Academic performance of learners

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CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY

INTRODUCTION

The literature review dealt with in Chapter two based on the stakeholder perceptions of effect of learner indiscipline on academic performance of learners in rural schools formed the theoretical context of this study which influenced the selection of research methods. This study employs the qualitative method of research. This methodology coupled with the rationale for this choice thereof, purposeful sampling was used in selecting the schools investigated in this research. Although the main data collection approach was qualitative, there were some quantitative strategies that were invoked as well. These include the collection of biographical data.

EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION

The researcher chose the qualitative study because it attempts to understand people’s perceptions, perspectives and understanding of a particular situation. McMillan and Schumacher (2005) assert that qualitative research is a naturalistic enquiry which uses non-interfering data collection strategies to discover the natural flow of events and processes and how participants interpret them. Moreover, most qualitative research describes and analyses people’s individual and collective social actions, beliefs, thoughts and perceptions. Marshall and Rossman (2006) confirm that qualitative research accepts the value of context and setting, searching for a deeper understanding of the participant’s lived experiences of the particular phenomenon.
A qualitative approach allows for purposeful sampling (McMillan & Schumacher (2005). Hence, the selected participants were knowledgeable and information-rich concerning the stakeholder perceptions of effect of learner indiscipline on academic performance of learners in Bushbuckridge rural schools. Secondly, McMillan & Schumacher (2005) present that a qualitative approach ensures that the researcher remains the main data collector. Accordingly, the researcher assumed interactive social roles in which she recorded observations of participants in many situations. As a result the qualitative method was considered to be the best approach for the data collection process of the study.

Purposeful sampling

Purposeful sampling refers to the selection of information rich cases for an in-depth study, specifically, when the researcher wants to understand the phenomena without generalising the results (Leedy, 1993). Purposeful sampling was done on site selection. Four rural schools in Bushbuckridge area were selected. In each school the researcher selected four learners, three educators and one member of School Management Team (SMT) to participate in the investigation. In totality, twelve educators and four SMT members participated in structured individual interviews, while sixteen learners participated in focus group interviews. The criterion for site selection was the school’s geographical context and its accessibility to the researcher.
According to Creswell (1998), the search for data must be guided by processes that will provide rich details to maximise the range of specific information that can be obtained from the context. Therefore, the researcher selected:
two schools that obtained the lowest percentage pass in Grade 12 in 2011, two schools that obtained the highest percentage pass in Grade 12 in 2011.
The researcher further selected institutions:
that could be easily accessed,
of which she had knowledge of their location.

Description of selected Schools

School A

School A is a rural school, which is located at approximately 50 km away from the nearest town. It is built at the centre of a settlement. The school had two security guards who take turns to control entry into the school premises during the day and at night. It was not a fee paying school and had 1 520 learners, one principal, two deputy principals, eight heads of department and 42 educators. The educator learner ratio at this school was 1:29 however, classrooms were overcrowded especially Grade eight to Grade eleven classes.
The medium of instruction at this school was English, although educators and learners used xitsonga, siswati and sotho most of the time, as they were first language speakers of these languages. Educators at this school were committed to their work. They frequently arrived at school in time, fully prepared to teach. They used the educator-centred method of teaching most of the time. They had less interest in extracurricular activities. As a result, they did not support each other in supervising learners when performing extracurricular activities. For example, music was conducted by two educators who were assisted by learners. All the educators reflected a culture of respect for one another and they treated learners accordingly.
Few learners frequently came late for school since all learners in Grade 10 to Grade 12 were attending morning studies which usually commenced at 6h00. The majority of learners attended school regularly. There were few learners who did not do assignments, who dodged classes and hid in the toilet or in the nearest bush and then joined the other learners home after school hours as if they had been at school. This school was rated among the best performing schools in the circuit.
For example, the percentage pass rate for the Grade 12s from 2006 to 2011 was as follows
The majority of the learners at this school, particularly Grade 8 and 9, did not have textbooks for mathematics and technology. Hence the general performance of the learners in these subjects was poor.
The number of learners in each classroom ranged between 40 and 73. Classrooms were insufficiently furnished. A hall and one classroom were only used for alternative subjects during specific periods. Grade 8 and 9 learners did not have tables at all, they used their laps to support books when writing and reading. There were two blocks of toilets for learners in this school. Each block consisted of eight pit latrines; boys used one block and the girls used the other block. Educators had their own toilets. The staffroom at this school was overcrowded hence some educators used a computer centre as their staffroom. The principal had a small office which was crowded with furniture. The deputy principals had small offices which were also crowded with furniture. The heads of department (HODs) shared the same classroom as their office. Three educators were accommodated in one of the Deputy Principal’s offices.
The school had four photocopiers. The HODs were assigned with the duty of photocopying for the educators whom they supervised. However, the photocopiers were old and often out of order. This hampered the educators’ progress in teaching as they were to photocopy most information from books for the learners to speed up the process of teaching due to the shortage of books in the school. This retarded the assessment process since most chalkboards were small. The school had no library, landline or laboratory. The school used a cell phone as the school phone. Educators and learners were unable to perform experiments.

School B

School B is a rural school, which is located approximately 60 km away from the nearest town. It is built on the periphery of a settlement. The school had two security guards who take turns to control access into the school premises during the day and at night. It was not a fee paying school. It had 1 150 learners, one principal, two deputy principals, eight heads of department and 40 educators. Therefore, the educator learner ratio in this school was 1:29.
The medium of instruction at this secondary school was English. However, educators and learners used xitsonga or siswati most of the time, as they are first language speakers of these languages. Educators were committed to teaching. In most cases, they used the educator centred method of teaching, but had less interest in extracurricular activities. For example, only two educators trained learners in netball and soccer. Educators in this school had a culture of respect for one another and cared for learners.
The majority of the learners arrived at school on time. Absenteeism from this secondary school was rare. The level of discipline during lessons was very high; as a result the majorities of the learners were always up to date with assignments and had special interest in learning. This led the school to obtain a high percentage pass for the Grade 12 learners from 2006 to 2011. The pass percentages of this school was as follows
This school obtained the highest percentage pass in the circuit from 2006 to 2008.
From 2009 to 2011 the school obtained the second highest position in the circuit.
Five kitchen staff prepared meals for the learners during school days. The meals were served at 10h00. Both learners and educators enjoyed the meals. Hence, gates were locked during the school hours to ensure that learners do not dodge lessons, and also to control influx into the school premises.
Classrooms were insufficiently furnished. Few classrooms had broken windows. One classroom did not have a door. Grade 8 learners did not have tables at all, but all learners in the school had chairs. The number of learners in each classroom ranged from 40 to 72 learners. There were four blocks of bathrooms for learners at this school, each block had two bathrooms. The learners however used only two blocks: one for boys and one for girls. The other two blocks were used as storerooms for the school. Educators had their own bathrooms. The staffroom in this school did not accommodate all the educators; hence other educators were accommodated in the library and in the computer laboratory. The principal and deputy principals were accommodated in one classroom that was divided into three offices. The heads of departments shared the same classroom as an office.
The school had two photocopiers and two clerical staff whose duties included typing tests and examinations. There were three desktop computers and two laptops in the principal’s office that were used by educators to type lesson content when required.
The school had a computer centre consisting of 30 computers that were used by both learners and educators during computer lessons. All the computers had internet access. A school laboratory was under construction; hence educators and learners performed experiments through the use of a mobile laboratory that was provided by a non-government organisation (NGO) called Panreach from Nelspruit. The NGO further supported mathematics, technology and natural science educators with the view to improving the performance of learners in this school. The school had a telephone and a library. Most learners in this school were motivated to learn; hence the school was rated among the best performing secondary schools in the circuit.

School C

School C is a rural school, which is located at approximately 20km away from the nearest town. It is built at the periphery of the settlement and was not a fee paying school. The school did not have security guards to control entry into the school premises during the day due to insufficient funds; as a result the school gate was locked during lessons and opened during breaks. This assisted the school in preventing learners from dodging classes. The only available security guard worked at night.
The school had one security guard, 460 learners, one deputy principal, two HODs and 12 educators. There was no principal in this school. Therefore, the educator-learner ratio at this school was 1:31. The medium of instruction at this school was English. However, educators and learners used siswati and xitsonga most of the time as they were first language speakers of these languages. Educators were committed to teaching. In most cases, they used the educator centred method of teaching, but had less interest in extracurricular activities. Educators in this school respected one another and cared for the learners.
Few learners were often late to school since the school gates were usually closed at the beginning of lessons. The rate of absenteeism at this school was low due to the availability of food for all learners which was served at 11h00. However most learners at this school did not do assignments. As a result, there was a high failure rate. The pass rate for the Grade 12 learners from 2006 to 2011 was as follows
The school was declared dysfunctional from 2009 to 2011 by the Department of Education because of the Grade 12 results that were below 40%. Learners at this school were not motivated to learn; hence most disrupt lessons daily. Nevertheless educators attended their classes regularly. mathematics and physical science educators went an extra mile by offering lessons in the afternoons and on Saturdays. But the pass rate of these subjects was extremely poor.
Classrooms were sufficient for all the learners and were well furnished. SMTs and educators were adequately accommodated. Each SMT member had his own office. There were two blocks of toilets for learners in this school. Each block consisted of four toilets; boys used one block and girls used the other block. Educators had their own bathrooms.
The school had two laptops for the two clerical staff, whose duty included making copies for educators, typing assignments, tests and examination. There were two photocopiers at this school which functioned throughout the year. The school had no library or laboratory. Educators and learners were unable to perform experiments due to the absence of the laboratory. This school had one general worker whose duty was to clean the school premises.

School D

School D is a rural school, which is located approximately 80km away from the nearest town. This school was not easily accessed since there was scarcity of public transport in its area. Furthermore, the road that led to this school was gravel and pitted with ditches and potholes. It was built at the periphery of the settlement and was not a fee paying school. The school did not have security guards to control entry into the school premises during the day due to insufficient funds. The only available security guard worked at night.
The school had one security guard, 358 learners, one principal, two HODs and eleven educators. Therefore, the educator-learner ratio was 1:26. The medium of instruction in this school was English. However, educators and learners used siswati and xitsonga most of the time as they were first language speakers of these languages. Educators were committed to teaching. In most cases, they use the educator centred method of teaching, but had less interest for extracurricular activities. Educators at this school respected one another and cared for the learners.
The majority of the learners arrived at school on time. Absenteeism from this school was minimal. The level of discipline during lessons was low despite the fact that learners were few in each classroom. What is more notable is that the majority of the learners did not do assignments and exhibited learning deficits such as attention deficit. This has led to low percentage pass of the Grade 12 learners for the past three years. The school obtained the following pass percentages
Classrooms were well furnished. Few classrooms had broken windows. The number of learners in each classroom ranged between 25 and 39 learners. There were two blocks of toilets for learners at this school. Each block consisted of four pit latrines. One block was used by boys and the other block was used by girls. Educators had their own toilets. The staffroom at this school was furnished with four tables that were shared by the educators and HODs. The principal was accommodated in his own office. Seemingly, the administration block was built without a plan, since there was a narrow passage that led to the storeroom and a small sized office that accommodated only one average sized table and a chair. It was dark in the passage due to the absence of lights and a window. This small sized office was used by an acting HOD.
The school had two clerical staff members whose duties included typing tests and examinations for learners in the school. The school had a computer centre which consisted of seven computers and two photocopiers. Previously the school had ten computers; three of them were stolen.
Three kitchen staff prepared meals for the learners during the school days. The meals were served at 10h20 on every school day. Both learners and educators enjoyed the meals. Educators who were assigned to control class registers ensured that learners in their classes shared their food as expected by the Department of Basic Education and cleaned their classrooms after every meal.

DATA COLLECTION STRATEGIES

Interviews and open ended questions were used to elicit the participants’ views about the stakeholder perceptions of effect of learner indiscipline on academic performance of learners in selected Bushbuckridge rural schools.

Focus group interviews

As affirmed by Krueger 1994, focus group interviews produce qualitative data that provide insight into perceptions and views of participants in a more natural environment than individual interviews, because participants influence each other like in a real life situation. I found these types of interviews useful as selected groups spoke more freely and expanded more on their ideas. This enabled a better understanding of the diversity of perceptions and experiences in view of behavioural patterns of learners in and outside of the classroom.
Morgan (1997) asserts that focus groups have shown that people are more likely to self-disclose or share personal experiences in groups, because they feel that they are relatively empowered and supported in a group situation. Besides, they are more likely to share personal experiences and feelings in the presence of people whom they perceive to be like themselves in some ways. This promoted the researcher to choose participants of the same age group who were in the same class. Nevertheless, Bogdan and Biklen (1992) warn researchers to guard against a situation where one participant dominates the interview.

Individual interviews

Purposeful sampling was done on site selection. Purposeful sampling refers to the selection of information rich cases for an in-depth study, specifically, when the researcher wants to understand the phenomena without needing to generalise the results (Leedy 1993).
According to Creswell (1998), the search for data must be guided by processes that will provide rich details to maximize the range of specific information that can be obtained from the context. Therefore, the researcher selected participants from Bushbuckridge rural schools who either obtained the highest percentage pass or the lowest percentage pass in grade twelve final results in 2011. Three educators and one school management team member were randomly selected from each school.
The researcher used individual interviews in order to gain a detailed picture of the participants’ perception of the stakeholder perceptions of effect of indiscipline on the academic performance of learners in selected Bushbuckridge rural schools because research has proved that most people are more willing to communicate orally than in writing (van Dalen, 1979). This enabled the researcher to encourage the participants to disclose more information by probing into the problem. This phenomenon resulted in data being provided more readily.

The interview

Interview questions were used to collect data based on stakeholder perceptions of effect of learner indiscipline on their academic performance in selected Bushbuckridge rural schools in the Mkhuhlu circuit.
The interview questions that were asked during the interviews were a combination of open ended and closed forms. The combined form of the questions enabled the participants to freely express their views in their own words, but where objective and discrete data was solicited, a list of alternatives were provided.
The interview commenced with items dealing with the biographical details of each participant such as age, gender and the present post level. The remaining questions were based on the stakeholder perceptions of effect of learner indiscipline on their academic performance in selected Bushbuckridge rural schools, Mkhuhlu circuit. An example of the questions that were used is attached as appendix 7.

Piloting the interview questions

Open ended questions and closed items were initially drafted based on the objectives of the research. The draft was then given to a person who is familiar with the contents of the study to check for typing or language errors. This was done to establish if the potential participants would understand instructions and questions asked with relative ease. The draft was then edited and adjusted according to the recommendations of the first pilot person. Two participants were then drawn from the research population and interviewed.
After each interview, a short discussion was carried out with the participant to find out
if the instructions were clear
if the questions were clearly formulated if the length of the interview was suitable
if the level of difficulty of the questions was appropriate.
Feedback from the two pilot participants was analysed and used to adjust the questions accordingly. The revised and consolidated questions were then used to interview 16 educators and 20 learners of the same target population as the final research instrument.
Two SMT members and two educators from each school were interviewed individually. An agreement upon venues, dates and time for the interviews were made. The interviews were conducted in English and recorded with an audiotape. Interview questions based on subsections of the literature study in chapter two were used as a guide to facilitate the thinking of the participants.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Declaration
Dedication
Acknowledgements
Abstract
List of abbreviations
Table of contents
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION AND ORIENTATION OF THE STUDY
1.1 Overview
1.2 Background of the study
1.3 The problem statement
1.4 Objectives of the study
1.5 Research questions
1.6 Significance of the study
1.7 Limitation of the study
1.8 Definition of concepts used
1.9 Structure of the study
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Brief overview of the education policy
2.2 Rural schools
2.3 The implementation of Integrated Quality Management Systems
2.4 Academic performance of learners
2.5 School attendance
2.6 The roles and responsibilities of the school management team
2.7 Safety in schools
2.8 Single parent household
2.9 Teaching and learning processes
2.10 The principle of association
2.11 Accountability
2.12. Educator reflection
2.13 Education policies for raising learner academic achievement
2.14 Guidelines towards overcoming discipline problems and reinstating a climate of orderliness in schools
2.15 School disciplinary policy
2.16 Stress management in education
2.17 Time management
2.18 Perspectives on emotions and teaching
2.19 Conceptual framework
2.20 Summary
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Empirical investigation
3.3 Data collection strategies
3.4 Data analysis and interpretation
3.5 Validity and reliability of the research instruments
CHAPTER 4: ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Presentation and interpretation of the empirical data
4.3 Biographical details for research participants
4.4 Empirical findings (Learners)
4.5 Empirical findings (educators)
4.6. DISCUSSION OF EMPIRICAL FINDINGS
4.7 Academic performance
4.8 Implementation of IQMS
4.9 Support from the Department of Education
4.10 Role of external stakeholders
4.11 Ways of dealing with stress
4.12 The strengths of the study
4.13 The weakness of the study
CHAPTER 5: SUMMARY, RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Summary
5.2 Empirical conclusion
5.4 Recommendation
5.5 Chapter summary
References
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