South African educators’ experiences of learners who may have ADHD in their classrooms

Abstract

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), according to the DSM-IV-TR, is a developmental disorder that is first identified in childhood, where children display inattention and hyperactivity, impulsivity or a combination thereof. This PhD study focuses on understanding and explaining how educators understand learners who may have ADHD in their classrooms. The main research question is: “How do educators experience learners in their classrooms who may have ADHD? ”The main research question was developed into sub-questions: 1) How do educators experience teaching and teaching the learner who may have ADHD? 2) How do educators manage their classrooms with learners in their classrooms, who may have ADHD? 3) How has the experience of educating learners who may have ADHD influenced or affected the educator? A narrative research design was employed, whereby 17 educators, from three different schools from Gauteng were interviewed. Informed consent was collected from all participants. The textual data was analysed using content theme analysis. The educators’ narratives varied according to teaching experience and maturity within the diverse context of the school environment. Five themes emerged from the data generated from the study. Findings from the study indicate that: (1) learners who may have ADHD appear to be treated differently from the other learners; (2) the educators’ keep learners who may have ADHD busy with different activities as one of the methods most commonly used in managing learners who may have ADHD; (3) the educators feel that learners who may have ADHD challenge them; (4) educators feel that they need to be able to share information with other educators on how to manage and support learners who may have ADHD and that they need outside assistance from a specialist and (5) the educators feel that parents do not pull their part in assisting educators and/or learners who may have ADHD. Subsequent to the theme analysis two interviews were then selected, instrumentally analysed and discussed in order to represent personalised accounts of educators’ experiences of learners who may have ADHD in their classrooms. Lastly, the themes have been presented as a narrative.