UNIT 2 - THE TEACHER AS A COMMUNITY MEMBER

In this unit I chose the topic " barriers to learning and development in South African context " to base my assignment on. It truly was an eye opener for me to read about how bad our education system is in parts of our country and how students struggle on a daily basis. I have included parts of my essay on this page as well as ways that I think I as a future educator can help improve the education system for future learners.

 

The main purpose to any education system is to provide quality education for learners so that they will be able to reach their full potential and be able to meaningfully contribute to and participate in that society throughout their lives (Education White Paper 6, 2001). There are two distinct categories of learners in our country. That is, those learners who form the majority with “ordinary needs” and a small minority of learners with “special needs” which is barriers to learning who require support in order to engage in some form of learning process.

Barriers to learning are not caused by a single factor but it has multifaceted factors. In South Africa, effective access to education is prevented as a result of these barriers, which reflects a deficient system and not a deficient learner. As South Africans, learners have a right to be educated in an inclusive classroom as is acknowledged in the constitution of our country.

Barriers can be located within the learner, within the center of learning, within the education system and within the broader social, economic and political context. These barriers manifest themselves in different ways and only become obvious when learning breakdown occurs, when learners ‘drop out’ of the system or when the excluded become visible. Sometimes it is possible to identify permanent barriers in the learner or the system which can be addressed through enabling mechanisms and processes. However, barriers may also arise during the learning process and are seen as transitory in nature. These may require different interventions or strategies to prevent them from causing learning breakdown or excluding learners from the system.

Education is essential to the success of the individual and communities. Public schools are charged with the responsibility of preparing students for college/university; while college/university are expected to prepare students for the work force. An inclusive approach to teaching; learning and assessment is foreseen in the ‘The Revised National Curriculum Statement’, as part of this result we as teachers need to address barriers that learners may experience. As teachers we will only succeed in doing this if we are aware of social; emotional; physical as well as other barriers our students may experience. The success or failure of individual students depends on their ability to learn, it’s also important to remember that barriers don’t necessarily exist all the time(or from the get go), but can occur suddenly due to change in circumstances; emotional trauma as well as a variety of other factors.

In the South African context this approach is problematic. Facilitators and teachers need to recognize the wide range of barriers experienced by learners. They need to understand that poverty, lack of experience of formal education, the concept that everyone learns in the same way, learning in a language other than one’s home language needs to be addressed by the way in which they teach, plan activities and assess learners. The facilitator needs to ensure that all learners participate fully in the learning programme.

 I as a teacher can encourage and motivate teachers and adults to accommodate learners who are experiencing barriers to learning by encouraging teachers to promote positive attitude of both teachers and learners towards one another supporting one another and stand as a united as a school and colleagues. As well as equal input in school activities all teachers should enjoy participating in school activities it would make learners feel more comfortable to join and also participate in school activities. Teachers should accept one another and their differences, respect one another In addition, avoid judgment and criticism towards each other.