The Life Orientation teachers' lived experience of courageous conversations in the independent secondary school classroom

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to determine and describe how Life Orientation (LO) teachers attach meaning to the teaching of critical content they view as controversial and can only be facilitated as courageous conversations. The Independent Education Board (IEB) introduced the formal, structured facilitation of conversations on controversial topics in the LO classroom in February 2016. The LO curriculum covers vital topics such as race, sexuality, mental health, sexual orientation, gender identification, ethnicity, culture, belief systems and privilege that require courage and teacher vulnerability. To explore the phenomenon of LO teachers’ lived experiences of courageous conversations, my study had to determine the meaning teachers attach to these controversial conversations. This meaning-making is dependent on the LO teacher’s needs, skills and agency to facilitate courageous conversation in an open, trusting, safe and respectful environment. Currently, there is limited support to develop the skills to plan, facilitate and make sense of teachers’ lived experience of courageous conversations. Moreover, the lack of recognition of LO offers minimal incentive to facilitate these formative conversations as nation-building narratives. Social constructivism was utilised as a research paradigm in this study to construct meaning from lived courageous conversations. An inductive approach was used to analyse nine LO teachers’ individual lived experiences of courageous conversations, followed by a focus group discussion to interpret their collective experiences. Phenomenology was best suited to understanding and describing the complexities of their lived experience, anecdotes and emotions elicited during courageous conversations. A nominalist approach to this study supposed that socially and historically constructed teacher identities influenced the meaning gleaned from the lived experience of courageous conversations. Interpretivist theory was utilised during the critical phenomenological interviews as it allowed the researcher to enter the participants’ lifeworld and share their lived experiences within their specific context. A qualitative methodology allowed insight to be gained from exploring and unpacking these lived experiences. These insights clarified the participants’ identity and growth as they developed new knowledge and understanding. Positive narratives and meaningful interactions promote skills development regardless of the initial cognitive and emotional dissonance individuals may experience.