REds: bemagtiging van lewensoriëteringonderwysers in Sasolburg wat deur MIV

Abstract

The negative impact of HIV/Aids, internationally and nationally; as well as on the education system of South Africa, is well-documented and cannot be ignored. The latest statistics indicate that South Africa currently has the highest occurrence of HIV/Aids in the world. Due to this high occurrence of HIV/Aids infected people, an unbelievably high percentage of the community is affected by the pandemic. Teachers, specifically life orientation teachers, are also affected by this phenomenon. All teachers, but specifically Life orientation teachers, are faced on a daily basis with various personal and professional challenges related to the HIV/Aids pandemic. These challenges threaten the well-being of teachers, so that researchers have been asked to empower teachers so that they can resist these challenges. A resilient teacher avails of the correct information on HIV/Aids and can therefore contribute to fighting the pandemic by providing correct information. This teacher will, amongst others, also have strong faith, the ability to discuss the pandemic openly and to obtain access to counselling. This resilient teacher realises the importance of a positive attitude despite the fact that she is realistic about the impact of the pandemic, has positive relationships and realises the value of support. The aim of my study was to determine the degree to which the programme Resilient Educators (REds) can support life orientation teachers who are affected by HIV/Aids, so that they will be equipped to resiliently withstand the challenges HIV/Aids set them. REds has been evaluated many times, but until the present, participants have not been life orientation teachers. In response to this aim, I followed a pre-experimental research design in the course of my study with twelve affected life orientation teachers in Sasolburg, as participants. Before beginning with the programme, a pretest (qualitative as well as quantitative data were collected) was done. Intervention took place over seven weeks by means of the REds programme. I wrote a reflection journal during the intervention and asked participants to report their impressions of the sessions in writing. After completing the programme, a post test was written (qualitative as well as quantitative data were collected) to determine the degree to which participants were able to withstand the challenges of HIV/Aids more resiliently. Thorough analysis of the pre and post test data, as well as the reflection data, creates the impression that participants were already resilient to some degree before joining the programme, but after completing the programme, their resilience can be described as more profound than before, and this fact can largely be ascribed to the effectiveness of the REds programme.