Browsing by Author "Jaffer-Solomon, Taahirah"

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    Intermediate phase educators’ experiences of the transition from traditional to e-education in selected South African schools
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2024-03 ) Jaffer-Solomon, Taahirah; Le Grange, Lesley; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Education. Dept. of Curriculum Studies.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The White Paper for e-Education was promulgated in 2004 by the Department of Education. It aimed for all learners in South Africa to be ICT competent by 2013. Now, a decade later there has been minimal actualisation in the attainment of the White Paper’s objectives. As with all initiatives in education, the individuals tasked with enacting policy are educators. This study therefore aimed to gain insight into the lived experience of educators transitioning from traditional to e-Education. The objective of this was to be able to: Describe educator lived experiences, Explore the impact of contextual factors on implementation and identify factors that have enabled or hindered implementation of this policy. A qualitative research methodology drawing on the Interpretive paradigm was used for this study. This methodology is considered the most participant orientated and allows one to seek understanding of lived realities, to make an interpretation of the shared experiences of participants and the observed commonalities identified between them. A sample of six purposively selected educators, teaching at public and private schools located in mostly the Western Cape and in Gauteng, South Africa, took part in the study. Participant data was collected through semi-structured interviews similar to Seidman’s three-interview series. The main difference in structure was a single, in-depth interview was conducted as opposed to three separate interviews. The study was conducted, analysed and interpreted using a conceptual framework based on the merged ideas of the theoretical frameworks of Bronfenbrenner’s Biological Systems Theory and Davis’s Technology Adoption Model. This allowed for an understanding of the interlinked nature of the impact of an individual’s context and how this influences their acceptance and use of technology. Data was analysed using the Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis approach with the following being some of the key findings. Firstly, educators were unaware of the White Paper on e-Education, but were implementing e-Education in their teaching as it was something they considered important for their learners. Secondly, all educators felt that the amount of professional development needed to engage with, in the limited time they had available, was overwhelming, especially when considering their already heavy workloads. Fear was one of the greatest deterrents to technology use in the classroom, and was mostly related to the potential for technological malfunction, subsequent time loss and not attaining academic outcomes. A recommendation from the study is linked to including e-Education in preservice programmes. There is potential for improvement to the Initial Educator Professional Training requirements as is documented in the National Policy Framework for Teacher Education and Development. By amending the expectation of the desired level of ICT and e-Education competency, educators can be trained to the desired level and afforded the opportunity to develop competency with this pedagogical approach in an environment where learning is still taking place and professional identity still being moulded. This, I feel, will result in more competent new entrants to the profession who are comfortable to incorporate e-Education into their practice, thus making policy implementation to the desired level more attainable.