Arab Educational Information Network

The aim of the research was to determine how learners of the various population groups experienced their situation at desegregated, historically white schools in South Africa. A questionnaire based on Vrey’s model of the child’s experience of his situation was completed by grade 11 learners at a desegregated historically white school. It appears that the desegregation of historically white schools was still plagued by a host of problems. New learners (Indian, coloured and black learners) were not sure that they were comfortable with the following (although it was encouraging that they did not find these issues prohibitively problematic either): their academic progress, their relationship with parents and the parents’ involvement in the school, their relationship with teachers at the school, peer group relationships (internal segregation seems to persist), the curriculum, code of conduct, and accommodation of cultural diversity, and the school’s policy on religious education. In conclusion, suggestions for follow-up research on the identified remaining problematic were made. The study should be extended to more schools, and methods such as interviews, ethnographic, phenomenological and phenomenographic approaches should be employed to acquire insight into the causes, dimensions and extent of problem areas. Perspectives of parents should also be surveyed, and international comparative studies are a potentially valuable source of knowledge, especially with regard to handling/accommodation strategies. (Published abstract)