Teaching about HIV in schools: the missing link?

HIV continues to affect millions of people worldwide. While significant progress has been made in a number of countries, advances have not been uniform, and the 2.3 million new infections in 2012, point to the need to redouble our efforts. From the beginning, the education sector played a central role in responding to the epidemic, notably by providing school-based HIV education, which has been the subject of much debate. UNESCO new publication, Charting the Course of Education and HIV, builds on the experience of UNESCO staff and contributions from key thinkers and practitioners to examine emerging challenges and opportunities that need to be harnessed to reach the internationally agreed targets related to HIV. . It proposes a way forward for the education sector to contribute to the prevention of new infections, treatment and care, and the reduction of stigma and discrimination. The publication points out how education and health, two basic human rights, are intrinsically linked, as healthy learners learn better, and better educated learners have the skills to be healthy. Education develops the knowledge, values, attitudes and skills required to make informed choices and adopt healthier behaviours. While knowledge is usually insufficient on its own for behavioural change, it is a prerequisite for the adoption of safer sexual behaviours and thus the foundation for an effective HIV response. Education can address harmful gender norms and help to reduce gender-based discrimination and violence which are important both in their own right for equal, fair and prosperous societies and as critical enablers for an effective HIV response. Early on in the epidemic, the rapid spread of the virus and lack of treatment options required urgent action to prevent new infections. Most education approaches were characterized by teaching about HIV as a science topic or as a moral issue. In many contexts, formal education used scare tactics in an attempt to prevent young people from engaging in sexual activity, or promoted ‘abstinence-only’ messages. These methods did not have the intended effect, and infection rates continued to rise. As a result, skills-based approaches such as life skills education, which emphasize cognitive, communication and coping skills, were adopted and the importance of structural and environmental factors such as poverty, gender, culture, values, beliefs, power and policy were recognised and started to be integrated into the HIV response. Evidence laid-out in the book shows that good quality comprehensive sexuality education, including HIV, does not lead to early sexual initiation; instead, it helps delay sexual debut, increase safer sexual behaviour, and improve HIV knowledge. We know what needs to be included in the curriculum and how HIV and sexuality should be covered. However, many existing curricula have weaknesses, including inadequate reference to key aspects of sex and sexuality, lack of information about where to access services, and limited attention to social and cultural factors, sexual rights and sexual diversity. In addition selective teaching is a challenge, particularly in situations where teachers do not feel mandated or supported by the school or community to teach about sexuality and relationships or are unprepared to address them. As such, many adolescents and young people do not receive even the most basic sexuality education and leave school without adequate knowledge. The authors put forward a new approach for HIV education which requires, inter alia, the reframing of HIV education; rethinking teacher training and support; improving implementation; strengthening the links with school health programmes; adaptation to an evolving epidemic; and meeting the increasing demand by young people and their parents for comprehensive sexuality education

An aesthetic for sustainable interactions in product-service systems?

Copyright @ 2012 Greenleaf PublishingEco-efficient Product-Service System (PSS) innovations represent a promising approach to sustainability. However the application of this concept is still very limited because its implementation and diffusion is hindered by several barriers (cultural, corporate and regulative ones). The paper investigates the barriers that affect the attractiveness and acceptation of eco-efficient PSS alternatives, and opens the debate on the aesthetic of eco-efficient PSS, and the way in which aesthetic could enhance some specific inner qualities of this kinds of innovations. Integrating insights from semiotics, the paper outlines some first research hypothesis on how the aesthetic elements of an eco-efficient PSS could facilitate user attraction, acceptation and satisfaction

Student Expectations: The effect of student background and experience

CONTEXT The perspectives and previous experiences that students bring to their programs of study can affect their approaches to study and the depth of learning that they achieve Prosser & Trigwell, 1999; Ramsden, 2003). Graduate outcomes assume the attainment of welldeveloped independent learning skills which can be transferred to the work-place. PURPOSE This 5-year longitudinal study investigates factors influencing students’ approaches to learning in the fields of Engineering, Software Engineering, and Computer Science, at two higher education institutes delivering programs of various levels in Australia and New Zealand. The study aims to track the development of student approaches to learning as they progress through their program. Through increased understanding of students’ approaches, faculty will be better able to design teaching and learning strategies to meet the needs of an increasingly diverse student body. This paper reports on the first stage of the project. APPROACH In August 2017, we ran a pilot of our survey using the Revised Study Process Questionnaire(Biggs, Kember, & Leung, 2001) and including some additional questions related to student demographics and motivation for undertaking their current program of study. Data were analysed to evaluate the usefulness of data collected and to understand the demographics of the student cohort. Over the period of the research, data will be collected using the questionnaire and through focus groups and interviews. RESULTS Participants provided a representative sample, and the data collected was reasonable, allowing the questionnaire design to be confirmed. CONCLUSIONS At this preliminary stage, the study has provided insight into the student demographics at both institutes and identified aspects of students’ modes of engagement with learning. Some areas for improvement of the questionnaire have been identified, which will be implemented for the main body of the study

Examining the empirical impact of teacher pupil control ideology on student outcomes : the classroom perspective.

This study examined a hypothesized relationship among teacher beliefs, teacher behaviors, classroom climate, student engagement, and student outcomes. The researcher used teacher ( N = 6) and student ( N = 12) interviews, observations, and the mining of documents and material culture to collect data in a rural Midwest middle school struggling to meet the requirements of state and federal accountability measures. Humanistic teachers operated in an atmosphere of student empowerment and high levels of student engagement; Custodial teachers operated in an atmosphere of student compliance and low levels of student engagement. Outcomes, (grades, office referrals, and accountability scores) were more positive in humanistic classrooms than in custodial classrooms. The findings contributed to the knowledge base that will enable school administrators to address shortcomings in student achievement on high-stakes accountability tests

The Ethics of Contracting for Education within a Neoliberal Framework

No matter how lightly you tread, you can not cross a beach without leaving footprints, nor without carrying a little sand away with you. Open systems theory states that an organization has permeable boundaries “dependant on its environment for survival and will go out of existence unless it is actively attended to” (Burke, 2011, p. 61), and it is with this consideration that the tenets of social justice are understood to be a responsibility of all entities, as “the public” is not a target group that can be somehow isolated so as to be impacted by only public administrators. Private colleges in Canada benefit by their constituents having access to public funds, and therefore government regulations restrict how private investors can profit from this relationship. However, as with any imposed control system, it is only as good as its policing; the alternative is a system that is sanctioned by those it is meant to control. This organizational improvement plan is an exploration into change that is intended to ensure that the social justice imperative embodied in following an admission process that supports an ethical approach to student contracting is fully adopted. Commitment to this behavior, the author argues, supports organizational goals related to student persistence, and improved student loan default rates. These goals are intended to have a positive impact on the consequences of problem debt, to contribute to regional infrastructure and economic growth by increasing workplace intelligence, and to a reduction of the social services burden

From welfare to work : the impact of the jobseeker-adviser relationship on objective employment outcomes

Employability research investigated within the context of welfare-to-work has predominantly been approached from a social policy or economic background. Resultant employability frameworks conceptualise the influence of supply- and demand-side variables on individual employment outcomes, more recently acknowledging the 'enabling' influence of government-led employability programmes on individual outcomes. However, despite policy literature professing the importance of the Personal Adviser in delivering tailored advice and guidance to long-term unemployed jobseekers attending employability programmes, their relationship with their jobseeker has been under-researched as a factor influencing employment outcomes. This thesis attempts to address that gap by suggesting that employability may be an individual outcome, but it is often the result of a collaborative effort.;Situated within social exchange theory, this thesis examines the impact of the jobseeker-adviser psychological contract, in combination with a range of employability factors, in determining objective employment outcomes during the first six months of their social exchange. Hypotheses are tested using multi-source data obtained from jobseekers and advisers over two measurement phases. Phase 1 provides insight into 102 jobseeker-adviser dyads, with objective outcome data provided at Phase 2 for all dyads. Regression analysis demonstrates that key employability components predict objective employment outcomes; but so does the jobseeker-adviser psychological contract, specifically mutuality of jobseeker obligations.;Measures of employability progression and psychological contract breach are captured and analysed at Phase 2, but with a smaller sample size of 42 jobseeker-adviser dyads; thus, not allowing for substantive generalisations to be made. Overall, findings highlight the importance of the jobseeker-adviser social exchange as a factor influencing employment outcomes, and as the first empirical thesis to test these hypotheses, further research directions can provide additional insight in the importance of social exchange in a welfare-to-work setting.Employability research investigated within the context of welfare-to-work has predominantly been approached from a social policy or economic background. Resultant employability frameworks conceptualise the influence of supply- and demand-side variables on individual employment outcomes, more recently acknowledging the 'enabling' influence of government-led employability programmes on individual outcomes. However, despite policy literature professing the importance of the Personal Adviser in delivering tailored advice and guidance to long-term unemployed jobseekers attending employability programmes, their relationship with their jobseeker has been under-researched as a factor influencing employment outcomes. This thesis attempts to address that gap by suggesting that employability may be an individual outcome, but it is often the result of a collaborative effort.;Situated within social exchange theory, this thesis examines the impact of the jobseeker-adviser psychological contract, in combination with a range of employability factors, in determining objective employment outcomes during the first six months of their social exchange. Hypotheses are tested using multi-source data obtained from jobseekers and advisers over two measurement phases. Phase 1 provides insight into 102 jobseeker-adviser dyads, with objective outcome data provided at Phase 2 for all dyads. Regression analysis demonstrates that key employability components predict objective employment outcomes; but so does the jobseeker-adviser psychological contract, specifically mutuality of jobseeker obligations.;Measures of employability progression and psychological contract breach are captured and analysed at Phase 2, but with a smaller sample size of 42 jobseeker-adviser dyads; thus, not allowing for substantive generalisations to be made. Overall, findings highlight the importance of the jobseeker-adviser social exchange as a factor influencing employment outcomes, and as the first empirical thesis to test these hypotheses, further research directions can provide additional insight in the importance of social exchange in a welfare-to-work setting

Engaging Human Services and Behavioral Health Professionals in Youth-led, Adult-guided Social Action Initiatives

Professional and community leaders in Washington, DC have expressed the need for more capacity building and increased resources to address health inequities in the city’s underserved African American communities.  Inequities (“food deserts,” community decay, and limited youth opportunities) require equity-informed approaches. Disparities (disproportionate substance use/behavioral health disorders) also require system-level approaches. In response, the Wards 7 and 8 DC Prevention Center (DCPC), a community-based nonprofit, collaborated with residents, community partners, and academic institutions to provide trainings and certifications to its team and community stakeholders. Initially, DCPC Staff were trained through evidence-informed approaches including Certified Prevention Specialist (CPS) and Photovoice. CPS training uses workshops and tools from the DC Department of Behavioral Health (DBH) to train staff/students to conduct assessments and build community partnerships. Photovoice provides a less intimidating process for vulnerable populations and professionals to collect data, identify social/environmental factors that impact health and well-being, share concerns, communicate with policymakers, and identify solutions to collectively address issues.  In turn, DCPC Staff trained youth and professionals to conduct Photovoice assessments to highlight the misuse of opioids and the negative effects on their communities. Stakeholders continue to request the assistance of CPSs; and community partners seek the trainings for themselves. Academic partners have a community-based resource for students/faculty to learn from and support equity-informed initiatives. This paper presents additional lessons learned/best practices in how to apply this multi-component approach as an effective strategy for preparing professionals and students to engage in social action in similar areas, despite high risks and glaring inequities