M.Ed. (Educational Psychology) / The street child that is driven by circumstances to Jive outside the supportive structure of the family, is on his own. He doesn't have the educational developmental opportunities that children who grow up in families and societies do. He finds himself in a unique educational and living environment. From an educational psychologist point of view, this environment is abnormal. It is therefore a great challenge for the educational psychologist to try and avoid or resolve negative effects of the child's living environment. The aim of the study is to investigate and describe the experiences of the Hillbrow street child, as well as to determine guidelines for supporting these children. An exploratory-, descriptive-, contextual- and qualitative study was done, with the aim of gaining insight and understanding into the life of the street child in Hillbrow as well as his experiences of his situation. The phenomenological interview was used to gather data. The interviews were recorded on a tape recorder and later transcribed. The purposive sample consists of four street children who were selected specifically for the study. The data was processed according to a combination of the Giorgi's & Kerlinger's methods. The results obtained from the interviews were placed in four categories. These categories are: The street child's continuous struggle to survive, his need for a 'normal child life', his inability to accept responsibility and the presence of a normative awareness within the street child. Guidelines for supportive action towards street children by the educational psychologist are discussed in regard to the four categories. These categories are interdependent, as work in one category inevitably influences the other categories. For this reason the educational psychologist's supportive action needs to be holistic to include all four categories. In conclusion it is clear that the experiences of the street child are multi-faceted. In general it appears that the street child has many limitations and difficulties which he experiences, and that input by an educational psychologist can have meaningful influence in his life.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uj/uj:12187 |
| Date | 01 September 2014 |
| Creators | Hattingh, Rene |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Rights | University of Johannesburg |
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