3.2 Setting the scene: Unpacking and learning from the support I received from home
3.3.2 The community playground object/artefact: Supportive relationships on schoolwork
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and respect for another person’s dignity”. Therefore, Ubuntu emphasises the idea of being oneself through others at the centre of everything we do and all the time.
I learnt from recalling these experiences that support from community members plays a vital role in children/learners realising their full potential and goals. It gives learners hope that they can make it in life through education. It gives them a positive mindset and energy through the belief that it is through education that they can change their situation for the better in future, and those of their families and other close people. Through the spirit of working together, community members play a significant role in supporting each other in everything they do and wherever the need arises. They can motivate and support children on the importance of valuing education and how it changes lives to be able to realise their potential and achieve their dreams.
3.3.2 The community playground object/artefact: Supportive relationships on
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Figure 3.4: Going dual: The playground was both a playing and a critical learning space.
I remember how after playing soccer in teams of two with the older boys, who were in high school already at that time, we used to sit and reflect on the events that happened at school during the day. I remember vividly how we used to sit in a big circle with them to share those experiences. They made it their everyday duty to ask us young school-going boys about those events, and they would advise us where applicable. They used to ask us what lessons we could draw from the events. They always helped us with our homework, assignments, and other activities that we were given at school. They used to say, “Come here with your schoolwork;
we will help you after playing”. Although they made it their everyday duty to help us with our schoolwork where we seemed to have a problem and were not grasping relevant concepts in different subjects, they did not spoon-feed us. They told us that they would only help us with those selected activities that seemed to be difficult for us.
The older boys wanted us to be independent, they wanted us to solve the problems that were presented to us, and they wanted us to be active and critical thinkers. Likewise, in his personal story piece S’phiwe Madondo, in Madondo et al. (2019), affirms that through the play of encouraging bulls to fight, in a veld during grazing, he learnt communication skills. He also describes how he learnt how to design musical instruments through his interactions with others.
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In addition, in her personal story piece, Ntokozo Mkhize, in Madondo et al. (2019) affirms that play such as dancing and singing in the rain, among many others, introduced her to the “element of entertainment’’ (p. 22), where she learnt different communication skills and knowledge about interacting with diverse people in a community. Therefore, interactions with family, village and community members offered skills and knowledge that would be useful in the future.
I learnt from remembering these lived experiences that the older boys from our village ensured that they provided extra support with schoolwork. Furthermore, they supported our teachers by reinforcing the values taught at school, such as respect, care, empathy, loyalty, ambition, and resilience. In that manner, we were able, in a sense, to meet our teachers’ teachings halfway at school. These teachings that were instilled in us in our community, together with those developed by our teachers in teaching and learning spaces, created and maintained supportive teacher-learner relationships at school. It must have been easier for our teachers then to build supportive teacher-learner relationships with us, because we came to school rich in knowledge in terms of supportive relationships from home and our community. Therefore, all relevant stakeholders in education must work together to establish and develop supportive relationships between teachers and their learners in schools. Setlhare et al. (2016) concur that for success in schools, relationship building activity must be achieved among all stakeholders. Similarly, Veldman et al. (2013) argue that this includes “building a new niche in the changing environment” (p. 53) for all stakeholders for the achievement of positive outcomes. This can trigger high levels of engagement and subsequently lead to learners’ success in schools.
I realise that in that playground, not only were we helped and taught about school-related matters, but we were also taught about other significant life matters. Our older brothers made sure that they taught us the values of what it means to be a boy in that present time and subsequently as a man in the future – and not just an ordinary boy or man, but what it meant to be a good boy in that present time and a respectful man in the future. They instilled in us values and attitudes of care, protection, warmness, and empathy. Of course, such events occurred through the process of socialisation. I value this episode of my life because such teachings primarily involved and valued education more than anything. It taught me how to behave at school, talk with others, and, more importantly, live with and help other learners and people in general where I can. Through these encounters, I once again experienced the value of supportive relationships.
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3.4 Informal conversations with selected family members in helping me to recall