AIDS Education Research

Curriculum scholars must address acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) because of its enormous impact on human lives and because the competing representations of AIDS offer opportunities to redefine, in more exclusive or inclusive terms, what it means to be a citizen, a human, and a sexual being. AIDS curricula also offer lessons about the complexity of knowledge and the limits of commonsense curricular approaches. AIDS is a life-threatening virus transmitted via bodily fluids. AIDS was recognized by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control in 1981 but obscured as a gay men's disease until popular culture icons Freddie Mercury of the rock band Queen and basketball legend Magic Johnson became public faces of the disease. Southern Africa is the epicenter of the disease today, with a persistent infection rate greater than 30%. There is no cure for AIDS, but under the right conditions, the disease can be managed and lives prolonged by continuous health monitoring, a nutritious diet, and drug therapies. Because treatment is not universally available, preventing new infections has become the primary health initiative, and education is central to these efforts. However, AIDS education encounters many obstacles including the continuing stigma of AIDS, lack of political leadership, the design of the curriculum, and the desire of many to remain ignorant of issues related to sex, illness, and death.

Worldwide, education is still the central intervention/prevention against human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and AIDS. However, education has, in general, not prevented new infections. Education alone cannot overcome stigma and the absence of political leadership. The dominant cur-ricular approach in developing countries also has limitations. The “ABCs,” an acronym for programs that emphasize abstinence, being faithful, and condom use, highlight knowledge of the virus, groups at greatest risk for infection, and safer sex practices. The ABCs conform to a bio-medical model of public health, which views sexual practices separate from socioeconomic and cultural contexts and uses a rational model of behavior change. The ABCs pedagogy is weighted toward conveying facts about HIV/AIDS, and these facts are believed to possess the power to change behavior. Most national AIDS prevention programs are designed according to these biomedical models of individual risk and rational behavior change, and they have not been successful. In addition to the drawbacks of the curricula, teachers and students may avoid discussing HIV/AIDS for its associations with sexuality, illness, and death or with people deemed of lower social, racial, or moral status.

Teachers (in U.S., Australian, and European studies) believe that HIV/AIDS is an important topic for all grades, but feel unprepared to teach AIDS and sexuality. Specifically, teachers feel least comfortable with social, emotional, and societal issues and most prepared to discuss factual information such as HIV transmission. Additionally, teachers report discomfort with more interactive teaching strategies, such as role-playing, problem-solving activities, and small-group discussions. Finally, research confirms that teachers have limited inservice and preservice education in HIV/AIDS and sexuality education. Generic recommendations for greater teacher training on HIV/AIDS and sexuality conclude most studies. But this research story about teachers' experiences requires [Page 23]critique and contextualization. Studies do not probe the nuances of teachers' discomfort, for example, its sources, its manifestations in the classroom, or its school, societal, and political contexts. This latter omission is particularly striking, given the intense political climate around sexuality in most countries, where conservative viewpoints have cemented an approach to sexuality education that is carefully regulated and abstinence centered. In stating narrowly the problems that face teachers in teaching HIV/AIDS, the “solutions” are likewise narrowed to increased teacher training. Consideration of potential changes in the wider context of schools and society is elided.

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