Schools In Cape Town Research Articles

The need for structured career guidance in a resource-constrained South African school

Background: Career guidance and counselling in secondary schools are crucial for young adolescents as they embark on the initial stages of shaping their post-school studies and career goals. Initiating career guidance as early as Grade 9 is imperative to ensure alignment between chosen subjects and future career aspirations. The study was conducted with Grade 12 learners at a resource-constrained high school in Cape Town, Western Cape.Objectives: Utilising the Systems Theory Framework (STF), we sought to explore Grade 12 learners’ perceptions of the effectiveness of career guidance and counselling and its significance in shaping future career choices.Method: The study used a qualitative methodology. Semi-structured online interviews were used to gather the data, which were then analysed thematically. The study consisted of a sample size of 16 Grade 12 participants.Results: The findings indicated that learners found career guidance and counselling effective for deciding future occupations, with a preference for opportunities such as job shadowing and interactions with experts in the field of interest. However, limited access to vocational resources and a lack of structured classroom guidance led learners to conduct their own research.Conclusion: The study recommends that life orientation teachers actively engage with organisations and relevant stakeholders in providing career guidance and counselling to learners and ensure that pupils have sufficient access to career resources for effective career guidance.Contribution: These findings are a valuable resource for professionals and policymakers seeking to improve high school learners’ educational experiences, providing a framework for future scholars delving into the dynamic field of career counselling.

Including learners with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Voices of mainstream teachers

The global shift toward inclusive education is in pursuit of creating a more equal and just society. This has lead schools worldwide to experience an increase in the number of learners with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) entering the general classroom. At the first level of contact, teachers play an important role in the implementation of inclusive education; it is therefore crucial to acknowledge their experiences. Their voices need to be heard since their experiences can contribute to doing justice to the existing policies on inclusive education. In search of teachers' subjective experiences, we framed this interpretive qualitative phenomenological research study in a social constructivist paradigm. Participants were purposefully selected from an international school in Cape Town, South Africa. We collected data through an online open-ended questionnaire, followed by an in-person focus group discussion at the school. The findings indicated that while teachers are in favour of inclusion, they experience many challenges that result in a policy-implementation gap.

Re-storying schools as “research sites” of climate change in the Chthulucene: diffractively reading through the land of a primary school in South Africa

Inspired by Karen Barad’s agential realism and Donna Haraway’s use of the Chthulucene, our paper profoundly troubles and unsettles the humanist subject that has been the cause of so much trouble. Re-turning to a government primary school in Cape Town as the “research site,” we adopt temporal and spatial diffraction as a postqualitative research methodology. The colonial practices related to land ownership, are not in the past, but remain in its be(com)ing. Land “use” in South Africa during Apartheid, was, and still is, a form of violence. Thinking-with Neimanis and McLauchlan, we understand a school as not separate from the phenomenon of climate change, but as one of its sites and as a feminist project. A diffractive image articulates aesthetically and politically how the land as the more-than-human is a significant part of the phenomenon and queers school as a concept and “research site.”

Investigating critical citizenship education within primary school art curriculum

Background: Visual art at school can create a learning environment where learners can learn, reflect and express opinions on critical citizenship and social justice issues as an informal modality that draws on different skills and allows for expression of thoughts and ideas in a medium other than words and numbers. A relevant issue in South Africa is the need to create a sense of citizenship to help South Africans to engage with and reflect on the country’s complex colonial and apartheid history.Aim: The aim of this study was to engage primary school learners in critical citizenship and social justice education to determine how this can deepen their conceptions and to communicate these through an art project.Setting: A primary school in the Western Cape.Methods: This participatory action research (PAR) study was designed for learners to engage with critical citizenship through project-based learning at a primary school in Cape Town, South Africa. Learners investigated critical citizenship by creating folktales as a narrative for their artwork.Results: Primary school learners’ conceptions of citizenship progressed from a general understanding of what citizenship means during the start of the PAR to a much deeper and personal experience of belonging, caring and connecting at the end of the PAR. The use of folktales, digital storytelling and visual art was effective in creating a message about citizenship that the learners practically experienced and valued.Conclusion: The creative process and artistic expression deepened the learners’ understanding and engagement of critical citizenship and social justice. The reflections on the individuals’ and the group’s learning experiences revealed that critical citizenship education could influence learners’ conceptions and interpretations of folktales with a socio-political message.Contribution: This research contributes to critical citizenship education and curriculum development.

Towards developing a decolonial transdisciplinary praxis that supports a socially-transformative occupational science: Emergent insights from an educational project in South Africa

ABSTRACT As occupational science develops its socially transformative agenda, the discipline must learn how to ‘do’ a science that responds to complex social issues. Developing occupational science as a ‘transdisciplinary science’ has been indicated as a potential tool to do so. As such, this paper presents the emergent insights generated through attempting to engage a decolonial transdisciplinary praxis within health and rehabilitation sciences, as a contribution to the conceptual development of transdisciplinarity within the discipline. Reflections on the authors’ experiences of engaging in a project that intentionally brought undergraduate occupational therapy, speech-language pathology, audiology, and physiotherapy students together to collectively respond to justice and equity-related needs at a low-income school in Cape Town, South Africa, were used to generate these insights. Engaging in a context shaped by coloniality and apartheid, our reflections revealed three key notions that supported the decolonial enactment of a transdisciplinary practice: ‘Exploring how to un-discipline ourselves’; ‘Embracing the vulnerability of decolonising the self’; and ‘Intentionally occupying a liminal space’. Our further interpretation of what these notions meant for our practice culminated in what we saw as critical for the enactment of transdisciplinarity: How to conceptualise and work with a ‘praxis of uncertainty’. We discuss the potential value of the praxis of uncertainty in decolonial transdisciplinary work and offer impetus for its continued conceptual development, arguing that developing such knowledge could contribute to moving occupational science towards becoming a socially transformative discipline.

Vitamin D supplementation to prevent tuberculosis infection in South African schoolchildren: multicenter phase 3 double-blind randomized placebo-controlled trial (ViDiKids)

To determine whether weekly oral supplementation with 10,000 IU vitamin D3for 3 years reduces the risk of sensitization toM. tuberculosisin South African schoolchildren aged 6-11 years with negative QuantiFERON-tuberculosis (TB) Gold Plus (QFT-Plus) assay results at baseline. We conducted a phase 3 randomized placebo-controlled trial in 1682 children attending 23 primary schools in Cape Town. The primary outcome was a positive end-trial QFT-Plus result, analyzed using a mixed effects logistic regression model with the school of attendance included as a random effect. 829 vs. 853 QFT-Plus-negative children were randomized to receive vitamin D3 vs. placebo, respectively. Mean end-study 25(OH)D concentrations in participants randomized to vitamin D vs. placebo were 104.3 vs 64.7 nmol/l, respectively (95% confidence interval for difference, 37.6 to 41.9 nmol/l). A total of 76/667 (11.4%) participants allocated to vitamin D vs. 89/687 (13.0%) participants allocated to placebo tested QFT-Plus positive at 3-year follow-up (adjusted odds ratio 0.86, 95% confidence interval 0.62-1.19, P=0.35). Weekly oral supplementation with 10,000 IU vitamin D3 for 3 years elevated serum 25(OH)D concentrations among QFT-Plus-negative Cape Town schoolchildren but did not reduce their risk of QFT-Plus conversion.

Physical fitness and weight status of Grade One children in Cape Town, South Africa

Physical fitness and weight in young children are important indicators of health status. Literature has shown that fatness and physical fitness are highly intertwined; considering the two together is important as they influence each other. The aim of this study was to investigate the physical fitness levels and weight status of Grade 1 children (N=184) from two schools in Cape Town, South Africa, as well as differences in physical fitness and weight between boys and girls. A quantitative study design was applied. Physical fitness skills were evaluated by measuring five components: cardiorespiratory fitness, muscular strength, agility, flexibility and coordination. Children’s height and mass were measured to determine their Body Mass Index (BMI) and the International Obesity Task Force (IOTF) cut-offs were used to establish under- and overweight classifications of the children. Boys performed better than girls in the standing broad jump, shuttle run and throwing, whereas girls performed better in the flexibility test. Of the children, 84% were classified as normal weight, 11% were overweight and 5% were obese. The children in this study were relatively fit compared with children in other provinces in South Africa; however, their fitness levels can still be significantly improved.

Using an intervention programme to empower intellectually disabled learners to use WhatsApp in a special needs unit in Cape Town, South Africa

Although WhatsApp has become so ubiquitous and widespread across the globe, it poses a risk of abuse and cyberbullying to vulnerable groups of people like intellectually disabled learners. This study explores intellectually disabled learners’ experiences of using WhatsApp during an intervention programme in a special needs unit at a school in Cape Town. The study was conducted using a qualitative case study within an interpretive paradigm. Nineteen participants who include intellectually disabled learners, parents/guardians and staff members were purposively selected to participate in the study. Data was collected using observations and interviews. It was found that all learners who participated in the programme were empowered to use the social media effectively and to become responsible digital citizens. The study concluded that a structured intervention programme provides a milestone of achievement in terms of preparing intellectually disabled learners to become digitally competent and to be able to use social media independently.

A cost analysis of a sports-based sexual health education programme for adolescent girls in South African schools.

Studies have shown that school-based sexual health promotion interventions can improve adolescent sexual and reproductive health outcomes. However, there has been insufficient evidence on the cost and cost-effectiveness of such programmes, driving poor and inconsistent investment and prioritization. This paper analyses the costs of the SKILLZ Health for Girls programme, a sports-based sexual education intervention targeted at adolescent girls in the secondary school environment. Costs were collected alongside a cluster-randomized trial, including 38 secondary schools in Cape Town, South Africa. The analysis was conducted from a provider (multi-sector) perspective and used a mixed-methods costing approach. We developed a cost data collection tool to compile cost information from one-on-one interviews, administrative data and non-participant observations of the intervention. Costs were analysed for 2019, representing a full academic year of programme implementation. The intention-to-treat analysis revealed an average cost per learner per session of $9.92, and the cost per learner reached was estimated at $69.43. Sensitivity analysis indicated that these costs were sensitive to the participation rates of the learners who did not complete the intervention. The cumulative cost for the scale-up scenario for the Western Cape Province based on the base-case analysis (maximizing coverage of schools but only including 30% of eligible learners within schools) was estimated at $5 311 453.00 for a 3-year period, which exceeds the provincial conditional grant allocation dedicated to the human immunodeficiency virus and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (life skills education) for the same period, yet is comparable to the expenditure for a similar donor-funded programme within the province. The study's results will contribute to decision-making for implementing sexual education interventions in schools in South Africa and similar contexts.

Exploring Funding Models in ‘’No-Fee’’ Schools in Cape Town: Evidence from Selected Public Primary Schools.

Purpose: The explicit goal of education funding policy is to raise educational standards by addressing historical financial disparities. This study, explored the funding models in three no-fees public primary schools within the Western Cape Education Department in Cape Town. The specific objective of this study was to explore and discuss the funding models’ initiatives of schools in resources scarce communities in Cape Town.
 Methodology: A qualitative research model was adopted for the investigation. Semi-structured guided questions were used to obtain the data. Using intentional sampling, which selects individuals based on their backgrounds and expertise, a total of nine people was recruited. Three school principals, three chairs of the governing body, and three administrators of the school's finances made up the group of participants. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, data were recorded using telephone conversations. The researcher used a thematic data analysis approach to analyse the data after recording and meticulously transcribing the talks. Individual interviews, participant data, and document analysis were all merged by the researcher in order to make the research conclusions credible.
 Findings: As a result, it was determined whether the information from the case study and the interviews headed in the same direction. Additionally, the researcher gave each participant a chance to confirm that the facts were what they had provided as data. The study indicated that despite receiving 75% of their income from the government, certain no-fee public primary schools still had a high level of resource reliance. A sizeable part of school funding—25%—comes from voluntary donations. The funding attempts, however, have not succeeded in bringing in the money the schools sorely need. Due to government rules, schools feel they have too little money left over and are unable to make significant improvements. The study also showed that fundraising campaigns have an impact on education since they interfere with class time. Additionally, the study demonstrates that learner’s social competition has increased as a result of selling products on campus to raise extra money since learners whose parents cannot afford it do not want to feel afraid or humiliated.
 Recommendations: Selected schools should raise funds using stronger and more innovative funding initiatives rather than traditional, hands-on approaches. The government should rethink amending schooling policies to legally accord schools to collect fees, since studies show that parents in low-resource communities are removing their children from low-resource schools to well-resource schools. Governments also need to rethink school policy changes to give schools the flexibility to make significant budget changes.

An Assessment of Funding Management Strategies in ‘’No Fee’’ Schools in Cape Town: With Specific Reference to Selected Primary Schools.

Purpose: South Africa has a growing literature on no-fees public schools’ policy. The vision of this policy is to ensure that all citizens have equal access to quality basic education. This study, assessed the funding-management strategies in three no-fees public primary schools within the Western Cape Education Department. The specific objective of this study was to identify and discuss the funding-management strategies of schools in resources scarce communities and its impact in providing quality education.
 Methodology: The study used a qualitative research model. Data were collected through semi-structured guided questions. A total of nine participants were chosen using purposeful sampling, which is selecting participants based on their experiences and knowledge. Participants comprised three school principals’, three chairpersons of the school governing body, and three school finance heads. Data were recorded using telephonic conversation due to the covid-19 pandemic. The conversations were recorded and later transcribed word by word, as a result, the data were analyzed by the researcher using a thematic data analysis approach. To instill trust in the research findings, the researcher combined individual interviews with information from the participants and an analysis of written documents. As such, the data from interviews and the case study were verified to see if they pointed in the same direction. Also, the researcher gave all the participants a chance to verify whether or not the facts were what they gave to the researcher as data.
 Results: The study showed that schools involved in financial management realize that it is wise to manage their budgets more carefully than in the past, especially since budgets have always been tighter over the years. Thus, the topics of financial management, financial planning, reporting, recordkeeping, and control all present themselves in the same way. Funding strategies have improved transparency, accountability and collective accountability. However, there are still shortcomings in school fund management such as lack of clear strategic planning, irregular reporting and control measures. The study concluded that tuition waivers and funding management strategies in under-resourced communities affect the performance of elementary schools.
 Recommendations: Aligning funding strategies with policy goals is essential to ensuring that financial resources are used effectively to guide school reform and development. School-level learning objectives need to be clearly defined and prioritized, especially in school with resource planning responsibilities.

Internalizing problems, externalizing problems, and prosocial behavior - three dimensions of the strengths and difficulties questionnaire (SDQ): A study among South African adolescents.

This study aimed to examine the factor structure of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire Self-Report version (SDQ-S), its psychometric properties and measurement invariance by gender and language spoken at home, among secondary school students in Western Cape, South Africa. A sample of 3,542 adolescents in Grade 8 (Mean age = 13.7 years) completed the SDQ-S in a three-language questionnaire (Afrikaans, English and isiXhosa). The data were collected from 42 secondary schools in Cape Town, South Africa. Confirmatory factor analyses with the WLSMV estimator with adjustment for cluster effects (schools) were applied. The SDQ-S was originally developed to cover five domains: four "difficulty" domains (hyperactivity/inattention, emotional, conduct, and peer) and one "strengths" domain (prosocial behavior). When the five factors were tested on the data for the current study, poor fit was obtained. After excluding four items, a three-factor solution with no cross-loadings and no correlated error terms obtained acceptable fit. The results are consistent with previous studies. Strong measurement invariance across genders and language spoken at home was confirmed. In studies of community samples, the use of the SDQ-S scale as an instrument with a three-factor dimension (internalizing, externalizing and prosocial) may be more appropriate than using the original five-factor model.

Leadership approaches of principals heading National Strategy Learner Attainment Schools in South Africa

This study examines the leadership approaches associated with sustained improved academic performance of principals heading National Strategy for Learner Attainment (NSLA) schools. This article reports on a qualitative multiple-case study focused on five successful NSLA secondary schools in Cape Town, South Africa. Data was collected from principals, teachers and selected School Management Team (SMT) members via questionnaires and semi-structured interviews to understand the leadership practices and personality traits that characterised the leadership approaches of principals to facilitate teaching and learning for improving academic performance of learners. The findings indicated that an integrated leadership principal leadership framework would be most effective because it would cultivate community between teachers and learners and result into improved academic performance. This approach encapsulates the various leadership approaches and the leadership personality traits or characteristics of the principals as well as taking into consideration the situational context for effective leadership and decision-making.

Play to Learn: Shakespeare games as decolonial praxis in South African schools

The place of Shakespeare in South African secondary education has become highly contested in light of calls to decolonise the English Home Language curriculum through intentional inclusion of indigenous authors and knowledge systems, and the removal of colonial impositions such as Shakespeare. Yet removing Shakespeare from the curriculum is not the only or even the best solution for countering the violent legacies of colonialism and apartheid. This article argues that a more effective decolonial approach would be to change the way Shakespeare is taught in schools by cultivating horizontal, instead of hierarchical, dialogue within classrooms and between secondary educators and Shakespeare scholars. The authors describe their own horizontal collaboration to produce “Blood will have Blood”, a series of lesson plans and assignments centred on scenes of violence in the Shakespeare set works. Using the digital theatre game Play the Knave, the programme engages secondary school students in creative experimentation and embodied play with Shakespeare’s texts. As learners access the curriculum from their own epistemological standpoints and through their own bodies, they come to understand gendered and racial forms of violence represented in the plays and manifested in their personal and historical contexts. The article contextualises the project in terms of Practice as Research (PAR) methodology while offering preliminary findings from the programme’s implementation in Cape Town schools.

We look past that’: Linguistic repertoires and ideologies of Business Studies teachers at a South African High School

This paper reports on the linguistic repertoires and language ideologies of a small group of Business Studies teachers at a high school in Cape Town, South Africa. Using language portraits and focus group interviews to collect data, we found through a thematic analysis that teachers talked about their own repertoires as performative, playful, and innovative. By contrast, the repertoires of their students are not described in the same manner. Instead, the teachers either erase big parts of their students’ linguistic repertoires or see “accents” and African languages as deficient. African languages are seen as not suitable to use as a language of teaching and learning and is constructed as hampering rather than facilitating educational progress. We use the notion of chronotope to explain how the school as an institution shapes the different narratives evoked around repertoires. Finally, we discuss the implications of our findings for teacher pedagogy.

Developmental Assets in South African Adolescents Exposed to Violence: a Qualitative Study on Resilience

Violence exposure is associated with psychological and behavioural maladjustment in adolescents. Yet, not all adolescents exposed to violence experience negative symptoms. Resilience is an outcome that is in part determined by multiple protective factors, or developmental assets, that protect adolescents from the negative influence of encountered stressors and allow them to attain positive developmental outcomes. A qualitative study was conducted to acquire an in-depth understanding of the developmental assets across different layers in the ecological system that promote positive psychological and behavioural functioning in South African adolescents exposed to violence. Semi-structured individual interviews were conducted with a multi-ethnic group (black, white, and people of mixed heritage) of South African adolescents (boy: n = 17; girl: n = 13; age: 14–19 years) from seven schools in Cape Town. Adolescents reported both internal and external assets that helped them adaptively cope with violence exposure. The internal assets entailed individual characteristics and skills, including commitment to learning, positive values, positive identity, social competencies, and emotional insight. The external assets were boundaries and expectations, social support from adolescents’ peers, family, school, and community, and adolescents’ constructive use of time. The findings of the study may inform strengths-based interventions to enhance emotional and behavioural skills in adolescents at risk for violence exposure. Moreover, involving key stakeholders in the interventions from major developmental domains can be particularly helpful to optimise the social support that are needed for adolescents to be resilient.

Stories, places: storied place and placed story

Stories, places: storied place and placed story
 . . . the universe is not simply a place but a story –a story in which we are immersed, to which we belong, and out of which we arose. –Brian Swimme & Mary Evelyn Tucker
 ABSTRACT
 For a while now I have been ‘wondering’ about, pondering the link between story and place, inhabitant and colonizer: the inextricable and intractable connections that come into being between them. And so in this short diffractive piece where a constellation of concepts (space, place, story, performance, hospitality, refrain, vibe, power to/power over, rhizomes etc.,) come together with no one ‘truth’ privileged, I hope to explore those connections and provide some compelling examples of story as place and place as story with particular reference to one particular place, a school, and the inhabitants of one particular classroom in that school in Cape Town, South Africa. For in schools where matter, in all its forms, is ‘storied’–has its own story to tell–and storified, stories matter.

Mental health effects on adolescent parents of young children: reflections on outcomes of an adolescent parenting programme in South Africa

ABSTRACT At-risk families and caregivers from low-and middle-income countries have been shown to benefit from parenting interventions. But there is limited evidence on the impact of interventions on adolescent parents. This paper considers the effects of a parenting programme targeting adolescent parents in South Africa, emphasising parenting and adolescent well-being outcomes. Secondly, it explores whether such an intervention can influence adolescent depression and parenting behaviours. Using a quasi-experimental, longitudinal design, data was collected over 2015–2017 from 113 adolescent parents (aged 12–22 years) who attended three secondary schools in Cape Town. Adolescents (biological and non-biological parents) were assigned to intervention (parenting programme participation) and control groups. They completed assessments on parenting, adolescent well-being, and social context at three time-points. Inter-group, and time-period differences were examined, and analyses on whether depression moderates programme effects on outcomes were conducted. At the ten-month follow-up, positive parenting and resilience improved for biological and non-biological parents and in both study groups. For the non-biological intervention group parents, depression rates increased over time. Intervention adolescents with high depression risk showed smaller improvements in supportive parenting than their control group counterparts. Although adolescents increased in positive parenting and resilience, it is unclear whether and how the intervention contributed to these results. As the intervention group included more adolescents at high risk of depression at follow-up, this study highlights the importance of including mental health support in interventions targeting adolescents in LMIC contexts. The study is limited by a small sample size and reliance on self-reported data.

The Food Environment of Primary School Learners in a Low-to-Middle-Income Area in Cape Town, South Africa.

Rapid changes in food environments, where less nutritious foods have become cheaper and more accessible, have led to the double burden of malnutrition (DBM). The role food environments have played in shaping the DBM has attained global interest. There is a paucity of food environment research in low-to-middle-income countries. We conducted a case study of the food environments of school aged learners. A primary school in Cape Town was recruited. A multi-method design was used: a home food and eating behaviours questionnaire completed by 102 household respondents and four questions completed by 152 learners; learner participatory photography; a semi-structured school principal interview; a tuckshop inventory; observation of three-day tuckshop purchases. Foods that were commonly present in households: refined carbohydrates, fats/oils, chicken, processed meats, vegetables, fruit, legumes, snacks/drinks. Two thirds of households had rules about unhealthy drinks/snacks, ate supper together and in front of the TV, ate a home cooked meal five–seven times/week and ate breakfast together under two times/week. Vegetables were eaten under two times/week in 45% of households. A majority of learners (84%) took a lunchbox to school. Twenty-five learners photographed their food environment and 15 participated in semi-structured interviews. Six themes emerged: where to buy; what is available in the home; meal composition; family dynamics; peer engagement; food preparation. Items bought at informal food outlets included snacks, drinks and grocery staples. The principal interview revealed the establishment of a healthy school food environment, including a vegetable garden, although unhealthy snacks were sold at the tuckshop. Key dimensions of the food environment that require further investigation in disadvantaged urban and informal settlement areas include the home availability of unhealthy foods, eating behaviours in households and healthfulness of foods sold by informal food outlets.

Adolescents’ responses to the distress of others: The influence of multiple attachment figures via empathic concern

Attachment theory provides an informative theoretical description of how prosocial behaviors in response to the distress of others may be socialized. This study aimed to investigate associations between attachment security to mothers, fathers, closest grandparents and peers, and young adolescents’ (a) prosocial responses to others’ distress and (b) global prosocial behaviors, via the mediation of empathic concern. Cross-sectional survey data were obtained from 520 adolescents (aged 11–14) from nine schools in Cape Town, South Africa. Structural equation modeling revealed that a model in which all paths from the attachment variables were routed through empathic concern was superior to a model which proposed only direct effects of attachment on prosocial behavior. Peer and grandparent attachment were significantly associated, through empathic concern, with self-reported helping in response to others’ distress. For teacher-reported global prosocial behavior, the indirect effects of peer and grandparent attachment failed to reach significance. The results provide theoretical insight into the association between secure attachments and prosocial behavior, and highlight the importance of relationships with friends and grandparents in early adolescence.