PSP2500 Barriers To Learning

Barriers to Learning
What are those factors that impede learning?

Why do we send children to school?
Intrinsic factors as barriers…
• Intelligence Quoficient
• Genetic factors (What “good” and “bad” genes have I inherited from
my parents?)
• Developmental delays: premature birth; alcohol-fetal syndrome, etc.)
• Impairments – emotional, physical, psychological, psycho-social,
intellectual, sensory.
• Situated within/ inside the child: mostly easy to assess by looking at
the child and running tests on the child.
Extrinsic barriers to learning …
• General socio-economic factors (poverty, child-abuse and neglect).
• Discrimination and stigmatization on the basis of race, class,
appearance, blood relations, etc.
• Fixed curriculum: things are only done in a certain way: one-size fits
all!
• Language and communication issues.
• Context and background issues (pot)? Draw.
• Inaccessible, unsafe school environments (Bullying, distances,
facilities)
Extrinsic Factors continue …
• Lack of support for the diversity of learning needs.
• Improper home-school partnership. Parents who cannot/ or are not
willing to participate in education. (Discuss reasons).
• Lack of recognition of traditional and cultural learning theories.
• Disconnection between what learners know and what teachers know about
what learners know.
• Lack of recognition of the role of parents (by parents and teachers).
• What other factors have you observed in the schools or communities that
pose barriers to learning.
Categorizing barriers to learning ….
• Individual factors (teachers, learners, parents, communities).
• Curriculum factors (medium of instruction; foundational skills,
teacher motivation, learner motivation, relevance of the curriculum).
• Learning environment factors (Is it a welcoming environment).
• Home/ community factors: types of households (child-headed
households; multi-layered families; etc).
• Community and Societal Factors: Broader economic, social and
cultural conditions.
Theoretical Framework …
• We can interpret things from various perspectives.
• Sometimes we use traditional and cultural theories for example the
reasons we use for making judgements about people with disabilities
or people from other cultures or children from rich families, etc.
Bronfenbrenner (1979)…
• The social context (socio-economic conditions, cultural beliefs,
values, etc) play an important role in how children learn.
• We should continue to question theories we assume as a norm:
• Corporal punishment
• “Childhood” –when does it start and end?
The Eco-Systemic Perspective …
• It emphasizes how people individuals are linked at different levels of
society through dynamic, interdependent, interacting relationships.
• These different levels are referred to as systems.
Micro-systems …
• Where children are closely involved with familiar people to whom
they are connected either by blood or love relationships.
• Mostly this is the home.
• Under normal circumstances, the micro-system offer love, safety,
security, comfort.
• The moment the child feels unhappy or scared anywhere, they run to
their micro-system for shelter and protection.
Meso-system …
• A set of micro-systems that continuously interact with one another
and complement one another.
• Now we introduce a wider circle: the neighbours, the pre-school,
friends.
• What happens in the one micro-system influences how the child will
respond in amother.
Exo-systems …
• This include systems with which the child does not have direct
contact but still have an impact on her/ his live.
• These could be the parents’ workplaces, sibling’s friends, etc.
Macro-system…
• These involves big social and economic issues like the drought, floods,
cultural values and rules regarding children, etc.
Chrono-system …(came later in 1982)
• How time affects interactions between various systems and their
impacts on individuals.
• Families change and develop themselves: when the mother gets a
better job, the family moves to a better neighborhood. These have an
impact on how children progress in learning and in social circles.
• Changes may be good but may also be bad.
Nomsa’s case study
• Read Nomsa’s case study at page 34 and answer questions on page
35.

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Barriers to Learning

What are those factors that impede learning?

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