Abstract
M.Ed. (Education)
This study explores how an educational excursion, as a small-scale living and learning community promotes social integration in a customised First Year Experience (FYE) programme in the Faculty of Education at the University of Johannesburg. Most of the first year student teachers are first generation university learners and they have a need for a well-directed intervention to accelerate their process of enculturation into university life, socially, and in terms of the curriculum. This study focusses on how an educational field excursion influenced first year pre-service teachers’ ability to develop social relationships with peers, and the values they attached to these connections for their integration into university. Additionally, the educational field excursion served as a unique opportunity for first year pre-service student teachers to form new social relationships with peers and to capture if these relationships formed endured over a period of time.
This study used multiple methods of data generation, including a biographical survey and questionnaire to capture students’ first impressions of the excursion as a cohesive device, followed by dyadic interviews with a sample of students two and a half years later. Qualitative content analysis led to two main findings. First year student data reveals the many challenges they face and how they see the role of the excursion in helping them traverse their individual racial, cultural, and religious and language differences. The educational excursion seems to serve as a bridge that assisted students in finding points of commonality and overcoming challenges in their transition into university. Secondly, the relaxed social tone of the excursion and the nature of activities aided students’ development and interaction and lead to investment in long lasting relationships. Students still reflect on its value for their social integration more than two years afterwards. The study concludes with recommendations for other First Year Experience Programmes at UJ.