Challenges of Pre-service Teachers in Rural Places of Teaching Practice: A Decolonial Perspectives

Abstract

Unlike other countries, rural community schools in South Africa are faced with many challenges that hinder them from discharging their academic responsibilities. This study seeks to understand the challenges faced by South African pre-service teachers deployed to rural communities during their teaching practice. This study adopted qualitative research approach and was viewed from a decolonial perspective and lensed using a transformative paradigm within the participatory research design. The participants comprised ten pre-service teachers who underwent their practice in rural schools and were selected using the snowballing method. The participants were asked to reflect on their experiences, especially their challenges during teaching practice. Thematic analysis was employed to make sense of the data based on the objectives of the study. The study found out that rural schools lack basic amenities, physical resources, teaching aids. The study also revealed that language of instruction challenges rural students, and another finding showed that absenteeism and truancy are the major challenges in rural schools. The study concludes that inadequate resources, the language of instruction, absenteeism and truancy are major challenges with recommendations that a concerted effort is needed to decolonise the rural communities and their schools towards transformation.