DID YOU KNOW:
In 2021, 81% of Grade 4 learners were unable to read for meaning in any of South Africa’s 11 official languages, according to Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) data released by the Department of Basic Education.
Lord knows, the new DA Minister of Basic Education, Siviwe Gwarube has her job cut out for her. Living in the Cape Flats and Mitchell's Plain, chances are you can testify to this sad and worrying statistic, either with your own child(ren) or of someone you know.
But looking closer to home, and Mitchell's Plain, the heartfelt question remains, what are the deeper insights into the state of education in our community? An assessment of the impact of poverty on educational attainment for adolescents was conducted in a case study of Mitchell's Plain, in Cape Town, by Carlene Miché Gardiner in 2019. Individual require basic access to quality education.
Nearly all the schools (96 percent) were classified as high economic need, reflecting heavy concentrations of poverty in surrounding communities. The schools served large numbers of English/Afrikaans language learners and students with special needs. How all these are tackled effectively has direct effect on academic outcomes and is now easy feet to achieve.
For many years, schools in the Mitchell's Plain, and the Cape Flats overall, have faced challenges related to teacher recruitment and retention, as well as student achievement. Accordingly, this research study seeks to investigate the relationship between poverty and educational attainment for high school learners in Mitchell's Plain.
The aim of this study was to assess the impact that poverty has on high school learners’ academic performance in the community of Mitchell's Plain, with the intention to provide appropriate conclusions and recommendations on how academic performance could be improved.
The specific objectives were to:
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To identify other environmental and/or social factors that may have an impact on academic performance.
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To examine the impact of poverty on academic performance and analyse the role that the school/educators play.
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To identify and analyse the relationship among learners, parents and the school.
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To provide appropriate conclusions and recommendations to all parties involved in ensuring favorable academic performance.
Of particular interest in this thesis was a look at the link between parents’ education level and household income, link between household income and tertiary education, the relationship among school , learners academic aspirations and types of mindsets.
picture credit: www.columba.org.za/
READ THE FULL THESIS by Carlene Miché Gardiner in 2019