M.A. / The Employee Assistance Program (EAP) is a worksite-based program designed to assist in the identification and resolution of productivity problems associated with employees impaired by personal and work-related concerns. Although EAPs have been established in government departments in South Africa in recent years, this model has not yet been tried in the Department of Education, Malamulele district. The Department of Education can be described as a work environment that has many characteristics common to most other work environments, but it appears that there are characteristics that are unique to the particular context that have to be considered before establishing an EAP in such context. This study will attempt to provide fresh perspectives to the Department of Education; it may happen that this model can be introduced subsequent to the submission of the recommendations. EAP is regarded as a component for workforce development and quality of work-life in contemporary organizations; therefore it is vital that this program should be established in the Department of Education. The primary aim of this study is to explore the perceptions and needs of teaching personnel regarding the feasibility and the implementation of EAP in the work environment. The objectives are as follows: to peruse the available literature relevant to the research topic, to collect qualitative data from teachers by means of focus groups, to compile a profile of perceptions and needs for the formulation of proposal regarding the feasibility of implementing an EAP in the educational setting, to transcribe, analyze and present the data that was collected in a way that it can generate knowledge about the feasibility of EAP in the rural area of Malamulele, to submit recommendations to the Department of Education and to identify and recommend areas for future research. The study was conducted with 12 teachers and 7 managers (principals) in the Department of Education, Malamulele district, Limpopo. The research findings postulate that teachers perceive EAP as vital and also feasible for their work environment. They articulate that it should have been established long time ago.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uj/uj:1935 |
| Date | 24 January 2012 |
| Creators | Bila, Nontembeko Joyce |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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