Addressing HIV/AIDS education: A look at teacher preparedness in Ghana

Our research shows that social science university trained Ghanaian student/teachers do have the knowledge, confidence, and willingness to address HIV/AIDS issues in their teaching, yet they do not. The reason, we argue, is that teachers have little incentive to address contentious issues in the classroom. Questionnaires were administered to 382 University of Education, Winneba students, 61 of whom were just returning from year-long placements. We conclude with the argument that the rethinking of the current dominant approach to curriculum is necessary and that a curriculum that will better support teachers in addressing controversial issues such as HIV/AIDS in the classroom should be considered.