‘We feel like we’re making a significant impact’: teachers’ subjective task value in sex and sexuality education

Sexuality education is necessary for promoting healthy sexual relationships. Accordingly, it is being integrated into school curricula in many countries. Teachers and educators are expected to teach sexuality education in their classrooms, but often face personal, social, professional, and organisational difficulties. Several programmes have been developed to mitigate these challenges, but their success is limited. In this paper, we utilise situated expectancy-value theory to analyse the expectancy-for-success and subjective-task-value of sexuality education. According to situated expectancy-value theory, subjective-task-value is the main predictor of choice to participate in or avoid tasks, and therefore we argue that to increase the provision of sexuality education in the school system, it is not enough to lower barriers, it is also essential to enhance teachers’ willingness to teach sexuality education. In this study, we interviewed 23 teachers regarding their perceptions of value in teaching sexuality education. Findings reveal new insights into the personal and professional value teachers see in sexuality education, including personal interest; self-development; the desire to build trust and strengthen connections with students; and a sense of imparting essential information. These factors can be utilised to better design initial and continuing education for sexuality education teachers.