Hong Kong pre-service kindergarten teachers’ approach to handling young children’s sexuality-related behaviours and its correlates

Hong Kong pre-service kindergarten teachers’ approach to handling young children’s sexuality-related behaviours and its correlates

• Leung, Ka Yee Hong Kong Baptist University
• Cheung, Sum Kwing The Education University of Hong Kong
• Ng, Wing Yan Hong Kong Baptist University

• M 教師與教師教育
  • MH 教師評鑑︰教師效能
• A 人的成長與發展
  • AJ 性別差異、兩性教育差異、教育中的性別偏見

• Hong Kong

• 1997.7 onwards

• 學前教育

Young children are naturally curious about sexuality. It is thus imperative to implement sexuality education as early as in kindergarten. Currently, little is known about pre-service kindergarten teachers’ attitudes towards sexuality education. This study fills in the research gap by investigating Hong Kong pre-service kindergarten teachers’ approach to handling children’s sexuality-related behaviours and its correlates. Two hundred and forty-five students were recruited from a local pre-service kindergarten teacher training programme to complete a questionnaire. Descriptive statistics suggested that some pre-service teachers were unlikely to use an accepting and open discussion approach to handle children’s sexuality-related behaviours. Repeated measures analysis further revealed that pre-service teachers tended to use an accepting and open discussion approach when children displayed gender-typed play behaviours and showed curiosity towards pregnancy and birth. The prohibitive and punitive approach was more likely to be adopted when children showed curiosity towards sexual behaviours. Bivariate correlation analysis showed that the inclination to use an accepting and open discussion approach was positively correlated with the perceived levels of benefits of early childhood sexuality education and parents’ trust towards teachers and negatively associated with shame of talking about sexuality. Results of structural equation modelling, however, showed that the perceived level of benefits of early childhood sexuality education was the only significant correlate. These findings point to the importance of promoting pre-service teachers’ awareness of the values of early childhood sexuality education and strengthening pre-service teachers’ skills in handling young children’s sexuality-related behaviours (especially their curiosity about sexual behaviours) in teacher education programmes. Copyright © 2018 HKERA International Conference.

Paper presented at the Hong Kong Educational Research Association (HKERA) International Conference 2018: Equity, Access, and Diversity in Education: Theory, Practice, and Research, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.

• 英文

會議論文

https://bibliography.lib.eduhk.hk/tc/bibs/278e5b6e

2019-12-09