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A strategy to assist rural multigrade schools to reduce the dropout rate experienced in high schools
Author(s)
Van Niekerk, Susanna Elizabeth
Date Issued
2014
Type
Thesis
Publisher
Cape Peninsula University of Technology
Abstract
Educationists and political leaders are concerned about the high dropout rates experienced
in South African high schools. For the purposes of this research, “dropout” is defined as “one
who has not graduated from high school”. Research indicates that the high school dropout
rates, both in South Africa and globally, culminate in challenges for the school, the
community and society. The multigrade primary school environment sees learners doing well
academically, but when these learners move on to high school, the dropout rates increase for
these learners. The purpose of this study is two-fold: to determine the reasons for dropout of
learners who have ably and successfully completed their primary education within the
multigrade system; and to propose a strategy to assist rural multigrade primary schools in
reducing the foreseen dropout rates in high schools. A sequential explanatory mixed-method
approach was designed in order to determine what strategy could assist rural multigrade
schools in Circuit 2 of the West Coast Education District to prevent the dropout rate
experienced in high schools. During the preliminary research a scrupulous literature study
was done, to determine global trends and to determine which current intervention
programmes exist. The quantitative phase of this study was conducted first and consisted of
a content analysis of school documents to determine which learners did not complete high
school. The qualitative phase followed and the data was collected through face-to-face
interviews with principals of rural multigrade primary schools, and learners who had dropped
out. This was done in order to determine the perceptions of the principals, and the former
learners who had dropped out of the schooling system. This research elucidates the
challenges – the inexorable odds – that these multigrade learners have had to overcome in
order to complete Grade 12. In closing, it proposes pragmatic strategies which may decrease
the high dropout rates that learners, from a multigrade primary setting, experience in future.
in South African high schools. For the purposes of this research, “dropout” is defined as “one
who has not graduated from high school”. Research indicates that the high school dropout
rates, both in South Africa and globally, culminate in challenges for the school, the
community and society. The multigrade primary school environment sees learners doing well
academically, but when these learners move on to high school, the dropout rates increase for
these learners. The purpose of this study is two-fold: to determine the reasons for dropout of
learners who have ably and successfully completed their primary education within the
multigrade system; and to propose a strategy to assist rural multigrade primary schools in
reducing the foreseen dropout rates in high schools. A sequential explanatory mixed-method
approach was designed in order to determine what strategy could assist rural multigrade
schools in Circuit 2 of the West Coast Education District to prevent the dropout rate
experienced in high schools. During the preliminary research a scrupulous literature study
was done, to determine global trends and to determine which current intervention
programmes exist. The quantitative phase of this study was conducted first and consisted of
a content analysis of school documents to determine which learners did not complete high
school. The qualitative phase followed and the data was collected through face-to-face
interviews with principals of rural multigrade primary schools, and learners who had dropped
out. This was done in order to determine the perceptions of the principals, and the former
learners who had dropped out of the schooling system. This research elucidates the
challenges – the inexorable odds – that these multigrade learners have had to overcome in
order to complete Grade 12. In closing, it proposes pragmatic strategies which may decrease
the high dropout rates that learners, from a multigrade primary setting, experience in future.
Additional information
Thesis (MEd)--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2014
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