Curriculum-in-the-Making: Being a Teacher in the Context of the HIV and AIDS Pandemic

Published by the Higher Education HIV and AIDS Programme (HEAIDS), this document describes an emerging community of practice among South African educators who are teaching and conducting research in the context of HIV and AIDS. According to the publishers, the idea for the document arose from an appreciation of the complexities associated with teaching in the area of HIV/AIDS and the fact that one set of learning materials cannot fully address these complexities. More than anything, the publication is meant to be a resource for teacher-educators in South Africa who are grappling with the many issues related to the question of what it means to be a teacher-educator in the age of AIDS. It is not designed to be programme-specific. Rather, it addresses a variety of paedagogical, curricular, and evaluation issues which any teacher educator might encounter in the course of developing and implementing a module or unit that includes work on HIV/AIDS.

Each chapter begins with an overview of the section, followed by a consideration of why this is important within teacher education in South Africa in the context of HIV/AIDS. It then goes on to discuss key issues and topics, followed by examples and case studies. Each chapter ends with a section outlining resources for further reading.

The book includes the following chapters:

• Chapter 1: Introduction: why curriculum-in-the-making?
• Chapter 2: Beginning at the beginning: Engaging participants in reflective practice in the context of HIV/AIDS
• Chapter 3: On addressing sexuality
• Chapter 4: Addressing issues of sensitivity and ethical issues in the teacher education classroom in the age of AIDS
• Chapter 5: Participatory approaches to teaching
• Chapter 6: Curriculum integration in the context of HIV/AIDS
• Chapter 7: Assessment "of and for learning" in the context of addressing HIV/AIDS in teacher education
• Chapter 8: Evaluation, self-study and making our teaching our research

The document draws on the contributions of teacher educators from various Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in the country who participated in several colloquia within an HIV pilot module project in 2008 and 2009. It is intended to be a companion to the Pilot Module learning materials, as well as to other curricular interventions focusing on HIV/AIDS in South Africa in teacher education.