Clusters of meaning: portraits of teachers’ lives
5.3 Diverse lives, multiple subjectivities
5.3.5 The knowledgeable teacher: ‘expert and intellectual empowerer’
183
conflicting subjectivities. However, there were no distinct boundaries between Andrew’s counter-narratives, since his ‘supportive’ subjectivity fluctuated, demonstrating multiple subjectivities and differential power relations, as he travels between conflicting subjectivities.
Andrew’s conflicting subjectivities demonstrate Kraus’s (2006) notion of ‘multiplicity of meanings’ and ‘fragmented experiences’. According to Kraus (2006), Andrew’s narrative can be viewed as a multifaceted resource which enables us to understand how he constructs multiple subjectivities. Moreover, Andrew’s conflicting subjectivities illustrates Gilbert’s (2002) assertion that narratives represent lived experiences and could change, evolve and be reinterpreted.
All narrative collaborators associated performing this ‘supportive’ subjectivity with having sound knowledge of HIV and AIDS. The following discussion examines this ‘knowledgeable teacher’ subjectivity, although later in this chapter, I expand further on this ‘knowledgeable teacher’ subjectivity and examine teachers HIV and AIDS knowledge in relation to their teaching in the spaces of the HIV and AIDS classroom.
184
knowledgeable about HIV and AIDS and felt equipped to assist learners if they came to him with problems. He added that the ‘knowledgeable teacher’ must provide knowledge and facts, as well as dispel myths. Likewise, Nombu found these workshops useful for facilitating discussions and sharing knowledge with colleagues, adding that she gained knowledge and confidence as well as counselling skills to help learners who are HIV positive. She also asserted that ‘knowledgeable teachers’ should be able to differentiate between facts about HIV and AIDS and myths surrounding the disease, so that learners know the truth about HIV and AIDS and how to cope with it. Even though Sandile and Nombu claimed that Department of Education workshops were useful and improved their HIV and AIDS knowledge, they nevertheless recommended that Department of Education and universities should organise more HIV and AIDS workshops. Such workshops, they contend, should be on-going and should distribute more resources to support and assist teachers in their teaching about HIV and AIDS. In as much as Sandile and Nombu position themselves as knowledgeable and confident to teach about HIV and AIDS, it is possible that such a request conceals a hidden, conflicting subjectivity. This could mean that their confidence shifts and at times they feel insecure and doubtful about their knowledge to teach HIV and AIDS education.
Mary-Ann echoed that she has attended many HIV and AIDS workshops, both as a psychologist, and as a facilitator. Moreover, she was seconded as a Subject Advisor to the Provincial Department of Education and has conducted regular workshops to train teachers.
This, she suggests, is an added advantage, and she positions herself as an ‘intellectual empowerer’ which enables her to pass on knowledge and empower teachers and learners. In the following excerpts, Mary-Ann explicitly identifies herself as a ‘knowledgeable teacher’:
I constantly ask myself: What can I do better? It is important to keep the topic alive, so I update my knowledge to give learners the correct information. I definitely believe that I can make a difference, and that the more information learners have the better. I try hard as a teacher to find out as much as I can to answer learners questions directly. If learners have intellectual satisfaction, they are more likely to act on it.
(Mary-Ann, Interview)
185
...furnish him with the necessary knowledge and skills so he would be assertive. (Mary-Ann, Scenario one, question 1)
186
In contrast, Zibuyile was the only narrative collaborator who maintained that the Department of Education did not arrange workshops or provide relevant HIV and AIDS teaching resources. Notwithstanding such poor support from the Department of Education, Zibuyile contends: I have the knowledge about HIV and AIDS and they say knowledge is key. She goes on to say that I am their role model and they want to be like me, makes me practice what I teach. I can spread the message about HIV and AIDS. My knowledge, understanding and experiences of HIV and AIDS make me better able to teach about it. However, she does not make explicit how she became knowledgeable or obtained knowledge about HIV and AIDS.
Andrew’s response below when asked to identify critical lessons highlights his
‘knowledgeable’ subjectivity:
I didn’t mean to write essays on these but the ideas just kept coming. At times, hard, because it’s not easy to sit, think and face something that affects you personally. I need to start with a disclaimer: I don’t presume to have the answers – they’re just ideas. This disease is a humbling one – we can never presume to know enough. Each day, I’m still learning and questioning.
The dynamic nature of such ‘knowledgeable’ subjectivities is evident when he explains that he is still learning and questioning each day. However, he disrupts such ‘knowledgeable’
subjectivities when he adds that we can never presume to know enough and that he doesn’t presume to have the answers.
All narrative collaborators concurred that ‘knowledgeable teachers’ employ updated resources and information. Zibuyile noted that to be a better teacher I had to do more research and give them better information. Sandile explained that his school had limited resources to teach about HIV and AIDS, therefore, he used textbooks and charts which he obtained from workshops, found his own resources, visited the well-resourced teachers’
library in town and networked with other teachers. In the same vein, Nombu maintained that she gathers her own resources, like articles from newspapers and information booklets.
Likewise, Mary-Ann uses the resources she received at workshops, and in addition to being an avid reader, she also collects many articles from books and manuals.