Landry D J, Singh S, Darroch J E
The Alan Guttmacher Institute, New York, USA.
Fam Plann Perspect. 2000 Sep-Oct;32(5):212-9.
While policymakers, educators and parents recognize the need for family life and sexuality education during children's formative years and before adolescence, there is little nationally representative information on the timing and content of such instruction in elementary schools.
In 1999, data were gathered from 1, 789 fifth- and sixth-grade teachers as part of a nationally representative survey of 5,543 public school teachers in grades 5-12. Based on the responses of 617 fifth- and sixth-grade teachers who said they teach sexuality education, analyses were carried out on the topics and skills sexuality education teachers taught, the grades in which they taught them, their teaching approaches, the pressures they experienced, whether they received support from parents, the community and school administrators, and their needs.
Seventy-two percent of fifth- and sixth-grade teachers report that sexuality education is taught in their schools at one or both grades. Fifty-six percent of teachers say that the subject is taught in grade five and 64% in grade six. More than 75% of teachers who teach sexuality education in these grades cover puberty, HIV and AIDS transmission and issues such as how alcohol and drugs affect behavior and how to stick with a decision. However, when schools that do not provide sexuality education are taken into account, even most of these topics are taught in only a little more than half of fifth- and sixth-grade classrooms. All other topics are much less likely to be covered. Teaching of all topics is less prevalent at these grades than teachers think it should be. Gaps between what teachers say they are teaching and teachers' recommendations for what should be taught and by what grade are especially large for such topics as sexual abuse, sexual orientation, abortion, birth control and condom use for STD prevention. A substantial proportion of teachers recommend that these topics be taught at grade six or earlier. More than half (57%) of fifth- and sixth-grade sexuality education teachers cover the topic of abstinence from intercourse--17% as the only option for protection against pregnancy and STDs and 40% as the best alternative or one option for such protection. Forty-six percent of teachers report that one of their top three problems in teaching sexuality education is pressure, whether from the community, parents or school administrators. More than 40% of teachers report a need for some type of assistance with materials, factual information or teaching strategies.
A large proportion of schools are doing little to prepare students in grades five and six for puberty, much less for dealing with pressures and decisions regarding sexual activity Sexuality education teachers often feel unsupported by the community, parents or school administrators.
虽然政策制定者、教育工作者和家长都认识到在儿童成长阶段及青春期之前开展家庭生活和性教育的必要性，但关于小学阶段此类教育的时间安排和内容，几乎没有全国代表性的信息。
1999年，从1789名五、六年级教师那里收集了数据，这是对5543名5至12年级公立学校教师进行的全国代表性调查的一部分。基于617名表示教授性教育的五、六年级教师的回复，对性教育教师教授的主题和技能、教授这些内容的年级、教学方法、他们所面临的压力、是否得到家长、社区和学校管理人员的支持以及他们的需求进行了分析。
72%的五、六年级教师报告称，他们所在学校在这两个年级中的一个或两个年级开展了性教育。56%的教师表示五年级教授该课程，六年级为64%。在这些年级教授性教育的教师中，超过75%涵盖青春期、艾滋病毒和艾滋病传播以及诸如酒精和毒品如何影响行为以及如何坚持某个决定等问题。然而，将未提供性教育的学校考虑在内，即使是这些主题，也只有略多于一半的五、六年级教室讲授。所有其他主题被讲授的可能性要小得多。在这些年级，所有主题的教学普遍程度低于教师认为应有的程度。对于性虐待、性取向、堕胎、节育以及使用避孕套预防性传播疾病等主题，教师表示实际讲授的内容与他们关于应讲授内容及讲授年级的建议之间的差距尤其大。相当一部分教师建议这些主题应在六年级或更早年级讲授。超过一半（57%）的五、六年级性教育教师涵盖禁欲主题——17%将其作为预防怀孕和性传播疾病的唯一选择，40%将其作为此类预防的最佳选择或一种选择。46%的教师报告称，他们教授性教育时面临的三大问题之一是压力，无论是来自社区、家长还是学校管理人员。超过40%的教师报告需要在教材、事实信息或教学策略方面得到某种形式的帮助。
很大一部分学校在帮助五、六年级学生为青春期做准备方面做得很少，更不用说帮助他们应对与性活动相关的压力和决策了。性教育教师常常感到未得到社区、家长或学校管理人员的支持。
