scholarly journals Poverty, Gender and Primary Education: Experiences of Learners in Elandskop, KwaZulu Natal

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 67
Author(s):  
Misheck Dube

This article discusses the interconnectedness of poverty and gender and learning at primary school level in KwaZulu Natal Province of South Africa.  A qualitative study was conducted in two schools in the poverty stricken Elandskop area where data were collected using in-depth face-to-face interviews from purposely selected participants comprising of learners, educators and the headmasters. The aim was to analyse how male and female learners experience poverty, gender role socialisation and the effect on children’ bio-psychosocial health of both sexes.  While the findings of the study revealed that poverty and gender socialisation of boys and girls have bio-psychosocial negative influences on them, the gender dimension of poverty had the most negative influence on girls. It was found that primary school learners grapple with coping mechanisms when confronted with poverty coupled with limited family and professional support. Gendered family roles and oppressive religious beliefs have been found to have influence on early marriages and teenage pregnancies resulting in school dropouts. The findings of the study imply that school social work is vehemently lacking yet necessary in schools in the area to assist educators in addressing the psychosocial ill-health of learners which educators are less equipped to professionally handle. The study recommends appropriate bio-psychosocial interventions early in the lives of learners to curtail lifelong developmental predicaments.   

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-44
Author(s):  
Gina May Yuen Ong ◽  
Wing Sum Cheung

Blogs have been widely used in education for the numerous benefits the tool offers. Previous research has examined the use of blogs in various educational settings, but very few studies have been carried out at the primary level. This study explored students' motivations to use blogs in a primary school context. A case study approach was adopted and data were collected through online reflections, supported by and triangulated with data from face-to-face interviews. Findings revealed several reasons that motivated students to blog, and students' motivations to blog seemed to suggest that the students were subconsciously meeting one or more psychological needs, namely belonging, competence, freedom, and fun, and the need for competence was the most prevalent amongst students in this study. This study also provides teachers in the school to gain some insights into what motivated their students to use blogs when they design instructional activities in the future.


2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Jeevarathanum Naidoo

This study is concerned with the choices parents of second language learners make with regard to the schooling of their children in respect of medium of instruction, and explores the reasons why parents choose to disregard education in their mother tongue in favour of English as a medium of instruction. This is contrary to the Language in Education Policy, as the Department of Education instils in principals, educators and parents the need for children at primary school level to be taught in their mother tongue. The theoretical framework used to address the problem was the Critical Language Approach, this being an appropriate position from which to investigate language and power. A combination of questionnaires, interviews and observation was used to acquire data from parents and management in a large primary school in KwaZulu-Natal. After analysis of the data, which confirmed the hegemonic position of English as influencing choice of medium of instruction by parents of English second language learners, a model was developed to assist them to see the possible consequences of various choices. The model comprised a tenpoint questionnaire to identify needs, a flow chart diagram resulting from the needs analysis, a pictograph to assist stakeholders to understand the relevant choices available, and workshops to support the choice of medium of instruction. The value of the research, it is thought, lies in clarifying the various influences at play, in particular, the hegemonic position of English, and offering stakeholders a rational, rather than political or emotional basis for the choice of medium of instruction for second language learners, as well as pointing out the possible consequences of such choices.


1983 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 223-232 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fred Biddulph ◽  
Roger Osborne ◽  
Peter Freyberg

1978 ◽  
Vol 160 (3) ◽  
pp. 5-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neville Bennett

An attempt is made to provide an interpretive framework for the findings of recent research on teaching at the primary-school level. A model of teaching/learning processes is outlined prior to an investigation of the empirical linkages between the elements of the model. Following this, the implications of the model for teaching skills are explored.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 86
Author(s):  
Ahmad Sugianto

Understanding an English-medium science textbook is possibly challenging for some students. It is, for example, due to the language used. To deal with this issue, construing the use of the other mode, such as visual images, along with the verbal text is regarded useful. Thereby, the construal of multimodality in an English-medium science textbook becomes crucial. Albeit a myriad of inspections on multimodality exists, but to the best of the writer’s knowledge, such investigation with respect to an English-medium science textbook, particularly at a primary school level, was found to be limited. Therefore, this study aimed to scrutinize the verbal text and visual image presented in a science textbook used for a primary school level which is presented in English. To that end, a descriptive research design was employed. In this regard, a systemic functional multimodal discourse analysis (SF-MDA) within the trinocular metafunctions encompassing ideational, interpersonal, and textual metafunctions was utilized. The systemic functional linguistics theory, the grammar of visual design, intersemiotic complementarity, and logico-semantics were the frameworks employed to analyze the artefact, the English-medium science textbook. The findings revealed that the visual image and verbal text interact with one another within the three metafunctions. Given the interaction between the two modes, the present study suggests that both teachers and students are required to take into considerations and be aware of the potential or roles of images along with the verbal text, i.e. the images are not merely accessories, but instead, these are able to assist the comprehension of the science materials learned.


Author(s):  
Slobodanka Milanovic-Nahod ◽  
Nadezda Saranovic-Bozanovic ◽  
Dragica Sisovic

The present paper poses essential questions: What knowledge should students attain and what methods should be applied? The authors started up from cognitivistic view of cognition related to: (a) organizing knowledge of science in the form of generalized ideas or major concepts that can be reduced to a large number of information items, and (b) manner of building up students? knowledge into meaningful units as matrices of interrelated concepts. Attention is directed to difficulties emerging in developing cognitive structures related to complex contents of science and methods of concept learning in the teaching process. The results of investigations show that students? mastery of concepts is poor, and the reasons are to be found in the abstract character of contents themselves, lack of ability to interrelate contents within one discipline and between cognate ones, and the absence of establishing relationships between scientific concepts in cognitive structure. An efficient method of presenting scientific concepts was given and explained at three levels, such as macro, micro and symbolic. A model was suggested as a possible method for netting concepts in chemistry at primary school level. Practical recommendations were given to teachers how to assess students? cognitive structure and how to apply appropriate methods.


2019 ◽  
Vol IV (I) ◽  
pp. 384-388
Author(s):  
Muhammad Ali Shaikh ◽  
Mahboob Ali Deraj ◽  
Zahid Hussain Sahito

The purpose of this research study was to review the expected role and responsibilities to be played by headteachers and done in reality at the primary school level in District Shaheed Benazirabad. It has been observed that headteachers in public schools at the primary level are not performing as per the need of the time. For the purpose, a tailor-made questionnaire was distributed among randomly selected headteachers. The quantitative research approach was used to solve the query. The results indicate the lenient approach of headteachers towards their duties.


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