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Exploring the need for a community liaison person in facilitating family and community involvement in schools in the Western Cape: a case study of schools in the Joe Slovo Park informal settlement

This study assessed the viability of a Community Liaison Person (CLP) in facilitating family and community involvement in schools in the Western Cape. A sample of sixteen participants consisting of five educators, four learners and four parents was drawn from two schools in the Joe Slovo Informal Se...

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Main Author: Du Pont, Jonelle
Other Authors: O'Brien, Constance
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Department of Social Development 2014
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access_status_str Open Access
author Du Pont, Jonelle
author2 O'Brien, Constance
author_browse Du Pont, Jonelle
O'Brien, Constance
author_facet O'Brien, Constance
Du Pont, Jonelle
author_sort Du Pont, Jonelle
collection Thesis
description This study assessed the viability of a Community Liaison Person (CLP) in facilitating family and community involvement in schools in the Western Cape. A sample of sixteen participants consisting of five educators, four learners and four parents was drawn from two schools in the Joe Slovo Informal Settlement area. Furthermore, representatives of three NGOs were selected based on the focus of their work in education in various informal settlement areas around Cape Town. This study adopted an exploratory qualitative design using semistructured interview schedules to guide face-to-face interviewing. Purposive non-random sampling procedures were adopted in selecting the participants. The data was analysed using Tesch?s (1990) approach. The main findings were: * Fourteen participants indicated that the non-involvement of parents in their children?s learning was largely due to time constraints and being uninformed about the role of their children?s learning outcomes. * Parents indicated that there was a lack of communication between themselves and the school, and did not know what happens at school. The principal believed there to be a breakdown of communication between parents and the school. * All sixteen participants indicated that having a Community Liaison Person (CLP) would be beneficial to the learner and saw the main role of the CLP as being the link person between the school, the family, the community and other stakeholders. Furthermore, the majority of participants believed that the CLP could create a support networks amongst various stakeholders. The main recommendations were: * Training should be provided to school volunteers either by the Western Cape Education Department or a Non-Governmental Organisation so that school/family/ community linkages can be formed. * That further research (mixed methodology) be taken to determine the need and feasibility of implementing such a role as a CLP. * Specially trained community persons or someone who has a social work/community development background could fill the role of CLP.
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provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
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spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/6823 Exploring the need for a community liaison person in facilitating family and community involvement in schools in the Western Cape: a case study of schools in the Joe Slovo Park informal settlement Du Pont, Jonelle O'Brien, Constance This study assessed the viability of a Community Liaison Person (CLP) in facilitating family and community involvement in schools in the Western Cape. A sample of sixteen participants consisting of five educators, four learners and four parents was drawn from two schools in the Joe Slovo Informal Settlement area. Furthermore, representatives of three NGOs were selected based on the focus of their work in education in various informal settlement areas around Cape Town. This study adopted an exploratory qualitative design using semistructured interview schedules to guide face-to-face interviewing. Purposive non-random sampling procedures were adopted in selecting the participants. The data was analysed using Tesch?s (1990) approach. The main findings were: * Fourteen participants indicated that the non-involvement of parents in their children?s learning was largely due to time constraints and being uninformed about the role of their children?s learning outcomes. * Parents indicated that there was a lack of communication between themselves and the school, and did not know what happens at school. The principal believed there to be a breakdown of communication between parents and the school. * All sixteen participants indicated that having a Community Liaison Person (CLP) would be beneficial to the learner and saw the main role of the CLP as being the link person between the school, the family, the community and other stakeholders. Furthermore, the majority of participants believed that the CLP could create a support networks amongst various stakeholders. The main recommendations were: * Training should be provided to school volunteers either by the Western Cape Education Department or a Non-Governmental Organisation so that school/family/ community linkages can be formed. * That further research (mixed methodology) be taken to determine the need and feasibility of implementing such a role as a CLP. * Specially trained community persons or someone who has a social work/community development background could fill the role of CLP. 2014-09-02T09:51:03Z 2014-09-02T09:51:03Z 2014 Master Thesis Masters MSocSc http://hdl.handle.net/11427/6823 eng application/pdf Department of Social Development Faculty of Humanities University of Cape Town
spellingShingle Du Pont, Jonelle
Exploring the need for a community liaison person in facilitating family and community involvement in schools in the Western Cape: a case study of schools in the Joe Slovo Park informal settlement
thesis_degree_str Master's
title Exploring the need for a community liaison person in facilitating family and community involvement in schools in the Western Cape: a case study of schools in the Joe Slovo Park informal settlement
title_full Exploring the need for a community liaison person in facilitating family and community involvement in schools in the Western Cape: a case study of schools in the Joe Slovo Park informal settlement
title_fullStr Exploring the need for a community liaison person in facilitating family and community involvement in schools in the Western Cape: a case study of schools in the Joe Slovo Park informal settlement
title_full_unstemmed Exploring the need for a community liaison person in facilitating family and community involvement in schools in the Western Cape: a case study of schools in the Joe Slovo Park informal settlement
title_short Exploring the need for a community liaison person in facilitating family and community involvement in schools in the Western Cape: a case study of schools in the Joe Slovo Park informal settlement
title_sort exploring the need for a community liaison person in facilitating family and community involvement in schools in the western cape a case study of schools in the joe slovo park informal settlement
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/6823
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