Browsing by Author "Tlali, Tebello"

Now showing 1 - 12 of 12
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    African indigenous perspectives for reinforcing moral education among the Lesotho Secondary school learners
    (ResearchGate, 2023-12) Tlali, Tebello; Sepiriti, Sepiriti
    he contemporary world faces a moral crisis affecting various spheres of life, such as the community, the family and the school. In light of this view, it is noted that the secondary school learners in Lesotho are not immune from the escalating immorality. The study, therefore, sought to explore the indigenous strategies that could reinforce moral education among the learners. The study departed from an African indigenous perspective and solicited teachers' views regarding the indigenous strategies that may reinforce moral education among secondary school learners. The Botho/Ubuntu philosophy was thus applied as the over-arching theoretical framework. A qualitative research method was adopted, and data were gathered through an open-ended questionnaire and semi- structured interviews. Twenty-eight purposively selected Lesotho secondary school teachers took part in the study. The findings suggested that community-based, school- based, lifestyle-changing strategies such as abstinence from immoral urges, e.g. sexual intercourse can reinforce moral education among Lesotho secondary school learners.
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    Challenges confronting supervision at the National University of Lesotho
    (ResearchGate, 2022-07) Tlali, Tebello; Chere-Masopha, Julia; Sebatane, Edith; Khalanyane, Tankie
    Postgraduate supervision can be a challenging form of teaching, with the challenges further compounded by context or institutional-specific factors. The Faculty of Education at the National University of Lesotho has faced numerous challenges in offering postgraduate degrees, with a few qualified supervisors for the large number of students who enrol in these programmes. This study explored the nature of the challenges confronting postgraduate supervision in this context. It was underpinned by the interpretivist paradigm and employed a qualitative approach. Fifteen supervisors participated, of whom nine (three associate professors and six senior lecturers) were individually interviewed. Six junior lecturers took part in a focus group discussion. Guidelines on postgraduate supervision were also subjected to document review. The findings revealed that while some supervisors had positive experiences, others are frustrated. This is due to a lack of training, and lack of clarity on supervisory procedures, as well as the low academic literacy and lack of commitment exhibited by some students. It is recommended that supervisors should be capacitated through training. Furthermore, supervisory guidelines should be reviewed and benchmarked against best practices in the field.
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    The challenges faced by heads of departments in selected Lesotho high schools
    (Routledge, 2020-01) Tlali, Tebello; Matete, Ntjoetso
    The role of the Heads of Departments (HoDs) in the school structure is to provide middle leadership. They assist the principals on the day to day leadership of the schools. They are responsible for ensuring the achievement of their departmental and school vision and mission. This study sought to explore the nature of the challenges faced by the HoDs in the Lesotho context. The study was framed within the interpretive paradigm and adopted a qualitative approach. The participants consisted of sixteen HoDs and eight school principals. These participants were purposively selected and then interviewed through the focus groups and semi-structured interviews. The findings revealed that the HoDs face several challenges that hinder their performance. For example, they lack the requisite skills to perform their duties. They also encounter considerable resistance from their peers. In the light of the findings, we argue that it is crucial for the HoDs to be afforded the empowerment and support that they need so that they can do their job efficiently. This support may benefit their schools as well as the entire education sector.
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    Creating an environment that nurtures deep learning
    (ResearchGate, 2019-05) Tlali, Tebello
    The paper sought to explore the lecturers’ experiences concerning their teaching strategies and students’ learning approaches at the National University of Lesotho (NUL). Thus, the paper analysed these practices mainly from the lecturers’ perspectives. The growing media negative views about the quality of the teaching and learning practices at NUL necessitated research on the matter. Departing from an interpretive paradigm, the study adopted a qualitative design. Date were gathered through semi-structured interviews with lecturers across the seven faculties of NUL. The population consisted of 300 lecturers. However, participants were purposively selected, and 14 (two from each of the seven faculties) participated in this study. The assessment papers provided by the interviewed lecturers were analysed. The findings indicate that lecturers are frustrated by the lack of a clear teaching and assessment policy. This situation is exacerbated by inadequate training in teaching and assessment. In addition, the findings suggest that there is a high prevalence of memorisation, reproduction of class notes and plagiarism among the students. The paper proposes that the institution addresses these shortcomings through clear teaching, learning and assessment policies as well as the establishment of comprehensive staff development and student support programmes.
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    Developing professionalism through reflective practice among pre-service teachers at the National University of Lesotho
    (Routledge, 2018-09) Tlali, Tebello
    This article is based on a study which aimed to explore the use of reflective practices to develop professionalism among pre-service teachers at the National University of lesotho. the study sought to contribute to the local and international debate on best practice in encouraging and scaffolding constructivism through reflective practice among teachers. Forty final year pre- service teachers participated in the study and were interviewed individually and in groups. they shared their conceptions and views about how they plan to engender professional growth in their own teaching. by engaging in this exercise, this group of future teachers was empowered to develop into reflective professionals. The findings were discussed against the Centric Reflection Model which posits the different stages and dimensions of the reflective exercise. The author argues that reinforcing reflective dispositions could promote professional growth, and decrease misconduct and lack of professionalism associated with some teachers in lesotho.
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    Exploring the prospects for professional development of postgraduate supervisors at the National University of Lesotho
    (SOTL, 2023-05) Tlali, Tebello
    Higher education developments are gradually enabling the re-conceptualisation of postgraduate research supervision as a teaching and learning practice. This re- conceptualisation has also led to the recognition that postgraduate research supervisors need to be appropriately capacitated so that they can master the supervisory craft. This study sought to explore the prospects for professional development of postgraduate supervisors at the National University of Lesotho, by examining supervisors’ trajectories of learning how to become supervisors and to identify areas for further professional development. Fifteen supervisors took part in the study. Nine (three associate professors and six senior lecturers) were interviewed through semi-structured interviews while six junior lecturers were interviewed through a focus group interview. The findings revealed that while most supervisors relied mainly on the way they were supervised, they also value the experiential learning accrued in their trajectories as supervisors. The study highlights issues for consideration in advancing professional development of postgraduate supervisors at the National University of Lesotho.
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    Factors contributing to teacher attrition in some selected primary schools in Quthing
    (National University of Lesotho, 2021-07) Khaketla, Khabele Lesley; Tlali, Tebello; Khalanyane, Tankie
    The aim of this study was to investigate the factors that contributed to teacher attrition at primary schools in Quthing. To achieve this purpose, I adopted the qualitative approach to the study. The population of the study was all principals and teachers in all schools in Quthing district. Purposive sampling was used to select twenty-four participants that formed part of the study. The data were collected from the four principals and twenty teachers through semi- structured interviews and focus group interviews. The collected data were transcribed and analysed thematically. The findings from the participants revealed that teacher attrition is mostly ascribed to poor working conditions such as workload, teacher burnout, poor infrastructure, lack of motivation and support, handicapped interpersonal relationships and poor salaries. The study concluded that teacher attrition is high in Quthing. Recommendations of the study are that principals should draw policies of school development and encourage their subordinates to develop professionally.
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    Foregrounding a teaching philosophy statement in scaffolding reflective practice and professional development of higher education teachers in Lesotho
    (Taylor & Francis, 2023-09-18) Tlali, Tebello; Lefoka, Pulane
    At some point in the teaching career, educators are expected to develop a teaching philosophy statement (TPS). This could be during the initial teacher training programme; when applying for a teaching post or when seeking promotion. It could also be a component of a continuous professional development programme that teachers undergo or a component of a teaching portfolio they have to submit for a specified purpose. This paper explored the extent to which articulating a teaching philosophy statement promotes reflective practice and also advance the professional development of higher education teachers. Narrativism was employed as the over-arching paradigm for this study. A qualitative approach was adopted, and data was collected through an online qualitative or open ended questionnaire, in which the participants were requested to narrate their teaching philosophy statements. Thematic analysis was utilised to analyse the data. The findings revealed that writing a TPS does, to a large extent, enable a reflectivepractice. Furthermore, the exercise promotes professional development by allowing teachers to rethink their practices.
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    Pre-service teachers'perceptions of the relevance of teacher professional ethics in contemporary Lesotho
    (ORCID, 2021-12) Tlali, Tebello
    Previous research suggests that new teachers have more negative ethical perceptions than their senior counterparts. However, there is limited research on teachers’ perceptions regarding the relevance of professional ethics in the contemporary world. Hence this study sought to explore the extent to which pre-service teachers in Lesotho consider professional ethics to be relevant. A qualitative approach was adopted and Kohlberg’s (1987) moral development theory was used as the theoretical framework for the study. Data were generated with the use of both semi-structured and focus-group interviews. Forty-six (n 46) final-year Bachelor of Education (BEd) students were purposively selected to take part in this study. Sixteen (16) were interviewed individually, while 30 were interviewed in three focus- groups of ten participants each. The findings are that the participating pre-service teachers had mixed feelings about the relevance of professional ethics of teachers. Some emphasised the importance of a teachers’ code of ethics while others indicated that some of the regulations were outdated. The position taken in this paper is that teacher professional ethics are timeless. These are meant to protect the interests of different stakeholders in education as well as the image of the teaching profession.
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    Re-framing postgraduate supervision as a teaching and learning practice
    (ORCID, 2022-10-24) Tlali, Tebello; Chere-Masopha, Julia
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    The role of teacher educators in curriculum reforms in Lesotho schools
    (ResearchGate, 2022-06) Chere-Masopha, Julia; Tlali, Tebello; Khalanyane, Tankie; Sebatane, Edith
    To a certain extent, many curriculum reforms that have been introduced in Lesotho schools have been unsuccessful. Teachers’ preparedness to implement these reforms has been the major factor for the failures. Involving teacher education providers in the preparation of teacher preparedness could improve the success rate of these school reforms. Therefore, understanding how education educators prepare teachers for curriculum reforms could assist to understand why school teachers often appear to be ill-prepared for curriculum reforms. Accordingly, this paper investigated the views of six teacher educators about their role in the preparation of teachers for curriculum reforms in Lesotho schools. A questionnaire was used to collect data that were analysed thematically. The results obtained indicate that: teacher educators are involved in a limited way in Lesotho curriculum reforms; and they have limited knowledge about the current reforms. As a result, their training practices do not target to prepare teachers for the reforms introduced in schools. This explains why many studies have found teachers to be ill-prepared for any curriculum reforms in Lesotho. These findings raise awareness on the issue that teacher educators should be involved in the reforms in Lesotho. Therefore, the main recommendation of this study is to engage teacher education providers so as to make the reforms successful.
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    Rural students' transition in and through a semi-urban experiences from the national University of Lesotho
    (SOTL, 2021-09) Lefoka, Pulane; Tlali, Tebello
    This paper reports on the findings of a study carried out at the National University of Lesotho (NUL). The paper explored the influence of ‘rurality’ on students who originate from the rural areas of Lesotho and analysed their transition at the NUL. The spatial geographic theory and narrative inquiry were adopted, and qualitative focus groups were utilised to collect data. The students were given an opportunity to conceptualise ‘rurality’ and narrate their stories about growing up and earlier schooling, as well as their learning experiences at the NUL. The findings revealed that rural students’ educational trajectories are indeed filled with numerous challenges, mainly due to deprivation and limited exposure to technology in their earlier lives. The main recommendation made by the paper is that the concerned stakeholders ought to be mindful of the needs of all prospective higher education students, including those from rural backgrounds, and intervene accordingly