HIV and Aids in Schools - Books from the IEA - Brief Article - Book Review

Education Next, Fall, 2003

The Political Economy of Pressure Groups and Miseducation Barrie Craven, Pauline Dixon, Gordon Stewart and James Tooley Price $18.00 plus shipping

HIV and Aids teaching is compulsory in British schools but the content is not prescribed. Should teaching in such a difficult field, where there are disputes among experts, be left to school teachers with no specialist knowledge'? And is it right that the subject should be compulsory at all?

These awkward issues are confronted in this controversial book which examines the materials being used in HIV/Aids teaching and how the teachers are approaching the subject. The authors suggest that, because of material provided by pressure groups, teachers are exaggerating the Aids problem and failing to stress the extent to which the risk of infection depends on behaviour.

Their conclusion about Britain is that HIV/Aids teaching should no longer be compulsory. Either the law should be repealed or schools should simply drop the subject.

2001, Occasional Paper 121, ISBN 0-255 36522 5, 112pp