Hope as a positive psychology outcome of an educational tourism programme for youth on Robben Island

Abstract

The Robben Island Museum (RIM) Public Heritage Education Department presents a variety of education programmes on the island. The island is a national heritage site in South Africa and, with its rich cultural and political history, offers the ideal setting for learning experiences. Information regarding programme impact is limited and the System psychodynamic, SPD, wellness model (Henning, 2009) has not yet been applied in the context of a positive youth development programme. Firstly, the purpose of the study was to explore the learning experiences of orphaned children from a community-sponsored school. Secondly, the study aimed to map the emerging themes onto the SPD wellness model (Henning, S), which integrates concepts from the field of Positive psychology and System psychodynamic theory. A qualitative research methodology was adopted to conduct a postintervention assessment 4 months after the programme. The findings were categorised on three different levels of analysis. On the first level of analysis the identified themes were Overcoming personal tragedies, Supporting others, Big dreams, Embracing diversity, Enrichment of knowledge and Isivivane at the Lime stone quarry. On the second level of analysis the six themes were integrated into three pattern categories namely Attachment, Creativity and Open-mindedness. Finally, the third level theme Hope integrated all 9 pattern and coding categories and was presented in a conceptual framework. The learners perceived the programme as informative and thoughtprovoking as it inspired self-reflection and new perspectives on their lives. Selected concepts of the SPD wellness model were successfully applied to the data.