A Gestalt program for establishing a contact making process of inclusion between educators and learners in the foundation phase

Abstract

The relationship that exists between the educator and the ]earners is very important. A positive relationship will contribute to the learners' feeling safe to explore their potentiaL A positive relationship will lead to educators feeling motivated towards teaching. Educators do, however, bring unfinished business to the classroom that affects their relationship with their learners. The learners also bring unfinished business to the classroom that affects their relationship with their educators. The resulting educatorlearner relationship is characterized by a contact making process of exclusion. 'I11is often leads to disciplinary problems and learners being referred to the school psychologist for counseling. The first research objective, therefore, was to develop a Gestalt program that wiiJ assist in creating a safe environment in which the learners and educators can share their feelings and emotions. The second objective was to establish a contact making process of inclusion between learners and educators in the foundation phase. After reviewing literature on the research problem. the researcher consulted experts on the subject. Thorough research was done on existing literature relating to the research problem. Using as a base the information gathered from consulting experts, the literature search and the preliminary exploratory studies, the researcher developed the program. The program was first pilot tested at school A. After completion of the pilot study, the program was tested under field conditions at school B. Qualitative and quantitative data analysis procedures were used to analyze the data. The results from both the pilot test and the field test indicated that the program increased the awareness of the educators who formed part of the experimental group. The awareness of the educators who formed part of the control group, who did not receive the intervention, stayed the same. The results of the research project allowed the researcher to continue developing a product for dissemination. The research study contributed to the development of a Gestalt program that assisted in creating a safe environment where the learners and educators could share their feelings and emotions. The program also contributed lo creating a contact making process of inclusion between educators and learners in the foundation phase. Finally the research study provided a program that can be used to assist professionals and other individuals in the fields of education, psychology or social work.