Exploring school dropout among males in the greater Cape Town area, South Africa

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dc.contributor.advisorHoltzhausen, Leonen_ZA
dc.contributor.advisorStone, Susanen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorGeldenhuys, Philip Rudolfen_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2017-01-26T13:36:10Z
dc.date.available2017-01-26T13:36:10Z
dc.date.issued2016en_ZA
dc.description.abstractThe unofficial state of education in South Africa is announced annually by means of the Grade 12 results, also known as the National Senior Certificate. As a result, little attention is given to the more than half or at least 500 000 South African learners who drop out of the school system annually. Consequently, scholarly work dealing with topics relating to school dropout in South Africa is limited. This study moves the focus to a specific population group who are at risk of dropping out of school, namely male learners in poor communities. An exploratory qualitative study was undertaken to determine what the main factors are that are influencing school dropout among males in the greater Cape Town area of South Africa. The participants in this study included 49 key informants, including male school dropouts, teachers, school principals, representatives of the Western Cape Education Department, and parents of male school dropouts. Using in-depth individual interviews and focus group discussions, it was possible to establish that male school dropout is influenced by an array of factors of which some can immediately precede departure from high school while others could have happened years earlier in primary school or even before. The thesis established in this dissertation is that most of the influences on male school dropout are primarily institutional. In other words, the underlying narrative emphasising male school dropouts as the main contributors to this outcome is misleading. Indeed, most of these influences are amplified by practices within the institutional context, especially the school. A localised theoretical framework for male school dropout in South Africa is constructed with the support of Rumberger and Lim' s (2008) conceptual framework and can be understood within the school dropout models of both Finn (1989) and Tinto (1975). Furthermore, the total absence of school dropout records and statistics on a school and local district level keeps role players unaccountable for this action. As a result, teachers, school principals and Western Cape Education Department representatives are either ignorant of or paralysed by the complexities and extent of school dropout among males. Therefore, this study aims to lay the foundation for further research to inform and empower the aforementioned role players to address this problem.en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitationGeldenhuys, P. R. (2016). <i>Exploring school dropout among males in the greater Cape Town area, South Africa</i>. (Thesis). University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Department of Social Development. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/11427/23404en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationGeldenhuys, Philip Rudolf. <i>"Exploring school dropout among males in the greater Cape Town area, South Africa."</i> Thesis., University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Department of Social Development, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/23404en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationGeldenhuys, P. 2016. Exploring school dropout among males in the greater Cape Town area, South Africa. University of Cape Town.en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Thesis / Dissertation AU - Geldenhuys, Philip Rudolf AB - The unofficial state of education in South Africa is announced annually by means of the Grade 12 results, also known as the National Senior Certificate. As a result, little attention is given to the more than half or at least 500 000 South African learners who drop out of the school system annually. Consequently, scholarly work dealing with topics relating to school dropout in South Africa is limited. This study moves the focus to a specific population group who are at risk of dropping out of school, namely male learners in poor communities. An exploratory qualitative study was undertaken to determine what the main factors are that are influencing school dropout among males in the greater Cape Town area of South Africa. The participants in this study included 49 key informants, including male school dropouts, teachers, school principals, representatives of the Western Cape Education Department, and parents of male school dropouts. Using in-depth individual interviews and focus group discussions, it was possible to establish that male school dropout is influenced by an array of factors of which some can immediately precede departure from high school while others could have happened years earlier in primary school or even before. The thesis established in this dissertation is that most of the influences on male school dropout are primarily institutional. In other words, the underlying narrative emphasising male school dropouts as the main contributors to this outcome is misleading. Indeed, most of these influences are amplified by practices within the institutional context, especially the school. A localised theoretical framework for male school dropout in South Africa is constructed with the support of Rumberger and Lim' s (2008) conceptual framework and can be understood within the school dropout models of both Finn (1989) and Tinto (1975). Furthermore, the total absence of school dropout records and statistics on a school and local district level keeps role players unaccountable for this action. As a result, teachers, school principals and Western Cape Education Department representatives are either ignorant of or paralysed by the complexities and extent of school dropout among males. Therefore, this study aims to lay the foundation for further research to inform and empower the aforementioned role players to address this problem. DA - 2016 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2016 T1 - Exploring school dropout among males in the greater Cape Town area, South Africa TI - Exploring school dropout among males in the greater Cape Town area, South Africa UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/23404 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/23404
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationGeldenhuys PR. Exploring school dropout among males in the greater Cape Town area, South Africa. [Thesis]. University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Department of Social Development, 2016 [cited yyyy month dd]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/23404en_ZA
dc.language.isoengen_ZA
dc.publisher.departmentDepartment of Social Developmenten_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Humanitiesen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.subject.otherSocial Developmenten_ZA
dc.titleExploring school dropout among males in the greater Cape Town area, South Africaen_ZA
dc.typeDoctoral Thesis
dc.type.qualificationlevelDoctoral
dc.type.qualificationnamePhDen_ZA
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceThesisen_ZA
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