Teachers' attitudes and (low achieving) learners' engagement in learning.
Date
2015-05-08
Authors
Buys, Estelle Priscilla
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Abstract
Education has undergone much change in post-apartheid South Africa. New school
policies and curricula are some of the changes that have impacted education in
significant ways. An important consequence of all this is that classrooms have become
more racially mixed and/or culturally diverse. Teachers have also had to adjust to the
changes in their classrooms not only in pedagogic terms, but also in terms of
perceptions of learners and more importantly, their attitudes towards learners. The
study was conducted at three Co Ed schools in the Gauteng South district. The schools
are all situated in Eldorado Park. The aim of the research was to investigate ways in
which teachers’ attitudes, as perceived by learners, affect learners’ engagement in their
own learning. A case study methodology within the qualitative paradigm was
employed. Data was collected through learner focus group interviews. The main
research question was: In what pedagogical ways, as perceived by high and low
achieving learners, do teachers transmit attitudes of care, trust and expectations to
learners. The findings indicated that there are differences in learners’ perceptions and
experiences of teachers’ pedagogical ways, particularly with regard to low achieving
learners. Moreover, the low achieving learners had significantly different, mainly
negative, experiences of pedagogical ways. The study concluded that in order for
learning to be facilitated, certain pedagogical means/ways are required to transmit
attitudes of care, trust and expectations. This study suggests that there is room for
further research in this field.
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Keywords
Engaged pedagogy, Pedagogical ways, Pedagogic dialogue, Attitudinal quality