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RESEARCH SUMMARY

July 2003

Secondary School Principals Report Dramatic Expansion of Life Skills

In 1999, 277 principals from all of the secondary schools in the Durban Metro and Mtunzini districts in KwaZulu Natal Province were interviewed about the teaching of life skills education in their schools. The interviewers returned to the schools in 2001 to re-interview the principals, noting whether the same principal was in charge. The results presented are based on 257 matched pairs. Response rates at both times were greater than 95 percent. The surveys asked about the characteristics of the schools, the comprehensiveness and coverage of life skills education, demographic information about the respondents, and their attitudes about reproductive health issues and about teaching sexuality in school. No data were collected on the quality of teaching of the life skills curriculum.

Key Findings

More than 90 percent of schools offered life skills education in 2001, a significant increase from 1999. Life skills education coverage increased dramatically between 1999 and 2001, when the percentage of schools that taught any of the 11 life skills topics, according to principals’ reports, rose from 60 percent to 93 percent. There is an even greater increase in the percentage of schools that teach the six core life skills (contraception/pregnancy prevention, HIV prevention including condom use, care for people living with HIV and AIDS, prevention and symptoms of STDs, relationships and negotiation, and self-esteem/decision making), from 20 percent in 1999 to 66 percent in 2001. The percentage of schools with teachers trained for life skills increased from 76 percent to 94 percent.

Findings from the larger Transitions study of adolescents between the ages of 14 to 22 support the increase in life skills education that was found in the principals’ data. Adolescents reported higher levels of exposure to the core life skills topics in the 2001 survey as compared to the 1999 survey. Instruction in at least one format (either as an independent subject, integrated into other courses, or as a special presentation) of the following topics increased by 15 percent or more: STD prevention and symptoms, HIV prevention, care for people living with HIV and AIDS, relationships with the opposite sex, and self-esteem/decision making. These improvements were similar for males and females.

Principals showed greater support for adolescent girls to attend school during pregnancy and after giving birth. Fewer principals said that pregnant students should be asked to leave school (from 54 percent in 1999 to 38 percent in 2001 and a greater percentage of principals said that teenage students should be allowed to return after giving birth (from 88 percent in 1999 to 95 percent in 2001). Both of these changes were statistically significant (p < 0.05).

Several other items also changed, but not significantly: Fewer said that virginity testing is a good way to discourage sex (41 percent in 1999 and 38 percent in 2001) and that students who are HIV-positive should not be allowed in school (9 percent in 1999 to 7 percent in 2001).

African, Asian, and mixed-race schools and schools with high-risk student bodies achieved the greatest expansion of life skills instruction. Schools that are predominantly African, Asian, or racially mixed show the greatest increases in providing instruction in any life skills area and in the core life skills topics. In 1999, those schools where the principal perceived the students to be at high risk of pregnancy and HIV infection were significantly less likely to offer life skills education than schools where the students were not at risk. By 2001, according to principal reports, schools with high-risk students showed the greatest improvement in offering life skills education (Figure 1).

Discussion

By 2001, most secondary school students in the Durban Metro and Mtunzini districts had been exposed to information to help them reduce their risk of pregnancy and HIV/STIs. This represents an important increase since 1999. The greatest expansion of life skills instruction was found in the African, Asian, and mixed-race schools and in schools where the principals perceived the student bodies to be at high risk. Despite the overall positive picture, more resources are still needed for schools lagging behind or that do not currently offer any life skills education.

July 2003

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This page updated
19 October 2007

July 2003

Secondary School Principals Report Dramatic Expansion of Life Skills

Life Skills Topics