Identifying and categorizing the issues related to sexuality and gender posed by elementary students

The present study conducted to identify and categorize the issues related to sexuality and gender posed by elementary students through a mixed method research in two phases. In the first phase, the critical issues were identified and consequently classified employing an action research design by participation of elementary school educators of Malayer. The second phase was conducted in order to prioritize and rank the derived issues using a questionnaire survey which responded by 169 elementary teachers. The data from the first phase of study resulted in identifying 50 questions classified into the 5 categories including relations and interaction with others, social values and norms with respect of sexuality and gender, educational and cultural context, developmental bases, sexual behavior, reproduction and pregnancy. According to the results of category ranking, the category of relations and interaction with others was ranked as the first priority and the category of sexual behavior, and reproduction and pregnancy as the last priority.