Abstract
How realistic is the international policy emphasis on schools ‘substituting for families’ of HIV/AIDS-affected children? We explore the ethic of care in Zimbabwean schools to highlight the poor fit between the western caring schools literature and daily realities of schools in different material and cultural contexts. Interviews and focus groups were conducted with 44 teachers and 55 community members, analysed in light of a companion study of HIV/AIDS-affected pupils’ own accounts of their care-related experiences. We conceptualise schools as spaces of engagement between groups with diverse needs and interests (teachers, pupils and surrounding community members), with attention to the pathways through which extreme adversity impacts on those institutional contexts and social identifications central to giving and receiving care. Whilst teachers were aware of how they might support children, they seldom put these ideas into action. Multiple factors undermined caring teacher-pupil relationships in wider contexts of poverty and political uncertainty: loss of morale from low salaries and falling professional status; the inability of teachers to solve HIV/AIDS-related problems in their own lives; the role of stigma in deterring HIV/AIDS-affected children from disclosing their situations to teachers; authoritarian teacher-learner relations and harsh punishments fuelling pupil fear of teachers; and lack of trust in the wider community. These factors undermined: teacher confidence in their skills and capacity to support affected pupils and motivation to help children with complex problems; solidarity and common purpose amongst teachers, and between teachers and affected children; and effective bridging alliances between schools and their surrounding communities–all hallmarks of HIV-competent communities. We caution against ambitious policy expansions of teachers' roles without recognition of the personal and social costs of emotional labour, and the need for significant increases in resources and institutional recognition to enable teachers to adopt support roles. We highlight the need for research into how best to create opportunities for teacher recognition in deprived and disorganised institutional settings, and the development of more culturally appropriate notions of caring.
Highlights
How can schools facilitate the inclusion and well-being of HIV/AIDS-affected children in subSaharan Africa? In the region 21.8 million adults and 2.9 million children (14 and under) are living with HIV, and 15.1 million children have lost one or both parents to AIDS [1,2]
How realistic is the international policy emphasis on schools ‘substituting for families’ of HIV/AIDS-affected children? We explore the ethic of care in Zimbabwean schools to highlight the poor fit between the western caring schools literature and daily realities of schools in different material and cultural contexts
To what extent is this policy expectation realistic? Are teachers prepared, willing and able to take on the pastoral care and social protection of children with complex problems? To what extent does the basis for such an ethic of care exist?. We explore these issues through a study of understandings and practices of care by teachers in rural Zimbabwe, locating these issues within the complex spaces of engagement between children, teachers and surrounding community members that constitute the school environment
Summary
How can schools facilitate the inclusion and well-being of HIV/AIDS-affected children in subSaharan Africa? In the region 21.8 million adults (aged 15 and over) and 2.9 million children (14 and under) are living with HIV, and 15.1 million children have lost one or both parents to AIDS [1,2]. How can schools facilitate the inclusion and well-being of HIV/AIDS-affected children in subSaharan Africa? International policies increasingly advocate an enhanced role for schools in caring for HIV/AIDS-affected children [4,5]. Are teachers prepared, willing and able to take on the pastoral care and social protection of children with complex problems? Given wider international debates about the role of local communities in responding to social problems–in contexts of reduced welfare support from governments and the contraction of international development funding–Zimbabwe provides a productive site for exploring the potential for indigenous local responses to HIV/ AIDS in marginalised settings that lack substantial external help or support [10]
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