Awelani V. Mudau

I Touch Girls to Feel What They Are Selling: Sexual Harassment of Female Learners in South African Schools

Abstract This article focuses on sexual harassment of female learners by male learners as a dynamic of school violence in the South African secondary schools. This research is based on a mixed method research approach and data was collected by means of questionnaires, focus groups and in-depth interviews. Participants were asked to recall incidents of violence either committed by them or they were subjected to in the school by fellow learners and/or teachers. The study indicated that while the female learners suffer sexual harassment from male learners it is not reported due to fear; sexual harassment is excused as boys being boys, and/or female learners having to enduring the humiliation.

Reconnoitering the Stimulus of Environmental Education in Reducing Improper Solid Waste Disposal: A Case of St Marcia School in the Mkhondo Village in Mpumalanga in South Africa

Abstract The paper reports on the exploration of Environmental Education as a stimulus in sustaining land resources which can be degraded by improper solid waste disposal. It is an empirical qualitative case study wherein data was collected through focused group interviews of learners, guided questionnaires for learners and observations of learners in and out of the classroom. The objective of the present paper is to establish whether what has been taught in extra-mural activities about Environmental Education is being practised by learners in the school. A typology approach was used while analysing data and the results displayed that learners continued to litter even after participation in Environmental Education as an extra mural activities. There was relatively low response to change in the way the learners litter at school premises. The extra mural activity aroused initiatives to reduce littering although the impact was minimal in eradicating unacceptable solid waste disposal in the school. It is, therefore, suggested that more emphasis than before should be put on the integration of pragmatic Environmental Education intervention in all subjects so that most learners would realise the importance of acceptable waste disposal.

A Conceptual Framework for Analysing Teaching Difficulties in the Science Classroom

The purpose of this paper was to present a conceptual framework for analysing teaching difficulties in the science classroom. The framework was developed to assist and enhance diagnoses of teaching difficulties for the topic projectile motion and was thereof called the classroom practice diagnostic framework (CPDF). Data from two cases in the Johannesburg central district in South Africa was collected using interviews as well as observations of lessons in the topic projectile motion. Data was organised into themes and categories which were then analysed based on the CPDF to diagnose teaching difficulties. Based on the outcomes we can conclude that the CPDF has merit as an effective tool to analyse classroom practices and subsequently diagnose teaching difficulties. In addition the CPD framework may assist with information to assist in professional training of in-service teachers. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2013.v4n13p125