Análisis y evaluación de la implementación de ARASIS

According to section 2.4, thirteen areas in South Africa were identified as nodal areas considering the rural and extreme poverty of the surroundings. A section of North-West Province where the research was done forms part of the nodal area (North-West Provincial Government, 2011:18).

According to the North-West Provincial Government (2011:20-23), a nodal area is an environment where extreme poverty occurs. The only income of people from these areas is the social grant provided by the Department of Social Services. As part of the rural development framework the development of these areas is prioritised and has to be done speedily. The absence of services and skills are seen everywhere. Many of the FSSs in the North-West Province are situated in these areas as the Department of Education tried to bring education to the communities.

6.10.1 Unconcerned parents

Most of the participants stated that when they needed the parents’ consent to support learners with behaviour difficulties, parents did not respond positively. The respondents in the research were asked the following question: “Explain how you support learners with behaviour difficulties.” Participants 1, 3, 7, 11, 13 and 15 (focus groups 1, 2, 3 and 4) explained how difficult the situations were as they could not proceed to call in the social workers or child protection unit without the parents’ consent.

Since corporal punishment has been banned in all South African schools (SASA Act 84 of 1996), there exists no alternative to assist schools and teachers in disciplining learners. The policy states that alternatives to corporal punishment were released (Department of Education, 2000), but it still left the teachers confused on how to discipline learners. Discipline has become a main crisis in classrooms, derailing teaching and learning and resulting in poor learner and teacher performance. Many teachers are left feeling frustrated and angry. P7 (focus group 2) complained: “When we have learners with behaviour problems, and write letters, we call their parents by telephone and we send messages. We need to see them. They don’t respond, they are nowhere to be found, there is no response from parents. They expect us as the teachers to sort out their children without manners. These learners disturb my teaching in class, but the parents don’t want to be involved.” P3 (focus group 1) reiterated the same, saying: “Problem learners’ parents don’t assist us as teachers.” P11 (focus group 3) exclaimed: “Parents don’t come to school when their children are disobedient or have behavioural problems.”

The conclusion could be reached that parents and caregivers do not assist teachers to discipline their children. The respondents clearly stated that they did not know how to handle learners who disrupted their teaching. It left them feeling hopeless. The parents were not involved in their children and the participants did not get assistance from the SMTs at their respective schools, which resulted in respondents feeling frustrated in teaching at the FSS.

6.10.2 Aggressive parents

Based on feedback from the respondents it was evident that parents did not respond to the requests from the schools. Sometimes the learners were in need of additional support but

the teachers could not continue without the parents’ permission. When the question was asked: “What do you do to assist learners who need additional support?” P8 (focus 2) said: “We can’t do that in our school. Parents don’t respond, but if they do, they come and fight with us. This teacher sitting here can tell you what happened to her when she called a parent. P5 (focus group 2) started sobbing as her colleague reminded her of the incident that happened two years before. In a choking voice she said: “I was slapped in my face by a mother. I sent the learner home to go and call her mother as she said her she was at home. I was teaching reading on the mat with a group of learners, when the classroom door opened and next thing (she sobbed again), I felt pain on my face. Now I just leave learners if their parents don’t care, why must I worry? I don’t want to be humiliated again. I went to the SMT and complained. A letter was sent home from the principal’s office but there was no response from the parent. I decided to ignore the learner from that day. He can do his work or not.”

These words from the teacher show parents’ lack of involvement which could cause learners to be deprived of extra support. In this case the support was denied indirectly by the parents. Teachers are left feeling miserable and incompetent when there is no support from the parents and guardians. Their self-esteem might even suffer and sometimes they want to quit their teaching job.

According to SASA Act 84 of 1996 page B-38, the teacher has the same “rights and obligations as a parent to protect, control and discipline a learner according to the Code of Conduct”, during school hours. However, parents still need to give their consent when additional support is requested for the learners when, for example, a referral for assistance is made to a social worker or therapist.

During the focus group interviews participants clearly indicated that at their schools parents’ involvement in their children was either low or there was no involvement at all. Some of the parents only responded to the request of teachers to fight and argue with them. They were in denial that their child was a problem in class. P1 (focus group 1) cried out: “Other parents fight with us teachers and use vulgar language. We’re scared of them”. P15 (focus group 3) said: “We as teachers feel threatened at times by the learners. They misbehave and no one knows what to do with them. We just leave them alone. They can

do their work or leave it. We don’t assist them as their parents don’t want to help us discipline their children.”

In the opinion of the researcher the problem of misbehaving learners was not addressed with the aggressive parent or any other person. It was evident that the teachers were left to cope on their own with no assistance from the principals or the school management. This resulted in learners who lost an opportunity to learn as the teachers could not handle them and parents were also not assisting.

6.10.3 Socio-economic background at home

The socio-economic background of learners surfaced regularly during the focus group interviews. In many instances learners’ parents were missing, leaving teachers with learners with problems. Many learners lived with their grandparents because their parents worked in cities or elsewhere. According to the respondents a significant number of these grandparents were not literate and did not know how to assist the learners in their schoolwork. They also did not want to be involved in the problems of grandchildren. Some grandparents suffered ill-health and did not have the energy to deal with rebellious young children. They fed them when they received their social grant and their responsibilities ended there. The respondents opined that many of the grandparents did not see it as their responsibility to play an integral part in the education of the learners. Their view was that the school was the educational institution and thus responsible for educating the learners.

P13 (focus group 3), for instance, stated: “Parents are not interested in the code of conduct of the school. They expect the school to take full responsibility of their child, and they as parents don’t even want to help with the discipline. The grandmother says she has four grandchildren staying with her. They do not listen to her. The school must help as she complained to the parents but they are working in Gauteng.”

Many of the learners at full-service schools in deep rural areas live in impoverished conditions and at times suffer violence. Some of the mothers are financially dependent on partners who abuse them. They find it difficult to leave and therefore stay with the abuser

(city-press.news24.com/News/shocking-stats-on-abuse-of-women-in-sa-2016112). P2

on some Mondays she does not speak, oh my word! She’s in a world of her own and does nothing in class.” The participant sighed. “She always has an injury or walks limping. When I speak to her, she cries. She is usually a withdrawn learner, but if something happened over the weekend, she is worse; I tried to find out from another learner in my class, staying nearby. He says her mother’s friend beat her and her mother again. It happens every weekend. What do I do in a case like that? I called the social worker, the police and the SMT, they do not do anything. I called the mother several times to come and see me but she never comes. I hate to think what can still happen to her and her child! Social development and their social workers are useless, you can complain and complain but they don’t help.” The researcher concluded that the teacher felt responsible for both the learner and the parent. The participant shivered as she spoke about it and her body language showed she felt hopeless and scared.

Parents from poverty-stricken environments often suffer great emotional stress. This can easily be linked to rage and aggression, low self-worth and no ambition to improve their circumstances (Wade & Kendler, 2001:178-180). Dissatisfaction, high levels of home or marital stress and domestic violence are linked to poverty (Wade & Kendler, 2001:180- 180).

6.10.4 Conclusion about themes arising from parents’ role in supporting their children

From the various aspects related to parental involvement that were discussed in this section, it can be concluded that the majority of learners in the full-service schools where the research was done lived in socio-economic environments which were not pleasant. They lived with grandparents, with unemployed parents or with a single parent, none of whom were actively involved in the learners’ schooling. Home stimulation and following-up on homework were often non-existent. In many cases the parents saw the learner’s education as the sole responsibility of the school. This may be one of the reasons why parents are not involved in their children’s education. Teachers further blame the parents for not assisting them and they take their frustrations out on the learners. According to Bradley and Corwyn, (2012;66-67) home circumstances such as the ones discussed in sections 6.10.1 to 6.10.3 could cause conflict, as well as low-esteem, resentment and above all financial strain in the homes of learners.