<p>A qualitative research design in the form of a case study was employed. A quantitative method was also utilized in the form of a short questionnaire for demographic purposes in order to provide a general description of the sample. A purposive sample of 10 parenting learners, and two teachers was selected. The study was conducted in a Senior Secondary School that is located in Khayelitsha, a historically disadvantaged community in the Western Cape. Semi structured interviews of approximately ninety minutes each were conducted and audio taped. A thematic analysis was used to analyse the audio taped data from the transcribed interviews. The key findings from this research illustrate that there is a misunderstanding and miscommunication between teachers and learners about learner pregnancy. Pregnant learners hide pregnancy from the teachers to avoid comments and from being expelled from the school and consequently do not get any support from the school. On the other hand, the findings indicate that if the teachers were aware of their pregnancy and trained to deal with learner pregnancy, these learners would be supported by the school. Some of the recommendations were to develop the capacity of the teachers so that the school is able to provide an adolescent-professional-friendly service. A safe non-judgmental environment is required so that the learner is able to disclose her pregnancy status as early as possible to ensure that they receive the necessary support.</p>

<p>A qualitative research design in the form of a case study was employed. A quantitative method was also utilized in the form of a short questionnaire for demographic purposes in order to provide a general description of the sample. A purposive sample of 10 parenting learners, and two teachers was selected. The study was conducted in a Senior Secondary School that is located in Khayelitsha, a historically disadvantaged community in the Western Cape. Semi structured interviews of approximately ninety minutes each were conducted and audio taped. A thematic analysis was used to analyse the audio taped data from the transcribed interviews. The key findings from this research illustrate that there is a misunderstanding and miscommunication between teachers and learners about learner pregnancy. Pregnant learners hide pregnancy from the teachers to avoid comments and from being expelled from the school and consequently do not get any support from the school. On the other hand, the findings indicate that if the teachers were aware of their pregnancy and trained to deal with learner pregnancy, these learners would be supported by the school. Some of the recommendations were to develop the capacity of the teachers so that the school is able to provide an adolescent-professional-friendly service. A safe non-judgmental environment is required so that the learner is able to disclose her pregnancy status as early as possible to ensure that they receive the necessary support.</p>

Magister Artium (Human Ecology) - MA(HE) / A qualitative research design in the form of a case study was employed. A quantitative method was also utilized in the form of a short questionnaire for demographic purposes in order to provide a general description of the sample. A purposive sample of 10 parenting learners, and two teachers was selected. The study was conducted in a Senior Secondary School that is located in Khayelitsha, a historically disadvantaged community in the Western Cape. Semi structured interviews of approximately ninety minutes each were conducted and audio taped. A thematic analysis was used to analyse the audio taped data from the transcribed interviews. The key findings from this research illustrate that there is a misunderstanding and miscommunication between teachers and learners about learner pregnancy. Pregnant learners hide pregnancy from the teachers to avoid comments and from being expelled from the school and consequently do not get any support from the school. On the other hand, the findings indicate that if the teachers were aware of their pregnancy and trained to deal with learner pregnancy, these learners would be supported by the school. Some of the recommendations were to develop the capacity of the teachers so that the school is able to provide an adolescent-professional-friendly service. A safe non-judgmental environment is required so that the learner is able to disclose her pregnancy status as early as possible to ensure that they receive the necessary support. / South Africa

DEd (Educational Management) / Department of Educational Management / This study sought to establish the impact of interventions employed by schools to support the teaching and learning of pregnant and parenting learners (PPLs) in the Mopani district of Limpopo province, South Africa. The study employed qualitative research methodology to gather narrative data from 68 key school-based education stakeholders who were purposively sampled and interviewed on what their schools were doing to support the teaching and learning of PPLs they enrolled. Data were collected through face-to-face and focus group interviews, as well as document analysis. The study revealed that although all the four schools provided basic access to education for PPLs, their inclusive support systems and strategies to assist PPLs to cope with and benefit from the school curriculum activities were largely superficial due to the following challenges: educators, as the primary duty bearers to PPLs were not trained to identify the educational needs of PPLs and to implement relevant strategies for teaching and learning of PPLs; there was inadequate political-will to support PPLs by educators; there was inadequate collegial relationship between mainstream learners and PPLs, there was no synergy between national and school policies on management of schoolgirl pregnancy and there was non-involvement of other professionals to provide psycho-social support at the four schools. The study revealed that cultural and traditional practices of the community contributed to the negative attitudes to teenage motherhood that resulted in inadequate support service provision and structures for teaching and learning of PPLs. The study recommends that the Department of Education (DoE) must put in place formal training on policy and practice for all the key school-based education stakeholders and employ a multi-sectoral counselling system to support enrolled pregnant and parenting schoolgirls to cope with schooling. / NRF