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Empowering women for gender equity

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Talking taboos: Teaching and learning about

sexuality, gender and violence in Western Cape
schools

Kelley Moult

To cite this article: Kelley Moult (2013) Talking taboos: Teaching and learning about
sexuality, gender and violence in Western Cape schools, Agenda, 27:3, 67-76, DOI:
10.1080/10130950.2013.843893

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 briefing
Talking taboos: Teaching and learning about
sexuality, gender and violence in Western
Cape schools
Kelley Moult

abstract
This Briefing reflects on preliminary findings of a research project that examines how gender-based violence
prevention messaging is addressed in schools in the Western Cape, and in particular how teachers, learners, and other
stakeholder groups feel about what and how we teach our youth on these topics. Findings show that education on
sex, sexuality, gender and gendered violence is uneven, under developed and poorly implemented, and often
personality-driven, and that learners are seldom given credible, robust information on sexuality, gender and violence
that use new pedagogies to tackle these ‘taboo topics’ with learners. The Briefing argues for a learning environment
that prioritises education around sex and gender as an essential, preventative part of creating responsible sexuality
among the next generation of South Africans through the augmentation of quality curriculum and teaching in Life
Orientation, the use of non-governmental organisation (NGO) resources for teaching on these topics, and through
finding better ways of identifying and equipping teachers to teach about topics of gender, sex and sexuality.

keywords
Curriculum, gender-based violence, sexuality, learners, schools, Western Cape

Introduction and higher rates of detection and stiffer penal-

In the wake of the horrific rape, mutilation and
murder of Bredasdorp teenager Anene Booysens
in February 2013 the Gender, Health and
Justice Research Unit (GHJRU) at the Univer-
sity of Cape Town, along with almost every
other gender-focused non-governmental orga-
nisation (NGO) in South Africa, was inundated
with calls for comment on the state of gender-
based violence in our country. Inevitably, inter-
viewers asked what has led to the crisis of
violence against South Africa’s women and
girls. Much of what we heard in answer to
that question focused on the response: better
policing and prosecution of sexual offences,
improved psychosocial services for survivors,
ties for offenders. While these suggestions are
certainly well-placed, improving these aspects
alone will not fix the problem of sexual violence
in our homes and communities. To get to the
heart of South Africa’s rape culture, we need
to grapple with how we prevent that violence
from taking place in the first place, and to do
that, we need to tackle the thorny problem of
how and when we speak to our children about
sex, sexuality, gender and violence.
Methodology
This Briefing reflects on the preliminary find-
ings of a research project that is currently

Agenda 2013
ISSN 1013-0950 print/ISSN 2158-978X online
# 2013 K. Moult
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10130950.2013.843893 pp. 67–76
briefing
being undertaken by the GHJRU to examine
gender-based violence prevention messaging
in schools in the Western Cape. The project
has focused in particular on how critical
messages about gender, sex, sexuality and
violence are addressed in the school curric-
ulum, and how teachers, learners, and other
stakeholder groups feel about what and how
we teach our youth on these topics. The
findings that are discussed emanate from a
review of the Life Orientation curriculum pub-
lished by the Department of Education and
support materials entitled Today’s Choices
(Binneman et al, 2011a; 2011b: 2011c), inter-
views and focus groups undertaken as part of
the project activities.
The project accessed participants through
a convenience sampling method using existing
links with individuals, NGOs and other service
providers acting as gatekeepers to identify
additional participants who may be interested
in taking part in the project. Researchers sent
introductory letters to potential participants
and organisations to outline the aims of the
project, and to invite participation in focus
groups aimed at exploring how “sexuality and
gender-based violence prevention is currently
taught in schools, what information teachers
and learners would like to know about gender-
based violence and the ways in which learners
would like to learn about the topic.”
the project has been able to access partici-
pants from across the Western Cape metro
area, and has spoken with participants who
span the spectrum of independent and gov-
ernment schools
For teachers, we outlined that the project
was also interested in knowing “what addi-
tional resources and materials would be best-
placed to support teachers in tackling this
difficult topic with learners.” The principal
researcher on the project then met with
gatekeeper organisations to further discuss
the project’s activities, and to outline the
project’s approach to the topic. The use of
convenience sampling techniques combined
with the geographic spread and substantive
focus of the gatekeepers and individuals,
allowed the project to access participants
from across the Western Cape metro area,
who span these groups of independent and
government schools (including both govern-
ment and so-called ‘Model-C’ schools). Parti-
cipants from across the spectrum were
68 AGENDA 2013
enthusiastic about taking part in the research,
and welcomed the opportunity to feed into
discussions about how we teach and learn
about these topics.
Focus groups with NGO service providers,
teachers and learners were conducted in
groups of roughly 10 participants, and were
facilitated by two researchers. The research
team was cognisant of the significant barriers
that may exist in speaking to learners espe-
cially about the taboo topics that are the
focus of the project. Convenience sampling
and group interviewing were used as ways
to mitigate these difficulties, accessing lear-
ner participants through the NGOs who
work with youth on an ongoing basis. This
not only provided credibility for our research-
ers, but also facilitated an openness between
researchers and participants – many of whom
were part of NGO initiatives that address sex
and sexuality as part of their work. In addition,
the research team is relatively young which
helped to break down barriers between lear-
ners and researchers. The focus groups also
used a set of warm-up, discussion-based in-
troductory questions to break the ice between
researchers and participants before addres-
sing the ‘meat’ of the research question(s).
The semi-structured, open-ended nature of
the interview schedule allowed researchers
to probe answers and opinions provided by
participants, and also created the space to use
alternative questions or examples to encour-
age or to reframe the discussion to maximise
participation. These strategies were especially
useful among learners.
Focus groups with learners were con-
ducted in both single sex (female) groups, as
well as in mixed-gender settings, and were all
undertaken at locations outside of the school
setting in order to encourage students to talk
openly about how they are taught and want to
learn about sex, sexuality and violence. Fur-
thermore, where possible, focus groups were
conducted with at least one facilitator who
spoke the language of the group in question
(particularly relevant for focus groups with
learners who were Afrikaans- and Xhosa-
speaking). One-on-one interviews were also
held with curriculum developers, teachers and
NGO service providers. Both interviews and
focus groups were recorded and transcribed,
and were analysed thematically for common-
ality and differences of opinion. There was a
striking commonality of opinion across the
participant groups – with teachers, learners

and NGO service providers frequently high-
lighting similar challenges in teaching and
learning about sex, gender and violence.
The results presented below reflect these
shared views. Where opinions are those of a
particular group, these are attributed to that
group specifically.
Findings
Talking the talk – the content of
gender and sexuality education in the
Life Orientation classroom
Teaching about these often-labelled ‘taboo’
topics at schools is undoubtedly a complex
issue, and parents, educators and policy-
makers often disagree about whose respons-
ibility it is to teach learners about sexuality
and sexual activity, and about when and how
to do so. Parents and teachers fear that
talking to learners about sex and sexuality in
schools will normalise and encourage early
sexual debut. However, research shows that
South Africa’s young people become sexually
active at a very early age, often without their
parents’ knowledge. Estimates vary, but stud-
ies report that the average age of sexual
debut for boys and girls is between 13–14
years (HSRC/Save the Children, 2011; love-
Life, 2009), and estimate that half of learners
will have had sex by the time they reach high
school (Department of Health, Medical
Research Council and OrcMacro, 2007). Lear-
ners and educators are confronted daily in
their schools, homes and communities by the
realities of teenage pregnancy, sexual abuse,
HIV and gender-based violence. Within this
context, learners are bombarded with con-
flicting messages about sex and sexuality
from various spheres, including from peers
and the media.
The value of comprehensive sex, gender
and sexuality education has been well-
established from both a public health and
human rights perspective. Such education is
vital in creating less rigid gender roles and
fighting discrimination on the basis of gender
and sexual orientation (UNFPA, 2010), and are
a critical strategy for addressing HIVand AIDS,
other sexually transmitted infections (STIs)
and unplanned pregnancy, and improving
public health outcomes (UNESCO, 2007;
UNESCO, 2009; Buckley-Willemse, 2005).
Contrary to some commonly-held beliefs, com-
prehensive sexuality education programmes
Talking taboos: Teaching and learning about sexuality, gender and violence
briefing
do not increase sexual activity among youth
(UNFPA, 2010). Holistic programmes that
encompass sex-positive messages (involving
love, pleasure, critical thinking and general
well-being) in their curriculum help teens avoid
the negative consequences of sex and are
associated with decreased risky sexual beha-
viours among young people (Macleod, 2009;
Boonstra, 2011). Research suggests that
youth who are the most sexually active are
those that are least informed about sexuality,
whereas teens who openly discuss sexuality
and have participated in sex education pro-
grammes tend to delay sexual activity and use
contraception more often and more respons-
ibly (Buckley-Willemse, 2005).
Schools are a critical environment in
which to offer education on gender and
sexuality. Most young people will be enrolled
in school before their first sexual experience.
This means that most youth are of school-
going age when they are experimenting sexu-
ally and when they first have sex, and schools
should provide safe places where students
are free to openly discuss sexuality and have
their questions answered without fear of
being stigmatised (Francis, 2010; Gallant and
Maticka-Tyndale, 2004). At the same time,
though, research in South Africa has shown
that sexual and gender-based violence fre-
quently occurs in educational settings (Human
Rights Watch, 2001), with young girls espe-
cially being exposed to explicit gender-based
and sexual violence, including dating violence,
sexual harassment, intimidation, abuse, assault
and rape, as well as to bullying, verbal and
psychological abuse based on their gender at
the hands of fellow (male) students, teachers
and principals (Human Rights Watch, 2001;
Wilson, 2011).
There is ample evidence (both research
and anecdotal) to suggest that South African
youth are not getting quality information about
sex, gender and sexuality from their parents,
who feel ill-equipped to discuss these issues
with their children (Phetla et al, 2008), or who
are seldom accessible to learners because of
the competing responsibilities of work. Learners
in our study explained that their:
“parents don’t have time to talk to us, and
we don’t have time to talk to them. You go
home after school and drop off your bag,
and that’s it. You don’t talk” (FG3)1.
69
briefing
Similarly, Buckley-Willemse (2005) argues
that in the absence of quality information
from either the classroom or home setting,
teens must look to their peers and to the
media for information about sexuality and
values. Participants in our study concurred,
arguing that friends:
“are the people you trust…when the par-
ents aren’t open to discussing things with
kids…who do you go to? You go to your
friends, and you listen to what they say,
and sometimes their experiences sound
objective, so you go and you also do
it” (FG4).
Many of the learners felt that they cannot
discuss issues of gender, sex or violence with
their parents, in large part because of the
cultural taboos and the walls and barriers that
exist around the raising of such issues with
elders. Where girls wanted to discuss dating
and relationship violence with their parents,
some felt that such discussions were often
futile because their parents – especially their
mothers – believe violence against women is
normal, unchangeable and that some even
condone it. Learners, teachers, NGO staff and
parents argued that violent sexuality has been
entrenched in South African homes and com-
munities to the extent that most parents view
these issues as normal.
violent sexuality has been entrenched in South
African homes and communities to the extent
that most parents view these issues as normal
At present, teaching about sex, sexuality
and gender in the school setting occurs mainly
in the Life Orientation curriculum. The curric-
ulum aims to provide learners with the life
skills necessary to participate fully in their
own personal, social, intellectual, emotional,
spiritual and physical development. It also
aims to equip learners to respond positively
to social demands as well as to assume
responsibility, to practice engaged citizenship
and to optimise opportunities and their capa-
city for social engagement. The curriculum
intends to help learners in developing benefi-
cial social interactions, such as respecting
others’ rights and values and promoting life-
long participation in recreation and physical
activity (Jacobs, 2011; Prinsloo, 2007; De‐
partment of Education, 2002). Life Orienta-
tion is one of the four fundamental subjects
70 AGENDA 2013
required for the National Senior Certificate,
therefore it is compulsory for every learner
from Grades 10 to 12. The Department of Edu‐
cation announced a shift to a revised Life
Orientation curriculum in 2009 as part of the
move from the Outcomes-Based Education
(OBE) to the Curriculum and Assessment
Policy Statement (CAPS) model, and the fina-
lised curriculum was released in 2010 and
implemented at the beginning in 2012. In
large part, the CAPS curriculum aimed to
remedy some of the key shortcomings of Life
Orientation teaching under OBE, including the
lack of clear definition, identification and
comprehension. Other criticisms of the OBE
curriculum for Life Orientation centred around
its reliance on transmission models of teach-
ing, with minimal use of group and experien-
tial methods and a lack of suitable support
materials (Rooth, 2005). To remedy these
shortcomings, companion materials entitled
Today’s Choices (Binneman et al, 2011a;
2011b; 2011c) were commissioned, and have
been distributed to schools2.
A review of the CAPS Life Orientation
curriculum shows that – unlike under OBE –
every learning area provides clear specifica-
tion of what is to be taught (by grade, term
and week) and also makes time allocations for
every topic, and includes links to recom-
mended resources and assessments. Assess-
ment is undertaken through both formal and
informal means, including discussions, prac-
tical demonstrations, role playing, debate,
short homework tasks, interviews, group
work, worksheets, class tests, record keeping
or oral and written examinations.
The companion materials entitled Today’s
Choices translate the curriculum into topics,
activities and practical assignments that tea-
chers and learners can use in the classroom. A
thorough review of the materials pertaining to
sex, sexuality, gender and violence shows,
though, that critical and foundational con-
cepts (such as ‘gender’) are often poorly
explained, or examined through an overly
biological or scientific frame. Much of the
nuance and context that shows how issues
such as gender, sexuality and power play out
in and shape relationships (including teen
relationships) is vague or absent, and issues
of culture and religion are addressed cursorily.
Sex positive messages around pleasure, con-
sent, (mutual) sexual exploration and negoti-
ation are virtually absent, and neither teachers
nor learners are provided with the tools to

understand why these topics are critical to
healthy sexuality, or how to apply them in
practice in the teenagers’ lives. The discus-
sions of how various influences such as peers,
parents, culture, religion, society and the
media affect teenagers’ behaviour and expec-
tations are dotted throughout the curriculum,
and there is little attempt to make connections
between and among these topics and the
foundational concepts that underpin sexuality
and choice.
Given that much has been made in the
literature of the impact of poor teacher train-
ing, the arbitrary allocation of teachers to
teach Life Orientation, and the influence that
teachers’ own morals and values have on the
content and methods of their teaching in the
classroom, we believe that the curriculum and
support materials in their current format miss a
vital opportunity to provide guidance and con-
tent for teachers and learners on how young
people can explore their sexuality in ways that
are informed, respectful, and responsible.
Teaching about sex, sexuality, gender
and violence in schools: Context and
practice
Despite the valuable (but lofty) goals of Life
Orientation teaching, integration of the sub-
ject into schools has been problematic in
practice, and the class has struggled for
legitimacy among both teachers and learners
(Prinsloo, 2007; Jacobs, 2011). Parents, lear-
ners and teachers in our study shared this
view, reporting that learners view the content
as “boring … just another subject like, you
know … geography” that has an absence of
context, and holds little inducement for lear-
ners to internalise the content or to meaning-
fully shift attitudes in the longer term.
Teachers, parents and NGO participants felt
that the fact that the subject is only cursorily
examined (for example, through a single essay
question) underlines the perception that Life
Orientation – and, by extension the material it
covers – is of lesser importance than other
academic subjects. This view was also shared
by learners and educators. A learner said:
“you don’t have to pass any tests to pass
Life Orientation,” while an educator described
the subject as:
“the place that principals can count on
elevating their marks… where you can set
an easy exam question, and rely on inflated
Talking taboos: Teaching and learning about sexuality, gender and violence
briefing
year marks to pull up the students’
achievements.”
Teachers in our study and others have reported
that the time devoted to Life Orientation
within the school curriculum is inadequate
and is frequently colonised by other activities
(such as assembly or sports) and subjects
deemed to be “more important academically”
(Smith and Harrison, 2013; Rooth, 2005).
Learners often refuse to cooperate or to com-
plete Life Orientation homework assignments,
even if these assignments are assessed and
count towards the student’s grade (Rooth,
2005). Our participants described how lear-
ners “tend to just joke and play around and
they don’t really take it seriously” which
further wastes class time, reducing the variety
of teaching methods that can be used and that
this ultimately affects the quality of Life
Orientation teaching. Participants also ex‐
plained that large class sizes and the over-
crowding that is evident in many schools
works against the trust and supportive envir-
onment that is required in the classroom to
address sensitive issues such as gender and
sexuality (Rooth, 2005; Mahlo, 2006). Tea-
chers struggle to get to know the learners’
individual circumstances that may impact on
the subject matter being taught. Social work-
ers and psychologists in the sample were
especially concerned that the subject matter
in Life Orientation classes are:
“heavy triggers for [their] clients … which
creates a reaction that in turn triggers
other kids in the class. And then it is a
whole big issue and the teacher, who is not
really equipped to deal with it, must
do so.”
Who teaches Life Orientation, as well as how
it is taught, is a critical issue. Previous
research studies have problematised the
teaching of Life Orientation, and there has
been some debate as to which pedagogical
methods may be able to effect the desired
behavioural and attitudinal shifts around gen-
der, sex and sexuality in the South African
context (Jacobs, 2011). The quality of the
implementation of the Life Orientation curric-
ulum, as well as other curriculum areas, is
affected by absenteeism, staff shortages,
high turnover of teachers, a lack of training
and the problem of retaining teachers (Smith
and Harrison, 2013). The lack of priority
consistently afforded to the teaching of
71
briefing
gender and sexuality education in schools
potentially reduces the effectiveness of
teaching and learning, and teachers’ own
attitudes further complicate the issue. Even
where teachers generally appear supportive of
teaching about HIV and sexuality to learners,
their understanding of and approach to teach-
ing Life Orientation content varies significantly,
and their beliefs and attitudes have a signific-
ant impact on their willingness and ability to
teach young people about sexuality as well
as the content of what is taught. Learners
reported that they had discussed issues of
sex, reproductive health and violence in the
Life Orientation classroom, but that these
discussions were often very unstructured
and lacked any depth: “The teachers will
introduce a topic, and then they let us [the
learners] take it from there.”
Our findings echo earlier studies (for ex‐
ample, Thaver and Leao, 2012; Helleve,
Flisher, Onya, Mukoma and Klepp, 2009;
Rooth, 2005) that suggest that teachers are
reluctant to implement some or all aspects
of education programmes that they perceive
to conflict with their own moral or religious
beliefs, or those of the community. While
some teachers report being more comfortable
with the biological and HIV-related aspects
of the curriculum, they often feel uneasy or
unprepared to discuss the more nuanced
and sensitive topics that relate to gender
and sexuality with their students (Buckley-
Willemse, 2005). Teachers, learners and NGO
trainers in our study report that discussions
of sex and sexuality are therefore often con-
fined to factual information about human
reproduction and health education on STIs,
addressed in a strictly scientific or biological
frame limited to understanding of the anatomy.
They do not include broader discussions of
gender, relationships, sexuality, consent and
sex-positive messaging (Smith and Harrison,
2013).
Indeed, some NGO participants in our
study argued that educators might not be
best placed to teach learners about gender
and sexuality, given their “authoritative, dis-
ciplinary role” within the larger school con-
text. For learners, talking about sex, gender
and sexuality with their teachers was akin to
discussing these taboo issues with their
parents. They said that:
“Our teachers are the same with our
parents. So you can’t talk everything to a
72 AGENDA 2013
parent especially about sex because I am a
child so … I must have that respect as to
a parent” (FG5).
Learners also argued that in some cases, the
information imparted by the teachers con-
cerned lacked credibility because of the tea-
chers’ own behaviour. For example, one
learner explained:
“You see that guy, that’s one I stay away
from. That teacher. He is after all the girls.
He is always looking and doing things. You
know, that one is having a relationship with
that one [student]. We know what he
does” (FG6).
NGO service providers also highlighted that the
school environments in which learners attend
school are inherently unsafe in the Western
Cape, frequently characterised by gangsterism
and other violence. One participant explained:
“these kids already don’t have a sense of
safety already within the school environ-
ment. How much can a teacher that is
already involved in that give them a mess-
age about gender, sexuality and violence
that they can take on board?” (FG13).
The veil of secrecy that surrounded the ways
that issues of sex and sexuality (including
allegations of abuse) are addressed in the
school environment was raised frequently. In
that context learners and teachers said that
they understood that:
“you are not allowed to say stuff about
certain things … we can come in and say
whatever we want about what your rights
are, about sex and sexuality, but it is not
the culture in that school [to talk about
these issues openly]” (FG6).
For the most part, NGO service providers
reported that many schools deal punitively
with issues of sex and sexuality among teen-
agers. One NGO participant explained, for
example:
“I just think that there is a total lack of
insight or awareness about how to deal
with it. I think the kids are getting pun-
ished a lot, being brought up in a group and
being shamed rather than being educated
or being shown another way” (FG6).

As has been argued elsewhere, the so-called
‘hidden curriculum’ of structure, environment
and culture undoubtedly shapes the ways that
teaching and learning about gender, sexuality
and violence happens, as well as the content
of teaching (Sears, 1992).
While a range of independent programmes
addressing sex, gender and sexuality exist in
South Africa (primarily developed, offered and
funded by NGOs), our research in the Western
Cape shows that most schools address gender,
sexuality and violence mainly in the Life Ori-
entation curriculum, with about one-quarter
of these schools reporting that they supple-
ment the Life Orientation teaching with en‐
gagement from a diverse range of outside
organisations (such as Rape Crisis, loveLife,
Grassroots Soccer, FAMSA and Childline to
name but a few). NGOs that contributed to
our study said that they struggle to access
schools to implement programmes in the
longer-term, and that often they are called
in when an incident has happened in the
school, or invited to do a one-off lecture or
session. An NGO focus group reported that
commitment and openness to addressing
gender, sexuality and gender-based violence
through programme partnerships with NGOs
is inevitably personality-driven, with some
schools, teachers and principals being open
to establishing outside programming in
schools, while others simply pay lip-service
to the issues. An NGO participant described
how she has offered to facilitate sessions in
Life Orientation related to sexuality and viol-
ence to schools (including her own children’s
school) but the teachers and principals had
failed to follow through with it.
“So, I think maybe sometimes it’s more
effort to get someone to come in to do the
lessons than to do the lessons yourself.
And I am not sure that they see it as a big
enough portion of the curriculum to war-
rant getting special training for themselves
as trainers” (FG2).
Even where organisations have successfully
negotiated entrée into the schools, practical
problems inevitably dog implementation. Trai-
ners (NGO participants) described arriving at
schools to find that despite planning and prior
arrangements, the schools:
“aren’t expecting [them]. They don’t have
a classroom available, or the classes are
Talking taboos: Teaching and learning about sexuality, gender and violence
briefing
huge… so big that you can’t possibly get
the information to the students even though
it is good information, well-designed and
researched” (FG6).
Conclusion
Kader Asmal, the then-Minister of Education,
in his keynote address at a 2002 conference
on the importance of sexuality education that
was hosted by the Department of Education,
noted that:
“The importance of sexuality education
in acquiring information, and forming atti-
tudes, beliefs, and values about identity,
relationships, and intimacy should not be
played down. It is more than teaching
young people about anatomy and the physi-
ology of reproduction. It encompasses sex-
ual development, reproductive health, inter-
personal relationships, affection, intimacy,
body image and gender roles. Parents,
peers, schools, religious community, the
media, friends and partners all influence
the way people learn about sexuality”
(Dept of Education, 2002: 3).
Some 10 years on, and with the levels of
sexual violence in the country remaining
stubbornly high, his comments still resonate
strongly. Much was made in the wake of the
Anene Booysens tragedy about the ways in
which South Africans should hold the state
accountable for its weak response to violence,
yet there was little scrutiny on the role of
education as part of a broader state response.
It is time that we focus our attention on the
messages our children are learning — from
ourselves, in our communities, but especially
in their schools – about gender, sexuality and
violence, and demand that robust education
on sexuality be properly implemented in
schools. Yet, we still see that teaching and
learning about gender, sexuality and violence
in Western Cape schools remains critically
undervalued and underdeveloped: it is much
more ad‐hoc, much less nuanced and (in
the main) taught in ways that fail to convey
the foundational importance of this kind of
education for our youth. The problems of
integrating Life Orientation into the school
environment have endured, and our results
show that despite the reality that the majority
of teens are having sex by the time they reach
high school, teachers and parents remain
73
briefing
reticent and ill-equipped to discuss issues of
gender and sexuality with learners. Many
teachers and parents hold beliefs that under-
mine the recognition of children as sexually
active individuals who should have autonomy
over their decisions, and instead respond
reactively by shaming children (and especially
girl children) who are found to be sexually
active or responding poorly to allegations of
abuse. The low priority that continues to be
afforded to Life Orientation in the curriculum
continues to impact teaching and learning
about gender and sexuality. Educators con-
tinue to rely on lecture-style delivery of prim-
arily reproductive or HIV-focused information,
and struggle to engage students to think about
gender, sexuality and the ways that these
concepts impact upon their behaviour choices.
Significant barriers exist in bridging the gap
between learners and educators, and even
where outside programmes exist that can
provide the opportunity for peer-to-peer learn-
ing or (at minimum) the opportunity for learners
to discuss these issues with outsiders, organi-
sations struggle to integrate into the school
environment, and to provide long-term
information and support for learners that will
encourage long-term behaviour change.
teachers and parents hold beliefs that under-
mine the recognition of children as sexually
active individuals who should have autonomy
over their decisions
We have found very little evidence in our
study of teaching that supports children to
understand their blossoming sexuality in ways
that are respectful and non-coercive, and very
little material that normalises pleasure and
desire as a healthy part of sex and sexuality
and introduces young people to sexual con-
tact that doesn’t necessarily involve penet-
rative (heterosexual) sex. The project’s
findings highlight the stark contradictions in
the ways that South Africans lament the
problems of teenage pregnancy and sexual
and gender-based violence that our commu-
nities and youth face, yet fail to ensure that
children are given the kind of credible, robust
information on sexuality, gender and violence
that will allow them to make better choices
for themselves. Parents shy away from talking
to their children about sex, but are similarly
hesitant to encourage that these topics be
addressed in schools for fear of encouraging
74 AGENDA 2013
children to become sexually active or for fear
of being seen to endorse early sexual debut.
Although definitively solving the problem
of “talking taboos” in South African schools is
outside of the scope of our relatively modest
project in the Western Cape, our findings do
point to a number of important, interlinked
factors that need urgently to be addressed if
we hope to improve on the poor current
state of teaching on sex, gender and violence.
First, we need to find ways of creating and
entrenching an understanding of education
around sex and gender as an essential, integ-
ral part of creating responsible sexuality
among the next generation of South Africans,
and of a preventative response to teenage
pregnancy and sexual violence among teens.
Second, as part of this shift, the importance
of Life Orientation as a vehicle for addressing
these issues must be augmented, and the
Department of Education and individual
schools must prioritise and better integrate
teaching on these critical topics into the wider
school curriculum. Monitoring the imple-
mentation and quality of this teaching and
learning is also critical for its effectiveness.
Clearly, NGO programmes are a valuable
resource for schools in this regard, and we
must explore ways of formalising and sustain-
ing these relationships to address the ad
hoc and reactive way that NGOs’ expertise,
training and services are currently used.
Importantly, though, the responsibility for
integrating and funding these services should
not remain the responsibility of (and be driven
by) individual NGOs (or school principals), but
should be addressed as part of the provision
of basic education in South Africa. Third, the
curriculum should be revisited and augmented
to properly address sex, sexuality, gender and
violence based on best-practice models (for
example, through peer education) that integ-
rate wider learning on (among other things)
autonomy, responsibility, pleasure and con-
sent. Fourth (and relatedly), we need to
extend teaching on sex, gender and violence
throughout the school grades – including the
youngest students – using techniques, mater-
ial and topics that are grade appropriate.
Given that we know that children are explor-
ing sexually (and offending) at young ages,
starting conversations with learners on
‘taboo’ topics only in high school is simply
too late to be effective in terms of prevention.
Fifth, we need to find ways of better identi-
fying and equipping teachers to teach about

topics of gender, sex and sexuality, and to
encourage the use of new literacies and
technologies in doing so. The use of techno-
logy-based distance learning in tertiary edu-
cation has made enormous inroads into
increasing access for students (especially for
non-traditional students) and creating ave-
nues for ongoing career learning. With the
increasing spread of the internet, and the
availability of tested teaching models that
use these technologies, these methods rep-
resent a clear opportunity for bringing training
and support on topics like gender, gender-
based violence and sexuality to teachers,
including those in rural and other less access-
ible areas. Finally, continued research and
rigorous evaluation of the various efforts to
improve teaching and learning is a critical (and
often overlooked) aspect of addressing edu-
cation on sex, gender, sexuality and violence.
Integrating the various perspectives – service
providers, parents, teachers and learners’
experiences and voices – into these evalua-
tions is essential.
Acknowledgements
The author gratefully acknowledges the
contribution of other project team members
to this paper: Carmen Corral-Bulnes, Tsitsi
Mpofu-Mketwa, Talia Meer, Giula Bova and
Lorna Morris.
Notes
1. Quotes are drawn from the research transcripts of
focus group discussions and interviews.
2. Today’s Choices (both teacher guides and learner
workbooks) are available for Grades 10–12, and at the
time of writing are being compiled for Grades 7–9.
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KELLEY MOULT is the Acting Director of the Gender, Health and Justice
Research Unit at the University of Cape Town. Her recent work focuses on
gender-based violence policy and implementation in various spheres, including
in criminal justice, health and education. Email: kmoult@gmail.com

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