Doctoral Degrees (School of Educational Psychology)
Permanent URI for this collection
Browse
Browsing Doctoral Degrees (School of Educational Psychology) by Subject "Academic performance"
Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
Results Per Page
Sort Options
Item Open Access Enhancing teachers’ skills to improve academic performance among learners with visual impairment: a case of selected primary schools in Maseru, Lesotho(University of the Free State, 2024) Lebona, Mathabo Joalane Catherine; Mukuna, K. R. (Advisor)Studies have shown that learners with visual impairment often face significant challenges in accessing educational material, participating in classroom activities, and receiving the necessary accommodations, which can impede them from attaining high academic performance. The Lesotho Education and The Lesotho Inclusive Education Policy, in line with the Salamanca Statement, acknowledged that the education system should be more inclusive and supportive and benefit learners in the primary mainstream setting, irrespective of their disabilities. However, teachers find it challenging to successfully handle the teaching and learning environment to improve the LVI academic environment. The study aims to explore how teachers’ skills can be enhanced in improving academic performance among Learners with Visual Impairment (LVI) in primary schools in the Maseru district, regardless of the efforts utilized by the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) to make education free and Compulsory for primary learners irrespective of their disabilities. Many teachers had not yet benefited from being trained to teach learners with diverse needs, which reduced teachers’ self-efficacy in teaching Learners with Visual Impairment. Despite the various steps the Ministry of Education and Training had taken to make provisions for introducing Free and Compulsory Primary Education to all other levels of learning. LVI still faced challenges in learning and needed attention and support from their teachers in mainstream teaching and learning. In this regard, lacking teachers’ relevant skills contributes to insufficient delivery to provide LVI with the appropriate support they need. This proved that teachers were psychologically and academically unprepared to teach LVI in their classrooms, affecting their socio-economic and learning performance. It is highlighted that teachers with high self-efficacy improve learners’ self-efficacy, motivation, and academic achievements. Therefore, teachers play a vital role in improving learners’ academic performance because they apply appropriate skills and resources to teach LVI. This study used Bandura’s Perceived Self-efficacy theory to enhance teachers’ skills and improve academic performance among LVI in primary schools. It adopted a qualitative research approach through the case study design. It employed the interpretive paradigm. Twelve participants were purposively selected in this study from two schools (School A and School B) were equally constituted of six participants. This study employed Focus Group Discussions, telephonic interviews, and non-participatory observation methods for data collection. Thematic analysis was used to analyze qualitative data. The findings showed that underperforming of LVI is some of the factors affecting their academic performance, including lack of teachers’ skills, lack of content knowledge to teach LVI, lack of parental support, remuneration of teachers, Inexpert teachers, rigid curriculum, assessment tools, constraining learning environment the rigid curriculum that does not cater for LVI, lack of relevant resources for LVI such as Braille reading and writing, lack of parental involvement, remunerating teachers’ salaries to show appreciation on the workload in the mainstream. The study recommended that the government of Lesotho, through MoET, should improve on the Special Education Unit to be ready to implement continuous training and equip teachers with relevant skills to improve academic performance of learners with visual impairment programs.Item Open Access Exploring the multisectoral strategies to support the academic performance of Deaf Learners in inclusive schools Lesotho(University of the Free State, 2023) Palime, Ntloyalefu Justinah; Mukuna, Kananga R.Increasing the academic performance of learners with disabilities in inclusive schools is currently a global concern. Lesotho is therefore not an exception. Numerous contemporary research studies have contributed to support service initiatives, and engagement of various teaching approaches, including universal design for learning, launching inclusive policies, and the involvement parents. These series of commitments, nationally and internationally, stress the issue of equality and equity in education for all learners, including Deaf learners. Nevertheless, the academic performance of Deaf Learners is still a major challenge. There is a dearth of literature on the multisectoral strategies that strengthen partnership among stakeholders, such as the school personnel, parents, and the learners. The researcher believes that the learners’ voice, particularly the voice of the Deaf Learners as the major stakeholder in this case, is essentially missing. This negates the view of the Ministry of Education in Lesotho that learners form the third leg in the metaphorical legged pot. Thus, in order to address these underlying challenges, the following objectives were espoused in this study: (1) To determine the multisectoral strategies and practices that can support the academic performances of Deaf Learners in Lesotho’s inclusive schools. (2) To identify the challenges of Deaf Learners in Lesotho’s inclusive schools that affect their academic performance. (3) To explore the factors that enable multisectoral strategies to support the academic performance of Deaf Learners in Lesotho’s inclusive schools. This study adopted a qualitative approach to describe and analyse the quality of human experiences within a transformative paradigm. The paradigm acknowledges the roles of privilege, power, inclusion, and culture in working with Deaf learners to overcome challenges in their academic performance. It employed participatory design to enable openness and equity in sharing knowledge and experiences and close collaboration among stakeholders. The data were generated through focus group discussions and a collage with 34 participants that allowed the exploration of how multisectoral strategies involving multiple stakeholders contribute to the academic performance of Deaf Learners. The participants comprised twelve hearing learners, twelve Deaf Learners and teachers (two heads of department, three interpreters, and five teachers), who were purposefully selected. The data were analysed through thematic analysis, a highly flexible method that can be modified and generates rich, detailed, and complex information. The theoretical framework of Kretzmann and McKnight informed the study. The theory acknowledges gifts, abilities and capabilities, and that people live and thrive using their skills. The center of this asset-based theory is mobilising and harnessing local assets, skills, and insights to solve the existing problem. The research findings have revealed that strengthening partnership and listening to the voices of the various stakeholders, including the voice of Deaf Learners , is critical in improving academic performance. The research findings have also revealed that multisectoral strategies are support structures constructed collectively, which enhance networking of personal and rational assets within and outside the inclusive school. The findings certainly demonstrated the possibility of sharing information with concerned stakeholders, including the voice of Deaf Learners, as a factor that enhances multisectoral strategies. Hence, each exercises their potential, shares their experiences and challenges, and decides on appropriate measures for assistance. The findings have also indicated that the power of interaction among stakeholders develops a sense of networking and relationship, thus enabling multisectoral strategies to support Deaf Learners academically. The study opines that the current support provided to Deaf Learners is subjective and is, therefore, generated abstractly without identifying and using the learners’ experiences and strengths. Thus, through multisectoral strategies, the learners’ voice, ideas, and expertise are all essential in addressing their academic issues.