Academic literature on the topic 'Mainstreaming in education – Lesotho – Maseru District'

This study investigated parental understanding of the concept “Parental Involvement in Education” of their children (PIE) in three inclusive secondary schools in the Maseru District of Lesotho. It also investigated the extent to which parents make contributions to the education of their children. The study was quantitative, exploratory in nature and used a 5-point Likert scale questionnaire to collect data. 700 parents in these schools were randomly selected to fill the questionnaires and the data were analysed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software. The results revealed that most parents understand PIE and its implications, but do not do much to assist teachers in schools. Mothers appeared to support the teaching of their children more than fathers. Prominent barriers in their efforts to help teachers included work-related commitments and a lower level of education. The study proposed formation of support groups involving all stakeholders for the purpose of raising awareness about PIE, educating parents about their roles in the education of their children, and improving communication among all stakeholders.

The study reported on here was conducted to investigate the perceptions of 8 learners in a secondary school in the Maseru district of Lesotho about inclusive education as it relates to learners with visual impairment. This school had integrated children with visual impairment. The study was conducted using a qualitative research approach, and a case study format was adopted. Eight participants (aged 16–23; 5 girls and 3 boys) participated in the study. Two focus groups were formed: one comprised 4 learners without visual impairment, and another 4 learners with visual impairment. Focus-group discussions were followed up with individual interviews. The results reveal that learners (with and without visual impairment) had mixed opinions about the integration of learners with visual impairment in their mainstream school. On the one hand they pointed out that inadequate resources and the unwelcoming infrastructure of their school discouraged this integration. Those with visual impairment also pointed to their exclusion from sports activities by their peers, as well as the occasional use of exclusionary language by some of their teachers, as indicating that special schools were better places for them. On the other hand, the learners stated some of the benefits of including learners with visual impairment in their school. These included enabling peer tutoring, peer consultations, and a slower pace of teaching. Learners with visual impairment also stated that inclusion had improved their social life, by enabling them to learn better ways of living with people without visual impairment. Based on these benefits, learners welcomed the inclusion of those with visual impairment in mainstream schools.

Thesis (M. Tech.) - Central University of Technology, Free State, 2006
The demand for continuing reform to technical and vocational education system and its products and services had been inevitable. The challenge for both the Lesotho Ministry of Education and Training Department of Technical and Vocational Education and Training and the Lerotholi Polytechnic had been to develop strategies, which would enable both economic and social goals to be realized. However, it had been a major concern that the present training system had been having some limitations and the Government’s investments in technical and vocational education produced un-healthy results and returns. The private sector had a poor few of the quality and relevance of the training offered by the public technical institutions; more specifically the Lerotholi Polytechnic, and majority of the labour market had been reluctant to employ the graduates from the institution. If quality assurance and relevance prevailed the private sector would send their employees, supervisors and managers for skills upgrading to the Lerotholi Polytechnic. The Government of Lesotho could promote its economic growth and poverty alleviation objectives if the existing tailored training substantiated to impact on the socio-economic development. The study was intended to investigate the impact of the Lerotholi Polytechnic programmes on the socio-economic development on Lesotho with special reference to Maseru district. The premises lied upon access to the Lerotholi Polytechnic technical and vocational education programmes, relevance of these programmes towards socioeconomic development, their quality assurance for the contribution towards the socioeconomic development and the training and learning strategies employed in the Lerotholi Polytechnic. Management issues such as planning, control and coordination also had to be envisaged with respect to the legal framework of technical and vocational education. Both the Lesotho Ministry of Education and Training Department of Technical and Vocational Education and Training and the Lerotholi Polytechnic formed the sample population whose responses had been triangulated in the quest for the imperative epistemic of the impact of technical and vocational education on the socio-economic development of Lesotho with special reference to Maseru district. Results had been presented and findings acknowledged. Recommendations had been advocated for the better functioning of the Lerotholi Polytechnic programmes in the contribution towards socio-economic development of Lesotho with special reference to Maseru district.

Thesis (M. Ed.)- Central University of Technology, Free State, 2012
The aim of this study was to investigate the challenges that teachers face with regard to the implementation of inclusive education in the Maseru district of Lesotho. The skill, training of teachers, planning and the way in which inclusive education is implemented has a great impact on learners. In this study, a quantitative method using survey research design in the form of a semi-structured questionnaire was applied to collect data from randomly selected teachers in two districts of Lesotho, namely Lithabaneng and St. Bernadette. Questionnaires were used extensively because they provide an efficient way to obtain information about a wide range of research problems. The basic objective of the questionnaire was to obtain facts and opinions about a phenomenon from people who are informed on the particular issue. The research study revealed two most profound results. Firstly, that teachers are not properly trained and consequently experience serious challenges when teaching learners with special needs in an inclusive classroom. Secondly, that inclusive education is not properly implemented because the results show that most Lesotho school buildings do not accommodate children with physical disabilities. Furthermore, it became evident from the results of the study that implementation of inclusive education is not well monitored. The recommendations made in this study are that teachers need to be trained properly with regard to inclusive education and its implementation in Lesotho and for future construction of building structures by the Lesotho government ensures that provision is made for learners with special needs.

Scholars emphasise the pivotal role that teacher perceptions play in the success of inclusive education (IE). Using Bourdieu’s (1985-1999) three conceptual tools of habitus, field and capital as a theoretical framework, this qualitative case study was designed to investigate secondary school teachers perceptions of IE – particularly with regard to the inclusion of children with disabilities in mainstream schools in the Maseru District of Lesotho. Data were collected using rural and urban focus-groups’ interviews. After analysing the data using categorical indexing, and discourse and comparative analysis methods, seven overriding themes emerged: teacher philosophical understanding of IE, teacher inclusion experiences and challenges, teacher classroom practices, teacher opinions about IE, key elements of IE, advantages of IE, and disadvantages of IE. Both focus groups demonstrated similar, but diverse conceptualisations of IE: as an integration movement requiring students to adapt to the school environment; as a segregation movement justifying special schools for students with severe disabilities; and as an education-for-all movement requiring that schools adapt to individual learner needs. The teachers understood that IE had social benefits for learners who could not reap its academic benefits. They used their traditional nurturing approaches to teach learners with different abilities – such as by memorisation of concepts and maximising peer interactions for the purpose of peer tutoring. However, the teachers’ insistence on corporal punishment and forcing learners to speak English in schools seemed to compromise their inclusion efforts. The study also found that despite the culturally influenced, positive and nurturing instincts of teachers in relation to supporting the education of children with disabilities, they were confronted with numerous challenges. These included: lack of knowledge and skills to effectively implement IE, lack of resources, lack of collaborative support from parents and government, and lack of incentives to boost their morale. It is recommended that teachers be equipped with theoretical knowledge of IE and with practical skills to implement it. Pre-service and in-service training was recommended in this regard. It is also recommended that all stakeholders in Lesotho secondary education bring together their resources, expertise, knowledge and enthusiasm – in an effort to make IE in Lesotho both successful and sustainable.
Inclusive Education
D. Ed. (Inclusive Education)

A research report submitted to the Wits School of Education, Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education by combination of coursework and research. Johannesburg, 2016.
As a fulfillment to the Constitutional obligation which is to offer education as human right to everyone, Lesotho has introduced free primary education in schools. This is also a commitment to the Education For All movement. Despite the initiative the country has taken, there are some vulnerable groups of children who are deprived of their right to education. These include girls who fall pregnant while still pursuing their studies. These girls are faced with challenges which include being expelled from school when they fall pregnant. Those who are allowed to continue their studies, they experience marginalisation that may result into exclusion from school. This qualitative study has therefore investigated marginalisation that is experienced by the girls who fall pregnant while still at high school in the Maseru district of Lesotho. The study was conducted through interviews with teachers, pregnant girls, and girls who have babies and still in school, and girls who should be in school, but have been asked to leave school. The findings revealed that girls in schools and out of school are marginalised for similar and different reasons by their teachers, parents and peers. Teachers use language and labeling which humiliate these girls while parents neglect their daughters when they fall pregnant. Rejection by peers has also been revealed in this study. All these marginalisation experiences could be attributed to the silence of the Lesotho Educational Act about teenage pregnancy. Schools in the sample have different policies with regard to teenage pregnancy. As a result some schools exclude teenage mothers from education.
MT2017

Following the introduction of a new curriculum, Business Education, in Lesotho secondary schools this study focused on investigating teachers’ experiences in implementing the new curriculum in their classrooms as well as the factors associated with the success or failure of its implementation. This qualitative case study was used to provide in-depth insight into the day-to-day implementation of Business Education, successes and failures of teachers (teachers’ experiences). It further gave me an opportunity to delve into the weaknesses and strengths of the cascade model of training teachers, which was offered to teachers during implementing a new curriculum. Data was collected from three secondary schools in Maseru, Lesotho where six teachers were purposively selected from Lesotho Commercial Subjects Teacher Association (LECSTA). The data collection methods used are influenced by interpretivist paradigm and the study used individual interviews with open-ended questions, non-participatory observation and documents reviews of the lesson plan books, scheme of work and record of work done as well as the students’ test scripts. A review of few documents was used to compliment data collected through the first two methods of data collection. A theory of curriculum change was used in the study and ethical issues were considered. The findings of this study revealed that teachers were not adequately trained on how to implement Business Education and not many teachers were involved in the design of the new curriculum. They were not even trained on the teaching methods because the NCDC just assumed that they would not have problems. Teachers also showed that performance of Business Education is not good because teachers hate teaching theory, as a result concentrate more on practical, which leads to students hating it as well.
Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2010.

This study was designed to investigate "Factors promoting high teacher turnover at Mabathoana High School in the Maseru district-Lesotho". This is a church school situated in the urban areas of Maseru. This study employed a case study approach where the following questions were raised: What is the nature of leadership within the school, how are the relationships within the school as well as to what extent does the community around the school influence teacher turnover? The findings of the study revealed that the leadership did not seem to adequately involve sub-ordinates in decision-making. Moreover, relationships among teachers as well as between teachers and students seemed to be smooth, but relationships with the principal seemed to be not conducive. The community around the school did not seem to contribute to teacher turnover in the school, as it seemed to be supportive of teachers' activities. The recommendations of the study were that the Ministry of Education should review the Teaching Service Regulations in order to ensure that principals are trained in administration, leadership and management skills before assuming the position of headship. School leaders should involve teachers in decision-making to a greater extent through the use of teamwork. School leaders should ensure that teachers are adequately motivated at all times. This can be achieved through the establishment of co-ordinated staff development activities, provision of incentives and so forth. Teachers should be assisted to improve and strengthen the existing relationships Between themselves and the management, among themselves, between themselves and students as well as between themselves and the entire community are sound. They should also increase areas of school community interaction. This can be achieved through more staff development workshops, which will enhance their skills.
Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2004.