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ABSTRACT
It is widely recognized that children are sexual beings and their sexual development begins at an early age. Recently, there has been some concern about children’s sexual behavior in educational settings (Knowles 2014). Obtaining a better understanding of what behaviors children are displaying in these settings provides valuable information to inform teacher education in this area as well as support systems for children. One hundred and seven Australian educators from care organizations, preschools, and government, independent, and Catholic primary schools participated in an extensive online questionnaire in relation to their understanding of and experiences with children’s problematic sexual behaviors and their management strategies. Results found that 40.8% of educators had observed children displaying problematic sexual behavior in their educational setting. Educators’ descriptions of their observations variously involved children physically acting out sexually with other children, sexually harassing other children, verbally attempting to coerce other children to participate in sexual behavior, and individual displays of sexual behavior. A minority described behaviors that are considered developmentally typical but are not socially acceptable in an educational setting. These results indicate that there is a need for educator training, child education, and support services to enable an early intervention and prevention strategy to support the well-being of children.
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Notes on contributors
Lesley-Anne Ey
Dr. Lesley-Anne Ey lectures in educational psychology, social and emotional development, and child protection at the University of South Australia. Her research areas include young children’s engagement with media, media influence on children’s leaning and development, bullying, children’s problematic sexual behaviors and other child protection issues, with the aim to support teachers and inform educational curriculum and teacher training.
Elspeth McInnes
Dr. Elspeth McInnes, AM, is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Education of the University of South Australia. Dr. McInnes teaches child protection, safety and wellbeing to pre-service early childhood educators and researches family policy and social disadvantage, including poverty, divorce, family violence and child abuse prevention and protection.