| Summary: | 1. AIM OF STUDY: It is usually taken for grru1ted that pupils who frequently
change from one school to another will experience, to a
lesser or greater degree, various types of learning difficulties. When a pupil is underachieving and it is known
that he/she has changed schools this factor is very often
taken as the main reason for the learning problems and
other possible reasons are ignored. The changing of
schools as the cause of learning difficulties is thus over
emphasized.
When a pupil changes from one school.to another, it sometimes
happens that the determining factors for scholastic achievement are more favourable in the new school than they were
in the previous one. Under such circumstances it can be
expected that the pupil's scholastic achievement would improve rather than regress.
The following goals have been set in this study:
(a) To determine whether all pupils, who change from
one school to another, will regress in their
scholastic achievement;
(b) to determine what steps can be taken to avoid or
remedy learning problems which may occur as a
result of pupils changing from one school to another;
(c) to examine the effectiveness of these precautions
and remedial actions.
2. STUDY METHOD: Two study methods were used. Firstly a study of literature
was made and secondly an empirical research was carried out.
The study of literature was undertaken to discover the
factors which influence the scholastic achievement of pupils.
Attention was paid to the physical, cognitive, social,
language and religious development of the child up to
approximately 14 years of age; physical and psychological
factors arising from the child's personality; the influence
of the milieu and the influence of the school on the scholastic achievement of pupils. A reasoned summary was compiled
as to the degree to which these factors were influenced by
pupils changing from one school to another.
The empirical research took place in standards 3, 4 & 5
in an Afrikaans medium school with an enrolment of more
than 750 pupils. This particular school was chosen because
special attempts were being made by teachers to anticipate
learning problems which might occur as a result of changing
schools.
In each standard there were 5 experimental groups, viz.
pupils who had attended three or more schools, pupils who
had changed from one school to another during the previous
3 years, pupils who had experienced changing schools but
who had attended the same school during the previous
3 years, pupils who had changed schools at least 5 times,
and pupils who had changed schools during the year of the
investigation. There was a control group in each standard
made up of pupils who had never changed schools.
3. IMPORTANT COUCLUSIONS: (a) At the particular school at which the research was
undertaken, it was found that the relationship
between a pupil's scholastic achievement and I.Q.
was the same for pupils who bad changed schools
as for pupils who had attended only one school.
(b) The results of the empirical research proved, however,
that the more often a pupil changed schools, the
worse was the effect on his scholastic achievement.
(c) Pupils in std. 5 revealed greater benefit from
steps taken by teachers to help newcomers, than
those in std. 3 and 4.
(d) If the necessary steps are taken, pupils, who change
from one school to another, can successfully be
aided to overcome a great deal of the learning
problems which might be experienced. === Thesis (MEd)--PU vir CHO
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