Breaking the Silence Through Delivering Comprehensive Sexuality Education to Learners with Disabilities in South Africa: Educators Experiences

Comprehensive sexuality education is seen as a key intervention to address the high HIV-incidence rate and low knowledge among young people in South Africa, yet this lacks inclusion of learners with disabilities. At the same time, educators of learners with disabilities experience cultural barriers and lack skills and knowledge on how to deliver sexuality education in accessible formats. In response, the Breaking the Silence approach, a curriculum implementation and disability-accommodating approach, was developed and tested. This paper presents findings from a formative evaluation using in-depth interviews with educators from eight “schools for learners with special educational needs”. The paper focuses on their experience with implementing the approach. The analysis used conventional content analysis and NVIVO software. Educators conceptualized sexuality education within a risk-protection discourse. They revealed that the training and tools enabled them to provide sexuality education in accessible formats, tackle difficult topics such as sexual orientation and masturbation, and improved awareness and assertiveness within their learners. Educators identified the need for further development including a whole school approach, adjustments to differentiating developmental stages and addressing gender-specific topics. Through its application within the South African mainstream Life Orientation curriculum, this approach lends itself for further development and testing through implementing the approach within a whole school setting and ongoing support that will not only drive change in educators’ skills and knowledge but also drive the needed shift in cultural norms and values.