Year: 2018
Type: dissertation
Abstract: This study investigated the nature of teachers’ work in a context of adversity at Shivta \nPrimary School. The school is situated in an underprivileged rural township in \nKwaZulu-Natal known as Kalika. \nSocial constructionism was adopted as the theoretical framework for the study and the open \nsystems theory and Morrow’s formal and material elements of teachers’ work were employed \nto examine the nature of such work in a context where students hail from low socioeconomic \nbackgrounds. \nA qualitative ethnographic approach was used to collect data. Interviews, focus groups and \nobservation were used to examine the nature, complexity and demands of teachers’ work in a \ncontext of adversity. While teachers are expected to comply with national norms as well as \nthose formulated by school management, teaching in a context of adversity generates \nadditional challenges. \nThe study’s results revealed that teachers’ work at Shivta Primary School is concentrated, \ncomplicated, emotionally challenging and demanding. Apart from their daily classroom \nactivities, they are called on to provide social and emotional support to students due to the \nlatter’s socioeconomic circumstances. \nThe findings also indicate that the rhythm of teachers’ work is constantly interrupted by \ncounselling and social work; administrative duties and other incidental activities. This calls \nfor the ability to constantly respond to new situations that are outside their normal duties. \nThe multiple interactions that constitute teaching reveal teachers’ work as complex, \ndemanding, emerging and intensified rather than permanent and coherent. Teachers at Shivta \nPrimary School operate within a structure that requires that they attend to matters after the \nschool day has ended. While this may be typical of many schools, the degree of adversity \nconfronted by students at this school makes this study atypical. It is thus recommended that \npolicies provide for support for teachers that work in a context of adversity.
Author: Nadira. Maharaj
Language: English
Subfield: Education
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W3016848785