Year: 2016
Type: dissertation
Abstract: In the light of the declining moral standards in South African society, there is a need for \nchildren to be supported and developed on their journey towards responsible adulthood. \nThe school is regarded as one of the most relevant stakeholders in the teaching of values \nfor the moral development of the younger generation in particular and broader society in \ngeneral. I observed how teachers impart values to leaners through the subject Life Skills \nthat also includes the moral aspect. \nThis study employed a qualitative research method using a case study of four schools \nand twelve teachers. The four schools were purposefully selected to obtain a deeper \nunderstanding of the participants' experiences from different perspectives. The selected \nschools are from different socio-economic backgrounds. Two schools were selected from \nrural areas. However, the areas differed in the sense that one was in a traditional village \nunder the authority of a tribal chief while other was on trust land bought by the residents. \nOne school was selected from an informal settlement and one from a semi-urban area. \nSemi-structured interviews and classroom observations were conducted to gather data. \nTeachers were interviewed after school and field notes were taken to record data \ncollected from the participants in order to examine how teachers understood and \nimplemented teaching values education in the foundation phase. These values include, \namongst others, social justice and equity whereby freedom of choice and access to \neducation are highlighted. \nThe study found that the professional training of life skills teachers and multiculturalism \nduring life skills lessons, i.e. the cultural differences between the teachers and learners \nas members of a community, need to be addressed. The study also recommends that a \nrelationship of trust between parents and schools should be established to help enable \nteachers to address the issue of moral regeneration in our society. Classroom observation was conducted during the collection of data. School policy documents were analysed and \nteachers were interviewed to get a deeper understanding of how they understood values \nand how they contributed to the development of young citizens. \nFrom the observations and interviews, it could be deduced that teachers have different \nunderstandings of values education. It was also found that teachers find it difficult to \ncontextualise and reconcile cultural values with the values that they are supposed to teach \nat school. \nThe recommendations based on the findings of my study include the professional training \nof Life Skills teachers and the promotion of multiculturalism during Life Skills lessons \nwhere the cultural differences between learners and teachers are addressed. The study \nalso recommends that the relationship of trust between teachers, parents and the larger \nsociety should be entrenched in order to assist teachers to instil values in young learners.
Author: Stephen Esrom Masote
Language: English
Topic: Values and Moral Education
Subfield: Education
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funder: European Commission
OpenAlex ID: W2732393808