Browsing by Author "Hermanus, Inge"

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    Investigating teachers’ views to enhance parental academic support in poor school communities in the COVID-19 lockdown context in the Western Cape
    (Univeristy of the Western Cape, 2025) Hermanus, Inge
    The Lockdown schooling of the last two years shifted the educational discourse towards the role of parents in assisting learners at home with academic work. Schools across the globe expected parents to perform new academic support roles while learners were not in school, and the lack of a proper national program left parents unsatisfied with this important task. This study investigated how teachers understand the roles of parents in supporting learners with their academic programmes in poor school communities. These communities face different challenges and unique challenges. The purpose of the study is to investigate what the framework for parental academic support should look like and whether South Africa should move in the direction of a national academic support programme for parents to guide learners with academic work at home. The capability approach of Amartya Sen was used to focus on the freedoms and unfreedoms of teachers and parents in terms of academic support of learners at home. This study explores the education system, the progress thereof the role of parental academic support programmes, and teachers' views thereof. This study, therefore, encompasses theoretical and conceptual frameworks such as the Capability approach, whilst engaging analysis through a qualitative approach. A qualitative study guided the investigation in selected poor school communities in the Western Cape. Data was collected through semi structured interviews and focus group interviews. Confidentiality and ethical considerations were implemented to develop this research. This research identifies distance learning as a progressive way of teaching, which, during COVID-19 or lockdown schooling was the reality for teachers in the Western Cape and globally.