Factors Affecting The Effectiveness Of Remedial Work Policy In Selected Secondary Schools In Kasempa District
- April 19, 2021
- Posted by: rsispostadmin
- Categories: IJRSI, Social Science
International Journal of Research and Scientific Innovation (IJRSI) | Volume VIII, Issue III, March 2021 | ISSN 2321–2705
Lastone Musongole & Ferdinand M. Chipindi
University of Zambia
Abstract: The study aimed to explore the factors affecting the effectiveness of remedial work policy in selected secondary schools in the Kasempa District of North-Western Province of Zambia. Despite the existence of localised corrective work policy in schools and the emphasis on the need for sustained remedial work, academic achievement remained low in secondary schools of Kasempa District. This is as evidenced by results in the National Examinations at grades 9 and 12 levels. We used a descriptive case study design to collect and analyse the data. The factors explored were government and school policies on remedial work, teacher preparedness and ability to prepare various teaching/learning activities, and the headteacher characteristics and support to remedial work. On the other hand, external factors explored included parental monitoring of learners’ schoolwork, parental guidance and checking on homework, home environment and parental support to learners’ education. The study recommends that similar studies be conducted throughout the country.
I. INTRODUCTION
Remedial work is a form of cooperative and supportive learning between teachers and learners. It is intended to help learners who fall behind grasping lessons during average learning time (Shield & Morgan, 1998). Arising from this definition, it follows that carrying out remedial work emanates from the teacher’s understanding of the learners’ low capability to learn. The teacher will have noted that the learners being handled in a subject are not exhibiting the desired and expected learning outcomes, as dictated by the curriculum and syllabus. Teachers have a responsibility to help identified slow learners who fail to comprehend lessons during regular time-tabled classes. As such, teachers frequently employ remedial work to achieve teaching/learning goals. For this reason, restorative work is also referred to as supplementary teaching (Shield & Morgan, 1998; Moonga et al., 2018).
According to some research findings (Swarup-Mehta, 2011), remedial teaching leads to remarkable positive changes in cognitive and thinking abilities even after a short period of three months. It has also been recognised that Phonological and Reading Remediation programmes improve learner ability (Silva &Capellium, 2010). Both Swarup-Mehta (2011) and Silva & Capellium (2010) asserted that remediation improves perception, production and manipulation of sounds and syllables by learners, which directly interferes with the reading skills comprehension of learning materials by learners. Studies have shown that instructional quality determines learners’ academic achievement (Levpuscek & Zupancic, 2009) and that learner-centred instruction resulted in higher learner academic achievement than lecture methods (McEwin & Greene, 2010; Manchishi & Hamweete, 2017).
