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    Gender-based violence among high school youth in the Umlazi District, Durban
    (2023) Dlungwane, Angel Duduzile; Hamlall, Vijay
    Violence in schools is on the rise in South Africa, and its impact on students is becoming increasingly clear. Of particular, gender-based violence is a challenge in many South African schools. Whilst most studies frequently focus only on the victims' experiences, this study explored the effects of gender-based violence on victims as well as the perpetrators. The aim of this study was to explore gender-based violence amongst high school youth at Vuma High School and Phakama High School situated in the township of Umlazi, Durban, KwaZulu-Natal. This study investigated the nature, causes and effects of gender- based violence at these chosen schools. The theoretical foundation of this study is based on a socio-constructivist approach, which underpins the study's methodological design and is informed by the perspectives of many researchers on gender violence among school-going learners. Twenty-four learners and twenty educators were purposively selected from two Durban-based high schools in the Umlazi district. The twenty-four learners interviewed were identified from educator’s observation of conflict situations at the school, in the classroom and the playground, particularly between male and female learners. The educators identified those learners who diffused the conflict peacefully and those that fostered violent reactions. The learners chosen were from the FET phase (15-18 years of age). The twenty most senior educators formed the sample of educators for this study. Seniority was determined according to the number of years teaching experience. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with both the learners and educators. Three focus groups interviews for learners as well as for educators were also conducted in each of the chosen schools. Participation in this study was voluntary with confidentiality maintained. The data was recorded and transcribed to ensure credibility. The results were interpreted and analysed against existing literature using thematic content analysis. The findings of this study revealed that gender-based violence was implicitly and explicitly enacted. The implicit violence took the form of having fun and joking at the expense of the girl learners. On the other hand, explicit violence took the form of interpersonal violence and sexual abuse. Significantly, it emerged that the main causes of gendered violent behaviour were associated with the boy learners’ construction of masculinity as well as the gendered practices within the school environment. This study recommends an integrated comprehensive approach of all stakeholders in the form of educational intervention programmes towards resolving school genderbased violence.
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    Educating secondary school learners on nonviolence using a transformative approach to reduce violence in a Zimbabwean secondary school
    (2023-04) Moyo, Dorothy; Harris, Geoffrey Thomas
    Zimbabwe is facing increased violence by and against learners at institutions of learning. As part of efforts to reduce school violence, this study sought to educate learners on non-violence, using a transformative approach to learning. The aim of the study was to build a culture of peace at the school of study. To achieve this, the study used a participatory action research approach to address the problem and find solutions. The study was informed by Lederach’s Conflict Transformation theory and Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems theory. Twenty-four learners and four teachers were purposively sampled to participate in the study. Data was collected using questionnaires administered at the beginning of the study to 274 learners and 20 teachers. In addition, focus group discussions, interviews and observations were used to collect data. Working with participants, an intervention to address the problem was planned, implemented and evaluated. The intervention that was put in place was a peace club. Experiential learning was the pedagogy used by the peace club. To reinforce peace club learning peace club members attended a two-day workshop on conflict resolution and transformation. Quantitative data was analysed using percentages and reported in graphs and tables. Qualitative data was analysed using thematic analysis and reported in narrative form with the use of thick descriptions. The study was evaluated for short term outcomes and the finding of the study revealed that learners can be taught non-violent ways of resolving conflict. The main reason learners resort to violence as a way of resolving conflict is because they have not been taught non-violent alternative methods. Learners are brought up in violent settings, at home, school and wider community and as they develop, they learn that violence is a means to an end and the only way of resolving conflict. Since violence is learnt, it can also be unlearnt
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    Addressing bullying at a primary school in the Ilembe District, Kwazulu-Natal
    (2023-04) Mthembu, David Nhlakanipho; Hamlall, Vijay
    School-based bullying has over the recent years become increasingly common and vicious. Schools are a microcosm of society in general. The society we inhabit has become increasingly intolerant and violent. Kruger (2013) highlighted that bullying is rife in today's school culture, with devastating consequences which negatively affect not only learners and staff, but the broader neighbourhood community, the general school climate, and the overall functioning of the school. Research, according to Kruger (2013), shows that bullying can be a precursor to aggression and, if not addressed, may lead to more serious acts of violence. Bullying is a common problem in this school, according to the research. Boys are more likely to engage in physical bullying, such as beating, punching, and kicking, whereas girls are more likely to engage in verbal bullying, such as insulting, name calling, and spreading rumours, as well as cyber bullying. The study discovered that these types of bullying had a physical, emotional, and psychological impact on students. Bullying was found to be influenced by gender, age, socioeconomic level, and sexuality in this school. The school playground has also been identified as a common site for bullying. Gender discourses, according to the findings, play a significant role in promoting bullying in this school, as boys attempt to exert control over girls. The motivation of this study emanates from the need to tackle school bullying against the backdrop of violence that learners face in their school and home life. According to Childline (2019) bullying gangs often become violent gangs that are involved in crime, so schools need to respond pro-actively to bullying to prevent it becoming gangsterism. Research shows that most children believe that when they report the bullying to an educator nothing is going to be done to stop it. The overall aim of this study was to investigate and address bullying among learners at Sund Primary School in Mandeni, iLembe District. The goals of this study was to uncover the nature of bullying that learners face, the causes and consequences of bullying at the school, the effects of bullying on learners’ lives, to use participatory action research to plan and implement a programme aimed at creating a safe positive environment and to evaluate the short-term outcome of the programme. vii A qualitative Participatory Action Research was used in this study. The data was gathered through semi-structured individual and focus group interviews. The study included ten boys, ten girls and three educators as participants. This study was further aimed at contributing towards peace building and creating harmonious teaching and learning schooling environments through an ant-bullying intervention programme.
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    Reducing school violence : a peace education project in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
    (Education Association of South Africa, 2022-05) Ngidi, Lucia Zithobile; Kaye, Sylvia Blanche
    Violence occurring in South African schools takes various forms and is a concern for all stakeholders. All forms of violence have negative effects, i.e. physical and psychological, educational damage and societal breakdown. The overall aim of the study reported on here was to explore the nature, causes and consequences of school violence, and then to design an effective intervention strategy to reduce it. In this study we used action research methodology in which stakeholders were empowered to interrupt the occurrence of violence, stop the spread of violence and change group/community norms regarding violence. This strategy of violence reduction was tested at 1 school in Umlazi, in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa, in 4 stages: initial data collection, formation of an action team, design and implementation of a strategy, and evaluation of its efficacy. The action team was composed of teachers, community members, parents and learners who developed a strategy entitled, We Care (WC). Initial from both schools data showed that schools were unsafe, with school violence caused by substance abuse, theft, vandalism, physical violence, religious discrimination, sexual violence, cyber bullying, gender-based violence and gambling. WC clustered abnormal behaviour patterns demonstrated by learners into categories: violent cases and behavioural indicators of physical, sexual, alcohol and drug abuse. WC assisted high risk learners who had decided to act non violently, help victims and assist parents and community members who perpetrated violence. A preliminary evaluation was conducted 1 year later and WC reported that they had developed capacity to assist with these categories of violence, leading to a reduction in violent behaviour at the school.
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    Intervention strategies to reduce school violence in Bhekulwandle rural community
    (2022) Mlambo, Primrose Sibusisiwe; Harries, Geoffrey; Kaye, Sylvia
    Given the extent of violence in South Africa, it is not surprising that its schools are also venues where various forms of violence are common. Since 1994, in the pursuit of ending violence in schools, attention has been given to ending corporal punishment and reducing other forms of violence; most of these efforts have emphasized retributive discipline methods. This research adopted a restorative approach to violence in one high school, with a focus on grade nine learners in 2019 who could be entering grade 10 in 2020. An action research approach and a mixed methods research design were employed. Quantitative data from learners was collected via questionnaires, and this was supplemented by focus group discussions and interviews with learners, teacher, and other stakeholders. The main finding was that restorative interventions, such as peacemaking circles, together with transformative learning - covering both the curriculum and pedagogy- contributed to building a culture of peace in this high school.
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    Developing a youth empowerment model for peaceful schools : a case study
    (2021-04) Dewan, Fathima; Kaye, Sylvia Blanche; Harris, Geoffrey Thomas
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    The nature and causes of violence among learners within one primary school in Umlazi Township, Durban
    (2017) Dlungwane, Angel Duduzile; Hamlall, Vijay
    The overall aim of this study was to examine the circumstances under which violence occured among learners at Phatheka Primary School, situated in the township of Umlazi, and in doing so explore the causes of violence among learners at this school. The study further aimed to explore the complicit role of the school as an agent in shaping the manner in which learners relate to violence and vis à vis shaping learner behaviour. The research was driven by three objectives: Firstly, to investigate the gendered, class and ethnic nature of perpetrators and victims of school violence. Secondly, to examine the intra-group interactions among peers and their positioning of each other in terms of violent behaviour. Lastly, to explore how the discipline regime of the school shaped the constructions of violent and peaceful behaviour among learners. The qualitative research approach was utilised to obtain detailed and rich data. Ten educators and ten learners were purposively chosen from one urban primary school in the Umlazi Township. The ten learners that were interviewed, were identified from teachers’ observations of conflict situations at the school, in the classroom and on the playground. The ten most senior educators formed the sample of educators for this study. Seniority was determined according to the number of years the educator had been teaching at this school. Four of the most senior male educators and six of the most senior female educators were selected. The data was collected through face-to-face interviews and focus group interviews. The composition of the group consisted of learners with different interests and cultures in order to stimulate debate. The questions asked in the focus group interviews were similar to the questions used in individual interviews to broaden the data by comparing the responses of respondents when they were on their own, to their responses in a group situation.. The data analysis process was organised according to the research questions and based on themes that emerged from the contents of the interviews. A list of themes was formed of each transcript. These themes were then grouped and organised according to similarities. The list of themes was compared to the data and codes were allocated. The data was then divided and organised into categories, relevant themes and sub-themes. The findings of this study revealed that violence at this school was mainly interpersonal. Physical violence at this school took the form of hitting, kicking, punching, slapping and other acts that caused physical pain or injury. This study found that many learners believed that certain types of muthi provided advantage to the user in conflicts and fights. Many boys at this school used vernacular expressions of stick fighting to reinforce their dominance over other boys, as metaphors of manhood that bolstered their position among peers. Physical confrontation often involved the use of sticks. Labelling also served as a trigger to ignite violence among learners. Learners labelled each other in terms of their physical appearance, their citizenship as well as their academic performance. There was strong evidence from learners’ interviews that they competed and labelled each other around issues of classroom practices and academic performance. This created tension among the learners which also led to physical confrontation and violence. Many boys subscribed to certain hegemonic notions of masculinity which created a mentality where the boys demanded respect and exercised power over girls. Boys often used violence or the threat of violence to claim and exercise this power. Romantic relationships with girls often caused boys at Phatheka to get into conflict situations in their attempts to avoid humiliation, to prove heterosexuality and to enjoy a particular status at the school. This study found that a large proportion of learners who reacted with violence when provoked, had learnt this behaviour through role models provided by parents, siblings, relatives and community members, either directly or indirectly, and that this was often reinforced at school by peers, bullies and figures of authority. Role models actively encouraged learners to defend themselves, or to solve problems, by means of force and aggression, which contributed significantly to shaping violent behaviour among learners. This notion among the learners at Phatheka Primary School that violence is the best way to resolve conflict, with or without weapons, meant that fighting became the norm at this school. Although school fights are common and every fight is different, this study found that some common causes do exist. It was also found that the school complicitly contributed to the violence among learners through school policies and the disciplinary practices of educators.