the beginning they do not want to hear about that they were like no, it's not necessary, it's not important. After we showed them some case studies specific on sexual abuse and we explain them look your child can experience that do you want him to do that, and we give them especially examples from the school and from the cases that happened before really according of the people as well and they understood OK look you teach them in this way."

05.5Qualifications of Teachers

Participants who felt qualified:

Participants who did not feel qualified:

• practical experience and theoretical knowledge.

• a strong theoretical background but acknowledged the need for more practical experience to enhance her qualification.

• comfortable discussing sex education topics.

• insufficient training and practice.

• excluded sex education from the curriculum.

06.Conclusions

• Teachers play a crucial role.
• Teachers stress sex ed importance.
• They address abuse signs, curriculum challenges.

• Collaborative efforts.
• To enhance understanding and inform best practices

Thanks foryour attention

Any question?