It also provides a brief history of the education system and defines terminology used in the thesis. Adams (personal communication: May 10, 1997) elaborated on this when he stated that the highest admission rate in Black schools was in grade 1 with only about 10% completing matric, while Gordon (1983) lamented that of the 600.
Curriculum Change
In the UK, even in schools where there are no minority pupils, the curriculum still needs to be changed (Deane, 1993). Multiculturalism should be seen in the everyday life of the school, in choirs, concerts, on the walls, on blackboards, in the curriculum.
Assessment
In this pattern of behavior toward change, the teacher appears to accept the change, but in reality merely incorporates the changed functions into their existing modes of functioning. This happens where teachers take responsibility for the changes and respond in creative ways to the challenges that the change may present. The way in which teachers have responded to change is illustrated by the following result in the UK: teachers' reactions to a changed curriculum in primary schools in the UK resulted in 25% of teachers feeling that they had to struggle. with unnecessary paperwork, 23% felt more stressed and anxious, while 17% believed the new curriculum brought greater personal enjoyment.
Assessment strategies for each of the eight learning areas are currently being reviewed (OBE Workshop, October 2000). She goes on to add that the traditional form of paper-and-pencil testing can 'prove' a teacher's deficit assumption about a child unless they are assessed in a different way, such as using real life situations in the assessments. One of the justified circumstances occurs when a student has been absent without a valid reason for longer periods.
The other condition is that the child must benefit from a repetition in the classroom.
Class size
Bot (1990) agrees with this assessment and adds that other factors, such as the availability of textbooks and the quality of teacher training, have also had an impact. In general, teachers and their responses to change depend on factors such as the age and years of experience of the teachers, and on whether or not a supportive and collaborative culture is present. For example, Berens et al. 1992) believed that stress in education could be alleviated if one showed a willingness to change and had an open mind.
Conclusion 58
It highlights the concerns that led to the specific questions this thesis aimed to answer, as well as how the data was collected and analysed.
Research Concerns 59
Questions prompted by Research Goals
- Insecurity and Lack of Knowledge 61
Selection of Schools
Due to a change in location of the researcher, the final selection of four schools in the central South Coast, KZN, historically catered for Indian, White and Black learners. Choosing schools near my home meant connecting with schools and people I was once familiar with. This school was the newer of the two schools in the town closest to my home and over time developed the image of being more liberal as it was the first school in the area to be multiracial.
It was the first high school to open in the area and was less than a mile away from Hamilton High. The last school, Saint Cyprian's, was a former NED school located in the heart of a middle to upper middle class residential area, approximately 10 - 15 kilometers away from the other schools. However, I had a strong desire to include the school, as it was the only colored school in the region and had been in existence for many years.
The teachers were also helpful in suggesting schools nearby that they knew were struggling, ie.
Gaining Access
The success of entry lay in the principals' perception that the researcher would be non-disruptive (Chundra, 1997). During the meeting, the principal seemed quite eager to get the details of the investigation under control. He was duly informed of the purpose of the study, the diversity required of the sample, and the requirement that interviewees volunteer.
This director also seemed eager to hear the specifics of the study, but seemed more interested in the length of the interviews, suggesting that I should have used questionnaires instead. We agreed on a follow-up meeting where he would brief me on the teachers who would be participating in the study. In Thandeka, I personally visited the school with the hope of contacting the principal.
Over the phone we discussed all the details of the investigation, so when I first visited the school it was to interview some of the teachers.
Participant Selection
At Hamilton High, the principal informed the staff during a staff meeting that a research effort would be taking place at their school. He later revealed that the principal probably forgot to ask for volunteers as he has quite a lot on his plate. At Mohammed High, the principal reluctantly gave his permission, as he feared that interviews would rob teachers of their most valuable resource, viz.
On the day arranged for the interviews, when I arrived at the school, the principal was late. The deputy principal (who was called into action, in light of the absent principal) was not informed by the principal of my reason for being at the school, so I had to explain my purpose again. When the principal became available, this sampling technique continued to select teachers who were supervising or who had a free period.
This teacher was not asked by either the principal or the vice principal to participate in the study.
Deciding on Data Collection Method
- Choice ofInterview Questions & schedule construction.78
The process of being interviewed can lead to new awareness, and the respondent may begin to change his or her descriptions and meanings about a theme over the course of the interview. According to Denzin & Lincoln (1998), qualitative research has proven in the past that it can be a driver of social change. In the structured interview, the word order is organized in advance, resulting in a fixed schedule.
A very significant disadvantage of interviewing, according to Powney & Watts, (1987:4) states that "methodological criticisms of interviewing are difficult to find in the educational literature", implying that interviewers may not even be aware that they are engaging in behavior that is not approved of, or that is wrong. In fact, when reviewing the data it became clear that the timetable did not cover other important areas of change that may have occurred in schools in the recent past (Chundra, 1997) e.g. admission policies, assessment, school morale). Questions about 'rewards' were included so that teachers had the opportunity to indicate what they found to be positive experiences in the field of teaching, while 'difficulties' related to both experiences at home or as a result of their paths of career or in their community as well as within school boundaries.
The latter type of questions are asked if the teacher did not ask them spontaneously and were questions that were not included in the supervisor's original question.
Pilot Study 81
Part of the ethical obligation of the qualitative researcher, according to Denzin & Lincoln, (1998) is to protect the respondents from harm. The venues chosen depended on the resources of the school and time of the interview. Because of this gap in my repertoire of skills, I feel that some of the nuances of what was said may have been lost.
I believe that changing the form and order of questions, which is permissible in qualitative research, did not negatively affect the results of this study. However, some of the earlier stages of this type of meeting were similar to counseling: namely, delineating issues that the respondent found important but threatening, and naming fears. This unchanging nature of my physiological makeup may have put some men at a disadvantage in terms of developing a closer relationship with the interviewer.
Description, the third type of field note, takes place from the flow of activity, sometimes even outside the field.
Transcribing 87
This was the only way I could ensure that some of the true essence of what the interviewees shared could be conveyed onto paper. Some of the humor of M's Black and Southern delivery was gone, along with the tone of her voice. All of this adds an extra layer of meaning to words, which I sometimes found difficult to transcribe and put on paper, and I worried whether or not my interpretations would accurately reflect the teachers' revelations.
The selection depends on the subjects, the completeness of the facts, as well as prejudices and manipulative maneuvers. In fact, the process where only the interviewer's interpretations of what happened are recorded for posterity has been called the Black Market (ibid.: 152) as there are no members of the public, e.g. Miles & Huberman, (ibid.) argue that displaying data is a key element of the analytical process so that the reader can 'see what's going on'.
I took this advice, which is why the tables and figures are evident during this study.
The lack of skills was cited as another downfall of the people involved in the education department. Five teachers believed that it was up to the students to facilitate their own studies. One of the less drastic measures teachers take is absent from school.
In light of the above difficulties experienced by teachers, their coping methods were of interest. Teachers in most of the schools appeared to have difficulty adjusting to the new student population. The concept of change appeared to be the primary factor in all of the results below.
Some of the teachers in this sample wanted to reintroduce a system that would measure teacher performance in lessons. According to Bot (1990) and some of the teachers in this study, the only thing that unites teachers is their salary. However, teachers must be aware of the importance of language for their students in a mixed school environment.
Teacher perceptions of role players
