South African teachers’ perceptions of learners’ human rights: Implications for classroom management

Abstract

This interpretivist research paper discusses the teachers’ perceptions of learners’ human rights and their implications for classroom management. Since the abolishment of corporal punishment, most teachers believe that learners’ human rights are being prioritised owing to this, classrooms are places of violence and teachers’ classroom management strategies ineffective. This paper uses the lens of critical emancipatory research (CER), which has a mission to critique and challenge, reform, and empower; it promotes social fairness and strengthens democratic ideals.