Social constructivist-interpretive framework

This section discusses social constructivism, the philosophical worldview that underpins this study. Creswell (2014:26) reveals that social constructivism emerged from the works of for example, Berger and Luekmann’s (1967) ‘The Social Construction of Reality’, and Lincoln and Guba’s (1985) ‘Naturalistic Inquiry’ in which, according to Spencer, Pryce and Walsh (2014:85); it was argued that human understanding and knowledge are socially constructed because human beings create their own reality as a result of social interactions, relationships and experiences. The researcher adopts this worldview because the study is interested in addressing a social problem in which the researcher seeks to answer why, a number of public secondary schools in the Copperbelt region of Zambia recorded poor performance. Chong and Yeo (2015:260) add that constructivist design was developed by Charmaz (2008) who was of the view that constructivist design was advantageous in dealing with why questions as well as maintaining social life complexity.

Creswell (2014:26) adds that social constructivists assert that human beings search for an understanding of the world where they live and operate with a focus on the views of the participants. A constructivist worldview was considered appropriate for this study because it

enabled the researcher to understand what is happening in the Copperbelt region through the selected participants’ views and perceptions about learner performance and teaching. The aim of the study is in line with the principles of constructivism, which are founded on the doctrines of idealism and humanism. Walliman (2011:21) says that constructivism posits that our worldview is as a result of the mind because it can only be experienced individually through how we view things under the influence of our “preconceptions, beliefs and values”.

The other reason why using this philosophical approach is appropriate for this study is that the researcher agrees with the principle of idealism, namely, that reality is not independent of the mind since it can only be known through the human mind and through meanings that are constructed socially. Since human perceptions are derived from the individual mind, it was possible for the researcher to capture the different realities as revealed by the selected participants: learners, teachers and head teachers on learner performance as a social phenomenon (Ritchie et al. 2013:5).

In line with the above statement, Spencer et al. (2014:85) confirm that reality is not fixed because it is dependent upon the context and society and it is, therefore, possible for several realities to exist at the same time. This worldview is suitable for this study because the researcher focuses on exploring and understanding the social world using the personal perspectives of the participants where explanations can only be given from the point of view of meaning instead of cause (Ritchie et al., 2013:24).

The other reason the researcher considers constructivism useful in this study is its potential to facilitate interaction with the participants on their cultural and past encounters in respect of learner performance, and allows the researcher to capture the meaning of their experience and interpret it to explain what surrounds learner performance and teaching in public secondary schools in Zambia. Davidsen (2013:319) advances that constructivists are of the view that history and culture play a critical role in providing knowledge and that such knowledge can be constructed inter-subjectively.

The above statement is in line with the argument by Dumont et al. (2012:3) that learning is viewed as an activity that is determined by one’s context and “is actively constructed through social negotiation with others”. Hence, the researcher will be able to learn and construct meaning through the planned semi-structured and focus-group interviews in which the researcher will communicate and interact with the selected participants on issues that relate to learner performance and teaching.

The various descriptions of the selected participants regarding their daily life encounters will provide a foundation for interpreting what is happening in public schools on learner performance and teaching as a phenomenon, influenced by the researcher’s background in teaching which will enable her to position herself in the research, acknowledging the manner in which her personal interpretation flows from her own cultural and past experiences (Creswell, 2014:26). This is acknowledged by Eddles-Hirsch (2015:251) who posits that phenomenologists hold the view that the daily human encounters of life provide a basis for interpreting the world.

The use of this approach is also based on the fact that Heidegger’s hermeneutic phenomenology is interpretive in nature and focuses on developing a deep understanding of a particular experience (Reiners, 2012:24). This approach has the potential to facilitate investigation of meaning of experiences associated with issues of learner performance and teaching because interpretive phenomenology leads to a thorough interpretation of the meaning as well as structures of a specific phenomenon in respect of first-hand experience (Matua &Van Der Wal, 2015:24). Thanh and Thanh (2015:25) support that interpretive researchers often aim at gaining an understanding of a certain situation and their main tenet is that reality is socially constructed. The researcher interacted with the learners, teachers and head teachers who were selected for their potential to provide rich information relating to learner performance and teaching in the selected schools.

The above discussion relates to the argument by Education, Research and Consultancy Center (ERCC) (2010:2) that qualitative researchers employ interviews with open-ended questions for the purpose of gaining insight into people’s attitudes, personal views and collective or individual behaviour. According to Matua and Van Der Wal (2015:24), drawing on Heidegger’s

phenomenology for this study not only lies in achieving a deeper understanding of learner performance and teaching but also unveiling the hidden meanings as lived and experienced by the learners, teachers and head teachers in public secondary schools in Zambia.

Matua and Van Der Wal (2015:24), confirm that an interpretive study does away with merely increasingly knowledge about a phenomenon by providing loose descriptions in preference for gaining a wide and detailed comprehension of the meaning of the phenomenon. Through this approach, the researcher will broadly and deeply study the nature of learner performance and teaching in public secondary schools, thereby giving insight into the possible approaches to dealing with the identified problem. This is because phenomenology considers reality to be individualistic and subjective (Padilla-Diaz, 2015:103). Therefore, the researcher can best understand the nature of learner performance and teaching by directly dealing with teachers, learners and school head teachers who are considered to be key informants on the challenge of poor performance in their schools rather than the researcher making assumptions about the phenomenon.

Another reason for employing constructivism paradigm using phenomenology is the fact that phenomenological methods are philosophical in nature and employ strategies where the researcher tries hard to grasp the extent to which human actors in respective societies give a sense of purpose to or explain the meanings of the things that happen in their area (Msabila & Nalaila, 2013:34). It is founded on the idea that reality comprises of objects and occurrences as the human consciousness understands them and are not detached from the consciousness of humans.

Davidsen (2013:318) adds that using phenomenological research enables one to generate a theoretical account that allows one to elicit the effect as well as the significance of the experiences that individuals could have gone through. The idea of constructivism through phenomenology is important in order to bring out, make known or clearly show common features of human life that make up our actions, specifically the experienced circumstances (Magrini, 2012:2).

As mentioned in chapter 1, the Zambian government has over the years tried to provide an environment that would improve learner performance, such as reducing class size, providing learning materials and upgrading teacher qualifications, but not much success was recorded (MESVTEE and JICA, 2011:14). The researcher is of the view that, investigating the lived experiences may provide an answer to the problem.

Heidegger’s phenomenology suggests approaches to data collection methods like face-to-face interviews and open-ended questions, which will allow the researcher to provide an opportunity for the participants to freely voice out their lived experiences (Chan, Fung & Chien, 2013:4). The researcher will seek clarification, where necessary in order to gain a clearer insight into their description (Turner, 2010:756). Additionally, the small sample of 24 participants of diverse status (head teachers, teachers and learners), allowed the researcher to spend as much time as possible to collect rich information from a group that was purposively selected on account of its observed capacity to inform the study.

Undertaking a phenomenological study is necessary in order to address the challenges of poor learner performance in public secondary schools in Zambia since the problem relates to the researcher’s area of specialist teaching. Friesen et al. (2012:1) advance that the development of interest in phenomenological studies can be linked to the focus on daily concerns; for example, education as a public and professional endeavour and it is usually taken up by researchers deeply rooted in their individual subject areas.

3.4 Research methods