Obstacles at School

Learners: What are the obstacles at school that can prevent you from being successful in your studies this year?

The learners provided a long list of obstacles at school preventing their success during that year. The overriding theme was that the learners felt that many of the teachers were falling short of their responsibilities. In that regard, a Masinyusane Board member noted:

There are few who feel that the school is trying everything possible to ensure that learners succeed at the end of the year. (BM)

Some of the findings she found most prevalent and noteworthy were “unsympathetic and insensitive teachers to slow learners”, “fear of harassment by teachers”, and “poor learner-teacher relationships.”

Learners: What are some things you’d like to see happen or change at the school?

Given the open-ended question, learner responses were quite varied. The most prevalent answer centered around complaints about teachers (37%). Eight of the learners (23%) commented that they wanted to see improved teacher attitudes.

There are some teachers who just stay in the staff room or offices and don’t really do nothing. (L/1/A)

A few other learners (L/1/N, L/1/C, L/1/I and L/1/M) also commented that they would like to see changes in teachers’ attitudes.

Perhaps more concerning was the issue of physical abuse. Five learners (14%) stated that they wished that teachers would stop beating learners. Comments included:

I want our teachers to stop beating the learners. (L/1/Z)

Teachers must stop punishing us with canes. (L/1/HH)

Other issues included improvements to the School Feeding Scheme, which was launched in 2011; assistance to learners in the form of school uniforms; and motivating learners. One learner summed up two of these issues by saying:

I would like you guys [Masinyusane] to help learners with no uniform and also I would like you to motivate them about the importance of school. (L/1/FF)

Interpretation

School A suffered from many of the shortcomings identified by Macfarlane and Chaykowski (2011:13) and Motshekga (2011:1), such as poor teaching, a lack of leadership, and violence. The learners’ comments validated the findings of Chisholm (2005:214), namely that many of the teachers in the townships simply do not teach as often as required.

The alleged high incidence of teachers bunking class reflected a lack of leadership that Motshekga (2011:1) suggests is prevalent in the township schools. It is clear that neither the principal, the SGB, nor the teachers themselves were holding certain teachers accountable for failing to attend their classes.

Corporal punishment was present at the school and the learners were unhappy about it. The learners harboured many negative feelings towards specific teachers. This confirms Maseko’s finding (2002:3) that corporal punishment remains prevalent in township schools.

Masinyusane Staff: What are some of the things you’d like to see change at the school?

The Masinyusane team felt very frustrated by the failure of some teachers to teach. They believed that this was not only depriving the learners from learning, but was creating a culture of anarchy, which undermined all efforts to intervene with the learners. Speaking in tandem, the field worker and programme manager stated,

It should be criminal for there to be even a single free period. It’s a scandal in a school with ten too many teachers. The free period thing is a huge huge thing. The problem is for the young learners coming into school, they are impressionable, wide-eyed, willing and eager to learn. They get bogged down by the system. In the back of their minds, this is a school in which they’re used to having free periods. Now someone comes to make us stay longer, now they say hold on, this is a place we’re used to doing nothing. If the ethic was doing work, it would be much easier for Masinyusane to do their work. (FW/PM)

There was also the feeling that the school was not doing enough to expose the learners to different careers, educational opportunities, or even historical sites in Port Elizabeth. The programme manager then commented that more outings should be arranged to expose the learners to different aspects of the city. The field worker agreed with her comments, noting that this was one of the big differences between township and city schools.

When you go to a better school, it opens your world. In every single sense. It challenges you on every single level. For example, a child in Grade 8 now at [School A], doesn’t know where the airport is. Might not know there is an airport in Port Elizabeth, which is a disgrace. Whereas, a child in Grade 2 at a different school knows pretty much all of PE. Has been exposed to all of PE. (FW)

Interpretation

Similar to that of the learners above, and again confirming the findings of Chisholm (2005:214), the Masinyusane staff’s biggest complaint was that teachers were not teaching during their allocated periods. It was clear that this had created a culture of anarchy and laziness at the school. Not only were the learners missing out on valuable teaching time, but they were also being taught bad habits that were preventing their successful participation in other programmes designed to help them.