A Practical Exploration of Comprehensive Sexuality Education by Home Economics Teachers Based on an Ecological Model of Teacher Agency

Abstract

Based on an ecological model of teacher agency, the purpose of this study was to examine the relevance of HE (home economics) subjects and CSE (comprehensive sexuality education) for HE teachers, and their implementation in HE classes. To achieve this, a survey was conducted with HE teachers nationwide for which 243 responses were collected, and interviews were conducted with five HE teachers who were actively practicing CSE. The results of the survey and interview were as follows. First, HE teachers strongly recognized the relevance of HE subjects and the topic of CSE with an average score of 4.63 (out of 5 points), and practiced CSE at an average of 72.23% (97.12%~43.21%) in their class. Second, based on the ecological approach model of teacher agency, the factors facilitating the CSE practice of HE teachers included: childbirth and parenting experienced as parents, experiences of students encountering sexual problems in school, the philosophy and content of HE subjects, positive feedback from students and support from fellow teachers, and intention to help students in their lives. Conversely, HE teachers cited a lack of sexual education experience as learners, complaints from parents, weakness of HE teacher networks, lack of specific statements in curriculum and textbooks, insufficient class content and teacher training, and lack of absolute class time. This study is significant in revealing that CSE is highly relevant to the contents of HE subjects and is already being practiced in HE classes.