NAT is working to educate young people about HIV, so that the next generation can safeguard their own sexual health and help to break down the stigma and discrimination around HIV.
We have produced a free HIV in Schools pack that gives teachers resources to help integrate HIV into the national curriculum for key stages three and four across a range of subjects. Our schools pack is available for download here.
We also help schools understand their responsibilities to staff and pupils who are living with HIV. You can find out more in our section aimed at helping schools meet the needs of people living with HIV.
Discrimination in schools
In the UK there are 1500 children and young people living with HIV and 20,000 young people have a family member who has HIV. In 2007 an investigation by NAT (National AIDS Trust) revealed that children living with HIV were facing discrimination in schools.
Discrimination uncovered included children as young as five being refused school places, and young people being treated differently and unfairly, all because of their HIV status. In one case a parent was informed if her daughter was to attend the school the catering staff would have to be told the girl had HIV. In another, a child found out that they had HIV when their teacher disclosed the fact in class. In many cases the distress caused has meant parents have had to move their child to new schools and have been advised by health workers not to tell the school about their child’s status for fear of further discrimination.
All of these cases are a consequence of teachers not understanding the facts about HIV. Having a child living with HIV in school poses no risk to staff or pupils. HIV is not passed on by spitting, biting, small cuts or grazes, sharing utensils or toilets seats. There has been no known case of HIV transmission in a school. Virtually all HIV positive children are completely healthy for the majority of their school career. They have regular clinical check-ups and those that need medication may take it at home once or twice a day. Yet the information on Teachernet, the key DCSF web-based resource for teachers, implied a risk-assessment needed to be carried out for children living with HIV, and that they might not be able to take part in certain lessons.
NAT and have been campaigning for the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) to help end this discrimination by taking proactive steps to ensure that schools understand their legal responsibilities (under the Disability Discrimination Act 2005) to children living with HIV.
This campaign was the focus of World AIDS Day 2008 and including a petition calling on the Prime Minister to tackle this discrimination, which received over 1,500 signatures. The campaign also received considerable media attention, with articles in ‘The Guardian’, ‘The Observer’ and ‘The Times Educational Supplement’, as well as a piece on Radio 4’s ‘Woman’s Hour’. NAT, with the support of three high profile teaching unions, wrote to the Secretary of State for Children Schools and Families, asking for him to take action.
After extensive conversations with the Department, which were frustrating at times, we are delighted at the progress that we have made. The DCSF agreed to take down the damaging information about HIV on Teachernet, which actually reinforced stigma and misunderstanding, and now redirect teachers to NAT’s schools resources. They also sent an email to all local authorities reminding them of their legal responsibility to protect children from disability discrimination, and explicitly referred to HIV in this email.
NAT has also recently been invited to sit on the DCSF’s ‘Managing Medicines’ stakeholder group, which is focusing on re-launching this publication to include HIV for the first time. This resource is going to be available for teachers if they want guidance or advice if they have a child with a long-term condition in their class, and will provide a true picture of HIV. We shall include a link to this resource once it has been completed.
Sex Education in Schools
NAT is a member of the Sex Education Forum, which has campaigned for a number of years to make Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE), including Sex and Relationships Education (SRE) a compulsory part of the school curriculum.
At the moment, schools only have to teach the biological side of sex, contraception and STIs. This means that many people leave school without receiving adequate education about how to protect themselves from HIV and STIs when having sexual relationships.
SRE enables young people to:
- To understand what is risky behaviour and what is not
- To be able to negotiate condom use and safer sex
- To avoid being pressured into unwanted or unprotected sex, particularly linked to issues of peer pressure, drugs and alcohol.
This is why we welcome the Government's recent decision to make PSHE compulsory. NAT is calling on the Government to ensure that the new PSHE curriculum will address HIV fully, as well as same-sex relationships, and stigma and discrimination.
We are also calling for effective training for all teachers delivering PSHE which will mean that they can teach these topics confidently and sensitively.
More information about the Sex Education Forum on its website.
To share your thoughts and experiences on education and HIV please email Policy and Campaigns Team