5.5 SELECTING THE SAMPLE
5.5.3 Selecting the Research Site
The selection of the research site was done early in the study design in line with an objective of maximizing the opportunity to engage with the problem (De Vos, 2002). The researcher did a purposive sampling of schools to satisfy the criteria of geographical location, physical resources, Grade 12 examination results in Life Sciences and experience of the Life Sciences teacher. These criteria are elaborated on below.
(a) Geographical Location
The Umlazi District is fairly widespread and it consists of four circuits. Each circuit from a geographical point of view may be classified as urban, township, or rural. The schools in each circuit have their own set of circumstances and contexts. Hence, in addition to ensuring representation with respect to each circuit, the researcher also ensured that the four schools selected were from either an urban, rural or township locality. The urban schools are closer to various amenities and facilities, such as transport, libraries and shopping malls. In addition these schools are relatively better resourced, both in terms of human and physical resources. The township schools represent schools that are located in the old apartheid demarcation on racial lines. For this study two township schools were chosen - one from a previously Black township, and the other from a previously Indian township. As elucidated in Chapter Two of this study, these schools were funded differently during the apartheid era and would
166 therefore have a different character from for example, the urban schools. The rural schools are those schools which will be found some distance away from the urban areas.
They may be located on the fringes of the urban locality in which case they are relatively easily accessed or they may be located deep into the rural setting and not easily accessed. In general, most of the rural schools are poorly resourced. Since the researcher works as a curriculum advisor within this District, and one of his responsibilities is to monitor the implementation of the Life Sciences curriculum, he was able to decide on the choice of schools, taking into account the other criteria listed below, as well.
(b) Physical Resources
In order to learn the most with respect to the research topic, the researcher decided that schools with moderate to good physical resources, such as laboratories, science equipment and libraries be selected. This was also an attempt at controlling the negative impact of the lack of resources such as a laboratory and/or equipment.
(c) Grade 12 Life Sciences results
The research sample was restricted to schools, which produced a result of a minimum of between 50%-60% of the learners achieving 40% and above in the Grade 12 Life Sciences Examination in 2010. The motivation for such a criterion and particularly the percentage pass was that these schools were regarded as average to good performers when compared to the pass rate of the KwaZulu-Natal Province (76.60%) and the National pass rate (74.57%). In addition, the researcher was mindful that in 2011 or 2012 when the actual data for this study was to be collected other teachers might be teaching the Grade 12 learners and not necessarily those who were responsible for the 2010 results. Furthermore, such results imply that the teachers of the learners at these schools have the requisite knowledge and commitment. Choosing such schools was also motivated by two other reasons. Firstly, the experiences of my supervisor and I indicate that data can be more readily collected from such high performing schools. Secondly, the researcher also attempted to control the factor of learner and teacher capability, by assuming that the good results is due to the personnel, resources and environmental conditions at the institution.
167 (d) Experience of the Grade 12 Life Sciences teacher
It was decided that the selection criteria for the teacher be a minimum of five years of Life Sciences and/or Biology teaching experience. This criterion was included to ensure that the teachers would have had experience teaching the new NCS curriculum. This would imply that sampled teachers would have had experience with Learning Outcome (LO1), which underpins the implementation of IPW.
Table 5.1 indicates how criteria (a) to (c) were satisfied, while table 5.3 summarises the biographical details of the teacher participants.
168 Table 5.1: Selected samples and how it satisfies the selection criteria
Sampled School Location of school
Percentage pass in Life Sciences in Grade 12
Resources
2010 2011 2012
Mean % pass (2011-2012)
No. Wrote % Achieving 40% & over No. Wrote % Achieving 40% & over No. Wrote % Achieving 40% & over
School A (State) Umbumbulu (Rural)
76 96 48 100 108 91 95.5
Moderately equipped laboratory, no electronic equipment and no functional library.
No teacher–based room
School B (State) Phumelela (Township)
200 83 205 58 196 54 56
Moderately equipped laboratory, no electronic equipment and no functional library.
Teacher-based room
School C (State) Chatsworth (Township)
128 80 62 73 122 59 72
Moderately equipped laboratory, with a single computer and moderately equipped library.
Teacher-based room
School D (State) Durban Central (Urban)
88 93 81 77 117 80 78.5
Well- equipped laboratory with electronic equipment. Well stocked and functional library.
Teacher-based room
Umlazi District as a
whole 10992
64 7892 53
9750 51 52
Source: Compiled from Annual Examination Statistics issued by KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education and National Department of Basic Education
By selecting a school from each of the circuits the criterion of location was satisfied. In this regard, one school selected namely, School D satisfied the urban location, one namely, School A, the rural location and two schools namely, School B and School C satisfied the township location.
Three out of the four selected schools have moderately equipped laboratories, while one of them has a well-equipped laboratory. Two out of the four schools (A and B) do not have any electronic equipment in the laboratory; one, (School C) has access to a single computer in the laboratory. The fourth school, (School D) has electronic equipment in the form of computers, flat-screen television and data projector. Two schools (A and B) do not have a functional
169 library; one school (C) has a moderately stocked library, while the fourth (D) has a well- stocked functional library.
The percentage pass in Life Sciences for the 2010 examinations ranged from 80% to 96% at the four selected schools with the number of learners who wrote ranging from 76 in School A to 200 in School B. This percentage pass was determined at the 40% level of achievement. In the South African context a candidate is deemed to pass Life Sciences if s/he attains a minimum of 30%. Hence, when schools’ Grade 12 results are released/published by the Department of Education, the rate of achievement at the 30% achievement level and the 40%
achievement level are provided. One of the pre-determined criteria for the selection of schools was a minimum of 50% of students achieving 40% and over. The 80% to 96% that was obtained by these schools for the 2010 examinations therefore adequately satisfies this particular criterion. Furthermore, the overall pass rate in the Umlazi District for the 2010 Life Sciences results was 64% and the total number of learners who wrote this examination was 10992. In addition, while preparing this thesis, the author studied the results of the 2011 and 2012 examinations in Life Sciences for these schools and computed an average of these for the years spanning from 2011 to 2012 as indicated in Table 5.1. The average/mean obtained by the selected schools ranges from 56% to 95.5% while the mean District pass rate was 52%
for the two years. The proportion of candidates achieving 40% and over for the entire Umlazi District, is also indicated in the table. The reason for excluding the 2010 results from the computation of the mean is because it is based on the NCS 1 curriculum while the 2011 and 2012 results are based on the NCS 2 curriculum.