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Perceptions of school climate: a comparative study of a former white and a black South African high school
School climate is a determinant of academic performance, as supported by evidence in developed countries. However, there are limited studies from developing countries to test this hypothesis. The few studies that have attempted to explore this topic are often limited to educators. Studies in South A...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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Graduate School of Business (GSB)
2021
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| _version_ | 1867613305640583168 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Mokhele, Reitumetse |
| author2 | Nilsson, Warren |
| author_browse | Mokhele, Reitumetse Nilsson, Warren |
| author_facet | Nilsson, Warren Mokhele, Reitumetse |
| author_sort | Mokhele, Reitumetse |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | School climate is a determinant of academic performance, as supported by evidence in developed countries. However, there are limited studies from developing countries to test this hypothesis. The few studies that have attempted to explore this topic are often limited to educators. Studies in South Africa show this limitation, hence the motivation to explore school climate from the students' perspective. This study is focused on students' perception of school climate and how it impacts their academic lives. Two schools from the Western Cape Province were used as case studies. They were Pinelands and Langa High Schools, institutions that are distinct in terms of their history, location, resources, demographics and academic performance. The results of the study revealed that most students do not feel safe physically and emotionally in the school environment. In a multiracial school, the main concern is around interpersonal relationship, particularly the level of social support received from teachers; while in a black and disadvantaged school, the concerns are around institutional environment relating to the physical environment and facilities in school. Additionally, students from the privileged school had more emotional concerns, and did not believe that teachers supported them socially, while those from the disadvantaged school had physical safety concerns but believed that their teachers are supportive both academically and socially. The study concludes with a recommendation for future studies to consider more than two schools, expand the geographical scope, employ rigorous data collection, and assess multi-stakeholder perceptions of school climate and the link it has to academic performance so as to improve reliability and generalisability of the findings. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/32821 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:34:00.978Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| publishDateRange | 2021 |
| publishDateSort | 2021 |
| publisher | Graduate School of Business (GSB) |
| publisherStr | Graduate School of Business (GSB) |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/32821 Perceptions of school climate: a comparative study of a former white and a black South African high school Mokhele, Reitumetse Nilsson, Warren Western Cape Province Pinelands high schools Langa high schools school safety School climate is a determinant of academic performance, as supported by evidence in developed countries. However, there are limited studies from developing countries to test this hypothesis. The few studies that have attempted to explore this topic are often limited to educators. Studies in South Africa show this limitation, hence the motivation to explore school climate from the students' perspective. This study is focused on students' perception of school climate and how it impacts their academic lives. Two schools from the Western Cape Province were used as case studies. They were Pinelands and Langa High Schools, institutions that are distinct in terms of their history, location, resources, demographics and academic performance. The results of the study revealed that most students do not feel safe physically and emotionally in the school environment. In a multiracial school, the main concern is around interpersonal relationship, particularly the level of social support received from teachers; while in a black and disadvantaged school, the concerns are around institutional environment relating to the physical environment and facilities in school. Additionally, students from the privileged school had more emotional concerns, and did not believe that teachers supported them socially, while those from the disadvantaged school had physical safety concerns but believed that their teachers are supportive both academically and socially. The study concludes with a recommendation for future studies to consider more than two schools, expand the geographical scope, employ rigorous data collection, and assess multi-stakeholder perceptions of school climate and the link it has to academic performance so as to improve reliability and generalisability of the findings. 2021-02-11T19:04:58Z 2021-02-11T19:04:58Z 2020 2021-02-11T19:04:17Z Master Thesis Masters MPhil http://hdl.handle.net/11427/32821 eng application/pdf Graduate School of Business (GSB) Faculty of Commerce |
| spellingShingle | Western Cape Province Pinelands high schools Langa high schools school safety Mokhele, Reitumetse Perceptions of school climate: a comparative study of a former white and a black South African high school |
| thesis_degree_str | Master's |
| title | Perceptions of school climate: a comparative study of a former white and a black South African high school |
| title_full | Perceptions of school climate: a comparative study of a former white and a black South African high school |
| title_fullStr | Perceptions of school climate: a comparative study of a former white and a black South African high school |
| title_full_unstemmed | Perceptions of school climate: a comparative study of a former white and a black South African high school |
| title_short | Perceptions of school climate: a comparative study of a former white and a black South African high school |
| title_sort | perceptions of school climate a comparative study of a former white and a black south african high school |
| topic | Western Cape Province Pinelands high schools Langa high schools school safety |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/32821 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT mokhelereitumetse perceptionsofschoolclimateacomparativestudyofaformerwhiteandablacksouthafricanhighschool |