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The role of a professional learning community in supporting natural science teacheres in a high school situated in a low-income community
Thesis (MEd)--Stellenbosch University, 2026.
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
2026
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| _version_ | 1867614134880698368 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Malinga, Thuleleni Samanthah |
| author2 | Feldman, Jennifer |
| author_browse | Feldman, Jennifer Malinga, Thuleleni Samanthah |
| author_facet | Feldman, Jennifer Malinga, Thuleleni Samanthah |
| author_sort | Malinga, Thuleleni Samanthah |
| collection | Thesis |
| dc_rights_str_mv | Stellenbosch University |
| description | Thesis (MEd)--Stellenbosch University, 2026. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/136264 |
| institution | Stellenbosch University (South Africa) |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:47:13.037Z |
| license_str | Other — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| publishDateRange | 2026 |
| publishDateSort | 2026 |
| publisher | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| publisherStr | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository |
| spelling | oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/136264 The role of a professional learning community in supporting natural science teacheres in a high school situated in a low-income community Malinga, Thuleleni Samanthah Feldman, Jennifer Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Education. Dept. of Education Policy Studies. Thesis (MEd)--Stellenbosch University, 2026. Malinga, T. S. 2026. The role of a professional learning community in supporting natural science teacheres in a high school situated in a low-income community. Unpublished masters thesis. Stellenbosch: Stellenbosch University [online]. Available: https://scholar.sun.ac.za/items/f8d23e5e-445c-45fd-81ce-1f324b22169b It has been identified that Natural Science (NS) teachers face various challenges in effectively delivering the subject, especially in low-income communities, which often leads to lower learner performance. The challenges that NS teachers face when teaching in low-income communities are compounded by the lack of school-specific professional development (PD) approaches to support them in better addressing these challenges. In turn, Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) emerged as a PD approach that enables teachers to engage in critical, reflective conversations to enhance their teaching experiences and improve learners’ performance. The study used a phenomenological qualitative research approach to examine NS teachers’ experiences in a PLC to determine the role it can play in supporting NS teachers in a high school situated in a lowincome community. A sample of six NS teachers from one high school in the Metro-North District in the Western Cape participated in this study. The data was generated through semi-structured interviews and participant observation. The obtained data was analysed and discussed using the phenomenological approach. In the phenomenological approach, participants’ experiences are described using their own views. Therefore, the views of NS teachers on how they are supported by the PLC were used to identify the PLC's role in supporting them. Social Practice Theory (SPT) served as the study’s theoretical framework. The argument of the SPT is that human actions are produced and reproduced by social practices. Consequently, this theory was used as a lens to understand how a PLC functions as a PD endeavour in supporting NS teachers to adapt their teaching practices. The study found that the PLC supports NS teachers in various ways. Firstly, PLC discussions play a crucial role in making teachers aware of the policy requirements for their subject, and in supporting them by sharing strategies that better position them to meet those requirements. PLC discussions also play a crucial role in supporting teachers with their subject content and pedagogy It was also revealed that in the PLC, NS teachers share classroom-based challenges they are facing. The ideas and approaches they can adopt to address the challenges they are experiencing are shared in the PLC. Although the PLC supports NS teachers in various aspects, it was identified that it faces several barriers that affect its effective functioning. These barriers include irregularity in PLC meetings, low teacher attendance, and teacher disengagement in PLC discussions. Recommendations provided by the teachers, which can be adopted by the school and are suitable for further research, are presented in chapter 7. Chapter 7 also highlighted the study's limitations. Masters 2026-04-30T08:17:17Z 2026-04-30T08:17:17Z 2026-03 Thesis https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/136264 en Stellenbosch University 206 pages application/pdf Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| spellingShingle | Malinga, Thuleleni Samanthah The role of a professional learning community in supporting natural science teacheres in a high school situated in a low-income community |
| title | The role of a professional learning community in supporting natural science teacheres in a high school situated in a low-income community |
| title_full | The role of a professional learning community in supporting natural science teacheres in a high school situated in a low-income community |
| title_fullStr | The role of a professional learning community in supporting natural science teacheres in a high school situated in a low-income community |
| title_full_unstemmed | The role of a professional learning community in supporting natural science teacheres in a high school situated in a low-income community |
| title_short | The role of a professional learning community in supporting natural science teacheres in a high school situated in a low-income community |
| title_sort | role of a professional learning community in supporting natural science teacheres in a high school situated in a low income community |
| url | https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/136264 |
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