The key findings, based on the RQs posed in Section 1.3 are:
PRQ: “How can an SC intervention with teachers in primary schools in a challenged educational context inform knowledge on TR?”
Irrespective of the social connectedness intervention, TR and SC were high amongst teachers - despite the challenged context. The intentional gatherings between teachers led to a significant increase in trust. The teachers acted on a heightened awareness of social connectedness by leveraging school and school-community networks to bond across school spaces. The bonding signifies an enabling pathway to respond to needs, using social networks and resources to provide and receive social support from peers, learners, parents, and
education included teacher professionalism (opportunities for professional development via social networks, peers and schools), teaching and learning competencies (creativity, adaptability, compassion); and enablers of occupational well-being, including social connection, acknowledgement of occupational inputs, and experiencing occupational purpose.
SRQ1: “How does SC compare pre and post intervention?”
Irrespective of an SC intervention, South African teachers working in a challenged space displayed high SC, valued building relationships and expressed the need for relatedness and belonging. Post-intervention quantitative results showed a statistically significant increase in participants’ overall score for SC. Scales 1, 2, and 3 showed no significant difference in pre- and post-intervention results. There was a significant increase in Scale 4 (the degree to which a person trusts other people in their community). Trust was the only scale to have increased significantly between pre- and post-intervention. Participation in an SC intervention increased teachers' reported ability to trust others and enhanced competencies aligned to SC. Process data collected during May, July and September 2019 teacher-researcher meetings showed that teachers reported strengthened SC competence (Theme 1). Besides awareness of the advantages of SC (Sub-theme 1.1), teachers also mentioned other enhanced competencies aligned to SC. These competencies included the capacity for bonding within and across school social networks (Sub-theme 1.2), leveraging school-community networks (Sub-theme 1.3), and valuing positive family relationships (Sub-theme 1.4).
SRQ2: “To what extent did the SC intervention with teachers in peri-urban primary schools enable SC?”
When teachers participate in an SC intervention, their repertoire for providing and receiving both implicit and explicit social support to learners, co-workers and the school community is expanded. The SC findings indicate that a social connectedness intervention enables social connection, leveraging network capacity, and giving and providing social support. Before the intervention, there was a tendency for SC as a resource management strategy, as evidenced by high SC quantitative scores. Process and post-intervention qualitative themes indicated that an SC intervention created additional space for the teachers to develop and strengthen their relationships further. The introduction of an SC intervention not only boosted teacher connections (as shown in Sub-theme 1.2, “Teachers bonding within and across social networks”), it also promoted and prioritised SC in the lives of teachers (as shown in Sub-theme 1.4, “SC enables teachers to value positive relationships”). Furthermore, teachers reported the capacity to give social support to learners and receive social support from learners, co- workers and school-community members (as shown in Theme 2, “Providing social support as a resilience-enabling resource for teachers”, and Theme 3, “Receiving social support as a resilience-enabling resource for teachers”).
SRQ3: “How does TR compare pre- and post-intervention?”
There were significant differences (p < 0.05) in teacher professionalism, teacher emotion, teacher motivation, teacher sense of coherence, TR, and teacher efficacy, according to the WSR tests (as given in Table 4.7). Except for the teacher contextual scale, significant variations were identified between pre- and post-intervention scores on all scales.
Pre-intervention data points to teacher reports on experiences of enablers of quality education, including instances where the teachers expressed teacher professionalism and T&L strategies as enabling quality education. Process data collected revealed that Isithebe gatherings leveraged social networks for teacher PD. Teachers foregrounded learning from peers, other schools and researchers that enabled quality education.
Teacher experiences of enablers of quality education post-intervention included instances where the teachers expressed teacher professionalism, T&L strategies and leveraging social networks as enabling quality education. In addition to these pre-
intervention themes occurring at post-intervention, additional themes indicated that “teacher adaptability enables quality education” (Category 1.2.2) and “showing compassion for learners enables quality education” (Category 1.2.3).
SRQ4: “To what extent did the SC intervention with teachers in peri-urban primary schools enable TR?”
The SC intervention mobilised enablers that supported TR positive outcomes that included Quality Education (positive outcomes) enabled by (enablers demonstrated in SC intervention) teacher professionalism. The outcomes also included T&L and occupational competencies (positive outcomes) enabled by (enablers demonstrated in SC intervention) acknowledgement and occupational purpose. Both QUAN+QUAL data demonstrated an increase in TR following the “Isithebe” SC Intervention. Except for the teacher contextual scale, significant variations were reported between pre- and post-intervention scores for all scales. Teacher contextual knowledge (“teacher lived knowledge of the hardship of the space in which they work”;
Ebersöhn et al., 2020, p. 26) was high before the intervention.
Increases in quantitative TR scales, mirrored in qualitative themes, indicate that deliberately strengthening SC and being engaged in reciprocal social support contributed to TR and enabled teachers to deliver quality education. At post-intervention data collection, increased reported incidences of “teacher experiences of enablers of quality education in challenged educational contexts” (Theme 1), and “teacher experiences of enablers of occupational well-being in challenged educational contexts” (Theme 2) corroborated increases across quantitative TR scales.