This critical qualitative study focused on what are the factors that contribute to high learner performance at a public school in South Africa. Purposive sampling was used and the data was produced via interviews with the participants (the principal, ten teachers, five ex learners and two parents) as well as observations of various school…

Violence, crime, and abuse against learners present a grave picture of problems in South African schools and are on the increase, as substantiated in articles. daily newspapers and news bulletins. The problem of violence is a complex one, and has been elevated to a national concern. The study was based on the perceptions and experiences of school…

This is an educational-philosophical, more particularly, a societal-theoretical reflection on the "blame game" that is occasionally played between the parental home and the school with respect to the behaviour displayed by children in these societal relationships. After consulting the literature regarding this issue, and the findings of…

Globally, peer education and school climate are important topics for educators. Peer education has been shown to improve young people's decision-making and knowledge about healthy and prosocial behaviour, while a positive school climate contributes to positive learning outcomes in general. In this article we explore the role of school climate in…

Parental involvement is germane and crucial to a child's well-being and development in later life. Involvement is subjective in nature and difficult to evaluate. The family is the primary cell of society where the child's upbringing commences at birth. This study focuses on the parental role in managing learner discipline with the aim of improving…

International research has shown that the quality of school leadership and management (SLM) is important for teaching and learning, particularly in schools where there is acute resource deprivation. This article explores the relationship between leadership and academic achievement in South African secondary schools with varying socio-economic…

Schools in post-apartheid South Africa appear to be under siege by violence. In turn, school leaders find themselves in the unenviable position of not only having to deal with inadequate educator professionalism and learner underachievement--particularly in previously disadvantaged schools--but are under pressure to find ways to counteract the…

The study investigated whether positive alternative discipline approaches have improved the culture of teaching and learning in South Africa. The implementation of positive alternative discipline approaches encountered difficulties and challenges that plunged schools into crisis. The culture of teaching and learning subsequently deteriorated over…

An anthropological study investigated school-related violence experienced by 76 South African adolescents. School-related violence was found to be structurally interwoven with the social hierarchy of the school set-up and was sanctioned as an effective strategy to gain social control and discipline children. Recommendations for intervention and…