Exploring Variation in Norwegian Social Science Teachers’ Practice Concerning Sexuality Education: Who Teachers Are Matters and So Does School Culture

Abstract

This article explores teaching practice concerning sexual harassment and abuse in Norwegian upper secondary schools based on phone interviews with 64 social studies teachers. This study portrays great variation in what extent teachers address these issues and discusses how this variation can be understood considering teachers' personal characteristics, their interpretation of the curriculum, school culture-related factors and media coverage of sexual harassment and abuse. Young female teachers address such matters the most and younger teachers teach more about these issues than older teachers in general. The effect of age is stronger on women than men; the older the female teachers are, the less do they address sexual harassment and abuse. Male teachers have the same level of teaching regardless of age. Teachers' characteristics appear to be equally influential as school culture-related factors.

A Gap Between Children’s Rights and Curricular Content in Health, Social Care, and Teacher Education Programs: An Exploratory Cross-Sectional Study

“…However, we find this unlikely based on the documented failure in services and on previous research. 45 , 46 , 48 , 50 Moreover, the similarity between the responses from the second-year and first-year students indicates a lack of further uniprofessional training for second-year students.…”

“…Teaching practices pertaining to various forms of child maltreatment are most likely influenced by factors such as cultural taboos and the personal characteristics of individual teachers. 45 , 46 As such, there appears to be too much room for individual interpretation in the field of, for example, sexual abuse. 46 …”

“… 45 , 46 As such, there appears to be too much room for individual interpretation in the field of, for example, sexual abuse. 46 …”

“…75 Addressing child maltreatment and abnormal childhood experiences could form part of these interdisciplinary themes. 46 …”

“…If local educators have the opportunity to choose whether or not to include child maltreatment in curricula, important topics may be omitted. 45 , 46 Given that child maltreatment causes suffering to children and families and can have long-term health consequences, 10 , 12 , 26 , 78 , 84 education on maltreatment cannot be omitted from professional programs and must be mentioned explicitly in the curricula.…”