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Demographic details of in-service teachers who participated in the study
The data presented in this sub-section provide a brief outline of the main demographic details of the secondary level geography teachers who participated in the study. This information was collected with regard to their teaching experience, position, subjects, qualifications and the committees on which they served.
Most of the in-service secondary level geography teachers who participated in this study had more than five years of teaching experience, with only 21.9% (18 out of 82) of the teachers having five or fewer years of teaching experience; 28% (23 out of 82) of the participants had 11-15 years of teaching experience and 19.5% (16 out of 82) had 6-10 years of experience.
This is evident in Chart 4.1. As was to be expected, it was noted that the more experienced teachers were also older. None of the teachers reported leaving teaching for another job and rejoining it later. Only a few teachers reported that at some point in their teaching career they took study leave for advanced training and came back to teaching. The participants’ positions were heads of department (24.4%; 20 out of 82), deputy principals (3.7%; 3 out of 82), principals (1.2%; 1 out of 82), teachers (21.9%; 18 out of 82) and class teachers (48.8%; 40 out of 82).The class teacher has an administrative responsibility for his/her class in addition to his/her regular teaching load. These positions are explained in more detail in section 4.2.1.4 and depicted in Chart 4.2 below.
The context of in-service secondary level geography teachers
As explained in Chapter One (section 1.3) and Chapter Two (section 2.2), this study is guided by the Leckie et al (1996) model as its theoretical framework. As a result, the context of the in-service secondary level geography teachers, which is considered as the work environment of these teachers, has to be highlighted. This is because ‘when analysing information behaviour studies, one has to consider the socio-political and the economical environment of the country of the information seeker, including the information user’s local community environment as well as his/her organisational environment, as the features in all these environments may either stimulate or hinder information needs and determine behaviour’ (Niedźwiedzka, 2003:9). According to Johnson (2003:736), context is equivalent to the situation in which an individual is immersed; it is a specific situation in which communication occurs; it is an elaborate specification of the environment within which information-seeking is embedded (Johnson, 2003:739).
In this study the context of the in-service secondary level geography teachers focuses on the school environment, including its location in terms of different administrative districts of Lesotho, and whether it is in a rural or urban setting, or in the highlands or lowlands region.
The context of these teachers is outlined in the following sub-section and comprises the following:
Description of the schools that participated in this study as the organisational environment of the in-service secondary level geography teachers.
The school libraries as part of the teachers’ work environment, as well as facilities in place for information services.
The teachers’ work roles and associated tasks.
Data describing schools that participated in this study
The sample of schools according to their districts is presented as Table 4.4. The distribution of schools in Lesotho is not equal in all the districts. Some districts have more schools than others, depending on population density. The districts with more schools have a relatively higher number of schools offering geography. As shown in Chapter Three (Table 3.2), the Maseru and Leribe districts have the largest number of schools offering geography and therefore more schools from these districts participated in the study. Most of the schools in Maseru and Leribe were already used for the pilot study and could not be requested to participate in the main study again. Information regarding participation of schools in the pilot study is presented in Chapter Three (Table 3.6). Leckie et al (1996) and Taylor (1991) indicate that geographical location might have a bearing on information needs and information-seeking; hence there was interest in establishing the location of schools that participated in the study in terms of the district, development area (rural vs. urban) and geographical region (lowlands vs. highlands). While Table 4.4 presents data of the schools’ distribution according to the districts, Table 4.5 presents the data of the schools according to development area. Frequency refers to the number of schools.
CHAPTER ONE – INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
1.3 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
1.4 RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHOD
1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
1.6 LIMITATIONS
1.7 CLARIFICATION OF TERMS
1.8 THESIS STRUCTURE
1.9 CONCLUSION
CHAPTER TWO – LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 INTRODUCTION
2.2 INFORMATION-SEEKING MODELS
2.3 INFORMATION NEEDS OF TEACHERS
2.4 INFORMATION-SEEKING PATTERNS OF TEACHERS
2.5 INFORMATION SOURCES USED BY TEACHERS
2.6 USE OF INFORMATION COMMUNICATION CHANNELS WITH POSSIBLE IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHERS
2.7 DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF INFORMATION SERVICE
2.8 CONCLUSION
CHAPTER THREE – RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHOD
3.1 INTRODUCTION
3.2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.3 SURVEY RESEARCH
3.4 RESEARCH POPULATION
3.5 SAMPLING PROCEDURES
3.6 DATA COLLECTION
3.7 TRIANGULATION
3.8 PILOT STUDY
3.9 RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY IN RESEARCH
3.10 DATA ANALYSIS
3.11 ETHICS IN SURVEY RESEARCH
3.12 CONCLUSION
CHAPTER FOUR – DATA ANALYSIS
4.1 INTRODUCTION
4.2 IN-SERVICE SECONDARY LEVEL GEOGRAPHY TEACHERS’ DATA
4.3 PROSPECTIVE SECONDARY LEVEL GEOGRAPHY TEACHERS’ DATA
4.4 DATA FROM PARTICIPATING INSTITUTIONS DIRECTLY INVOLVED IN SECONDARY LEVEL
GEOGRAPHY EDUCATION IN LESOTHO
4.5 CONCLUSION
CHAPTER FIVE – INTERPRETATION OF THE DATA
5.1 INTRODUCTION
5.2 WHAT IS THE WORKING CONTEXT OF SECONDARY LEVEL GEOGRAPHY TEACHERS IN LESOTHO?
5.3 WHAT ARE THE INFORMATION NEEDS OF SECONDARY LEVEL GEOGRAPHY TEACHERS IN LESOTHO?
5.4 WHAT ARE THE INFORMATION-SEEKING PATTERNS OF SECONDARY LEVEL GEOGRAPHY TEACHERS IN LESOTHO?
5.5 WHICH INFORMATION SOURCES DO SECONDARY LEVEL GEOGRAPHY TEACHERS MOSTLY USE?
5.6 WHICH INFORMATION SOURCES ARE AVAILABLE AND ACCESSIBLE AT SCHOOLS
PARTICIPATING IN THE SURVEY?
5.7 WHICH INFORMATION COMMUNICATION CHANNELS ARE PREFERRED BY SECONDARY LEVEL GEOGRAPHY TEACHERS?
5.8 WHICH INFORMATION SERVICE CAN BE RECOMMENDED FOR SECONDARY LEVEL GEOGRAPHY TEACHERS IN LESOTHO?
5.9 KEY FACTORS TO CONSIDER FOR THE DESIGN OF AN INFORMATION SERVICE FOR
SECONDARY GEOGRAPHY TEACHERS IN LESOTHO
5.10 CONCLUSION
CHAPTER SIX – PROPOSED INFORMATION SERVICE MODEL FOR SECONDARY LEVEL GEOGRAPHY TEACHERS IN LESOTHO
6.1 INTRODUCTION
6.2 DESIGNING INFORMATION SERVICE FOR SECONDARY LEVEL GEOGRAPHY TEACHERS IN LESOTHO
6.3 IMPLEMENTING INFORMATION SERVICE FOR SECONDARY LEVEL GEOGRAPHY TEACHERS IN LESOTHO
6.4 CONCLUSION
CHAPTER SEVEN – CONCLUSIONS
7.1 INTRODUCTION
7.2 FINDINGS
7.3 FINDINGS RELATED TO THE LECKIE ET AL (1996) MODEL
7.4 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY EMANATING FROM DATA
7.5 RECOMMENDATIONS
7.6 SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH
7.7 CONCLUSION
REFERENCES
