The identification of barriers to learning by grade 3 teachers in the Ritavi District of the Limppopo Province

Abstract

Teaching in the Lower Primary School level, currently referred to as the Foundation Phase, exposed me to many challenges in my day to day interactions with learners. One of the challenges was the difficulty to identify barriers to learning experienced by learners. I resorted to more experienced teachers for assistance. Some helped but the majority of them shared the same challenge: lack of knowledge regarding barriers to learning. This, experience led to the present study. The most important thrust of the study was to investigate how Grade 3 teachers identified barriers to learning The study employed both in the main the Qualitative approach and to a lesser extent, the Quantitative approach. One Education Circuit was decided upon as a single unit of study. The research design therefore, is a case study of thirteen schools which form a single unit. Only Grade 3 teachers within the Foundation Phase were chosen as a sample due to the scope of the study, time constraints and limited finances. In view of the fact that I was a Grade 3 teacher at the time of the study, most of the Grade 3 teachers at the Circuit were well-known to me because we had attended many workshops together. I decided to include all these teachers in the sample – hence convenient sampling technique was eventually adopted. The findings of the study reveal that the kinds of challenges faced by South African teachers were not only unique to this country. Elsewhere in the world, some teachers had grappled with this problem. Many teachers interviewed, explained that it was difficult to identify different forms of barriers to learning under the present material conditions even though the majority claimed that they were able to identify barriers to learning. Teachers also stressed the need for in-service training in the area of special needs education. Please purchase 'e-PDF Converter and Creator' on http://www.e-pdfconverter.com to remove this message.