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An inclusive educational setting is a model in which educators must have empathic sensitivity, which will enable them to identify the different needs of the various learners. However, there is gap in research concerning educators' own experiences regarding empathy within inclusive classrooms. This qualitative study with a phenomenological research design thus aimed to identify, through the use of in-depth interviews, the educators' own empathic experiences within their inclusive classrooms in the Dr Kenneth Kaunda District in the North West Province, South Africa. A sample of seven female educators from three schools participated in this study. The data were analysed thematically, and the following main themes were identified: intrapersonal pre-proficiency of educators; interpersonal understanding for learners with disabilities; having adaptive skills; and situational aspects that play a role in the empathic experiences of educators. It was determined that future research should focus on more districts in order to gain better representations of the North West Province, also in other provinces to get a better representation of South Africa. In addition, a program must be developed in which educators are trained in the necessary empathic skills.

This qualitative interpretive description research study aimed to explore, interpret, and describe educators' and support staffs' experiences regarding the management of crises in their schools in the Western Cape Province, South Africa. Informant educators (n = 7) and support staff (n = 1) from four schools (public, rural, and private) completed semi-structured interviews on their experiences. Following thematic analysis, findings revealed crisis-oriented themes regarding current policies within schools, certain crises experiences, languishing, management of these crises, and COVID-19 mitigation. Current policies needed improvement to ensure the physical, psychological, and emotional safety of school members which will in turn influence their well-being. These findings suggest a need for educators, support staff, and school learners to be trained within in-school crisis management practices to prevent avoidable trauma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Various accidents and incidents occur daily in schools, which can have a lifelong impact on both school learners and their family's life. These events at schools might lead to physical and psychological symptoms which would affect school learner and educator performance. This critical review searched the peer-reviewed scientific literature that were published (2009 to 2019) to identify contemporary crisis containment management practices in South African schools. We utilised the Search, Appraisal, Synthesis, and Analysis (SALSA) method to examine crisis containment management in South African schools. We included peer reviewed studies that met the following criteria: Published literature, PhD theses, and Master dissertations focusing on school safety. We excluded conference proceedings and studies published in other languages than English. Our search yielded four published articles for this critical review. Applying a qualitative synthesis approach, we identified the three themes: (i) schools are not safe due to various problems hampering effective teaching and learning; (ii) obstacles to ensuring safety within schools; and (iii) policies and skills necessary for crises containment and management. We conclude that policies on physical safety are needed, in addition to equipping educators and other stakeholders with the necessary skills and training in terms of the psychological and emotional safety of the school community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustaining educator resilience is increasingly important in transitional societies which have a higher risk for dysfunction from coping with adjustments to emerging organisational practices with no local precedent. This would be the case for South African schools that have weathered transition in their organisational climate the past two decades. Our critical review aimed to survey the evidence on educator resilience within the school setting to inform the South African education system. For this critical review, we searched Business Insights – Essentials; Expanded Academic ASAP; PsycINFO; Academic Search Premier; OAlster; ERIC; Regional Business News; MasterFILE Premier; Teacher Reference Center; Newspaper Source; SocINDEX with Full Text; Health Source – Nursing/Academic Edition; Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts; Africa-Wide Information; and Google Scholar for publications on school educator resilience since 2008. We included scientific literature that focused on organisational resilience within the school context by reviewing certain keywords (title, abstract, and/or full text). Conference proceedings and studies published in other languages than English were excluded. The search initially yielded 740 research studies of which 12 were finally extracted for thematic analysis. Four main themes emerged: importance of leadership; improving school climate/culture; creating a supportive work environment; and ethics of care. The findings suggest a circular model for school organisational resilience premised in interdependent relationships between each of the extracted themes. Future studies should seek to apply this conceptual model to study education resilience in South African schools prior to wider adoption and dissemination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]