Stage 5: Terminating interview session: This stage was an indication that the interview had come to an end, this is where the researcher made an indication by using phrases such as “in
4.4. FOCUS GROUP INTERVIEWS
4.4.3. Thematic analysis discussion of focus group interviews
4.4.3.3. Theme 3: Youth coping strategies
126 Rakabe, 2016:27 indicated that townships need to be revitalised and invested on to improve availability and accessibility to developmental and recreational facilities. Though there was limited access to recreational supplies, the participants demonstrated that they were able to use the little resources that they could find that helped to contribute to their academic resilience. The municipality offices made provision of access to WiFi if youth would be in the premises. In this way they were able to downloaded school research related stuff, WhatsApp and Facebook was also accessible. Not all of the youth had phones; therefore the struggle for access to community intervention remained a sad reality for some youth.
127 The need to make a difference served as a motivation to the participants’ academic resilience. P1 mentioned that “I want to improve our living conditions”.
Practical learning was highlighted an academic coping mechanism as P2 indicated that I get practical learning at the TVET college compared to high schools where there were no practicals to do experimental work. The participant further said the TVET College is a good structure for the community accommodates us who can’t afford or qualify to study through university.
The environment in Tembisa presents adversities, things are hard and resilience must be from within. P5 indicated that things are hard in the community; a big part of the drive in Tembisa is that you must make a psychological decision to improve your life circumstances. P4 agreed to this through the indication that not many people care whether you are winning of losing; whether you are coming or going with your education you need to push yourself.
Youth have survived in Tembisa by making decisive efforts to stay away from trouble. This was noted as P3 indicated through an indicating that some of the youth run from trouble because they want to do well in order to have reasonable and lawful incomes in the future.
Interpretation of Theme 3
Resilient participants fight for what they believe in. They are determined, courageous and they do not give up easily. They strive to make a difference. The group discussion found that these youth ask for help where they feel they are not coping. As part of their coping strategy, the academic resilient youth drew strength from their family friends and those who showed interest and cared for their well-being. They have the ability to choose the right friends. Another attribute for academic success was that of working hard and taking school work and tasks seriously. The strong religious belief in God was a coping mechanism for the youth including the direction gained from cultural values in the families. Being able to learn from mistakes was another coping mechanism identified. Academic resilient youth believe in their abilities. They stay out of problematic situations. The desire for a better life contributed as a coping mechanism and this gave encouragement to achieve in school in order to increase opportunities for employment.
128 Academically resilient youth were able to cope due to presence of unity in families. Families support one another with the little they have to share. The church structure was identified as a coping mechanism for most participants as together with their families attend at different denominations but they believe in Jesus Christ. The youth expressed that their families believe education is key to taking the youth to real freedom. Academically resilient youth learn from faults and mistakes made by others and they acknowledged rules and acceptable behaviour. They chose their friends carefully without peer pressure and they were passionate about education and gave their utmost efforts to doing well. Responses from the youth to interview questions gave an indication that resilience is ‘exercising free will and making decisive choices’ that make these youth different from many youth in the community. The unmotivated youth were hopeless, gave into peer pressure and adversities. It was interesting to note the pattern in the focus group session that also stood out from the semi structured interviews on one-on-one attributes of resilience, where hard work was important as well as, ‘making use of available resources such as family and church to draw strength and direction’ was seen as important.
Discussion of Theme 3
Researchers need to draw focus into supporting and building learners’ resilience levels in order to aid their adjustment to environmental challenges. The presence of resilience was noted when the participant youth shared experiences on the ability to thrive regardless of adversities they faced in the environment. The evidence of the importance in supporting learners with coping mechanisms at different levels such as academic, social, spiritual and emotional was expressed by the participants on the coping mechanisms they used to succeed in their education. In order for the youth to thrive in Tembisa Township, ‘decisive efforts to do well’ needed to be undertaken when making choices.Van Breda (2001: 213) alludes to the ‘need to do well’ as a resilience attribute that would only be experienced if an individual has the capacity to withstand adversity.
The ‘capacity to work hard, stay away from trouble and make good choices’ in the area of friendship choices and activities is another attribute of resilience (Goldstein & Brooks, 2012:3) that only a resilient individual would use as a coping strategy. In the study of resilience and
129 academic resilience, it is understood that the individual is not destroyed by stressful conditions but rather the inability to thrive. Abilities to decide on the choice of good friends’ were present in many youth who did well in their academics. This attribute was expressed by the participants as important in coping with adversity. The academically resilient youth employed the attitude and coping strategy of taking the initiative to ‘stay out of trouble.
In order to succeed academically, another coping strategy displayed by the youth was that of displaying the presence of internal locus control and drawing strength from the environment. In the study on resilience, Charney (2004:51) found that a strong personality and internal locus of control were important factors demonstrating the presence of resilience.The youth in Tembisa were constantly surrounded by gangs that would try to invite them into criminal activities and force them into aligning with the unacceptable attitudes in the community. The youth in the study resisted peer pressure because of being goal oriented. The resilient youth seized opportunities even by virtue of being at the Ekurhuleni TVET College in their different career paths. They believed in their abilities. They wanted a better future as they saw beyond adversities (Bracco, Piccinno & Dorigatti, 2013:17). According to Ungar, et al., (2014: 66) and Dass- Brailsford (2005: 574) instead of withdrawing and adopting negative mechanisms, resilient youth go out of their way to draw strength, courage and support from available support sources such as friends, school, church and the community. Bracco, Piccinno and Dorigatti (2013:1) present support as a protective factor in understanding the concept of coping and what causes some learners to cope academically and others to give up.The ability to tap on the support system contribute to the coping abilities when faced with multiple adversities. The youth in the focus group interviews shared a number of experiences and perspectives regarding the attributes that can be associated with family in contributing towards academic resilience. It appeared that for many of the participants, there were more adversities and vulnerabilities in the area of family and community.
Family is an important structure which is an initial point of support that nurtures resilience (Van Breda, 2001: 213). He further stated that the family unit contributes towards development and serves as a base for experiencing cohesion, communication, fighting spirit, problem-solving, culture and spirituality, teaches values and norms, teaches boundaries and provides reliable social support. Families play a major role in nurturing resilience (Dass-Brailsford, 2005: 574;
130 Van Breda, 2001: 31). Education is driven more at a family level than the community level when the personal attributes of youth are explored. According to Brendtro & Shahbazian, 2004:75 families with strong relations experience a sense of belonging, this boosts their morale and confidence to withstand challenges. Brendtro and Shahbazian (2004:75) terms this as a holistic therapeutic development facilitated by being decisive on the efforts to build the Circle of Courage. It was evident in the study that emotional support was present in the way families conducted themselves to contribute to the participants’ academic resilience.
Many families in Tembisa Township are dysfunctional, they struggle financially, there is high unemployment leading to financial strain. There is poor income and support towards children’s schooling and academic success. Social ills also affect families in Tembisa ranging from death and divorce, which causes a huge gap in the area of support for the youth. Death and divorce cause people to experience adversity and triggers the resilience process (Aberdeen Getting it Right, 2012: 52).