Sprin Journal of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Abbreviated Key Title: Spr. J. Arts. Humanit. Soc. Sci. ISSN: 2583-2387 (Online)
Journal homepage: https://sprinpub.com/sjahss/
Vol.01(01), Jan 2022, pp. 01-12
Zimbabwe Open University, Mashonaland East Regional Campus Department of Teacher Development, P.O BOX 758 Marondera, Zimbabwe
This qualitative study investigated the psycho-emotional effects of extra lessons among urban day secondary school learners in Chegutu, Zimbabwe. In-depth interviews, focus group discussions and document analysis were adopted to generate data from teachers, school inspectors, parents and learners. Results from the study show that participants expressed mixed feelings on the psychological and emotional roles of attending extra lessons by learners. Some participants credited extra lessons for their confidence building among the learners, before going into a test or examination. Others viewed extra lessons as a source of depression among learners, and strained learners physically because most of the times they were busy. The study recommended that extra lessons needed to be continued but under the guidance of the teachers and parents. Since learners had their morale boosted before taking a test or examination, learners need to continue getting involved in extra lessons.
Keywords: psycho-emotional, extra lessons, urban day secondary school, learners
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© 2022 Author(s). This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY 4.0) (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/BY/4.0/), allowing third parties to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format and to remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially, provided the original work is properly cited and states its license. Citation: Richard, B. (2022). The psycho-emotional effects of extra lessons among urban day secondary school learners. Sprin Journal of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, 1(01), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.55559/sjahss.v1i01.1 |
Extra lessons, also referred to supplemental, privately funded academic lessons outside of school (Bray, 2011), have become very popular to the extent that as an activity they been incorporated into education sub-systems globally. The scale at which learners and teachers have taken to these lessons is quite alarming (Baker, Akiba, LeTendre & Wiseman, 2011; Bray, 2015). In East Asia, South Korean learners have enrolled in Hankwon, a term referring to cram schools, at a wider scale (Lee & Shouse, 2011). Proprietary cram and revision schools have been on the rise in Japan and Korea (Baker, et al. 2011, Bray, 2015; Dang & Rogers, 2008). In North America, the situation has been the same as most countries have not been left out of the phenomenon. In the United Kingdom, the practice has also been flourishing with a lot of agencies sprouting across the country (Hussein, 2007). In Egypt, 64% of the urban learners have been involved in extra lessons while, 54% of the rural learners were also taking part in privates or durus Khususiyya (Hartmann, 2008). Such has been the order of the day for most learners who have found no time for rest as they are required to attend the formal school system and then proceed for the extra lessons. This is despite the adage that says, “All work and no play make Jack a dull boy”.
In Zimbabwe, the idea and attempt aimed at supplementing and complementing what has been learnt in the formal school classroom has received a lot of attention from different stakeholders. While some have voiced concern over their role, others seem to suggest that they are potent in raising the academic profiles of learners. One of the dissatisfied stakeholders, the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education (MOPSE) has argued that learning time is adequate (Munikwa & Mutungwe, 2011). However, teacher associations, with the support of parents have argued that learning time is not
adequate as there have been frequent work stoppages and the introduction of new learning areas into the education curriculum without a corresponding increase in the time available for learning. Work stoppages continue to be a characteristic of the Zimbabwean education system given that educators and other personnel in the education service engaged in prolonged strikes to air out their grievances on poor conditions of service (Jinga & Ganga, 2012).Through the Secretary`s Circular Minute 1 of 2014, MOPSE indicated that both learners and educators needed to rest and therefore, they should break especially for school holidays. Given the different positions proffered by the different stakeholders on the extra lessons, one is obliged to investigate the perceptions of these stakeholders on the pyscho-emotional role played by extra lessons.
The study aimed at addressing the following research questions:
How have different stakeholders been affected psychologically by extra lessons?
Why have extra lessons emotionally affected the different stakeholders?
What are the psycho-emotional benefits of engaging in extra lessons?
What could be done to boost the positive effects and limit the negative effects of extra lessons among the different stakeholders?
Different studies have established different effects on the psycho-emotional well-being of parents, teachers and learners. Studies by, for example, Bray (2013), Byun and Park (2012), Lee (2005), Mendelsohn (2015) and Wessman (2012), help to establish the views of different respondents on the psycho-emotional effects of extra lessons.
A questionnaire survey by Bray (2013), in Hong Kong indicates that because of the high costs of private tutoring, parents were placed under heavy psychological pressure. Bray (2013) established that costs for tutoring consumed substantial amounts of family incomes. The burden was even worse in cases where several children went out for private tutoring. In some cases, some households could not be able to send their children for private tutoring thereby having a bearing on their psychological wellbeing. The findings are corroborated in Korea, in a study by Lee (2005) which established that extra lessons that are regarded a social norm, render psychological as well as financial burdens for parents, especially for those unable to afford the extra lessons or those only able to provide private extra lessons of minimal quality for their children. Lee (2005) argues that those who do not have the capacity to pay feel deprived of the much-needed extra lessons to the extent that they regard themselves as inferior hence may suffer psychological disorders.
The same results were obtained in a study by Mendelsohn (2015), who finds out that extra lessons placed a lot of anxiety on parents. According to the study, most parents and learners felt left out of an important activity that their peers were actively involved in resulting in high affinity to participate. Mendelsohn (2015) feels that with extra lessons being the order of the day, parents were dragged into an economic exercise whose expense they struggled to meet resulting in stress and anxiety. This study by Mendelsohn (2015) argues that extra lessons place psychological burdens on the learners as they anticipate good passes in their terminal examinations. However, if they fail to make it, they become psychologically devastated and would shun any form and type of assistance that may come their way more so given the view that extra lessons are the “wild west” due to their lack of clear standards and wide range of confusing practices.
Hussein (2007) carried a survey in Kuwait involving 934 students from grade 4 to 7, who were getting extra tutorials. The most important finding suggests that, like in other studies, extra lessons had a great psychological effect on learners. The study which employed questionnaires established that extra lessons caused lack of interest among learners in formal classroom activities. The study distinguishes
among three specific groups that had been affected. Group one comprised students who felt that they had to attend class for the sake of it but felt not obligated to if they could afford to hire a paid a tutor for that purpose. The second group went to school just to avoid being questioned by authorities but showed no interest when in class. According to Hussein (2007), these two groups disturbed the third group of students who attended school in order to learn. It follows, therefore, that the behaviours of the two groups affected the class including the teacher who could not bear with the abnormality of the environment. The same study by Hussein (2007), in Kuwait also establishes that parents were under pressure from their children to provide funding for extra lessons resulting in psychological harm manifested through stress.
From the study, it can be extrapolated that some groups of learners are really affected by extra lessons to the extent of negatively influencing the normal classroom proceedings, hence affecting others and the teachers. The fact is that the study focused mainly in Mathematics and the intermediate grades from 4 to 7. This study focused on secondary school learners and besides, it was not specified to a subject at secondary school. All subjects in the Zimbabwean school curriculum offered through extra lessons were of concern to the study.
The same survey by Hussein (2007) in Kuwait, also showed that parents were exposed to psychological harm especially expatriates. This was particularly so in that large numbers of expatriate parents were heavily under pressure from their children who demanded extra tuition. However, most of these expatriate parents had limited incomes hence had to make suicidal sacrifices to make up for the extra tuition attendance. Hussein (2007)’s study was a survey on learners` perceptions of the effects of private tutoring suggesting that parents could have been used to cross evaluate those views advanced by their children. In view of this shortcoming, the current study sought to involve other groups of stakeholders as participants to have a diversity of opinions unlike the study by Hussein (2007) whose focus also was a single subject, Mathematics.
A study by Foondun (2002) on primary school learners in Mauritius and some selected Asian countries which included Korea and Japan, established that long hours of extra lessons had emotional and physical harm on the development of the learners. The study argues that learners spend more hours studying than workers do when on their jobs. In concurrence, a study by UNICEF (1994) established that to be able to cope with formal education and extra lessons, children had to carry loads of books and other resources resulting in them suffering from Scoliosis, which is a condition that manifests through the abnormal, sideways curvature of the spine, which according to O'Brien and Newman (2008), if viewed from the back, should be straight and not curving. Unlike what happens in Mauritius, in Trinidad and Tobago, learners are resilient as reflected in their ability to cope with the stress that goes on with heavy indulgence in private tutoring while at the same time satisfying the needs of the formal education system (Barrow and Lochan, 2012). In a study by Barrow and Lochan (2012), only 7.2% of the learners surveyed indicated that they hated private lessons because of stress and lack of social development posed by the experiences.
On the positive side, Byun and Park (2012) carried out a longitudinal study on the relevance of shadow education in America. The study found out that parents turned to extra lessons to lessen their burden of thinking of the outcome of their children`s performance. In this case, parents turned to extra lessons to reassure themselves that they made adequate preparations for their children`s education, thus fostering hope and in the process reducing the stress associated with the anticipated results of their children`s performance. However, the study mainly focused on the academic side of extra lessons of East Asian-American youths.
Other studies by Zhou (2008), Zhou and Kim (2006) and Shrake (2010) found positive results in terms
of extra tuition’s ability to remove frustration among East Asian immigrant parents who were experiencing emotional disorders as a result of their children`s failure to cope with mainstream American education. Furthermore, some studies have shown that learners who engage in extra lessons tend to have their morale boosted as they go into attest or examination (Mendelsohn, 2015). As argued by Mendelsohn (2015), private tutoring is meant for enrichment. Learners have most of the grey areas brought from the formal system rectified, thus boosting the morale of the learners as they go into the examinations.
In another study on the social and psychological effects of a compensatory education programme, Project ABC, on the disadvantaged students by Wessman (2012), it was found out that there were positive personal and social changes in about 75% of the boys in the ABC programme. Wessman (2012) established that among the main positive changes among the boys were academic improvement and the learners more articulate and better able to express themselves. However, from the study 25% of the boys exhibited negative behaviours. Wessman (2012) states that the boys became tense, anxious, felt very discouraged and defeated became more alienated and cynical, complacent and snobbish.
According to Wessman (2012), the ABC programme brought about greater tension and anxiety to about 25% of the boys, conditions which were attributed to increased academic pressure, competition, and uncertainty about the future. The same study also established that 10% of the students felt disillusioned, alienated and socially withdrawn after undergoing the ABC programme. However, it is also significant to highlight that the programme could have resulted in the observed negative effects because learners were isolated from their normal communities; hence they may have exhibited such characteristics as worry, apprehension, social withdrawal and anxiety.
A study by Ireson and Rushforth (2005) establishes that individual tutoring had an effect on the psychological wellbeing of the learners as it tended to boost their morale ahead of national examinations. Forty percent of the student respondents in the study carried out in the United Kingdom felt that the individualised tutoring raised their interest, enjoyment and their perceptions of academic attainment in Mathematics and English. According to Ireson and Rushforth (2005), the explanation of the results was that tutors were well versed in their subjects and the one-on-one students made it possible for tutors to explain issues and aspects much to the understanding of the learners. This was coupled by the fact that most tutors had become experienced and could find means and ways of making sure that their students understood issues correctly. With the sight of examinations, most learners who went for those individualised programmes, had high hopes of passing, were confident and felt psychologically psyched up because of the preparatory work in individualised tutoring.
A study by The Nation (2005) in Cheoand Quah (2005) establishes that young learners who studied hard, among them those attending private tuition, ran the risk of suffering from a brain condition that reduced memory capacity. In the same study, it was established that learners attending extra lessons became tense and suffered from mental and physical problems in future. The situation was prevalent among learners who were taught to compete against each other. This situation puts a lot of strain on learners who want to put a lot of effort into their education in order to the best among the rest. The Nation (2005) in Cheoand Quah (2005) establishes that this intense pressure resulted in stress manifested through headaches, tiredness and sleeplessness. In concurrence, some studies have also found out that in some schools, learners sleep through lessons because they are tired after excessive external study (Baker &LeTendre, 2005; Cheo & Quah, 2005; Ireson & Rushforth, 2005). Too much work for the children makes them to get tired and do not benefit from the extra lessons. In India, Cheo and Quah (2005) conclude that the adage, “the more the better” in terms of extra lessons does not match reality, and that diminishing returns set in rapidly when “over-investment in the child” takes place.
Teachers have also been affected psychologically. Hussein (2007) in Kuwait, establishes that teachers
suffered psychological disorders after being confronted by a class that lacked participation because most of the learners were not showing any interest normal class activities because of their participation in extra lesson. Teachers would, therefore, be comfortable with teaching a class that exhibits interest and this motivates the teacher as learners are willing to take part in the instructional process.
This investigation was a qualitative research study aimed at understanding a social or human problem, based on building a complex, holistic picture, formed with words, reporting detailed views of informants, and conducted in a natural setting (Creswell, 2012; Flick, 2011). For that reason, in-depth interviews, focus group discussions and document analysis were adopted to get a descriptive account of the practice of extra lessons (Parkinson & Drislane, 2011). The researcher was interested in understanding the meaning people have constructed, that is, how people make sense of their world and the experiences they have in the world (Merriam, 2009). In this case, the researcher was, therefore, interested in investigating in what teachers, parents and learners viewed as the psycho-emotional role of extra lessons, in their natural setting (the schools and the community in which these schools were located) attempting to make sense of the phenomenon of extra lessons in terms of the meanings the participants provide to the researcher. Responses by participants were, therefore, examined in greater detail and depth (Creswell, 2012). Interviews were held with teachers, school inspectors and parents. Data was generated from learners through a focus group discussion. Documents such as learners` report books, exercise book and attendance registers were analysed to substantiate claims made by participants in interviews and focus group discussions.
Owing to the qualitative nature of the study, a multi-perspective psycho-emotional on the role of the extra lessons was necessary. Hence participants for the study were teachers, schools’ inspectors (SI), parents and learners to provide a diversity of views on the issue. Participants were selected through purposive sampling and the researcher adopted the critical case sampling. Data saturation was achieved at 23 participants, from where data were generated. These participants had a great deal of experience in as far as the extra lessons were concerned, with teachers and school inspectors having served in the education sector for more than five years. The researcher safeguarded participants` confidentiality and anonymity as well as securing their informed consent to participation (Dina, 2012). Anonymity was preserved using pseudonyms and codes. Parents were coded P1 to P6 and school inspectors were coded SI1 to SI3. Teachers were coded T1 to T6 while learners were coded FGDL1 to FGDL6.
Participants were asked to explain the positive psychological effects of attending extra lessons by learners. The views expressed by participants show that there was consensus that extra lessons made learners adequately prepared for examinations. This was out of the view that over and above providing academic assistance in various subject areas, service providers also provided counselling sessions to learners. On a negative note, participants felt that learners did not get adequate resting time as they were always moving from one teacher to another, over and above other social responsibilities thrust upon them at home.
Extra lessons have been credited for their confidence building among the learners. In support of this view, Mendelsohn(2015) established that learners who engage in extra lessons tend to have their morale boosted as they go into a test or examination. Findings from the current study have also established the same. For example, Mrs. Nhari(P3) indicates that there seems to be some confidence
building among children. According to the same participant, those not attending extra lessons feel that they are not secure enough with the information they got, as they feet left behind by those who attend the extra lessons. Non-participants of extra lesson slack confidence as symbolized by “they are not secure enough”. Those that attend to the contrary, are sure enough of what have learnt and are raring to go, come examination time. This is supported by findings in a study by Ireson and Rushforth (2005), who also established that individual tutoring influenced the psychological wellbeing of the students as it tended to boost their morale ahead of national examinations. One of the teacher participants, Mr. Owens (T4), supports the claim that extra lessons are assisting in confidence building. Sharing his experiences, Mr. Owens indicates:
One thing that I have noticed that, when children are attending extra lessons, they feel it`s better than the conventional system and that boosts confidence. They just feel that with extra lessons, you can go an extra mile. And you notice that one child performs unexpectedly better when attending extra lessons just because their morale is boosted because of the extra lesson. Of course, we have some who face challenges, the same challenges they face in the conventional school. But generally, they think the parents are doing a lot and they feel boosted in terms of their confidence. Like I have mentioned, they tend to want to feel like the significant others and end up copying certain norms, certain behaviours which they did not have in the first place because most of these children that we have come from different schools.
The phrases “boosts confidence”, “their morale is boosted” and “feel boosted in terms of their confidence”, show that extra lessons are pivotal in confidence building, in readiness for any eventuality in the formal school system. The expression by the participant “one child performs unexpectedly better” during the extra lessons, is also testimony to the view that learners are confident during the extra lessons unlike when in the formal school system.
The same sentiments are shared by a participant teacher, Mr. Tsuro (T6), who indicates that all the confidence is a result of the “individualised learning” they practised during the extra lessons. He aptly describes his experiences as follows:
Like I did indicate earlier on that our main thrust in extra lessons is that we are dealing with individualised learning. We try to run away from one size fits all approach when we are offering these extra lessons. That means that we also boost the confidence of learners because the learners we are dealing with we zero in on their weaknesses and strengths as well. There is self-esteem that is boosted and as they go back to their schools, some of them will be bubbling with confidence and will be partaking in most activities that will be done in the classrooms and usually they are better off than those not attending those extra lessons.
During individualised learning, the thrust is making sure that they raise the confidence levels of the learners as shown in “we also boost the confidence of learners”. Phrases such as “self-esteem that is boosted” and “bubbling with confidence”, show that the teacher has belief in the efficacy of the extra lessons to make learners confident. The learners exude the confidence through getting involved in all formal class activities as reflected in “will be partaking in most activities” unlike before and unlike the non-participants. According to his experiences, participant teacher Mr. Mamvura(T7) observed learners who did not have confidence before they enrolled for extra lessons. However, after going through the paces, they gained a lot of confidence and were prepared to take any test or examination at the formal schools. Mr. Mamvura makes the following observations:
There were some who were not confident of passing or doing well in the science subjects especially in Mathematics but having that clinical teaching, one-on-one, they
have that confidence and psychologically they have that belief they can do it. So, having extra lessons is different from a mass lecture. So, I think to those that are coming for extra lessons they are okay.
The phrase “some who were not confident” shows that before being attested into the extra lessons, the learners are not confident at all but owing the one-on-one teaching, the learners then tend to grow in confidence levels, as reflected by “psychologically they have that belief they can do it”. According to Mr. Zhou (T8), the existence of small groups of mixed abilities during extra lessons, leads to psychological maturity as learners share ideas and learn from one another. Mr. Zhou says “Psychologically, I believe that extra lessons if done well by very good practitioners, they can enhance psychological development in these learners”. The aspect of psychological maturity is linked to confidence as learners get prepared for any eventuality. There is therefore, room for learners to boost their confidence and develop psychologically as they attend extra lessons and get to mix with different learners of different levels, aided by teachers who are well versed in lesson delivery.
Extra lessons are a source of depression among learners. After learners discover that their parents and guardians are making sacrifices to have them attend school as well as extra lessons, they tend to feel depressed. According to Mr. James (T2) and other participants, there were some negative psychological aspects for those attending, for example, especially if the learners discover that at home everything was being sacrificed for them to attend extra lessons. The depression may stem from the realisation that the learner is putting a strain on the parents. Mr. James argues that depression is a characteristic of those that those not attending extra lessons. He says, “They feel depressed by the social setup at home that they had failed to attend extra lessons with their friends and others”. On one hand, those attending wish that they would not make their parents suffer in such a manner shown as the scrounge for resources to enable them to attend for extra lessons. both groups. On the other hand, learners not attending feel deprived of information as they would see some of their friends having better results and more information gathered from the extra lessons and this leads to depression.
The same views are also typical in the assertions by Mr. Owens. He states thus:
Psychologically, those not attending could be affected somehow even though that might not go to affect their academic performance, but they felt left out. They feel disheartened and feel left out of an important activity because they miss out on varied approaches and extra activities related to extra lessons.
Based on the above excerpt, one gets a feeling that learners not attending affected psychologically. Words such as “disheartened” and “feel left out” are indicative of the psychological effect of not having been granted that opportunity to take part in extra lessons. According to observations shared by Mr. Sango, those not attending “had low self-esteem in terms of how they can cope with their educational demands. They felt the pressure that others were getting extra material which the mainstream education system was not providing them.”The phrase “had low self-esteem” is also suggestive of the negative psychological effect that extra lessons have on those who do not extra lessons.
In support of the other participants and sharing his experiences, Mr. Zhou indicates that those not getting extra lessons are affected especially when they see that their colleagues who are attending performing better than them. He remarked:
You know, like I said, there is a lot of competition in our communities. So obviously is someone is not attending then he/she sees that one who is attending has improved academically, then it can affect them psychologically and they would feel that they really need to attend these extra lessons.
The phrase “it can affect them psychologically” is also demonstration that there is damage to the learners as they feel depressed at the prospect of feeling inferior to those who attend. However, for those getting extra lessons, some studies, for Mendelsohn (2015) and Wessman (2012), have established that they are affected psychologically, in one way or the other. There is a lot of tension and anxiety among those attending because of increased academic pressure, competition, and uncertainty about the future (Wessman, 2012). Wessman (2012) also established in the same study students felt disillusioned, alienated and socially withdrawn after undergoing an ABC programme.
According to Mendelsohn (2015), when parents and learners are left out of an important activity that their peers are actively involved in, this resulting in high affinity to participate. This leads to stress and anxiety. In the same study Mendelsohn (2015), results showed that extra lessons placed psychological burdens on the learners as they anticipated good passes after their terminal examinations and after failing to make it, they became psychologically devastated and would shun any form and type of assistance that may come their way. Heavy expectations of passing by those attending placed weighty demands that eventually led to anxiety and tension as one feels excited to pass for fear of putting to waste the financial resources. This could lead to a crisis of expectation among the learners as they are not about the future. For those not getting extra lessons, the need to catch up with others, has a bearing on them as they feel let down, hence feel depressed (Wessman, 2012).
From the emotional side, extra lessons were seen to be straining of learners due inadequate resting time and causing confusion among them. It emerged learners got strained because they do not have adequate resting time. Most the times, they are busy. At the formal school, time for lessons is not adequate. The learners are expected to go home and carry out household chores after which they were expected to attend extra lessons.
Showing his exasperation against extra lessons, Mr. James indicates that learners have no free time to relax, indicating that as they are constantly being involved in school lessons and then later on, extra lessons, thus being busy all the time. Describing her experiences, participant teacher Mrs. Nhari(T3) believes that learners who participate in extra lessons seem to be strained. Mrs. Nhari`s use of words such as “tired” and “suffered fatigue” show that learners were emotionally spent due to attending extra lessons over and above the normal school routines. Emotions are also shown in Mrs. Nhari`s use of the term “confused” to denote to the state of mind of the learners after attending extra lessons. The confusion could be due to different methods used at school and at extra lessons so much that learners do not know which one to follow. Mr. Owens remarks that often mixing with others from different set ups makes the learners want to work hard to impress among strangers but getting strained in the process. The expression getting strained shows a situation of do more than is expected and thus emotions tend to run high among learners when they fail to get what they need. In describing the learners` emotions, Mr. Sango (T5) states that it becomes stressful to the average learner. He remarks saying:
In social life, I think it becomes negative because a lot of pressure is put upon them. They have less opportunities to interact with peers. So, I think there is overburdening them. So, I think in the area of socialising, they are negatively affected.
Based on Mr. Sango`s experiences expressed in the excerpt, one deduces the negative aspects of the extra lessons on learners as symbolised in the phrase “lot of pressure is put upon them” and “have less opportunities to interact with peers”. To begin with, the participant bears testimony to the view that there is a lot of pressure on the learners. Added to that, the learner is overburdened by academic work and socialisation is affected despite the academic benefit.
Mr. Mamvura remarks emotions can also rise in instances where those who attend extra lessons fail in the end, resulting in relationships between the failing learner and the teacher turning sour. Narrating his experiences Mr. Mamvura shared the following:
To those who don’t make it, of course, we are not saying it`s 100% to those who do not make it, they would be very low and some can get to an extent of calling you names saying I wasted my resources or I did this or that. But you find that they would take the blame to you who is taking them for extra lessons disregarding their background, where they are coming from. At times some may come for extra lessons when the time is almost up, and you might not have enough time with them.
Emotionally, the effects are reflected by the phrase would be very low. That there is name calling shows that emotions could be running high as there is a blame game between the learner who and the teacher who would be claiming the learner enrolled for extra lessons late.
The findings of the current study are in line with those by Bray (2003), who established that participating in the supplementary lessons led to fatigue among learners because after attending mainstream education, learners would go straight to supplementary tutoring centres. For that reason, according to Bray (2003), extra lesson denied the learners with rest and recreation. In support of the present findings, the Nation (2005) established that young learners who studied hard, among them those attending private tuition, ran the risk of suffering from a brain condition that reduced memory capacity, hence the confusion that Mrs. Nhari (T3) and Mrs. Mhara (T6) have discovered in some of the children. Where the learners needed to compete against each other, as is the case with urban day high density learners, the characteristics which were manifested by the learners in the studies above tend to manifest. The participants in the current study observed the same, as learners exhibited signs of strain, exhaustion, fatigue and confusion (Baker & LeTendre, 2005; Cheo& Quah, 2005; Ireson & Rushforth, 2005). All this was a result of putting a lot of effort into their education in order to get the best results.
Contrary to the teachers` perceptions, in Trinidad and Tobago, learners were seen to be resilient and coped with the stress that went with a heavy indulgence in private tutoring while at the same time satisfying the needs of the formal education system (Barrow and Lochan, 2012). Other studies by Zhou (2008), Zhou and Kim (2006) and Shrake (2010) found positive results in terms of extra tuition’s ability to remove frustration among those who were experiencing emotional disorders as a result of failing to cope with mainstream American education. These views are echoed by learner participants in the current study. For example, FGDL4 indicated that there was no problem in coping psycho-emotionally. The same sentiments were echoed by FGDL1 who remarked saying:
Yeah, I am managing because we have hot sitting at our school. If I go to school in the morning, I knock off at 12 so around 1pm I go for the lessons. Then go home after 2 hours around three o’clock. So, I can manage. If I am attending school in the afternoon around 8-10 am, I go for extra lessons then I go to school around 10 and knock off at 5 pm. So, I can manage. I can wash dishes, for example, in the evening after supper, I take my plates and was, so I have no problem.
Since there was hot sitting at the learner`s school he had ample to rest and do other things. However, these assertions by the learners contradict findings by Foondun (2002) and Barrow and Lochan (2012). In Mauritius and some selected Asian countries, long hours of extra lessons had emotional and physical harm on the development of the learners (Foondun, 2012) as learners were spending more hours studying than workers do when on their jobs. In the study by Barrow and Lochan (2012), learners indicated that they hated private lessons because of stress and lack of social development
posed by the experiences. By and large, the emotional harm is being manifested in learners in the Zimbabwean secondary schools, as expressed by the teachers.
Participants expressed mixed feelings on the psychological and emotional roles of attending extra lessons by learners. Both positive and negative roles and effects were established from the participants. Positively, participants credited extra lessons for their confidence building among the learners. Learners, who engaged in extra lessons, have their morale boosted before going into a test or examination. On a negative note, extra lessons are a source of depression among learners, especially when learners come to discover that their parents and guardians are making sacrifices to have them attend school as well as extra lessons. The depression results from the realisation that the learner could be exerting a financial strain on the parents. There is also a lot of tension and anxiety among those attending because of increased academic pressure, competition, and uncertainty about the future. Extra lessons strain learners physically because they do not have adequate resting time since most the times, they are busy. The learners are expected to go home and carry out household chores after which they are expected to attend extra lessons, resulting in fatigue and confusion.
Based on the above conclusions it is therefore, recommended that:
Since extra lessons are credited extra lessons for their confidence building among the learners, they need to be continued but under the guidance of the teachers and parents.
Due to the positive views echoed by participants, that learners have had their morale boosted before going into a test or examination, learners need to continue getting involved in extra lessons though with guidance on how to regulate the intensity of getting involved in the extra lessons.
Since extra lessons are a source of depression among learners, especially when they discover that their parents and guardians are making sacrifices for their education, extra lessons could be part of the mainstream system to avoid double payment for the parents and guardians. The depression resulted from the realisation that the learner was exerting a financial strain on the parents.
There is need for parents and teachers to provide guidance and counselling on the extent to which extra lessons could be practised to avoid tension and anxiety among those attending because of increased academic pressure, competition, and uncertainty about the future.
Extra lessons could be timetabled in such a way that learners and teachers have time to rest to avoid physical strain on the teachers and learners arising due to lack of adequate resting time.
With resources permitting, study centres with recreational facilities could be established where learners and teachers could take time to relax before after lessons under the supervision of centre heads who could be school heads, especially where the facilities are within the school premises.
Timetables for both learners and teachers need to be created and be adhered to foster the need for resting time to combat fatigue and physical strain.
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