Insufficient curriculum content, time limitation for teaching SRH, disconnect between biological and social components of SRH, inadequate supporting tools, parents’ edu. level, fear of encouraging sexual activity, also key challenges
This is the final part of a two-part series of articles. The first was published in the 7 August issue of The Daily Morning
Knowing the benefits of teaching sexual and reproductive health (SRH) for adolescents, it is suggested for policymakers to incorporate comprehensive SRH education within the public-school curriculum and work on the capacity building of teachers through training and development while also getting the parents’ engagement through the use of culturally sensitive teaching methods.
These recommendations were made in an article on ‘Exploring challenges faced by male science teachers in teaching SRH education in public schools in Sri Lanka: With a special reference to the Ratnapura District (Sabaragamuwa Province)’ which was authored by N.U.K.P. Premathilaka and L.A.P. Madhuwanthi (both attached to the Sri Jayewardenepura University's Management Studies and Commerce Faculty’s Public Administration Department), and published in the Sri Lanka Journal of Development Administration's Seventh Volume, last month.
Premathilaka et al.'s study was a qualitative one which adopted a phenomenological research design. The study focused on male science teachers in public schools in the Ratnapura District. A total of 10 male science teachers were interviewed, covering girls only, boys only, and mixed public schools (Participant 1 – age 59, married, living in an urban area, studied at a mixed school, currently teaching girls, with a service experience of 37 years; Participant 2 – age 45, married, living in an urban area, studied at a mixed school, currently teaching girls, with a service experience of 11 years; Participant 3 – age 32, unmarried, living in a rural area, studied at a mixed school, currently teaching girls, with a service experience of seven years; Participant 4 – age 38, married, living in a semi-urban area, studied at a mixed school, currently teaching boys, with a service experience of 12 years; Participant 5 – age 32, unmarried, living in a semi-urban area, studied at a single gender school, currently teaching girls, with a service experience of five years; Participant 6 – age 38, married, living in a semi-urban area, studied at a mixed school, currently teaching girls, with a service experience of 11 years; Participant 7 – age 45, married, living in an urban area, studied at a mixed school, currently teaching girls, with a service experience of 13 years; Participant 8 – age 54, married, living in a semi-urban area, studied at a mixed school, currently teaching both boys and girls, with a service experience of 25 years; Participant 9 – age 34, unmarried, living in a rural area, studied at a single gender school, currently teaching boys, with a service experience of nine years; and Participant 10 – age 44, married, living in an urban area, studied at a mixed school, currently teaching both boys and girls, with a service experience of 14 years). The sample was purposively selected. Primary data were collected from the participants through face-to-face in-depth interviews by using a semi-structured interview guide. The 10 participants’ age ranged from 32 to 58 years. The majority of them are married and have studied in mixed schools. They have been teaching science for a quite considerable period in public schools in Sri Lanka.
Student curiosity in SRH
According to the male science teachers, students are very curious about SRH knowledge and related matters. Their curiosity begins at the age of 11 or 12 years and they start to learn, discuss, inquire and experience it. However, students often quench that curiosity through friends, peers, the internet and their own efforts. While curiosity is a natural part of adolescent development, seeking information from unreliable and inappropriate sources may lead to misconceptions and misunderstanding.
“If the schools can minimise this curiosity at the early ages of students, we can minimise the SRH related issues prevailing in the society” – Participant 5.
In such circumstances, providing them accurate information and SRH knowledge is challenging for teachers in two ways: Teaching the students age-appropriate SRH knowledge and addressing male science teachers’ fear of students misinterpreting SRH knowledge and concepts.
Age-appropriate knowledge
Male science teachers acknowledged the gap between the age at which students’ curiosity arises and the delivery of formal SRH education in public schools. The public schools enter into SRH topics in Grade 10, whereas, many adolescents have already formed opinions about sex, reproduction and relationships by that time. The opinions of the students are presumed to be either accurate or inaccurate. Some students ask the teachers to teach certain topics in advance to ensure their opinions about SRH knowledge. Consequently, it may complicate the delivery of SRH education for the students.
“Many students have a curiosity about SRH before they learn this subject in Grade 10. Mostly, they go to experience things because of this curiosity” – Participant 6.
Fear of misinterpretation
Fear of misinterpreting SRH concepts is a common concern among male science teachers, as it may impart inaccurate knowledge and false information to the students, potentially damaging the student-teacher relationship and engagement. Usually, the conversations about SRH are less common and discouraged in the Sri Lankan context through the cultural lens of privacy and traditional values. There may be a higher chance of misunderstanding and the misinterpretation of SRH related matters, which is problematic.
Teachers’ training and development for SRH education
The primary goal of SRH education is to equip students with the knowledge and skills to make responsible choices about their SRH. The providing of such a comprehensive education should be a methodical effort. Teaching a subject like SRH which includes sensitive topics is even more essential but complex.
The male science teachers described their displeasure and lack of confidence in teaching SRH education in the absence of proper training and development for teachers. Accordingly, science teachers compromise the contents or topics of the subject to be taught, the level of knowledge to be imparted, and the instructional strategies to be adopted, leading to demeaning the quality of the subject. The challenge of the lack of training and development has been narrowed down to dealing with sensitive topics in the subject and providing continuous professional development (CPD) for teaching the subject.
Dealing with sensitive topics
In the absence of training, the teachers mostly rely on the curriculum for directions. The syllabus offers an organised overview of the topics that should be taught in the classroom, but it frequently lacks depth, particularly when it comes to difficult and dynamic subjects like SRH. Teachers have a certain amount of comfort and maturity when it comes to discussing sensitive subjects in SRH, such as consent, sexual activity, puberty, contraception, etc. Without sufficient preparation, teachers face challenges to have a direct discussion about these subjects, which may lead them to ignore or treat them insufficiently.
“I have not undergone any training in teaching SRH. We only have a given syllabus” – Participant 2.
Continuous professional development
According to teachers, they usually did not receive any professional support related to SRH education and are willing to have professional growth, especially in sectors like SRH where social and medical research is always changing, and knowledge is expanding quickly. Teachers must be knowledgeable in the most recent knowledge about gender identity, consent, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), contraception, and other crucial SRH topics. And also, they require instructions on how to navigate these subjects’ sensitivity in a classroom context.
“There is no training programme or workshop conducted by the Ministry of Education regarding SRH education recently. What I teach in the classroom is what I have learnt during my General Certificate of Education Advanced Level class as a student” – Participant 4.
Curriculum-related barriers
Curriculum-related barriers include content-related, curriculum-wide procedural, structural and delivery-related obstacles that obstruct the effective delivery of SRH education. Having curricular and instructional alignment between grade levels is necessary to support student achievement and to meet learning objectives. However, male science teachers have mentioned that curriculum-related barriers pose a lot of disadvantages for both the students and teachers. They have revealed them through insufficient curriculum content, time limitation for teaching SRH education, the disconnection between the biological and social components of SRH, and inadequate supporting tools for the teaching of SRH education.
Insufficient curriculum content
As per the teachers, the prevailing science curriculum content of public schools is insufficient to cover SRH-related areas, and SRH-related contents are dispersed in the science subject. Due to the limited scope of SRH education, teachers have to regularly fill in knowledge gaps, which makes it challenging to provide students with a comprehensive education on SRH.
Teachers describe that the curriculum ignores the larger emotional, social and psychological aspects of SRH instead of the mechanics of reproduction. This overemphasis on biology leads to an imbalanced learning experience.
“Only the reproductive system, process and a few diseases are talked within the curriculum. But, there is another huge area that needs to be covered to create a fully aware student” – Participant 3.
Time limitation for teaching SRH
The public school science stream curriculum currently covers three subjects: biology, chemistry and physics, with SRH education included in the biology syllabus. The time allocated for science classes is not enough to fully cover the syllabus of those three subjects. Hence, it does not allow to teach SRH education effectively, by productively engaging in discussions with the students and answering their questions. Teachers may therefore rush through the given SRH topics, which would hinder students’ comprehension and interest in the SRH area.
“Time limitation for SRH education would not allow us to teach comprehensive SRH education. We need to cover the whole syllabus within a limited time period and prepare students to sit for the examination” – Participant 10.
Disconnection between the biological and social components
According to the teachers, the disconnection between the biological and social components of SRH education is a critical challenge. In the absence of adequate instructions and curricular support, teachers are quite confused on how to address the broader social contexts of SRH.
Biological information of SRH is real, objective, and uncontroversial, making it simpler to teach. However, social dimensions of SRH like gender roles, gender norms, social structures, social expectations, consent and emotional bonds require a distinct set of educational methods and sensitivities. Due to the narrow teaching focus, mostly on biological aspects of SRH as specified in the curriculum, the social aspects of SRH education are degraded, which is however fundamental for the wellbeing of adolescents. Thus, the male science teachers find it challenging to impart knowledge on relationships and the emotional aspects of SRH education.
“The syllabus heavily includes biological concepts and themes of SRH. So, our main focus is covering biological aspects of SRH and merely touching on the areas of the social and emotional aspects of SRH” – Participant 5.
Supporting tools for teaching SRH education
The modern educational environment relies more on digital tools and resources to enhance learning whereas contemporary adolescents are technology-savvy. Male science teachers have identified this premise as a favourable condition for delivering SRH education for students in an effective manner.
As described by the male science teachers, SRH education often deals with complex biological processes that are sometimes difficult for the students to grasp through verbal explanations alone, and hence, it would be easier to understand them using supporting tools such as photos, diagrams, videos, etc.
Digital and visual aids can assist in mitigating the discomfort by focusing the discussion on factual, scientific representations, rather than subjective or culturally influenced views. However, the challenge encountered by the male science teachers is the absence of digital materials and visual aids created especially for SRH education in the public schools in Sri Lanka. This includes not having access to tools that may make learning more engaging and dynamic, such as computers, television, multi-media projectors, podcasts, and instructional software.
“We don’t have diagrams, authorised videos to enhance the understanding of the content which we can’t explain verbally” – Participant 4.
Parental resistance for teaching SRH education
Male science teachers exposed that parents’ resistance has become a challenge for male science teachers to transmit SRH knowledge for students in public schools. According to the teachers, parents’ unawareness about SRH education, cultural norms and religious beliefs largely contribute to negative attitudes towards SRH education. It may be due to the level of education among the parents, and also, they might think that SRH education leads to promoting sexual engagement among the students.
Educational level of parents
The male science teachers revealed that parents with a better educational level have a more favourable perception of teaching SRH education in public schools. These parents seemed to have a greater awareness of the value of this kind of knowledge in fostering responsible sexual conduct, reducing STIs, and improving adolescent health. Due to a lack of knowledge or misunderstanding about SRH education, uneducated and/or less educated parents have considered it a violation of a taboo. These parents may place a high priority in upholding traditional values since they frequently feel that SRH topics introduced in schools are inappropriate. Due to societal expectation and family customs, a highly educated parent from a conservative cultural background could however be resistant to SRH education.
“It appears that the educational level of parents greatly affects the resistance towards SRH education. Apart from that, cultural beliefs and family opinions may affect parental resistance” – Participant 6.
Fear of encouraging sexual activity
Another common misconception held by parents about SRH education is that the subject may promote sexual activities among adolescents. This could be a serious consideration to many parents to resist the subject. They believe that SRH education encourages sexual experimentation and/or teaching the students how to have sex. Parents who have this idea might believe that keeping their children in silence or avoiding them accessing SRH knowledge will keep them safer.
“Some parents are afraid that SRH education taught in schools promotes sexual activities and experiments, while parents are trying to hide such sensitive topics from their children” – Participant 2.
Discussion
Students’ curiosity about SRH matters has been further affirmed by students explaining that sexuality education needs to begin before puberty since young people are more curious about sex and sex-related information due to the effects of globalisation and internet access (S. Pokharel, A. Kulczycki and S. Shakya's "School-based sex education in Western Nepal: Uncomfortable for both teachers and students"). Puberty is a time of peak curiosity and sexual intention. It is also a time when misconceptions about the reproductive process and its effects become apparent, leading to a permissive attitude toward sexual conduct (P.E. Pradnyani, I.G.N.E. Putra and N.L.E.P. Astiti's "Knowledge, attitude, and behaviour about SRH among adolescent students in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia").
Also, findings emphasise the challenge of a lack of training and development in teaching SRH education. Therefore, there is the necessity of special training for SRH education (D.B. Wakjira and D.S.K. Habedi's "School-based SRH education and its challenges to adolescents in Ethiopia: A qualitative study"). It has been shown that teachers frequently lack the necessary training to effectively teach the subject and find it awkward to bring up sexuality related topics (N.S. Ngissa, E. Sanga, M.K. Nsanya, B. Kweka, E. Malindisa and R. Mwaipopo's "Curriculum-based SRH education: Revealing its relevance for risky sexual behaviours among secondary school students in Mwanza, Tanzania").
Without proper training, teachers will compromise the contents of teaching in an arbitrary manner, deciding how, when and what to teach to students (J.M. Zulu, A. Blystad, M.E.S. Haaland, C. Michelo, H. Haukanes and K.M. Moland's "Why teach sexuality education in school? Teacher discretion in implementing comprehensive sexuality education in rural Zambia"). It is noted that the responsibility of sexuality education is undertaken with neither in-depth knowledge of the subject matter nor adequate instruction in how to deliver SRH education (P. Donovan's "School-based sexuality education: The issues and challenges").
Also, curriculum-related barriers are another significant challenge to provide comprehensive SRH education to students. J.D. Goldman's "Sexuality education for young people: A theoretically integrated approach from Australia" argued that most traditional curricula focus on abstinence-based approaches and the biological aspects of reproduction, which do not provide students with the necessary social, emotional, and psychological skills to manage SRH responsibly.
The challenge of parental resistance for teaching SRH education in schools has been found in A. Obach, M. Sadler, B. Cabieses, P. Bussenius, P. Muñoz, C. Pérez and C. Urrutia's "Strengths and challenges of a school-based SRH program for adolescents in Chile", with parents believing that education could prompt an earlier start to sexual activity and being concerned about discussions related to diverse gender and sexual identities. Nevertheless, some parents do support teaching SRH education at the schools as they are not in a position to discuss such matters at home (S. Ram, S. Andajani and M. Mohammadnezhad's "Parent’s perception regarding the delivery of SRH education in secondary schools in Fiji: A qualitative study").
Conclusion
Male science teachers face a variety of challenges from the students, the parents, through the curriculum and due to the absence of proper training and development for teaching SRH education.