Abstract

Human Sexual Reproduction (HSR) is an important component that helps secondary school students who have reached puberty understand the functions of their genital organs. However, delivering HSR lessons is a difficult task for teachers since sexual topics are still perceived by some societies as taboo subjects due to religious, social, and cultural factors. In this research, we aimed to study the perceptions of Moroccan and non-Moroccan teachers who are supposed to provide HSR lessons for students at secondary schools. For this purpose, we interviewed 351 teachers from twenty-eight countries, including Morocco. The interviewed teachers report that despite their high interaction (60–64%), the majority of students, essentially girls, found it embarrassing to discuss sexuality and reproduction and interpret cartoon images of genitals from the book (penis, vagina, testicles, etc.). From the results obtained, it was found that teaching HSR to secondary school students is potentially embarrassing. Teachers acknowledge this and recommend thinking strategically when making HSR lesson plans and exercising excellent classroom management when teaching to avoid any restrictive behavior for learning.