Availability and Accessibility of Educational Information to High School Learners in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa

Abstract

Despite recent achievements by the South African government in enhancing the provision of access to education, the quality of educational information access with regards to the provision of learning resources to high school learners by the government in one of the country’s most impoverished provinces, was the focus of this study. The study was an attempt to establish the reality of the availability and accessibility of educational information available to students, especially those in Grade 12 preparing for their Matric examination. Ribot and Peluso’s theory of access was utilised for this study, while a survey design was adopted to answer the following research questions on data collected from Grade 12 learners, teachers and librarians: What are the types of educational information available to high school learners in the Fort Beaufort Education District in the Eastern Cape Province? To what extent is the available educational information accessible by high school learners in the Fort Beaufort Education District in the Eastern Cape Province? The results revealed accessibility constraints regarding some categories of educational information resources, including information resources on soft skills as well as information and communication technologies education (mean item scores 3.45 and 3.07 respectively). The engagement of teacher librarians to facilitate robust collection development and support access to educational information is imperative and recommended.