Possibilities for integrating HIV/AIDS awareness into the grade eight curriculum: a case study.

Abstract

Education and knowledge are regarded as imperative tools to changing human attitudes, perceptions and behaviour. The researcher embarked on the study to explore possibilities in the teaching and learning process to substantiate the importance and implications of integrating HIV/AIDS education and awareness into the Grade 8 curriculum. The ultimate purpose of this study is to see how teaching and learning can take place in a collaborative setting, with the possibilities of exploring how effectively an integrated programme can be implemented into the curriculum. The secondary purpose of this study is to use this information to make a contribution to integrate HIV/AIDS education and awareness into the Grade 8 curriculum. The pivotal question with regard to the integration of life-skills into the school curriculum is: How do educators and learners perceive a teaching-learning scenario that can efficiently promote genuine learning of HIV/AIDS within the Life-skills curriculum? In this study, semi-structured interviews and a tool for teaching styles was used to assess 16 educators’ perceptions towards integration and how it can lend itself to integrate HIV/AIDS education and awareness. Furthermore, a questionnaire and a learning styles inventory were used to assess 70 learners’ perceptions of integration. The study found that learners could be assisted with information and be guided to make their own responsible choices. The ideal could therefore be to provide learners with the skills, knowledge, attitudes and values that might enable them to make informed choices among conflicting and competing moral codes. The study found that learners should be given more ownership and responsibility in the teaching and learning process. In doing so, educators should relinquish more control. Educators should also work in collaboration with their colleagues in order for integration to be successful. It will be essential to develop curricula that prepare learners for a new reality which might threaten their future with the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Outcomes-based education allows learners to learn at their own pace and the content selected can be age appropriate that suits learners and their community best to prepare them to be responsible citizens in a democratic country.