Sexuality educators: taking a stand by participating in research

Abstract

Life Orientation teachers play a critical role in the teaching and learning of sexuality education in South African schools. Using an experiential participatory approach with 125 teachers in the Motheo district, Free State, I explored three questions: What messages did the teachers learn about sex and sexuality? How do these messages inform the teachers’ values? How do the teachers teach sexuality education? Despite its own problems and limitations, the participatory approach exploits and reinforces the life-space model proposed by Kurt Lewin. I will argue that past and future events have an impact on teachers’ present behaviour and how they teach. I conclude with a framework for the teaching of sexuality education using participatory methods, which can help support teachers interested in working with such an approach.

Keywords: Life Orientation teachers, life-space model, participatory approach, sexuality education