RESEARCH METHODOLOGY: DEVELOPING THE TOOLS FOR INTERROGATING SCHOOL LANGUAGE CHANGE
3.6 Describing the context
3.6.2 Schools
All four schools prior to 1994 were under the control of the department of education in the now defunct House of Delegates8. A description of the schools follows.
Piper Primary
The school, situated in Chatsworth, was opened in 1969 and was at the time a state-aided Indian school9 but over the years the character of the school had changed. The learner population prior to 1990 comprised of only Indian learners. According to the principal the school was open to children of other races in the early 90s and a large number of Zulu- speaking learners were enrolled at the school. A previously African township which borders the school had increased the numbers of African learners in the school. The learner enrolment at the time of the research was 863 of which there were 820 African,
8 The House of Delegates was part of the Tricameral Parliament which was the name given to the South African parliament and its structure from 1984 to 1994. While still entrenching the political power of the white section of the South African population, it did give limited political voice to the country‟s Coloured and Indian population groups.
The majority Black population group was still excluded. The tricamerel parliament comprised the white House of Assembly, the Coloured House of Representatives and the Indian House of Delegates. Each of these three chambers had power over “own affairs‟ (as it was termed) of the population group it represented, such as education, social welfare, housing, local government, arts, culture and recreation (Tricameral Parliament 2008)
9 To address the shortage of state-provided schools for Indians in South Africa in the early 1900s and to enforce the provision of schools which addressed the need to offer secular education while at the same time addressing the desire for preservation of religious ideals through provision of religious education, state-aided schools were established by the Indian community (Naidoo 1992).
26 Indian learners, 16 coloured learners and 1 white learner. Of the 863 learners 712 had isiZulu, 81 isiXhosa, 56 English, 12 Sesotho and 2 SiSwati as a home language. While there were four African home languages, isiXhosa, SiSwati and Sesotho speaking learners could communicate in isiZulu according to an African educator at the school.
The teaching staff comprised 19 educators including the principal and management staff of which 15 were Indian and 4 African educators. Of the 15 Indian educators, only the principal was fluent in isiZulu. The support staff comprised of two African cleaners and an Indian administration clerk.
A quarter of the school‟s learner population came from an impoverished socio-economic background. According to the school‟s EMIS10 statistics for 2006, 26% of the learners were in receipt of a social grant. Because of widespread poverty in the community that the school serves many learners enrolled at the school prior to 2004 did not have any pre- school education. This had prompted the school, with permission from the education department, to include a state-funded Grade R class11 in 2004. At the time of the research there were 68 grade R learners enrolled at the school.
The language subject offerings at the school as per the 2006 EMIS statistics were English as home language, Afrikaans as 1st additional language and isiZulu as 2nd additional language for Grades 4 to 7. The policy for Grades 1 to 3 was English as home language and isiZulu as additional language. However, subsequent to the submission of the EMIS statistics to the education department in March 2006, the school‟s language policy was revised to phase in isiZulu as 1st additional language displacing Afrikaans to 2nd additional language for Grades 4 to 7. The first grade in which the change was phased in was Grade 4.
10 The Education Management Information System (EMIS) directorate is charged with the development and elaboration of a national EMIS which will cover schools, colleges, Higher Education, Adult Basic Education and Training (ABET), Early Childhood Development (ECD), Education for Learners with Special Education Needs (ELSEN) centres and Further Education and Training (FET) institutions. One of the responsibilities of the EMIS directorate is ensuring that education data and information (on learners, staff, institutions, facilities and resources) relevant to education planning is collected, analysed, and reported using the EMIS (DOE 2006).
11 Early Childhood Development (ECD) provision funded through the provincial education budgets for 5/6 year olds in the Reception Year (Grade R) which is the first introductory year of an integrated four-year Junior Primary programme (Interim Policy for ECD DOE 1996).
The following contextual factors posed serious challenges to the principal of the school who was also one of the language change agents in pursuing his objective of transforming the language policy and practices of the school:
The poor socio-economic background of the large majority of the parents forced the school to keep school fees to a minimum. Consequently the school did not have the necessary funds to employ more school governing body (SGB) appointed African educators to teach isiZulu and to adequately resource the school to cater for the changes in the language policy.
The majority of the teaching staff could not converse in isiZulu and therefore could not employ multilingual strategies like teacher-led Zulu-English code- switching for instructional and classroom management purposes. A large percentage of these educators were also indifferent to measures adopted by the principal to capacitate them in this respect.
Bo- Peep Primary
The school, situated in Chatsworth, opened in 1967. At first it was purely an infant school but later the school developed into a regular primary school comprising learners from Grade R to Grade 7. According to the principal, learner intake in 1994 was very erratic because the community from which the school drew its learners was relatively unstable at the time with a lot of movement of people in and out of the area. The council flats in the area at the time had provided temporary housing for people who were awaiting their permanent homes. This resulted in many transfers into and out of the school at the time.
However, at the time of the research the community and the school population were more stable.
Like Piper Primary, this school also entirely comprised Indian learners prior to the early 90s. In about 1992 the first African learners were enrolled at the school. At the time of
the research the learner enrolment was 493 of which there were 398 Indian learners, 93 African learners and 2 coloured learners. Of the 493 learners, 412 had English, 76 isiZulu, 3 isiXhosa, 1 Afrikaans and 1 Sesotho as a home language. The educator staff comprised 17 educators including the principal and management staff of which there were 16 Indian educators and one African educator. Of the Indian educators, only the principal, who had completed a course in basic isiZulu, could speak isiZulu with some difficulty. The support staff comprised a clerk and three cleaners. The clerk was an Indian female and the cleaners, two males and a female, were all Indian.
According to the principal the school drew many learners from a very poor socio- economic area. The EMIS statistics for the school for 2006 revealed that a third of the learner population received a social grant. Because of the impoverished background of a large number of its learners, this school also had a state funded pre-primary Grade R class comprising 42 learners.
The language subject offerings at the school according to the 2006 EMIS statistics were English as home language, Afrikaans as 1st additional and isiZulu as 2nd additional language for Grades 4 to 7. For Grades 1 to 3 English was offered as home language and Afrikaans as additional language.
The following contextual factors posed challenges to the school‟s SGB chairperson who was the language change agent attempting to drive language change at this school:
The relatively small percentage of African learners at the school, which prevented the prioritization of language change that addressed the linguistic diversity of the learners.
The principal‟s conservative attitude to school language change, which prevented the fast-tracking of language policy and practice changes at the school.
The resistance of Indian educators to language policy changes in the school that elevated the status of isiZulu in the school and consequently reduced instruction time of the other languages taught at the school, notably English.
The conspicuous lack of African educators at the school to teach isiZulu and other subjects across the curriculum. The one African educator on the staff was an itinerant educator who was shared between this school and a neighbouring primary school.
Willy Wonke Primary
Willy Wonke Primary School was built in about 1989 to accommodate the Indian children in the Malakazi area. Malakazi is technically a peri-urban area but failed to develop at the same pace as neighbouring Isipingo, a predominantly Indian suburb. The road giving access to the school was only partly tarred at the time of the research. The tarring could not be completed because the landlords owning the land through which the road passed could not be located to sign the relevant expropriation orders. According to the principal, Malakazi was at one time occupied by Indians only, many of whom were tenants on leased properties, but at the time of the research there were few Indian families living in the area. Some of these Indian as well as coloured families lived as tenants in African-owned homes. The principal indicated that the area had been taken over by informal settlers and poverty was rife.
Willy Wonke Primary sought to replace the old school called Kandy Primary, which was on leasehold property. According to the principal the school changed character in the early 90s from 100% Indian learners and 100% Indian teaching staff to more than 90%
African learners and about 75% Indian educators. At the time of the research the learner enrolment was 1218 of which 1168 were African learners, 40 Indian learners and 10 coloured learners. Of the 1218 learners 1169 had isiZulu, 48 English and 1 isiXhosa as a home language. The staff comprised 33 educators including the principal and management staff of whom 25 were Indian and 8 African educators. One of the African
educators was Head of Department in the senior primary phase. Of the 25 Indian educators only three, including the principal, were reasonably conversant in isiZulu. The support staff comprised an Indian clerk, two African cleaners and two handymen (I African and 1 Indian).
Almost a third of the learner population came from an impoverished socio-economic background. According to the school‟s 2006 EMIS statistics 28% of the learners received a social grant. Like Piper and Bo Peep primary schools, this school also had a state- funded Grade R class to accommodate indigent learners seeking first time admission at the school. However, state funding for this school was much higher than for Piper and Bo Peep primary schools. At the time of the research there were 41 grade R learners at the school.
The language subject offerings at the school as per the 2006 EMIS statistics were English as home language and isiZulu as additional language across all grades from 1 to 7.
Afrikaans, which had been offered as an additional language prior to 2006 was dropped completely from the curriculum and replaced with isiZulu.
The challenges posed to the principal of the school who was also the language change agent attempting to drive language change at the school were the following:
The lack of genuine support from the Indian educators at the school for the language change process initiated at the school.
Opposition from the Indian educators to African colleagues‟ Zulu-English code- switching practice for instructional and classroom management purposes.
Insistence from the Indian educators on maintaining the English-medium status of the school.
Opposition from African parents to the appointment of increasing numbers of African educators at the school.
Mulberry Primary
At the time of the research the school had been in existence in Chatsworth for 39 years but its history dated back to some 140 years ago when the school was first established by the Indian community in the Seaview/Malvern area in Durban. The original school was affected by the Group Areas Act and subsequently closed down. As compensation, the state replaced that school with the existing school. The learner population for much of the 39 years that the school had been in existence at the time of the research was Indian.
However, the racial composition of the learners changed from 1996 when there was a dramatic increase in the number of African learners seeking admission at schools in Chatsworth. In the late 90s approximately 25% of the learner population was African but since 2004 the numbers of African learners had dropped. According to the principal there was an exodus back to traditionally black township schools. He ascribed the exodus to better funding and improved facilities for township schools. However, he conceded that former Indian schools on the main public transport routes still attracted a reasonable number of African learners.
At the time of the research the learner enrolment was 370 of which there were 313 Indian learners, 56 African learners and 1 coloured learner. Of the 370 learners, 313 had English, 52 isiZulu and 4 isiXhosa as a home language. The teaching staff comprised 15 educators including the management staff and principal, all of whom were Indians. Only one educator, the change agent at the school, could speak isiZulu reasonably fluently. The support staff comprised 2 African women, one of whom assisted the school‟s clerk with her administration duties and also assisted the change agent with preparing Zulu-English bilingual LTSMs.
Unlike Piper, Bo Peep and Willy Wonke primary schools, the majority of learners at this school were from a relatively economically comfortable background. Just 4% of the learners received a social grant at the time of the research. However, the principal confirmed that the school also drew learners from a neighbouring informal settlement.
There was a state-funded Grade R class at the school established at a time when there were more indigent learners seeking first time admission to the school. At the time of the research there were 29 learners in the Grade R class.
The language subject offerings at the school according to the 2006 EMIS statistics were English as home language, Afrikaans as 1st additional and isiZulu as 2nd additional language for Grades 4 to 7. For Grades 1 to 3 English was offered as home language and Afrikaans as additional language.
The challenges posed to the language change agent who was a level 1 educator at the school were the following:
Lack of support from the school management for language changes initiated by the change agent.
The relatively small percentage of African learners at the school which rendered attempts by the change agent to elevate the status of isiZulu at the school and to introduce bilingual teaching/learning practices in isiZulu and English unimportant to school management.
The complete absence of African educators on the staff to teach isiZulu and other subjects across the curriculum.
The level 1 status of the language change agent which reduced her latitude of power and influence on the staff.
The following table provides a cumulative linguistic profile of the four schools:
Table 3.6 CUMULATIVE LINGUISTIC PROFILE OF THE FOUR SCHOOLS
SCHOOL % of Learners per race % of Learners per Home Language
% of Staff (teaching and support staff)
per race Languages spoken by the staff *Time Allocated per Language
subject offering per week
in Grade 4 – 7 in hours
African Indian Coloured/ isiZulu English Other African African Indian % fluent in % fluent in % fluent in English isiZulu Afrikaans
white Language/s
isiZulu
only English only English & isiZulu
Piper 95 3 2 82 7 11 27 73 9 68 23 3 2 2
Bo-Peep 18.8 80.7 0.5 15 84 1 6 94 0 94 6 4 1 2
Willy Wonke 96 3.2 0.8 95.9 4 0.1 29 71 7 63 30 3½ 3½
Mulberry 15.1 84.6 0.3 14 85 1 11 89 6 83 11 4 1 2
* Total time allocated for languages is 7 hours
Table 3.6 which reflects the linguistic profile of the four schools indicates the constraints within which the change agents were working to bring about language change in their schools. The biggest constraint was the relatively small percentage of African educators in the four schools and consequently the small percentage of educators who were fluent in English and isiZulu which was critical for the school language change envisaged by the change agents. Furthermore, the linguistic composition of the teaching staff was at odds with the linguistic composition of the learners particularly at Piper and Willy Wonke schools where more than 80 % of the learners were isiZulu home language speakers and less than 30% of the teaching staff was isiZulu home language speakers.