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.