The Life Skills HIV/AIDS programme that was implemented in schools during the late 1990s was considered an unsuccessful attempt to educate the youth of South Africa on matters pertaining to sex, sexuality and HIV/AIDS. This was in light of the start of the new millennium characterised by an increment in the incidence of HIV/AIDS amongst South African youth. Whilst the Life Skills programme was considered the first formal effort of HIV/AIDS, sex and sexuality education in schools, its inconsistent, haphazard and low prioritised implementation between schools and between provinces left many feeling that the programme was an afterthought. In the following section, I detail the introduction of the Life Orientation learning area as a formal subject implemented in schools after
the failure of the Life Skills programme. Life Orientation represents a more comprehensive and robust effort as it aims to provide learners with an education which focuses on their wellbeing and health, not only limited to sex, sexuality and HIV/AIDS.
5.1) Rationale for Life Orientation
Life Orientation emerged largely out of the foundations that were put in place for the Life Skills HIV/AIDS programme in the late 1990s, and from the ideals of the South African government post- 1994 that would orient scholars to an equal, just and democratic society (Ngwena, 2003). Life Orientation is a learning area, as opposed to a subject, according to the OBE approach that the Department of Education adopted post-1994. Conceptualising Life Orientation as a learning area is in keeping with an educational system that is learner-/pupil-centred, whereby knowledge is not taught to learners in a subsuming manner but rather learners are expected to engage with the subject as well (Rhodes & Roux, 2004; Rooth, 2005). It is against the backdrop of social transformation and equal opportunity for all that Life Orientation as a new formal learning area orients today’s youth to a new and democratic South Africa, free from any prejudice (Rhodes & Roux, 2004; Rooth, 2005).
Life Orientation is part of the project of the new South African government which aims to create and foster within the youth a new national identity (Ngwena, 2003). This identity is premised on values, beliefs and morals that are steeped in, and converge with, South Africa’s constitution and discourse on human rights. However, Greenstein and Mabogoane (2003) argue that one should be cautious about a project concerned with creating and fostering an overarching identity despite the aim of eroding inequalities entrenched by the apartheid government. This pertains to the goal of creating a new national South African identity for the youth which paradoxically subsumes a multiplicity of identities, voices and experiences under a nationalist project that obscures differences and democracy. The result is a false sense of openness, flexibility and receptivity that works to uphold notions of nationalism and national identity. Bearing this in mind, Life Orientation as a new learning area does aim to create within classrooms an openness to talking about everyday life events that characterise South African society, and how these contribute to undermining and enhancing learners’ wellbeing as they grow into adults (Rooth, 2005).
The last point alludes to what lies at the heart of Life Orientation – learners’ wellbeing. This is based on healthy living; a prerequisite for educational efficiency amongst learners. Life Orientation is invested in providing learners with education that can be applied in order to enhance their wellbeing (Rooth, 2005). The need to promote the wellbeing of South African learners is important, especially as
their sexual and reproductive health has been fraught with challenges post-1994 related to HIV, STDs, teenage pregnancy, unsafe abortion and rape. When compared to the Life Skills programme implemented in 1998, Life Orientation represents a more organised and formal attempt at promoting the wellbeing and health of learners in schools.
5.2) Definition and scope of Life Orientation
The Department of Education (2002b; 2008a) and Basic Education (2011) defines Life Orientation as a learning area that engages with the personal, social, intellectual, emotional, occupational, spiritual and physical capacities of learners. Life Orientation seeks to orientate learners to the complexities of life so that they are able to cope with, and make responsible choices and informed decisions regarding, their wellbeing. Life Orientation appears to be preoccupied with promoting, equipping, and fostering the prerequisites to living a balanced, functional and successful life. This view is premised on maximising the potential within learners for successful living that would match and complement a society that strives towards equal opportunity for everyone that is free from discrimination. Life Orientation attempts to bridge the gap between the individual and his or her relationship with the environment in a way that pays respect to the homeostasis of a functional and healthy society.
The latter point; namely, the interdependence and interrelatedness of relationships, is a component that Life Orientation attempts to weave into its pedagogy. Life Orientation emphasises the self in relation to society, where the self is always understood as existing in relation to others through various relationships. According to the Department of Education (2002b; 2008a), the accountability and responsibility of learners’ behaviour is emphasised, in order to respect the values, beliefs and attitudes of others. It is against the backdrop of mutually-constituent relationships that Life Orientation teaches learners about participating in a democratic society as well as encouraging learners to become productive members of society. Whilst individualism is encouraged, Life Orientation juxtaposes this with teaching learners about being sensitive to, and developing a sense of community with others. The aims of Life Orientation can, therefore, be summarised as assisting learners to acclimatise to the everyday difficulties that characterise society in a manner that is balanced, functional and successful (Department of Education, 2002b; 2008a).
The scope of the Life Orientation curriculum is broad and differs across Grades R to 12. For the purposes of this research, which focuses on Grade 10 learners, the scope of the curriculum is the category Grade 10 to 12, as designated by the Department of Education (2002b, 2008a). The curriculum for Life Orientation is organised across four focus areas, namely; (1) personal wellbeing,
(2) citizenship education, (3) physical education and (4) careers and career choices (Department of Education, 2002b, 2008a). These areas are considered ‘life skills’ which are not independent but are rather designed in such a way that each focus area builds on, and interacts with, the other. By the time learners have entered Grade 10, they would have gone through the five focus areas of Life Orientation from Grade R to 9 which are (1) health promotion, (2) social development, (3) personal development, (4) physical development and movement and (5) orientation to the world of work. These focus areas are important in that they form the foundations of what follows in Grades 10 to 12.
The first of the four focus areas for Grade 10 to 12 learners, namely Personal Wellbeing, focuses on learners’ ‘self-concept’ in relation to others in the context of peer pressure, leadership positions, employment and interpersonal dynamics. The issues discussed are the prevention of substance abuse, sexuality, teenage pregnancy, STDs including HIV/AIDS, and promoting personal, community and environmental health (Department of Education, 2002b). The second focus area, Citizenship Education, teaches learners about tolerance and acceptance of diversity with respect to religion, culture, ethnicity, age, ability and language and sensitises learners to forms of discrimination such as xenophobia (Department of Education, 2002b, 2008a). The third focus, Physical Education, is concerned with educating learners about ways and means of protecting their physical health such as nutrition, playing sport and leisure activities. This also demonstrates how physical education is important for building social relations (Department of Education, 2002b, 2008a). The last focus area, Careers and Career Choices, helps learners make critical decisions regarding fields of study and orientating them to the job market, as well as more practical skills such as applying for jobs and preparing for interviews (Department of Education, 2002b, 2008a).
The Department of Education (2002b, 2008a) emphasises that the above four focus areas need to be articulated within the curriculum for learners as an integration of skills that can be combined for a variety of different contexts in real life. A common thread that runs through all four focus areas is that the skills which are taught must be expressed by learners in a manner that is consistent with equitable and democratic practices, as articulated by South Africa’s constitution (Rooth, 2005). It becomes increasingly apparent, then, that what Life Orientation deems appropriate for living is in accordance with the ideals of a society that is free from injustice, intolerance and discrimination.
5.3) Life Orientation and sex, sexuality and HIV/AIDS education
The Personal Wellbeing area (focus area 1) focuses on sex, sexuality, HIV/AIDS and other STDs. While sexuality education is introduced into the Life Orientation curriculum as early as primary
school, I only focus on the curriculum for the Grade 10 to 12 category as stipulated by the Department of Education. The Life Orientation curriculum for Grades 10 to 12, specifically the Personal Wellbeing focus area, emphasises issues related to sexuality and gender. These topics are discussed as two separate but interrelated sections. The section on sexuality appears to be given the most coverage in Grade 10; the Grades 11 to 12 curricula introduces secondary issues not directly related to sexuality. The section on sexuality covered in Grade 10 aims to teach learners about ‘responsible sexualities’, in light of their increasing sexual awareness in relation to their peers and amidst constructions of sexuality within popular culture such as TV, film, music, magazines and fashion. (Department of Education, 2008a) The pervasive sexualised socio-cultural climate to which adolescents are exposed appears to influence the curriculum’s emphasis on learners being responsible for their sexuality. Learners are encouraged to take ownership of their sexuality whilst being aware of what their sexuality means for them and the impact this has on their relationships.
The promotion of a ‘responsible sexuality’ framework can be attributed to sexual and reproductive health difficulties of adolescents such as unwanted teenage pregnancy, unsafe abortion, sexual abuse, rape, STDs and HIV/AIDS (Klepp, Flisher, & Kaaya, 2008; Shisana et al., 2009). These difficulties are picked up and elaborated upon in the Grade 11 and 12 curricula, where sexuality is discussed in terms of risky and healthy behaviours. The Grade 11 curriculum focuses on teaching learners about the promotion of a balanced lifestyle in order to avoid pregnancy, STDs and HIV/AIDS (Department of Education, 2008a). The Grade 12 curriculum focuses on illnesses that are related to unsafe sexual behaviour such as HIV/AIDS and STDs (Department of Education, 2008a). Sexuality is discussed in all three grades from a health promotion and disease prevention framework where learners are urged to be responsible for their sexuality.
The curriculum discusses gender within the context of ‘power’ and ‘power relations’ for Grades 10 through to 12 (Department of Education, 2008a). In the Grade 10 curriculum, gender is discussed in terms of stereotypical roles associated with boys/men/masculinity and girls/women/femininity, and how these roles are played out within relationships where power attributed to one’s gender may affect the relationship (Department of Education, 2008a). This relates to decision-making and how an unequal gendered distribution of power may result in verbal, emotional, sexual or physical abuse. For Grade 11, gender is covered in relation to how the gendered self and gender roles are defined and unfold in relation to one’s family, culture and society (Department of Education, 2008a). Attention is also paid to how gender roles are changing, how such roles differ from traditional ones and the types of conflict this may cause. The Grade 12 curriculum takes gender a step further by assisting learners to
see links between sexual differences, sexuality and gender (Department of Education, 2008a). Gender roles are seen as underlying and constructing sexual differences and sexuality. Attention is also paid to unequal gendered power relations that are responsible for sexual violence such as abuse and rape.
Life Orientation aims to create a foundation for learners where skills are built on one another and are interrelated as learners move from one grade to another. Therefore, the skills related to sexuality, gender and HIV/AIDS taught in Grades 10 to 12 do not appear for the first time in the curriculum at this stage. Rather sex, sexuality, gender and HIV/AIDS are introduced to learners as early as primary school, with subsequent grades aiming to build and deepen learners’ understanding of such matters. For example, the curriculum for Grades 7 to 9 introduces learners to areas such as puberty, peer pressure, sexuality, relationships and friendships, sexual behaviour and sexual health, HIV/AIDS and decision-making regarding health and safety (Department of Education, 2008a).
To conclude, Life Orientation is cognisant of adolescent learners’ sexual and reproductive health and how this plays an important role in their personal wellbeing. The content of the sexuality education curriculum specifies gender and sexuality as mutually constituent and how these two matters cannot be ignored when teaching learners about sex. The curriculum also makes provision for social difficulties that arise associated with gender and sexuality and a host of sexual and reproductive health difficulties.
5.4) The challenges of Life Orientation sexuality education
The sex, sexuality and HIV/AIDS learning area for Grades 10 to 12 of the Life Orientation programme have been not been without criticism. In the following section, I present literature that talks to several shortcomings within this component, despite Life Orientation being implemented relatively recently in schools. These shortcomings are principally based on how sex, sexuality and HIV/AIDS education for learners have been conceptualised, and how there appears to be discrepancies between what appears in the curriculum and how it is actually implemented in schools.
Francis (2010) provides three questions that should be considered when implementing sexuality education within South Africa. These three questions engage with understanding the extent to which sexuality education addresses learners’ sexual and reproductive health and are as follows: (1) How can sexuality education be taught in a way that is relevant to the youth of today? (2) Is the classroom an appropriate context for sexuality education? (3) If so, what does this say about the content of sexuality education? These three questions provide a useful framework in which one can think about Life Orientation in relation to youth sexuality.
With regard to the first question, attempts have certainly been made by the Life Orientation curriculum developers to contextualise sexuality education for learners, in the light of the HIV/AIDS epidemic and the associated sexual and reproductive health difficulties that affect South African youth. However, the public health discourse has dominated HIV/AIDS prevention programmes and has influenced the way in which sexuality has been taught. Thus, HIV/AIDS has become an avenue to talk about matters pertaining to sexuality (Coombe, 2000; Schaalma, Abraham, Gillmore, & Kok, 2004). This appears to the case for the Life Orientation curriculum, where a public heath discourse still dominates how sexuality education is taught (Ngwena, 2003).
Whilst Life Orientation has recognised the needs of adolescents related to sexuality, gender and relationships, there are substantial barriers to addressing these needs in classrooms. This includes educators’ attitudes which are often steeped in particular views that undermine the needs of learners such as moralistic, Christian and authoritarian views, as well as endorsing a public health framework (Bhana, 2009; Bhana & Epstein, 2007; Reygan & Francis, 2015). The attitudes of teachers and parents, as well as the Life Orientation curriculum in some instances, undermines the provision made to discuss matters such as sexuality and gender, by ignoring how both are involved in power relations that benefit young men more than young women. Therefore, teachers’ and parents’ attitudes, and the curriculum, inadvertently, end up producing an essentialist view of gender and sexuality, rather than one that is sensitive to social and cultural factors. Even though the Life Orientation sexuality component makes provision for discussing salient issues such as sexuality and gendered power relations, teachers may revert to models of abstinence and sexual risk due to Christian or moralistic beliefs (Francis, 2010). These models limit the scope of exploring gender and sexuality as powerful issues that may serve to transform unequal adolescent gendered and sexual relationships (Francis, 2010).
The implications of a public health discourse are that sex and sexuality education is reduced to a matter of adolescents in need of accurate information from the perils of HIV/AIDS (Baxen & Breidlid, 2004; Bhana, 2009; Bhana & Epstein, 2007). This is because adolescents are conceptualised as innocent and needing protection, as opposed to being agents who fashion their sexual desires amidst competing discourses on the subject of sex and sexuality. The HIV/AIDS epidemic, the public health discourse, as well as long-standing histories of conservative Christian views on sex during apartheid have contributed to a discourse of childhood innocence that influences how educators approach teaching Life Orientation sexuality education (Morell, 2003; Morell et al., 2002). The views and models fuelling discourses of childhood innocence have painted a picture of sex and sexuality as
something that is dangerous, disease-ridden, and something from which the youth need to be protected (Morell, 2003).
Regarding the second question, namely; whether the school is an appropriate environment for sexuality education, researchers have noted reluctances amongst parents regarding discussions of sex, sexuality and HIV/AIDS with their children due to cultural taboos on the subject (Francis, 2010). Therefore, the school represents a site that can make a contribution to adolescent learners knowing about sex, sexuality and HIV/AIDS in the light of parents’ discomfort to discuss such matters (Helleve, Flisher, Onya, Kaaya, Mukoma, Swai & Klepp, 2009; Helleve, Flisher, Onya, Mukoma, & Klepp, 2011). Another matter is that in instances when parents do talk to their children, the exchange of this information may be inaccurate, biased and may reinforce the stigmas associated with sex, sexuality and HIV/AIDS (Helleve et al., 2009).
While Life Orientation sexuality education programmes make provision for discussions about sex, sexuality and HIV/AIDS, studies have shown that teachers lack the training needed to facilitate discussions on such matters (Helleve et al, 2011; Mukoma, Flisher, Ahmed, Jansen, Mathews, Klepp & Schaalma, 2009). This lack of training is exacerbated by Life Orientation teachers feeling anxious and embarrassed about their own sexualities and sexual desires coming to the fore and not wanting to antagonise parents’ cultural values and beliefs or blur the teacher-learner relationship by sharing personal information (Helleve et al., 2009). Studies have also revealed that the subject matter of sex, sexuality and HIV/AIDS has placed an unrealistic demand on educators to occupy multiple roles for learners including that of counsellors, parental figures and social workers (Helleve et al., 2009). It has been suggested that Life Orientation needs to be taught with support structures in place at schools through collaborations with social workers, psychologists and/or peer counsellors, which takes away the burden on Life Orientation teachers to occupy multiple roles (Ahmed, Flisher, Mathews, Mukoma, & Jansen, 2009). The provision of such healthcare professionals seems unlikely, given the lack of resources to which schools have access.
The last question, proposed by Francis (2010), is that, as aforementioned, if schools are the best available option, what about the content and pedagogy of the sexuality education curriculum? It appears that there is a gap that exists between the content of the Life Orientation sexuality education curriculum and how educators deliver this content to learners. While the Life Orientation sexuality education programme does make provision for discussions on sex, sexuality, gender, relationships and HIV/AIDS, its pedagogy reflects traditional approaches to sexuality education that fail to generate
discussions on sexual desire and feelings unfolding within the context of adolescent relationships