REFLECTIONS OF SOUTH AFRICAN TEACHERS TEACHING UNDER ADVERSARIAL CONDITIONS

Journal Title: Problems of Education in the 21st Century - Year 2016, Vol 70, Issue 4

Abstract

Teachers often teach under diffcult conditions of which they do not have oversight. In order for teacher development programmes to be responsive to teachers’ needs, it is necessary to understand the teaching contexts of their participant teachers. Accordingly the purpose of the research was to identify the problems of practice reported by 41 Mathematical Literacy teachers who teach under impoverished conditions in South Africa. The participants identifed their problems of practice and focused on one problem which they tried to address during a two-week teaching intervention. They were required to generate a reflective research report based on their teaching intervention, which formed the primary data source. The fndings indicate that of the 305 citations of problems, 174 were attributed to socio-economic factors, 111 to pedagogic factors and 51 to school management factors. With most of these problems being out of their locus of control, these teachers are forced to spend time dealing with the consequences of these problems, instead of focusing their energy to fnd ways to improve their pedagogic practice. Teacher development agencies need to consider how such teachers could be more appropriately supported.

Authors and Affiliations

Sarah Bansilal, Thelma Rosenberg

Keywords

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  • EP ID EP35426
  • DOI -
  • Views 349
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How To Cite

Sarah Bansilal, Thelma Rosenberg (2016). REFLECTIONS OF SOUTH AFRICAN TEACHERS TEACHING UNDER ADVERSARIAL CONDITIONS. Problems of Education in the 21st Century, 70(4), -. https://www.europub.co.uk/articles/-A-35426