Handa na ba ako? : parents’ receptiveness and teachers’ readiness of sex education in grade school.

Abstract

This study assessed the level of readiness of teachers and receptiveness of parents on sex education in grade school. A total of 208 respondents participated in the study: 104 teachers and 104 parents. The respondents were recruited purposively from three private and two public schools in Metro Manila. Using the explanatory sequential mixed method, this study consisted of a survey followed by in-depth interviews with selected informants. Chi-square and correlation were used to determine significant associations between readiness of teachers and receptiveness of parents and their socio-demographic characteristics. For the qualitative part, content analysis was used where themes and patterns of responses were culled out. The results showed that majority of the respondents from both teacher and parent groups looked at sex education and its implementation in grade school favorably. On average, parents had "moderate" to "high" receptiveness of sex education in grade school. Similarly, teachers expressed moderate readiness to teach children topics related to sex education. Income level appeared to have a significant association with respect to receptiveness of parents with those from higher income groups exhibiting greater receptiveness of sex education in grade school. Age and civil status were also found to be significantly associated with teacher readiness. Recommendations were made to increase awareness among parents, and train teachers on the most age-appropriate content and approach to sex education in grade school.