The purpose of the study was to develop strategies to facilitate the implementation of an existing life orientation curriculum in secondary schools in Limpopo Province, South Africa. This was followed by phase 3, which was the development of coping strategies and the validation of strategies as described.
DEVELOPMENT OF STRATEGIES
RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION
Introduction
Life Orientation was established to engage adolescent learners in the development and practice of a variety of life skills to solve problems and make informed decisions and choices (Department of Education, 2011). It has been proven that the development of Life Skills in an individual is a lifelong process that begins during early childhood and continues throughout one's life.
Background of the study
Life skills increase young people's economic and political engagement (UNICEF, 2015), address gender inequalities, increase the quality of parenting and help reduce anti-social behavior and crime (Crawford, 2012). The design and implementation of life skills and HIV and AIDS education programs, including the development of learning support materials, could promote this.
Problem statement
To reduce substance abuse among young people in Limpopo province, the study recommended the need to adopt a multi-stakeholder approach that should include government, the private sector, communities and civil society organisations. This should include interventions related to the provision of substance abuse health promotion activities, programs and service of constructive media-based public education campaigns; development and implementation of school-based substance abuse programs; and the provision of recreational facilities.
Rationale of the study
Various South African studies confirm the current low status of life orientation in the school curriculum and also the difficulties in teaching life orientation. Many of these studies also mention the inadequacy of life orientation teachers' preparation for meaningful life orientation teaching.
Significance of the study
Violence in South African schools appears to be increasing and the consequences affect not only the physical, emotional and academic lives of students, but also their resistance to delinquent and criminal behaviour. This study can provide a database for future research in the area of adolescent and school health.
Purpose of the study
Research questions
For this study, life skills refer to young people's ability to adapt and engage in positive behaviors that enable individuals to deal effectively with the demands and challenges of everyday life. For this study, the life skills education program is a life skills program which is the current program introduced in high schools by the Ministry of Education, aimed at adolescent empowerment.
Summary
While chapter one detailed the background and purpose of the study, this chapter provides the conceptual and theoretical framework of the study. This chapter represents related literature on: availability of learning and teaching materials; teaching approaches; principal's and teachers' attitude towards implementation of Life Skills Education; challenges; evaluating the effectiveness of LS programs and summarizing the literature review.
Defining Life Skills
These skills can be learned through experience and practice or developed through life skills education (Tan, 2018). The Life Skills Education Curriculum and Teacher's Guide suggest that teachers use participatory teaching and learning methods in which students identify their problems, discuss solutions, plan and implement effective action programs (Mertle, 2019).
Identifying factors contributing to the implementation of Life Orientation
This investment is worthwhile given that the potential benefits of life skills education are only limited. As mentioned by Ellsberg et al. 2015) several benefits of life skills have been reported by authors and in journals. i).
The predisposing, enabling, and reinforcing factors
Teenage pregnancy shows that non-use of condoms is also linked to high rates of sexually transmitted diseases in the province. Girls from relatively affluent households are much less likely to drop out of school than other girls and girls from households in the top 40 percent of the income distribution.
Policy and Administration
The project manager must be able to establish links with government agencies to be mobilized in support of the life skills initiative. Life orientation has a long history of supporting child development and health promotion in many parts of the world. The 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) linked life skills to education by determining that education must be aimed at developing the child's full potential.
The implementation, the design and actual conducting of LO
This can be promoted by including the inclusion of teachers and students in the conceptualisation, design and implementation of life skills and HIV and AIDS education programmes, and the development of learning support materials can promote this (Coombie, 2000a). It therefore becomes important to change this perception by ensuring that there is a gender-based balance in the distribution of teachers who teach life skills and implement HIV and AIDS education programs (Klippax, Smith & Aggleton, 2000). Many programs in the developing world are already using girls' leadership activities to promote educational outcomes.
PRECEDE is an acronym that stands for Predisposing, Strengthening, and Enabling Constructs in Education, Diagnostics, and Evaluation, while PROCEED is the second part of the conceptual model and includes four phases focused on implementation and evaluation. The main advantage of this model is its ability to facilitate the identification of desired outcomes at the beginning of the planning process, which defines the metrics of evaluation between priority health problems and community needs to establish and focus the planning process (Phillips, 2012). phases where intervention goals are formulated. The youth should be encouraged to lead the program, support the implementation of interventions and contribute to the strategy and direction of the campaign.
Behavioural and Environmental Assessment
An area of concern was highlighted as students felt that they had not been considered in the development of the Life Orientation curriculum. In a study by Karlsdóttir et al. 2019), students expressed concern that they felt underutilized. As a result, a large segment of the population is ill-equipped to contribute to the national economy, with many facing long-term unemployment and poverty.
Educational and Ecological Assessment
Limpopo needs an evidence-based, strategic response to lift the burden of ill health and disadvantage from the shoulders of young women and free our communities from the web of health and social problems and the Department of Education must support this (Phillips , 2012).
Administrative and Policy Assessment
Application of the framework in this study
However, he would first consult with the owner and begin with an idea of the house she wanted. The builder must have a picture of the finished house as well as a floor plan with some notes on dimensions and materials. The health worker consults with the local community, understands and analyzes community information, his or her own and others' observations, and the context of the problem to create an intervention that will bring about change in the community.
Summary
Introduction
On the other hand, there is qualitative research, which contrasts with quantitative research methods and uses different knowledge claims, inquiry strategies and data collection methods, where the qualitative researcher often goes to the location of the participant and thus research usually takes place in a natural environment. However, it would not become clearer by itself, so the researcher had to measure the social phenomenon and the quantitative aspect, which led the researcher to adopt a mixed methods approach. Thus, the researcher must deal with both the aspect of perception, which is generally a qualitative issue, and the concept of level of awareness, which is largely a quantitative issue.
Description of the study area
A research plan that shows how the researcher will go about achieving the objectives of the study. The researcher used a sequential design using a questionnaire to identify factors influencing the implementation of the existing life orientation curriculum in secondary schools, and then proceeded with in-depth focus group discussions with administrators and interviews with teachers to identify predisposing, enabling and reinforcing factors, can influence behaviours, attitudes and environmental factors that contribute to the implementation of life skills programs in schools. Thus, the researcher collects both quantitative data and individual qualitative interview data (Ivankova, Creswell, & Plano Clark, 2007).
PHASE 1A: QUANTITATIVE STRAND
- Research population
- Sample and Sampling Table 3.1: summary of sampling
- Data collection
- Data Analysis
- Validity
- Content validity
- Construct validity
- Criterion-related validity
- Reliability
The sample was schoolgirls in grades 10, 11 and 12 from the selected schools in Vhembe and Mopani districts. Selected adolescent school girls attending one of the selected schools participated in the study where data was collected. The researcher ensured that the questionnaire used repeated some of the questions as a reliability check.
PHASE 1a: QUALITATIVE APPROACH
- Research population
- Sample and sampling
- Sampling of the district municipalities, circuits and schools
- Sampling of participants
- The exclusion criteria
- Instruments
- The instruments of the study for teachers
- Data collection
- Teachers
- Guardians
- Measures to ensure trustworthiness
- Credibility
- Transferability
- Dependability
Each interview consisted of a researcher and two to three participants, one of whom was a Life Orientation teacher. In this study, responses were quoted extensively to rule out any assumptions made by the researcher. In this research project, both quantitative and qualitative methods were used to gain a clearer understanding of life orientation in nature in schools.
Phase 2: The development of strategies to facilitate life skill programme in Limpopo Province, South Africa
In interpreting the contributions of the study participants, derivation was used to determine the development of strategies to be used. Derivation was used to integrate the results of qualitative and quantitative data. The emerging concepts were further analyzed to identify elements of a conceptual framework suitable for developing strategies to improve life skills programs in Limpopo Province.
Phase 3: The validation of the developed strategies
The mean, mode, and median were used to express the mean scores in a distribution (Brink et al., 2006).
Ethical consideration
- Ethical clearance and permission to conduct the study
- Actions and Competence of the Researcher
- Informed consent and voluntary participation
- Privacy, anonymity and confidentiality
- Protection from harm
The researcher requested the participants who were guardians who were willing to participate in the study, regardless of age, because it is assumed that guardians and teachers of the. The participants were requested to fill in the consent form to participate in the study. Any participant who was not healthy and was not comfortable participating in the study was excused.
The principles of beneficence and respect for human dignity were observed during data collection
That is, respect for persons means that participants must be provided with relevant information in an understandable format and then voluntarily agree to participate (Gallardo, 2012). Respondents' right to self-determination was respected because respondents could decide independently, without any coercion, whether to participate in the research; they had the right not to answer questions that might cause inconvenience; to disclose or not disclose personal information and to seek clarification on any aspect that caused any uncertainty. The right to full disclosure was respected because the researcher described the nature of the research, as well as the respondents' right to participate or refuse to participate in the research.
Summary
The signed consent forms were folded and placed in a box before completing the questionnaire. Any participant wishing to obtain a copy of the research report may contact the researcher who will provide such report. The researcher placed himself directly in the place of the students, teachers and guards.
Introduction
Phase 1A: Quantitative Data
There was overwhelming evidence that experiencing gender-based violence was associated with engaging in risky sexual behavior. Despite statistical insignificance, students who had intergenerational relationships were more likely to engage in risky sexual behavior compared to their counterparts. Furthermore, the likelihood of engaging in risky sexual behavior was not statistically significant across religious groups, tribal groups, class, age, knowledge of the life skills program, and the guardian with whom the student resided (P-value and 0.394, respectively).
PH ASE 1a: T EACHERS INT ERVIEWS
- Results of interviews conducted with Life Orientation teachers
- Teachers’ understanding of LO objectives
Due to the above discussions, it was reported that the LO implementation was experiencing some challenges. The interpretation of the data suggested that the findings were reliable and relevant to the research questions. Most of the participants in each of the four focus group interviews indicated that they did not have the correct knowledge of life orientation.
Introduction
PHASE 1a: QUANTITATIVE DISCUSSION
Teenage pregnancy indicates that lack of condom use is also associated with the high prevalence of STIs in the province. A clear difference is the different perceptions of men and women, both young and old: men and boys tend to perceive that girls seek "luxury" in intergenerational relationships, whereas girls and women often declare a stronger interest in meeting basic needs. For example, in both contexts there seems to be an element of girl-to-girl 'peer pressure' in seeking cross-generational relationships.
PHASE 1B: QUALITATIVE DISCUSSION
- Life Orientation Teacher Interviews discussions
