How We Used These Activities in Our Research

After presenting suggestions for activities and guidelines, we would like to share how we used some of these activities to consult pupils about the sources and content of their sexual knowledges.

A. Sources of sexual Knowledges

Children get their sexual knowledges from various sources. Both the formal and informal settings of their lives. The video you are going to see presents some insights to these sources. The school as a formal source of knowledge has wall paintings encouraging pupils to avoid drug abuse and abstain from sex, including intergenerational sex. They also get similar information from teachers, peers, books and speakers among others. However, the pupils are exposed to these very things in their home environments. They see sex, prostitution and drug abuse. For example, in our research, Juma, a 12 year boy from School A in Tanzania, explained how smoking marijuana had made youth in his village ‘get euphoric effects which lead them into doing sex’. Binti (12 years old) and Pambo (12 years old), two girls from School C in Kenya had seen sexual intercourse live in the public spaces of their neighbourhood as a result of drug intoxication.

 

Binti: When they inhale these substances... they don't wait to get a room, they get any man and start having sex in public... there and then, at the point of contact.

Researcher: Have you seen this?

Binti: I see them... outside our house... in the football field. Especially on Saturday and Sunday the field is packed. The prostitutes, the drunkards...

Researcher: It means that children have already seen sex?

Binti: Children know what sex is because they see it.

Dalila: It is the norm to make love in the open... even as cars pass by. They do it there and then. They do not go to hidden places, they do not fear... they have drunk and used drugs, they will not care who sees them.

 

Naledi, a 13 year old girl from South Africa said that children already knew about sex, ‘we see it on TV; and some of us are already doing it'. Everyday habits such as shaving and washing also pose a risk as pupils in poor communities may share razor blades, tooth brushes, and wash sponges. As you watch the video, think about

  1. What information is represented in these photos? For example, correct or incorrect knowledge, formal or informal knowledge?
  2. Which forms of information might be more powerful to boys or to girls?
  3. How can they (in-school and out-of-school knowledges) work together?
Click on the audio file to listen to the previous paragraph

 

Reflection

Take some time to reflect on what you have just learned. With a colleague discuss the following questions:

  1. What are the different sources of sexual knowledges in your community?
  2. Which sources seem more powerful?

In your journal, describe what you think of the children's images of their sexual worlds. What are the challenges they face in sorting out the different and often competing forms of knowledge they encounter?

Click on 'Tool 1' in the menu to the left to see the tools we used to consult pupils about their sources of sexual knowledge.

B. Pupils' perception of the HIV/AIDS related education they receive

In many schools, HIV/AIDS education is offered through formal instructional programmes that provide young people with information on human development, emotions and relationships, self esteem, sexual health, sexual behaviour and sexual violence. Pupils are very clear about the kind of information they want and need. Please watch the video below and listen closely to what the children are saying. Watch the video below and think about what pupils think about the HIV/AIDS related education they receive.


If you prefer to listen to the above text, click here

C. Pupils' suggestions of the HIV/AIDS related education they want to receive

In contrast to the often practiced didactic teaching method as shown in the video above, young people have expressed that they want a comprehensive approach to HIV/AIDS education, and for their parents and teachers to talk to them about sex issues without feeling embarrassed. This approach recognises young people as worthy decision makers especially if given the opportunity to access good information. Though abstinence is desirable, the comprehensive approach to HIV/AIDS related education recognises young people's sexuality, and therefore what is imperative is to provide open knowledge and skills about sexuality issues. HIV/AIDS related education does not increase sexual activity. Pupils want the pedagogy for HIV/AIDS related education to be more active and interactive through; role plays and games, videos, opportunities to explore dilemmas, practising communication, discussions that are open and multi-ethnic, talks from outside visitors such as an AIDS patient or teenage mother, comments and suggestion boxes allowing pupils who would otherwise feel embarrassed to ask questions and give them a chance to say what they want to know. They also want to learn more about puberty and body changes, sex and relationships, peer pressure problems, same sex relationships, contraception, STI’s, HIV, pros and cons about sex, when is the right time to have sex, and where to get advice. Just from the views given above by the pupils in our study, it is possible to see that if given a chance they too can give worthwhile contribution to what HIV/AIDS education should be.

i. Please watch the video below to see the importance of role playing to make teaching more active and children more engaged in their learning

If you prefer to listen to the above text, click here

ii. Please watch the video below to see the importance of facilitating class discussion and how this supports quality group work.

If you prefer to listen to the above text, click here

D. Reflection

In your journal, reflect on your own teaching practice.

  1. To what degree does it actively involve the students?
  2. Are your lessons participatory?
  3. What are the children doing with the information you give them?
  4. How are the children demonstrating to you that they have learned the information?
  5. what do you find hard to discuss in class?
  6. How might you use indirect methods e.g. case studies or fictional young people to help stimulate discussions where participants do not feel exposed?

Find a colleague who is interested in working with you to improve your teaching practice and your classroom environment.

  1. Ask your colleague to watch you teach.
  2. Use the journal prompts above as a way of analysing your teaching practice.
  3. Trade places with your colleague, and watch her or him teach.
  4. Discuss what you have seen and what you would like to improve on.

Click on 'Tool 2' in the menu to the left to see the tools that were used to consult pupils about the sex education they want.

 

Click on the audio file to listen to the text above