Teachers Attitudes Towards Teaching Sex Education in Palestinian Public Schools

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine teacher’s attitudes towards Teaching Sex Education (TSE) in Palestinian public schools. In addition, it aimed at determining the effect of gender, specialization and the interaction on these attitudes. The sample of the study consisted of (635) teachers. A 76- item questionnaire distributed among three domains religious-social (18) items, educational (36) items, and scientific (22) items, was used for data collection. The results revealed a positive attitude towards (TSE) in Palestinian public schools, where the percentage of response was (60.4%). In addition, the results indicated that the scientific domain was the best one in the explanation of total attitudes score, where it was explaining (96.4%) of variance of total attitude score. Also the results of the Two-Way ANOVA (2X2) indicated significant differences in attitudes towards (TSE) due to gender in favor of male, and specialization in favor of scientific, where as there were non-significant effects of the interaction between gender and specialization variable on attitudes. Based on the study findings, the researcher recommended construction of sex education curriculum in Palestinian public schools.