Antecedentes Teóricos

The evidence from the data indicated that poor relationships between learners and teachers were also a primary influence on male school dropout. The nature of the relationships made learners feel unwelcome at school and teachers felt unmotivated to be at school. School principals seemed to be aware of the negative relationships between some teachers and learners but were uncertain as to how this situation should be handled or how it could be improved.

Many of the male school dropout participants referred to the negative relationships that they had with teachers and how this contributed to their dropout. Teachers' behaviour, especially the way they communicated with these participants, made them feel unwelcome at school.

Most of the teachers always pushed me down. There are a bunch of children at the school who always said, ‘Most of them (teachers) push me down.' Because I bunked classes they pushed me down. They will not motivate me to come to class. They tell me, ‘You can stay away tomorrow and the day after tomorrow as well.' MD 6

[Die meerderheid van die onderwysers het my altyd afgedruk. Daar is klomp kinders op die skool wat altyd daai gesê het: ‘Die meerderheid van hulle (onderwysers) druk my af.' Omdat ek nou klasse bunk druk hulle vir my af. Hulle sal nie like vir my motivate om klas toe te kom nie. Hulle sê sommer vir my: ‘Jy kan more en oormore ook wegbly.'] They (teachers) drove me out. Because the teachers said they are going to get rid of me. In accordance, I was never in class, my work deteriorated and I bunked classes. The teachers like to degrade the children. That is what happened to me (before I dropped out). MD 9

[Hulle het vir my weggewerk. Want die onderwysers het gesê hulle gaan my wegwerk. According to, ek was nooit in die klas nie, my werk het agteruit gegaan, en ek bunk klasse. Die onderwysers like ook die kinders afdruk. Daai het met my gebeur (voor ek skool verlaat het).]

I left school because there was a teacher at school who did not like me. That is why. Now what he did to me, I will never forget that. He jerked and pushed me around. It is just that one teacher, man. If that teacher had not acted like that towards me, then I would probably have finished school. MD 1

[Ek het die skool gelos want daar was 'n onderwyser op die skool, in die skool, wat nie van my gehou het nie. Daai is hoekom. Nou wat hy gedoen het, aan my, ek sal dit nooit vergeet nie. Hy het vir my kom ruk, hy ruk vir my in die rondte. Dis net daai onderwyser man. As daai meneer nie so met my gewees het nie, dan was ek seker nou al klaar gewees met die skool.]

From these excerpts, one can see that the school dropouts had a negative relationship with teachers because of the way they were treated. They felt as if they were being targeted by specific teachers and this demotivated them from attending school. Because of this state of affairs the school dropouts lost interest in attending school as it was an overall negative experience.

A handful of teachers talked about the negative relationships between them and some learners and how this situation contributed to school dropout. According to them, these negative relationships developed because of continual misbehaviour and because teachers feel unable to handle or engage with some male learners in a positive way. However, there were two teachers who acknowledged that they and others did indeed target the learners who gave them problems and made sure that they left school.

I don't even want to confess, you get rid of him (learner who continually misbehaves) … You walk into your class; you make the world hot for him. That is a bit negative but it happens. You (researcher) want us to be honest. There are some of us, we get rid of you (learner). FT 1

[Ek wil nou nie eers erken nie, jy werk hom half weg (leerder wat herhaaldelik probleme gee) … Jy loop in jou klas in, jy maak ook sommer die wêreld warm vir hom. Dis bietjie negatief maar dit gebeur. Jy (navorser) wil mos hê ons moet openlik wees. Daar is van ons, ons werk jou (leerder) weg (van die skool af).]

Look, for that child, for that boy (who gives problems), there is nothing that we can do for that child. That child makes life for you and everyone in that class hell. And the

child makes the school difficult, so what can you do (other than use negative behaviour)? FT 4

[Kyk, aan so kind, aan so seun (wat probleme gee), is daar geen salf meer te smeer nie want ons kan niks meer vir daai kind doen nie. Daai kind maak die lewe vir jou en almal in daai klas hel. En die kind maak die skool moeilik, so wat staan jou te doen (behalwe om negatief op te tree)?]

Yes, you would not like to hear the whole day your mother's this and your mother's that. That is what they say to you. You cannot create a healthy, proper atmosphere in class and provide the right education with such children in your class. You are there to protect the other children. FT 2

[Ja, jy sal mos nie heeldag wil hoor jou ma se die en jou ma se daai nie. Dit is wat hulle vir jou sê. Jy kan nie 'n gesonde, regte atmosfeer skep in jou klas en regte opvoeding gee met sulke kinders in jou klas nie. Jy is daar om vir die ander kinders te beskerm.] From these passages, one can see that the teachers felt helpless in handling some of the male learners in their classes. They consequently turned to negative ways of managing their classes which in turn had a negative effect on their relationships with the learners. In some instances this situation became so severe that teachers targeted specific learners and made their time at school unpleasant with the hope that they would drop out. Therefore, the negative relationships between teachers and learners were exacerbated through the behaviour of both parties involved.

Both the school principals involved in this study mentioned that teachers at their schools directly contributed to dropout among males because of the negative relationships between these parties. They confirmed the negative engagement that some teachers have with learners but also strongly condemned it as something that should not be happening at school.

Then you get a percentage of teachers who will swear at the children … such people do not belong in education. I have a minister (who is a teacher) who throws children's bags from the second floor. I mean, I do not know where his ministry comes in, and I have summoned this person to talk to him about his ways of working. Again, that is a small percentage (of teachers), but harm done to one child is big harm done. SP 1

[Dan kry jy 'n persentasie waar die onderwyser die kind sal uitvloek … sulke mense hoort nie in die onderwys nie. Ek het 'n predikant (wat 'n onderwyser is) wat kinders se sakke van die boonste verdieping af gooi. Ek meen, ek weet nie waar predikantskap inkom nie, ek het al die persoon ingeroep en met hom gepraat oor werkswyses. Weer eens, daai is 'n klein persentasie (van onderwysers) maar skade gedoen aan een kind is groot skade gedoen.]

I want to touch on something else as well (that influences school dropout). I think that sometimes we should not look beyond the role of the teachers with learners who drop out of school … the teachers often play a role in the reason why children do not want to attend school. SP 2

[Ek wil iets anders ook aanraak (wat skool-uitval beïnvloed). Ek dink somtyds moet ons nie verby die rol van die onderwyser ook kyk by leerders wat die skool verlaat nie … die onderwyser speel ook baie keer 'n rol hoekom kinders nie wil skoolgaan nie.]

These narratives further illustrate that the teachers' negative verbal and physical behaviour towards learners influenced school dropout among them. The overall feeling from the school principals' was that there were a small percentage of teachers who behaved in this way but this had a sure effect on school dropout among males.

Parents described how the negative relationships between the teachers and their (i.e. the parent participants') children manifested through the way the teachers interacted with their children. This further confirmed the significant influence that poor relationships between these parties had on school dropout.

The teacher is not there when something happens, maybe it happens at home but now he heard about it and now he says, ‘No, I do not want him in my class because he is a knife stabber or a gangster.' Do you understand? That is what happens … I have heard it. It hurts the children. FP 9

[Die onderwyser is nie daar wanneer 'n ding gebeur nie, miskien is dit by die huis maar nou het hy dit gehoor en nou sê hy: ‘Nee, ek soek nie vir hom in my klas nie want jy is 'n messteker of jy is 'n gangster.' Verstaan u? Dit is wat gebeur … Ek het dit al gehoor al. Dit maak die kinders ook seer.]

You (teacher) want the child to have respect for you (teacher) but you do not show respect towards him … Like the teacher who said to my child, ‘Yes, you're here again,' or ‘You know I do not like you.' Now I asked him (teacher), ‘Sir, is it my child you are talking to?' ‘Oh, sorry ma'am, I did not know it is your child.' FP 11

[Jy (onderwyser) wil hê die kind moet vir jou (onderwyser) respek hê maar jy toon dan nie eers vir die kind respek nie … Soos die meester wat eenkeer vir my kind sê: ‘Ja, jy is alweer hier,' of ‘Jy weet mos ek laaik nie vir jou nie.' Nou vra ek hom: ‘Meneer, praat jy saam met my kind?' ‘O, jammer mevrou, ek het nie geweet dis jou kind nie.']

These parents had clearly experienced that some teachers were not interested in building positive relationships with their children. The teachers' attitudes are manifested in the way they communicated and especially through the practice of labelling certain learners. Parents also seemed to feel frustrated since they did not have any power to address this problem. In this section I illustrated how a school's poor disciplinary culture and practices and the poor relationships between teachers and learners influenced school dropout among males. Especially the practice of sending learners home and then expecting them to bring their parents with them to school before being allowed back was something that all the participant groups, except the teachers, mentioned. This practice causes learners to miss school for a considerable amount of time. Furthermore, parents are generally not aware of what is going on at school. Some insight was also provided as to why school management uses these illegal disciplinary measures; it eliminates struggling learners who will most probably fail in Grade 12 and thereby influence the goal for pass rates as set by the WCED. These practices seem to engender negative relationships between learners and teachers, as illustrated by the way in which these parties interacted with each other. Consequently, male learners felt unwelcome at school and did not feel committed towards the school or education in general.

Next, I present the data relating to the influences on male school dropout in the family context as they emerged from the data in this study.