Teacher Education
The HEAIDS teacher education programme aims to prepare teachers at all levels of the education system to play a central role in the country's battle against HIV/AIDS. Educators need not only to promote the prevention of HIV infection, but also to assist learners or students to cope with the wide-spread impact of HIV/AIDS.
This approach is supported by the South African Government which advocates the full integration of HIV/AIDS into education and training.
Higher education's dual responsibility
HEAIDS believes that academics at higher education institutions have a particular responsibility:
HEAIDS has focused on supporting institutions in developing the skills of future generations of school teachers to assist their learners to cope with the many challenges of HIV/AIDS.
During 2008, all education faculties are piloting a HEAIDS-generated module on HIV/AIDS among their BEd and PGCE students. HEAIDS has placed an intern at every institution to facilitate this intervention.
The module that is undergoing "testing" was developed by HEAIDS in 2005. Prior to the commencement of the pilot projects, the module was reviewed and revised to take into account existing teacher training on HIV/AIDS at various institutions. A measure of flexibility was built into the use of the module in the pilot phase to accommodate established practices at various institutions. Education faculties were fully involved in the process of planning the pilot study.
Ongoing consultation and evaluation
HEAIDS has established an On-line Collaboration Forum for educators to share experiences and to learn from expertise education faculties to deal with problems of implementing the HIV/AIDS pilot as they arise.
This dynamic method of evaluation and adaptation will inform the final design of the HIV/AIDS module for teacher training towards securing its permanent inclusion in training for educational professionals.
Transferring lessons learnt
This process of HIV/AIDS curriculum development in Education Faculties could inform the development of HIV/AIDS content for other faculties. Although most institutions support the principle of mainstreaming HIV/AIDS content in curricula across all areas of study, research conducted by HEAIDS at the end of 2007 revealed that progress in this area was very limited.
This approach is supported by the South African Government which advocates the full integration of HIV/AIDS into education and training.
Higher education's dual responsibility
HEAIDS believes that academics at higher education institutions have a particular responsibility:
- to provide future generations of school teachers with pertinent knowledge and a whole range of interpersonal skills that will enable them to offer effective support to their learners; and
- to equip their own lecturers with a similar knowledge-base and skills set, so that HIV/AIDS interventions at school level are reinforced and extended by teaching at higher education institutions.
HEAIDS has focused on supporting institutions in developing the skills of future generations of school teachers to assist their learners to cope with the many challenges of HIV/AIDS.
During 2008, all education faculties are piloting a HEAIDS-generated module on HIV/AIDS among their BEd and PGCE students. HEAIDS has placed an intern at every institution to facilitate this intervention.
The module that is undergoing "testing" was developed by HEAIDS in 2005. Prior to the commencement of the pilot projects, the module was reviewed and revised to take into account existing teacher training on HIV/AIDS at various institutions. A measure of flexibility was built into the use of the module in the pilot phase to accommodate established practices at various institutions. Education faculties were fully involved in the process of planning the pilot study.
Ongoing consultation and evaluation
HEAIDS has established an On-line Collaboration Forum for educators to share experiences and to learn from expertise education faculties to deal with problems of implementing the HIV/AIDS pilot as they arise.
This dynamic method of evaluation and adaptation will inform the final design of the HIV/AIDS module for teacher training towards securing its permanent inclusion in training for educational professionals.
Transferring lessons learnt
This process of HIV/AIDS curriculum development in Education Faculties could inform the development of HIV/AIDS content for other faculties. Although most institutions support the principle of mainstreaming HIV/AIDS content in curricula across all areas of study, research conducted by HEAIDS at the end of 2007 revealed that progress in this area was very limited.
