Identifying the challenges to successfully teaching about genetic diversity among Japanese junior high school students

OBJECTIVES: Creating a diverse and inclusive symbiotic society is specified in the sustainable development goals. In a symbiotic society, support for those who need, it is called “reasonable support.” However, it is unclear in the classroom that many children understand “reasonable” as a consideration to support children with special needs. The aim of this study is to identify the actual understanding of junior high school students and the challenges related to genetic diversity through school health teachers in readiness for developing a symbiotic society. METHODS: A focus group interview was conducted for five school health teachers working in public junior high schools to identify the perspectives of their feeling about the current understanding of children in regard to genetics and diversity. Participants were recruited who agreed to engage voluntarily in this research. A qualitative descriptive design was used in this study. RESULTS: The results of the analysis revealed three categories consisting of 67 codes and 10 subcategories. Three categories were identified: I—understanding the heterogeneity and diversity of children’s ambivalent minds; II—limitation of school health teachers’ involvement in genetics and diversity-related issues; and III—importance for children to understand heterogeneity and diversity to build life skills. CONCLUSIONS: School health teachers remarked on the limitations of learning and teaching genetics and diversity. They paid attention to the flexibility of a child. It suggests that the purpose of genetic education is to develop children’s life skills with the flexibility to live in the future. There is a need to consider new genetic education for school health teachers and students to learn about diversity.