Abstract:
This article uses a South African case study to argue that postcolonial, emerging
economy societies in transition often contain schools characterised as high risk
and high need. Such schools require teachers to adapt to roles other than
facilitating learning, such as psychosocial support and care, and which requires
additional professional development. In the absence of structured teacher professional
development programmes, alternatives are required to assist teachers. The
paper describes a nine-year partnership between higher education researchers
and teachers in high-risk and high-need schools in three South African
provinces. The participatory reflection and action (PRA) study served as
platform for a school-based intervention to assist in-service teachers to adapt to
their additional responsibilities. Thematic analysis was used to identify the ways
in which teachers’ adaptation to high risk benefitted from the programme, and
self-determination theory is used to argue for a dynamic and interconnected relationship
between the teachers’ demonstrated pathways to psychosocial support
and care. The article argues that in socio-politically transforming societies where
need is high for in-service teacher training and formal structures for teacher professional
development may be limited, partnerships between researchers and
teachers appear to be useful platforms for school-based interventions to support
teacher resilience.
