Strategies to Improve School-Based Support Towards Access and Success of Rural Learners
Adziliwi Martha Netshipale 
, Lloyd Daniel Nkoli Tlale & Thembi AL Phala
Issue: Vol.6 No. 2 February 2025 Article 1 pp. 1-20
DOI : https://doi.org/10.38159/jelt.2025621 | Published online 7th February, 2025.
© 2025 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Rural schools are susceptible to various challenges due to their geographical locations, which places them far from the resources and amenities necessary for teaching and learning. This creates barriers that impede access to and success in education. To address these, schools require specific interventions or approaches that target contextual challenges and rely on the availability and functionality of support systems. This paper aimed to outline the school-based support strategy that can be used to reinforce support initiatives at the school level to promote access to and improve success in education. The paper emanates from a study that adopted a qualitative approach, interpretivism paradigm and instrumental case study design. Data was collected through questionnaires, field notes, focus groups and individual interviews with 35 participants in five rural schools in Gauteng North district, South Africa. The findings revealed that three out of five schools did not have functional school-based support teams in place and conducted unstructured and disorganised support services in silos. Non-functionality of support teams was attributed to time constraints, misalignment of policies with rural contexts, inadequate educational resources and inadequacies of teachers’ skills and capabilities. The study recommends reinforcement of support services through a school-based support strategy with five pillars of support. The findings contribute to existing discussions around school-based support in education and its role in educational achievement and accessibility of learning opportunities. Findings also pave the way for further studies that employ different methodologies to expand the existing knowledge.
Keywords: Intervention Measures Learner Support, Educational Success, Learning Needs.
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Dr. Adziliwi Martha Netshipale is a Deputy Director (Branch Coordinator) in the Curriculum Policy, Support and Monitoring Branch at the Department of Basic Education. She was previously employed in a private sector as a Security Officer and Legal Secretary. She joined the Department of Basic Education in 2005 as a Senior Secretary and progressed to her current position. Her responsibilities as a Deputy Director (Branch Coordinator) include Management and administration of the office of the Deputy Director-General and the Branch, Management and coordination of Branch Strategic Planning, Monitoring, and Reporting, as well as Risk Management, Administrative, strategic and advisory support to the Ministry, office of the Director-General, Deputy Director-General and the Branch on all Branch activities, including Human Resource Management, Financial Management and Stakeholder Relations.
Professor Lloyd Daniel Nkoli Tlale is a professor in the Department of Psychology of Education at the University of South Africa. He joined UNISA after being a teacher and a teachers’ college lecturer for several years. He was previously an education specialist for the Department of Basic Education, supporting and training teachers in inclusive education. Currently, his responsibilities include teacher training (tuition), postgraduate supervision, research and community engagement projects. He is also the head of department – Psychology of Education at the University of South Africa. His research interests include gifted child education, orphans and vulnerable children, children in conflict with the law, social justice and qualitative research.
Dr. Thembi Phala (PhD) is a senior lecturer in the Department of Early Childhood Education at the University of South Africa. Before joining academia, she was a teacher and an inclusive education specialist. She is a teacher educator and supervisor for postgraduate students in early childhood department, psychology of education department and inclusive department. Her research interests include supporting diverse learners experiencing reading problems in African languages and promoting inclusive education in schools. She has written and presented research papers and participated in multidisciplinary research in her field
Netshipale, Adziliwi Martha, Lloyd Daniel Nkoli Tlale and Thembi AL Phala. “Strategies to Improve School-Based Support Towards Access and Success of Rural Learners .” Journal of Education and Learning Technology 6, no.2 (2025): 1-20. https://doi.org/10.38159/jelt.2025621
© 2025 The Author(s). Published and Maintained by Noyam Journals. This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
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