van Laren, L., Mitchell, C., Mudaly, R., Pithouse-Morgan, K., & Singh, S. (2012). Exploring university educators’ lived experiences of curriculum innovating through integrating HIV & AIDS. Alternation, 19(2), 138-161. (original) (raw)
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2012
There is a growing realisation of the vital role that Higher Education institutions in South Africa can and should play in keeping students not only alive, well and productive but also prepared to face the multiple challenges associated with living and working in the context of the HIV & AIDS pandemic. This article reports on part of a larger research project that explores the experiences and work of university educators who are involved in curriculum innovating through integrating HIV & AIDS in their teaching at a South African university. The objectives of the larger study are to locate, document, highlight, encourage and explore further possibilities for curriculum innovating through integrating HIV & AIDS in Higher Education teaching. This article responds particularly to the following research question: What are the lived experiences – personal and professional – of curriculum innovators who integrate HIV & AIDS into their teaching? We point to three significant aspects of the ...
Breaking out of the cocoon' : academics' experiences of integrating HIV and AIDS into the curriculum
2013
The South African Higher Education Policy Framework on HIV and AIDS tasks universities to address HIV and AIDS in teaching, research and community engagement. In a global economy, integration in academic disciplines is a cost-effective method, simultaneously allowing for multiple perspectives of engaging with the epidemic. This study uses a qualitative approach to explore the sharing experiences of academics who integrate HIV and AIDS issues into the curriculum. Academics from three South African higher education institutions were interviewed. Three themes emerged from an analysis of their experiences: to share or not to share; how academics view integration in terms of their role as an academic, and who is integrating what. The findings indicate that academics are taking up the challenge, but that they require collegial support. 'Ontsnap uit die kokon': akademici se ervarings oor die integrasie van MIV en VIGS in die kurrikulum Die Suid-Afrikaanse hoeronderwys beleidsraamwe...
2016
Integrating HIV and AIDS into the academic curriculum is not engaged with vigorously enough in South African higher education institutions, for several reasons, ranging from lack of interest to complaints of belabouring the issue of HIV and AIDS, especially from the biomedical perspective. Through such integration the academic curriculum could be a key space and engine for persuading change and abating the effects of HIV and AIDS in higher education as well as in the communities served by the universities. We reflect on our three-year research project engagement and explore how collaboration facilitated integration of HIV and AIDS issues in our academic curriculum. Working from a critical paradigm and using a collaborative self-study approach, we utilised drawings and responses from questions which we compiled for ourselves. Textual and visual data generated were thematically analysed. The findings revealed that collaboration counteracts isolation; enables capacity development in in...
2014
Integrating HIV and AIDS into the academic curriculum is not engaged with vigorously enough in South African higher education institutions, for several reasons, ranging from lack of interest to complaints of belabouring the issue of HIV and AIDS, especially from the biomedical perspective. Through such integration the academic curriculum could be a key space and engine for persuading change and abating the effects of HIV and AIDS in higher education as well as in the communities served by the universities. We reflect on our three-year research project engagement and explore how collaboration facilitated integration of HIV and AIDS issues in our academic curriculum. Working from a critical paradigm and using a collaborative self-study approach, we utilised drawings and responses from questions which we compiled for ourselves. Textual and visual data generated were thematically analysed. The findings revealed that collaboration counteracts isolation; enables capacity development in integration for the collaborating researchers; and permits engaging with participatory visual methodologies to encourage integration. We conclude that collaboration is key in facilitating integration of HIV and AIDS in the higher education curriculum, and that collaboration using participatory visual methodologies enhances entry-points in engaging with HIV and AIDS in South Africa and beyond. This work has implications for integrating HIV and AIDS issues into the higher education curriculum.
The current framework for integrating HIV/AIDS into university curriculum is mainly informed by the need to make HIV/AIDS education relevant to specific disciplines, and to equip graduates with necessary skills to respond to HIV/AIDS in their professional capacities. This strategy mainly emphasizes content and knowledge and largely ignores the current context in which students live and make sexual decisions. This paper explores the opportunities for utilizing multidisciplinary, and participatory integrated HIV/AIDS education programmes to address sexual risk-taking and students' vulnerabilities to HIV/AIDS within their university campuses. It examines students' preferences regarding development and implementation of HIV/AIDS programmes based on the findings of a PhD study conducted at three universities in KwaZulu-Natal province. Data was obtained through a questionnaire survey involving 1400 students, and in-depth interviews with 24 students and three HIV/AIDS coordinators drawn from across the three universities. Non-participant observations were also conducted at each of the three universities. Study findings indicate that participatory programmes and those that have an entertainment component demonstrate currency within student communities. Students rejected the didactic approach undertaken by some communication programmes with some participants arguing that " young people don't want be told what to do ". A comparative semiotic analysis of HIV/AIDS posters within university campuses revealed a huge disparity between posters designed by students and those obtained from national communication campaigns. The choice of imagery and semantic codes differed significantly. The paper suggests the adoption of a Freirian pedagogical methodology in implementing an integrated and multidisciplinary HIV/AIDS education programmes so as to generate conditions in which students are able to reflect on their own realities and personalize the risk of HIV infection. HIV/AIDS Impact on the Day-toDay Activities in South African Universities The education sector is regarded as the " best hope for survival " against HIV/AIDS due to its leadership role in research and knowledge development (MacGregor, 2001). Educational institutions possess both the human capacities and resources that place them at a better position to contribute in the management of the HIV/AIDS epidemic (Kelly, 2000). Education also equips individuals with a better understanding of the epidemic and the skills to protect themselves against HIV infection. Some studies have shown a negative correlation between education levels and HIV prevalence rates, with higher levels of infection being found among the less educated people (Vandemoortele & Delamonica, 2000; World Bank, 2002). Nevertheless, the most profound effects of the HIV/AIDS epidemic are felt in the education sector (Coombe, 2000). Diminishing population growth rates have raised fears that the pool of applicants and range of abilities among candidates could drastically reduce in the near future (Van der Merwe & Gouws, 2005). The proliferation of children orphaned by HIV/AIDS and the child-headed households has also led to a significant increase of learners dropping out of school thus further complicating the situation in the education sector (Rispel, Letlape, & Metcalf, 2006; Van der Merwe & Gouws, 2005). The epidemic has dealt a double blow to higher education sector through its devastating effect on both the university community – composed of staff and students – and the general population that the universities interact with and from which they draw their staff and students (Kelly, 2001). Quality and quantity of production has been compromised by the increasing morbidity and mortality rates within universities due to HIV/AIDS (Raijmakers & Pretorius, 2006). Also, loss of qualified academic, administrative and support staff has led to the depletion of the skilled and experienced staff hence affecting the output from universities (Rispel et al., 2006; Van der Merwe & Gouws, 2005). Researchers have also predicted a decline in admission and an increase in drop-out rates and in time taken to complete studies in the higher education sector as a result of HIV/AIDS
Close to the bone? Catalysts for integrating HIV and AIDS into the academic curriculum
South African Journal of Higher Education
Integrating HIV and AIDS into the academic curriculum is not engaged with vigorously enough in South African higher education institutions, for several reasons, ranging from lack of interest to complaints of belabouring the issue of HIV and AIDS, especially from the biomedical perspective. Through such integration the academic curriculum could be a key space and engine for persuading change and abating the effects of HIV and AIDS in higher education as well as in the communities served by the universities. We reflect on our three-year research project engagement and explore how collaboration facilitated integration of HIV and AIDS issues in our academic curriculum. Working from a critical paradigm and using a collaborative self-study approach, we utilised drawings and responses from questions which we compiled for ourselves. Textual and visual data generated were thematically analysed. The findings revealed that collaboration counteracts isolation; enables capacity development in integration for the collaborating researchers; and permits engaging with participatory visual methodologies to encourage integration. We conclude that collaboration is key in facilitating integration of HIV and AIDS in the higher education curriculum, and that collaboration using participatory visual methodologies enhances entry-points in engaging with HIV and AIDS in South Africa and beyond. This work has implications for integrating HIV and AIDS issues into the higher education curriculum.
The Open Public Health Journal, 2020
Background:Although there is evidence that education is a social weapon in the fight against HIV/AIDS, there is also evidence that, to date, HIV/AIDS is not fully integrated into all the disciplines in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). Therefore, most of the university students in South Africa are not well prepared to be HIV/AIDS-competent graduates who can live and work in a society ravaged by AIDS.Objective:This study sought to analyse the extent of HIV/AIDS integration into the curricula in various departments at a selected university in the Limpopo Province, South Africa.Materials and Methods:The study used quantitative and qualitative approaches to analyse the extent of HIV/AIDS integration into the curricula. The curriculum calendars were retrieved from the university website. An audit tool guided retrieval of HIV/AIDS content and was analysed using SPSS V 25. The qualitative content analysis was used to describe the nature of HIV/AIDS content.Results:Out of eight schools,...
International Journal of Humanities, Social Sciences and Education, 2019
Many countries have faced up to the systemic impact of HIV on education and are doing something about it. But currently the objective of these interventions is to ensure that education systems can continue to function—essentially that they can continue their education business as usual. Undoubtedly, much energy has been spent on the curriculum and the integration of content relevant to the AIDS epidemic. But to what extent has this been little more than curriculum tinkering, the consideration of an almost infinite variety of models, but no real fundamental examination of the kind of education needed in a world with AIDS?