Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis: Implementing Early Childhood Sex Education for Muslim Teachers

Abstract

The study expresses the importance of implementing early childhood sex education for Muslim teachers in Indonesia based on children’s cognitive and sexual development. A qualitative study with a phenomenological design was conducted to explore sexual education provided by teachers through purposive sampling and in-depth interviews. The participants of the study were teachers and principals of two kindergarten schools in Semarang. The results showed that each school has its own learning system and strategy to implement sexual education. The schools developed sexual education themes from teacher training programs. The teachers provided sexual education materials such as aurat introduction, introductory names of genitalia, self-introduction, instructions on changing clothes, toilet training, and information about appropriate behavior, mother’s pregnancy, and childbirth. In addition, school-based sexual education should be adjusted to children’s needs, language skills, and age-appropriateness. The combination of learning methods in parenting and educational guidance can develop child sexual education. The result shows that Muslim teachers taught sexual education to their students in accordance with culture and society norms. Keywords: sexual education, early childhood, school contents, Muslim teacher, Indonesia. DOI: https://doi.org/10.55463/hkjss.issn.1021-3619.61.49