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An investigation of secondary school teachers' perceptions of the challenges in a changing education system.
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Eshun-Wilson, Cleo. |
| Copyright Year | 2001 |
| Abstract | Change is an inevitable factor in education, however integration in South Africa began only in the 1970's and was officially implemented in the 1990's, when wide-scale 'mixing' of learners from different race groups at schools began to occur. This study aimed to examine the difficulties teachers were experiencing in dealing with the current changes within education. This study was conducted in Kwa-Zulu Natal, in four previously racially divided state secondary schools. Twelve respondents overall were interviewed, four of whom were in managerial roles. Results indicated that teachers were still adjusting to the new population of learners schools now catered for. Difficulties experienced by teachers centred on cultural and linguistic differences with learners. Since the parent population had changed in accordance with learner admission, similar linguistic and background difficulties were reported to complicate teacher-parent relationships. Schools in general appeared to battle with implementing a form of integration that would suit the needs of all the role players involved. Generally teachers complained about being unhappy with the changes implemented by the education -. . .' department. The dominant feeling was one of hopelessness and frustration, as teachers were of the opinion that changes had negatively affected their teaching, the population that they taught, as well as their personal lives. Teachers in this study were of the opinion that they were not supported by the ~ducation department, and few found support amongst their colleagues. In addition to the changes brought about by government, schools were faced with problems of their own, some of which had historical roots. Some schools were able to deal with problems successfully by supplementing school funding from governing bodies, whilst other schools were not as fortunate and have had to deal with their lack of resources indefinitely. Despite all the negativity, teachers were positive about their role that they could play in education, and felt that they had valuable suggestions to make to the education department that could result in positive change in the teaching field. |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | http://researchspace.ukzn.ac.za/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10413/2999/Eshun-Wilson_Cleo_2001.pdf?isAllowed=y&sequence=1 |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
