M.Ed. / Next to the school the parental home plays a dynamic role in the formation of the learners' self-esteem. The learner with mental-disabilities very often has a long history of disappointments and failures. In the teaching process teacher use words such as "stupid", "unwilling", "silly" and "lazy" when they refer to learners with mental-disabilities. The actions of teachers are very often characterized by impatience and fury. Even in special schools such remarks as "he's too lazy to think", "she does not want to use her intellect" and "you can forget about it because you'll never get it right". Against this background the aim of this study was to investigate the self-esteem of the learner with slight to moderate mental-disability in the special school. At the same time investigation of learners in the mainstream school with no mental disabilities was made. The quasi-experimental research method was used to collect data. This approach made it possible for the researcher to examine the comparisons between the various groups and also to identify possible similarities and differences. A structure questionnaire, in Afrikaans and English, was used to examine the self-esteem on eight different scales. These self-esteem scale includes the physical self-esteem, the experience of frustration, the relationship with the family and extended family, the social relationship of religion, self confidence and the academic self-esteem. The questionnaire was given to 924 learners of which 419 learners were mentally disabled and in special schools, while the other 505 learners had no disability and were from the mainstream schools. The analysis and interpretation of the data yielded the following results: Teachers that are involved with the education of the grade 10-learners with mental disabilities have to pay more attention to minimize the increase of frustration experiences that these learners are experiencing.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uj/uj:10064 |
| Date | 11 September 2012 |
| Creators | Van der Spuy, Stephanus Johannes |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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