Abstract
M.Ed.
Since the transformation of the education system in the past years, many
township educators are struggling against incredible odds to maintain a semblance of
professionalism. This has resulted in educators becoming demoralized, frustrated and
disillusioned. A large number of educators in township schools have expressed the
desire to quit the teaching profession. The education authorities are beginning to
realise this problem and it has resulted in a radical redevelopment of interest in the
needs of educators in recent years. As a result of several complaints from educators
the researcher decided to conduct a study on the needs of township educators with
regard to psychological support services.
Participants from four focus groups of educators as well as four principals were
interviewed as the target populations in the study. A qualitative research design that
is explorative, descriptive and contextual, specifically to the needs of township
educators from Soweto was used for the study. Data was collected through the use of
focus group discussions, phenomenological interviews and life studies (essays). Raw
data was reduced and analysed by categorising in order to obtain the themes and subthemes
which emerged. The use of an independent coder addressed the credibility of
the study.
In analysing the data two broad categories were identified in line with the purpose of
the study, namely the professional needs and the psychological needs of educators in
township schools. Under professional needs the following were most common:
training needs, need for functional school based support teams, need to interact with
parents, curriculum needs and lack of facilities. Under psychological needs the
following were most common: low morale, lack of education support services in
schools, employee assistance programme and counselling needs.