Abstract
M.A.
According to the Report on Marriage and Divorce
(Department of Internal Affairs 1981: report no.
07/02/15), 17 065 cases of divorce were recorded among
the white population of South Africa in the above
mentioned year. A total of 22 167 minor children were
involved.
Statistics therefore indicate that many children today
find themselves in broken homes, where the full
responsibility of child rearing rests on single
parents. Single parents who, because of internal and
external factors are not always fully capable of
accepting and answering to this responsibility.
Problems are usually vaguely associated with single
parent families. This study was intended to clarify
the specific educational problems of the single parent
family.
With the aid of six socio-pedagogic categories a deeper
perspective into the single parent situation was
gained. The research covered a theoretical study of
the relevant literature and the formulation of a number
of criteria to evaluate the quality of educative
support rendered to the toddler in the home, as primary
educational situation. From these criteria a
structured questionnaire was formulated, by means of
which the views of 21 single parent mothers residing in
Alberton, Boksburg and Germiston were ascertained ...