Supporting Lesotho teachers to develop resilience in the face of the HIV and AIDS pandemic Lesley Wood a, * , Grace Makeletso Ntaote b,1 , Linda Theron c a Faculty of Education, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, PO Box 70000, Port Elizabeth 6031, South Africa b Grace Makeletso Ntaote, Lesotho College of Education, PO Box 1393, Maseru 100, Lesotho c Linda Theron, North West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, PO Box 1174, Vanderbijlpark 1900, South Africa article info Article history: Received 17 August 2011 Received in revised form 24 November 2011 Accepted 27 November 2011 Keywords: Drawing HIV and AIDS Lesotho Orphans and children rendered vulnerable by HIV and AIDS Teacher education Teacher resilience Visual methodologies abstract HIV and AIDS threaten to erode the wellbeing of teachers who are faced with an increasing number of children rendered vulnerable by the pandemic. This article explores the usefulness of a supportive group intervention, Resilient Educators (REds), in supporting Lesotho teachers to respond to the HIV and AIDS- related challenges. A time-series pre- and post-intervention design was used to evaluate the programme. The findings indicate that the intervention led to an increase in the sense of agency of participating teachers both on a personal and community level. The findings have international significance for teachers working in similar contexts characterised by extreme adversity. Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Like many other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, Lesotho has been seriously affected by the HIV and AIDS pandemic (UNAIDS, 2007). It is one of the six countries in Southern Africa affected by this humanitarian crisis that is fuelled by poverty, unemployment and social injustices (UNAIDS, 2007). As a result of the substantial number of AIDS-related adult deaths (UNAIDS, 2007), there has been a corresponding rise in the number of orphaned and vulner- able children (OVC) 2 (UNAIDS, 2005). In 2005 it was estimated that 34% of the children attending school in Lesotho had lost one or both parents to AIDS (Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, 2005). Although the incidence of AIDS-related mortality has decreased in Lesotho in recent years e from a constant 29,000 per annum between 2004 and 2008 to an estimated 14,000 in 2011 (Indexmundi, 2011) e due to the introduction of anti-retro viral medication, the number of OVC has not, since living with a parent who has a chronic illness (as HIV and AIDS is now regarded) is included as a high risk factor for vulnerability. The accuracy of these figures can also be called into question, since a fear of testing still predominates among the majority of the population (Alsoform & Glass, 2010). The socio-economic impact of HIV and AIDS is threatening the wellbeing of these children who are at increased risk of malnutri- tion, illness, abuse, sexual exploitation, homelessness and reduced access to education and health care (Byrne, 2002; Culver, 2007). Psychological problems, stemming from their life circumstances, manifest themselves in the classroom, in the form of limited concentration spans, increased anxiety, trauma, and depression (Ebersöhn & Eloff, 2002), all of which make teaching and learning a much more difficult task (Hepburn, 2002). The HIV and AIDS pandemic has thus posed challenges to teachers, with which the majority of them are struggling to cope (Bhana, Morrell, Epstein, & * Corresponding author. Tel.: þ27 (0)415042834; fax: þ27 (0)412822. E-mail addresses: lesley.wood@nmmu.ac.za (L. Wood), makeletsontaote@yahoo. co.uk (G.M. Ntaote), linda.theron@nwu.ax.za (L. Theron). 1 Tel.: þ266 22312721, þ266 58000072. 2 The acronym OVC, denoting orphaned and vulnerable children, is commonly used by most international agencies such as UNAIDS, UNICEF etc. There are some criticisms of using this acronym to denote this group of children, since it may be perceived as stigmatising and dehumanising. However, because it is such a common term, it is used in this study to denote any child whose vulnerability has increased due to the pandemic. Examples of such vulnerability include the following categories (Smart, 2003, p. viii): has experienced the death of one or both parents or family members; is neglected, abandoned, abused; has a chronically ill parent/guardian; has suffered increased poverty levels; has had their rights violated; and is HIV positive themselves. Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Teaching and Teacher Education journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/tate 0742-051X/$ e see front matter Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.tate.2011.11.009 Teaching and Teacher Education 28 (2012) 428e439