A psycho-educational programme aimed at teachers to assist learners in accelerating learning

D.Ed.Teachers do not easily identify or use the thinking skills (support skills) present in themselves in their planning activities. The learners equally when they move from the Foundation phase to the Intermediate phase [from grade 3 to grade 4] do not reflect such support skills. Learners are thus unable to work quickly enough to acquire the new skills that are required in the next stage of their education. The problem of learning another language often encountered by learners when they come to formal school exacerbates the already challenging circumstances reflected in a country impacted by poverty. They have already acquired thinking skills in the process of learning their primary or home language. They often begin to learn this additional language during the foundation phase, and then in the intermediate phase they have to use the new language for the acquisition of knowledge and learning. In the schools in this study both the teachers and learners usually have to use the additional language as the language of learning and teaching (lolt). The main thrust of learning and teaching takes place in the intermediate phase where new subjects and learning areas are introduced and grounded. The research objectives of this study are to develop, implement and develop guideline for the evaluation of an educational programme that will assist Grade 4 teachers identify the schema or support skills that they use in planning for teaching and specifically language teaching. To enable the PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com v teachers to act upon this information [data] in such a way that it will assist their learners with their learning needs during the first stage of the Intermediate Phase (grade 4) of their schooling, to promote faster learning. A long-term aspect of this intervention would be accelerated or assisted learning that will better equip the learner to more successfully move through all the phases of their education and eventually for life. The teachers would, as a result of the success of the programme, be further encouraged and motivated in their work. Further goals that arise out of the overall objectives of the study § Exploration and description of grade 4 teacher’s experience of scaffolding they use when planning their programmes with their learners. § Description of an approach to support the Grade 4 teacher and the teacher educator. § Description of guidelines to operationalise the support approach by the curriculum specialist. Qualitative strategies such as focus group interviews and naïve essays were engaged in and this resulted in the discovery that planning did not play an important part in the lives of the participant teachers nor for that matter were they using cognitive structures that led to planning. The lack of reflection on PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com vi the meta-cognitive structures in their own lives led to the learners being undirected and thus impeding their learning. With this in mind a conceptual framework was developed out of which a programme was subsequently developed that looked at ways in which the problems experienced by teachers in using their cognitive support skills or scaffolding for planning could be obviated. A programme that assists teachers identify their own support skills and to use them appropriately, so the learners are enabled to learn faster was then developed. Once the programme had been developed, guidelines for its implementation and evaluation were then designed so that the programme could be assessed as to its effectiveness