| Summary: | A mini dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Education in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Masters Of Education in Research Methodology in the Department of Educational Psychology and Special Education at the University Of Zululand, 2016 === This study was designed to explore educators’ views on the challenges facing the teaching of Life skills in Umkhanyakude primary schools. The study was motivated, among other things, by the paucity of literature regarding educators’ views on the challenges facing Life skills in rural area primary schools. Life skills are a mandatory subject for all learners at Junior and Intermediate phases. It deals with the holistic development of the learner throughout childhood and equips them with knowledge, skills and values that will assist them to achieve their full physical, intellectual, personal, emotional and social skills (DoE 2012). To guide the study three research hypotheses were formulated and statistically tested at a/the 0.05 level of significance. The study adopted a quantitative research approach using descriptive survey design.
The sample for the study comprises of 202 educators in Umkhanyakude Districts primary schools. This/the sample was obtained using the random sampling. Data was obtained from the sample using a questionnaire. The questionnaire is a 24 item, which was designed in a Likert like 5 scale. The validity of the questionnaire was obtained through a sample pilot test of 60 educators and the reliability coefficient of 0.753 was obtained using the Crobach’s Alpha. The data obtained from the sample was analysed using the Chi Square with SPSS. The study’s findings revealed agreement amongst educators that there are challenges facing the Life skills teaching. In addition, the study revealed that an overwhelming majority of educators (99%) confidently agree that Life skills can be used as an intervention to counteract the challenges faced in the Life skills class. Additionally, the study revealed that biographical information like gender and post level have no significant influence on the educators’ ability to indicate different challenges experienced in Life skills class, while, on the other hand, age, phase, experience and qualifications was found to have a significant impact on the educators’ ability to indicate different challenges experienced in Life skills class. Likewise, the study revealed that there is no evidence that educators’ view on the challenges facing Life skills teaching depend on the post level and gender. The respondents’ opinions were independent of gender, meaning that males and female homogenously agree that there are challenges when teaching Life skills. Based on the findings of the study, it is recommended that all educators teaching Life skills must be professionally qualified as the study revealed qualification influence the teachers’ ability. More important is that educators with more years of teaching experience may be the ones teaching the subject as per the study results. It is also recommended that efforts should be made by stakeholders, especially the Department of Education, to motivate educators teaching Life skills considering the importance of Life skills education in equipping learners with essential skills to cope with the various challenges learners are facing. Efforts should be made to ensure the continuity of Life skills education as an intervention in schools. Finally, it is recommended that there should be networking and collaboration between educators; especially for those qualified and those unqualified to teach Life skills education, as the findings indicated as such.
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