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Browsing Education by Subject "Academic achievement -- Lesotho"
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Item Open Access Child abuse and academic performance of adolescents in Lesotho - a qualitative study(University of the Free State, 1999-03) Monyane, 'Makhojane; Van Zyl, E.English: Child abuse refers to the intentional use of force aimed at injuring or damaging the child. Abused children are in most cases characterised by a low self concept misbehaviour such as delinquency and truancy, inadequate language development, depression, negativism and abused children appear to be anti-social. The statement of the problem for this study is whether a relationship exists between child abuse and academic performance. The study focuses on a group of adolescents at SOS school and Hleoheng primary school in Lesotho. The objectives of this investigation are to show how child abuse can affect the academic performance of a child and to identify subsequent behavioural changes of abused children. The family and the school as the child's educational environments, are further investigated and ways in which these institutions can be the major sources of child abuse are studied. The causes and types of child abuse are also investigated. In this study related local and international literature on child abuse and academic performance were reviewed. A group of abused adolescents from SOS school and Hleoheng primary in Lesotho were used as the target group for the purpose of this study. Structured interviews were used to collect data on the family background of abused children, the type of abuse they experienced, their emotions, how they relate with other people, their concentration potential, and specific characteristics that can be attributed to poor academic performance. The first part of the study defines the concept of child abuse. The general causes and types of child abuse are examined. Numerous factors influence parents or anybody in loco parentis to abuse children. In the same way, it has also been discovered that children can also be perpetrators of child abuse. Parents, however, abuse children differently, resulting in various forms of abuse namely physical, sexual, emotional and economic abuse as well as neglect. Ideally, it is expected that a child's home is the best place of the upbringing of a child. Therefore, it follows that the family of a child is charged with the responsibility of nurturing a developing child. The school on the other hand should supplement the child's family to help the child realise his or her abilities. The family and the school are regarded as the major educational environments of a child. The lack of responsible adult intervention and guidance based on the principles of love, warmth and security in the life of a child results in many families and schools being the institutions of abuse of children. Hence, the ideal functions of both the family and the school are changed. The children thus find themselves being abused in the privacy of their own homes and in the school environment. The abused children consequently fail to perform well academically due to these complications in their upbringing. At present, only SOS school in Lesotho reach out to these children in an endeavour to educate them despite their early life experiences. However, due to the rapid increase in the number of abused children in Lesotho, SOS school is not in a position to cater for all these children. This research confirms the relationship between child abuse and academic performance.Item Open Access Enhancing learners' academic achievements in rural Lesotho schools: matching teaching and learning styles(University of the Free State, 2009-05) Letele, Moeketsi Joseph; Alexander, G.; Swanepoel, Z. I.English: The Lesotho Junior Certificate results between 2003 and 2006 indicate that in the rural secondary schools of Lesotho the pass rate ranged from 51% to 58%. These figures are low compared to those in the urban schools for the same years which ranged from 70% to 72%. The Teaching Service Department shows that there was 40% of unqualified teachers in these schools in 2003 and 35% in 2007. There seems to be a correlation between the high numbers of unqualified teachers and the low pass rate in these schools. This view is underscored by Wheeler and McLeod (2002: 696) who note that teachers are more likely to develop teaching styles which are congruent with their own learning styles rather than those of their learners if they are unaware of the learning and teaching styles literature. This study aims to establish teaching styles that match the learning styles of learners in the rural secondary schools of Lesotho with the view to improve academic achievement. The objectives are: to determine whether teachers in these schools have adequate knowledge pertaining to teaching and learning styles; to identify the predominant styles; to determine the extent to which matching teaching and learning styles improves academic achievement; and to provide a teacher's guide on teaching and learning styles. The research comprises of a literature study and empirical investigation. The Solomon Felder Index of Learning Styles (SFILS) and self-designed teaching style questionnaire were used. The learners' end-of-year examination marks were studied. The empirical findings indicate that most teachers in rural secondary schools of Lesotho do not have adequate knowledge on teaching and learning styles, while findings from the literature and empirical study indicate that academic achievement of learners can be enhanced by matching teaching and learning styles. Therefore, these findings can be used to improve the teaching and learning process and ultimately the level of success that learners in rural secondary schools can experience in their respective schools. Finally, the findings of this study were used to develop a teacher's guide on teaching and learning styles. This would hopefully guide teachers in the rural secondary schools of Lesotho on which styles could work best in their contexts.Item Open Access A framework for managing human resources in secondary schools for improved educational perfomance(University of the Free State, 2013-04) Ralenkoane, Makhube M.; Nkoane, M. M.; Khabanyane, M. K. E.English: The concept of human resource management (HRM) comes into education as a result of a series of reforms meant to improve the quality of education for all, worldwide. These reforms have encouraged many countries to rigorously engage in initiatives that are meant to improve the quality of their educational governance and management structures. More emphasis was put on managing the crucial human resource during the teaching and learning process, which is the teacher. Evidence from literature has shown that a collective teacher-quality has a positive impact on learners' performance, however, the management of these crucial resources has been an unintelligible hollow in the educational management which in this study is the management of human resources in a high-performance public secondary school in Lesotho. My ultimate aim has been to develop and recommend a framework for use in the effective management of these resources in secondary schools that are unable to procure sufficient educational resources. I have adopted critical theory and the participatory inquiry research paradigms in my methodology, in order to emphasise inclusiveness, respect for human dignity and empowerment for the research participants. I further have used a combination of the ethnographic research methods that include unstructured interviews and observation techniques and analysed the data through the critical discourse analysis method. From the findings I have identified two. sets of respondents whose inputs I value equally as the managed (teachers who do not hold managerial positions) and the managers (teachers who occupy managerial positions). The information I obtained from these respondents has revealed two distinct sources of meaning that motivate at least eleven different interactional spaces within the case study school's HRM structures and processes. These are the sources of meaning for the school and for teachers respectively. It is within these social interaction intercourses that the HRM strategies at the case study secondary school are used. From the analysis of the impact that they have on the specific interactional spaces at this school, I was able to develop a framework for managing human resources at the public secondary schools that would be applicable to other schools within similar educational settings.Item Open Access The influence of educational leaders' practices on school culture affecting academic performance: a Lesotho perspective(University of the Free State, 2013-11) Mokoqo, Motlalepula Azeal; Brynard, S. T.English: Poor academic performance in high schools continues to be a concern to Lesotho. It is this apprehension, which has prompted this study. On the research front, the disquiet has been with scarcity of investigations on what school principals, through their leadership practices, could do to influence a school culture that supports high academic performance of learners. As a result, the main aim of the study was to investigate and identify the leadership practices of school principals that are intended to create and nurture a culture conducive to high academic performance in high schools in Lesotho. The study also compared the leadership practices at schools that perform academically well with those typical of schools that display poor academic performance. There are conflicting views on the influence of school principals‟ leadership practices on school culture, which supports high academic performance of learners. Some researchers maintain that the influence is little, but significant. However, principals are held accountable for the advancement of schools and academic performance of learners. It is therefore, in order that principals, through their leadership skills, should effectively utilise human and material resources for the wellbeing of the schools they lead. Leadership and school culture are considered as intertwined processes, which exhibit reciprocal effects. The challenge has been to investigate what principals could do to create and maintain an environment that enables teachers and learners to work effectively. The study adopted a positivist approach, which employed a quantitative research designed to identify and describe the leadership practices of school principals and the cultures prevailing at schools. A questionnaire was developed and used to collect data from 120 respondents comprising teachers and principals chosen from 20 high schools in the Maseru district of Lesotho. The data collected were analysed and interpreted statistically for the results to be displayed in tables. Given the scope of the research and the limiting factors therein, the results of the study cannot be generalised to other settings of a similar nature. However, the study has made recommendations that may help to alleviate the problem of poor academic performance in schools. The study has also contributed to the existing knowledge by providing further areas of research in the field of educational leadership and management.