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Making visible an invisible world - how do adult educators navigate moral dilemmas in HIV health and social literacy education?

Billions of rand are spent annually in HIV interventions in South Africa and most of these interventions have a component of training or adult education. The purpose of this research study is to understand better what potential moral dilemmas adult educators might face in the HIV health and social l...

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Main Author: Erasmus, Margaretha Jacoba
Other Authors: Cooper, Linda
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: School of Education 2020
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access_status_str Open Access
author Erasmus, Margaretha Jacoba
author2 Cooper, Linda
author_browse Cooper, Linda
Erasmus, Margaretha Jacoba
author_facet Cooper, Linda
Erasmus, Margaretha Jacoba
author_sort Erasmus, Margaretha Jacoba
collection Thesis
description Billions of rand are spent annually in HIV interventions in South Africa and most of these interventions have a component of training or adult education. The purpose of this research study is to understand better what potential moral dilemmas adult educators might face in the HIV health and social literacy field and what tools they use to navigate these dilemmas. I had a sense that adult educators might face moral dilemmas in this field with topics that include safe sex, prevention, sexually transmitted infections, abortion and relevant lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual and intersex (LGBTI) issues. In order to illuminate these dilemmas, the study asked adult educators from within the related field to identify the types of moral dilemmas they faced; what underpinned these dilemmas; and finally, how they navigated the issues. Data was collected using individual semi-structured interviews. The study also aims to make recommendations for current and future educators in the field on potential navigational tools. The theoretical framework used in the study focused on adult experiential learning, meaning-making and dialogical practices. Empirical research was gathered from the school-based sex education and the nursing field, highlighting the gap in literature on adult educators’ experiences with such phenomena. The study made use of an interpretative and thematic approach, allowing themes to emerge from the data. The analysis showed that adult educators faced moral dilemmas related to the topic and content covered, cultural barriers, funder-driven agendas, insufficient involvement from the church, and sexual advances from community facilitators. These were underpinned by the research participants’ inner histories, including their upbringings and their socialisation around gender roles and marital status. Participants identified personal values that included religious beliefs as a significant cause for discomfort. Navigational tools included one-on-one and group dialogical practices as well as being able to accept or train on a topic without having to agree or promote the content from a personal values perspective. The study highlights the lack of literature available on this phenomenon and makes recommendations to create platforms for discussion and reflection. Even though the study focusses on adult educators in the HIV Health and Social Literacy field, this could have relevance for school-based sexual education teachers as well as in the nursing or counselling field.
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license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2020
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spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/31523 Making visible an invisible world - how do adult educators navigate moral dilemmas in HIV health and social literacy education? Erasmus, Margaretha Jacoba Cooper, Linda Education Billions of rand are spent annually in HIV interventions in South Africa and most of these interventions have a component of training or adult education. The purpose of this research study is to understand better what potential moral dilemmas adult educators might face in the HIV health and social literacy field and what tools they use to navigate these dilemmas. I had a sense that adult educators might face moral dilemmas in this field with topics that include safe sex, prevention, sexually transmitted infections, abortion and relevant lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual and intersex (LGBTI) issues. In order to illuminate these dilemmas, the study asked adult educators from within the related field to identify the types of moral dilemmas they faced; what underpinned these dilemmas; and finally, how they navigated the issues. Data was collected using individual semi-structured interviews. The study also aims to make recommendations for current and future educators in the field on potential navigational tools. The theoretical framework used in the study focused on adult experiential learning, meaning-making and dialogical practices. Empirical research was gathered from the school-based sex education and the nursing field, highlighting the gap in literature on adult educators’ experiences with such phenomena. The study made use of an interpretative and thematic approach, allowing themes to emerge from the data. The analysis showed that adult educators faced moral dilemmas related to the topic and content covered, cultural barriers, funder-driven agendas, insufficient involvement from the church, and sexual advances from community facilitators. These were underpinned by the research participants’ inner histories, including their upbringings and their socialisation around gender roles and marital status. Participants identified personal values that included religious beliefs as a significant cause for discomfort. Navigational tools included one-on-one and group dialogical practices as well as being able to accept or train on a topic without having to agree or promote the content from a personal values perspective. The study highlights the lack of literature available on this phenomenon and makes recommendations to create platforms for discussion and reflection. Even though the study focusses on adult educators in the HIV Health and Social Literacy field, this could have relevance for school-based sexual education teachers as well as in the nursing or counselling field. 2020-03-09T13:48:54Z 2020-03-09T13:48:54Z 2019 2020-03-09T07:48:41Z Master Thesis Masters MEd http://hdl.handle.net/11427/31523 eng application/pdf School of Education Faculty of Humanities
spellingShingle Education
Erasmus, Margaretha Jacoba
Making visible an invisible world - how do adult educators navigate moral dilemmas in HIV health and social literacy education?
thesis_degree_str Master's
title Making visible an invisible world - how do adult educators navigate moral dilemmas in HIV health and social literacy education?
title_full Making visible an invisible world - how do adult educators navigate moral dilemmas in HIV health and social literacy education?
title_fullStr Making visible an invisible world - how do adult educators navigate moral dilemmas in HIV health and social literacy education?
title_full_unstemmed Making visible an invisible world - how do adult educators navigate moral dilemmas in HIV health and social literacy education?
title_short Making visible an invisible world - how do adult educators navigate moral dilemmas in HIV health and social literacy education?
title_sort making visible an invisible world how do adult educators navigate moral dilemmas in hiv health and social literacy education
topic Education
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/31523
work_keys_str_mv AT erasmusmargarethajacoba makingvisibleaninvisibleworldhowdoadulteducatorsnavigatemoraldilemmasinhivhealthandsocialliteracyeducation