An exploration into educators' perceptions and attitudes towards immigrant learners
Date
2007-02-13T13:25:49Z
Authors
Sikhakhane, Lynette Matshepo
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Abstract
The main purpose of the study described in this report was to explore educators’
perceptions and their attitudes towards immigrant learners in their school and how those
impact on them, at work and in their social lives. This study was both qualitative and
quantitative in nature. Questionnaires were used as research instruments in this study and
semi-structured interviews were also carried out with individual educators. The sample of
the study constituted thirteen educators from a school in Gauteng. The school was chosen
because of its situation and because it is a co-educational school in an area with many
immigrants. Educators’ comments suggest that they are not adequately trained or
prepared to deal with immigrants in their classroom. They perceived that they were not
sufficiently equipped or informed with the policy of inclusion to accommodate immigrant
learners. Further areas of concern expressed by educators include an inability to
overcome the language barrier when dealing with the learners from outside South Africa,
and a generalised lack of support by employers and superiors. From the results of this
study, one can deduce that in general educators perceive immigrant learners as an
additional burden to deal with in a classroom situation, which impacts negatively on their
work performance.
Description
Student Number : 8802461M -
M Ed research report -
School of Education -
Faculty of Humanities
Keywords
Attitudes, Barriers to learning, Educators, Exclusion, Immigrant learners, Inclusion, Perceptions, Xenophobia