Conceptual learning

Conceptual learning is a process by which learners learn how to organize information in logical mental structures. Its main focus is on learning organizing principles – the way in which the mind organizes facts into ideas. Conceptual learning is a catalyst for challenging learners to think at more advanced levels. Therefore learning takes place in the form of inductive and deductive learning whereby learners shows their different ways of reasoning and understanding concepts.

According to Wiig E. H & Wiig K. M (2011); from business and societal perspectives, the main aim for learning requires learners as recipients to obtain appropriate attitude, perspectives, skills, insight, and understanding to perform desired function with proficiency in everyrespect. It is desired that the learning process be as effective and frictionless as feasible and that the content be as relevant to immediate and future requirements as possible.

In this manner, we expect that an effective learning process will provide appropriate content and prepare learners to perform well in the given tasks. When this tasks consist of further learning, we expect that during earlier learning stages, leaners will have built mental models, concepts, scripts, schemata, associations, perspectives, strategies, and so on – prior knowledge – sufficiently well to build.

Inclusiveeducationhas gained significance attention in recent years. According to the Department of education (2001b: 5) inclusive education was introduced into South Africa by the National Commission on Special Needs in Education and Training (NCSNET) and the National Committee on Education Support Services (NCESS). The NCSNET and NCESS were appointed by the Department of National Education in 1996 to investigate and make recommendations on all aspects of ‘special needs and support services’ in education and training in South Africa.

The main focus was on identifying barriers to accessing quality education for all learners and developing an education system that is responsive. Karagiannis, Stainback and Stainback, cited by Swart and Pettipher (2006: 1) explain inclusive education as ” the practice of including everyone irrespective of talent, disability, socio-economic background, or cultural origin in supportive mainstream schools and classrooms where all student needs are met”. Therefore every individual must access learning irrespective of the factors which affect him/her.

INTRINSIC FACTORS EXTRINSIC FACTORS

1. Autism
2. Intellectual impairment
3. Visual impairment
4. Chromosomal anomalies: Down syndrome
5. Brain, skull and spinal cord problems
6. Cerebral palsy
7. Chronic disease Society
8. Abuse
9. Curriculum
10. Religion
11. Bullying
12. Poverty
13. Language
14. Cultural differences
15. Poor nutrition
16. Lack of schooling
17. Harmful and negative attitudes

Bullying

School bullying is especially a deep social problem in the school premises which educators need to deal with in most time. The focus of this study is to find ways regarding the management of school bullying in secondary schools. It is important and fundamental to have a strong understanding of what the term ” bullying” means in the perspective of schooling ANDD education. Smith st al. (2013: 19) refers to bullying as a subcategory of aggressive behavior, but a particularly vicious kind of aggressive behavior, since it is directed, often repeatedly, towards a particular victim who is unable to defend himself or herself effectively.

The learner who is being victimized might be younger, less strong than others, or simply less psychologically confident. According to Smith et al, various researchers has found out that learner bullying in schools is widespread where there is institunalised schooling and many of the broad features are similar across different countries. Taking for example, there are characteristic sex differences, with school boys using and experiencing more physical means of bullying, and school girls using and experiencing more indirect or relational means such as gossips e. t. c.

We see in media that school bullying is always reported such as boys stabbing each other or girls posting embarrassing pictures or videos mostly sex videos of individuals. Bullying is a serious concern in schools because it can have a negative effect on the person being bullied, on the person doing it and also on the bystander who witness incidents of bullying. It creates a climate of fear in the schoolenvironmentas bystanders might be anxious that they will be the next on the bully’s target list.

For example, learners who bully always has to threaten bystander that they will beat them if they can tell others especially educators or parents of what they are doing to other learners (victims). Learners who are being bullied, are more likely to lack self-confidence, lack concentration, suffer fromdepressionandanxiety, poor performance and it can also lead to school drop-out of not dealt with. According to Jacobs et al. (2011: 367), the South African Constitution (1996) proclaims a child’s right tn education, but a violentcultureoften over shadows an environment that is conductive to learning, which creates a disparity between the rights of the children and the reality in school environment.

Problem statement

• In most cases it is difficult for learners and educators to tell if the behavior they are experiencing amounts to bullying. To assist educators and learners to have a thorough understanding about the kind of behavior which take place, De Wet (2016) summarized various forms and examples of bullying.
• Verbal bullying includes hurtful words hurtful name calling, teasing, gossip, vulgar language or jokes of a racist, teasing someone about their disability or body image and spreading rumors about someone and hate speech.
• Physical bullying involves bodily harm and it include punching, poking, kicking, spitting, tripping and beating.
• Non-verbal bullying involves mostly imagery and gestures including graffiti of xenophobic nature, displaying pictures that are discriminating in nature. Other form of non-verbal bullying are winking, vandalizing and stealing or damaging someone’s belonging.
• Cyberbullying includes harassment and abuse via a cellphone onsocial mediaa sites or online whereby individuals or groups post embarrassing pictures, videos or threatening messages or comments on social media.

Research questions

1. How common is bullying and how it can affect leaners?
2. What is the nature of bullying nowadays – is it mostly cyber-bullying or is there still taunting and physical bullying?
3. What are the roles of educators, principal and parents when bullying becomes a problem?
4. What are the role of learners who are aware of bullying?
5. Are victims of bullying reluctant to fight back and where they can go for help?
6. What measures are taken by the school to deal with learners who bully others?

Rationale of the study

This study is committed to provide a positive culture where bullying and harassment in any of its forms will not be tolerated. Learners and educators will have the right of respect from others, the right to learn or to teach, and a right to feel safe and secure in their school environment. The study will provide the foundation for the special issue on bullying and peer victimization in School by highlighting some of the major findings that have recently emerged from studies conducted before.

It is also objected to:

1. Understand the meaning of bullying from learners’ viewpoint and its cause.
2. Find various forms of bullying that occur in school environment and ways of managing it.
3. Find if bullying is reported and actions taken against it.

• Research Design

The researcher will use descriptive method to describe knowledge, observations and experiences of participants with regard to the school bullying.

Research paradigm that will be utilized in this study is positivism since the study will be analyzed quantitatively. Questionnaires will be used as an instrument that will gather data, objective of evidence and logical reasoning.

• Literature review

At this point, special issue highlights current research efforts in American schools on bullying and peer victimization, and links this research to prevention and intervention planning. A brief overview of several major insights gained over the last decade in bullying research is presented. The insights are not intended to be an exhaustive list, but are intended to set the stage for the special issue and future research (Espelage et al. journal of Research on School Bullying and Victimization: What Have We Learned and Where Do We Go from Here. 2013).

For far too many adults in the United States, the most vivid memory from their school days involves a distinctly unpleasant incidents, with a bully often at the heart of the memory. Some adults may remember being the victim of a bully. Some may recall being forced to stand by and watch as a good friend or weaker classmate became a victim of bullying. Another group of adults reflected, with remorse, the days when they actually bullied other learners at school.

The act of bullying, however, has far move consequences than simply contributing to unpleasantchildhoodmemories(Cooper: 2011: 16). According to Cooper, both bullies and victims of bullying showed higher rates of weapon carrying, fighting, and being injured in school fights than those who were bullies or victims. Clearly bullying is a problem that must be acknowledged and addressed.

Cavell (2005) states that bullying has a negative effect on the social environment of the school and creates an atmosphere of fear among learners. Bullying also affect learners’ ability to learn. A child who bullies is more likely to engage in other negative behavior; such as stealing and taking drugs. School bullying has serious short-term and long-term effects on learners’ physical and mentalhealth. Therefore, school can overcome this negative effect if they adopt strategies that engage learners in their work, creating positive learning environments that produceacademicachievement.

Most learners will experience bullying at some point, either as bullies, victims or witnesses. Learners who bully other, who are victimized , who both bully and are bullied, share number of common characteristics and are likely to suffer negative long-term consequences (Mathaba: 2014). Cavell explains that one of the worst effects of bullying is that victims of bullying find it harder to make friends. They fear being isolated, rejected, intimidated, discriminated and they also avoid being harmed again.

• Target population

The target population of this study will be restricted to students in grades 8 through 12, with modal ages of 13 through 17 years, in Ga-Khunwana secondary in 2018. For reasons of design, school with at least two parallel classes at each relevant grade level could be included in the study. From all these learners we had obtained written positive consent from both the individual learner and his or her parent/guardian.

The general procedure in this study will involve learners from Ga-Khunwana Secondary school as well as educator working in the school. Ga-Khunwana secondary is geographically the biggest school in Khunwana village which is located 45 kilometers from Delareyville town in the North West province.

• Sampling

A simple random sample of 40 participants will be considered. The data will be collected during school break and two trained specifically research assistants administered the questionnaire, which was composed of estimation 50 several sub-questionnaires, to learners in their respective classrooms.

Detailed instructions on how to respond and an explanation or ”meaning ” of what is meant by bullying was included in the questionnaire. In addition, the instructions were read aloud by the research assistants. The learners were strongly encouraged to give sincere answers. They were told that nobody at school or at home would be informed about how they responded.

• Measuring instrument

A closed and structured questionnaire was developed by the researcher. The questionnaire examines how bullying affect learners and the measure that educators take into account to deal with learners who bully others and who are being bullied. The questionnaire is composed of a Likert Rating Scale with five items that range from 1- 5 (strongly disagree to strongly agree) and open-ended questions.

Data collection participants with an informed consent and explains what is expected. The researcher have to provide the participants with full knowledge of relevant risks and benefits. Anonymity of individuals will be ensured and the researcher to respect their confidentiality and privacy.

Conclusion

According to (Espelage et al (2013); a great deal about the bullying phenomenon has been learned in the past two decades: however. much is still unknown about this complex dynamic. The knowledge base has been guided by international research efforts and recent work conducted by American researchers. Research consistently suggests that bullying is a complex interaction that needs to be studied using multivariate methods.

Developmental differences must be taken into account as learners’ progress through the school system. These developmental issues are particularly important for effective bullying prevention and intervention programming. Additionally, the nature and influence of the various systems (i. e. family, peer group, school) that affect learners’ behavior must be examined. This special series in School ‘ attempts to address some of these issue in bullying research.

The researcher hopes that this study will assist in getting information and statistics that will be helpful in further studies. In order for various forms of bullying to decrease, all individuals involved with the school, including parents, learners, educators, administrators as well as members of the school governing body should stand together, work together towards a common goal and make sure that bullying no longer occurs in schools.

The entire issue of bullying should remain in the forefront of our educational system and comes to an end. The South African Constitution (1996: 19) section 28) states that every child has the right to be protected from maltreatment, neglect, abuse or degradation. Thus leaners feel safe at school and become productive members of society.