ATTITUDE OF TEACHERS AND STUDENTS TOWARDS THE TEACHING AND LEARNING OF SEX EDUCATION IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN AWKA SOUTH LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA

Abstract

The study investigated the attitude of teachers and students towards the teaching and 
learning of sex education in secondary school in Awka South local government area 
of Anambra State of Nigeria. Three research questions guided the study. The 
descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. The population of the 
study comprised (1,629) senior secondary school students and one hundred and 
seventy-one (171) teachers. A sample size of two hundred (200) senior secondary 
school students and fifty (50) teachers were drawn for the study using simple random 
sampling techniques. The research developed questionnaire titled “Attitude of 
Teachers and Students Towards the Teaching and Learning of Sex Education in 
Secondary Schools” (ATSTTLSESS). The instrument was validated by two experts 
one expert in measurement and evaluation unit of the Department of Educational 
Foundations and another expert from the Department of Science Education all from 
Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State of Nigeria. The Pearson Product 
Moment correlation was coefficient used to determine the reliability of the 
instrument which yielded coefficient value of 0.77. The researcher together with two 
research assistants collected data for the study using the direct approach method and 
97% return was recorded. Mean was used to answer the research questions. The 
findings of the study revealed among others that teachers do not put in satisfactory 
time when handling lessons on sex education while some of the students feel it is 
wrong to discuss human sexuality with the teacher in the class. The researcher made 
some recommendations which includes; sex education should be integrated with 
related disciplines like biology, health education, moral instruction, integrated 
science, home economic/management and civic education. Also, teachers should 
step up and put in more time to the teaching of sex education and related topics.