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• STAFF AND STUDENTS IN THE FACULTY OF EDUCATION CONTRIBUTE TO TWO NEW BOOKS

  

  Dr Kathleen Pithouse (centre), Lecturer at the
  School of Education and Development; with
  co-editors of the books, Professors Relebohile
  Molesane (right) and Claudia Mitchell (left).

  Dr Kathleen Pithouse and a number of other staff and postgraduate students at UKZN’s Faculty of Education have made an invaluable contribution to two books which were launched by the Centre for Visual Methodologies for Social Change based at the Faculty’s School of Language, Literacies, Media, and Drama Education, on March 17.

  A senior lecturer at the School of Education and Development, Dr Pithouse, is the lead editor of Making Connections: Self Study and Social Action. The book is based on her post-doctoral research on the social relevance of self-study. Dr Pithouse co-edited the book with colleagues, Professors Claudia Mitchell and Relebohile Moletsane. The book’s content stems from the collaborative efforts of academics within the Higher Education sector in South Africa, the United States, Canada; and postgraduate students at UKZN.

  Self-study, an emerging research genre in the education discipline, has not been widely explored in South Africa in other disciplines within the arts, humanities and social sciences. Dr Pithouse said collaborating with academics across disciplines at universities in South Africa and abroad on self-study research added diverse expertise to the book.

  She added that she was particularly proud of her postgraduate students, Ms Lungile Masinga, Ms Angeline Kunene and Ms Mathabo Khau who each wrote a chapter for the book. The second book, Teaching and HIV& AIDS, which Dr Pithouse co-edited with Professor Claudia Mitchell, a Professor in Education at McGill University in Canada and an Honorary Professor at UKZN’s Faculty of Education, discusses the role of teachers in addressing HIV and AIDS at schools. In addition to co-editing the book, Dr Pithouse had contributed towards writing the introductory chapter and another titled: Living and Lifelong Learning.

  Dr Pithouse, whose own career in education began as a school teacher, said there could never be enough written literature to guide teachers in dealing with the HIV and AIDS pandemic at school level. “We hope this book will be a user-friendly resource for teachers and teacher educators responsible for HIV and AIDS training. Chapters in the book draw on the experiences of teachers who not only provide academic support for learners, but have to deal with learners who may be affected and infected by the disease,” she said.

• HIV AND AIDS EDUCATION A REALITY FOLLOWING AWARD OF FELLOWSHIP

  

  Ms Thoko Mnisi, recipient of the MACAIDS
  Fellowship (left) with Professor Naydene de
  Lange, Associate Professor at the
  School of Educational Studies.

  The award of the MACAIDS Fellowship to a UKZN Masters in Education Psychology student will make education in HIV and AIDS a possibility for two rural schools in KwaZulu-Natal this July.

  Ms Thoko Mnisi who lectures part-time at the Faculty of Education will implement her plan in addressing the stigma attached to HIV and AIDS to the community of Vulindlela using visual material from digital archives.

  The MACAIDS Fellowship is awarded by the HIV Centre for Clinical and Behavioural Studies Centre at the University of Columbia in New York to women who have proven their mettle as leaders in AIDS awareness campaigns.

  Targeting teachers at the selected schools, Ms Mnisi will advocate the importance of visual material as a tool in combating the prevalent stigma attached to the disease.

  The 10 month pilot project is based on research she has undertaken for her master’s degree which focuses on: Exploring the use of Digital Archives with Rural School Educators in Addressing the issues of HIV Stigma.

  This research analyses the effectiveness of photographs depicting HIV and AIDS, taken by Grade Eight and Nine learners, as a means to overcome stigma. Working on a National Research Foundation-funded digitization programme known as Digitization: Giving Life to Visual Data to Save Lives, inspired both Ms Mnisi’s choice of research and programme for Vulindlela.

  As a recipient of the MACAIDS Fellowship, Ms Mnisi will undergo a six-week training programme in May presented by representatives from the Human Sciences Research Council and the University of Columbia.

  With a 20-year history of advocating against HIV and AIDS stigma Ms Mnisi said she was grateful to be awarded the Fellowship.

  “Although I have been involved in HIV and AIDS education since 1988 this opportunity will enhance my vision in creating awareness on the pandemic,” she said.

  Ms Mnisi hoped the pilot project in Vulindlela will bridge both the digital and gender divide in AIDS education and her messages against stigma would trickle down to the surrounding community.

  Her supervisor, Professor Naydene de Lange, said Ms Mnisi had produced excellent work in developing a digital archive which she planned on using in the rural schools in addressing HIV and AIDS education.

• UKZN HOSTS BLOGGING WORKSHOPS FOR RURAL STUDENTS TO ADDRESS HIV AND AIDS

  Secondary School Students from Gobindlovu learning about blogging with Mr John Pascarella.

  The Centre for Visual Methodologies and Social Change at the Edgewood campus recently hosted a two-day series of digital media workshops for rural high school students and two teachers from the Vulindlela region.
  

  The focus of the workshops was on developing digital literacy skills such as navigating the Internet, creating e-mail accounts, and building individual student blogs.

  Researcher and teacher educator, Mr John Pascarella, from McGill University in Montreal, Canada, joined Professor Claudia Mitchell, Dr Jean Stuart, and Professor Naydene de Lange to host the digital media workshops as part of the Faculty Research Niche Area: "Rural Teacher Development in the Age of AIDS."

  They were also joined by UKZN education students participating in the NRF-funded project, "Youth as Knowledge Producers." The project seeks to develop art-based methodologies with young people in rural schools to create a more youth-centered approach to knowledge production and behaviour change in the context of HIV and AIDS. The students assisted rural high school learners in developing digital media skills to construct personal blogs with the use of free online blogging software.

  The formation of the blogs enabled learners to create online publications which involved the use of Photo Voice; what researchers Caroline Wang and Ann Burris define as "a method that enables people to define for themselves and others, including policy makers, what is worth remembering and what needs to be changed".

  When asked what are the benefits of blogging about HIV and AIDS, several participants agreed that they were more comfortable writing about their thoughts specific to sex and sexuality than discussing these thoughts in their traditional classrooms. Learners were encouraged to write their blogs in either isiZulu or in English. Nearly half of the bloggers wrote postings in isiZulu. Most notable from the blogging experience for participants was the feeling of having communicated their knowledge and awareness of HIV and AIDS to a broader (possibly global) audience beyond their immediate rural community.

   

• SUCCESS IN HIV AND AIDS PREVENTION FOR UKZN ACADEMIC

  

  Ms Fumane Khanare, a Commerce Education Lecturer
  at the Faculty of Education with learners of the
  Gobindlovu Comprehensive High School at the launch
  of an HIV and AIDS Awareness Club.

   

  An HIV prevention programme introduced to a rural school in KwaZulu-Natal by a UKZN academic has culminated in the launch of a school-based AIDS awareness club.

  Grade 10 learners at the Gobindlovu Comprehensive High School in Vulindlela recently celebrated the launch of the Siyanqba School Anti-AIDS Club - an initiative stemming from a ten-month AIDS education project implemented by Ms Fumane Khanare, a Lecturer in Commerce Education at the Faculty of Education through the MAC-AIDS Fellowship Fund.

  Ms Khanare, who was selected as a recipient of the one-year Fellowship last year, underwent a two-month leadership course through the UCLA Programme on Global Health in Johannesburg and later at the HIV Centre for Clinical and Behavioural Studies at Columbia University in New York.

  As a MAC-AIDS Fellowship recipient, Ms Khanare had to formulate a plan of action to promote HIV and AIDS education in South Africa. Believing school learners were key “agents of change” in the promotion of AIDS awareness, Ms Khanare invited the Gobindlovu Comprehensive High School to participate in her project aimed at enhancing open communication among learners on HIV prevention strategies.

  Since the projects implementation in January this year, the 20 Grade 10 learners have participated in four workshops aimed at developing their leadership and photography skills to participate in an innovative “photo-voice” method of creating awareness on HIV and AIDS. This comprised a narration of photographs taken by students depicting poverty, relationships, violence and gender issues and their effect on HIV and AIDS.

  Ms Khanare who interacted with the learners during a weekly visit to the school said: “The photo-voice methodology in creating awareness and stepping up the fight against HIV and AIDS proved successful. It enabled critical dialogue among learners on HIV prevention and provided a platform to discuss issues comfortably.”

  According to Ms Khanare, learners who were reluctant to talk about contraceptives at home with their elders were not as reticent about speaking out on such issues among their peers.

  In the past 10 months Ms Khanare observed that students had taken charge in addressing the issue of HIV prevention through the programme and the necessary action to sustain HIV and AIDS awareness education.

  “Participating in the project has stimulated the capacity of learners. I’ve discovered they have become critical thinkers who have shown a keen interest in developing ideas for promoting AIDS education. The inclusion of visual arts in delivering AIDS awareness messages has boosted their morale in communicating openly on HIV prevention issues,” said Ms Khanare.

  Celebrating the launch of the Siyanqba School Anti-AIDS Club saw a mobilisation of parents, teachers, learners and community members who debated learner participation in AIDS Education. Participating learners had the opportunity to exhibit their photo-voice projects before community members.

• FIFTH ANNIVERSARY OF CENTRE FOR VISUAL METHODOLOGIES FOR SOCIAL CHANGE

  

  From left: Dr Mark Dent,
  Centre for Environment, Agriculture and
  Development; Dr Jean Stuart, co-Director,
  CVM; Dr Angela James, Faculty
  of Education; and Professor Jonathan
  London, University of California.

   

  August, 2004. The scene: Three editing suites, a couple of camcorders, a printer, a drawer-full of simple point and shoot cameras, and a group of eager postgraduate students, researchers and young people from Mariannhill eager to make videos.

  The result: The birth of UKZN’s Centre for Visual Methodologies for Social Change (CVMSV).

  The two-day video-making workshop conducted by Ms Monica Mak of the McGill University in Canada was the beginning of what has become a thriving proto-centre in the School of Languages, Literacy, and Media Education in the Faculty of Education.

  Co-directed by Dr Jean Stuart and Professor Naydene de Lange, and with Professor Claudia Mitchell, an Honorary Professor in the School as the Executive Director, the CVMSC has a key commitment to community engagement.

  In so doing it has worked closely with pre-service and in service teachers, learners, parents and community health care workers in the Vulindlela district, conducting participatory visual workshops using collaborative video, photo documentary, photovoice, digital story-telling and blogging as approaches to engaging community members in addressing such areas as gender-based violence, and stigma in relation to HIV and AIDS.

  The CVMSC has convened and co-sponsored the following four international symposia and workshops: Putting People in the Picture (February, 2006), Seeing for Ourselves (July, 2007), Every Voice Counts in Rural Education (February, 2009), and the writing and research workshop: Was it something I wore? Gender and Dress as Material Culture in Social Research (August, 2009).

  Now in its sixth year, the CVMSC - in its focus on community engagement through visual methodologies - has moved into the regional/international arena, having recently co-sponsored a five-day programme on participatory visual methodologies for social change at the Kigali Institute of Education in Rwanda.

  The programme involved participants from Tanzania, Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia and Rwanda. The workshop, part of a three-year research project conducted in partnership with McGill University and the Rwanda National University, was funded through the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

  It will be followed up in 2010 with community-based field work with rural girls and women in Rwanda as part of the study.