Bourke, Ashling, Cullen, Claire and Maunsell, Catherine ORCID: 0000-0001-7512-1403
(2024)
Preparing to teach relationships and sexuality education:
student teachers’ perceived knowledge and attitudes.
Sex Education: sexuality, society and learning, 25
(3).
pp. 341-358.
ISSN 1468-1811
Abstract
Children have a right to Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE).
A key place for this to occur is in schools, and teachers’ comfort and
competence in teaching is critical to delivering high-quality CSE.
Good quality Initial Teacher Education (ITE) should provide student
teachers with a strong foundation for the delivery of CSE and the
creation of safe, supportive, and inclusive classrooms and
whole-school cultures. This study examined primary ITE students’
perceptions of the quality of input, knowledge and confidence, and
attitudes towards Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE). The
study was conducted in Ireland where RSE is mandatory in the
primary school curriculum. The level of input student teachers
received in RSE was perceived to be insufficient, and less than that
provided in other curricular areas. Student teachers reported moderate to high levels of perceived knowledge and comfort in RSE
domains and high levels of commitment and intention to teach RSE
once qualified. They overwhelmingly agreed that children and
young people have the right to RSE. Student teachers reported
being particularly unprepared to teach RSE to students with special
educational needs and sexual and gender minority students.
Recommendations are made for strengthening RSE input in ITE
programmes.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article (Published) |
---|---|
Refereed: | Yes |
Uncontrolled Keywords: | Sexuality education; teacher education; preparation; children’s rights |
Subjects: | Social Sciences > Education Social Sciences > Teaching |
DCU Faculties and Centres: | DCU Faculties and Schools > Institute of Education DCU Faculties and Schools > Institute of Education > School of Human Development |
Publisher: | Routledge |
Official URL: | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14681... |
Copyright Information: | Authors |
ID Code: | 31040 |
Deposited On: | 06 May 2025 14:19 by Gordon Kennedy . Last Modified 06 May 2025 14:19 |
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