Learning In South Africa Research Articles

The types and levels of physical activity and sedentary behaviour of Senior Phase learners in Potchefstroom

BackgroundWorldwide, the health risks of decreasing physical activity levels and increasing sedentary behaviour among adolescents are a raising concern. ObjectiveTo determine the types and levels of physical activity as well as that of sedentary behaviour of a group Senior Phase learners in South Africa. MethodsThe adapted Children's Leisure Activities Study Survey (CLASS) questionnaire was used for determining the types and levels of physical activity and sedentary behaviour of 230 Grade 7 learners, from three schools in Potchefstroom. Data were analysed by means of the SAS statistics programme, and descriptive statistics, as well as independent t-tests and effect sizes (ES) were used. ResultsModerate to high-intensity physical activity levels of between 334 and 361 min per week were found, and sedentary behaviour of between 3077 and 3410 min per week, which implies that between 70.7% and 71.9% of the participants, did not meet the recommended health-based guidelines. Higher activity levels were shown during weekends, where the boys were significantly more active than girls (p < 0.001; ES between 0.21 and 0.56), and girls showed more sedentary behaviours than the boys (ES between 0.18 and 0.20). The leisure time physical activities with the highest participation were soccer, recreational swimming, jogging and dancing, while the sedentary activities were listening to music, riding a vehicle and being busy on the phone. ConclusionStrategies need to be implemented to raise the physical activity levels of Senior Phase learners, especially during weekdays, and to decrease sedentary behaviour. With this view in mind, recommendations are made for Physical Education teachers.

Constructing and rolling out the new South African Sign Language (SASL) curriculum – Reflexive critique

South Africa has one of the most progressive constitutions in the world protecting the linguistic and cultural rights of Deaf people. However, there is a huge gap between policies and reality in schools for Deaf learners in South Africa. In this paper we critically unpack and reflexively explore the linguistic and cultural issues that emerged during the process of creating and implementing the new South African Sign Language (SASL) curriculum. This curriculum was produced as a result of a landmark court case. We use an ethnographic framework based on our own reflections, discussions with Deaf people, notes from meetings, and discussions with the other team members. Why and how did the process that started off with so much energy, excitement and goodwill break down? We argue that a key reason for this breakdown is inadequate linguistic knowledge and cultural sensitivity in relation to SASL and Deaf cultural identity. The paper concludes with an outline of lessons learnt.

An overview of Grade R literacy teaching and learning in inclusive classrooms in South Africa

Pre-school literacy teaching in Early Childhood Education (ECD) inclusive classrooms is crucial in preparing learners for the transition to formal literacy teaching and learning. This article describes a collaborative exploratory research project between a university in South Africa and one in China, in order to gain an overview of early literacy teaching and learning in the two countries. In the case of South Africa, the focus was on Grade R literacy teaching and learning. Teacher participants in three rural schools, three township schools and four inner city schools in Mpumalanga and Gauteng were purposively selected. Data were gathered by means of open-ended questions in a questionnaire, individual interviews with Heads of Departments (HOD) and classroom observations. Coding, categorising and identifying themes were manually conducted. Persistent challenges were identified of which limited resources, low socio-economic conditions, English as the language of learning and teaching (LoLT), inadequate teaching strategies used to implement the Curriculum Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) and barriers to learning were highlighted. This overview of early literacy teaching and learning in South Africa served as a precursor for the second phase of the project between the two countries.

Lessons learnt from teachers’ perspectives on mobile learning in South Africa with cultural and linguistic constraints

South Africa’s classrooms are characterized by a wide variety of cultural and linguistic differences, providing teachers with educational challenges, particularly in mathematics and science subjects. In response, various mobile learning systems have been developed and piloted in the North West and Gauteng Provinces of South Africa. A framework has been proposed to support the development of similar technologies to be used in multilingual contexts. This paper evaluates teachers’ perspectives on this framework using interviews with eight teachers from a mixture of urban and rural schools in various locations across the two provinces. The results of the study reflect the important roles that language and culture play in the technology needed to support learning in linguistically diverse schools. They highlight the challenges that teachers in schools face in diversely linguistic classrooms and how technology can be used to enhance such classrooms.

Educators’ experiences of their relationships with adolescents involved in drug use

Substance use amongst learners in South Africa has become a significant problem, with relationships between educators and learners being seriously challenged. Educators are often in a position to notice changes in the behaviour of learners and are able to provide support and assistance. A phenomenological, explorative study was undertaken and in-depth interviews were conducted with 16 educators from a secondary school in a high-risk community in the Western Cape. In addition, a World Cafe group discussion was used in order to tap the participants’ collective wisdom. The data was analysed thematically – using positive psychology as a conceptual framework. This focuses not only on what is wrong or pathological, but rather on what is positive, attempting to nurture resilience and strengths in individuals and communities. Two main themes emerged: challenges to the educator-learner relationships, and the educators’ skills and strengths in nurturing positive relationships. It was found that educators’ personal well-being is important in order for them to deal with these challenging interactions. Educators used a number of skills and strengths in order to overcome challenges and to foster positive educator-learner relationships. A recommendation for future research is to explore the experiences of learners who have used drugs, and sought support from educators, focusing in particular on what aspects hindered and/or facilitated the relationship between them. Keywords: adolescents; drug use; educator-learner relationships; positive psychology; relational well-being

The baseline assessment of Grade 1 learners’ literacy skills in a socio-economically disadvantaged school setting

&lt;p&gt;Research has revealed that the academic performances of learners in South Africa are below the required level. The Western Cape Education Department (WCED) launched the literacy and numeracy strategy 2006–2016 in response to the low literacy and numeracy levels. In addition, the WCED introduced the Grade 1 baseline assessment in 2006, as part of the literacy and numeracy strategy. The purpose of this study was to observe the implementation of the Grade 1 literacy baseline assessment programme of the WCED. This study aimed to determine what literacy barriers, if any, the learners were experiencing and to recommend literacy support strategies, in order to inform teaching practices. Purposive sampling was used for the selection of a Grade 1 class, with English as the language of learning and teaching Thirty-seven Grade 1 learners participated in the study. A mixed-methods research design was used to collect both quantitative and qualitative data. The data collection strategies employed&lt;br /&gt;included documentary analysis, by examining participants’ school admission forms to provide biographical information as well as their written baseline assessment scripts. The baseline assessment process was also observed as it was being conducted. The findings suggest that some of the learners experienced literacy barriers in terms of receptive and expressive language, perceptual skills and fine motor development. The data were summarised, and the information was used to describe the literacy barriers in terms of the biographical variables and to recommend learning support strategies for literacy development.&lt;/p&gt;

Using narrative analysis to understand factors influencing career choice in a sample of distance learning students in South Africa

The making of career choice is seen as an important decision in an individual’s life. Research in South Africa suggests there is little yet growing empirical focus on the career development processes of individuals termed as ‘previously disadvantaged’ by the apartheid policy of racial separation. The goal of this study was to investigate the factors that influence distance learning students’ career choices among a sample of previously disadvantaged distance learners in South Africa. Data were collected from 40 participants using unstructured interviews. Upon analysis, five themes emerged as influencing career choice: the influence of (a) significant others, (b) academic performance, (c) personal circumstances, (d) environmental forces, and (e) career interventions. Furthermore, each of these factors influencing the making of career choice was accompanied by difficulty en route to the enactment of choice. Based on the findings of this study, career counsellors can come up with interventions targeted at previously disadvantaged individuals. This can not only help in empowering career counsellors to understand their clients but also help in understanding the career development processes of such clients.

Short-term initiatives for enhancing cyber-safety within South African schools

The rate of technological development across the globe is dramatic. The decreasing cost and increasing availability of ICT devices means that its users are no longer exclusively industry or government employees – they are now also home users. Home users integrate ICT in their daily lives for education, socialising and information gathering. However, using ICT is associated with risks and threats, such as identity theft and phishing scams. Most home users of ICT do not have the necessary information technology and Internet skills to protect themselves and their information. School learners, in particular, are not sufficiently educated on how to use technological devices safely, especially in developing countries such as South Africa. The national school curriculum in South Africa currently does not make provision for cyber-safety education, and the availability of supporting material and training for ICT teachers in South Africa is limited, resulting in a lack of knowledge and skills regarding cyber-safety. The research in hand focuses on the situation concerning cyber-safety awareness in schools and has adopted a short-term approach towards cyber-safety among teachers and school learners in South Africa until a formal long-term national approach has been implemented. This study takes a quantitative approach to investigating the current options of teachers to enhance cyber-safety among learners in their schools. The research proposes that short-term initiatives (i.e. posters) can increase learners’ awareness of cyber-safety until formal cyber-safety awareness methods have been introduced.

The dangers of educated girls and women

Why do educated girls and women constitute a danger in some societies and for this face extreme danger in their educational endeavours? This article argues that historical and contemporary educational discrimination of girls and women is the hallmark of a violently patriarchal society, and this stubborn injustice is exacerbated under conditions of poverty and political power struggles. After considering two recent examples of violent exclusion, deeper exploration of historical exclusion of learners in South Africa helps to reveal a web of gender-based injustice and violence created at the intersections of patriarchy, poverty and political power struggles. Interventions require the acknowledgement of these underlying causes as well as their systemic and complex interactions.

Gaps Associated with the Timing of Students’ Orientation Programs in Two Institutions of Higher Learning in South Africa

Gaps Associated with the Timing of Students’ Orientation Programs in Two Institutions of Higher Learning in South Africa

Exploring relationships between oral reading fluency and reading comprehension amongst English second language readers in South Africa

Most analyses of oral reading fluency (ORF) are based on L1 reading, and the norms that have been developed in English are based on first language reading data. This is problematic for developing countries where many children are learning in English as a second language. The aim of the present study is to model the relationship between English reading fluency and comprehension among rural English-second-language learners (ESL) in South Africa. We use data collected in 2013 by the National Education and Evaluation Development Unit in South Africa. This survey tested 4697 Grade 5 students from 214 schools across rural areas in South Africa. A sub-sample—1772 students—were selected for an ORF test. For these students there exist data on both reading comprehension and reading fluency. Although a number of studies have analyzed the relationship between fluency and comprehension, none have been conducted on a large-scale for ESL learners in a developing country such as South Africa. The present research contributes to the literature by analysing the size, significance and uniformity of this relationship for ESL learners in South Africa. Preliminary findings indicate a threshold at 70 words-read-correct-per-minute which is lower than the typically used threshold of 90 words-read-correct-per-minute of English first language readers.

Substance use amongst secondary school students in a rural setting in South Africa: Prevalence and possible contributing factors.

IntroductionThis study determined the prevalence of substance abuse amongst rural secondary school learners in a selected province of South Africa.MethodologyThe study adopted a quantitative approach using a descriptive survey design. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire from a total of 338 randomly selected learners, age 14 to 18 years, from 10 secondary schools that make up a rural Vhembedzi circuit in the Limpopo Province. Permission to enter the circuit and the schools was obtained from the circuit manager and parents’ or learners’ informed consent was obtained prior to data collection.ResultsThe majority of the participants (94% male, 98% female) had never used substances. Most of the learners started using substances between the ages 15 to 20 years. The majority of learners who were using substances were male. Of the respondents, all the female (100%) students reported to have stopped substance abuse. The majority (63% male, 50% female) of the learners tried to stop substance abuse but failed. Most of the learners (72% male, 71% female) did not have family members who were substance users. The majority of the students attested that substances can be easily obtained in their communities or villages. The majority (68%) of the leaners knew that substance abuse is dangerous to health.Conclusion and recommendationRural secondary school learners in South Africa have a low prevalence rate of substance abuse. Hence, there is a need for a counselling program in each school to provide support and refer such learners to an appropriate institution for rehabilitation.

Gender Differences in the Reading Comprehension of Grade Three Rural Learners in South Africa

Gender Differences in the Reading Comprehension of Grade Three Rural Learners in South Africa

Reflections on simulated learning experiences of occupational therapy students in a clinical skills unit at an institution of higher learning

BACKGROUND: Global and national changes in healthcare create challenges in providing suitable and quality fieldwork placements for the skills training of undergraduate health professions students. The department of occupational therapy (OT) at a Higher Education Institute (HEI) in South Africa decided in 2013 to incorporate simulated learning experiences as part of the new curriculum for second-year occupational therapy students. Two staff members of the Department of OT trained by an international institution of higher education in the use of simulation during teaching were involved. The aim of this study was to explore and describe the experiences of those students who had benefitted from simulated learning in the Clinical Skills Unit (CSU) to improve on this method of obtaining clinical assessment skills. METHODS: A qualitative methodology was used to describe the reflections of the second-year occupational therapy students of the years 2013 and 2014 (81 students) on the simulated learning of assessment procedures which took place in the CSU RESULTS: Four themes and ten sub-themes were identified from the content analysis of the reflections, namely (i) personal experience (personal emotions, initial stress, confidence) (ii) Teaching and Learning clinical assessment skills (communication, occupational performance components [OPC] and occupational performance activities [OPA]); (iii) professional skills (therapeutic use of self, cooperative learning) and (iv) benefits and challenges of presenting simulated learning experiences (benefits, criticisms). CONCLUSIONS: Occupational therapy students reported a positive experience and satisfaction with learning from the simulated experiences, which succeeded in creating a "safe" learning environment for them and opportunities to hone their clinical assessment skills prior to their first clinical fieldwork placement. Challenges associated with simulated learning experiences (SLE) were found to be: the need for clearer instructions; the number of assessments covered and the provision of a time frame to complete each task. There was consensual agreement in the department that SLE in the CSU will supplement fieldwork placements and contribute to attainment of assessment skills prior to fieldwork placements. It is recommended that current occupational therapy lecturing staff, trained in the use of simulation techniques, develop a manual for the planning of SLE and present training sessions to other staff. The manual may also be of value to other institutions of higher learning in South Africa. Keywords: Simulated learning experiences, clinical skills learning, undergraduate education

Enhancing a culture of evidence: Using student engagement to identify problem areas which institutions can do something about

A critical component to furthering enhancement is the ability of institutional researchers to identify problem areas related to the student learning experience that institutions can do something about. By focusing on the nature of the educational process, student engagement surveys are currently used as indicators of the quality of undergraduate education in numerous countries. The second round of HEQC institutional reviews will have a strong teaching and learning focus, compelling institutions to provide evidence of how problem areas related to the student experience have been identified systematically, as well as how action plans and improvements are being implemented and monitored. This paper demonstrates how four related student engagement surveys can provide a comprehensive, longitudinal assessment of undergraduate teaching and learning in South Africa. Using a hypothetical data set, the paper illustrates how this data can be used as a diagnostic and monitoring tool in a 5-year cycle.

Current trends and challenges in South African higher education

In the last five years, higher education teaching and learning in South Africa has experienced a significant shift as focus has turned inwards to teaching, learning and research practice of individual institutions. A specific area of interest has been on teacher education as South Africa struggles to train enough teachers to meet its high demand. A need for increased postgraduate throughput has forced higher education institutions to focus on research capacity building in the areas of supervision, publications and staff qualifications. Amidst these are the challenges of large classes, recurriculation, and development and use of local African languages. Reflecting on these issues is the focus of this introductory article.

Exploring students motives for studying psychology: a qualitative study

The present study explored participants’ motives for studying psychology. A qualitative, exploratory, descriptive and contextual research design was used. The research method consisted of a brief survey. Four Black participants (male = 2; female = 2) for the study were purposefully selected from a Historically Black institution of higher learning in South Africa. The data collected through audio-taped individual, semi-structured interviews were analyzed by means of content analysis. The participants were asked to describe their motives for choosing psychology as a field of study. The results suggest that the participants chose psychology for various reasons. Minor gender differences were noted in the motives for the choice of psychology as a career. Further research on the topic is needed.

Examining oral reading fluency among Grade 5 rural English Second Language (ESL) learners in South Africa? An analysis of NEEDU 2013

The ability to read for meaning and pleasure is arguably the most important skill children learn in primary school. One integral component of learning to read is Oral Reading Fluency (ORF), defined as the ability to read text quickly, accurately, and with meaningful expression. Although widely acknowledged in the literature as important, to date there have been no large-scale studies on ORF in English in South Africa, despite this being the language of learning and teaching for 80% of ESL students from Grade 4 onwards. We analyze data provided by the National Education and Evaluation Development Unit (NEEDU) of South Africa, which tested 4667 Grade 5 English Second Language (ESL) students from 214 schools across rural areas in South Africa in 2013. This included ORF and comprehension measures for a subset of 1772 students. We find that 41% of the sample were non-readers in English (&amp;lt;40 Words Correct Per Minute, WCPM) and only 6% achieved comprehension scores above 60%. By calibrating comprehension levels and WCPM rates we develop tentative benchmarks and argue that a range of 90-100 WCPM in English is acceptable for Grade 5 ESL students in South Africa. In addition we outline policy priorities for remedying the reading crisis in the country.

Examining oral reading fluency among Grade 5 rural English Second Language (ESL) learners in South Africa? An analysis of NEEDU 2013

The ability to read for meaning and pleasure is arguably the most important skill children learn in primary school. One integral component of learning to read is Oral Reading Fluency (ORF), defined as the ability to read text quickly, accurately, and with meaningful expression. Although widely acknowledged in the literature as important, to date there have been no large-scale studies on ORF in English in South Africa, despite this being the language of learning and teaching for 80% of ESL students from Grade 4 onwards. We analyze data provided by the National Education and Evaluation Development Unit (NEEDU) of South Africa, which tested 4667 Grade 5 English Second Language (ESL) students from 214 schools across rural areas in South Africa in 2013. This included ORF and comprehension measures for a subset of 1772 students. We find that 41% of the sample were non-readers in English (&lt;40 Words Correct Per Minute, WCPM) and only 6% achieved comprehension scores above 60%. By calibrating comprehension levels and WCPM rates we develop tentative benchmarks and argue that a range of 90-100 WCPM in English is acceptable for Grade 5 ESL students in South Africa. In addition we outline policy priorities for remedying the reading crisis in the country.

An intervention Programme for Promoting More Effective Learning among Foundation Phase Learners in South Africa

The author defends the claim, based on her experience as a teacher in the Foundation Phase as well as on herexperience as the educator of student teachers in this Phase, that a specially constructed intervention programme willimprove Grade 1’s learning in several key areas. She firstly show that such a programme is required, given thecurrent achievement levels of Foundation Phase learner’s assessment results in South Africa, and then report on theresults of an experiment based on her survey of literature. The results of the experiment show that the interventionprogramme indeed resulted in improvement of learning according to the results of a standardized test.