4.3.1.3 “I’m in charge I’m in control”
4.4 Theme 2: The understanding of their educative task
4.4.1.2 Teacher support towards learner self‐actualisation
Teachers, who encourage and assist learners towards self‐actualisation, provide them with moral guidance, in other words, direction in terms of what is right and wrong. This is illustrated in John’s* discussion of his drawing (Figure 4.1), and in particular in his use of terms such as ‘guiding’ and ‘showing’. By not coercing or enforcing, he is enabling authentic self‐actualisation: “It shows you [the] different learners that you get, from different backgrounds and this is now the traffic officer, that’s obviously me, guiding them, showing them the right way and how they [are] supposed to be in my classroom” John* continues to motivate this approach to discipline by describing a particular incident which he experienced as rewarding and affirming:
“The other incident was when I came one morning by (sic) Commercial Road by the off ramp where you go in. There is a boy selling newspapers and he just came to me. ‘Hello sir, how you?’ whilst I am(sic) waiting for the robot, we were chatting and he said, ‘Meneer, thank‐you man!’, I asked ‘for what?’, ‘for hitting me that time, you see I got(sic) a job now.’ I felt like, [unclear word] this guy still remembered. The way you punish them, was like the way you say, ‘I punish you and I want you to say thank you to me, because now you know you not supposed to do it.’ And that’s what I always tell them, ‘say thank you’, then they [are] upset, then they smile and I say, ‘yes now you can go now.’ And that something happened, a seed was planted and a tree is growing and something in his life is happening.” The above incident indicates the positive outcome of John’s* discipline intervention, which was eventually comprehended by the learner. The above incident also highlights the importance of healthy teacher‐learner relationships. In order to establish these, Jeanette* suggests: “If you
constantly talk to them, motivate them, yes. Then you can find out what the problem is and [you] can help them.” Once a teacher has developed a relationship of understanding with the learner,
they are able to engage more deeply in the learning process, such as is depicted below in John’s* description of his photograph (Figure 4.5). He explains how ‘anything is possible’, if one is truly committed: “This just shows you that in class you [can] have a problem with learners wanting to do certain things and this photo just shows that anyone can do anything, if they just put their mind to it. So this picture just shows us that you can do anything you want to do”
The teachers’ approaches to discipline as described above, can be seen in a positive light, as they allow the learners to explore new and valuable cognitive, emotional and lifestyle behaviours, yet within clear boundaries (Squelch 2000b, 308). These findings portray the teachers as constructivists who are proactive in encouraging the learners to become self‐ disciplined individuals in today’s society (cf 2.12). A constructivist teacher will motivate, encourage and support learners, rather than dictate and ‘train’ them (cf 2.9). Again, these findings contain clear tenets of Noddings’ Theory of Caring and the humanising pedagogy. The responses also represent the ideas of Dewey, Piaget and Kohlberg, who all want the learner to learn in a non‐hostile and open environment.
4.4.1.3 The understanding of learner participation
The participants clearly regard learner participation during the teaching and learning process as important. John’s* description of his photograph (Figure 4.8) indicates his awareness of the importance of effective two‐way communication:“I normally tell them if I’m doing something wrong, by doing this and that, because in your culture it’s different. Tell me, don’t sit there, blown up because I’ve said something now and in your culture it is wrong. We need to learn from one another and vice versa” For John*, learner participation leads to teamwork and proper collaboration: “This one shows you teamwork, be [a] part, and show them you [are] proud of what you are. In class, you (sic) work as a team. There is no ‘I’ in team. When you are given a task to do, especially projects, you work as a team; it teaches them how to communicate in a team”
Jeanette* also values group work as a strategy to facilitate cooperation and collaboration:
“Group‐work is also very important, because I feel if a learner… if they work in a group, they interact better”. She subsequently describes her approach as “not only teacher orientated, its teacher‐learner orientated”. For her, too, mutual understanding and respect for each other’s
values and ideals are important. In response to her photograph (Figure 4.17), she explains, “Like
in our classroom, if we decide to do a certain topic, we must stand together, although you have your different views also on certain things”.
The teachers’ views indicate lucid awareness that positive and caring relationships at school enhance flexibility, and protect learners from academic failure (Vitto 2003, 5). Only through active classroom participation are learners able to guide themselves and learn through their own experiences, as well as those of fellow classmates. The teachers are also eager to remain engaged in an ongoing dialogue with the learners, encouraging the learners to discover new ideas by themselves (Brandon and All 2010, 90).
These approaches contradict previous suggestions of authoritarianism demonstrated by the teachers, and now suggest Freireian notions of ‘problem‐posing’ where teachers and learning embark on a collective knowledge‐gaining quest through the means of dialogue (Fritze 2010, 7; Bartlett 2005, 345) (cf 2.8). Hence, these teachers’ approaches to discipline are representative of a constructivist approach to teaching and learning, as they incorporate the learner into the teaching and learning process, by acknowledging their experiences and ideas.
The above findings also represent elements of Noddings’ ideas on moral education, which stems from her Theory of Caring. Noddings suggests that for successful discipline to take place, there needs to be common‐ground between the teacher and learner before any further dialogue can take place (cf 2.9). This is visible in the above findings, as the teachers still maintain their role as the teacher, but they also engage interactively in the learning process. Subsequently, the findings are also reminiscent of the humanising pedagogy, as the teachers take into account the learners’ feelings and thoughts when they are being taught.
Ultimately, active learner participation is achieved through purposeful and mindful teaching, which ultimately promotes teacher support towards learner self‐actualisation. The responses indicate that the teachers are committed to this process, and attempting to reflect these in the discipline strategies that they use.