Research for Social Justice: The Narrative for Improving Academic Performance of Learners from Distorted Backgrounds

Abstract

There are three problems that have been an albatross on the neck of a free South Africa, inequality, poverty and unemployment. The government calls them the ‘triple challenges’. Being conscious of the depth and enormity of the triple challenges, in 2009 the government identified education as first among the priorities to be addressed because it has the potential to help solve the challenges faced by the country. It is believed that if learners can be given a good quality and relevant education, an education where learners are equipped with skills, this can go a long way in addressing the triple challenges. This paper is an attempt at answering the question: how can universities assist in solving the problem of poor academic poor performance by students from disadvantaged backgrounds since they are the ones that train teachers. Tied together with this question is the issue of quality education. Social justice research is used as theory for the grounding of the paper. Suggestions on what needs to be done in response to the situation are made at the end of the paper.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n20p1854