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(National School Climate Council, 2015). This can help learners appreciate the differences they possess and learn to coexist in one enabling environment, which can also lead to increased participation, positive engagement and achievement levels.
4.3 Unpacking my high school supportive teacher-learner relationships and
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Figure 4.7: A book artefact: On supporting ‘bright’ learners’ too: helping them to also reach their full potential too.
After this, my Life Sciences teacher approached me and told me that she wanted to support me, as she had been observing that I had so much interest in the subject, and hence had been doing so well in it. She wanted me to be at my very best and move up the ladder to do well in the subject and achieve more. She also advised me that having great love for Life Sciences must not mean that I would not give equal effort to attain good grades for the other subjects. She mentored and supported me with everything that came my way about the subject. Of course, I also went out of my way to get more information on my own, as I really loved the subject.
From achieving that very first top place, I told myself that I wanted to pursue a career that had to do with the study of Life Sciences. I indeed later did so, as I specialised in Life Sciences Education for my B.Ed. degree when I progressed to the university level.
One good thing I learnt as I first entered high school in Grade 10 (in the Further Education and Training (FET) phase), was that the school not only focused on helping those learners who were struggling with their schoolwork, but also supported those who were doing well in their
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schoolwork. Their approach was different from that other schools, which tended to focus more on learners who are considered struggling, leaving those learners who are considered smart to find their own way through with little individual assistance from their teachers.
I also learnt from this one event that teachers in schools need to focus on all their learners, irrespective of their intellectual ability, in giving extra help and/or direction towards achieving their goals. This means that those learners who are considered competent must be supported and offered aid as well as those who are considered struggling with their school work. Although I acknowledge that those learners who seem to be struggling most with their schoolwork must be given much attention, those considered intelligent must also be given room for consultation, improvement, and higher learning outcomes. As I described above, this is evident in my case, where I achieved higher outcomes than I did previously when given more support by my Life Sciences teacher. This resulted in me vowing to pursue a career that had to do with Life Sciences. Therefore, teachers in schools must support and mentor all their learners where they can and provide the best help they can for them to achieve their dreams.
4.3.2 Bridging the gap between traditional and online modes of doing things
It is to be noted that the journal entry shown in Figure 4.8 was typed rather than handwritten. I sometimes used handwriting and sometimes typed journal entries to give myself a varied experience of different modes of journal writing.
06 September 2021 (Monday)
It was around July/August 2014 when I was doing my matric. That is when my Grade 12 Life Sciences and Physical Sciences teacher approached me and offered to help me with my applications to higher education institutions of learning for study the following year. He downloaded a Central Applications Office (CAO) form for me using his own smartphone. At the time I had no smartphone, and I was using an old phone that would only allow me to communicate with my family and friends via calls and SMS’s.
My teacher knew the kind of phone I was using in Grade 12 since we were staying inside the school premises by the time and were under his supervision. Therefore, he helped me with an online application of which I had no idea how I was going to even start the process because I had not been exposed to technology. He supported me to bridge the gap between online and manual modes of doing things.
Figure 4.8: My journal entry on bridging the gap between traditional and online modes of doing things.
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The journal entry presented above (Figure 4.8) recalls one of my high school experiences, where my Grade 12 teacher helped me to bridge the gap between manual and online modes of doing things by introducing me to online applications or admission to HEIs. It was 2014 and at the time I had no smartphone or smart gadgets that would allow me to make an online application. Neither I nor could my parents could afford a smartphone. My teacher knew my home situation, and he decided to offer me some assistance by helping me to apply online through the CAO to HEIs of my choice to be admitted the following year, 2015. At first attempt, I told my teacher that I would not be able to apply online because I had never done anything online before. I, therefore, preferred to make a manual application because it was what I was used to. I was afraid of taking up the challenge, and I saw it as a process that would embarrass me in front of my peers – the fact that in matric (my final year of school), I was not able to complete an online application. My other peers in class already knew how to complete online applications, and many of them owned one or two smartphones. Some even owned more advanced gadgets such as laptops or tablets. My teacher encouraged me not to care about what other people in class owned and were able to do, or what I could not do because of my background. He repeatedly supported me by guiding me step by step in making the online applications through the CAO until the process was complete.
From remembering this episode of my high school experience, I learnt that many learners in schools might be afraid of taking on new challenges because they lack confidence in themselves and are not motivated enough. They fear failure and are more influenced by approval by their peers. Therefore, teachers in schools must motivate their learners to believe in themselves in taking the initiative to face new challenges. Furthermore, facing new challenges will provide learners with problem-solving skills as they explore solutions to the issues they face and are of high importance. Moreover, teachers’ understanding of learners creates a platform for guiding and motivating them with relevant knowledge, skills, values and attitudes that they may need as they face different challenges that require critical solutions in life. Therefore, teachers in schools must give themselves time to study and understand all of their learners to offer them some help where necessary (Rytivaara & Frelin, 2017). In return, learners will gain confidence in interacting with their teachers and other relevant stakeholders.
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4.3.3 One event from an unsupportive teacher-learner relationship I experienced in high school
The journal entry presented in Figure 4.9 depicts one of the most unsupportive teacher-learner relationships I experienced in high school in 2012. I remember experiencing this event that was unsupportive and uncalled for, directed at me by some of my peers in class and my class teacher. It was term 2, and during the day, I had been bullied by three boys who were older than me and the rest of the many other boys in class. I remember very well that it was a little bit hot, it was winter and the day was nearing its end. They bullied me by saying that I had such a small body and was short as if I was not eating. I could not protect myself from this bullying and opted to report the incident to the teacher, hoping that she would save me. To my surprise, instead of calling the three boys to order or to discipline them, my teacher further bullied me in the same way as those three boys. She repeatedly asked me what I found to be new from what the three boys had said, because it defined who I was. The event left me so sad and hurt and not knowing what to do next, since I had been embarrassed and further bullied by the person I thought would protect me.
08 September 2021 (Wednesday)
I remember very well, it was 2012 and it was in term two when I experienced an event that was uncalled for directed at me by some of my peers in class together with my class teacher. During the day, I had been bullied by three boys who were older than me and the rest of many other boys in class. I then reported the incident to the teacher. To my surprise, instead of calling the three boys to order or to discipline them, she further bullied me the same way that those three boys had bullied me. The event left me so sad, hurt, and not knowing what to do next since I had been embarrassed and further bullied by the person I thought would protect me.
Figure 4.9: Journal entry about one unsupportive teacher-learner relationship I experienced in high school.
I felt so vulnerable to any further bullying and other acts of violence, as the one person who was supposed to protect me – my teacher – had failed to do so. In the following weeks I lived in fear, and I felt so unsafe around those three boys and also my teacher.
From recollecting this episode, as with the unsupportive memory from my primary school days, I became even more conscious that learners in schools feel safe if they know that their teachers care for their well-being. They feel safe under their teacher’s supervision if they know that they
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can trust them, and that their teachers will do their best to prevent their learners from being exposed to harm and see that they are protected (National School Climate Council, 2015).
Moreover, I learnt that for success in schools, learners must also take the initiative and be there for each other, so that all feel part of the classroom or school family, and not like outsiders.
4.4 Informal conversations with selected school friends to help me in recalling my