Self-esteem enhancement of learners in primary school context

D.Litt.et Phil1. Motivation for the study The study was introduced with a brief discussion of school social work and the need for social work in contemporary education. It was found that the aims and nature of group work practice in schools as preventative and therapeutic, aimed at preventing problems relating to self-esteem which might hinder learners in their school work, ability to achieve and feel more worthy and at incorporating the individual in groups so that he might feel that he has a place in society. In South Africa there have been significant development in the history of education, but school social work has not as yet featured in these developments. Some private schools in South Africa have their own resident school social workers. Schools rely heavily on the guidance educator to guide and help learners through turbulent times and to equip them with the necessary life skills which include self-esteem, for the future. Sadly, these educators in many instances do not have the necessary skills and training to help learners prepare themselves adequately to cope in troublesome times, and the existing programmes implemented does not meet the needs of the learners. In the past, Guidance was often ignored as a subject. Formerly self-esteem was not regarded as a life skill that needed attention. Life skills education was not formally part of the guidance curriculum. Usually the gaining of life skills was left to chance. Experiential learning is most successful in the context of group work. Practically all life skills education lessons are based on group work. Students have experience of being in a group in some form or other, and therefore this method of social work is something to which most learners can relate. 2. Goal of the study From the motivation for the study, the research goal was formulated; namely the development and evaluation of a self-esteem enhancement programme. This programme is intended for primary school learners in the intermediate and senior phases and the programme should form part of their total school curriculum. 3. The integrated developmental research and evaluation model To fulfill the goals of the study, it was necessary to conceptualize a theoretical developmental research and evaluation model (Nel & Nel 1993; Nel 1992). This model mainly consists of Thomas’ (1984) four-phase model, which includes an analysis-, design-, developmental-, and evaluation and distribution-phase. Each of the phases includes a number of material conditions, and methodologies that is used to fulfill the material conditions. As the programme has to form part of the total school curriculum, in the design phase of Thomas’ methodologies were deviated from and was concentrated on the training models in Industrial Psychology, as well as curriculum models in Education. De Vos’ (2002) Integrated Model of Programme Evaluation was selected for the evaluation phase. 4. The analysis phase In the first phase, an analysis of the training problem was done, and the state of existing interventions was researched followed with a statement of feasibility which influenced the decision to continue with the design phase. 5. The design phase During this phase the following material conditions were fulfilled, the goals and aims that were formulated for the programme, a practice model was drawn up, a tentative representation of the innovation was made, and the innovation procedures were established. Regarding the practice model, an integrated practice model was drawn up that served as an explanation model in which the contents of the self-esteem enhancement programme could be justified. From the practice model, critical role descriptions were identified including a skills repertoire, followed with determination of skills to be addressed in the programme. During the design phase it was also necessary to establish programme content, specifying of teaching strategies and teaching resources. 6. The developmental phase Subsequent to the formulation of the developmental plan, operational planning took place regarding the implementation of the pilot use and developmental testing. Upon implementation of the programme, certain refinements were necessary; however, the programme in its original form did fulfill the needs of the research study. Included in the developmental phase the main emphasis was on programme monitoring (qualitative) and impact evaluation (quantitative). A quasi-experimental research design were used which included a pre- and post-test. The control group included intermediate and senior phase primary school learners from Leicester Road School. The evaluation instrument used during the impact evaluation phase which included a Self Perception Scale (SPS) which is a paper and pencil self-report measure that is used to measure self-esteem. Relevant hypotheses were formulated and parametric hypotheses test the two-sample test of means: independent samples were used. The validity and reliability of the measuring instrument were tested using the Cramer’s V and Cronbach’s Alpha tests which proved that the measuring instrument can be considered valid and reliable. The independent samples t-test was used to determine the statistical differences between the two groups. 7. Main conclusion Mainly it was found that a self-esteem enhancement programme could be implemented that will fulfill the research goal. Regarding the programme goals and objectives, it was found that the programme in general did fulfill the programme aims and programme goals. It would appear as if the programme did not manage to meet the needs of all the learners and that adjustments to the final product had to be included. It was also found that the level of self-esteem in boys from the township as opposed to boys living in the suburb did not differ significantly.Prof. J.B.S. Nel Prof. B. Mitchel