Given the important role teachers can play in reducing the impact of the AIDS pandemic, the HIV and AIDS Programme has prioritized teacher development and works closely with the Faculty of Education to integrate matters related to HIV and teaching into all levels of the faculty’s teacher training programmes. Numerous new modules have been developed for pre-and in-service education students, and the faculty itself has taken bold steps to integrate year-long modules on HIV and teaching at the B.Ed. and PGCE levels.

In 2010, the faculty and the programme began South Africa’s first B.Ed. honours specialization area in AIDS education. Master’s and Ph.D. supervisions in the field have grown dramatically in the past several years. Core to the HIV-related modules is the understanding that while not all teachers will necessarily be teaching about HIV and AIDS, all teachers should be able to respond to the many and varied challenges the pandemic brings to their classrooms and to learning. The faulty and programme have approached HIV as an opportunity to engage existing and future teachers in matters related to their own teaching practice, seeking to strengthen overall teaching skills and thereby increase the overall quality of education.