Ngwena (2003) as cited in Rooth (2005, p.11) view ‘Life Orientation as central to the holistic development of learners. It is concerned with the social, personal, intellectual, emotional and physical growth of learners and with the way in which these facets are interrelated. The focus is the development of the self-in-society. It guides and prepares learners for life and its possibilities and equips learners for meaningful and successful living in a rapidly changing and transforming society’. The subject of Life Orientation intrinsically responds to urgent concerns such as the health, environmental and safety issues to which learners are exposed, the HIV and AIDS pandemic and youth risk behaviour. It develops and equips learners with the necessary strategies that prepare them to consider the right choices and act accordingly’.
According to the new Curriculum Assessment and Policy Statement Grades 7-9 Department of Basic Education (2011, p.8) the subject of Life Orientation is central to the holistic development of learners. It addresses skills, knowledge and values for the personal, social, intellectual, emotional and physical growth of learners, and is concerned with the way in which these facets are interrelated. Life Orientation guides and prepares learners for life and its possibilities and equips them for meaningful and successful living in a rapidly changing and transforming society.
The focus of Life Orientation is the development of the self-in-society. It promotes self-motivation and teaches learners how to apply goal-setting, problem-solving and decision-making strategies.
These serve to facilitate individual growth as part of an effort to create a democratic society, a
productive economy and an improved quality of life. Learners are guided to develop their full potential and are provided with opportunities to make informed choices regarding personal and environmental health, study opportunities and future careers. Life Orientation helps to develop beneficial social interactions, such as respecting others’ rights and values and promotes lifelong participation in recreation and physical activity.
The subject contains five topics in the Senior phase (Grades 7-9):
• Development of the self in society;
• Health, social and environmental responsibility;
• Constitutional rights and responsibilities;
• Physical education; and
• World of work.
Sexuality education in the subject Life Orientation in Grade 7 falls within the Development of the self in society (Department of Basic Education 2011, p. 10).
Life Orientation aims to:
• Guide learners to achieve their full physical, intellectual, personal, emotional and social potential;
• Develop learners’ skills to respond to challenges and play an active and responsible role in the economy and society;
• Teach learners to exercise their constitutional rights and responsibilities and to respect the rights of others;
• Guide learners to make informed and responsible decisions about their health, environment, subject choices, further studies and careers; and
• Provide opportunities for learners to demonstrate an understanding of, and participate in activities that promote movement and physical development.
The Life Orientation as a subject ‘aims to empower learners to use their talents to achieve their full physical, intellectual, personal, emotional and social aspects. Learners will develop skills to relate positively and make a contribution to family, community and society, while practicing the values embedded in the Constitution. They will learn to exercise their constitutional rights and responsibilities, to respect the rights of others and to show tolerance for cultural and religious diversity in order to build a democratic society’ (Department of Education, 2003, p.4). The Life Orientation curriculum expressly revolves around learners achieving outcomes, which are identified and assessed through the acquisition and demonstration of knowledge, skills, attitudes and values (Department of Education, 2002b). Values are continuously referred to in health promotion, life skills education, physical education, citizenship education, environmental education, religion education and generally in Life Orientation, be it from a health perspective, civic stance or a life skills approach (Department of Education,2002b; 2002c). Similarly, important aspects such as culture, language and values which are pivotal in creating unity in societies and consign to culture, religious and linguistic diversity are recognized (Department of Education, 2004).
According to the Department of Education (2002) and Rooth (2005), Life Orientation aims to:
• provide opportunities for learners to understand themselves;
• develop skills and attitudes to improve their social relationships;
• develop respect for other peoples’ beliefs and values, respect human rights of all;
• develop life and decision-making skills, assess career and other opportunities, and set and pursue goals in relation to their potential; and
• learn values and attitudes needed for a healthy and balanced lifestyle, participate in human movement and development’ ( Department of Education,2002; Rooth, 2005).
The former National Minister of Education, Professor Kader Asmal advocated sexuality teaching in schools. He believed that this role could no longer be left solely to the responsibility of the parents, but instead be implemented in schools (Department of Education, 1999). The Department of
Education’s (2000) Call to Action at the time, and the Implementation Plan for Tirisano, which is loosely translated as ‘Working together’, targeted the educational and health needs of the learners with particular reference to HIV and AIDS, substance abuse, gender and sexuality. These are all crucial aspects underscoring significance of Life Orientation to a broader vision of in South African education (Rooth, 2005). The Policy Document, Implementation for Tirisano (1999) mandates the implementation of sexuality education to primary school learners as early as six years of age before they are sexually active in order to create HIV and AIDS awareness and age-appropriate programmes at all levels in the curriculum.
In all the phases of the General Education and Training band and Further Education and Training band certain constituents both in Life Skills and Life Orientation are not regarded as ancillary aspects but an obligatory requirement of the curriculum such as reproductive health and sexuality education. Implicit in the curriculum is factual knowledge on HIV and AIDS; that accountability in sexuality depends on qualities such as integrity, intuition and not merely the acquisition of knowledge as an aid for acquiring these qualities (Fenton, 2003). Thereafter sexuality education became compulsory in all government schools in South Africa (Van Rooyen, 1997). Sexuality education thus became firmly entrenched as a subject in Life Orientation offered up to the General Education and Training level in schools (Department of Education, 2002). Van Rooyen and Louw (1997) argue that by introducing the subject in schools as well as the revised and extended interim guidance programme of the government, the tuition and education field of the educator also has to formally cover not only the subject knowledge, but also aspects such as the child’s family life, relationships, recreation and sexuality.
According to Mchunu (2007, p.3) ‘sexuality education is part of the life orientation curriculum and teachers have an obligation to teach it. The secondary literature on sexuality education indicates that there are numerous difficulties associated with teaching it, despite pressing reasons that it be well taught to all school learners. Difficulties in delivering successful sexuality education include
parental resistance, conservative cultural and religious beliefs, poor policy and inadequately motivated educators’.
The issue of religion and sexuality in life orientation has received negative publicity and much resistance from religious fundamentalists (Chisholm, 2004) leading to confusion about this learning area. Words such as ‘morality’, ‘values’ ,‘beliefs’ and ‘attitudes’ appear frequently in the vocabulary of Life Orientation as part of its psychosocial and epistemological domain. Asmal (2002, p.4) indicates that ‘greatness of society depends on our proficiency to integrate these values which defines our South Africanness’.
Rhodes and Roux (2004, p. 25) write ‘a value is more than a belief, it constitutes a worthiness of a norm or principle entrenched in individuals, groups, religious or belief systems’. Values are integrated in eight learning areas in National Curriculum Statement [NCS] (Department of Education,2003), thus implying that ‘educators would have to facilitate different values and belief systems into all learning areas across the curriculum, but especially in Life Orientation’ (Rhodes &
Roux, 2004, p. 26). The importance of values is seen to be essential for both personal development, as well as to guarantee the creation of unique identities from those envisaged under the apartheid education system (Department of Education, 2002). Veugelers (2000, p. 40) notes that ‘the values educators find important for their students are expressed in the content of their instruction and the way they teach. The values educators adhere to, as well as the values they teach both covertly and overtly, affect Life Orientation dissemination as a whole and sexuality education in particular’.
However, ‘within the framework provided by the Department of Education (2001) it is compulsory for life orientation educators to teach learners about HIV and AIDS and sexuality’ (Jacobs, 2011, p.212). Mosia (2009) and Prinsloo (2007) revealed that many educators still did not understand and implement life orientation programmes appropriately as they are generally dissatisfied with its constituents and training levels provided. They further claim that the teaching of this subject is abondoned because educators underestimated their abilities and expertise as the subject is not taken
seriously. Educators were also aware that their teaching did not go beyond the classroom as learners forgot what they learnt when they were challenged by influences outside the school.