An understanding of HIV and AIDS discourses of teachers in Cape Town, South Africa, and its' relevance for HIV prevention in schools

Abstract

This study investigates the content and nature of the HIV and AIDS "discourses" of teachers, which I have identified as a knowledge gap in the existing HIV and AIDS education literature that, presumably, is informing practice. The argument is that, without an understanding of teachers' HIV and AIDS discourses, we will continue to speculate about why HIV education often does not have the effect we expect of it - reduced HIV infection, reduced risk behaviour, reduced teenage pregnancies - and why it has been regarded as a failure by many. The public media often expose rampant teenage sexual behaviour, such as abortions, pregnancies, and an addiction for electronically generated pornographic materials, causing consternation and sending shockwaves through schools and society. These reports attest to the kind of risky sexual behavior which makes children vulnerable to HIV infection. In spite of more than twenty years of HIV and AIDS education, teachers and society at large remain uncertain and uncomfortable about teenage sexual behavior, HIV infection and the inability of adults to protect young people from sexual exploitation.