An alternative approach to
a complex issue: Youth-
designed strategies for
the prevention of teenage
pregnancy in schools

Abstract
Teenage pregnancy of school-going girls is a persistent concern,
not only in South Africa, but globally. Despite various curricular
responses aimed at educating young people about prevention, the
numbers continue to rise. While recognising the intersectionality
of teenage pregnancy, we believe that school-based prevention
measures can play an important role in helping youth to make
healthy decisions about their sexual behaviour. However, the
effectiveness of the prevention messages depends on how they
are designed and delivered. Using a participatory action research
design, we engaged 24 peer educators in a process of data
generation and analysis to help them to design, implement and
evaluate prevention strategies that were found to be youth-friendly,
contextualised and culturally relevant. This approach benefitted not
only the participating youth in terms of the development of specific
life skills, but also influenced how they, their peers and teachers
began to think differently about the issue of teenage pregnancy.
The research also influenced change in school policy. The findings
thus indicate that the involvement of youth in finding ways to
address issues that affect their lives may be an important way to
improve the effectiveness of such programmes.

Keywords: participatory action research; participatory video; photo
voice; sexuality education

1. Introduction
The number of teenage pregnancies in South Africa
increased by over 30 000 per annum between 2011 and
2013 – a situation that the Department of Education
views as “alarming” (Masondo, 2015:1). In response, the
South African Council for Educators and the government
have called for change in the sexuality education offered in
schools, the provision of condoms and more involvement
from parents and other social services. This latter plea
indicates that the government recognises pregnancy
while still in school as a wider social issue, stemming from
intersectional systems of oppression and inequality, rather
than just being a symptom of ineffective education. While
there are many incidences of rape, not to mention sexual
abuse by teachers, the majority of pregnancies do occur

Dr F Hendricks
Faculty of Education, Nelson
Mandela University

Prof L Wood
COMBER, Faculty of
Education, North-West
University

DOI: http://dx.doi.
org/10.18820/2519593X/pie.
v35i1.4
ISSN 0258-2236
e-ISSN 2519-593X
Perspectives in Education
2017 35(1): 40-53
© UV/UFS

http://dx.doi.org/10.18820/2519593X/pie.v35i1.4
http://dx.doi.org/10.18820/2519593X/pie.v35i1.4
http://dx.doi.org/10.18820/2519593X/pie.v35i1.4

Hendricks & Wood An alternative approach to a complex issue

as a result of teenagers having consensual sex (even if they are under the statutory age
of consent).

We proceed from the viewpoint that current curricular approaches to sexuality education
are geared more towards the moral stance of abstinence rather than recognising teenagers
as legitimate sexual beings (Francis, 2010) who need to learn how to respond to their
natural desires, without risking their future prospects. Pregnancy among school-going youth
is mostly unplanned and there is ample evidence that it can have negative consequences
for the teenage mother and more especially for the child (Ashcraft & Lang, 2006; Kirby &
Lepore, 2007). Prevention of pregnancy among teenagers is also vital in light of the persisting
HIV infection rate among 15–25 year olds (Pettifor et al., 2004). This also makes it imperative
that condom use is promoted as the preferred method of contraception, rather than just
hormonal contraceptives.

Teenage pregnancy among school-going youth is thus a complex problem, which needs
to be addressed as part of a multi-pronged approach to improving the quality of life and life
opportunities of youth and their communities (Panday et al., 2009). However, in the meantime,
what can be done in schools to improve the sexuality education curriculum and, in particular,
education about prevention of teenage pregnancy? This question was of concern to us as
a teacher educator/researcher at a tertiary institution and a Life Orientation teacher in a
school that has had up to 17 reported pregnancies per annum in the last few years (and
several more unreported). Although the prevention of pregnancy is a topic in the subject Life
Orientation, which all learners have to take, there are concerns about how it is (not) addressed
by teachers for reasons ranging from not feeling comfortable or competent to talk about sex,
to foregrounding their own moral and religious convictions (Nzioka & Ramos, 2008). Sexuality
education has not proven to be very successful in changing the behaviour of youth, since
education divorced from their everyday life contexts does not engage young people, and may
even have the opposite effect of alienating them (Francis, 2012: UNESCO, 2011).

Boonstra’s (2015) review of international literature indicated that effective sexuality
education helped to delay age of sexual debut and to debunk the many potentially dangerous
myths that abound among youth. However, what is considered effective? Abstinence-only
programmes aggravate a moral, judgemental approach to sexuality education, which is not
effective among young people (Hacker et al., 2000). Merely imparting information also does
not help (Kirby, 2011; Philliber, Kaye & Herling, 2001). What does seem to have a better
impact are programmes that involve youth in the creation of knowledge and that position them
as experts in problems that affect their lives (Kegler et al., 2003). The findings of the first cycle
of our research (Wood & Hendricks, 2017) indicated that teenagers view their very lifestyle
as high risk – just being teenagers and doing the things they enjoy make them vulnerable to
having unprotected sex. So how do we help them to take precautions as they express their
desires, needs and wants? One way would be to involve youth themselves in the design and
implementation of prevention strategies, an idea that is being heralded in various countries
(Boonstra, 2015). This led us to formulate our research question:

How might participatory methods help youth to create relevant and contextualised
strategies for addressing teenage pregnancy?

In this article, we focus on the second cycle of an action research project with youth
at a socially and economically disadvantaged school in South Africa. In the first cycle,
24 participating youth generated data about how they and their peers perceived teenage

Perspectives in Education 2017: 35(1)

pregnancy and what they thought needed to be done about it (Wood & Hendricks, 2017).
Based on their findings, they developed prevention messages to address the topic in a youth-
friendly, contextualised and relevant way. We first contextualise the research and explicate
which theories influenced our choice of working with the youth in a participatory way, before
explaining the methodology adopted. We then present the messages and related prevention
strategies developed by the participants. We also present evidence of the influence these
strategies had on the participants, other learners and teachers in this school and in other
schools where they presented their prevention messages. The knowledge and methods we
share in this article may be helpful to others who wish to engage with youth to address the
issues of teenage pregnancy in their own specific contexts.

2. Overview of larger action research project and development
of prevention messages

In this first cycle, we asked for volunteers from the existing body of peer educators in the
school, who had undergone the basic peer educator training from the Department of Basic
Education. Twenty-four participants (14 girls and 10 boys) agreed to take part after being
briefed about the project. We adopted a participatory action research (PAR) design, because
it combines research and action with the participant being central to the process (Jacquez,
Vaughn & Wagner, 2013).

We engaged with the youth participants to help them generate data about the dominant
narratives of the young people in the school about teenage pregnancy, to educate themselves
about the issue within their specific context before using this knowledge to help them to devise
prevention strategies. The PAR process that was followed in this first cycle is reported on in
detail elsewhere (Wood & Hendricks, 2017), and suffice to say here that the youth participants
gathered data from their peers, including some who were teen parents, in answer to the
questions: “Why do you think teenage pregnancy is so common at our school? What impact
does it have on a teenager’s life, from your perspective? What do you think could be done
to prevent it?” Drawing also on their own knowledge and experiences, their analysis of the
data revealed three main themes: i) The very lifestyle of a teenager makes them high risk for
teenage pregnancy; ii) The consequences of unplanned pregnancy can really mess up their
life opportunities; iii) Sexuality education at school does not help them to practice safer sex.
Based on the findings, the participants then developed messages that they thought should be
disseminated to peers and, using a logic model framework (Kirby, 2001), determined which
strategies would be most effective to deliver these messages. Figure 1 outlines this process.

Figure 1: Development of prevention messages

Hendricks & Wood An alternative approach to a complex issue

2.1 Methods adopted in the second cycle
We suggested photo voice and participatory video production in this cycle for the creation of
prevention strategies because they embrace the prospect of unlocking a deeper understanding
of teenage pregnancy and its impact as the youth in this school visualise it (De Lange et al.,
2006). The artefacts created by participants allowed them to voice their opinions, perspectives
and experiences around teenage pregnancy in a non-threatening manner (Bennett & Roberts,
2004). These strategies allowed the participants to generate narratives by engaging them
in dialogue, leading them to provide a story behind a story (Singh & Matthews, 2008).
The participants also decided on using a messaging application on their phones to share
messages around condom use; to make condoms more easily available in school; and to
disseminate their messages within their school and to final year learners in the neighbouring
feeder primary schools. The participatory strategies used (photo voice; participatory video
production) doubled as prevention strategies. This is common in the notion of research as
social change (Schratz & Walker, 1995) – while conducting data generation, the process is
changing the way participants think, feel and act about the phenomenon in question.

For both photo voice and participatory video production (on separate occasions), we intro-
duced the concept to them by explaining how they are used to promote change (Wang 1999). We
facilitated a group discussion about the messages they wished to convey, based on their earlier
research findings. For participatory video, they were divided into groups to make a storyboard
to guide their shooting of the video. We then helped them to practise shooting photographs/
scenes. After giving them similar prompts –‘Take photographs/make a video that represent the
message(s) that you would like to give about teenage pregnancy” – they worked in groups to
shoot the photos/videos. We also explained the ethical considerations of such processes. Each
participant was involved in choosing photographs/scenes and in writing narratives to go with them.
They viewed each other’s photographs/videos and had a discussion around what it meant to
them. We recorded these sessions, which served as rich data for analysis by the participants and
ourselves later. The participants then decided on where, when and how to share these artefacts.

The usual ethical procedures were followed and the institutional ethics committee
approved the study in line with the stringent criteria they set. Trustworthiness of the data was
enhanced by multiple sources of data; a separate analysis by each researcher; participant
analysis; and final consensus on findings validated by participants; as well as a detailed audit
trail (Creswell, 2005).

3. Theoretical framing
Participatory action research is guided by a critical paradigm, which allows marginalised
voices to become centre stage (Rodríguez & Brown, 2009) and so performs an educative
and transformative role (Babbie & Mouton, 2010). A critical paradigm enabled us to work with
them to raise their awareness of teenage pregnancy and enable them to devise strategies to
deal with the issues it raises to improve the situation as it affects their lives (Mertens, 2009).
Although guided by this critical and transformative paradigm, we also drew on the more
interpretive social learning theory (Bandura, 1977) which explains behaviour as an outcome
of interaction between environmental factors, intrapersonal factors and how people make
sense of these. Too many programmes to prevent pregnancy focus on individual factors, for
example assertive training. This is not effective because social factors also play an important
role in influencing sexual behaviour. Social learning theory posits that behaviour is learnt;
therefore, change can be effected by providing new learning experiences. The three factors:

Perspectives in Education 2017: 35(1)

environment, thinking and behaviour are constantly influencing each other. Behaviour is
not simply the result of the environment and the person, just as the environment is not just
simply the result of the person and behaviour (Glanz et al., 2002). The aim in this study was
for peer educators to provide environmental inputs that would speak more effectively to the
individual youth and create a climate where teenage pregnancy was viewed as “uncool” and
thus hopefully influence them towards making healthier behavioural choices. At the same
time, participation in the project would increase their personal skills, honing their capacity for
leadership and critical thinking.

4. Discussion of findings
In presenting the data, codes are used to ensure participant anonymity and to indicate the
data source. The abbreviation (Pn) refers to participant and (FGn) refers to the focus group
discussions with other learners. These participants were quoted verbatim. The discussion is
structured according to the messages the participants identified based on their analysis of
data in cycle one (see Wood & Hendricks, 2017). For each message, we indicate how it was
conveyed within the various strategies and critically discuss how this approach might be more
likely to make an impact on their target audience in comparison with the usual strategies used
by teachers and other adults. We also present evidence of the influence that participation in
the project had on the peer educators, and the ways their strategies influenced their peers,
teachers and ultimately school policy.

4.1 Message 1: If you are having sex, then always use a condom
This message was repeated through the various strategies, but was most directly addressed
in one of the videos created by the participants. The poster created from the photographs by
one group of participants (Figure 2) sends a strong message to use condoms, by using an
acronym of some sort: Come On Now, Do Oppose pregnancy until Marriage.

Figure 2: Promoting condom use

Hendricks & Wood An alternative approach to a complex issue

Notably, the message is not that they should not have sex until marriage, but that they should
take precautions to make sure they do not fall pregnant. This is in contrast to the usual
messages so often conveyed by teachers and parents. The images in this poster point out
the consequences of teenage pregnancy and position it as “uncool”, but the message also
recognises that young people are capable of making responsible choices about their own
behaviour. It recognises that they are legitimate sexual beings (Francis, 2012) and that if they
decide to engage in sex, then they should be adult enough to protect themselves against the
negative and far-reaching consequences portrayed in the poster.

The video entitled “It’s your choice!” (https://youtu.be/8CJHdOSX7rA) clearly portrays the
responsibility of youth with regard to their sexual behaviour. This video was humorous as the
main characters were based on a local soap opera popular with the youth. The language
is colloquial and typical of how the young people talk, mixing English and Afrikaans and
highlighting the common myths that were identified in the data in cycle one (e.g. you don’t
get pregnant when you have sex for the first time!). The actions of the characters, although
exaggerated somewhat, are typical of how the young people talk and act. This video portrays
the young man as a womaniser, but instead of this boosting his popularity and image, he
ends up a “loser” and at the end entreats the audience to make the sensible choice and use
a condom. By highlighting the ability of the youth to make responsible, “adult” choices, the
message may be more likely to be given serious consideration than if abstinence is preached
as the only choice. Even when a more comprehensive approach is adopted towards sexuality
education, the message of adopting safe sex practices is more likely to be given as a command
– e.g. you must protect yourself – rather than conveyed in a humorous, contextually relevant
way by people the youth identify with, as it is in this case.

In addition to campaigning for the use of condoms through visual material, the participants
also requested that condoms be placed in a specific room in the school, so that learners could
access them without any embarrassment. This was the first time that school management
had agreed to have condoms available on school premises, therefore, their actions had
some impact on school policy. They also told their peers that they were available to answer
any questions about contraception. Another strategy they adopted was to send pictures via
WhatsApp to peers in their contact lists of a condom demonstration by a local nurse with short
messages such as “when you stand up, cover up!” and “make the right choice, condomise”.
Actions such as this helped to raise awareness within the school and open up discussions
among the learners.

Contrary to the fear that making condoms available may entice the youth to have sex,
recognising their ability to make responsible choices may have the opposite effect:

It improved my decision; it strengthens my abstinence of having sex before marriage
(FG7).

There was also evidence that it changed the way that the participants thought about their
behaviour in general:

Doing the photos and videos made me become more responsible not only in a sexual
way; to be more responsible as a person. It made me look at a girl in a different way. I
have more empathy for the girls (P5).

Using music, humour and familiar language, using images and scenarios that resonate
with the youth, the message to practise safe sex was thus delivered in a way that was

https://youtu.be/8CJHdOSX7rA

Perspectives in Education 2017: 35(1)

attractive to the youth audiences. It was also encompassed within the message that young
people are responsible enough to make choices that will enhance their future prospects, a
positive representation of youth that they may aspire to – and which incidentally is one of
the key features of the Life Orientation curriculum, contained in the principle of setting high
expectations and encouraging learners to attain them.

4.2 Message 2: Be really aware of the consequences of having a child before
you have finished school
This message was addressed primarily in the photo voice campaign, but also touched on
in the videos. Participants took photographs, symbolic of the message they wanted to put
across and wrote narratives to accompany them. They used the same photographs to create
composite posters (see Figures 3a/b.) and individual photographs.

Examples of photo voice display and posters
Figure 3a: Examples of photo voice display and posters

Hendricks & Wood An alternative approach to a complex issue

Being pregnant or having a baby is not only like a
speedbump where the road is normal and you go over
the speedbump and the road is normal again. Everything
will change, you can’t do the things you used to do before,
you’ll be a different person, a parent. Responsibilities will
change. When you are a teenager, all you need to do is
look after yourself and your chores. But, when you are
a teenage parent you have to look after your baby as
well and the chores doubled, and the road is just more
difficult and longer. Raising a child is not as easy as being
a child (P7)

What will the future be like for me? Being a teenager
mother can Lock the Door to your Future. You will have
to spend most of your time feeding, taking care of, and
watching the baby. If you go back to school it will be hard
to concentrate because you will always be thinking about
your child. Plans and goals you have set for yourself will
have to change or will take longer to achieve. Being a
teenage mom or dad takes a lot of responsibility. If you do
not make a success of yourself it could affect the baby’s
future too (P4).

Figure 3b: Photos about the consequences of teenage pregnancy

The messages conveyed in the photo voice images again place the responsibility for decision-
making with the youth, while also conveying the seriousness of the far-reaching consequences
of having a baby before you have finished schooling. The use of language like “Skurrel vir
Kimbies” (see Figure 3a) (hustle for nappies) speaks to the context of the young people
who come from an impoverished community where “hustling” to survive is commonplace. In
addition, notable in the one poster (Fig.3a) are that the participants pose questions, rather
than give answers e.g. Will you lock the door to your future? This approach encourages the
viewer to think about their response, and recognises their agency, rather than admonishing
them NOT to do something as most adult messages are framed. The use of images depicting
male on female violence, gangsters and prison-like doors also arouse the emotions of the
audience, since they are images that evoke scenes and experiences they encounter on a
daily basis. Many of the youth at this school come from homes where domestic violence is
commonplace; gangsters cruise the streets and try to recruit young people; and having a
relative in prison is not an unusual occurrence. Since deep learning is a social and emotional
experience, and not just a cognitive one (Fletcher, 2015), the messages may be more likely
to be internalised due to the emotions evoked and the familiar social settings in which they
are portrayed. Social learning theory also emphasises the importance of messages being
conveyed by people and in contexts to which the audience can relate (Bandura, 1997).

Both the videos portrayed the possible negative consequences of not making healthy
choices, but also highlighted the positive outcomes of taking precautions to protect against
pregnancy. Again, the settings and topics portrayed were familiar to the youth, showing the

Perspectives in Education 2017: 35(1)

usual scenes of girls feeling unloved by parents and turning to boys for solace; boys taking
advantage of this to persuade girls to have sex – but also of girls who are willing to have
unprotected sex and youth who choose not to have sex. The learners who viewed the videos
agreed that in general they spoke to their lives: It happens, your friend is sleeping with your
friend, which is supposed to be your best friend (FG6). When asked what main message they
will take away, two replied:

It is your choice. (FG3)

Learn from your friend’s mistake, instead of bumping your head or get hurt. No turning
back. (FG7).

There is no judgement contained in the videos, and different attitudes and behaviours are
portrayed, but the underlying theme is that it is up to the youth to make the right choice.

The viewing of the videos also evoked critique by some learners who claimed the one
scene did not reflect the reality of the power of the girl to say no: “ [it is] not realistic – the
girl can never say no in real life! When the boyfriend scenario happened it was too easy. No
challenges. It was too easy for her to get out” (FG2). Several of the audience said they would
like to remake a more realistic video and asked to be included in the peer educator group the
following year.

Yes, but we want heavy one’s. We are going to take it deeper. It must be more realistic
(FG8).

By making the videos and creating the photo voice artefacts, the peer educators were aiming
to raise awareness, evoke discussion and get their peers to think more deeply about their
options with regard to sex, and reactions such as these indicate that they have had some
degree of success.

It made us more aware of all the consequences: emotional, financial consequences and
responsibility wise. If you get pregnant, you will have a lot of responsibilities; you will have
to drop your education and all of that. So it made us more aware to make other people
aware of this serious thing and it needs to stop (FG5).

Rather than alienating their audiences by being prescriptive, they managed to open up a
space for dialogue and dissenting voices to be heard.

4.3 Message 3: Do not let your circumstances determine your future
As in many communities all over South Africa, the youth in this one faces challenges to access
employment or further study opportunities after they leave school (Banerjee et al., 2008).
This can lead to a sense of hopelessness, which makes them more vulnerable to unhealthy
coping mechanisms (Zimmerman, 2013). The data analysis in the first cycle informed the
participants that there was a need to address context since current sexuality education did
not consider it and therefore it is a strong theme in one of the videos (https://www.youtube.
com/watch?v=iSK9iQqVlS8&feature=youtu.be). The participants portray a bullying father who
walks out on his family and a mother who is not interested in the life of her teenage daughter.
This drives the girl into the arms of her boyfriend who sees it as a chance to convince her to
have sex. The outcome is positive in the end but the content evoked much discussion among
the youth audience who could identify with the family portrayed in the video. Some of them
were instilled to join the “fight” against teenage pregnancy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSK9iQqVlS8&feature=youtu.be
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSK9iQqVlS8&feature=youtu.be

Hendricks & Wood An alternative approach to a complex issue

The images are effective in depicting the realities our learners encounter on a daily basis
(FG8).

We must save each other’s lives. We must lower the teenage pregnancy percentage
(FG6).

The participating peer educators stated that involvement in the project had made them more
aware of the need to take action to change their social circumstances and to spread the
message to others that they can also improve their circumstances:

We don’t want our world to be like that. We must take a right decision for our children.
That is why we must step in now before it is going out of hand (P7).

I feel it is our duty to go there and share our knowledge and tell others about the con-
sequences of teenage pregnancy and that they do not need to fall into that trap (P6).

The participants had named the project “Gelvanise”, a play on the name of their school and the
idea of galvanising into action. It appears that participation in the project has indeed helped to
mobilise them into doing something.

4.4 Message 4: Don’t’ judge others – be supportive
The final message deemed necessary to address the themes identified was to counter the
judgemental attitudes towards those who became teen fathers or mothers, and towards those
who went to the clinic to obtain contraception. The video “Don’t let your background determine
your future” suggests that young people can find help and support from the peer educators,
rather than from those who might wish to manipulate their feelings for their own purposes. It
aimed to raise awareness of the judgement young people face and to show that such attitudes
did not help to improve the situation. Some of the comments made after watching the video
and viewing the photo narratives included:

It is good to know you have friends when you go through difficulty and that people cares
for you (FG5).

The presentations show how difficult it is to continue life after teenage pregnancy as well
as the shame involved (FG1).

The manner in which learners are ostracised when pregnant is clearly illustrated (FG9).

An element of understanding seemed to be developing which indicated that they were
experiencing more empathy towards each other:

Girls must be taught that they have so much to look forward to and accomplish, and that
falling pregnant can be [a] major obstacle on a path to a better future, although it isn’t
always a ‘dream-killer’, if it happens. Instilling a sense of self-worth in girls [as] often as
possible is vital if we are to see our girls flourish (FG13).

This more accepting and helpful attitude towards each other is important to instil, since
statistics tell us that only about one third of teenage mothers (Panday et al., 2009) return to
school largely due to the stigma and lack of support they experience (Welsh, 2016). Even the
teachers who viewed the photographs and videos could see the need for support, rather than
judgement, as one commented:

Perspectives in Education 2017: 35(1)

Teenagers are overburdened with stresses and problems that make ‘normal functioning’
on a daily basis an impossibility. These teenage girls need a space where they are able to
speak and be heard by an adult that will take in the information, offer advice or assistance,
and be non-judgemental. It is important to make an effort to really listen to what these
girls have to say (T1).

Participants in this project also benefitted in terms of developing leadership skills,
communication skills and an understanding of how important it is to be inclusive and to listen
to all points of view, as the following extracts indicate:

It makes it real. Like to hear it from another person’s viewpoint. You might have your
own. Hear it from other people. You might see it from another point. I can add it to my
knowledge. (P4)

Yes, because what people says give you a broader aspect, so you can take a better
decision. You will think twice. Differently (P7).

It learnt me how to treat my girlfriend. To respect yourself as well, It made me more
mature. (P3).

I have learnt communication skills, negotiating skills, problem-solving and to be
assertive (P5).

Hopefully, the peer educator participants will share their knowledge with the other learners, as
is their stated intention:

We are going to get other learners on board. Younger learners so that they can continue
with the process (P9).

We are the seniors of the school. The learners listen to us (P6).

We think it may be more than coincidence that out of the 24 participants, 20 did go onto study
further at college or university in 2016.

5. Concluding discussion
The prevention strategies employed by the youth in this project seem to have had some
success in spreading messages that speak to the concerns identified by them in cycle one of
the project. The evidence presented in this paper (and it was only possible to present a fraction
of the evidence due to limited space) seems to suggest that the strategies devised by the
participants helped to convey the seriousness of the consequences of falling pregnant while at
school. It also pointed out the agency that learners can have in this respect – they do not need
to fall into the same patterns as others just because they come from “difficult” backgrounds. It
also helped them to realise the need to support if they are to help each other to make healthy
decisions, rather than judging their peers for “making mistakes”. The style of language, sense
of humour and incorporation of scenes and images that resonated with the daily lives of the
youth helped the messages to have impact and provoked discussion and critique – the core
aim of visual methods as research for social change (Schratz & Walker, 1995).

Of course, the problem with peer education programmes is that the peers who are trained
move on each year, therefore the sustainability of any change is not assured (Morar et al.,
2016). However, using visual methods to create artefacts means that the incoming peer
educators have examples to follow when they create their own strategies. Teachers can use

Hendricks & Wood An alternative approach to a complex issue

the existing artefacts that they know resonate with the youth of this school to enable discussion
within sexuality education, hopefully making it more relevant to the learners, while helping the
teacher to feel more comfortable with a topic that s/he might not be trained to/want to address.

The research question we addressed in this article was:

How might participatory methods help youth to create relevant and contextualised
strategies for addressing teenage pregnancy?

We are able to conclude that, although the reduction of teenage pregnancy needs a multi-
sector approach, the process of involving youth in educating their peers can do much to raise
awareness and shift thinking about the phenomenon. The youth in this project focused on
social risk factors that render young people more vulnerable to making unhealthy choices,
and did so in a way that showed they understood the adversities facing them, rather than
moralising about it. Although we value Kirby’s (Kirby, Obasi & Laris, 2006) recommendations
about the characteristics of effective sexuality education programmes, we suggest that this
project not only encompassed many of them, but also allowed for the missing voice of the
young people concerned to be heard. Kirby stresses the importance of involving expert adults
in the design of programmes, but we argue that this has to be complemented by participatory
methods that allow the target audience (youth) to introduce more contextually relevant and
age appropriate material. Involving youth in finding ways to reduce the incidence just might
prove to be more effective than the usual adult-devised programmes and strategies. The
value of such a project is enhanced by the fact that it can be run within school hours, using the
normal breaks or time allocated to Life Orientation or similar subjects. The idea of participatory
design of teaching material can also be done in any Life Orientation class, rather than as a
specific project for selected peer educators.

To conclude: some good news – the incidence of teenage pregnancy at this school in 2014
and 2015 dropped from an average of 15 over the past few years to just 2 cases. We do not in
any way claim that this was just because of the project, but maybe it did have some impact?

Acknowledgement
This study was funded by a grant from the NRF. Any opinion or finding presented herein are
those of the authors and the NRF cannot accept any responsibility thereto.

References
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