Educational Psychology & Special Needs Education

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Browsing Educational Psychology & Special Needs Education by Author "Chetty, Lutchman Soobramoney"

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    Governing bodies' perspectives on a culture of teaching and learning
    (1998) Chetty, Lutchman Soobramoney; Urbani, G.; van der Merwe, A.
    This study involves an investigation of governing bodies' perspectives on a culture of teaching and learning. An attempt was made to determine if governing bodies are adequately trained to play a meaningful role in the re-establishment of a culture of teaching and learning at schools. The literature study discloses that education in South Africa is going through a crisis. It is common knowledge that the culture of teaching and learning has almost disappeared in its entirety in many schools. Schools are characterised by an anti-academic attitude by teachers as well as pupils. Many parents seem to be helpless when confronted with problems related to their children's schooling. Their only hope rests in governing bodies' and principals' initiatives to re-establish a culture of teaching and learning. Governing bodies and principals therefore have a vital role to play in creating a culture of teaching and learning. In the interest of the education of children, they need to work in concert with each other. Their working together is a collaborative act, marked by cooperation and support for each other. The investigation proved that governing bodies have not been adequately trained to deal with problems associated with the culture of teaching and learning. Despite the South African Schools Act, 1996 (Act No.84 of 1996) ushering in a new era of parental involvement in school governance, parents were not systematically empowered to deal with their new responsibilities. The failure of the Department of Education to embark on a meaningful capacity-building programme for school governors has inhibited governing bodies' contribution towards education. For the purpose of the empirical investigation a self-structured questionnaire for parent governors was utilised. The questionnaires that were completed by parent governors were analysed and thereafter the data that was obtained was processed and analysed. This study has confirmed that governing bodies were not adequately trained to play a meaningful role in the re-establishment of a culture of teaching and learning at schools. In addition to the empirical survey, personal interviews with members of governing bodies were conducted. In conclusion a summary was presented and based on the findings of this study, the following are some of the recommendations that were made: * All governing bodies should develop and enforce a code of conduct which will provide a set of guidelines to regulate the behaviour of pupils so that a disciplined and purposeful environment is established at schools to facilitate effective teaching and learning. * All teachers should be governed by a code of conduct that will prohibit unprofessional behaviour. * Governing bodies should offer incentives to principals and teachers who introduce innovative ideas and methods to promote the culture of teaching and learning. * Through structured education programmes governing bodies must prepare parents to assume responsibility for the education of their children.
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    Problems experienced by teachers in a multicultural classroom setting
    (1997) Chetty, Lutchman Soobramoney; Urbani, G.; van der Merwe, A.
    Socio-political changes have brought about major changes in the education system of South Africa. Many teachers who were accustomed to teaching at monocultural schools are suddenly confronted with the reality of having to cope with pupils of other cultural groups in their classrooms. Most of these teachers were not prepared for these changes. This unpreparedness has led to many problems being experienced by teachers in the multicultural classroom setting. The aims of this study are: * To determine if teachers are effectively trained to teach in a multicultural classroom setting. * To establish if teachers are conversant with the complex needs of children in a multicultural classroom setting. * To establish certain guidelines according to which accountable support can be instituted to equip pre-service and inservice teachers to deal with possible problems that they may encounter in a multicultural classroom setting. Initially multicultural education in England, the USA and South Africa was reviewed. In all three cases a short historical overview of the development of multicultural education was given. Acts that were introduced in regard with the provision of education in these countries as well as certain acts that gave course and direction to the evolutionary process of multicultural education were briefly discussed. Certain advantages and disadvantages of multicultural education as envisaged by certain educationists were also highlighted. In order to understand teaching in a multicultural classroom it was necessary to examine the life-world of the teacher and the teacher-pupil relationship. The life-world of the teacher constitutes his relationships with himself, others, things and ideas and God. Research with regard to this study was conducted as follows: * A literature study of available, relevant literature. * An empirical survey comprising a structured questionnaire to be completed by secondary school teachers in the North Durban region. A likert- type scale questionnaire with three response categories; viz. Agree, Disagree, Unsure, was constructed. The three response categories ensured that the respondents' selections fell into one of the categories enabling the measurement of the direction and the intensity of their perceptions of problems experienced by teachers in a multicultural classroom setting. * In addition to the empirical survey, personal interviews with teachers were conducted. One hundred and eighty teachers were targeted from six randomly selected multicultural secondary schools in the North Durban region. With the aim of administering the questionnaire to the teachers of these schools, it was necessary to first obtain permission from the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education. Permission was also obtained from the Circuit Inspector of the North Durban region. Only after such permission was granted, was the researcher able to conduct this study. The primary data was in the form of a response to one of the three response categories (Agree, Disagree, Unsure). Scores of the responses to each of the three categories were calculated. The descriptive technique was employed for the quantitative analysis of the data. The investigation has the following value: * It will provide a reliable picture of teachers' perspectives of multicultural education; * The most lasting value of this investigation is that it will enable education planners and other relevant bodies to plan and provide professional teacher training programmes in multicultural education. Anticipated dissemination of the research findings: * The problems experienced by teachers in multicultural classrooms can be a topical issue of discussions during seminars and workshops at schools, colleges and universities. * Findings from the research can be useful in the planning of suitable methods (workshops, videos, etcetera) to assist teachers to meet the educational needs of children in multicultural classrooms. * The topic lends itself for further research by interested stakeholders regarding the teaching of children in multicultural classrooms.
University of Zululand