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Exploring teachers’ experiences of the educator assistant programme in a high school in the Metro East Education District (WCED)
Author(s)
Sodlaka, Chuma Joy
Date Issued
2026
Type
master thesis
Publisher
Cape Peninsula University of Technology
Abstract
Academic research in South Africa’s basic education sector is still developing; however, this sector often serves as a research site and context for researchers in related fields such as higher education, meaning comparatively more external researchers conduct studies in schools than schoolteachers. The motivation of this study was two-pronged (i) the researcher is a teacher at the sector under investigation and thus sought to address the aforementioned anecdotal conclusion, (ii) moreover, this study focused at giving teachers a platform to share their lived experiences of working with educator assistants as their voices are often overlooked in government administrative decision making. Therefore, the primarily objective of the current study was to explore teachers’ lived experiences of the working with Educator Assistants (EA) and their overall experience of the educator assistants programme in a selected township high school in the Western Cape Education Department, Metro East Education District. Academic research investigating teachers’ lived experiences of the EA programme launched under the Presidential Youth Employment Initiative and implemented by the Department of Basic Education is scarce. Against this, the current study sought to answer questions such as, what are teachers’ experiences of working with EAs and what was the impact of the EA programme in the study’s context. To guide the research process, the Professional Learning Community (PLC) framework was adopted as the theoretical lens; teachers’ lived experiences of working with EAs and their experience of the EA programme were examined through the PLC and its subdimensions. This approach concurrently articulated teachers’ perceptions of EA influences in shaping the schools’ PLC. Accordingly, the study adopted an interpretivist, exploratory qualitative design to understand teachers’ subjective experiences, feelings, and opinions on working with EAs and the EA programme, drawing specifically on phenomenology. Individual in-depth interviews and a focus group were conducted with teachers at the selected school and ATLAS.ti was used to analyse the data. Teachers’ lived experiences with EAs, and the EA programme also informed the findings on how the programme affected the school’s PLC. Research findings indicate that teachers found EAs helpful and valuable, moreover teachers reported that the EA programme positively influenced and enhanced the school’s PLC. Teachers overwhelmingly affirmed the programme’s value and expressed a desire for its reinstatement (the EA programme was discontinued in November 2023 and reintroduced in May 2025; data generation occurred between these periods, hence teachers’ experiences were retrospective). The PLC sub-dimensions of Shared Leadership and Decision-Making, Collaborative Inquiry, Shared Practice, and Evolving Relationships were perceived positive influences in a township school; however, Accountability was not. Frameworks and models in the education literature are largely theoretically sound, but their robustness may be questionable due to limited interrogation across different contexts. This study therefore makes a distinct contribution to the education literature by examining a widely referenced framework in a new context. This study recommends negotiated and collaborative decision making between government, the Department of Basic Education, and schoolteachers in administrative decisions that directly impact schools’ PLC.
Additional information
Thesis (MEd)--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2026
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Chuma Joy_Sodlaka_210132744.pdf
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