Abstract:
Research indicates that the academic resilience of the primary school learner depends
on the quality and the nature of support they receive, a good school, family and
community partnerships lead to enhanced academic learner achievement, self esteem, school attendance and social behaviour. The purpose of this study was to
explore the support strategies used by parents to enhance the academic resilience of
their primary school learners (Grade 7 learners), i.e., how parents support their
children with their academic work in terms of coordinating their academic activities and
realising their academic weaknesses and strengths.
The qualitative research method was used to explore and understand the perceptions
of the parents on which resilient strategies are key to the academic resilience of their
children. The sampling technique chosen in this research study was non-probability
intentional sampling. The sample size adopted for the study was 10 parents at the
Stanza Bopape Drop-In Centre. A single focus group interview was used to collect
data. The theory on the social ecology of resilience by Ungar was used to guide this
research study as it looked at the social and physical ecologies that provide protective
factors to enhance resilience in learners. The inductive thematic data analysis was the
chosen analysis method for this study. The interest in this research study was in
exploring the different strategies that parents use to support their young children’s
academic work. This was identified as a gap in research, especially in South Africa.
In this study it was found that the majority of the parents use the following support
strategies: creating a supportive learning environment, monitoring academic work,
communication, and motivation. The researcher believes that all these strategies are
very significant in the nurturing of primary school learners’ academic resilience and
should be researched further to assist the Department of Basic Education to develop
interventions that will include enhancing the relationship between the parents and the
schoolteachers.
Ultimately, this research study hopes to build and contribute to the growing field of
parent-school collaboration in enhancing the resilience of primary school learners. The
findings of the study will assist in providing the necessary tools required by
practitioners (teachers and educational psychologists) to develop appropriate
interventions to assist in the academic performance of primary school learners in the
basic education system of South Africa. An exploratory study with learners as
participants, sharing their experiences of the support they receive from their parents
is recommended for future research.
Keywords: Learner; Resilience; Primary school; Academic resilience; Parent
