Browsing by Author "Mlambo, Winile"

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    Educators’ views on the challenges facing the teaching of life skills in UMkhanyakude primary schools
    (University of Zululand, 2018) Mlambo, Winile
    This study was designed to explore educators’ views on the challenges facing the teaching of Life skills in Umkhanyakude primary schools. The study was motivated, among other things, by the paucity of literature regarding educators’ views on the challenges facing Life skills in rural area primary schools. Life skills are a mandatory subject for all learners at Junior and Intermediate phases. It deals with the holistic development of the learner throughout childhood and equips them with knowledge, skills and values that will assist them to achieve their full physical, intellectual, personal, emotional and social skills (DoE 2012). To guide the study three research hypotheses were formulated and statistically tested at a/the 0.05 level of significance. The study adopted a quantitative research approach using descriptive survey design. The sample for the study comprises of 202 educators in Umkhanyakude Districts primary schools. This/the sample was obtained using the random sampling. Data was obtained from the sample using a questionnaire. The questionnaire is a 24 item, which was designed in a Likert like 5 scale. The validity of the questionnaire was obtained through a sample pilot test of 60 educators and the reliability coefficient of 0.753 was obtained using the Crobach’s Alpha. The data obtained from the sample was analysed using the Chi Square with SPSS. The study’s findings revealed agreement amongst educators that there are challenges facing the Life skills teaching. In addition, the study revealed that an overwhelming majority of educators (99%) confidently agree that Life skills can be used as an intervention to counteract the challenges faced in the Life skills class. Additionally, the study revealed that biographical information like gender and post level have no significant influence on the educators’ ability to indicate different challenges experienced in Life skills class, while, on the other hand, age, phase, experience and qualifications was found to have a significant impact on the educators’ ability to indicate different challenges experienced in Life skills class. Likewise, the study revealed that there is no evidence that educators’ view on the challenges facing Life skills teaching depend on the post level and gender. The respondents’ opinions were independent of gender, meaning that males and female homogenously agree that there are challenges when teaching Life skills. Based on the findings of the study, it is recommended that all educators teaching Life skills must be professionally qualified as the study revealed qualification influence the teachers’ ability. More important is that educators with more years of teaching experience may be the ones teaching the subject as per the study results. It is also recommended that efforts should be made by stakeholders, especially the Department of Education, to motivate educators teaching Life skills considering the importance of Life skills education in equipping learners with essential skills to cope with the various challenges learners are facing. Efforts should be made to ensure the continuity of Life skills education as an intervention in schools. Finally, it is recommended that there should be networking and collaboration between educators; especially for those qualified and those unqualified to teach Life skills education, as the findings indicated as such.
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    Evaluating English curriculum delivery in the intermediate phase in UMmkhanyakude District Primary schools
    (University of Zululand, 2020) Mlambo, Winile
    Parents and communities have only the opportunities to choose their preferred language for learning and teaching (LoLT) in the foundation phase. The Department policy allows schools in South Africa to use English as their LoLT from the intermediate phase upwards. Education is one aspect that measures the power in all countries, and that is why the government has the responsibility to make sure that the curriculum is efficiently achieved. The only key aspect that could assure the achievement of the curriculum is the Language of learning and teaching. This study is, therefore aimed at evaluating the English curriculum delivery in the intermediate phase at Umkhanyakude Primary schools. The study was motivated among other things by the fact that Language is continuously reported as the failing subject. It was necessary also to evaluate the department's continuous language interventions like Jika Imfundo. The study was guided by four research aims which were establishing the nature of English curriculum delivery, support and supervision in the intermediate phase, determining the educators’ experiences in the implementation of the English curriculum, ascertaining the extent to which curriculum delivery enhances the quality of teaching and learning in schools and the strategies that can be employed to improve English curriculum delivery, support and supervision in the intermediate phase. The theory underpinning this study was constructivism which the researcher regarded as the most suitable to evaluate the English curriculum delivery. In language learning, constructivism suggests that knowledge is developed from the existing knowledge. This study made use of the case study research design using qualitative approach in order to identify and evaluate English curriculum delivery in the intermediate phase in primary schools of the Umkhanyakude District. Five clustering primary schools in the Umkhanyakude District were purposively selected. Using one-on-one interviews, observations and document analysis as the research tools the target population comprising of fifteen participants who are teachers, departmental heads and principals, the study yielded the results for this study. The main findings of this study found that Language was the key to the success of the curriculum. It also established the link between the Language and curriculum not for communication purposes only but success in learning. Furthermore, the findings revealed curriculum vi | Page delivery of the Language is facing many challenges which range from personnel, poor learner performance, time on task and lack of resources. The study recommends the use of cooperative learning strategies, including Jika Imfundo, as the best strategies in the teaching of the Language. A proposed monitoring tool was designed for the purposes of monitoring of the teaching of a Language. This research presented language as the key to the success of the curriculum and established the link between the language and curriculum not for communication purposes only but for success in learning.