Percepciones sobre el rol en educación sexual de los docentes de educación básica media en áreas rurales

Abstract

Because of the strategic role that literature assigns to the educator in the implementation of sexual education, a qualitative research was proposed, whose objective was to discover the insights of the teachers of “básica media” (children aged 9 to 11) of the rural areas of Cuenca about their role in the implementation of Sexual Education as a transversal axis. For this study, ten in-depth interviews were applied to teachers who worked in rural areas of Cuenca during the 2016-2017 school period. The data was categorized through the Thematic Analysis strategy and the findings were organized into three main axes: the role of the teacher in the implementation of Sexual Education in rural areas; specificities of Sex Education of the level of “Básica Media” (children aged 9 to 11) in rural areas; boundaries and strengths that teachers perceive concerning their role in the implementation of a transversal Sex Education in rural areas. With respect to the role of teachers addressing Sexual Education, this research found out that most teachers agree that their task is to work on topics of sexuality in the classroom. Whatever the position of the educators, they perceive that the rural context has specific characteristics that shape a negative vision of sexuality. In addition, among the main limitations, the teachers know that there is lack of interest about training on sexuality issues. Therefore, the need for training on themes and methodological strategies concerning the implementation of Sex Education in the classroom is evident.