HIV and AIDS education in pre-service teacher programmes

Abstract

Currently there is very little integration of HIV and AIDS into curricula at higher education institutions. The Higher Education AIDS Programme piloted a module at a national level to address this gap. This report presents the findings of a qualitative investigation of the experience of one university that chose to implement the module with a group of 60 postgraduate students in education. The findings suggest that, although the students found the module to be interesting and indicated that it offered them new perspectives on the educational consequences of the pandemic, there was little evidence of an in-depth understanding of how to practically adapt pedagogical processes and curriculum content to integrate HIV and AIDS meaningfully into their teaching. The report provides lessons relevant to the design of future HIV and AIDS education.