Submitted in partial fulfillment for the requirements of the Degree of Master of Education in the Department of Educational Psychology in the Faculty of Education at the University of Zululand, 1997. / Socio-political changes have brought about major changes in the education system of South Africa. Many teachers who were accustomed to teaching at monocultural schools are suddenly confronted with the reality of having to cope with pupils of other cultural groups in their classrooms. Most of these teachers were not prepared for these changes. This unpreparedness has led to many problems being experienced by teachers in the multicultural classroom setting.
The aims of this study are:
* To determine if teachers are effectively trained to teach in a multicultural classroom setting.
* To establish if teachers are conversant with the complex needs of children in a multicultural classroom setting.
* To establish certain guidelines according to which accountable support can be instituted to equip pre-service and inservice teachers to deal with possible problems that they may encounter in a multicultural classroom setting.
Initially multicultural education in England, the USA and South Africa was reviewed. In all three cases a short historical overview of the development of multicultural education was given. Acts that were introduced in regard with the provision of education in these countries as well as certain acts that gave course and direction to the evolutionary process of multicultural education were briefly discussed. Certain advantages and disadvantages of multicultural education as envisaged by certain educationists were also highlighted.
In order to understand teaching in a multicultural classroom it was necessary to examine the life-world of the teacher and the teacher-pupil relationship. The life-world of the teacher constitutes his relationships with himself, others, things and ideas and God.
Research with regard to this study was conducted as follows:
* A literature study of available, relevant literature.
* An empirical survey comprising a structured questionnaire to be completed by secondary school teachers in the North Durban region. A likert- type scale questionnaire with three response categories; viz. Agree, Disagree, Unsure, was constructed. The three response categories ensured that the respondents' selections fell into one of the categories enabling the measurement of the direction and the intensity of their perceptions of problems experienced by teachers in a multicultural classroom setting.
* In addition to the empirical survey, personal interviews with teachers were conducted.
One hundred and eighty teachers were targeted from six randomly selected multicultural secondary schools in the North Durban region. With the aim of administering the questionnaire to the teachers of these schools, it was necessary to first obtain permission from the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education. Permission was also obtained from the Circuit Inspector of the North Durban region. Only after such permission was granted, was the researcher able to conduct this study. The primary data was in the form of a response to one of the three response categories
(Agree, Disagree, Unsure). Scores of the responses to each of the three categories were calculated. The descriptive technique was employed for the quantitative analysis of the data.
The investigation has the following value:
* It will provide a reliable picture of teachers' perspectives of multicultural education;
* The most lasting value of this investigation is that it will enable education planners and other relevant bodies to plan and provide professional teacher training programmes in multicultural education.
Anticipated dissemination of the research findings:
* The problems experienced by teachers in multicultural classrooms can be a topical issue of discussions during seminars and workshops at schools, colleges and universities.
* Findings from the research can be useful in the planning of suitable methods (workshops, videos, etcetera) to assist teachers to meet the educational needs of children in multicultural classrooms.
* The topic lends itself for further research by interested stakeholders regarding the teaching of children in multicultural classrooms.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uzulu/oai:uzspace.unizulu.ac.za:10530/530 |
| Date | January 1997 |
| Creators | Chetty, Lutchman Soobramoney |
| Contributors | Urbani, G., van der Merwe, A. |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf |
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