Sexual education in pre-school: attitudes, beliefs and comfort kindergarten/preschool teachers

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Revista INFAD. Número 1, volumen 2 de 2022
PDF (Português (Portugal))
Published: Jul 16, 2022
DOI: https://doi.org/10.17060/ijodaep.2022.n1.v2.2377
Keywords:
sex education preschool kindergarten teachers

Main Article Content

Vânia Beliz
Zélia Caçador Anastácio

Abstract

The literature points to the difficulties of early childhood educators as the main challenge to approach sexuality education from pre-school age. In order to assess the knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs, as well as the comfort level of kindergarten teachers regarding children’s sexual development and learning, we used the Questionnaire of Sexual Education for Childhood Educators (QESEI), which we translated and validated for the Portuguese population. The questionnaire was made available online and was filled in by a snowball sample, consisting of 414 professionals, with an average of 20.64 years of service. The data obtained were analyzed using the SPSS software. Regarding the training in sexual education, which they consider to be essential, only 29% reported having participated in short-term actions and only 6% reported having attended actions of 25 hours. With regard to knowledge about the development and sexual learning of children, the average value was M=10.23 for a maximum of 21 (higher knowledge). Regarding attitudes and beliefs about children’s sexual learning, the result was 110 points for a maximum of 140 (more positive attitudes). For the variable comfort in dealing with children’s development regarding sexuality, on a scale of 10 to 40 (in which 40 indicates lower level of comfort), the average of the answers was 17.7. The results lead us to conclude that knowledge is the variable that presents the greatest weakness for these education professionals. Although we observed positive results regarding the variables attitudes and beliefs and comfort, results point to the importance of training, which is expected to provide improvements and professional development in these three areas.

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How to Cite
Beliz, V., & Caçador Anastácio, Z. (2022). Sexual education in pre-school: attitudes, beliefs and comfort kindergarten/preschool teachers. International Journal of Developmental and Educational Psychology. Revista INFAD De Psicología., 2(1), 433–440. https://doi.org/10.17060/ijodaep.2022.n1.v2.2377
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Vol. 2 No. 1 (2022): MEETING WITH SCIENCE. A REFLECTION ON THE UNIVERSITY
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Articles
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