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Educators' understanding of their roles at a school of skills

Thesis (MEd (Specialised Education))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009.

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Main Author: Eksteen, Truter
Other Authors: Daniels, Doria
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch 2009
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access_status_str Open Access
author Eksteen, Truter
author2 Daniels, Doria
author_browse Daniels, Doria
Eksteen, Truter
author_facet Daniels, Doria
Eksteen, Truter
author_sort Eksteen, Truter
collection Thesis
dc_rights_str_mv University of Stellenbosch
description Thesis (MEd (Specialised Education))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009.
format Thesis
id oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/2066
institution Stellenbosch University (South Africa)
language English
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:45:04.096Z
license_str Other — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository
publishDate 2009
publishDateRange 2009
publishDateSort 2009
publisher Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch
publisherStr Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch
record_format dspace
source_str SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository
spelling oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/2066 Educators' understanding of their roles at a school of skills Eksteen, Truter Daniels, Doria University of Stellenbosch. Faculty of Education. Dept. of Educational Psychology. SANASE Dissertations -- Educational psychology Theses -- Educational psychology South African National Association for Specialized Education Teachers of children with disabilities -- Training of --South Africa -- Western Cape Trade schools Teacher-student relationships Thesis (MEd (Specialised Education))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. The site for the study is a Western Cape school for industry that became a school of skills in 1999. According to the S.A. National Association for Specialised Education (SANASE) (2001:1), a school of skills, also referred to as a special school, caters for intellectually mildly disabled learners (IMD learners) who are characterised by their poor scholastic abilities in reading, writing and arithmetic skills, low self-esteem, poor self-concept, lack of motivation to study and their inability to cope with academically orientated work. These would be learners who were previously in mainstream schools but whose learning difficulties resulted in their being placed at special schools. These learners pose particular challenges to their school environments, and teachers who work with such special needs learners require specialised training to equip them for their tasks. Teachers at schools of skills, however, generally have no additional training. This study had as focus teachers' understanding of their roles at a school of skills. This study uses an ecosystemic approach within an interpretive research framework to obtain in-depth data on teachers' understanding of the learners' learning needs and the concomitant challenges to classroom learning and their teaching. It also explored teachers' interpretations of their professional positioning amidst the demands posed by an outcomes-based curriculum. The study found that, despite ongoing in-service training initiatives, teachers insist that they need learner-specific guidance as they were incapable of providing suitable learning to their learners. They believe that their learners will need life-long learning support. Such beliefs create barriers to successful learning and can also marginalize learners, preventing them from being part of the mainstream of community life. The study found that the successful implementation of inclusive classroom learning is left largely to teachers' personal initiative. Although some teachers achieved positive results, the majority of teachers at the site failed to provide successful learning. It seems that learning success at schools of skill is dependent on positive teacher expectations of learners learning. Masters 2009-02-13T09:00:05Z 2010-06-01T08:39:51Z 2009-02-13T09:00:05Z 2010-06-01T08:39:51Z 2009-03 Thesis http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/2066 en University of Stellenbosch application/pdf Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch
spellingShingle SANASE
Dissertations -- Educational psychology
Theses -- Educational psychology
South African National Association for Specialized Education
Teachers of children with disabilities -- Training of --South Africa -- Western Cape
Trade schools
Teacher-student relationships
Eksteen, Truter
Educators' understanding of their roles at a school of skills
title Educators' understanding of their roles at a school of skills
title_full Educators' understanding of their roles at a school of skills
title_fullStr Educators' understanding of their roles at a school of skills
title_full_unstemmed Educators' understanding of their roles at a school of skills
title_short Educators' understanding of their roles at a school of skills
title_sort educators understanding of their roles at a school of skills
topic SANASE
Dissertations -- Educational psychology
Theses -- Educational psychology
South African National Association for Specialized Education
Teachers of children with disabilities -- Training of --South Africa -- Western Cape
Trade schools
Teacher-student relationships
url http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/2066
work_keys_str_mv AT eksteentruter educatorsunderstandingoftheirrolesataschoolofskills