Abstract
South African schools have been experiencing an increasing number of learners who have an ancestral calling and exhibit the signs while at school, leading to various consequences. This requires study into the perceptions of the various stakeholders at schools about these occurrences. Hence this study explores the perceptions about ancestral religious practices and by extension, ancestral calling in a school located in the Ekurhuleni North Education District.
This study employed a qualitative single case study method in which a particular school in the Ekurhuleni North Education District was used. The sample comprised 14 representatives of the SGB, SMT, SBST and learners. The learner participants were a combination of those with and those without an ancestral calling. The data was collected using a questionnaire, individual interviews and a focus group discussion.
Thematic analysis was conducted to analyse the data which revealed three dominant themes and several subthemes. The results revealed that there are differing perceptions about ancestral religious practice at the school. The challenges that the school is experiencing were found to be related to social, psychological, safety and educational factors. Factors that enable ancestral calling were also identified to be related to the system that the school has in place and peer support for the learners.
Recommendations to address these findings are provided for the different stakeholders on how they can manage the high incidence of learners presenting signs of ancestral calling at the school.