Respect, feedback and

corporal punishment

Educators’ views on respect, feedback and corporal

punishment at a primary school in Cape Town, South

Africa

Tomas Jansson

Fakulteten för hälsa, natur- och teknikvetenskap

Idrottsvetenskap/Lärarprogrammet

Individual /15 hp

Supervisors: Sven-Olof Palm & Peter Fenton

Examiner: Konstantin Kougioumtzis

2014-11-27

29 pages

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to find out the views of the educators and the principal

at a school in South Africa. I wanted to find out how they look upon respect, feedback

and corporal punishment.

The results in this research indicate the following: The value of respect is important

for the educators, though it is mainly focused on the respect from the learner towards

the educators. The educators seize their responsibility of raising the learners into

respectful adults. Feedback is mainly given in writing and less in amount than the

educators would prefer due to big classes. I found out that many of the educators find

it hard to establish a continuous feedback for each of the learners, mainly because of

the great number of learners in each class and the fact that the view on feedback is, in

many cases, this; it should be given to a learner solitarily without other learners

interpreting it. Many of the educators also have the view on corporal punishment that

it does have a good effect, but that there are other ways to establish discipline and

respect that will work better in the South African school of today. However, corporal

punishment does occur at the school, in small amount and without crossing the line

to abuse that many of the educators mention when speaking of corporal punishment.

The educators know that in using corporal punishment, the school governing board

will not support them.

Table of contents

Abstract

Table of contents

1 Introduction .......................................................................................... 1

1.1 South Africa’s History .............................................................................................. 1

1.2 South Africa’s educational system .......................................................................... 2

2 Objectives of the study ...................................................................... 4

2.1 Aim scientific questions .......................................................................................... 4

3 Literature review ................................................................................ 5

3.1 Theoretical framework ........................................................................................... 5

3.1.1 Respect ................................................................................................................................... 5

3.1.2 Feedback ................................................................................................................................. 5

3.1.3 Corporal punishment .............................................................................................................. 6

3.2 Previous research ................................................................................................... 7

3.2.1 Respect ................................................................................................................................... 7

3.2.2 Feedback ................................................................................................................................. 8

3.2.3 Corporal punishment ........................................................................................................ 9

4 Research design and method ....................................................... 11

4.1 Methodology .......................................................................................................... 11

4.2 Research selection ................................................................................................. 11

4.3 Interview guide ...................................................................................................... 12

4.4 Execution ............................................................................................................... 12

4.5 Processing of data .................................................................................................. 13

4.6 Reliability and validity ........................................................................................... 13

4.7 Ethical considerations ........................................................................................... 14

5 Research result and analysis ........................................................ 15

5.1 Respect .................................................................................................................. 15

5.2 Feedback. ...............................................................................................................16

5.3 Corporal punishment ............................................................................................ 18

6 Discussion ........................................................................................... 21

6.1 Discussion of method ............................................................................................. 21

6.2 Discussion of result ............................................................................................... 22

6.2.1 Respect ................................................................................................................................. 23

6.2.2 Feedback ............................................................................................................................... 23

6.2.3 Corporal punishment ............................................................................................................ 24

6.3 Future guidelines .................................................................................................. 24

References.............................................................................................. 26

Electronic references .................................................................................................. 27

Appendix ................................................................................................ 29

1

1 Introduction

Under this headline I will give an introduction to South Africa’s history and its

educational system.

1.1 South Africa’s History

Meerkotter describes the history of the southern tip of Africa under the headline

Domination and emancipation in the South African context. He writes; …the recent

colonial history of oppression starting some three hundred and fifty years ago with

the arrival of three Dutch ships in 1652 (Meerkotter 2001, p. 34). The Dutch

settlement at the halfway point on the trade route between Europe and the Far East

soon grew bigger and the Dutch settlers, come to known as Boer people, dominated

the indigenous Khoi and Buntu people, forcing them further into the land. The

rapidly growing colony was also in need of labor and so the Boer people brought in

slaves from Asia and West Africa (Abraham, 2010). A history of war followed were

various people fought for the land of what is today the Republic of South Africa. With

the arrival of the British Empire in 1806 and their following great colonization in the

Cape Province, the Boer people went further north into the country with the intention

of initiating a new republic. Among other things the British decided on the liberation

of 39 000 slaves, which upset the Boer people who were depending on the slave labor

for their agriculture and kettle industry. In 1886 the gold rush of Witwatersand took

place. Gold, this very lucrative natural resource, would become a trigger of the second

Boer war. The Boer people had held back the British in the first Boer war but were left

defeated after the second Boer war. The British settlers annexed the two Boer

republics, giving the British Empire the colonial power in South Africa. The history of

the 1900s, Meerkotter describes as such:

Then in 1910 the story unfolds of the two former Boer republics,

together with Natal and the Cape Colony, forming the Union of South

Africa, a union that effectively consolidated political and economic

power in the hands of the minority white population (Meerkotter,

2001, p. 35).

This white domination in South Africa went on all through the 1900s with the

Apartheid system from 1948 to 1994 as the clearest example of this. The Boer

people’s Union of South Africa aimed to restore the culture, language and power of

the Boer people, leaving the black majority population dominated by the white

2

minority. In 1912 the South Africa National Congress, the ANC, was founded. Their

intention was to salvage the black majority population and their interests. Two years

later, the National party, NP, was founded, salvaging the Boer people’s interests from

British influence (Jansen, 2010). In 1948 the NP took over power in South Africa,

commencing Apartheid laws that separated the population from each other by colour

of skin. All non-white citizens were stripped of rights in the society, particularly so

the black majority. In all parts of the South African society the population was

divided into four categories by the colour of their skin; whites, coloured, indians and

blacks. The ANC fought this oppression of the black majority population. Their ideals

were the equal rights of every race in the society. Nelson Mandela was the strongest

and most famous leader of this movement. He was imprisoned along with other

leaders of the ANC as the NP had banned the ANC along with other parties, among

them the communist party. In the late 1900’s, under president de Kleerk, apartheid

laws started to decrease and in 1990 Nelson Mandela was liberated from his

imprisonment at Robben Island. Four years later, in 1994, Nelson Mandela was

elected president in the first democratic elections in South Africa. Although officially

democratic with equal rights for all races, structures from the past would remain in a

wider sense leaving the power in the hands of the white population in South Africa.

Meerkotter says; Hence President Mbeki’s ‘two nations’ point of view. The one nation

black and poor, the other mainly white and wealthy (Meerkotter, 2001, p. 35).

1.2 South Africa’s educational system

The South African history is a history of changes. The South African school system

has changed accordingly and so has the views on the topics of my research. In the

1920’s the first governmental curriculum was installed (Jansen, 1990) and

particularly during the Apartheid years, the educational system was an instrument

used by the white population in power to undermine and to discriminate the black

majority population. Education was used as an instrument of restoring power in the

hands of the white population. The schools were segregated in the same way society

was. The schools referred to as white schools held high standards while the schools

referred to as black schools held a very low standard. Since the schools were under

governmental regime, the NP would choose what educators would educate the

learners (Clark & Woger 2011). Since the country became a democracy in 1994 the

education system emphasizes on democratic values and aims to help bringing South

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Africa forward from its’ divided past. One of the biggest indicators of change in the

school system is the banning of corporal punishment in schools in 1996 (ref. in

Morell, 2001). The basic values in the latest South African curriculum, are taking a

cue from the South African Constitution. This gives these objectives:

• heal the divisions of the past and establish a society based on

democratic values, social justice and fundamental human rights;

• improve the quality of life of all citizens and free the potential of

each person;

• lay the foundations for a democratic and open society in which

government is based on the will of the people and every citizen is

equally protected by law; and

• build a united and democratic South Africa able to take its rightful

place as a sovereign state in the family of nations (Government of

South Africa, 1996, p. 1).

It is also stated in the curriculum that the “education and the curriculum have an

important role to play in realizing these aims.” In many ways the Apartheid years are

still influencing South African society and the school is no exception. Meerkotter

(2001) describes a relict suspicion against authoritarian regimes. He describes a

vision of some schools as "a part of the system". The school system, as part of society,

is facing the same tasks as the country in order to overcome its past.

4

2 Objectives of the study This study aimed to investigate educators' approach to learners in the South African

primary school education. The main purpose of this study was to examine the overall

respect between educators and learners in the school and how educators give learners

feedback. I wanted to find out if corporal punishment is a common way to lecture

learners. My focus has primarily been on these conditions in physical education, since

this is my key topic, although the circumstances in South African education, with

physical education as a minor subject, have forced me to widen my research selection.

2.1 Aim scientific questions

What are the educators’ views on respect between learners and

educators?

What are the educators’ views on feedback?

What are the educators’ views on corporal punishment?

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3 Literature review

Under this headline I will give a review of the literature used to define the concepts

and the topics of the research and to discuss the results of the research.

3.1 Theoretical framework

The three aim scientific questions for this research paper will be defined under this

headline.

3.1.1 Respect

In order to define respect for this paper I will take a cue in Wentzel’s research. She

describes pedagogical caring in relation to learners’ motivation to achieve positive

social and academic outcomes:

Teachers who care were described as demonstrating democratic

interaction styles, developing expectations for student behavior in

light of individual differences, modeling a "caring" attitude toward

their own work, and providing constructive feedback (Wentzel, 1997,

abstract).

This defines respect between educators and learners as a responsibility of the

educator and her/his leadership. In order for there to be a mutual respect between

educators and learners, the educators will have to demonstrate democratic

interaction styles and educate the learners in their behavior through expectations and

feedback on their behavior. In other words, the respect relations are defined as

caring. This definition is also supported by Skinner and Belmont. They describe

student motivation through teacher behavior and conclude that students who receive

involvement, structure and autonomy support from teachers show higher initial

behavioral engagement. They even conclude the following; These [their] findings

suggest that students who are behaviorally disengaged receive teacher responses

that should further undermine their motivation (Skinner and Belmont, 1993,

abstract).

3.1.2 Feedback

Hattie & Timperley defines feedback in The power of feedback (2007).

In this review, feedback is conceptualized as information provided by an agent (e.g., teacher, peer, book, parent, self, experience) regarding aspects of one’s performance or understanding (Hattie & Timperley 2007, p. 81).

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This definition of the phenomenon of feedback suggests that feedback cannot be

received nor given without performance and/or understanding in a field of

knowledge. Feedback cannot be used as a way of educating, it is merely a tool used to

understand the process of learning. The fact that feedback is also defined as

information on one’s performance or understanding gives that praise and

confirmation will only be conceptualized as feedback when it has got an element of

information to perform feedback on. Assessment is part of the definition of feedback.

Formative assessment is one type of feedback and summative assessment is one type

of feedback (du Plessis et. al, 2007).

3.1.3 Corporal punishment

The United Nation’s Committee on the rights of the child (2006) gives a full

definition of corporal punishment. This definition is:

The Committee [on the Rights of the Child] defines “corporal” or

“physical” punishment as any punishment in which physical force is

used and intended to cause some degree of pain or discomfort,

however light. Most involves hitting (“smacking”, “slapping”,

“spanking”) children, with the hand or with an implement - a whip,

stick, belt, shoe, wooden spoon, etc. But it can also involve, for

example, kicking, shaking or throwing children, scratching, pinching,

biting, pulling hair or boxing ears, forcing children to stay in

uncomfortable positions, burning, scalding or forced ingestion (for

example, washing children’s mouths out with soap or forcing them to

swallow hot spices). In the view of the Committee, corporal

punishment is invariably degrading. In addition, there are other non-

physical forms of punishment that are also cruel and degrading and

thus incompatible with the Convention. These include, for example,

punishment which belittles, humiliates, denigrates, scapegoats,

threatens, scares or ridicules the child (Committee on the Rights of

the Child, 2006, p. 4).

This definition gives a good range of examples as to what acts are defined as corporal

punishment. In conclusion it defines all types of cruel and degrading acts towards a

child as corporal punishment. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the

Child states in their paragraph No. 29 that; Education should aim to develop your

child's full potential and respect for human rights (UNICEF, 2014). Morell uses the

following definition of corporal punishment; Physical punishment as distinguished

7

from pecuniary punishment or a fine; any kind of punishment of or inflicted on the

body or; The infliction of pain by a teacher or other educational official upon the

body of the student as a penalty for doing something which has been disapproved

by the punisher (Morell, 2001, p. 293). Defining corporal punishment for this

research paper will give that corporal punishment is an act of violence by an educator

towards a learner. UN’s Convention of the rights of the child states, in paragraph no.

37 that;

No child shall be subjected to torture, cruel treatment or punishment

or the death penalty. Custody of a child shall be in accordance with the

law and may be used only as a last resort and for the shortest

appropriate period of time (UNICEF, 2014).

Children shall not be subjected to punishments in any form; therefore they shall not

be subjected to corporal punishments. This defines corporal punishment as a

violation of UN conventions. Furthermore, section 10 of the South African Schools act

(ref. in Morell, 2001) banns corporal punishments in schools. This defines the act of

corporal punishment as illegal within the country for my research.

3.2 Previous research

Under this headline I will present previous research on the topics for my study. The

previous research will be presented under the headlines Respect, Feedback and

Corporal punishment.

3.2.1 Respect

Birgitta Kimber writes about the establishing of mutual respect in schools in Lyckas

som lärare (2005). She writes about the establishing of respect in a class. Her main

thesis for the establishing of respect is based on the importance of building relations

between all individuals in class and having obvious structures in a class that can be

easily understood and followed. She describes her views on how to reach good

relations and structure in a class thru the following points on how to succeed as a

teacher:

To:

Create a positive climate in the classroom so that all children get a

chance to learn according to their capacity.

Create that calm in the classroom that is necessary for the best possible

premises for learning

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Create a tolerant group climate where the learners embrace that we are

all different

Create a group where everyone feels welcome and needed

Have every child feeling noticed and noticing that the educator believes

in their capacity (Kimber, 2005, p. 7, my translation).

3.2.2 Feedback

Feedback on tasks and behavior is a complex concept. Studies from the 1980’s show

that feedback may increase productivity (Kopelman, 1982; Prue & Fairbank, 1981).

The ability to receive and to seek feedback is crucial for the ability to learn and for the

individual’s development (Ashford & Cummings, 1983). For feedback to be efficient

the receiver of the feedback (the learner) needs to have faith in the source of the

feedback (the educator), it has to be doled out when the timing is right and the

message of the feedback needs to be clear and not able to be misunderstood. (Ilgen,

Fisher & Taylor, 1979). It is important that the feedback given is of a good quality,

rather than of a great quantity. Feedback can aim towards the task of the learner, the

process, the learner’s methods, or the learner himself/herself. In order for feedback

to be efficient it should be concrete and aim towards a task or a goal (Hattie &

Timperley, 2007). The receiver’s faith for the source of feedback and the importance

of said faith is supported by Whitaker, Dahling & Levy (2007). The leader (educator)

needs to take the role of giving the proper feedback that relates to the learners’ tasks

and goals. Sparr & Sonnentag (2008) mean that it is possible for the leader

(educator) to establish a secure feedback environment by being consistent and clear

in their feedback. It is concluded that a leader can practice feedback skills

successfully (Whitaker & Levy, 2012).

Du Plessis, Conley, du Plessis (2007) writes about the seven roles of the educator as

set out in the Norms and standards for Educators of the South African national

department of education. In one of the chapters labeled Assessing, recording and

reporting: the educator as assessor they define two kinds of assessments; summative

and formative. They also label summative assessment as judgemental assessment,

describing it as assessment that does not necessarily help to improve, but merely

works to report and document a learner’s skills in a certain course or piece of work.

Formative assessment is also labeled as developmental and is described as leading to

development of the individual learners’ skills and to development at the school. The

9

formative feedback has a reason other than documenting and feedback is given

accordingly. Gioka talks about the great amount of assessments in schools; he

questions the utility of assessments, particularly the summative assessments. The

formative assessment will help develop students to a greater extent and should

therefore be to strive for rather than summative assessments (Gioka, 2008).

3.2.3 Corporal punishment

Though corporal punishment is banned in many parts of the world it is still common

in all world regions. In a report from Unicef including 30 countries of low and middle

income, it is stated that about 75% of children experience corporal punishment at

home, in school and other care settings. Some children are at more risk than others,

for instance disabled children or children of linguistic, ethnic or sexual minority

(UNICEF, 2010).

In April 2013 the Global initiative to end all corporal punishment of children

published their Review of research on the effects of corporal punishment. In said

review, including 150 articles on corporal punishment, it is concluded that corporal

punishment is mostly used in aim to punish or control the child. It often escalates to

severe physical abuse and thousands of children are killed, injured and physically

disabled as a direct cause of corporal punishment. Many of the articles in the review

(Global initiative to end all corporal punishment of children, 2013) show that the

child always experience corporal punishment as painful. Corporal punishment is not

only painful but has devastating effects on children’s physical and mental health. One

of the effects is that it increases aggression among children. In the review (Global

initiative to end all corporal punishment of children, 2013) the authors explain that

the increased aggression is a direct response to the pain, that the child models the

punisher and that children learns that aggressive behavior gets you want you want. In

the review some interviews with children are summarized. For instance children who

were punished wanted revenge and took it out by hurting someone else (Global

initiative to end all corporal punishment of children, 2013). These children are more

likely to be aggressive against their peers and experience violence from their peers.

They also tend to bully, cheat, lie, play truant, run away, engage in problem school

behaviors and establish criminal behaviors, more than children who do not

experience corporal punishment. In the review some support for instant compliance,

but no support for long term compliance, was found. The antisocial behavior in many

10

cases persists through adulthood and the likelihood of violence against spouse

increases. In addition, corporal punishment leads to decreased moral internalization,

less empathy and less motivation for pro social behaviors.

Furthermore the review suggests that corporal punishment has negative effects on

cognition among children. There is, for instance, an association between corporal

punishment and smaller vocabulary, poor school results, lower IQ and lower

cognitive ability. (Global initiative to end all corporal punishment of children, 2013)

This association is also supported by Dubanoski, Inaba & Gerkewicz who conclude

that both educators and learners can maximize their effectiveness in a classroom free

from corporal punishment.

In an atmosphere free of abusing and demeaning acts and in a

classroom characterized by positive mutual regard, teachers can

maximize their effectiveness as teachers and students can maximize

their effectiveness as learners (Dubanoski et. al., 1983, abstract).

They also conclude that the continuing support for corporal punishment is related to

these three factors:

(1) widely held beliefs regarding the effectiveness of corporal

punishment, (2) an unawareness of problems resulting from the use of

physical punishment, and (3) a lack of knowledge about effective

disciplinary alternatives (Dubanoski et. al., 1983, abstract).

This lack of knowledge among educators and others dealing out corporal punishment

is also presented by Abrahams, Casey & Daro. They present a survey of educators in

40 schools in the US, concluding that educators receive insufficient education on how

to address child abuse and corporal punishment (Abrahams et. al., 1992).

Morell gives an explanation for the persistence of corporal punishment in South

African schools. He concludes, first of all, that corporal punishment does persist in

South African schools. He also concludes, however, that there are tendencies showing

that South African students are ready for other methods of keeping good discipline at

school. The conclusion of main interest for this research paper is the one he draws

about the connection to the homes and parents. He concludes that black and coloured

homes have a much higher rating of physical discipline of the children (Morell, 2001).

This conclusion is of extra interest for my research which has been done at a school in

a coloured community.

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4 Research design and method Under this headline I will present the method used for this research paper.

4.1 Methodology

I have chosen to use the qualitative interview to execute my research. Another way of

describing this method is as a conversation with a certain structure and a predestined

purpose. The researcher listens to the respondent and keeps the conversation within

the frames of the purpose (Kvale & Brinkman, 2009). The qualitative method is used

to broaden the understanding of significance and meaning (Langemar, 2008). It is a

descriptive method that aims to investigate the objects’ qualities. In order to answer

my research questions I chose the phenomenological methodology as a framework.

The aim of the phenomenological method is to research a phenomenon with as little

pre-understanding as possible. This means that the researcher preferably puts

prejudice and pre-understanding aside, so called “bracketing”. This includes an

understanding of one’s own knowledge and how this knowledge may affect the object

that is focus of the study.

Phenomenology also suggests that “the truth” should be put in brackets. This means

that what is important is not the theoretical truth, but what is experienced as the

truth. Therefore the purpose with phenomenology is to examine the experience of a

phenomenon, not the actual phenomenon (Starrin & Svensson, 1994). The data can

be labeled as inductive; the respondent will develop the conversation (Patel &

Davidsson, 2003). Conclusions are drawn from data, not from a hypothesis chosen on

pre hand. The goal of the qualitative interview is to understand the respondents’

views on themselves in a certain field of interest. This method searches the individual

points of view (Hassmén & Hassmén 2008) which in this particular research paper

are those of the interviewed educators.

4.2 Research selection

I have spent six weeks at a school in a township of Cape Town. The township is a

coloured community with around 14 000 inhabitants. The inhabitants could be

classified as middle class by South Africa standards. During the Apartheid years the

coloured people were moved to the township in order for the people of colour to be

separated from other ethnic groups.

12

During those six weeks I was stationed at a primary school where I was teaching,

ausultating and interviewing educators in order to try and understand and through

this research paper convey the educators’ views on respect relations, feedback and

corporal punishment. The school is, as mentioned, a primary school with a bit over

one thousand learners and classes of 30-40 learners. Quite a big part of the learners

come from other, poorer townships. Most of the learners speak English and those

who don’t will speak Afrikaans or Xhosa. Most of the Afrikaans and Xhosa speaking

learners are able to understand and make themselves understood in English as well.

I chose to interview six educators and the principal. The principal was chosen on the

basis that he has the ultimate responsibility for the school. The educators were

chosen primarily because of their teaching subject. Since I’m studying to be a teacher

in the physical education field, I chose primarily those who teach this at the school.

After that I chose to interview educators in the field of life orientation, the school

subject in which PE is incorporated. I have interviewed two sports coaches, teaching

PE and four educators, teaching in the field of life orientation. The sports coaches

have the role of educator in their work although they are not educated in the field of

education. The educational background differs within the group of respondents.

Whereas five of them have higher education as educators, two have no educational

background except for the first 12 years of law binding school. My respondents are of

ages 22-58 and 4 of them are male and 3 of them are female.

4.3 Interview guide

For the interviews I made an interview guide with questions that I wanted the

respondents’ views on. This worked as a guideline for keeping the interviews within

the field of the research (Hassmén & Hassmén, 2008). This means that the interview

guide was not in any way binding, it worked merely as a help for me to get what I

needed out of the interview. The respondents were free to develop their answers and

give a bigger picture of their views on the different issues of my research. The

qualitative interview gives the opportunity for the respondent to evolve their answer

on a deeper level than the quantitative interview does (Hassmén & Hassmén, 2008).

4.4 Execution

My study lasted for six weeks. The interviews were recorded and then transcribed. I

used thematic analysis in order for me to get a better view and to be able to work thru

13

the material. As recommended (Kvale & Brinkman, 2009) I brought mumbles, pauses

and other unarticulated expressions into the transcription in order to get the whole

picture of the interviews in writing. I thereafter broke the interviews down into

themes/categories, describing the content of the interviews in order to filter the

interviews to their essence.

4.5 Processing of data

During my work with the data I realized that one of the interviews had not been

recorded due to a technical mistake. Therefore I had to ask this respondent to redo

the interview. With the respondent knowing the questions on forehand and maybe

because of a feeling of things having already been said, this (the recorded) interview

turned out significantly shorter than the first, non-recorded interview.

4.6 Reliability and validity

The concept of reliability is mainly applicable to quantitative research; the term refers

to accuracy in measurements. For example when weighing an object it is of

importance that the unit consists of the same amount each time the weighing is made

and that the scale is accurate. It can be argued that reliability is irrelevant for

qualitative research, due to the fact that reliability is mainly discussed for different

types of measurements. Measurements are not used in the qualitative,

phenomenological method (Langemar, 2008). The validity is judged upon the

consistency of the result; it is supposed to give the same, or close to the same result, if

done again by different researchers provided that the same approach and method are

used (Hassmén & Hassmén, 2008). When it comes to qualitative research it could be

discussed if it is more suitable to use other concepts such as trustworthiness

(Graneheim & Lundman, 2004). The concept of trustworthiness includes three

aspects; credibility, dependability and transferability. Credibility means that the focus

of the research should be congruent with the data and process of analysis (Graneheim

& Lundman, 2004). In this study credibility is achieved. Data reflects the focus of the

study by answering the aim scientific questions. Furthermore, the participants of this

study represent various backgrounds and experiences. For instance in level of

education, age and working experience. This gives a greater variety in data which

increases the credibility of this study. Dependability treats these questions: has the

data changed over time? and; have there been any changes in decision making during

the research (Graneheim & Lundman, 2004)? Dependability for this study is reached

14

by following the same interview guide in all of the interviews. No changes of focus or

interview guide questions were made during the study. The dependability might have

been affected by the fact that one interview had to be remade due to a recording

malfunction. This means that one respondent had pre-knowledge of the questions

which may have influenced the data richness. Transferability treats these questions;

in what degree can the result be transferred to other settings or groups? The author

can give suggestions about transferability, but in the end it is the reader’s decision if

the result is transferrable to another context (Graneheim & Lundman, 2004). When it

comes to corporal punishment the result of this study could be transferred to other

schools and educators in coloured areas of South Africa, this also in line with

previous research. However, if this study would be replicated at a school in an

industrial country or in a white community in South Africa, the result would probably

be different, since the issue of corporal punishment is more common in low- and

middle income countries (UNICEF, 2010). When it comes to feedback and respect the

result of this study could be transferred to other schools in South Africa as well as

schools in industrial countries.

4.7 Ethical considerations

During my interviews I have been clear towards my respondents that the interviews

are confidential and voluntary. I have explained to them my intentions in

interviewing them and the fact that the information in the interviews is only for the

purpose of my research (Vetenskapsrådet, 2011).

15

5 Research result and analysis I will present the results of my study under three headlines, dividing the results into

three themes. They are respect, feedback and corporal punishment. The respondents

will be referred to as Respondent 1, Respondent 2 etc.

5.1 Respect

All of the respondents find that there is, in general, a mutual respect between their

learners and themselves, especially so with the learners that they educate in their own

classes and even more so with those that they have educated for a couple of years.

Respondent 1 says;

I sometimes find it hard with learners in other classes; I have to first win them over. But

with the learners in my class; yes I think there is a mutual respect (Respondent 1).

The view on respect as a phenomenon is quite similar in all of the respondents;

respect is given to them from the learners in the form of obedience and listening, and

the respect shown to the learners is in the form of acknowledgment of them as

individuals. Respondent 1 puts it in this way;

They show me respect by cooperating in the class and always trying their best and I

show them respect by acknowledging all their hard efforts, even when they’re struggling

(Respondent 1).

The respect given from learners to educators is something that all of my respondents

find important for the educator to establish. And many of them will bring up their

school as a good example when it comes to discipline. One of the respondents;

Whenever I get a new class I make it absolutely clear that I’m not interested in how

clever you are. I need two things from you and those are obedience and decency.

Towards grade 2-3-4 we have established that (Respondent 2).

When it comes to the ways of establishing respect from learners to educators my

respondents differ quite a bit, three of them talks about the importance of earning the

learners respect by getting to know them and showing them respect. One respondent;

You don’t have to shout to someone to get their respect, it’s about relationship and how

you build that with the child (Respondent 3).

The remaining three respondents talk rather of the importance of leading by example

and being consistent as a leader. This is what one of the respondents says;

16

You are a role model; the kids will look at you as an idol. You have to make sure that you

always do everything right (Respondent 4).

When I ask about the respect that the educator’s give their learners, my respondents

all gives the answer that giving respect is important, mainly in order to gain the

respect of the learners. Respondent 3 says;

How can you respect me if I don’t respect you (Respondent 3)?

They also point out the responsibility the school and they as educators have, not only

on bringing the learners knowledge in the respective subjects, but also to raise the

learners into respectful and responsible adults. One of the respondents puts it like

this;

We have a multiracial society… Each child was being nurtured according to their

culture… As a teacher you need to install the values of respect (Respondent 5).

In conclusion:

According to the respondents there is an overall respect between learners and

educators at this school and the institution of respect is something that is thought of

and held in high regard. The educators seize their responsibility on raising the

learners to respectful adults. Although the respect is mostly focused on the learners

respect for the educators in an urge to reach discipline, respect for the learners is of

the essence for many of the teachers. Not only in order to gain the respect from the

learners, but also in order to build a relationship that gains the development of the

learners.

5.2 Feedback.

At a school with a lot of learners and with classes as big as up to 40 learners, the

amount of feedback given from the educators is not what many of the educators

would like it to be. One of the respondents;

We have 30-40 learners in our classrooms…so feedback does not happen on a regular

basis (Respondent 5).

Feedback is something my respondents want to give to their learners and something

that they hold in high regard as an important part of the learning process for the

learners. One of the respondents gives an example;

17

I will always, for example, justify why a kid is getting a low grade. It is very important

(Respondent 1).

When asked how they give feedback the main part of my respondents answers that

they give it in the form of acknowledgement of the fact that the learners have failed or

succeeded performing a task. But one of them has a further going thesis;

When it comes to giving a child feedback after a failed task, I think it’s important to give

them respectful feedback. For me the key is talking to them about what happened

(Respondent 1).

Feedback is something that the educators want to give to the children individually

and without other learners nearby in order for the child to feel safe and not exposed.

The respondents who teach Life orientation are able to continuously give feedback in

writing to the learners, through the learners’ work books, but the instant feedback

when a child is succeeding or failing is not too common at the school. One of the

responses to the question of how feedback is given is this;

I would do that (give feedback) in form of a comment in the book. For example: See if

you can step up your game (Respondent 2).

Summative assessments are the main type of assessment used by my respondents.

This is explained by the two facts that they are the best way of getting of entire class

to be part of the same assessment, time is an issue, and the fact that they are

important in order to get a proper view of the learners’ development. One respondent

talks about the importance of summative assessments in a cumulative perspective.

The respondent says;

The increasing knowledge in learners are best shown in summative assessments.

Cumulative assessments are important in order to see the progress (Respondent 2).

On the same note, another respondent says;

Sometimes a kid gets to grade seven and can’t walk on a line because there was no

development at a young age…So it needs to be documented at an early age (Respondent

4).

A third respondent sees this in a different way. This respondent sees the summative

assessments as a tool for the educators to present their work in documents. The

respondent says;

18

I guess at the end of the day, I need the mark as a teacher. You can only tell if I’ve

worked based on the marks (Respondent 3).

In conclusion:

The feedback given to the learners from the educators is mainly in the form of writing

and summative assessments. Summative assessments are important to the educators

and they do have a good system for following learners’ development in summative

assessments. Formative assessments and instant feedback is something that the

educators want to give more to their learners but a lot of the time they are unable to

do so. The reason for that could be the fact that the educators mainly want to give the

feedback in a closed off area without other learners in the near. With 30-40 learners

in a class, the time for this is hard to find.

One of the respondents stands out from the others when talking about summative

assessment, and points out that it is in fact the educator who needs the summative

assessment. The marks, the grades and the tests are maybe actually a product of the

fact that the educator needs to show his/her work to justify his/her position as

educator.

One respondent talked about the way feedback is given and that it is of essence that it

is in form of a conversation with the receiver of the feedback; the learner.

5.3 Corporal punishment

The school’s policy when it comes to corporal punishments is clear; it is not allowed.

It is illegal and the school will not sanction it. When asked about their view on

corporal punishment, this is one respondents’ response;

Actually, there isn’t a view on corporal punishment. It is outlawed…The teachers don’t

discuss it with me because they know the answer; No, that is not allowed (Respondent

6).

Another respondent says;

The principal has talked to a lot of the teachers…and he has told the teachers; if you do

meet out corporal punishment to the kids you are on your own. He supports us in all

aspects, but in regards to that he won’t (Respondent 1).

When asked about the presence of corporal punishment at the school all of the

respondents tell me that they have experienced it in some way. Three of them tell me

19

that their experiences with it have happened before 1996 when the law on banning

corporal punishment was installed. One example is this respondent;

I was a learner at this school before the law against it (corporal punishment) and at that

time it was not a special thing (Respondent 5).

Three of them say that it is known that it does occur at the school. When asked if they

have seen corporal punishment, one respondent says.

I must admit I have, yes… but it’s not much, it’s really decreasing (Respondent 1).

The respondents’ views on what can be lost and gained by using corporal punishment

are different. Three of them say that they are opposed to it and find no reason to

exercise it. One of them says;

I’m opposed to it…I want the learners to believe that violence is not the answer

(Respondent 1).

The other four finds that a light form of physical contact in order to show a learner

boundaries is of no harm and that there is a line between punishment and abuse that

should not be crossed. One of them says;

That is fine with me. You have to punish a child. But not abuse, just a tap on the head

(Respondent 7).

Four of my respondents tell me about episodes where parents and even learners have

come to them and asked them to bring in corporal punishment in the school. One

example is this respondent;

Some parents actually come and talk to me about the fact that they would like the

children to receive corporal punishment…They believe in it, they don’t believe in

abusing the child…they feel that the child should receive some sort of punishment

(Respondent 6).

Another respondent tells me about an episode where the learners got to give their

view on corporal punishment. The respondent;

We talked about it in Life Orientation…and half of the class said that they (the school)

should bring in corporal punishment (Respondent 3).

20

In conclusion:

Corporal punishment is out from the schools by law. Since 1996 corporal punishment

is illegal in South African schools, but it’s still in practice. The schools official line and

the principal’s stand on the issue is in line with the law and for the better part of the

time there is no corporal punishment doled out at the school. Although, the opinions

on the issue amongst the educators is often that there is a strong difference between

corporal punishment and abuse. And it is a known fact amongst the educators that

corporal punishment does happen. Many of the educators are of the opinion that

corporal punishment has its gains, but only if the line towards abuse is not crossed.

Parents and learners have asked for the school to bring corporal punishment back.

They are of the same opinion as many of the learners; in order to secure the discipline

and to teach learners that there are consequences to their actions, they need to be

punished.

21

6 Discussion Under this headline I will discuss the method used for and the results of the research.

6.1 Discussion of method

What aspects may have affected and influenced the results? One possible influence is

the interviewers’ characteristics (Langemar, 2008). Considering the characteristics of

the interviewer is important; in my case I am some years older than some of the

respondents and younger than other respondents. Age is a factor that might affect the

power relation between interviewer and respondent. It may also affect what and how

much information the respondents give. Another factor that has got possible

influence on the result is my degree of education in relation to the respondents’

degree of education. In some cases the respondents has lower degree of education

than I have and in some cases the respondents has got the same or higher degree of

education. Gender and cultural background are other factors that could have

influence on the result. For example; would the results and the dynamic of the

interviews have been the same or similar if the interviewer was an older South

African woman?

It is also important to consider if the chosen time for the interview affects the results.

Would the results have been the same if they had been done ten years ago? Would

they be the same ten years from now? Would they have been the same before the

banning of corporal punishment in schools (ref. in Morell, 2001)? Would they have

been the same before the new curriculum that gives the objectives of every citizens’

equal protection by law (Department of basic education, 2011)? What would the

results have been if the interviews had been done during the Apartheid years? Clark

and Woger (2011) writes about the segregation into black and white schools were the

black schools held a very low standard whereas the white schools had high standard.

Another aspect affecting the results is the fact that the writer of the research paper

will inevitably interpret the answers given by the respondents. Using

phenomenological method the writer is supposed to put his/her own prejudice, pre

understanding and pre knowledge in “brackets” (Starrin & Svensson, 1994). To fully

put these in brackets, however, is impossible. In this case, my background as a

pedagogue and the fact that I am a teacher student, will affect my interpretation of

the interviews. Would the results have been the same if they had been done by

someone of another professional background?

22

My research is based on the views of educators in certain topics. The result reflects

their experiences. Human experiences are best researched with qualitative method

because these are difficult to quantify and causality is not the main purpose.

Therefore the qualitative method was used. Another reason to use qualitative method

is that social interaction and experience are complex concepts and it is difficult to

single out measurable variables (Langemar, 2008).

It is also important when using qualitative method that the research selection is

qualitatively representable, This means that the participants can represent what

qualities there are. The participants in this study had insight and experience of my

research questions; therefore the participants in this study have good

representability.

As mentioned earlier this research can be labeled as inductive, there are no correct

answers just views on the issues. It can be argued, however, that there in fact are

correct answers to the questions that I present to my respondents. They should for

example, according to South African law, work against corporal punishment and

report any situations. But because I’m using the method that I’m using, searching the

respondents’ views, there will be no right or wrong answer even to those types of

questions. One question that arises is; would the result be different if the data would

have been collected in form of an anonymous inquiry? The fact that the author is

interviewing the respondents may affect the respondents’ openness. However, a lot of

richness and tone could be lost using an inquiry.

It has to be established also, that using a method like this, no matter how open

minded the author is, his/her impressions of the respondents and their answers will

always have a big impact on the finished work. This is inevitable since part of the

process is for the author to explain the phenomena discussed by the respondents in

the interviews (Hassmén & Hassmén, 2008).

6.2 Discussion of result

The results in this research indicate the following: The value of respect is important

for the educators, though it is mainly focused on the respect from the learner towards

the educators. The educators seize their responsibility on raising the learners into

respectful adults. Feedback is mainly given in writing and less in amount than the

educators would prefer due to big classes. I found out that many of the educators find

23

it hard to establish a continuous feedback for each of the learners, mainly because of

the great number of learners in each class and the fact that the view on feedback is, in

many cases, this; it should be given to a learner in solidarity without other learners

interpreting it. Many of the educators also have a view on corporal punishment that it

does have a good effect, but that there are other ways to establish discipline and

respect that will work better in the South African school of today. However, corporal

punishment does occur at the school, in small amount and without crossing the line

to abuse that many of the educators mention when speaking of corporal punishment.

The educators know that in using corporal punishment, the school governing board

will not support them. These are the results found. I will discuss the results under the

three headlines Respect, Feedback, Corporal punishment, and Future guidelines.

6.2.1 Respect

My research indicates that educators will seize their responsibility in raising the

learners into respectful adults. This resembles the research of Skinner and Belmont

(1993) which indicates that educators who care are looked upon as carriers of

democratic interaction styles. Three of my respondents talk about the importance of

earning the learners respect by getting to know them and showing them respect. This

resembles the way Kimber (2005) who explains the establishing of respect relations.

She writes about the building of relations in a class. She also advises educators to

have every child feeling noticed. Acknowledgement of the learners is mentioned by all

of my respondents as an important part of their work with the learners.

6.2.2 Feedback

The purpose of feedback is to increase the learners’ individual development and

his/her ability to learn (Ashford & Cummings, 1983) and for a learner to receive

feedback in a proper way, the feedback should be concrete and aim towards a task or

a goal (Hattie & Timperley, 2007). Therefore, summative assessments such as marks

and grades are not to prefer as a primary form of feedback, provided that the goal of

the feedback is the learners development and ability to learn. Previous research

concludes that feedback given as formative assessments is developmental for the

learner and that summative assessment is judgemental for the learner (du Plessis et

al., 2007). This resembles the way my respondents talk about assessment. My

research indicates that there is a will among educators to give more formative

assessments directly to learners and some educators sees the summative assessments

24

as something that is not mainly developing for the learners, but rather something that

the educators need to show their work.

6.2.3 Corporal punishment

I conclude, in my research, that corporal punishment does occur at the school. This is

in line with the research of UNICEF (2010) that shows that in average 75% of

children in the world experience corporal punishment. It is also in line with Morell

(2011) who draws the conclusion of corporal punishments persistence in his research

made in South African schools. My result indicates that the educators of the school

draw a line between corporal punishment and abuse. It is, however, concluded that

corporal punishment often escalates to physical abuse and thousands of children are

killed, injured and physically disabled as a direct cause of corporal punishment.

(Global initiative to end all corporal punishment of children, 2013) Furthermore, the

review shows that the child always experience corporal punishment as painful. One

hypothesis to explain the persistence of corporal punishment is that there is lack of

knowledge about the effects of corporal punishment and what corporal punishment

really is among educators. This is in line with previous research; (Dubanoski et al,

1983). This lack of knowledge gives that informing and educating the educators about

corporal punishment is of importance (Abrahams et. al., 1992).

My research also indicates that there is a demand of corporal punishment at school

from parents and learners. Morell (2011) concludes in his research that corporal

punishment is more common in schools in black and coloured areas since corporal

punishment is more likely to be part of the home discipline. The result of my

research, which was conducted in a coloured community, indicates that the parents

and learners often demands corporal punishment.

6.3 Future guidelines

Under this headline, I will discuss some of the aspects of my results that carry an

interest for future research.

In my result, respect from learners to educators is important for the respondents, and

my research is in many ways focused on the raising of learners into respectful adults,

although respecting the learners is of importance for my respondents and it is part of

my research. For future research, it would be interesting to further explore the

respect given from educators to learners. Feedback is important to the development

of a learner and his/her ability to learn (Ashford & Cummings, 1983). My research

25

indicates that feedback is important to educators, but that they are unable to find the

time and place for it. Therefore, the possibilities of finding that time and that place

for educators would be a good topic for future research. A suitable aim scientific

question for such a research could be; is it possible to implement space for this

element of feedback in the school system? It would also be interesting to look closer

into the effects of giving learners summative assessments and only summative

assessments, or vice versa; to give learners formative assessments and only formative

assessments. It is also of great importance that educators have the knowledge to give

constructive feedback. This can be achieved by further educating the educators.

Further education is also needed when it comes to corporal punishment. This need

includes both educators, learners, and parents. Such education should be aimed

towards areas with lower social-economic status. The persistence of corporal

punishment in spite of banning of it raises the question of what else that can be done

to prevent corporal punishment.

26

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Appendix Interview guide

Start up

Presentation of me and my research

Everything is confidential and voluntary

Preparing

My research

Name (confidential)

Age

Gender

Teaching subjects

Number of years as a teacher

Education

The research

Do you feel that there is a mutual respect between you and your learners?

In what ways do your learners show you respect?

In what ways do you show your learners respect?

How do you give feedback to your learners?

When a learner succeeds to perform a task, what might you do or say to them?

When a learner fails to perform a task, what might you do or say to them?

What effect do you think grades and other summative assessments have on a

learner’s development in your subject?

What is your view on corporal punishment?

Have you experienced corporal punishment in your time as a teacher?

Is there any situation where you think corporal punishment can be beneficial?

Finishing up

Is there anything you would like to add?