Educators’ perceptions of barriers to learning in a Correctional Centre in the Western Cape region

Abstract

In South Africa and elsewhere all correctional centres offer educational programmes today with the aim of rehabilitating offenders by giving them the opportunity to further their studies and to develop vocational skills. However, reports show that the dropout rate is very high. This study thus explores educators’ perceptions of factors that hinder effective learning in South African correctional centres. It also examines barriers and probes strategies with the aim of finding out how deficiencies may be addressed. To this end the enquiry relied on a qualitative approach using semi-structured interviews with eleven individual educators.