THELEARNINGCHALLENGESOFFEMALE HEADSOFCHiLD−HEADEDHOUSEHOLDSlN THEXHARiEP DiSTRiCT LepheanaAiiceMamotsheare BA（UNISA），B・Ed Hons（PUforCHE）；P・G・D．E（UFS） Adissertationsubmittedinfulfilmentoftherequirementsfor thedegree MAGlSTER EDUCATiONlS in StudentSupport FacuItyofHumanities North−WestUniversity （VaalTriangleCampus） VanderbijIpark Promoter：ProfMM Grosser 2010 DECLARATlON i工epheanaAiiceMamotsheare，decbrethatTHELEARNiNGCHALLENGES OFFEMALEHEADSOFCHILD−HEADEDHOUSEHOLDSiNTHEXHARiEP DiSTRICTismyownworkandthatailthesourcesthatlhaveusedorquoted havebeenindicatedandacknowiedgedbymeansofcomp∼etereferences． Signature LepheanaAiiceMamotsheare TOWHO即日TMAYCONCERN ThisistocertifythattheundersignedhasdonetheIanguageeditingforthe followlngCandidate： suRNAMEand刷TiALS：JYaJ、∼の老人etLfe，。 DEGREE● MEddisseHationFPhD−thesjs ／も凡。．J。。 Dat。‥∴タイ法一〇ノ＆oIO Denise Kocks Residentiaiaddress： 29Br00mStreet Arcon Park Postaiaddress： P．0．BOX155 Vereenlglng1930 Te上0164284358 tli DEDICATiON ThisdisseHat一〇nisdedicatedtomydaughteriLeratoLepheana，andmyson， ThatoLepheana，Whoofferedmeuncond由Onailoveandsupportthroughout the course ofth∼S Study・iaiso dedicate this work to my mother，Corina Lepheana，Whosupportedmea情hewaysincethebeg一mingOfmystudIeS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Mysincerethanksandgratitudegotothefoilowing PeOPiewhoseadvice， guidance，SuPPOrtandmotjvationhaveheipedmetocompietethisstudy・ e TheLord，mySaViour）WhohasheJpedandcamedmethroughmystudies， Withloveandgrace． 0 My studyieader，Professor M・M Grosser，forherleadership，Patience， guidanceandsupportthroughoutthestudyperiod ・MrsAidine Oosthuizenforthe capturmg ofthedata，herassistancewith thestatisticaIanaiysiSOfdataandthetechmCaleditingofthisdiSSertation． e Mrs Denise Kocks for the profess一〇nailanguage editing Of the dissertation．・Aii the teachers andlearners who pa面cipatedin compieting the questionnaires． e Tomymother，CorinaThabitaLepheana，S−Ster，Nkaisengforlookingafter mysonInd櫛cuittimesdu而gthisstudy ．Myyoungerbrother，Teboho，andsister，Moeio，fortheirsupport・。Myspeciaifrlend，MokoenaJobforh−SSuPPOrtandunderstandingduring thecompietionofthisstudy ABSTRACT Jnthisstudytheiear…ngChalienges￣facedbyBiackorphanedg∼「日earnersin theXhariepDistr一CtWhoheadhousehoids，WereeXPiored． A冊erature studywas undertaken to highlightthe causes，magnitude and effectsofchiid−headedhouseholdsandtoestabiishtheiearnIngCha一一engeSin generai exper∼enCed byiearners who head househoIds・Important PrerequisIteSforeffectiveiearningSuChasparentaiexpectat一〇nS，Seif−eSteem， goaiorientation，SCh001attendance，POS由ve a軸butions，mOtivat∼On，need fu刑ment，Seif−reguLation，Se廿e冊cacy，COgn−tiVe deveIopme申 parentai 一nVOlvementandsoc一〇一eCOnOmicfactorswereexplored，TheilteraturerevieW informedtheconceptuaiframeworkofthestudy，andprovidedtheframework for des一g…ginterview questions that were used to ga−n a deeper understanding oftheiearn活g chaiienges experienced byBiackgirlleamers Who head households By means ofquaiitative，PhenomenoIogiCalresearch，0ne−On一〇neinterviews WereCOnductedwithaconvenientsampleofapurposivelyseIectedgroupof lOBiackgiriiearnersatSecondarySchooiLeveiwhoheadhousehoidsmthe XhariepDistrictoftheFreeStateDepartmentofEducatiOn． The而erpretationofthedatareveaiedvariousiearmngChaliengeswhiChare experienced bytheseiearners dueto their unfavourabie circumstances as headsofhousehoids・Theinterviewdatarevealedthatthegiriswhotookpart −nthestudyexper∼enCealackofbas−Cneedssuchasfoodand moneyand ioveandbeiong旧g Furthermore言heyexperienCeemOtionalprobiemsdueIo thedeath ofthe∼rParentSandthestressfulsituation ofhavmgtOCOPeWith mmerOuS reSPOnSib冊es at home and schoo上 Due to the mentioned PrOblems言heparticipantsexperienceIearn∼ngChaiiengesreIatedtoirreguLar SChooi attendance，d価cuityin cop−ng With and concentrat活g on the汀 SChooIwork，POOr aChievement andiow seif−eSteem・ According to the responsesofthelearners，itisd瀞cuLttobeachildandaparentatthesame time，having to account for aiithe responsib冊es of being aIearner and 所 accompiishIng the parentai roie・Th∼S StudyiS COnCiuded w航 recommendationstoteachersonhowtoassistBiackgiriiearnerswhohead househoidsintheXhariePDistrict Keywords：Ch潤一headedhousehoids，OrPhanhood言earningChalienges，need fu剛ment． Vii