THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

Review of Related Literature

Insights

Adolescence and young adulthood are considered critical periods in an individual's development.
These stages are characterized by physical, and socioemotional changes (Lloyd 2005; Natividad 2013).
The onset of puberty signals the beginning of the adolescent’s life stage, when physical and biological
changes lead to the development of reproductive capability. The timing of the onset of biological markers
has wide age range and varies across sociocultural contexts, although it is generally thought to occur from
age 11 to the 30s (Pena- Alampay, et al. 2003; Hollenstein and Lougheed 2013). Along with physical
development are cognitive and socioemotional developments that are include the capacity for abstract
reasoning, the struggle to develop a sense of identity, increased risk-taking behavior, and emotional
reactivity. In the social sphere, changes in the school environment led to less time spent with parents and
more time with peers (Jaworska and MacQueen 2015). The transition from adolescence to adulthood
involves adjusting to age-related challenges and changes (UN 2018). Adolescence is a period of life
during which individuals reach sexual maturity. It is the period of transition from childhood to adulthood
and it is often characterized by biological and psychosocial changes as well as sexual experimentation
(Benson, et al. 2018). Improving young people knowledge and practices related to sexual and
reproductive health (SRH) is necessary to improve health outcomes. Adolescent's knowledge and access
to reproductive health services is important for their physical and psychosocial wellbeing. Students
develop an understanding of the parts and functions of the reproductive systems. This provides foundation
knowledge for learning about about puberty, menstruation, conception and pregnancy (WHO, 2002). The
type of choices made by these young children could either impact positively or negatively on their lives,
their families and the society at large.

Perceptions and awareness

Adolescence is a phase of fast growth and development that occurs during adolescence.
Adolescents have a limited understanding of sexual and reproductive health, and they have little
knowledge of puberty, sexual health, pregnancy, or reproduction as natural processes. Because it is a
lifetime process, sex education should be an intrinsic component of the learning process beginning in
childhood and continuing into adulthood. It should promote the investigation of values and morale values,
as well as the consideration of sexuality and interpersonal interactions, as well as the development of
communication and decision-making abilities. It should promote self-esteem, self-awareness, a feeling of
moral responsibility, and the ability to avoid and respond to negative situations. Health education is both
a vital component of human life and a fundamental right. It can assist to boost self-esteem, improve
communication skills, and raise awareness of health and disease-related information. The combination of
myths/stigma secrecy, lack of understanding, social inequity, and negative media messages perplexes
young people and increases poor self-esteem, leading to rash decisions. It may lead to incorrect
knowledge about sex, unprotected sex, unplanned pregnancy; STI’S including HIV/AIDS or deeply
unhappy and damaging relationship because of lack of clear protocol for sex education, like content, way
of approaches, rules and regulation for educational services and how these services should be fulfilled in
different socioeconomic and cultural environments is not clear. Diagn, J. clin (2017)

Reproductive System must be introduced in the school which should start from the primary school
and brings about the age appropriate topics as they go through the high school. It should contain a
package of information about life skills, reproductive health, safe sex, pregnancy and STI’s including
HIV/AIDS. To determine the correct kind of sexual health education services for boys and girls
independently from teachers of the same gender, a sociocultural study is required. It is the responsibility
of parents, teachers, social workers, politicians, administrators, and medical and paramedical
professionals to ensure that adolescent girls and boys become legitimate as a result of education and
empowerment, and that the transition from adolescent girls and boys to adult men and women is smooth
and streamlined with no or few medical, social, or psychological issues.

Prefferedness to Share

The majority of people agree that sex education should be included in the school curriculum, and
the majority of them offered good reasons for doing so. Doctors and teachers/schools were the most
popular sources of sex education and reproductive health information, followed by friends. Sex education
and sexuality are taboo topics in many societies and among some parents; teenagers are embarrassed and
afraid to discuss sex education; and some adolescents, particularly females, are hesitant to respond to
questions concerning sex education. Diagn, J. clin (2017) Communication was triggered by a parent
seeing or hearing something negative that they did not want their child to see or hear. Despite the fact that
most young people were more relaxed with their mothers than with their fathers, there is a lack of trust in
what they can tell their parents for fear of punishment. Because of a lack of appropriate knowledge and
cultural norms that restricted interactions between opposite sex, parents were limited in what they could
communicate about the reproductive system. Generally communication about reproductive system was
observed in most in the school teacher to students.This communication are usually initiated by friends
where they are prefer to share openly to other children like their age and rarely to parents and was
characterized by warnings or threats. Wamoyi, J., Fenwick, A., Urassa, M. et al.(2010) Parents did not
approve of the reproductive system for this age group, frequently punishing adolescents for such
involvement. Some parents never discussed reproductive systems with their adolescent children. The
primary goal of parents was to delay the reproductive system in adolescent boys and girls. They were
more likely to talk to their daughters than their sons, and they frequently initiated conversations because
something "bad" had occurred, such as a young girl in the neighborhood becoming pregnant. During such
discussions, it was mostly the parents who were speaking and making decisions about their children's
behavior.Maina, B.W., Ushie, B.A. & Kabiru, C.W.(2020)

Techniques and Strategies

Teaching about the reproductive organs that will no longer taboo to the students need not be a
daunting process. It is essential for the students to give them accurate information in a classroom.
Students needs to understand how the bodies work and how to stay healthy and have meaningful
relationship to others, (Pippi, 2018). Students are sometimes inclined to think they know everything about
the reproductive system, but they need detailed, up to date, and accurate instruction (Carolina Staff,
2020). However, unlike some of the body systems the reproductive organ involves sensitive discussion
that may raise uncomfortable topics for some. This can be a difficult material for a Grade Six students,
but it can be made easier by using appropriate instructional strategies. Implementing student focused
activities will help students delve into a sensitive subject with more ease. Covering the subtopics of
human reproduction in a clinical manner will also help to less stressful associated with discussion of the
subject matter. The two concepts can then be discussed together to define the human reproductive system.
For the teacher it is their responsibility to ensure your wellbeing. It may find funny and awkward at some
point students will be thankful for having the awareness which probably give them knowledge. The point
is not to convince the students to agree with every single thing a teacher said. As long as the awareness is
spread around certain issues (Carolina Staff, 2020, Reproductive System) (Pippi 2018, Reproductive
System Lessons).

Scheme

Giving children a few pieces of information about reproduction and growing their confidence with
success is a great method to get them comfortable talking about it. Some pupils are hesitant to express
their opinions because they are afraid of being wrong. This concern is amplified when they are expected
or urged to express their feelings about reproduction. A game like matching is an excellent approach to go
over facts in a safe manner. (phealey20). Students can take notes and follow along with the lesson if they
are given template worksheets. Students may even use the online template to create a character that looks
like them, which provides a layer of comfort to an otherwise unsettling issue. Creating bespoke
worksheets that can be customised to your students learning styles is another excellent technique to
ensure that they are learning what they need to know. Worksheets may use all of the imagery used in the
storyboard activities above It's simple to build tools for students to examine how well they've grasped the
content they've studied if they need extra help with terminology or understanding each element.
According to (phealy20) Students should understand that not everyone may fit into either male or female
boxes. Intersex individuals are born with several variations of genitals, gonads, sex hormones, or
chromosomes. Having students sort similarities and differences into boxes helps shift conversation into
gender and sexuality. You can refer to Storyboard That's article on gender and sexuality for additional
activities (phealey20)

Learning

The role of teachers in guiding children through teaching reproductive education can be an
important factor in how successfully they are managed. According to the researchers of the study Gaps in
knowledge regarding birth control and other sex health issues, teachers must have appropriate information
as well as a positive approach toward teaching reproductive and sexual health classes in order to dispel
common myths. Various programs can be established to help instructors learn new teaching tactics and
foster positive attitudes about the inclusion of reproductive and sexual health subjects in the curriculum.
The Editors (16.1.2020). Reproductive and sexual health is such an important issue in one’s life, parents,
elders and teachers hardly play any compelling role in providing adequate information and knowledge.
Also, those who seek guidance from parents may not be satisfied as parents are not able to give
satisfactory answers so they may avoid these discussions with them. It is extremely important to know the
perceptions of people, teachers and school children regarding sexual and reproductive health education to
avoid any adverse effects.

Observations

Teachers plan the environment, schedule, and daily activities to promote each child's development
and learning. Educators arrange firsthand, meaningful experiences that are cognitively and creatively
stimulating, invite exploration and investigation, and engage children's active, sustained involvement.
Since the teachers spend a considerable amount of time with the students, teachers need to be equipped
with the necessary teach the students about the reproductive organs. For effective implementation of this
sensitive topics such as reproductive organs, the concerns and expectation desired by teachers for
teaching reproductive organs in the classroom set up, needs to be well understood. Joseph, N., Mahato,
V., Pandey, A. et al.

Communication
 Communication skills can be defined as the transmission of a message that involves the shared
understanding between the contexts in which the communication takes place (Saunders and Mills, 1999).
In addition, teacher communication skills are important for a teacher in delivery of education to students
(McCarthy and Carter, 2001). Communication skills involve listening and speaking as well as reading and
writing. For effective teaching strategies and techniques in terms of communication a teacher needs to be
highly skilled in all these areas. Teacher with good communication always make the things easier and
understanding. Effective communication skills are very important for a teacher in transmitting of
education, classroom management and interaction with students in the class. Teacher has to teach the
students having different thinking approaches. To teach in accordance with the ability and capability of
the students a teacher needs to adopt such skills of communication which motivate the students toward
their learning process.