Information-seeking behaviour of in-service secondary level Geography teachers in Lesotho

Abstract

This article is part of a doctoral study undertaken in the Department of Information Science at the University of Pretoria. It describes a now-completed investigation of the information-seeking behaviour of secondary level in-service geography teachers in Lesotho using focus group discussions. There were 82 participants in this sub-study teaching in various schools that offer geography both at junior and senior secondary levels in Lesotho. The study used Leckie, Pettigrew and Sylvain's (1996) model of the information seeking of professionals as its framework. Although Leckie et al's (1996) model identifies five work roles that trigger information needs, the empirical component this study identified three work roles: educator role, administrative role and non-academic role. In addition, the secondary geography teachers who were studied tend to use syllabus documents, learners' textbooks and colleagues as predominant information sources. They prefer information that will be easily understood by their learners and go to great lengths to seek information related to what they will deliver in class. This article offers a descriptive report of some key results.