Browsing by Author "Grobler, Gertruida Wilhelmina"
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- ItemNarratives of teachers’ experiences of school violence and ethics of care(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2018-03) Grobler, Gertruida Wilhelmina; Perold, Mariechen; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Education. Dept. of Educational Psychology.ENGLISH ABSTRACT : The ethics of care perspective is based on the notion that we form relationships and that we are naturally responsive to the needs of others. In schools, caring relationships between teachers and learners suggests that teachers will act caringly, and attend to learners’ academic, social and emotional needs. This study aimed to extend our understanding of how high school teachers’ experiences of school violence may or will influence the enactment of care practices in teaching from an ethics of care perspective. I employed a qualitative, narrative research design within an interpretivist/constructivist paradigm. As a narrative study of limited scope, this research focused on the personal experiences of four teachers, who taught at three secondary schools in Cape Town where school violence was prevalent. Teachers’ stories of their experiences of school violence, known as experience-centred narratives, were collected by means of in-depth, semi-structured interviews according to themes, including what it means to be teacher, to care for learners as a teacher and about the nature and effect of school violence. Data analysis occurred by means of thematic experienced-centred narrative analysis and representative constructions of teachers’ narratives. The research findings suggest that teachers can enact an ethics of care in circumstances where they are exposed to school violence, but that this ability is largely dependent on the strength of the ethical self. While teachers maintain caring relationships with some learners, they can deliberately refuse to care for others. When the ethical self is maintained, teachers will behave caringly, establish trusting relationships with learners and step into caring roles. When experiences of school violence, however, lead to the erosion of the ethical self, teachers’ professional identities change, and their ways of teaching and engaging with learners in their classrooms become negative. The erosion of the ethical self can generate feelings of guilt that will impact teachers’ efficacy beliefs about themselves as teachers. The result of resilience in teachers is a strengthening of the ethical self. When this happens, an ethics of justice which is the response to school violence, can be balanced with an ethics of care response. Teachers who are more resilient will find a purpose and meaning when they have to teach learners in schools where violence occurs. This enables them to continue their teaching career in these challenging contexts.