Exploring Factors Influencing Pre-Service Teachers’ Knowledge and Attitudes Regarding Early Childhood Sexuality Education in China

Abstract

Although sexuality education is widely recognized for its role in individual and societal well-being, it remainscontroversial in many Asian cultures, including China. Particularly at the early childhood stage, no commonunderstanding of sexuality education has yet emerged, necessitating a systematic exploration of how to facilitate theimplementation of age-appropriate sexuality education at this stage. This quantitative study surveyed 458 Chinese preserviceteachers to investigate the influencing factors of pre-service teachers’ knowledge and attitudes toward earlychildhood sexuality education. Results indicated that ethnic culture, educational experience of sexuality, and onlinemedia significantly influenced pre-service teachers’ knowledge and attitudes; however, gender showed meaningfuleffects on their attitudes but not on their knowledge level. Religion was found with no significant effect on bothdimensions. This study provides insight on the mechanisms of multiple factors acting on pre-service teachers’ perceptionsof children’s sexuality education, which not only enriches the research on pre-service teachers in the field of earlychildhood sexuality education but also provides an evidence-based foundation for education policymakers andadministrators, making it a valuable reference for the