Student
NEA “Connections” Conference (11/99) Focus Group(s) Responses
1) What Role
Do Teachers Have in the Sexual Health of Their Students?
-
To
inform parents of issues arising in the classroom - To raise parents’
awareness - Legal obligation
– responsibility of teachers to address the issue - Know resources,
how to access information - Teachers should
remain non-judgmental about behavior and orientation, but have a responsibility
to protect the health of the other students - Ethical responsibility
to respond if student approaches the teacher - Responsibility
to be “proactive” and put issues out there before problems arise - Be there to answer
questions, offer support - It is part of the
job – not to promote sex but to provide information. Sense the tone
of the classroom and the needs of the students and decide what is appropriate. - Important that
educators realize their role is to be an advocate, not to take on complete
responsibility for students’ sexual health needs.
Issues/Concerns:
a. Conflict arises
between community values/norms, the district and/or state policies, and
the desire of teachers to support their students’ needs. Information provided
needs to be “general enough so teachers don’t step on anyone’s toes.”
b. Every district
has its own policies on sexual health education. Teachers should research
these policies.
c. What is NEA’s policy
on sex education? What impact does this have? (Answer: NEA supports comprehensive
sex education in all schools, but each district makes its own decisions
when it comes to implementing this.)
d. Does this open
the role of teachers up to now teaching what “should” happen in the home?
It should happen at home but too often doesn’t. Students need to learn
in a “safe” place. Friends often give misinformation on these topics.
e. Fine line between
what is sexual health and what are signs of sexual abuse. What are the
legal issues around this? Each state mandates these policies. Need to
research.
f. The ideal is for
parents and teachers to work together on this. One suggestion: School
district sends a letter home announcing that there will be an open question
period in class about sex so parents can anticipate and prepare for follow-up
at home. Students put questions in box. They are read aloud anonymously
and answer is given to the whole class.
g. If educators are
going to open themselves up to this role they have to be prepared and
careful about how info is given: non-biased, non-leading, document everything.
h. School board, district
and teachers should all decide what role educators take in sexual health
of students.
2) What Kind of Training
Have You Received on Health Issues in General, and Sexual Health Specifically?
- Sexual health education
- 16 hours of a health
class that included sexual health information - 3 unit health class
that covered sexual health issues but not in practical, applied way
- Training for Resident
Advisors in college with information about STDs - Red Cross Certification
- None since sophomore
year in high school because not required in my state (IL). Took general
family science and health classes, but sexual health not included. - BA and MA programs
in education often do not require this kind of training 3) How Satisfied
Are You With the Training You Received? - What training?
- Not satisfied with
lack of application of information to real life teaching situations.
- Diseases are always
changing – there’s so much to keep up with - It’s hard to feel
prepared to deal with these situations
What we would
like:
a. Strategies for
teaching students, dealing with tough situations
b. Need more resources – would be great to have information and strategies
on hand
c. Community resources (e.g. groups that come present at schools)
d. Teach sexual health as a mandated professional course. Make it age-appropriate
for different teacher levels (e.g. K-6, 7-9, 10-12) and cover district
issues.
4) How Have Sexual Health
Issues Already Come Up While You Were Student Teaching?
A 6th grade
boy was touching girls inappropriately. A teacher approached the boy and
he denied doing it. Is it better to use this as a teaching moment with
the boy or to “scold” him? If it is used as a teaching moment the teacher
could potentially go through disciplinary hearings and ultimately be fired
if the child goes home and tells his parents the teacher talked to him
about sex. If the student is the star of a sports team, if he is spoiled
or if parent are simply in denial, they have all the power and the teacher
is highly vulnerable. “I can be fired for passing morals/values on to
my students.”
SUGGESTIONS:
Better to put responsibility back on the parents: “This is what I’ve been
hearing about your son. I don’t know if it is true but⦔ And document
everything you do. v A 6th grade girl asked the teacher, “How long does
it take to get pregnant?” The teacher answered by saying “Two seconds,
now let’s talk about something else.” I was very uncomfortable answering
the question, but once I did I felt OK about it. v In terms of anti-gay
comments in the classroom, “I try to de-sexualize them and highlight that
such comments are offensive to other members of our culture.”
A fellow teacher found
out one of her students had lesbian parents and handled it by being shocked
and uncomfortable. The child was made to feel badly and the issue was
never revisited.
During a lesson plan
on “eagles” a child asked the teacher how to spell “lesbian.” The teacher
responded by telling the child “that is not what we are talking about
right now.”
SUGGESTIONS:
Offer to look it up in the dictionary together during recess; Tell him
to spell it how he/she thinks it should be spelled and then look at what
he/she wrote later and talk about it.
A teacher put a symbol
on his door to show that he is a resource for gay/lesbian youth. Parents
sued the teacher for promoting homosexuality.
10th graders in a
district in Omaha, NE receive an entire year of health classes with sexual
health content from the very broad to the very specific. Students must
have a parental waiver to participate.
ISSUES/CONCERNS:
a. The issues become broader and broader. Teachers are there to focus
on teaching subjects and helping students prepare for exams. It is very
scary to think about being there to help students deal with sexuality/orientation.
“I am very unsure and scared of what my role might be. Plus they don’t
pay us well but expect us to be all this and all that.” b. New teachers
are expected to be the best but are also the first to blame. c. The key
is to develop trust and build relationships with parents. d. “Until I
saw the Sexual Health Session description in this conference’s program,
I never thought this would even be an issue to have to address as a teacher.
And I never considered how I would answer these questions.”
5) How prepared do you feel
to respond to students’ questions about sexual health? I
feel comfortable but not very prepared. We need to arm ourselves with
more resources.
ISSUES/CONCERNS:
a. You have to recognize what you know and tell the student when you do
not have the answer. But you should help the student find the answer (e.g.
accompany him/her to the school nurse or counselor). b. If a question
is asked that the teacher feels would be inappropriate for him/her to
answer and the student is told , “go ask your mom,” then it distances
students and stigmatizes the issue.
SUGGESTIONS:
The teacher must clarify why he/she cannot answer the question. Make it
obvious to the student that it is not his/her fault that you cannot respond
and that it is a good question. Acknowledging the value of a question
is a way of responding to it. The teacher can also say that he/she does
not have enough time to answer the question then, but will get back to
it. In the meantime, he/she can find the answer!
6) If you had a question
about sexual health or STDs, where would you go for resources and support?
- I am comfortable
accessing community resources and have a good support network of friends
and peers that I would go to for answers - CDC website
- Hotlines
- Call parents to
update them and attain consensus on how to proceed.Very comfortable
going to peers. We all have the same questions so that is helpful.
7) What do you see as the
role of the NEA in ensuring that the sexual health concerns of its members
are met and that they feel they have access to the appropriate resources?
- Offer support
- Offer information
- Offer resources
- Offer teacher training
- Make it a part
of required training - Have more programs/workshops
(and open them to students since they are the ones dealing with these
situations) - State NEA chapters
can discuss these issues with their local chapters - Sexual health would
be a great topic for a teacher association meeting on campus. - Do workshops at
the state leadership conferences - Create a listserv
– it’s a good way to distribute broadly and cheaply. - On the Student
NEA website put up classroom scenarios with solutions and ideas for
how best to respond. v Link resources to the Student NEA website so
others can access them easily.
ISSUES/CONCERNS:
a. Workshops should
include real or typical situations that will arise and provide basic guidance
on how to address them
b. Cover insurance issues like “what are the limits?” Where does NEA stand
on these issues? Will NEA support you with this content and to what extent?