Vulnerability and Children's Real-Life Schooling Experiences in Swaziland

Abstract

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.

Vulnerable femininities: Implications for rural girls' schooling experiences in Swaziland

“…Swaziland's education policy defines vulnerable children as children who are orphaned, living in childheaded households, and children from resource-poor social and economic backgrounds (Swaziland Ministry of Education and Training, 2011). These children are locally referred to as bantfwana bendlunkhulu [those cared for by the whole community]; their educational fees are catered for by the government (Motsa & Morojele, 2016). HIV and AIDS, the main precipitators of parental deaths in Swaziland, expose many schoolgirls to the above-stated vulnerabilities.…”

Coaching life skills through sport: An application of the teaching personal and social responsibility model to youth sport in eSwatini

“…The findings from the current study therefore provide further justification for the positive experiences that emaSwati youth can be exposed to if concerted efforts are made to invest in sport-based positive developmental experiences. In addition, the coaching bonds developed through this program were described by the youth and coaches as positive but also vastly different from the normal adult-child relationships experienced by youth (and especially socially vulnerable youth) in eSwatini that are typified as autocratic with unequal power dynamics (Motsa & Morojele, 2016). This type of sport programming therefore exposed youth to opportunities for positive attachment and connection to adult figures that are not normally available to them in their larger everyday lived experience.…”

“…Principles of reinforcement have a long history in the education system to influence student behavior and the combined use of punishment and reward has been identified as an effective behavioral management strategy (Hamilton, 2016). In the school system in eSwatini, the use of punishment and reward is a widespread practice so it is a behavior management strategy that youth experience frequently (Motsa & Morojele, 2016). Notably, one study conducted in eSwatini reported that the use of corporal punishment is often higher for vulnerable children given that they often fail to comply with strict school rules related to homework completion and dress code because of their social circumstances of neglect (Motsa & Morojele, 2016).…”

“…In the school system in eSwatini, the use of punishment and reward is a widespread practice so it is a behavior management strategy that youth experience frequently (Motsa & Morojele, 2016). Notably, one study conducted in eSwatini reported that the use of corporal punishment is often higher for vulnerable children given that they often fail to comply with strict school rules related to homework completion and dress code because of their social circumstances of neglect (Motsa & Morojele, 2016). However, the use of rewards, and punishment, as disciplinary strategies are extrinsic motivators for behaviors that do not facilitate the strengthening of intrinsic motivation or the internal regulation of youth behavior (Deci, 1972).…”

“…As identified by the afternoon club teacher, the central concern with managing discipline was the challenge of balancing the environment of empathy and unconditional positive regard with a firm hand for discipline. Given that the school system in eSwatini uses very strict authoritarian discipline strategies (Motsa & Morojele, 2016 and youth spend the majority of their days in school, it becomes challenging for an afternoon sport program to cultivate intrinsic regulators of behavior.…”