Abstract
Socioeconomic factors such as unemployment, poverty and under developed areas have an effect on the learning of learners in the Free State province. The diversity in the classroom gave rise to Inclusive Education. The White Paper 6 (2001) acknowledged that children irrespective of their age, gender, ethnicity, language, class, disability, HIV or other infectious diseases can learn and be supported. This, however, needs teachers to be properly trained in supporting all learners with their barriers to learning. Therefore, the study on teachers’ challenges in supporting learners with socioeconomic barriers to learning was fit to address the challenges teachers experienced in the inclusive environment. The primary aim of this study was to investigate the challenges teachers experience while supporting learners with socioeconomic barriers to learning. A qualitative method was used for this research study because it is exploratory in nature and a case study design was utilised to give better understanding of the phenomenon. Eight teachers participated in this study and were purposively selected as they worked and interacted with each other in the same school. Teachers indicated that they want to help learners, but they were not properly trained in dealing with the diversity of barriers learners experienced in the learning environment. As a result, teachers experienced challenges in their teaching and learning environment, some of these challenges are socioeconomic barriers to learning such as (teenage pregnancy, poverty and unemployment, school-based violence, overcrowded classrooms to mention but a few) that have an impact on the educational development of the learner. Findings in this study revealed that teachers need to be continuously trained to be able to support learners with socioeconomic barriers to learning.
M.Ed. (Inclusive Education)