Abstract

MOTSA, Ncamsile Daphne  and  MOROJELE, Pholoho Justice. Vulnerability and Children's Real-Life Schooling Experiences in Swaziland. Educ. res. soc. change [online]. 2016, vol.5, n.2, pp.35-50. ISSN 2221-4070.  http://dx.doi.org/10.17159/2221-4070/2016/v5i2a3.

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.

Keywords : vulnerability; children; schooling; experiences; rural; Swaziland.

        · text in English     · English ( pdf )