Pub Date : 2022-08-31DOI: 10.15700/saje.v42n3a2086
Diego Miguel-Revilla, María Sánchez-Agustí, Teresa Carril-Merino
Epistemic beliefs can have an important effect on teaching practices determining how teachers approach a discipline in the classroom in different contexts. The research reported on here focused on initial teacher education, assessing the pre-service social studies teachers’ epistemic beliefs about history, and their ideas regarding history education. We examined the way in which the beliefs of 59 Spanish participants had evolved after an intervention focused the fostering of historical thinking and understanding. A pre-test-post-test quasi-experimental design was applied, using the Beliefs about History Questionnaire (BHQ), which was supplemented by a qualitative approach. Results indicate progression, although it was more noticeable in pre-service primary education teachers who adhered to a more nuanced vision about historical knowledge and both objectivity and subjectivity. The way that participants with different conceptions about history thought about educational aspects were also examined and discussed. Findings suggest the effectiveness of educational interventions in initial teacher training to allow pre-service teachers to understand the specificity of this discipline.
{"title":"History education and changing epistemic beliefs about history: An intervention in initial teacher training","authors":"Diego Miguel-Revilla, María Sánchez-Agustí, Teresa Carril-Merino","doi":"10.15700/saje.v42n3a2086","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.15700/saje.v42n3a2086","url":null,"abstract":"Epistemic beliefs can have an important effect on teaching practices determining how teachers approach a discipline in the classroom in different contexts. The research reported on here focused on initial teacher education, assessing the pre-service social studies teachers’ epistemic beliefs about history, and their ideas regarding history education. We examined the way in which the beliefs of 59 Spanish participants had evolved after an intervention focused the fostering of historical thinking and understanding. A pre-test-post-test quasi-experimental design was applied, using the Beliefs about History Questionnaire (BHQ), which was supplemented by a qualitative approach. Results indicate progression, although it was more noticeable in pre-service primary education teachers who adhered to a more nuanced vision about historical knowledge and both objectivity and subjectivity. The way that participants with different conceptions about history thought about educational aspects were also examined and discussed. Findings suggest the effectiveness of educational interventions in initial teacher training to allow pre-service teachers to understand the specificity of this discipline.","PeriodicalId":47261,"journal":{"name":"South African Journal of Education","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-08-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41705754","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-08-31DOI: 10.15700/saje.v42n3a2093
Abdulaziz Almudhi
With the study reported on here we aimed to investigate teachers’ beliefs and attitudes towards students who stutter. These aspects were investigated through a questionnaire developed for the study. A total of 382 Saudi teachers from public and private schools from different educational levels were included in this questionnaire-based study. The results show that most respondents believed that there was a high prevalence of stuttering in the general population. Male teachers had a better understanding of persons who stutter (PWS) than female teachers. Senior teachers had better insight into stuttering. The teachers commonly had a positive opinion of PWS. Participants reported that few sources on education about and experiences with PWS were available to them. The results confirm that the teachers had reasonably good knowledge about stuttering. The results show that the teachers knew about stuttering, that they also knew about the consequences of stuttering and the way in which these children should be treated in class. The teachers possessed knowledge and had a positive attitude towards children who stutter (CWS). The findings show a change in perspectives towards CWS as a positive impact of the media.
{"title":"Investigating the beliefs and attitudes of teachers towards students who stutter","authors":"Abdulaziz Almudhi","doi":"10.15700/saje.v42n3a2093","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.15700/saje.v42n3a2093","url":null,"abstract":"With the study reported on here we aimed to investigate teachers’ beliefs and attitudes towards students who stutter. These aspects were investigated through a questionnaire developed for the study. A total of 382 Saudi teachers from public and private schools from different educational levels were included in this questionnaire-based study. The results show that most respondents believed that there was a high prevalence of stuttering in the general population. Male teachers had a better understanding of persons who stutter (PWS) than female teachers. Senior teachers had better insight into stuttering. The teachers commonly had a positive opinion of PWS. Participants reported that few sources on education about and experiences with PWS were available to them. The results confirm that the teachers had reasonably good knowledge about stuttering. The results show that the teachers knew about stuttering, that they also knew about the consequences of stuttering and the way in which these children should be treated in class. The teachers possessed knowledge and had a positive attitude towards children who stutter (CWS). The findings show a change in perspectives towards CWS as a positive impact of the media.","PeriodicalId":47261,"journal":{"name":"South African Journal of Education","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-08-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43108155","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-08-31DOI: 10.15700/saje.v42n3a2090
L. Rusznyak, Elizabeth Walton, Jacqueline Kenny
Teacher educators in South Africa face challenges of preparing new teachers for an inclusive education system that has been accepted as policy but is not yet fully realised in school contexts. Pre-service teachers entering teacher preparation programmes are themselves a product of a schooling system in which many inequalities and marginalising practices are still prevalent. In this article, we present an analysis of the extent to which pre-service teachers’ personal experiences within the schooling system influenced their perceptions about the benefits and drawbacks of 2 common organisational arrangements made for learners who experience barriers to learning. An analysis of empirical data from a questionnaire and individual interviews suggests that participants who had personally observed or experienced particular arrangements were more likely to hold fixed views about their potential benefits or drawbacks. We consider the implications of this finding for teacher education programmes that seek to produce teachers who can teach inclusively in the South African schooling system.
{"title":"Pre-service teachers’ experiences of schooling: Implications for preparation for inclusive education","authors":"L. Rusznyak, Elizabeth Walton, Jacqueline Kenny","doi":"10.15700/saje.v42n3a2090","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.15700/saje.v42n3a2090","url":null,"abstract":"Teacher educators in South Africa face challenges of preparing new teachers for an inclusive education system that has been accepted as policy but is not yet fully realised in school contexts. Pre-service teachers entering teacher preparation programmes are themselves a product of a schooling system in which many inequalities and marginalising practices are still prevalent. In this article, we present an analysis of the extent to which pre-service teachers’ personal experiences within the schooling system influenced their perceptions about the benefits and drawbacks of 2 common organisational arrangements made for learners who experience barriers to learning. An analysis of empirical data from a questionnaire and individual interviews suggests that participants who had personally observed or experienced particular arrangements were more likely to hold fixed views about their potential benefits or drawbacks. We consider the implications of this finding for teacher education programmes that seek to produce teachers who can teach inclusively in the South African schooling system.","PeriodicalId":47261,"journal":{"name":"South African Journal of Education","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-08-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42866996","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-05-31DOI: 10.15700/saje.v42n2a2018
S. Blose, Bongani Nhlanhla Mkhize, Sihle Siyabonga Ngidi, P. Myende
It is assumed that individuals’ cognitions of who they are in a particular social structure influence their behaviour in that space. Likewise, school principals’ cognition of who they are in schools as social structures influences how they behave as leaders. In this article, we use the role identity theory as a framework to analyse novice principals’ narratives of lived experiences to understand how they construct themselves as principals in schools and how these constructions influence their execution of leadership. Positioned within the interpretivist paradigm, we adopted the narrative inquiry methodology to engage with the lived experiences of 3 purposively selected novice principals from the Pinetown district in KwaZulu-Natal. The narrative interview was employed to generate field texts, which were subsequently analysed using 2 methods: narrative analysis and analysis of narratives. From our analysis of field texts, 4 themes explaining how the participating novice principals construct themselves as school principals were identified; these themes are: a leader as a learner, re-establishing oneself as a leader, spanning boundaries, and leading to inspire. From these themes, we conclude that a principal’s conception of self is dynamic and is a blend of multiple meanings generated prior to becoming a principal and meanings generated during the principalship tenure.
{"title":"Construction of self as a principal: Meanings gleaned from narratives of novice school principals","authors":"S. Blose, Bongani Nhlanhla Mkhize, Sihle Siyabonga Ngidi, P. Myende","doi":"10.15700/saje.v42n2a2018","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.15700/saje.v42n2a2018","url":null,"abstract":"It is assumed that individuals’ cognitions of who they are in a particular social structure influence their behaviour in that space. Likewise, school principals’ cognition of who they are in schools as social structures influences how they behave as leaders. In this article, we use the role identity theory as a framework to analyse novice principals’ narratives of lived experiences to understand how they construct themselves as principals in schools and how these constructions influence their execution of leadership. Positioned within the interpretivist paradigm, we adopted the narrative inquiry methodology to engage with the lived experiences of 3 purposively selected novice principals from the Pinetown district in KwaZulu-Natal. The narrative interview was employed to generate field texts, which were subsequently analysed using 2 methods: narrative analysis and analysis of narratives. From our analysis of field texts, 4 themes explaining how the participating novice principals construct themselves as school principals were identified; these themes are: a leader as a learner, re-establishing oneself as a leader, spanning boundaries, and leading to inspire. From these themes, we conclude that a principal’s conception of self is dynamic and is a blend of multiple meanings generated prior to becoming a principal and meanings generated during the principalship tenure.","PeriodicalId":47261,"journal":{"name":"South African Journal of Education","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-05-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41767664","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-05-31DOI: 10.15700/saje.v42n2a2073
Ben Sebothoma, V. D. de Andrade, Nabeelah Galvaan
In South Africa, education is considered a basic right and our constitution calls for accessible educational contexts which ought to be conducive for learning. Even though schools are meant to be places in which learning can occur, poor classroom acoustics may threaten that basic right to education. The aim of this study was, therefore, to explore and understand how teachers in special needs schools managed classroom acoustics in their efforts to enhance learning. We report on a qualitative study using semi-structured face-to-face interviews with teachers from 2 special needs schools in Johannesburg in the Gauteng province of South Africa. A non-probability purposive sampling strategy was used to recruit participants. The results of this study confirm that classrooms in special needs schools may not be acoustically sound spaces which teachers feel may compromise effective learning. As a result, teachers reported using a variety of active and passive strategies to manage classroom acoustics in order to enhance learning. The results of this study contribute to existing knowledge on the importance of the strategies used by teachers in managing classroom acoustics. Further research is required to determine the efficacy of these and other strategies used by teachers in special needs schools.
{"title":"Management of classroom acoustics by teachers at two special needs schools in Johannesburg, South Africa","authors":"Ben Sebothoma, V. D. de Andrade, Nabeelah Galvaan","doi":"10.15700/saje.v42n2a2073","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.15700/saje.v42n2a2073","url":null,"abstract":"In South Africa, education is considered a basic right and our constitution calls for accessible educational contexts which ought to be conducive for learning. Even though schools are meant to be places in which learning can occur, poor classroom acoustics may threaten that basic right to education. The aim of this study was, therefore, to explore and understand how teachers in special needs schools managed classroom acoustics in their efforts to enhance learning. We report on a qualitative study using semi-structured face-to-face interviews with teachers from 2 special needs schools in Johannesburg in the Gauteng province of South Africa. A non-probability purposive sampling strategy was used to recruit participants. The results of this study confirm that classrooms in special needs schools may not be acoustically sound spaces which teachers feel may compromise effective learning. As a result, teachers reported using a variety of active and passive strategies to manage classroom acoustics in order to enhance learning. The results of this study contribute to existing knowledge on the importance of the strategies used by teachers in managing classroom acoustics. Further research is required to determine the efficacy of these and other strategies used by teachers in special needs schools.","PeriodicalId":47261,"journal":{"name":"South African Journal of Education","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-05-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44682496","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-05-31DOI: 10.15700/saje.v42n2a2017
Hacer Efe, Ünsal Umdu Topsakal
In the study reported on here, the effects of science centres on the perceptions of secondary school students towards the nature of science were examined. The study group consisted of 16 students aged 13 and 14 of which 7 were female and 9 male. In this study, a total of 4 trips were arranged to the science centre twice a month for 2 months. Students attended different workshops, planetariums and exhibitions on each trip to the science centre they attended. The activities that students attended during these trips were independent of the school curriculum. The data were obtained in the spring of 2019. This study was experimental research. Mixed method was used as the research model and the concurrent triangulation pattern was used as the design. The Scientific Knowledge Scale, the Questionnaire for Scientific Knowledge and semi-structured interviews were used as data collection tools, which were administered to students before and after the activities. In data analysis, qualitative data were analysed using content analysis. Quantitative data were analysed using the SPSS program. As a result of the research, it was determined that science centres caused an increase in students’ scores and levels of scientific knowledge and an improvement in their views on the nature of science.
{"title":"The effect of science centres on perceptions of secondary school students towards the nature of science","authors":"Hacer Efe, Ünsal Umdu Topsakal","doi":"10.15700/saje.v42n2a2017","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.15700/saje.v42n2a2017","url":null,"abstract":"In the study reported on here, the effects of science centres on the perceptions of secondary school students towards the nature of science were examined. The study group consisted of 16 students aged 13 and 14 of which 7 were female and 9 male. In this study, a total of 4 trips were arranged to the science centre twice a month for 2 months. Students attended different workshops, planetariums and exhibitions on each trip to the science centre they attended. The activities that students attended during these trips were independent of the school curriculum. The data were obtained in the spring of 2019. This study was experimental research. Mixed method was used as the research model and the concurrent triangulation pattern was used as the design. The Scientific Knowledge Scale, the Questionnaire for Scientific Knowledge and semi-structured interviews were used as data collection tools, which were administered to students before and after the activities. In data analysis, qualitative data were analysed using content analysis. Quantitative data were analysed using the SPSS program. As a result of the research, it was determined that science centres caused an increase in students’ scores and levels of scientific knowledge and an improvement in their views on the nature of science.","PeriodicalId":47261,"journal":{"name":"South African Journal of Education","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-05-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46992535","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-05-31DOI: 10.15700/saje.v42n2a1956
L. Segalo, B. Dube
In the study reported on here the reflective journals of student teachers enrolled for the Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) were explored to determine what new learning they had acquired during their teaching practice. Reflection is a process of reviewing an experience of practice to analyse it for improvement. In this way, reflective journals could be viewed as a tool that moulds and harnesses the professional development of student teachers. Critical emancipatory research was adopted to reflect on student teachers’ journaling as an important assessment tool to be used to empower students with pedagogical content to convey knowledge to learners. In the study we purposively sampled a selected group of 10 PGCE students’ reflective journals. We found that students’ reflective journals are important tools that shape student teachers’ professional identities during teaching practice. Furthermore, we found that student teachers’ journaling is an emancipatory platform that allows students teachers to think independently and innovatively to free their thoughts on real teaching and learning situations. We recommend that teacher training institutions should emphasise the importance of journaling in teacher training programmes with a focus on critical thinking and problem-solving innovation.
{"title":"PGCE students’ learning through reflective journaling during teaching practice: An exploratory study","authors":"L. Segalo, B. Dube","doi":"10.15700/saje.v42n2a1956","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.15700/saje.v42n2a1956","url":null,"abstract":"In the study reported on here the reflective journals of student teachers enrolled for the Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) were explored to determine what new learning they had acquired during their teaching practice. Reflection is a process of reviewing an experience of practice to analyse it for improvement. In this way, reflective journals could be viewed as a tool that moulds and harnesses the professional development of student teachers. Critical emancipatory research was adopted to reflect on student teachers’ journaling as an important assessment tool to be used to empower students with pedagogical content to convey knowledge to learners. In the study we purposively sampled a selected group of 10 PGCE students’ reflective journals. We found that students’ reflective journals are important tools that shape student teachers’ professional identities during teaching practice. Furthermore, we found that student teachers’ journaling is an emancipatory platform that allows students teachers to think independently and innovatively to free their thoughts on real teaching and learning situations. We recommend that teacher training institutions should emphasise the importance of journaling in teacher training programmes with a focus on critical thinking and problem-solving innovation.","PeriodicalId":47261,"journal":{"name":"South African Journal of Education","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-05-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49077837","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-05-31DOI: 10.15700/saje.v42n2a2071
Godfrey Khululekani Sihle Memela, L. Ramrathan
In this article we explore the perspectives of school leadership and management on the principal’s role in learners’ academic performance. School leadership and learner performance continue to be of great concern in the South African education system. We explore the relationship between school leadership and learner performance from a school leadership and management perspective. Since the attainment of democracy, the South African education landscape has been plagued by poor learner performance. While the reasons are as diverse as the nation itself, the adverse effects of poor learner performance on the school system or the quality of education cannot be overemphasised. As a result, we explored school leadership and learner performance as it relates to the leadership of secondary school principals. Principals’ lived stories provided the empirical evidence for this article. The findings reveal that a principal’s leadership plays an important role in school management and learner performance.
{"title":"The perspective of school leadership and management: The role of the school principal in academic learner performance","authors":"Godfrey Khululekani Sihle Memela, L. Ramrathan","doi":"10.15700/saje.v42n2a2071","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.15700/saje.v42n2a2071","url":null,"abstract":"In this article we explore the perspectives of school leadership and management on the principal’s role in learners’ academic performance. School leadership and learner performance continue to be of great concern in the South African education system. We explore the relationship between school leadership and learner performance from a school leadership and management perspective. Since the attainment of democracy, the South African education landscape has been plagued by poor learner performance. While the reasons are as diverse as the nation itself, the adverse effects of poor learner performance on the school system or the quality of education cannot be overemphasised. As a result, we explored school leadership and learner performance as it relates to the leadership of secondary school principals. Principals’ lived stories provided the empirical evidence for this article. The findings reveal that a principal’s leadership plays an important role in school management and learner performance.","PeriodicalId":47261,"journal":{"name":"South African Journal of Education","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-05-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48497748","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-05-31DOI: 10.15700/saje.v42n2a2034
Yulius Rustan Effendi, Piet A. Sahertian
Character education reinforcement in secondary schools is one of the educational programmes aimed at anticipating the tendency of moral perversion as a result of moral decadence. Various forms of moral deviations that occur among high school students result in them being alienated from life because they conflict with cultural norms, school discipline, and life ethics in society. In this article we aim to discuss the relation of character value reinforcement and the principal’s transformational leadership strategy to shape students’ characters in a descriptive-critical manner. The objective of this study was investigating school strategies for optimising the implementation of character education reinforcement. In this research we used a qualitative method with a case study design. The data validity measurement was based on the levels of credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability. The results emphasise the importance of shaping student character as an anticipatory step to minimise moral distortions among high school students, and the effectiveness of the principal’s transformational leadership role in optimising the implementation of education programmes for the strengthening of students’ characters in schools.
{"title":"Principals’ transformational leadership in strengthening character education at senior high school level (SMA) in Indonesia","authors":"Yulius Rustan Effendi, Piet A. Sahertian","doi":"10.15700/saje.v42n2a2034","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.15700/saje.v42n2a2034","url":null,"abstract":"Character education reinforcement in secondary schools is one of the educational programmes aimed at anticipating the tendency of moral perversion as a result of moral decadence. Various forms of moral deviations that occur among high school students result in them being alienated from life because they conflict with cultural norms, school discipline, and life ethics in society. In this article we aim to discuss the relation of character value reinforcement and the principal’s transformational leadership strategy to shape students’ characters in a descriptive-critical manner. The objective of this study was investigating school strategies for optimising the implementation of character education reinforcement. In this research we used a qualitative method with a case study design. The data validity measurement was based on the levels of credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability. The results emphasise the importance of shaping student character as an anticipatory step to minimise moral distortions among high school students, and the effectiveness of the principal’s transformational leadership role in optimising the implementation of education programmes for the strengthening of students’ characters in schools.","PeriodicalId":47261,"journal":{"name":"South African Journal of Education","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-05-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47603059","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-05-31DOI: 10.15700/saje.v42n2a1989
Lucia Zithobile Ngidi, S. Kaye
Violence occurring in South African schools takes various forms and is a concern for all stakeholders. All forms of violence have negative effects, i.e. physical and psychological, educational damage and societal breakdown. The overall aim of the study reported on here was to explore the nature, causes and consequences of school violence, and then to design an effective intervention strategy to reduce it. In this study we used action research methodology in which stakeholders were empowered to interrupt the occurrence of violence, stop the spread of violence and change group/community norms regarding violence. This strategy of violence reduction was tested at 1 school in Umlazi, in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa, in 4 stages: initial data collection, formation of an action team, design and implementation of a strategy, and evaluation of its efficacy. The action team was composed of teachers, community members, parents and learners who developed a strategy entitled, We Care (WC). Initial from both schools data showed that schools were unsafe, with school violence caused by substance abuse, theft, vandalism, physical violence, religious discrimination, sexual violence, cyber bullying, gender-based violence and gambling. WC clustered abnormal behaviour patterns demonstrated by learners into categories: violent cases and behavioural indicators of physical, sexual, alcohol and drug abuse. WC assisted high risk learners who had decided to act non violently, help victims and assist parents and community members who perpetrated violence. A preliminary evaluation was conducted 1 year later and WC reported that they had developed capacity to assist with these categories of violence, leading to a reduction in violent behaviour at the school.
{"title":"Reducing school violence: A peace education project in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa","authors":"Lucia Zithobile Ngidi, S. Kaye","doi":"10.15700/saje.v42n2a1989","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.15700/saje.v42n2a1989","url":null,"abstract":"Violence occurring in South African schools takes various forms and is a concern for all stakeholders. All forms of violence have negative effects, i.e. physical and psychological, educational damage and societal breakdown. The overall aim of the study reported on here was to explore the nature, causes and consequences of school violence, and then to design an effective intervention strategy to reduce it. In this study we used action research methodology in which stakeholders were empowered to interrupt the occurrence of violence, stop the spread of violence and change group/community norms regarding violence. This strategy of violence reduction was tested at 1 school in Umlazi, in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa, in 4 stages: initial data collection, formation of an action team, design and implementation of a strategy, and evaluation of its efficacy. The action team was composed of teachers, community members, parents and learners who developed a strategy entitled, We Care (WC). Initial from both schools data showed that schools were unsafe, with school violence caused by substance abuse, theft, vandalism, physical violence, religious discrimination, sexual violence, cyber bullying, gender-based violence and gambling. WC clustered abnormal behaviour patterns demonstrated by learners into categories: violent cases and behavioural indicators of physical, sexual, alcohol and drug abuse. WC assisted high risk learners who had decided to act non violently, help victims and assist parents and community members who perpetrated violence. A preliminary evaluation was conducted 1 year later and WC reported that they had developed capacity to assist with these categories of violence, leading to a reduction in violent behaviour at the school.","PeriodicalId":47261,"journal":{"name":"South African Journal of Education","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-05-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49123928","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}