An analysis of the educator's authority in Black Secondary Schools
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Date
1990
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Abstract
The aim of this study was to investigate how educators exercise their authority over Black Secondary school pupils. A teacher is an authority by virtue of his being a source of knowledge and his expertise in communicating this knowledge to the pupils. It is on the basis of this knowledgeability that he takes charge of the experiences of the pupil. He becomes morally obligated to control pupils' expenditure of energy.
The depth of the teachers knowledgeability of the learning content was tested by variables like academic qualifications, supplementary reading, frequency and encouragement of pupil questions, and extent of use of short answer items. All these variables yielded negative responses. The epistemic stand of most teachers' authority appeared not to be firmly grounded.
Successful dissemination of knowledge was tested by, among other variables, quality of feedback, rate of pupil absenteeism and testing techniques. Responses showed a lack of follow-up to measure the grasp of the learning content.
Execution of moral authority was measured by inter alia, probing the application and enforcement of school rules, forms of punishment, attitude towards establishing a rationale for values behind rules and punishment. Findings showed a trend of authoritarianism.
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Submitted in fulfilment or partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Education in the Department of Philosophy of Education of th University of Zululand, 1990.
Keywords
Authority