Learning for Life, Work and the Future Initial ... - Unesco-Unevoc

Learning for Life, Work and the Future Participants’ Papers Page 85
The loss of a lecturer or teacher implies loss of valuable
experience. There is very little information on
how many are actually ill, affected by or have died
from the pandemic. Such information greatly influences
planning for cost-effective employment, and
HIV/AIDS education strategies for TVET systems.
If HIV/AIDS creates such a huge problem for the
education fabric and structure, governments can no
longer ignore their responsibility to provide intervention
strategies that foster positive social behaviour
and that help the teacher and student in the TVET
system to cope with the social pressures created by the
disease. Governments are vital agents of behavioural
change in the TVET system. The TVET curriculum
must create space for an HIV/AIDS education that
encourages positive changes in behaviour and attitude
through life skills taught using effective and appropriate
teaching methods.
Teachers and lecturers are greatly affected when they
are working with ill colleagues, teaching orphans and
dealing with sick relatives amidst their own fears concerning
their HIV/AIDS status. Very little has been
done to address these concerns, but recent research has
revealed that 25% of the teachers studied worry about
their own HIV/AIDS status, 40% would like to talk
about their concerns, and only 33% have been able to
discuss their problems with friends or relatives
(Siamaiza and Chiurla 1999:11 in SAFAIDS).
These are the same teachers who are expected to teach
and facilitate behaviour change in TVET students, and
work towards risk reduction in the TVET colleges,
because they spend more time with the students than
anyone else in the community. They must be knowledgeable,
committed and innovative in aspects of
reproductive health. They should be able to establish
resource centres, and contribute to the production of
life skills and related A/IEC materials for TVET.
Colleges in Zimbabwe and Zambia have included
HIV/AIDS education and counselling in their teacher
training programmes. The Education for Life
approach, Ambassadors for Life tool kits and Life
Skills teaching through participatory methods are some
of the approaches that have been found useful in
influencing behaviour change, and hence are worth
considering in TVET HIV/AIDS programmes.
It is also worth including this subject in the curriculum.
TVET teachers are largely non-professional but they
regard themselves as skilled workers. Some may not
see the need for including this aspect of education into
their motor mechanic workshop management courses,
as they do not see the link between the two. The
student, on the other hand, is more concerned about the
source of money and future employment opportunities
after graduation. Some people argue that including
HIV/AIDS education in the curriculum increases
sexual activity among youths. There is no substantial
evidence for this. An evaluation of specific interventions
in literature revealed that of the 53 studies
done, only three found that integrating HIV/AIDS programmes
in the curriculum increased sexual activity
amongst youths; 17 reflected that there is no link
between the two; and 22 found that such integration
actually helped youths to postpone the onset of sexual
activity (UNAIDS1997:5).
An impact evaluation of HIV/AIDS programmes in
Zimbabwean tertiary institutions showed that students
are willing to learn life skills, and that Tech/Voc
students, who were taught in smaller groups, had a
higher knowledge of HIV/AIDS than those at teacher
training colleges. It also revealed that because the
subject is new to the curriculum, it is demanding both
in terms of preparation and planning requirements.
Lecturers in Zimbabwe work with health workers who
create opportunities for them openly to discuss and
reflect on their own values and behaviour.
Related studies have also shown that IEC helped to
increase condom demand and supply, especially
amongst professional sex workers and other high-risk
groups. The implication here for the TVET system is
that its programme managers have to establish links
with stakeholders and create partnerships with other
curriculum developers, health workers, and HIV/AIDS
education co-ordinators in order to make health
services accessible to the students and teachers
themselves. They have to strengthen and encourage
their participation in community HIV/AIDS activities
so that students can get help in internalising positive
social behaviours, and orphans can be reached.
HIV/AIDS issues have both negative and positive
implications for donor support. Teachers who require
training may not be able to afford it. The World Bank,
for example, is ready to assist those countries that are
hard hit by the epidemic, but those willing to be trained
may not be admissible to training institutions in
industrialized countries because of their HIV/AIDS
status. Teachers who wish to take up the challenge and
work with students on HIV/AIDS get more frustrated
when they are not financially rewarded because of the
status the subject is given in the institution. That
frustration, coupled with what has already been
described, implies that managers of TVET institutions
have to address teachers’ concerns and work towards
creating a sustainable human resource development
programme which also provides motivation and
resource support. They have to focus on the cost of
replacing and recruiting staff, a task that requires
commitment if programmes are not to collapse. The
TVET system has to include flexible timetables to
enable teachers and students to be trained in HIV/
AIDS teaching and counselling.
Both require counselling services, for it is only when
the teacher has come to terms with his own situation
and lifestyle that he is able to help his students.