Abstract
The high drop out rate of black students at Universities and other tertiary institutions throughout the world has been of concern to these institutions, and has been researched for many years. This research looked at the high drop out rate of black students from the Educational Psychology Masters course during the period 2002 to 2006 at a Gauteng University in South Africa.
The study investigated the experiences of the participants who dropped out or nearly dropped out of the course and attempted to identify the extrinsic and intrinsic barriers to learning that contributed to this.
The researcher made use of an interpretivist, qualitative, case study design to explore the experiences of the black participants. The data collection methods included individual and paired interviews, using open-ended questions, as well as incomplete sentences questionnaires. Themes established were verified by participants at the end of the data collection process.
Data was analysed using the constant comparative method and aspects of grounded theory. Six themes emerged as findings, which were discussed in detail. These included three external barriers to learning, namely, “lack of time”; “lack of resources” and “structure of the course and University factors”. Two themes emerged which were discussed as internal barriers to learning, namely “cultural factors” and “lack of skills”. The sixth and final theme fitted under the heading external and internal barriers to learning and discussed “overt and covert racism” experienced by the participants.
Recommendations were made to minimise the barriers to learning experienced by the participants, and to better accommodate their needs within the course and University structure.
The limitations and strengths of the research were explained and the research brought to a conclusion with recommendations for future research within this realm made.
Prof. J. Pillay & Dr. E. Fritz