Exploring the teacher-learner ratio and its effect on invitational teaching and learning: A South African study

Abstract

There has been a rapid growth in learner enrolment in all South African public schools. The increased number of learners per teacher has created many challenges in the quality of teaching and learning. Various authors and educationist have argued and agreed that the teacher-learner ratio has an impact on invitational teaching and learning. Invitational teaching and learning (education) was coined by Purkey and Novak to ensure a conducive learning environment. They proposed the five powerful Ps, namely, people, places, policy, programmes and procedures which, if applied effectively will ensure classroom success. In this paper a quantitative descriptive study was undertaken to investigate the effect of the teacher-learner ratio on invitational teaching and learning using a survey to 150 participants in primary schools. Data was analysed using frequency tables. The findings of this study revealed that the teacher-learner ratio has a negative impact on the quality of teaching and learning. Teachers found it extremely difficult to offer support to learners who experienced barriers to learning. Furthermore, the large class size and overcrowding had an impact on the provisioning of resources to learners. The study recommended that the post-provisioning norms for South African schools should clearly articulate 1:30 so that school principals adhere to the policy. Finally, it is also recommended that all teachers should be capacitated through a formal programme on classroom management, especially large classes.

Keywords

• teacher-learner ratio
• class-size
• overcrowding
• invitational teaching and learning
• Invitational Theory

Supporting Institution

University of Zululand

Project Number

Doctoral thesis

Thanks

Thanks to the University of Zululand for awarding the degree to me which was supervised by Prof M.S. Vos and G. Urbani. Thanks to the editor of JEGYS for accepting to review the article.

References

1. Africa Check. (2018). Women teach and men lead? Gender inequality in South African schools was examined. https://africacheck.org/fact-checks/reports/women-teach-and-men-lead-gender-inequality-south-african-schools-examined
2. Ballantine J H (1983). The sociology of education. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
3. Creswell, J.W. (2014). Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative and Mixed Methods Approaches (4th ed.). California: Sage.
4. Dhal, P.K. (2021). Women and Teaching Profession. Conference paper presented in the National Seminar at THIS, Patna on 14 Feb 2016.
5. Du Plessis, P. & Mestry, R. (2019). Teachers for rural schools - a challenge for South Africa. South African Journal of Education, 39(1). Online version ISSN 2076-3433. http://dx.doi.org/10.15700/saje.v39ns1a1774
6. Ecole Admin. (2021). Importance of Discipline in Students' life. June 20, 2021. https://www.ecoleglobale.com/blog/importance-of-discipline-in-students-life/
7. Egley, R., (2003). Invitational leadership. Does it make a difference? Journal of Invitational Education, 9:57-70.
8. Haigh, M. (2011). Invitational Education: Theory, Research and Practice. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, (1):299-309.

9. Hartshorne K (1992). Crisis and challenge: Black Education 1910-1990. Cape Town: Oxford University Press.
10. Hun School of Princeton. (2019) Everything you need to know about student-teacher ratios. https://www.hunschool.org/resources/student-teacher-ratios
11. Ismail, N.A.H. & Tekke.M. (2015). Rediscovering Rogers's Self Theory and Personality. Journal of Educational Health and Community Psychology, 4(3):2088-3129
12. Johnson, W.L. (2014). Strategies for Improving School Performance. Conference Presentation. 2014 Curriculum Conference, June 11-12, 2014. Region VII Education Service Centre. Longview.
13. Koc, N. & Celik, B. (2015). The Impact of Number of Students per Teacher on Student Achievement. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 177: 65-70. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.02.335
14. Kohler, T. (2020). Socioeconomic Status and Class Size in South African Secondary Schools. Stellenbosch Economic Working Paper: WP01/2020. Department of Economics. University of Stellenbosch. South Africa.
15. Le Roux J (ed) (1993). The black child in crisis. A socio-educational perspective. Pretoria: JL van Schaik.
16. Loeng, S. (2020) "Self-Directed Learning: A Core Concept in Adult Education," Education Research International, vol. 2020, Article ID 3816132, 12 pages, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/3816132
17. Maree, J.G. (Ed.). (2020). First Steps of Research. Pretoria: Van Schaik Publishers.
18. Matthews, P.G. & Ellis, A.B. (2019). Natural Alternatives to Natural Number: The Case of Ratio. Journal of Num Cognition. 4(1), 19-58. doi: 10.5964/jnc.v4i1.97
19. Meador, D. (2019). Solutions for teaching in an overcrowded classroom. ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/teaching-in-an-overcrowded-classroom-3194352
20. Phitidis, K. (2022). An aspiration to retain young teachers as a national teacher network is launched. Daily Maverick. https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2022-10-14-an-aspiration-to-retain-young-teachers-as-national-teacher-network-is-launched/
21. Purkey W W (1987). What is an invitational theory, and how does it relate to practice? Greensboro: University of North Carolina.
22. Purkey, W. (1991). What is invitational education and how does it work? Oxford: Oxford University Press.
23. Purkey, W. & Aspy, D. (2003). Overcoming tough challenges: An invitational theory of practice for humanistic psychology. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 43:146-155.
24. Purkey, W. & Novak, J. (2015). An introduction to invitational theory. Journal of Invitational Theory and Practice, (1):1-7.
25. Purkey, W. (1992). An introduction to invitational theory. Journal of Invitation Theory and Practice, 1(1):5-14.
26. Singh, P. & Mahomed, C.C. (2013). The Value of Mentoring To Develop Student Teachers' Work-Integrated Learning Skills. International Business & Economic Research Journal, 12(11): 1373-1388
27. Smart, L. (2019). Teacher experiences in creating an invitational learning environment in a diverse classroom. Master dissertation. Unpublished dissertation. The University of Pretoria. Pretoria.
28. Smith, K. & Hunter, M (2007). Inviting school success: Invitational Education and the Art Class. Journal of Invitational Theory and Practice, (13):8-15.
29. Tani, M. (2019). Why are teachers mostly female? SBA News. https://www.sbs.com.au/news/insight/article/why-are-teachers-mostly-female/lh5hu1tfg
30. Thakur, S. (2021). Is teaching the most lucrative career? Are teachers getting paid well ?https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/teaching-most-lucrative-career-teachers-getting-paid-well-shiv-thakur
31. Van de Walle, J.A., & Lovin, L.A.H. (2006). Teaching student- centered mathematics: Grades K-2. Boston: Pearson.
32. Venketsamy, T. (2000). The educator-learner-ratio and its effects on invitational learning. Unpublished Doctoral thesis. Durban: University of Zululand.
33. Venketsamy, R., Smart, L and Sing, N. (2020). Teachers’ perceptions in creating an invitational learning environment in culturally diverse foundation phase classroom. Perspectives in Education Journal. 38(2): 118-137. https://doi.org/10.18820/2519593X/pie.v38.i2.08
34. West, J & Meier, C. (2020). Overcrowded classrooms - The Achilles heel of South African education. South African Journal of Childhood Education, 10(1): 1-10
35. Wokoma, I.P. (2020). Learning and problem-solving: Using problem-solving methods to achieve learning in pupils. African Social and Educational Journal, 9(3): 239-250.
36. Wright, MC., Bergom, I. & Bartholomew, T. (2017). Decreased class size, increased active learning? Intended and enacted teaching strategies in smaller classes. Active Learning in Higher Education, 20(1): 51-62. https://doi.org/10.1177/1469787417735607
37. Zenda, R. (2019. Impact of the learner-educator ratio policy on learner academic achievement in rural secondary schools: A South African case study. African Education Review, 3. 37-51. https://doi.org/10.1080/18146627.2019.1588748