Early childhood sexual development and sex education: A survey of attitudes of nursery school teachers

Abstract

SUMMARY This paper describes a research study which aimed to investigate preschool teachers' attitudes and beliefs on certain matters of sexual development and sex education in early years. A questionnaire with closed and open questions was answered by 284 experienced nursery school teachers in Greece, working with children 3+ to 5+ years of age. Answers to closed questions were elaborated by descriptive statistics while those to open questions were treated by content analysis. Results and discussion focus mainly on the importance of sexual development and sex education in early years, the factors that influence sexual development, the extent to which families and preschool establishments can provide appropriate sex education, the age at which support for sexual development should be started, the aims of sex education and the characteristics of persons who can provide adequate sex education.