Vulnerability and Children's Real-Life Schooling Experiences in Swaziland

Bibliographic Data

ID6142834
AuthorsNcamsile Daphne Motsa (0000-0002-2834-8370), Pholoho Morojele (0000-0001-7266-711X), Pholoho Justice Morojele
Year2016
Volume5
Issue2
Pages35-50
Publication date2016-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEducational Research for Social Change (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2221-4070 • E-ISSN: 2221-4070
PublisherAcademy of Science of South Africa (PUBLISHER • ZA)
DOI10.17159/2221-4070/2016/v5i2a3
OpenAlexW2530792783
SCIELO_PIDS2221-40702016000200004
LanguageEN
Citations received11
References cited2

This paper foregrounds vulnerable children as a social group whose experiences should be studied and understood from their own perspectives. The paper explores the real-life schooling experiences of six Grade 6 vulnerable children, aged between 11-15 years, in a rural primary school in the Lubombo region of Swaziland. Guided by a theoretical paradigm of social constructionism, the paper engages dynamics of children's vulnerability within this context, ravaged by poverty and HIV and AIDS. The aim is to contribute insights to our understanding on how we might improve vulnerable children's quality of schooling and educational experiences. A qualitative narrative approach was adopted, using semi-structured individual and focus group interviews and a participatory research method, photovoice, for data generation. The findings indicate that vulnerable children carried trauma caused by life experiences that affected their learning. They were also found to be lacking necessities like candles to help them with studying, and had additional family responsibilities that competed with their study time. Teachers' administration of corporal punishment was found to be inequitably skewed against vulnerable children, thereby exacerbating their schooling plight

Computer security · Economic growth · Economics · Geography · Sociology · Vulnerability (computing · Computer Science · Homelessness and Social Issues · Poverty, Education, and Child Welfare · Psychology · Youth Substance Use and School Attendance

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