The focus of this study was to understand my experiences of teaching sensitive
topics in my professional capacity, as a female beginner teacher who has an
Islamic upbringing and strong religious views according to which I live. The
purpose of this study was to make sense of these personal and professional
experiences when teaching sensitive topics as an Islamic beginner female
teacher. In so doing this study sought to contribute to body of knowledge about
key concepts namely sensitive topics, an Islamic context, female beginner teacher
identity and autoethnography as research design. The literature reviewed for this
research study was centred around the said key concepts and included scholarly
work by Collins (2017), Lowe and Jones (2015), Du Bois (2014), and Anacona
(2014). Theoretically, this study was underpinned by an interpretivist
epistemological paradigm informed by Berg (2007) and from a conceptual point of
view I drew on tenets of both the religion and feminist theory guided by the work of
Rambo (1999).
Data was generated in the form of short anecdotal self-reflective narratives
spanning over 25 years and encapsulated the gist of my upbringing and later
experiences which all influenced the ways in which I have experienced the
teaching of sensitive topics as a female beginner teacher female within an Islamic
context. Findings were divided into three main themes, namely the Islamic religion,
Islam and gender and teaching sensitive topic as a Muslim, female beginner
teacher. Findings were refined into relevant subthemes. The gist of the findings
revealed that a strict Islamic upbringing contributed largely to the discomfort
experienced by a female teacher when teaching topics of a sensitive nature, such
as sexual education which is compulsory in the current Life Orientation curriculum.
Findings further pointed to the fact that this discomfort can be alleviated through
self-talk, engagement with scholarly work and deep thought incited by
engagement with sensitive topics. Recommendations were suggested for
classroom practice. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2020. / Humanities Education / MEd / Unrestricted
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:up/oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/81923 |
| Date | January 2020 |
| Creators | Aboo Gani, Sadiya |
| Contributors | Woest, Yolandi, sadiyagani@yahoo.com, Wassermann, Johannes Michiel |
| Publisher | University of Pretoria |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Dissertation |
| Rights | © 2019 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. |
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