Black rural primary school teachers' attitudes towards children with emotional and behavioural disorders

M.Ed.Unfortunately, many teachers seem not to be aware of the role played by emotions, especially the negative ones, in the teaching and learning situation. As a result, many teachers attribute poor scholastic performance indiscriminately to either laziness or stupidity ( Pringle, 1986: 77) and other factors that are exclusive of emotional problems. Because of these negative attitudes, children with emotional problems may find it difficult to learn effectively. If teachers are, therefore, not trained to teach children with emotional problems, children's learning and overall development may continue to suffer. A secure emotional base is a pre-requisite for effective learning (Winkley, 1996: 1-2 ). A learner whose emotional life is taken care of, stands a better chance of making academic progress over those who are emotionally deprived or abused.Teachers, therefore, need to be equipped with knowledge of the children's emotional life, especially the strategies for teaching children with emotional and behavioural problems. This knowledge is of vital importance if their attitudes towards children with emotional and behavioural problems is to be changed to the benefit of these children, because knowledge forms part of beliefs and beliefs are the cornerstone of attitudes ( Hewstone, Stroebe, Codol, & Stephen, 1988: 143 ). Successful learning may be enhanced by identifying the unproductive attitudes held by teachers and by inculcating positive ones by equipping them with knowledge about the emotional states of children with emotional and behavioural problems. Against this background, the problem to be researched in this study can be stated as follows : What knowledge do teachers have with regard to emotional and behavioural problems of learners? What are the perceived causes of emotional and behavioural problems in learners, and what are the attitudes of teachers with regard to these learners? What guidelines can be developed for teachers in order to enhance their teaching of these learners