Exploring the school culture in a township primary school

Abstract

Educational change in most South African public schools resulted in irregular school attendance by learners; poor performing schools; disputed authority relations between principals, teachers, learners and parents; low morale; general demotivation; conflicts and violence around the school. A negative school culture results in low academic achievement and a high number of disciplinary problems that can result in the malfunctioning of the school. Schools that exhibit a negative school culture experience learners that are unmotivated, unwilling to learn and who demonstrate disruptive behaviour. The study was directed by the following research question: How does school culture impact on the functioning of a township primary school? The attitudes, perceptions and beliefs of the principal, teachers, parents and learners towards the school culture were explored through interviews with the principal and four grade 7 teachers, a focus group discussion with the parents, class observations of one grade 7 class and learners' drawings of the school culture. The transcriptions were analysed using qualitative content analysis. The findings suggest that the learners seem to be the victims in the scenario of this particular school, while all the other stakeholders blame each other and in doing so, add to the negative school culture, rather than trying to improve the school culture in some or other way.