‘Sex education should be taught, fine…but we make sure they control themselves’: teachers' beliefs and attitudes towards young people's sexual and reproductive health in a Ugandan secondary school

Abstract

Although schools have been identified as important settings in which young people's sexual and reproductive health (SRH) can be promoted, there has been limited research into the role of teachers in delivering sex education programmes. This paper describes findings from a qualitative study of teachers' beliefs and attitudes towards young people's SRH in a Ugandan secondary school, and discusses the ways in which conservative attitudes to young people's sexual activity and an adherence to gender stereotypes can limit students' access to SRH information and services. Teachers' attitudes, beliefs and often superstitions relating to young people's sexual activity inevitably affect the content and nature of school-based sex education. Findings from this preliminary study suggest that, rather than assuming teachers act as neutral delivery mechanisms in schools, these attitudes and beliefs must be taken into consideration and addressed in the development of school-based sex education programmes.

Keywords:

• young people
• sexual and reproductive health
• teacher attitudes
• schools
• Uganda

Notes

^1. Introduced by the Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES) in 2003 for primary schools and later developed for secondary school use in 2006.

^2. The four PIASCY policy documents are: a ‘Training Manual’, ‘Teacher Resource Book on HIV/AIDS’, ‘Student Handbook on HIV/AIDS (Lower Post Primary)’ and ‘Student Handbook on HIV/AIDS (Upper Post Primary)’ – MoES (2006a, 2006b, 2006c, 2006d).

^3. ‘…a sexual relationship between an adult man and woman…ideally…a marriage relationship leading to procreation’ (MoES 2006b, 34).

^4. E.g. ‘there are big challenges that come with being a girl…’; ‘traditionally, boys have been able to live with more freedom than girls’ (MoES 2006c, 58–62).

^5. Up to 90,000 UGX per term for day students (£20.23) and up to 220,000 UGX per term for boarding students (£49.44). Conversions according to exchange rates on www.xe.com (accessed October 8, 2011).

^7. It was implied here that parents were encouraging their daughters to go to ‘sugar daddies’ if they were unable to pay school fees.

^6. 2009: two from Senior 3; 2010: two from Senior 2 and one from Senior 4. Out of approximately 200 girls at the school, the teenage pregnancy rate per year at the school (approx. 1%) is significantly lower than the national average of 25% (Ugandan Demographic and Health Survey 2006 – percentage of 15–19-year-olds who have experienced pregnancy or childbirth: Uganda Bureau of Statistics and Macro International Inc. 2007, 62).

^8. Henry, a Science teacher, said that he was not sure if girls from the school engaged in transactional relationships, as he had only been at the school, ‘for two terms now, so I've not yet [heard about] that, but generally with the younger generation that happens’.

^9. ‘Abstain, be faithful, use condoms’ – the use of the ABC approach to HIV prevention has proved controversial in the Ugandan context (see Parkhurst 2011), but is still widely referred to.