Development of a health education programme for high school learners

Abstract

The South African education system was riddled with inequalities as a direct result of the unstable political background of the country. To address and minimise these inequalities, the education department introduced Outcomes Based Education as a method of teaching. This new curriculum was meant to ensure that education would be equal to all; however this was not the case. To address the shortcomings of Outcomes Based Education, a National Curriculum Statement was introduced into the education system. In 2012, with the implementation of the Curriculum and Assessment Policy, the Department of Education hoped to address the shortcomings within the curriculum. There is a continued demand of teachers to learn new methods of instruction and assessment, with limited resources and training. The aim of this study was to design a health education programme which will serve as a teaching aid for Life Orientation educators in high schools in Cape Town. This study was divided into three (3) phases. Phase one (1) of this study was the conduction of a self-administered survey which was developed by the researcher. In the second phase of this study, semi-structured interviews were conducted with experts in the field of Life Orientation. The health education programme was designed based on the findings of the semi-structured interviews. In the third and final phase of this study, the findings were disseminated to the relevant stakeholders. This study found that there were many challenges experienced by the Life Orientation educators and more assistance is needed in terms of resources and training. It was concluded that a health education programme would be a helpful teaching aid for Life Orientation educators in that it includes the content based on the information obtained from this study.