Students in resource-scarce environments navigate through a multitude of barriers
(Richter, 2007). The pathways that individuals travel through towards positive
adaptation are far from fixed (Ungar, 2005a), but rather a continuous intersection of
navigating through adversity and negotiating supports (Ungar, Brown, Liebenberg,
et. al, 2008). Hence, resilience (adapting positively in the face of significant
adversity) can be buoyed in a space where support is provided (Ebersöhn & Ferreira,
2011). Scant research warrants whether partnerships with rural schools contribute
to fostering positive adaptation of students in relation to their pathways to resilience
(measured by educational outcome variables).
This study forms part of a larger running longitudinal project, namely: Flourishing
Learning Youth (FLY; Ebersöhn & Maree, 2006); a rural school-Educational
Psychology partnership which had its inception in 2006. The partnership involves
numerous services, specifically career related support to grade nine students and
guidance to educators. This retrospective case study (Yin, 2009; Zainal, 2007)
utilised a concurrent mixed methods research design (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2007)
within a pragmatic lens to study educational pathways to resilience. This was
explored by means of qualitatively investigating partnerships, as well as
quantitatively examining student access and academic performance (as indicators
of educational resilience). The theoretical underpinnings rested on concepts from
the Resiliency Wheel (Henderson & Milstein, 1996) through a transactionalecological
understanding of resilience in learning. Data collection strategies
consisted of: semi-structured interviews with two teacher-participants and
retrospective document analysis of school records (performance schedules) for two
grade nine cohorts. The cohorts were followed from grade 9 to grade 11. Data
analysis techniques consisted of T-Tests and descriptive statistics on sampled
documents for the quantitative strand. Through these statistical methods, it was
anticipated that patterns in access and performance, could speak to partnerships
influence as one factor in students pathways to resilience, or not. Concurrently,
thematic analysis of interview transcripts was done for the qualitative strand. The
triangulation of these methods assisted in creating a more comprehensive picture of the relationship between partnerships and the outcome variables used to gauge
educational pathways to resilience.
Results which emerged qualitatively allowed for answering questions surrounding
the nature, processes and benefits of partnerships in a rural school, as well as risks
and protective resources within and around the school. Quantitative results
regarding outcome variables of access and performance highlighted the risks found
qualitatively, to indicate that despite observable enabling partnership processes and
benefits, students appear to find high academic challenging (in three measured
school subjects).
A better understanding on the various pathways to resilience of students in resourcescarce
environments could assist with appropriate services and interventions that
partners may wish to exchange. / Mini-dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / tm2015 / Educational Psychology / MEd / Unrestricted
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:up/oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/45890 |
| Date | January 2014 |
| Creators | Huddle, Christelle |
| Contributors | Mampane, Motlalepule Ruth, Ebersohn, L. (Liesel) |
| Publisher | University of Pretoria |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Mini Dissertation |
| Rights | © 2015 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. |
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