HIV/AIDS Educators study (ELRC) 2005: Student educator data - All provinces in South Africa

Description: The objective of this study was to collect information about demand and supply of educators based in public educational institutions and FET colleges in South Africa. This data set has 919 records and 326 variables addressing the impact of HIV/AIDS on student educators in South African. It contains the biographic data, study subjects responsibilities, work load, impact of HIV on student educators, absenteeism, morale and job satisfaction, training and support, substance use, violence within schools, sexual behaviour, male condom accessibility, HIV/AIDS knowledge, communication about HIV/AIDS, risk perception, Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT), tuberculosis, health service utilisation, HIV status. The data contains 326 variables and 919 cases.

Abstract: The study on the impact of HIV/AIDS on educators in South African public schools build on other studies conducted on HIV/AIDS epidemic. In response to HIV/AIDS resolutions of the education convention of 2002, this study sought for deeper understanding of the impact of HIV/AIDS on the education sector and effectiveness of policies and programmes in addressing the HIV/AIDS epidemic in South Africa. The process of planning for human resources in the teaching profession is crucial to the supply and demand of sufficiently qualified educators. Understanding of drivers of the HIV/AIDS epidemic for educators, direction the epidemic takes and precise impact it has on educators is essential. The HIV/AIDS epidemic complicated prediction of teacher attrition and mortality. For this reason, the South African Education Labour Relations Council (ELRC) commissioned the HSRC-led consortium to undertake this study. The study aimed at gathering information to assist the government and unions in the ELRC in planning educator supply/demand at national, provincial and district level. The specific objectives were to determine: the prevalence of HIV, drivers of the epidemic, the most affected areas, mortality rate, attrition rate, policies currently in place, trend in enrolment of learners and the impact of the life skills programme on HIV/AIDS, amongst educators in public schools in South Africa. The key findings were: high prevalence of HIV amongst the educators and various drivers of HIV/AIDS epidemic namely behavioural, knowledge deficit, lack of self-efficacy skills, migratory practices, gender, and alcohol misuse. In addition, chronic conditions such as hypertension, stomach ulcers, arthritis and diabetes were common. High proportion of educators would be lost due to job dissatisfaction, job stress and low morale. The health status and working conditions of the educators need to be improved in order to minimize the effect of HIV/AIDS. The ELRC is best suited to facilitate the implementation of the findings made in this study.