Cancer and cancer education— opinions of some secondary school teachers in Northern England

Abstract

TO PROVIDE information about teachers' attitudes to cancer and cancer education, a questionnaire survey of 131 men and 60 women teachers was conducted in 1974 in five comprehensive schools in northern England. These teachers were quite well-informed about cancer, especially about it being sometimes curable and the value of early treatment, although the majority still found it their most alarming disease. Most of these teachers were willing to teach about cancer, whatever their subject, given more in formation. Based on their expressed wishes for cancer education methods, combined with the results of a concurrent survey of pupils' requirements, a teaching resources package was designed for testing.

A Penny For Your Thoughts

“…Here are some examples: 5 per cent of a sample of education lecturers (Charlton, in prep. ); 14.8 per cent of a sample of women in Lancaster in Social Class A and 31 per cent of those in Social Class C (Knopf, 1974); and 49 per cent of a sample of secondary school pupils (Charlton, 1977) all believed that no cancers can be cured. On the whole, therefore, it appears from these surveys that younger people and those whose education has been continued less far are more inclined at present to the erroneous view that all cancers are incurable.…”

“…In a survey of 3,527 pupils in secondary comprehensive schools, Charlton (1977)' found that almost 90 per cent of them had heard of cigarette smoking as a cause of cancer. It is probably not surprising, then, that the largest group of these students chose this aspect when expressing "what cancer means to me".…”

Children returning to school after treatment for cancer: what a teacher needs to know

“…How do they balance the need to have enough information about the illness and the child's reaction to it with intrusion into a private area of the family's life? They may also be worried about the child because of their perception of cancer as a very alarming illness (Charlton, 1979). And there is also the problem of the other children in the sick child's class.…”

“…Many people including teachers regard cancer as the most alarming illness (Charlton, 1979). This attitude must be changed if teachers are going to have adequate expectations of the child who has had cancer.…”

Side-Effects of Health Education

“…But there is evidence of even more far-reaching side-effects of health education. For instance, during studies conducted among schoolchildren by the Manchester Regional Committee for Cancer Education and funded by the Cancer Research Campaign, Charlton (1977) found not only that nearly 90 per cent of over 3500 pupils cited smoking as a cause of cancer, but also that most of these children could name no other cause. Indeed, for many of them the words "smoking" and "cancer" were almost synonymous and both were believed always to result in premature death.…”