HIV and AIDs education and meaning-making among learners in one rural secondary school in Lesotho.
Year: 2019
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Using one rural secondary school in the district of Mafeteng in Lesotho as a case study, the study \nreported in this thesis sought to examine the meaning that young people in Lesotho attach to the HIV \nand AIDS education messages that they receive from the school curriculum. It further explored the \nvarious factors that informed the meaning and the implications that it may have for the curriculum \ndevelopment that targets HIV prevention. The study addressed the following research questions: \nWhat meaning do young people make of the messages that they receive from the school HIV and \nAIDS programme and what factors inform it.? \nLocated within the interpretive paradigm, the study used a qualitative research design to address the \nresearch questions. The methods of data collection included questionnaires, document analysis and \nparticipatory workshops (involving letter writing and role play) supplemented by focus group \ndiscussions with a purposely selected sample of 12 learners and 12 teachers. Using a Theory of \nChange adapted from Unterhalter et al. (2014) on what makes schools work for girls education, the \nsymbolic interaction theory advanced by Mead (1959) to analyse teachers’ role preparedness for HIV \nand AIDS teaching and Durkheim’s theory of meaning-making (1933) to analyse the meaning that \nlearners make of the HIV and AIDS education that they receive in schools as a theoretical framework, \nthe thesis organises the analysis into three components. The first component focuses on curriculum \npolicies that inform the teaching of HIV and AIDS education in Lesotho secondary schools and \nteacher training institutions. The second component examines how educators are prepared for the \nrole of educating the youth about HIV and AIDS and how they understand and enact this role; the \nthird component addresses the main objective of the study: Analysing the meaning that learners make \nof the HIV and AIDS education that they receive in (and around) schools. \nThe findings suggest that not all the teachers leave their teacher training programmes with training \nin HIV and AIDS education; those who do, do not have adequate skills to effectively teach the content \nin schools. Further, the in-service teacher education provided for teachers in the country since the \nintroduction of Life Skills education is also not adequate. This leaves teachers without appropriate \nand relevant content and pedagogical skills needed to effectively teach the topic. The teachers \nthemselves feel inadequately trained and the socio-cultural context, including the silence around \nyoung people’s sex and sexuality, further curtail their efforts in the teaching of HIV and AIDS. \nIn relation to the learners’ experiences and the meaning that they make of the messages that they \nreceive from the HIV and AIDS curriculum, the findings suggest that on the one hand, the learners \nfind the programme useful and informative. On the other hand, they find it inadequate, unrealistic \nand not relevant to their needs as young people. The learners have varying forms of understanding of \nHIV and AIDS, including myths, misconceptions and misinformation about the epidemic. In \naddition, linked to the taboos that surround HIV and AIDS and related issues (including sex organs \nand sexual intercourse), the learners use a number of metaphors and euphemisms to define and talk \nabout HIV and AIDS. These metaphors include HIV and AIDS as danger, as punishment, as \nwitchcraft and as a western conspiracy. Together, these metaphors tend to reinforce stigmatization, \ndiscrimination and the fear of HIV infected and affected people. Further, the euphemisms tend to \ndistort the HIV and AIDS messages provided to the learners as some of them reportedly apply their \nunderstandings literally to their lives. Finally, meaning-making among the young people is informed \nby, among others, gendered power relations, gender roles, stigma and discrimination as well as by an \ninadequate and irrelevant curriculum, and poorly prepared teachers. These factors are likely to have \na negative influence on the effectiveness of HIV prevention and the care messages that young people \nreceive in the school. This has implications for curriculum developers, teachers and policy makers \nregarding programming aimed at addressing HIV and AIDS prevention and care among young people \nin schools.
Author: Aletta Matopollo. Monyake
Language: English
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funder: Bộ Giáo dục và Ðào tạo
OpenAlex ID: W3019971767