Exploring Enabler Actions Influencing Basotho Teachers’ Wellbeing to Cope with Schools’ Adversities at a Rural School

Abstract

Teachers at South African schools work under unfavourable conditions that manifest as burnout, fatigue, exhaustion and stress, violence, lack of infrastructures, lack of resources, poor working relationships, inflexible curriculum, etc. Despite these conditions, they still managed to do their jobs to uplift their community. Against this background, this study explored enabler actions that influence Basotho teachers to surmount schools’ adversities at a rural school district. It adopted a qualitative multiple case study as a research design and semi-structured interviews as data collection instrument. Four participants (n=4; females, aged 25-35 years) were selected through purposive and convenience sampling techniques. All participants worked at a South African rural school in Free State province, South Africa. They are Basotho speakers and have at least three years of teaching experience. The thematic findings revealed that Basotho teachers developed enabler actions to cope with schools’ adversities and adjust to social and cultural environments. These include the availability of supportive services, awareness of inadequate assets, awareness of teachers’ strengths, developing of teacher resilience, self-efficacy, problem-solving skills, managing self-emotions, and self-confidence. This study concluded that the identified enabler initiatives contributed and stabilized the Basotho teacher wellbeing effectively regardless of challenges at a rural school.

Received: 25 August 2020 / Accepted: 23 November 2020 / Published: 10 May 2021