Analysis of the focus group interviews

The focus group interview schedule included semi-structured questions which allowed for in-depth discussions with 40 learners representing four of the five participating schools. The data collected were qualitative in nature and analysed using thematic analysis by organising and sorting the data into categories and themes. For the purpose of confidentiality and anonymity, I used codes to identify the various schools and the participants who included School A to D and for participants 1 to 40 for learners and A1 – E1 for educators. Focus group interviews are rich in data, generate large quantities of information, in short periods of time and produce data that cannot be obtained through individual interviews (Fontana and Frey, 2005; Kamberelis and Dimitriadis, 2005).

181 6.3.1 Analysis of the learner focus group interviews

Question 1 and 2 dealt with the understanding of 'active citizenship' and related concepts including 'human rights', 'citizenship', 'democracy', 'public participation' and 'inclusivity'. This section provides an in-depth discussion of the level of knowledge, skills, values and understanding of 'active citizenship' and related concepts amongst Grade 12 learners. Of the five participating schools, four schools participated in the focus group interviews.

Generally, the learners were able to provide partial descriptions and definitions of 'active citizenship' and the related concepts 'human rights' and 'democracy'. However, they were not well informed about inclusivity. The following participants were representative of the majority of the learners‟ understanding of aspects relating to active citizenship and human rights as follows:

School A (Learner 10): For me it (active citizenship) is uhm, like obeying the rules or the rights in the country (sic).

School C (Learner 37): In my opinion I think human rights are the policies or the rules which govern people, the way they live, the way they just appreciate themselves in society (sic).

These responses are indicative of the learners‟ mundane knowledge, skills, values and understanding of active citizenship in a democracy. However, when learners were asked about inclusive education most of the learners had the following responses:

School A (Learner 10): I think inclusive education is the things you learn in education should include everything from politics to landscaping, everything in education, that’s what I think (sic).

School D (Learners 31; 32; 37 and 40): I haven’t heard of it (sic).

These comments highlighted the unfamiliarity with inclusive education amongst Grade 12 learners. This unfamiliarity or ignorance about inclusivity is a cause for concern since the curriculum encourages and promotes inclusion as one of the fundamental aspects of teaching and learning (DBE 2011a; 2011b; 2011c; 2011d and 2011e). The only aspect of active citizenship that the learners were confidently aware of was being able to vote in the elections hence they at least have a basic understanding that they are eligible to vote from the age of 18 years. The interviews

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elicited the existing level of knowledge, skills, values and understanding of active citizenship and related issues. The majority of the learners understood that active citizenship requires a level of active participation in the community as citizens.

The participating learners were in the age range between 17 and 19 years, which meant that learners in this age range would have been exposed to the transformed curriculum for at least 10 years, a curriculum that prides itself on creating lifelong learners who would be au fait with concepts relating to active citizenship in a democracy. The majority of the learners in this study started their schooling during 2001, which suggests that from the onset of their academic career, they were exposed to a reformed education system as Rooth (2005) notes. There is therefore a mismatch between the intention of the curriculum and the reality of its implementation.

Furthermore, when asked whether concepts including 'human rights', 'democracy', 'citizenship', 'public participation' and 'inclusivity' inform active citizenship, the majority of the learners agreed. The learners indicated that if individuals get the basic information about active citizenship beforehand they would be able to participate more meaningfully in community activities and become responsible citizens. This suggests that citizens should first be educated about democratic processes before they are able to effectively participate in the various democratic processes. The learners‟ responses were a clear indication of the lack or absence of education programmes and initiatives about active citizenship in a democracy. One of the learners noted the following regarding the interview question relating to whether the related concepts inform active citizenship:

School B (Learner 12): Yes I do think so, I mean if we take all of those things (human rights, democracy, citizenship, inclusivity and public participation) into account we get the basic form of education and basic form of education enables us to know what active citizenship is.. so if we do have whatever we are taught beforehand, I think more people will become active within the community and more people will know what active citizenship is and know their part within their community (sic).

Learner 12 is making reference to the issues relating to active citizenship such as human rights, democracy, citizenship, inclusivity and public participation. This learner‟s response acknowledges the significance of including these issues when teaching active citizenship in a

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democracy in order to become active citizens. Furthermore, the impression I get from learner 12 suggests that basic education allows for knowing about public accountability and active citizenship and not about human rights, democracy, citizenship, inclusivity and public participation.

Question 3 dealt with the infusion of the concepts related to 'active citizenship' in the LO curriculum. These learners have been exposed to the LO curriculum since Grade 1, which tells me that their opinions can be regarded as valid and reliable merely based on the level of exposure to the LO curriculum. The learners frankly stated that they have not received substantial information about active citizenship and related issues. They have been exposed to some of the concepts such as 'human rights' and 'democracy' but to a very limited extent. One learner stated the following:

School B (Learner 13): …While you are asking us these questions, none of us can really answer because we didn’t do enough of it (active citizenship) in LO, so we don’t know how to answer that stuff (aspects relating to active citizenship) (sic).

Learner 13 was reiterating the view that the LO curriculum that is a compulsory subject, provides minimal content and information about aspects relating to active citizenship. This means that LO carries the burden of ensuring that learners are informed about all of these concepts. This makes this study highly significant in that its focus is on the Grade 11 LO curriculum, and in particular, the extent to which it is preparing learners for active citizenship in a democracy. The majority of the learners‟ responses in the focus group interviews suggested that the LO curriculum provides broad content on active citizenship and related issues. However, the content lacked depth, which was illustrated by the following response:

School D (Learner 35): It is included in the curriculum but it’s not something we often understand because it’s done in such a broad context (sic).

Learner 35 expresses a view on the superficial inclusion of 'active citizenship' and related concepts in the LO curriculum. This view suggests that the existing content on active citizenship is not easily understood by the learners. The lack of understanding could be due to (i) the manner in which the active citizenship content is presented; (ii) the strategies used to teach it; (iii) the

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quantity and quality of the content included in the LO curriculum; or (iv) the way in which it is implemented. Furthermore, this learner‟s response elicits a yearning for detailed information about aspects relating to active citizenship in a democracy. Even though the learners may be yearning for detailed information, the majority of learners felt that they were exposed to excessive written tasks in LO and that they hardly had exposure to practical interaction and debates. For example, one learner said the following:

School A (Learner 5): All I’m gonna say is that we are writing too much in LO.

We don’t interact in LO, we don’t have debates, we don’t sit in a group and talk over the topic, we basically just writing down this, that and that is not learning.

Writing down because you want to the syllabus done is not actually learning but they forcing you to write something down.(sic).

The sense I am getting from learner 5 is that even though they are yearning for detail, they may be referring to depth in terms of the nature of the activities they are exposed to. For example, the learners would prefer to engage with issues relating to active citizenship including debates and practical activities about human rights, democracy, citizenship, public participation and inclusivity. They further noted that most of the topics dealt with in the LO curriculum mainly relates to sex, teenage pregnancy and HIV/AIDS. Educators perhaps find these topics easy to teach as they may be more knowledgeable about these topics because the content and information about these topics are very popular and easy accessible.

A significant finding that emerged relates to Question 4 which focussed mainly on aspects relating to Parliament and active citizenship. This question highlighted the extent to which Parliament promotes active citizenship and the extent to which Parliament manifests itself in the LO curriculum. The majority of the learners were ignorant about Parliament and its roles and functions of Parliament. Their view about Parliament was that it is a place where they make rules and decisions for the country. It is cause for concern that many Grade 12 learners who will be eligible to vote in the next elections are unfamiliar with aspects relating to Parliament, which is one of the democratic structures which is supposed to promoted active citizenship and public participation in its processes. Upon asking learners if they knew what Parliament is and how they function, some learners responded as follows:

School A (Learner 3): I think the whole thing about Parliament is about money