The effect of families’ socioeconomic status on the self-concept development of learners

ABSTRACT

This article investigates the effect of families’ socioeconomic status on the self-concept development of learners. The data were collected using a questionnaire from 31 learners who participated in the community engagement project. During the execution of this project, in addition to assisting learners using self-esteem development intervention methods, certain factors emerged, which apart from the original projects methods for self-concept development, seemed to impact self-concept development. These factors suggested that the school-environment and families’ socioeconomic status may additionally influence self-concept development. This was used to conduct the necessary statistical analyses. Findings indicated that there is no significant relationship between the self-concept and any of the three components of the socioeconomic factor. But significant dependencies could be established between isolated elements of the socioeconomic factor and self-concept. A collaboration is, therefore, recommended between parents or guardians, teachers, counsellors and social welfare agencies to cater for the needs of these learners.

KEYWORDS:

• Socioeconomic status
• farm schools
• community engagement
• self-concept

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Velisiwe Gasa is a Professor and Head of Graduate Studies and Research in the College of Education at the University of South Africa. She has published a number of accredited/peer-reviewed scholarly works in the form of articles, book chapters and conference proceedings. Her research areas include learners' aggressive behaviour, socio-economic barriers to learning, inclusive learning, youth involvement in risk behaviours, alternative parenting and incarcerated students.

Enid Pitsoane is an Educational Psychologist and Head of Counselling at the University of South Africa (Gauteng Region). Her research interest is adolescent boys and fatherhood.

Lesiba Molepo is a registered Counsellor and Deputy Director of Academic and ICT Support at the University of South Africa (Limpopo Region).His research interest is youth and care workers.

Patricia Lethole is a Centre Manager at the University of South Africa (Ekurhuleni Service Centre). Her research interest is e-Learning and curriculum development.

ORCID

Lesiba Molepo http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2154-1848