Rural Secondary School Teachers’ Capacity to Respond to Hiv and Aids: The Case of Shurugwi District in Zimbabwe

Mangwaya, Ezron; Ndlovu, Emily

doi:10.5539/ass.v9n2p129

Cited by 4 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 2 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Research with Zimbabwean teachers suggests that they often feel underpaid and demoralised; many of them with HIV themselves or in a state of continual fear at the vulnerability of themselves and family members [51,52], in institutional settings where they feel that too little formal recognition is given to the value of non-academic support for children by school principals whose attention is often fully preoccupied with fulfilling their traditional mandates of book learning.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However a large literature on the care and support of vulnerable groups in Northern countries suggests that care is not a quality that can be conjured up by policies and regulations in the absence of parallel efforts to create “emotional environments” that support and enable caring relationships [ 43 , 50 ]. Research with Zimbabwean teachers suggests that they often feel underpaid and demoralised; many of them with HIV themselves or in a state of continual fear at the vulnerability of themselves and family members [ 51 , 52 ], in institutional settings where they feel that too little formal recognition is given to the value of non-academic support for children by school principals whose attention is often fully preoccupied with fulfilling their traditional mandates of book learning.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Children’s representations of school support for HIV-affected peers in rural Zimbabwe

et al. 2014

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

BackgroundHIV has left many African children caring for sick relatives, orphaned or themselves HIV-positive, often facing immense challenges in the absence of significant support from adults. With reductions in development funding, public sector budgetary constraints, and a growing emphasis on the importance of indigenous resources in the HIV response, international policy allocates schools a key role in ‘substituting for families’ (Ansell, 2008) in supporting child health and well-being. We explore children’s own accounts of the challenges facing their HIV-affected peers and the role of schools in providing such support.MethodsContextualised within a multi-method study of school support for HIV-affected children in rural Zimbabwe, and regarding children’s views as a key resource for child-relevant intervention and policy, 128 school children (10–14) wrote a story about an HIV-affected peer and how school assisted them in tackling their problems.ResultsChildren presented harrowing accounts of negative impacts of HIV on the social, physical and mental well-being of peers, and how these manifested in the school setting. Whilst relationships with fellow learners and teachers were said to provide a degree of support, this was patchy and minimal, generally limited to small-scale and often one-off acts of material help or kindness (e.g. teachers giving children pens and exercise books or peers sharing school lunches), with little potential to impact significantly on the wider social drivers of children’s daily challenges. Despite having respect for the enormity of the challenges many HIV-affected peers were coping with, children tended to keep a distance from them. School was depicted as a source of the very bullying, stigma and social exclusion that undermined children’s opportunities for well-being in their lives more generally.ConclusionsOur findings challenge glib assumptions that schools can serve as a significant ‘indigenous’ supports of the health and well-being of HIV-affected children in the absence of a very significant increase in outside training, support and additional resources. Schools are an extension of communities, with members of school communities subject to many of the same deprivations, anxieties and prejudices that drive the health-limiting exclusion, impoverishment and stigmatisation of HIV-affected children in their households and wider communities.

show abstract

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Children’s representations of school support for HIV-affected peers in rural Zimbabwe

et al. 2014

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Writing about the psycho-social challenges facing HIV/AIDS-affected children in Zimbabwe, Parsons [ 18 ] highlights the gaps between how children and their carers understand and experience their life situations, and what he calls the ‘Western social and emotional lexicon’ that is used to describe them. Studies also increasingly point to the gap between international policies on the role of schools in the HIV response and the daily realities of teachers and learners in South Africa [ 19 ], Malawi and Kenya [ 20 ] and Zimbabwe [ 14 , 21 ]. This gap forms the context of this paper.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Can Schools Support HIV/AIDS-Affected Children? Exploring the ‘Ethic of Care’ amongst Rural Zimbabwean Teachers

et al. 2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

How realistic is the international policy emphasis on schools ‘substituting for families’ of HIV/AIDS-affected children? We explore the ethic of care in Zimbabwean schools to highlight the poor fit between the western caring schools literature and daily realities of schools in different material and cultural contexts. Interviews and focus groups were conducted with 44 teachers and 55 community members, analysed in light of a companion study of HIV/AIDS-affected pupils’ own accounts of their care-related experiences. We conceptualise schools as spaces of engagement between groups with diverse needs and interests (teachers, pupils and surrounding community members), with attention to the pathways through which extreme adversity impacts on those institutional contexts and social identifications central to giving and receiving care. Whilst teachers were aware of how they might support children, they seldom put these ideas into action. Multiple factors undermined caring teacher-pupil relationships in wider contexts of poverty and political uncertainty: loss of morale from low salaries and falling professional status; the inability of teachers to solve HIV/AIDS-related problems in their own lives; the role of stigma in deterring HIV/AIDS-affected children from disclosing their situations to teachers; authoritarian teacher-learner relations and harsh punishments fuelling pupil fear of teachers; and lack of trust in the wider community. These factors undermined: teacher confidence in their skills and capacity to support affected pupils and motivation to help children with complex problems; solidarity and common purpose amongst teachers, and between teachers and affected children; and effective bridging alliances between schools and their surrounding communities–all hallmarks of HIV-competent communities. We caution against ambitious policy expansions of teachers' roles without recognition of the personal and social costs of emotional labour, and the need for significant increases in resources and institutional recognition to enable teachers to adopt support roles. We highlight the need for research into how best to create opportunities for teacher recognition in deprived and disorganised institutional settings, and the development of more culturally appropriate notions of caring.

show abstract

“…It is noted that in spite of the importance of education, and HIV and AIDS education in preventing HIV infections (Bhana et al., 2006; De Lange & Stuart, 2012; Kelly, 2002; Plan-International, 2013; Wood & Hillman, 2008), Zimbabwe secondary school G&C teachers are not engaging optimally with this current G&C, HIV and AIDS and Life Skills Education curriculum, and hence, they are not serving the needs of the school children in the context of HIV and AIDS (Chifunyise et al., 1999; Mangwaya & Ndlovu, 2012; Manzira, 2014; Mufuka & Tauya, 2013; Muguwe & Gwirayi, 2011; Mugweni et al., 2013; Musengi & Shumba, 2013). The aforementioned studies have explored this phenomenon and have deepened our understanding of why the secondary school G&C teachers are not engaging with the sexuality education within the HIV and AIDS education curriculum in the Zimbabwean context.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Zimbabwean secondary school Guidance and Counseling teachers teaching sexuality education in the HIV and AIDS education curriculum

Gudyanga

Lange

Khau

2019

SAHARA-J: Journal of Social Aspects of HIV/AIDS

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In spite of the importance of sexuality education and HIV and AIDS education in preventing HIV infections, Zimbabwean secondary school Guidance and Counseling teachers are not engaging optimally with the current Guidance and Counseling, HIV and AIDS & Life Skills education curriculum, and hence, they are not serving the needs of the learners in the context of the HIV and AIDS pandemic. The aim of the study, therefore, was to explore how Guidance and Counseling teachers could be enabled to teach the necessary critical content in sexuality education in the HIV and AIDS education curriculum. A qualitative research design, informed by a critical paradigm, using participatory visual methodology and methods such as drawing and focus group discussion, was used with eight purposively selected Guidance and Counseling teachers from Gweru district, Zimbabwe. The study was theoretically framed by Cultural Historical Activity Theory. Guidance and Counseling teachers found themselves in a community with diverse cultural practices and beliefs of which some seemed to contradict what was supposed to be taught in the curriculum. The participatory visual methodology, however, enabled a process in which the Guidance and Counseling teachers could reflect on themselves, the context in which they taught, their sexuality education work and learn how to navigate the contradictions and tensions, and to use such contradictions as sources of learning and sources for change. The results have several implications for policy in terms of the Guidance and Counseling curriculum and engaging with cultural issues; and for practice in terms of teacher professional development, teacher training, and for stakeholder contribution.

show abstract

Rural Secondary School Teachers’ Capacity to Respond to Hiv and Aids: The Case of Shurugwi District in Zimbabwe

Cited by 4 publications

References 2 publications

Children’s representations of school support for HIV-affected peers in rural Zimbabwe

Children’s representations of school support for HIV-affected peers in rural Zimbabwe

Can Schools Support HIV/AIDS-Affected Children? Exploring the ‘Ethic of Care’ amongst Rural Zimbabwean Teachers

Zimbabwean secondary school Guidance and Counseling teachers teaching sexuality education in the HIV and AIDS education curriculum

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About