4.3 The SL Projects Undertaken By Pre-Service Teachers
4.3.1 What SL Projects Were Undertaken By the Pre-Service Teachers?
The 14 SL projects selected for this research and undertaken by the pre-service teachers are made up of various activities. The summary of the activities differentiated by their topics and contexts is listed below.
1. Assisting the Elderly
Gardening in an old age home - PR1
2. Working in Youth and community centres
Teaching children about diet and physical activities - PR5, PR8
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Creating awareness of teenage pregnancy - PR4, PR12
Creating awareness for HIV - PR11
Working at an animal centre - PR10, PR13 3. Assisting with education related activities
Teaching about sanitation - PR3
Providing understanding of Science centres - PR14
Providing understanding of agriculture - PR2 4. Assisting with community projects
Creating awareness for gardening - PR9
5. Helping individuals in their homes
Taking care of siblings of child headed homes - PR6, PR7
In addition to implementing and completing their SL projects, the pre-service teachers provided a written project report which covered the research aspect of the module and a 7-10 minutes oral reports/presentation of their project experience. The pre-service teachers witnessed poverty, hunger, scarcity, and diseases in the communities.
“The baby looks so tiny as if she hasn’t eaten for days” (RD 7).
“Being here has made me understand more about this disease (HIV)” (RD11).
What they saw, felt, smelt, heard and touched during the project implementation, amazed and baffled them.
“I was baffled when I saw conditions and state of these people” (RD 5)
“After carrying that sick baby and looking into her eyes, I was speechless as we were driving back to campus as the picture stuck in my brain” (RD8).
The nature of the SL project put the pre-service teachers in the position of interacting with people suffering from a variety of social, emotional, and financial problems. These interactions made the pre-service teachers no longer see all the issues encountered as abstract but rather that the issues are connected to real people with feelings. That is, they now know that poverty is real and is connected to real people. A pre-service teacher described going through this experience as follows:
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“These issues are real, it is not like issues I have and know of, like my friend getting me angry, and I maybe go talk to someone else about it. These people are facing these real issues and can’t even do something about it” (RD1).
The SL project had the effect of a sense of personal responsibility on the pre-service teachers. This feeling, according to the pre-service teachers heightened when they came in direct contact with the face of poverty that the women and children at the centre experienced as described below.
“…. unlike when you see a homeless begging on the street, you have a choice to either give tips or not. But in this project, being faced with these people every day, makes you feel responsible. Like you don’t have a choice but to help.
Sometimes, when you do help, it makes you understand them more….” (RD1).
“I must start by saying how extremely moved I was. They are literally asking for help I cannot ignore. I honestly believe I can be of help to this site and do meaningful research. Even if I don’t get to research here for my thesis I have decided to work with this organisation” (RD12)
The project was emotional for the pre-service teachers which contributed to their internal and emotional learning. This learning generates a sense of commitment and empathy which can influence civic responsibility. The pre-service teachers expressed compassion for the abused women, they wrote:
“Working with those people really made me realise something about myself. I now know myself better and I know being there played a role in my level of consciousness” (RD1).
“I felt sorry to see children sleeping on the floor, it was very sad to see that some children live their lives with difficult” ………. this experience of visiting this site really touched my heart” (RD14).
“I was taken back by the condition of the church and the people that were around and in community. Hearing about 11-year-old children taking care of their families that included their dying mothers made me tear” (RD12).
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The pre-service teachers also in their narratives wrote on the project aspects from which they learnt how to make sense of their SL experience. The project made them explore the cause of community issues and find solutions to these issues, using their skills. The pre-service teachers also learnt to understand the community peoples’ life challenges through the service they (pre-service teachers) provided such as caring, cheering, supporting and listening to the people.
The project gave the pre-service teachers a strong connection to the community and a taste of a professional career:
“This project was very heartrending and made me realize that there is more out there than my own little world, it alerted me to the realities of the world, of South Africa and of our surroundings” (RD11).
“So, this programme made me aware of different context that are there in rural schools of ………. region” (RD4).
“This project is really cool. It kinda prepares us for the things that we will probably see as we graduate and go to work” (RD3).
Finally, the project helped the pre-service teachers to connect with their colleagues and the community people through team work on the project implementation. Through stories and information provided about the community members, e.g. project managers, the pre-service teachers got to develop a stronger relationship and empathise with the people of the community on their life struggles.