The results are presented in the PICOT framework whereby the population, intervention, control, outcome and timeframe, in accordance with the aims and objectives of this study. Thematic headings are also used within the PICOT presentation of findings. The quotes are coded where teachers are identified by HQ (higher quintile) or LQ (lower quintile)
Population
In this paper, the population of this study highlights the key role of the teachers and therefore echoes their voices.
To administer the CCR to grade 7s, or not to administer to grade 7s?
In the RCT, the population was the grade 7 clusters of learners, as supported by previous studies in this project stream (Badroodien et al., 2011; De Freitas, Geben, Parusnath, Relleen, & Van den Berg, 2012; De Grass et al., 2010; Filies, Hartley, Kaplan, & Pettit, 2009; Frieslaar et al., 2013; Kathard et al., 2014; Mallick, Thabane, Borhan, & Kathard, 2018; Walters, 2015). Teachers felt the CCR intervention was suited to grade 7 learners but also felt that it could be applied across grades in primary schools. Teachers also felt that each component -the story, role-play and discussion- were relatable for the grade 7s.
“It is a good starting point in grade 7” - THQ
“They could relate to the story because it was about young people and they would find themselves in a situation like this, you know, it’s real. It’s a real situation. It’s not something that is fabricated, you know, it’s something that is real. Possibly they could have been in a situation like that, where a child has been excluded from the group. It takes one person of that group just to say, “give that person a chance”.”. - THQ
“The questions were clear, clearly put. It was something which the children could understand” - THQ.
The younger the better for intervention
Teachers reported that the CCR could be simplified for children as young as those in grade 1 as teasing and bullying is a major problem in all grades- starting from grade 1.
“It can go across the board, it can go from grade 1 right to grade 7 and beyond even. It’s a story which plays itself out all the time. It’s a scenario which you find from grade 1” - THQ
“We would probably do is to take it to the isiXhosa teacher, translate it and do it for those kids probably from grade 4 ,5 ,6, and 7.” - THQ
“If you could maybe have it, the CCR, in different levels and then start at grade R” - THQ
“You can share it with anyone” - THQ
Intervention
Stuttering was the example used in the CCR as the case to illustrate discrimination based on communication. Stuttering as a specific communication difference/disorder foregrounded the general issue of communication and its importance in everyday meaning-making. Teachers valued the focus on communication as a topic and process.
“The story itself was you know, very interesting. The learners were shocked about the revelations from the story and then I think we had an opportunity to start talking about people who you know, were also having the same difficulty which was stuttering at school. They actually never thought that there would be help and support and that people would study towards stuttering and that it would then bring confidence and support to those learners who are withdrawn because of the stuttering challenges ahead. And in our community, all that we know we is that you will be laughed at if you’re a stutterer and it is common” - TLQ.
“They said it was a real situation to find yourself in, not a make-believe thing so they found the story good. They also found the way that various characters were different from one another was interesting but yet they all work together in this band and came together as a group and how sometimes one, it takes one, this is the point, it takes one child just to make a difference quicker because this is what happens when there’s a clique or a group, people are afraid to stand up for the underdog or for those who the others make fun of and tease. It takes courage for someone to stand up for a person like that because you stand to risk of being excluded from the group, being ostracised, or made fun of but in this case, it worked out well.” - THQ
Communication in everything
Communication as a central theme was an aspect of the CCR that teachers particularly enjoyed. In fact, it was reported that this was favoured given that some students display difficulty expressing themselves. As such the CCR provided an opportunity for learners to practice their communication skills with their peers and teachers. Therefore, the CCR provided opportunity to create awareness of multiple dimensions of communication - over and above the issue of stuttering. A teacher, reporting on the intervention, found the CCR useful for practicing and developing communication skills.
“I especially liked the discussion part because that’s where you are really drawing out their ideas, their thoughts, how do they feel, concepts of acceptance and diversity and many of them still struggle to express themselves. They might have a very valid point that they want to make but they don’t know how to. Again, it’s the communication so that is nice in the sense that it is even, the exercise itself lends itself towards that, helping them to communicate effectively and express yourself correctly.” - THQ
“I can use that as a resource which will be very exciting. And then because of the repetition and the fact that they’re exposed to that type of the thing in the intervention, the process is more solidified, in terms of what you are trying to achieve - you are trying to make the learner aware of problems in communication, how can we look at, um, ways to solve that etc.” - THQ
“I liked how the learners interacted with the text and what they did from it and the way they responded to it. I liked that. And the entire discussion about communication. That worked well because remember we still did the mind maps, I think on the board. And I think they also did mind maps on their own pages about effective communication and different kinds of communication- verbal, non-verbal, gestures -that whole thing.” - THQ
“Communication is something that a lot of children have difficulty with, you know? Even we as adults have difficulty. There self-confidence comes in, your ability, your language ability, command of the language, all those things come in, so this part of communication is very very important.” - THQ
Teasing and bullying is a real-world problem
While teachers spoke about stuttering, they felt that the true focus was in fact teasing and bullying. In viewing and using the CCR as a teasing and bullying intervention, teachers said that they could contextualise the intervention according to the causes of teasing and bullying at their schools (e.g. money, weight etc.), i.e. knowing reasons for teasing and bullying provided insight into managing teasing and bullying.
“You know what, other kids have parents who are working, and they would have some money- probably for lunch to buy stuff- and all of that other kids would not have money, especially the younger ones don’t have. It creates a problem and then you know that’s where you find this bullying and fighting etc. because they are kids and they don’t know how to handle this thing” - TLQ
“If we did stuttering, for example, one lesson we can use that same thing for bullying. You can use that same thing – the CCR- for self-esteem and also for helping one another, helping each other, that’s what I say to my children also. We all here to, put on this planet, on this earth for a reason and we are there to help one another so you can use it for various objectives and skills.” - THQ
Teachers reported value in relating the real-world problem of teasing and bullying when considering its long-term consequences such as suicide and cyber bullying (Blood & Blood, 2007; Blood & Blood, 2016; Brunstein Klomek et al., 2016; Cook & Howell, 2014; Copeland, Wolke, Angold, & Costello, 2013; Hawker & Boulton, 2000; McAllister, 2015; McAllister, Kelman, & Millard, 2015; Messenger, Packman, Onslow, Menzies, & O'Brian, 2015; Vidal et al., 2007). The CCR was able to encourage discussion around feelings of being teased in addition to ways of being empathetic, supportive and accepting of diversity and difference. For example, teachers found that the CCR was a tool to mediate discussion around a positive view of diversity and difference.
“Teasing and bullying is so severe, and we already see it. What about the teenage suicide rate? What about the cyber bullying? We see that we are losing our kids to that type of thing. Why? Because we not interacting with each other. We are losing that as people and there is a bigger picture. It starts small but there’s spill-offs. It’s like it snowballs. So, if we get it right in the classroom then those learners will be out within their circles and then hopefully they will be able to apply some of the things” -.” - THQ
“So, if we did stuttering, for example, one lesson we can use that same thing for bullying. You can use that same thing (CCR) for self-esteem. And also, for helping one another, helping each other, that’s what I say to my children also.” - THQ
Teachers report that the CCR was one method that could facilitate difficult discussions around teasing and bullying and so the intervention made it tangible for teachers and students. This was aligned with school-based interventions including anti-bullying posters and discussions. One school saw the need for teasing and bullying awareness to also cultivate and encouraging awareness of social justice and responsiveness, e.g. using Pro-Palestinian posters and marches.
“In school we are busy with on-going awareness program of bullying. I’m sure if you walk around you’ll see the posters up about bullying” - THQ
“Then to just raise awareness of teasing and bullying because sometimes they are involved in something, but they don’t know about all the other contextual issues surrounding that, and all the spill-offs, from a particular thing and I think that is important, especially if you try and drill that message at home with them that in terms of communication - be careful of what you say and how you say to someone because that then has consequences. Yes, it’s very tricky now at their age. Even the way that they interact with each other, sometimes it’s quite scary because you will find this slang and you’ll find this street language and the gestures - gangster-related - that they would use, and it spills over into the classroom and you have to make them aware of that.” - THQ
“We always talk about bullying and teasing and it’s also on their classroom rules” - TLQ
In addition to context in terms of causes of teasing and bullying differing in each school, teachers also spoke about contextual issues around teasing and bullying such as violence and gangsterism.
“They learn from the community and they bring it inside. The fighting, being territorial, fighting over very insignificant things. To a point where for me to understand them, I have to put myself in their shoes and then I always move from that premise to understand those little things that are actually the cause of the bullying and fighting. And the fact that there are times where socially, the economic disparities, the socio-economic disparities in kids, those also bring this bullying attitude as well.” - TLQ
CCR alignment with school values
Teachers also found the inclusion of personal qualities such as empathy and respect a key focus of the CCR to assist with promoting acceptance, diversity and difference. Personal qualities appeared to link between school values, curriculum and CCR values. For example, school values included respect, consideration and empathy, illustrated by classroom posters, classroom rules, code of conduct and anti-bulling posters. The CCR was viewed as a support to these values and personal qualities as opposed to a rigid intervention consisting of a list of dos and don’ts.
“The story would be a good starting point to bring certain values home to the children. Not only one but more- respect, respect for self, for others, acknowledging that everybody’s different, everybody’s not the same perseverance. I think there was a bit of perseverance in there. You could use this for so many values. The story can be used to introduce a lot, of perseverance as I said also, honesty, integrity, how to overcome obstacles, overcome what you see, or the child sees [as] a disability so there’s various things for which the story can be used for.” - THQ
“It’s something that we shouldn’t neglect, this this type of thing forms part of life skills.” - THQ
“I strive for this every day, well not every day, most days I would bring up, or something comes up and I use that as a starting point to bring across whatever lesson. So, for example, today I was telling them about grit. I watched a ted x talked and I asked them those of you who please have computers at home, ask your parents to go onto ted x and you can see it on YouTube and they had a presentation and then I gave the whole “what is a presentation” so we bring vocabulary into that and we bring language in to that. So, what is a presentation, we have various people coming on there, they are motivational speakers and I told them about this one that I saw recently where this one woman says she was a teacher. She became a psychologist and she and her research team wanted to know what is it that makes some people successful and others not. What is it? Is it intelligence? Is it money? Is it looks? Is it? And they came to the conclusion that it’s neither of those. Not your IQ, not your looks, not your background, not your money not your status, anything like that but sheer grit. Its grit that gets you through life. Perseverance and I wrote it big on the board “grit”. Let’s look at the word “grit” and we said how and what grit means. Perseverance. Never giving up. Never thinking that I can’t do it. All that. Almost like making a mind map so those are the things, I never plan those things. I think years of experience, of being a teacher, it comes naturally to me so this type of thing - value-based talks -is something which I incorporate in my classroom many a times. It could be anything. It could be about truthfulness, about integrity. All those things. Something happens (at school) and I take it as a starting point.” - THQ
“What I liked is the message that we must not judge, like the phrase that you use in English that says, “don’t judge a book by its cover”.” - TLQ
Sustained intervention
Teachers felt that the CCR’s repetition in the activity itself was favourable. However, they felt that the CCR, overall, was not as effective as a single-dose intervention and instead considered its use within a curriculum-based and imbedded approach, such as in the curriculum assessment policy referred to as CAPS.
“As a lesson, I would say that the way you set the CCR out, worked well because of the repetition. Because there was the story that was told and then the learners could then at that point, when we brought in the role-play- they knew where and what the story was about. They had an idea about the character that they had to assume the role of so, I think that the learners enjoyed the role-play. That repetition also worked well because it touched on the theme of stuttering, so the learners could then relate completely once the discussion started.” - THQ
“Now you see because changing attitudes is a long-term type of activity, you have to gauge how to do this. Now for us, you came in, you did it (administered the questionnaire) and it was just out of nowhere that you come back with another questionnaire so there’s no continuity and that is sort of what you are looking for. So, if I am doing this theme over a week, I think it would be a bit better for the learners.” - THQ
“I think that it would be great to have more themes like this in the particular in the CAPS, that we actually running with the learners at school, making them more aware of real issues, things that they can really relate to. It would be great to have that type of stories.” - THQ
Integrating the CCR into the curriculum
Examples were provided in terms of how the CCR could be used in the curriculum in school subjects such as Life Orientation and English. In addition to teachers reporting that it would be good to use the CCR as a curriculum-based intervention, it was reported that it could be used flexibly as long as learning was solidified using classroom methodologies. Classroom methodologies included themes and ongoing discussions which was a gap within CCR.
“I would actually use it with the Life orientation lessons” - Teacher who administered the CCR at a higher quintile school.
“The Life Orientation teacher can also use this because I can see that it has an inclination towards life orientation as well so it’s quite a rich document. - TLQ
“The nice thing about this, this could work across curriculum because it would fit in beautifully with an English lesson and it would fit in beautifully with a Life Orientation lesson as well, and probably even lend itself to some other kind of subjects where that type of discussion comes up. So, I think for now strongly across English and Life Orientation and that there is a nice tie-in with that, with[in] those two subjects.” - THQ
“For instance, if I need to cover language aspects, I will then build it into the story that I’m using or in the comprehension task, so I will then take that as my theme and then set a comprehension on it - whereas you just had a discussion. I will do a discussion activity that will be part of my listening and speaking tasks. Then I have to have a comprehension component and a language component, so I’ll base my language lesson on the sentences and things you use. For instance, I want to teach compound and complex sentences and your passage in the story lends itself to a lot of that examples then I will use of those sentences to build into mine.” - THQ
“It’s the balance language approach - what we call the BLA. So that entire CCR, I will then base all my lessons on so, my discussion will be my oral. I can maybe even have an oral, which will be the role-play and then I can even have a writing activity- an essay on bullying or whatever else, so for the child who stuttered or whatever- lead them into a narrative.” - THQ
“There’s a lot of stuff, and language that I can cover that I will definitely try and solicit out of this. Even during revision when I go to certain aspects of grammar, I can use this. One other thing that we can do is the direct and indirect speech on the role play.” - TLQ
“I would definitely break it up into chunks you know as specific areas to what I would be teaching at the time, for example direct and indirect speech.” - TLQ
“I would use it in life skills where the children have to perform like in performing arts and then in that you could incorporate language because you can have speech bubbles and we have direct and indirect speech also) and you can work around that and just be creative.” - THQ
Control
No interviews were held with teachers in the control group. However, teachers in control groups displayed an eagerness to receive the CCR as well as training on how to use the intervention. Control group teachers expressed interest in the CCR and inquired if they could share it with colleagues.
Outcome
What did the teachers see?
The RCT focused on attitudinal changes, under the premise that attitude is the precursor to behaviour change. This means that the RCT did not measure behaviour change itself. The findings of the RCT was that there was no statistically significant change in attitudes. However, teachers reported behaviour had changed and were reported based on observations of their classrooms.
“The laughter stopped”
Initially there was laughter when the students viewed the video of the CWS which continued once the CCR was administered. The laughter did however subside over time and the grade 7s became interested in the CCR and its message. The initial laughter appeared to indicate discomfort.
“They became more interested. Initially it was a bit of giggling, but they settled down after that.” - THQ
“They were laughing when there were examples about stuttering” - TLQ
“I found that most of them at first- the very first time that you were here - they thought that it was like a joke but the CCR activities actually made them aware that stuttering, communication, teasing and bullying is actually a real problem.” - THQ
“It kind of opened their minds to what it feels like to stutter or be made fun of and that it’s not just a laughing matter.” - THQ
“They identified people who stutter”
Additionally, students came to their teachers with questions and reflections such as reports of people they knew who stuttered.
“They actually did speak about it again” - THQ
“I think maybe one or two of the learners came up to me afterwards just to make a comment, maybe about someone that they know in the family, that type of thing and just speak around that and maybe just awareness around that” - THQ
A peek in interest
The students engaged with, enjoyed and identified with the story.
“The kids were just reading a story, like any other story and it captivated and captured them, like any other good story would do and to have the kids involved, doing it themselves, not exactly knowing where the story was actually leading them. You know, when I looked at their faces, when things were beginning to gel it was quite interesting you know. They enjoyed it very much.” - TLQ
The students particularly became interested when the role-play began, and they could engage in the activities of the CCR more actively (than listening to a story).
“Firstly, they were very eager. I had lots of hands when I was choosing the characters. There weren’t shy. There were many learners that wanted to participate in this. Once we chose the different characters, that was also when the class settled down to listen to the various interactions with the characters” - THQ
“They questioned their peers, and reflected”
Teachers later noted that students who had the CCR administered in their classrooms had begun questioning peers for laughing at others. Teachers also noted that students were more open to interacting with peers who would be considered “different”.
“You know they sat down and gave it some thought because they were actually like “really mam?” like “I didn’t even think about it like that. I just found it funny all the time”. Things like that where they actually now sat down and thought about [it].” - THQ
“I will tell you [that] there is one learner, whom they know in grade 6, in one of the classes I teach, is also a learner who stutters. I could see the way [that] they were relating to him, it was different. They were people who were informed, unlike before” - TLQ
“They were very impatient, and they would laugh at him. And even this boy himself, he developed a defense mechanism and he knew exactly how to deal with them and what he will do in response to them. But things have changed. They’re very patient with him and they listen more when they speak to him. They understand that he has this challenge but it’s something that can also be helped.” - TLQ
“And you can see that there is a better effort of those kids towards supporting one another.” - TLQ
“I think they changed because they were taught that like we are all the same and we must not treat other learners differently although they might have some problems, but we must treat them the same because we are all human beings with individual differences” - TLQ
Timeframe
The good, the bad and the disjointed
The dosage of the CCR was a concern of the teachers. While they reported that 6 months was considered an adequate timeframe, they raised concerns around the CCR being a single-dosage intervention. Teachers felt that there was need for continuous learning and engagement to ensure that the CCR learning and research was not disjointed from the rest of the learning happening in the classroom. Furthermore, teachers felt that there was a need to include the CCR as part of learning using sequential classroom lessons and themes. As such, teachers reported that more thought into the pacing and spacing of activities was required if the CCR was to be effective. The need for both students and teachers to make sense of the CCR within an ongoing time frame and learning was noted. This would also address the concern that the CCR was too long for a once-off classroom lesson.
“I would actually break it up because I think in chunks it would actually make more sense than completing everything all in one go. You could actually discuss part of it as you go along. Maybe the first lesson – “what it is”, “why” and so on. You can get some questions and see what they have to say and maybe after that, in the next lesson, we do the role-play and then we can discuss the role-play. And what other people’s opinions are and not just take the opinions of the story and “dump” it onto them because some of them have their own things to say.” - THQ
“A repeated learning, or not even necessarily repeated but there is a block. Do you know what I’m saying? I’m focusing on that as a theme so that I can bring my children back to- “remember when we focused on the theme of communication?” - THQ
“I would break it up. Firstly, I would read the story and tell them to think about it and just to take it in and think about it. Go home and think about it, talk to your parents about it, say what you learnt about it. I would take it not all in one go.” - THQ