Abstract
South Africa has made great strides in improving the lives of all children. Since democracy, advances have been made in providing protective and psychosocial support services (PSS), and ensuring access to them for many children. Like other countries across the globe, South Africa has responded to the need for PSS at schools to address social problems, such as violence, poverty, crime, substance abuse, high dropout rates and teenage pregnancy, which impede teaching and learning. However, there is still a need for more sustained and targeted responses: The current interventions are one-size-fits-all, designed to address specific problems identified at schools. Adolescents’ own views about PSS, which would inform relevant intervention, are rarely considered. Even though problems are escalating at schools, adolescents continue to be marginalised and misrepresented during programme planning.
The aim of this qualitative study was to understand how adolescent learners in Grades 8–10 in Botshabelo Township, Free State province, experience the provision of PSS at secondary schools.
The study was guided by the National Child Participation Framework and the structuration theory, which enabled the researcher to understand the agency of adolescents in the structural constraints of their lives and the realities of PSS at their schools. The study adopted an exploratory research method located in a qualitative research design. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 16 adolescents from two secondary schools in Botshabelo Township.
Thematic analysis was employed to analyse results. The overarching finding of this study was that PSS are of great importance to and valued by adolescents. They reported positive experiences of receiving PSS. They were able to use the study as a platform for raising their voices and recommended that extracurricular activities at schools be added to PSS. The adolescents’ view of safer spaces was that recreational activities would occupy them constructively and give them opportunities to express their feelings.
The study proved that engagement with adolescents in the development of policies, strategies and programmes for PSS would provide insights on relevant, impactful interventions, based on their expressed needs and realities.
Key words: Adolescents, psychosocial support, secondary schools, child participation.