From a positive psychology perspective, the last few decades have seen continuous
growth in research emphasising well-being in school communities. Schools should be viewed
as spaces that enable life success, as opposed to mere learning environments aimed at
academic success. Well-being is often associated with relational well-being and building,
enhancing and maintaining positive relationships at schools. Along with academic
performance, relational well-being is vital to learners‟ current and future development. Such
social well-being may, in turn, affect psychological well-being positively, as these two
influence each other greatly. In this context, positive educator-learner relationships must be
based on mutual respect, as it may provide a vast array of benefits to secondary learners‟
well-being and academic performance. Moreover, positive interpersonal connections between
educators and learners based on mutual respect are valuable tools for managing effective
discipline in classrooms, which means that educators also benefit from protecting and
promoting good relationships with their learners. Positive educator-learner relationships are
highly relevant for secondary school learners living in high-risk communities, where support
and resources for enhancing and developing their psychosocial well-being are limited. For
such leaners school is often the only safe and supportive environment they have. It is
therefore imperative to bring the personal into the educational environment by building,
enhancing and maintaining respectful educator-learner relationships based on mutual respect.
However, educator-learner relationships have specifically been neglected in regard to
learners‟ perceptions of respect as experienced from and given to educators. Due to the
identified gap in the literature, the main aim of this study was to qualitatively explore and
describe, through qualitative, phenomenological research design, learners‟ perceptions of
respect in educator-learner relationships in a secondary school community within a high-risk
environment in the South African context. The participants for this study were fifteen secondary school Grade 12 learners. The data
were gathered in two phases, namely written assignments, and, the World Café technique was
applied. Thematic analysis was used to identify relevant themes. The findings revealed three
main themes, and each theme includes several subthemes. Firstly, respect is well-intended
behaviour, with the subthemes being listening and paying attention; good communication;
obeying educators and school rules; good manners such as being helpful, polite and kind, and
greeting others; saying thank you and please; academic responsibility; and receiving support
and praise from educators. Secondly, respect is positive relationships, with the subthemes
being building a relationship; parent-child relationship; as well as trust and confidentiality.
Thirdly, respect is consistent, fair and mutual, with the subthemes being respect as a two-way
street; respect as something to be earned; respect as something that is consistent over time;
and respect that means treating everyone equally, fairly and with acceptance. It can be
summarised that all participants‟ responses illustrated a collective yet subjective learners‟
perceptions of respect in educator-learner relationships in a secondary school community
within a high risk community in South Africa. For further research it was recommended to
gain better understanding how learners in secondary school communities perceive respect in
educator-learner relationships in regard to various cultures. / MA (Psychology), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:NWUBOLOKA1/oai:dspace.nwu.ac.za:10394/14475 |
| Date | January 2014 |
| Creators | Grimova, Lucie |
| Source Sets | North-West University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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