The impact of learner transport on Grade 3 learners' physiological, emotional and educational well-being: a case study of a rural primary school in the Cape Winelands, South Africa

This dissertation examines the impact of various modes of transport on Grade 3 primary school learners' well-being in a rural school in the Cape Winelands district of the Western Cape, South Africa. The study moves beyond this narrow frame of physical transport to include the physiological, emotional, and educational domains of learners' lives. The individuals' physiological, emotional and educational well-being are utilised as analytical categories. The research used a mixed-methods design in a case-study approach. The qualitative data was derived from learner focus groups, open-ended interviews, and learner and teacher questionnaires. The quantitative data was derived from school records of learner attendance, Western Cape Education Department (WCED) term schedules and the WCED Systemic test results for the school. The main findings were as follows: (1) On a physiological level, irrespective of the mode of transport, access to school was found to be difficult but not impossible due to dangers and similar safety issues for all learners including pedestrians (2) On an emotional level, again all learners faced similar fears and trauma possibilities, and lacked the support of professional counsellors (3) Educationally, the bus passengers performed worse than other MoTs, whereas the pedestrians were the highest performing group. Also, seasonal change influenced learner absenteeism and similar attendance patterns were found for all MoTs in summer but in winter the pedestrians came to school more often than the bus passengers.

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

School of Education

Year dc:date.issued

2018

Author dc:creator

• Portwig, Carla

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Gilmour, James David

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/11427/27905

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/27905