Teacher's awareness, knowledge, and perceptions of student-to-student sexual harassment occuring in the educational setting

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine pre k-12 teacher perceptions, knowledge, and awareness of student-to-student interactions sexual harassment occurring in the educational setting. A 10-item sexual harassment survey was administered into the mailboxes of all pre k-12 teachers in a small rural western school district in Wisconsin during the month of May, 2003. The survey used in this study specifically focused on the following research questions: 1. Do teachers communicate an awareness of verbal, non-verbal, and physical sexual harassment in their classroom; 2. Are teachers aware of a written policy and procedure manual on sexual harassment in the school district of which they are employed; 3. Do teachers feel they are offered adequate awareness and/or prevention training by the school district regarding sexual harassment; 4. What do the teachers feel their role is in addressing sexual harassment with their students; 5. What are teachers' perceptions and attitudes regarding sexual harassment occurring in the school district of which they are employed; 6. What does Title IX mean to teachers; and 7. How does Title IX relate to sexual harassment? The survey used in this study was created by the researcher, which included 10 items, nine of which required an "x" that best described the teacher's thoughts/feelings on the area of sexual harassment. All nine items were in relation to questions 1-6 of the research questions. The tenth item was an open ended questions for the teachers to briefly answer. This questions addressed the issue related to questions 7 of the research questions in this study. Item frequencies and valid percentages are given for each question. Results of this study are presented in chapter four. The results from this study indicated that a majority of the teachers who participated in study do communicate an awareness of verbal, non-verbal, and/or physical sexual harassment in their classroom and feel it is within their role and responsibility as a teacher not only to address the issue of sexual harassment with their students, but to take action to help stop and/or prevent incidents from occurring. Results also indicated that a majority of the teachers who participated in this study were aware of a policy and procedure manual regarding sexual harassment in their school district. Half of the teachers who participated in this study were able to identify that they felt adequately trained by their school district regarding the awareness and/or prevention of sexual harassment and half were able to identify that they didn't feel adequately trained. The information gathered in this study will hopefully result in teachers increasing their awareness about the issue of sexual harassment and to encourage the school district to take proactive measures to help prevent sexual harassment from occurring in their school.