Transformative learning in geography education: international perspectives and practices
- Wilmot, P Dianne, Bednarz, Sarah H, Fatima, Munazza, De la Vega, Alfonso G, Grob, Regula, Mäsgen, Johanna, Wilson, Sophie
- Authors: Wilmot, P Dianne , Bednarz, Sarah H , Fatima, Munazza , De la Vega, Alfonso G , Grob, Regula , Mäsgen, Johanna , Wilson, Sophie
- Date: 2025
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/483010 , vital:78711 , https://doi.org/10.1080/10382046.2025.2473104
- Description: This paper critically reflects on how transformative learning (TL) is described both conceptually and as a process in the literature in different fields and national contexts. We articulate a definition of TL and justify why geography education is an ideal vehicle for enabling it. This is followed by a series of case studies explaining how TL can be and is being implemented in the curriculum topic of climate change in different countries. The findings of the analysis of the case studies are used to make propositions for further development and enactment of TL in geography education. The insights provided by this paper may help to move the field forward by opening new avenues of research and providing opportunities for cultivating a stronger geography education voice in global discourses about the types of learning required in a time of socio-ecological crisis and rapid societal change. Furthermore, it may provide practical ideas for improving learning and enhancing teaching practices which curriculum developers, learning resource producers, and practitioners may find useful.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2025
- Authors: Wilmot, P Dianne , Bednarz, Sarah H , Fatima, Munazza , De la Vega, Alfonso G , Grob, Regula , Mäsgen, Johanna , Wilson, Sophie
- Date: 2025
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/483010 , vital:78711 , https://doi.org/10.1080/10382046.2025.2473104
- Description: This paper critically reflects on how transformative learning (TL) is described both conceptually and as a process in the literature in different fields and national contexts. We articulate a definition of TL and justify why geography education is an ideal vehicle for enabling it. This is followed by a series of case studies explaining how TL can be and is being implemented in the curriculum topic of climate change in different countries. The findings of the analysis of the case studies are used to make propositions for further development and enactment of TL in geography education. The insights provided by this paper may help to move the field forward by opening new avenues of research and providing opportunities for cultivating a stronger geography education voice in global discourses about the types of learning required in a time of socio-ecological crisis and rapid societal change. Furthermore, it may provide practical ideas for improving learning and enhancing teaching practices which curriculum developers, learning resource producers, and practitioners may find useful.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2025
Addressing global challenges in geographical education: perspectives from the CGE Springer book series
- Wilmot, P Dianne, Brooks, Clare
- Authors: Wilmot, P Dianne , Brooks, Clare
- Date: 2023
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/482910 , vital:78700 , https://doi.org/10.1080/10382046.2023.2281696
- Description: A key responsibility of academic scholarship is to further develop the field under investigation and to critically evaluate how it is responding to challenges from both inside and outside of the field of enquiry. This article offers an overview of whether the scholarship published in geography education (GE) from the perspective of the Commission for Geography Education (CGE) Springer book series is sufficiently engaging with contemporary global challenges and education discourses. Guided by the 2022 IGU-CGE Rennes Conference’s three axes: curriculum renewal, pedagogy and teacher training, the article discusses the findings of a meta-analysis of the six books published in the CGE Springer series in the past five years (2017 to 2021).The thematic analysis shows that GE is engaging with global realities of environment and sustainability, climate change, globalisation and the importance of powerful knowledge for understanding and engaging with complex, often controversial issues. But there are also gaps and absences in terms of who is producing knowledge and from where knowledge is being generated. We contend that the book series is well placed to support the community in addressing global concerns and the related transformative pedagogies needed to enact them. However, we also suggest that the publications at this point in time have yet to fully grasp the specifics needed for the challenges that lie ahead. Some preliminary considerations for advancing the field through future publications are offered. These may be useful to GE researchers and scholars in different regions of the world.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023
- Authors: Wilmot, P Dianne , Brooks, Clare
- Date: 2023
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/482910 , vital:78700 , https://doi.org/10.1080/10382046.2023.2281696
- Description: A key responsibility of academic scholarship is to further develop the field under investigation and to critically evaluate how it is responding to challenges from both inside and outside of the field of enquiry. This article offers an overview of whether the scholarship published in geography education (GE) from the perspective of the Commission for Geography Education (CGE) Springer book series is sufficiently engaging with contemporary global challenges and education discourses. Guided by the 2022 IGU-CGE Rennes Conference’s three axes: curriculum renewal, pedagogy and teacher training, the article discusses the findings of a meta-analysis of the six books published in the CGE Springer series in the past five years (2017 to 2021).The thematic analysis shows that GE is engaging with global realities of environment and sustainability, climate change, globalisation and the importance of powerful knowledge for understanding and engaging with complex, often controversial issues. But there are also gaps and absences in terms of who is producing knowledge and from where knowledge is being generated. We contend that the book series is well placed to support the community in addressing global concerns and the related transformative pedagogies needed to enact them. However, we also suggest that the publications at this point in time have yet to fully grasp the specifics needed for the challenges that lie ahead. Some preliminary considerations for advancing the field through future publications are offered. These may be useful to GE researchers and scholars in different regions of the world.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023
Transformative Learning for Teacher Educators: Making sense of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) policy emphasis on transformative education
- Lotz-Sisitka, Heila, Schudel, Ingrid J, Wilmot, P Dianne, O’Donoghue, Rob B, Chikunda, Charles
- Authors: Lotz-Sisitka, Heila , Schudel, Ingrid J , Wilmot, P Dianne , O’Donoghue, Rob B , Chikunda, Charles
- Date: 2022
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , report
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/435765 , vital:73199 , ISBN Report , https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ingrid-Schudel/publication/364399424_Transformative_Learning_for_Teach-er_Educators_Making_sense_of_Education_for_Sustainable_Develop-ment_ESD_policy_emphasis_on_transformative_education/links/638c38c3658cec2104ab7227/Transformative-Learning-for-Teacher-Educators-Making-sense-of-Education-for-Sustainable-Development-ESD-policy-emphasis-on-transformative-education.pdf
- Description: This chapter addresses UNESCO’s ESD for 2030 call to push the transformative edge on education needed all over the world so that a sustainable future can be created. More specifically, it responds to the need for building educator ca-pacity for transformative and transgressive learning in a de-veloping world context where high levels of inequality persist in society as a whole, and in the education system. The con-cept of transformative, transgressive learning is examined against a backdrop of contextual realities and challenges. This is followed by a detailed discussion on how, through multi-stakeholder partnerships and networks, we are building teacher educator capacity in the Schools and Sustainability, Fundisa [Teaching] for Change and the Sustainability Starts with Teachers Action Learning programme in South and Southern Africa respectively. These initiatives may offer in-sights into transformative learning in teacher education for those seeking to enable transformative ESD learning in their programmes.This chapter addresses UNESCO’s ESD for 2030 call to push the transformative edge on education needed all over the world so that a sustainable future can be created. More specifically, it responds to the need for building educator ca-pacity for transformative and transgressive learning in a de-veloping world context where high levels of inequality persist in society as a whole, and in the education system. The con-cept of transformative, transgressive learning is examined against a backdrop of contextual realities and challenges. This is followed by a detailed discussion on how, through multi-stakeholder partnerships and networks, we are building teacher educator capacity in the Schools and Sustainability, Fundisa [Teaching] for Change and the Sustainability Starts with Teachers Action Learning programme in South and Southern Africa respectively. These initiatives may offer in-sights into transformative learning in teacher education for those seeking to enable transformative ESD learning in their programmes.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022
- Authors: Lotz-Sisitka, Heila , Schudel, Ingrid J , Wilmot, P Dianne , O’Donoghue, Rob B , Chikunda, Charles
- Date: 2022
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , report
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/435765 , vital:73199 , ISBN Report , https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ingrid-Schudel/publication/364399424_Transformative_Learning_for_Teach-er_Educators_Making_sense_of_Education_for_Sustainable_Develop-ment_ESD_policy_emphasis_on_transformative_education/links/638c38c3658cec2104ab7227/Transformative-Learning-for-Teacher-Educators-Making-sense-of-Education-for-Sustainable-Development-ESD-policy-emphasis-on-transformative-education.pdf
- Description: This chapter addresses UNESCO’s ESD for 2030 call to push the transformative edge on education needed all over the world so that a sustainable future can be created. More specifically, it responds to the need for building educator ca-pacity for transformative and transgressive learning in a de-veloping world context where high levels of inequality persist in society as a whole, and in the education system. The con-cept of transformative, transgressive learning is examined against a backdrop of contextual realities and challenges. This is followed by a detailed discussion on how, through multi-stakeholder partnerships and networks, we are building teacher educator capacity in the Schools and Sustainability, Fundisa [Teaching] for Change and the Sustainability Starts with Teachers Action Learning programme in South and Southern Africa respectively. These initiatives may offer in-sights into transformative learning in teacher education for those seeking to enable transformative ESD learning in their programmes.This chapter addresses UNESCO’s ESD for 2030 call to push the transformative edge on education needed all over the world so that a sustainable future can be created. More specifically, it responds to the need for building educator ca-pacity for transformative and transgressive learning in a de-veloping world context where high levels of inequality persist in society as a whole, and in the education system. The con-cept of transformative, transgressive learning is examined against a backdrop of contextual realities and challenges. This is followed by a detailed discussion on how, through multi-stakeholder partnerships and networks, we are building teacher educator capacity in the Schools and Sustainability, Fundisa [Teaching] for Change and the Sustainability Starts with Teachers Action Learning programme in South and Southern Africa respectively. These initiatives may offer in-sights into transformative learning in teacher education for those seeking to enable transformative ESD learning in their programmes.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022
A multinational study of authors’ perceptions of and practical approaches to writing geography textbooks:
- Lee, Jongwon, Catling, Simon, Kidman, Gillian, Bednarz, Robert, Krause, Uwe, Martija, Andoni A, Ohnishi, Koji, Wilmot, P Dianne, Zecha, Stefane
- Authors: Lee, Jongwon , Catling, Simon , Kidman, Gillian , Bednarz, Robert , Krause, Uwe , Martija, Andoni A , Ohnishi, Koji , Wilmot, P Dianne , Zecha, Stefane
- Date: 2020
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/158269 , vital:40168 , https://doi.org/10.1080/10382046.2020.1743931
- Description: Like all school textbooks, geography textbooks are authored. Almost all textbook research in and beyond geography has neglected their authors. This questionnaire-based multinational research project investigated the perceptions of 71 primary and secondary school geography textbook authors from seven countries in five continents. Though not intended as a definitive study, the findings identified several values and areas of expertise which many textbook authors in different countries held to be important for their work.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Lee, Jongwon , Catling, Simon , Kidman, Gillian , Bednarz, Robert , Krause, Uwe , Martija, Andoni A , Ohnishi, Koji , Wilmot, P Dianne , Zecha, Stefane
- Date: 2020
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/158269 , vital:40168 , https://doi.org/10.1080/10382046.2020.1743931
- Description: Like all school textbooks, geography textbooks are authored. Almost all textbook research in and beyond geography has neglected their authors. This questionnaire-based multinational research project investigated the perceptions of 71 primary and secondary school geography textbook authors from seven countries in five continents. Though not intended as a definitive study, the findings identified several values and areas of expertise which many textbook authors in different countries held to be important for their work.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
Issues-Based Enquiry: An Enabling Pedagogy for ESD in Teacher Education and School Geography
- Authors: Wilmot, P Dianne
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book chapter
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/436266 , vital:73253 , ISBN 978-3-319-45989-9 , https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-45989-9_10
- Description: This chapter addresses the need for innovations in geography teacher education programmes in a developing world context. More specifically, it responds to the need for practical ‘how to’ examples for ESD integration into school geography by de-scribing a pedagogical experiment that was piloted with in-service Namibian teachers and education development offic-ers (EDOs) enrolled for a Bachelor of Education (Honours) de-gree in 2014. The theoretical constructs underpinning the ex-periment’s design and pedagogical approach as well as the teacher professional development model are described. This is followed by a description and justification of the methodology used to answer the research question: ‘How can issues-based enquiry enable the integration of ESD at the micro level of the classroom?’ The findings of the experiment provide evidence of how issues-based enquiry, underpinned by active learning and constructivist epistemology and a model of teacher pro-fessional development located in reflexive practice, enabled the teachers to acquire foundational knowledge and pedagog-ical content knowledge for effective integration of ESD into school geography. This chapter may offer other teacher educators some guidelines on how to develop teacher capacity to integrate ESD into their own programmes.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
- Authors: Wilmot, P Dianne
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book chapter
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/436266 , vital:73253 , ISBN 978-3-319-45989-9 , https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-45989-9_10
- Description: This chapter addresses the need for innovations in geography teacher education programmes in a developing world context. More specifically, it responds to the need for practical ‘how to’ examples for ESD integration into school geography by de-scribing a pedagogical experiment that was piloted with in-service Namibian teachers and education development offic-ers (EDOs) enrolled for a Bachelor of Education (Honours) de-gree in 2014. The theoretical constructs underpinning the ex-periment’s design and pedagogical approach as well as the teacher professional development model are described. This is followed by a description and justification of the methodology used to answer the research question: ‘How can issues-based enquiry enable the integration of ESD at the micro level of the classroom?’ The findings of the experiment provide evidence of how issues-based enquiry, underpinned by active learning and constructivist epistemology and a model of teacher pro-fessional development located in reflexive practice, enabled the teachers to acquire foundational knowledge and pedagog-ical content knowledge for effective integration of ESD into school geography. This chapter may offer other teacher educators some guidelines on how to develop teacher capacity to integrate ESD into their own programmes.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
School geography in South Africa after two decades of democracy: teachers’ experiences of curriculum change
- Wilmot, P Dianne, Dube, Caroline
- Authors: Wilmot, P Dianne , Dube, Caroline
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/482972 , vital:78707 , https://doi.org/10.1080/00167487.2015.12093961
- Description: This article addresses the state of school geography in South Africa as the country celebrates 20 years of democracy. It builds on and expands the narrative contained in two articles (Nel and Binns, 1999; Le Grange and Beets, 2005) published in Geography, which described National Curriculum development at different times during a period of education transformation in post-apartheid South Africa. Our main contention is that while there has been an upward trend in enrolment and learner performance in the Grade 12 exit examination, there are pertinent issues in school geography that still need to be resolved, some of which will be recognised and familiar to an international readership. Significantly, this article addresses a perceived shortcoming in the aforementioned articles, namely a lack of empirical evidence of teachers' experiences of school geography in a period of transformation. Drawing on the findings of a qualitative study, we provide evidence of the difficulties teachers are experiencing and conclude by making some propositions for a way forward.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
- Authors: Wilmot, P Dianne , Dube, Caroline
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/482972 , vital:78707 , https://doi.org/10.1080/00167487.2015.12093961
- Description: This article addresses the state of school geography in South Africa as the country celebrates 20 years of democracy. It builds on and expands the narrative contained in two articles (Nel and Binns, 1999; Le Grange and Beets, 2005) published in Geography, which described National Curriculum development at different times during a period of education transformation in post-apartheid South Africa. Our main contention is that while there has been an upward trend in enrolment and learner performance in the Grade 12 exit examination, there are pertinent issues in school geography that still need to be resolved, some of which will be recognised and familiar to an international readership. Significantly, this article addresses a perceived shortcoming in the aforementioned articles, namely a lack of empirical evidence of teachers' experiences of school geography in a period of transformation. Drawing on the findings of a qualitative study, we provide evidence of the difficulties teachers are experiencing and conclude by making some propositions for a way forward.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
Exploring the congruence between the Lesotho junior secondary geography curriculum and environmental education
- Raselimo, Mohaeka, Irwin, Patrick R, Wilmot, P Dianne
- Authors: Raselimo, Mohaeka , Irwin, Patrick R , Wilmot, P Dianne
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/482934 , vital:78703 , https://doi.org/10.1080/10382046.2013.826547
- Description: In this article, we analyse the Lesotho junior secondary geography curriculum document with the purpose of exploring the congruence between geography and environmental education. The study is based on a curriculum reform process introduced by the Lesotho Environmental Education Support Project (LEESP) in 2001. we draw theoretical insights from Basil Bernstein's concepts of classification and framing to analyse environmental knowledge integration and structure of pedagogy as expressed in the geography curriculum document. For further analysis of relationship between geography and environmental education, we use a model of action competence. The analysis reveals that while the curriculum document is generally congruent with environmental education in terms of its content, it still retains traditional disciplinary knowledge of geography. The analysis also highlights some differences between the pedagogy intended for teaching geography and the learner-centred pedagogy envisaged in LEESP.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
- Authors: Raselimo, Mohaeka , Irwin, Patrick R , Wilmot, P Dianne
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/482934 , vital:78703 , https://doi.org/10.1080/10382046.2013.826547
- Description: In this article, we analyse the Lesotho junior secondary geography curriculum document with the purpose of exploring the congruence between geography and environmental education. The study is based on a curriculum reform process introduced by the Lesotho Environmental Education Support Project (LEESP) in 2001. we draw theoretical insights from Basil Bernstein's concepts of classification and framing to analyse environmental knowledge integration and structure of pedagogy as expressed in the geography curriculum document. For further analysis of relationship between geography and environmental education, we use a model of action competence. The analysis reveals that while the curriculum document is generally congruent with environmental education in terms of its content, it still retains traditional disciplinary knowledge of geography. The analysis also highlights some differences between the pedagogy intended for teaching geography and the learner-centred pedagogy envisaged in LEESP.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
Teacher education in post-apartheid South Africa: navigating a way through competing state and global imperatives for change
- Schäfer, Marc, Wilmot, P Dianne
- Authors: Schäfer, Marc , Wilmot, P Dianne
- Date: 2012
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/140905 , vital:37928 , DOI: 10.1007/s11125-012-9220-3
- Description: This article focuses on teacher education in post-apartheid South Africa. It argues that the restructuring and reorganization of teacher education is at the nexus of the axes of tension created by national and global imperatives for change. Along with the dismantling of apartheid and the transition to a free and democratic state in 1994 came the urgent need for social reconstruction, democratization, redress, social justice, and equity. At the same time, and as part of a global context, the country needed global competitiveness, human capital development, global skills, international standards, and accountability. These competing modernist discourses have informed the design and orientation of the National Qualifications Framework and national curriculum that took place in parallel with, and simultaneous to, the restructuring and reform of teacher education. This article reviews literature pertinent to understanding the post-apartheid transformation in South African education in general and teacher education in particular. It concludes that policy makers have managed to navigate a way through the axis of tension created by opposed orientations to transformation. A more equitable and improved system of teacher education has been achieved but critical issues of teacher quality and quantity have emerged which urgently need resolution.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2012
- Authors: Schäfer, Marc , Wilmot, P Dianne
- Date: 2012
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/140905 , vital:37928 , DOI: 10.1007/s11125-012-9220-3
- Description: This article focuses on teacher education in post-apartheid South Africa. It argues that the restructuring and reorganization of teacher education is at the nexus of the axes of tension created by national and global imperatives for change. Along with the dismantling of apartheid and the transition to a free and democratic state in 1994 came the urgent need for social reconstruction, democratization, redress, social justice, and equity. At the same time, and as part of a global context, the country needed global competitiveness, human capital development, global skills, international standards, and accountability. These competing modernist discourses have informed the design and orientation of the National Qualifications Framework and national curriculum that took place in parallel with, and simultaneous to, the restructuring and reform of teacher education. This article reviews literature pertinent to understanding the post-apartheid transformation in South African education in general and teacher education in particular. It concludes that policy makers have managed to navigate a way through the axis of tension created by opposed orientations to transformation. A more equitable and improved system of teacher education has been achieved but critical issues of teacher quality and quantity have emerged which urgently need resolution.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2012
The Makana Regional Centre of expertise: Experiments in social learning
- Lotz-Sisitka, Heila, O'Donoghue, Rob B, Wilmot, P Dianne
- Authors: Lotz-Sisitka, Heila , O'Donoghue, Rob B , Wilmot, P Dianne
- Date: 2010
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/182634 , vital:43849 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1177/097340820900400114"
- Description: This article deliberates the possibilities for Regional Centres of Expertise (RCEs) to become ‘experiments’ in social learning. The purpose of the article is to advance the broader research agenda of RCEs through reflection on the empirical research agenda of one RCE, Makana RCE in South Africa. As such it opens questions on how we might see RCE’s as morphogenic social learning processes (i.e., processes of social change). It provides an oversight of the key issues, educational foci and developing areas of engagement in the Makana RCE. These provide an overview of the ‘starting points’ for social learning in the Makana RCE. A model of social learning is also provided which seeks to engage the ecocultural nature of sustainability practices in the Makana RCE.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2010
- Authors: Lotz-Sisitka, Heila , O'Donoghue, Rob B , Wilmot, P Dianne
- Date: 2010
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/182634 , vital:43849 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1177/097340820900400114"
- Description: This article deliberates the possibilities for Regional Centres of Expertise (RCEs) to become ‘experiments’ in social learning. The purpose of the article is to advance the broader research agenda of RCEs through reflection on the empirical research agenda of one RCE, Makana RCE in South Africa. As such it opens questions on how we might see RCE’s as morphogenic social learning processes (i.e., processes of social change). It provides an oversight of the key issues, educational foci and developing areas of engagement in the Makana RCE. These provide an overview of the ‘starting points’ for social learning in the Makana RCE. A model of social learning is also provided which seeks to engage the ecocultural nature of sustainability practices in the Makana RCE.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2010
The development phase of a case study of outcomes-based education assessment policy in the Human and Social Sciences learning area of C2005
- Authors: Wilmot, P Dianne
- Date: 2005
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6106 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1009735
- Description: The second phase, the 'development phase' (January to December 2003), of an ongoing research project on policy implementation with specific reference to Grade 9 of the Human and Social Sciences (HSS) learning area of C2005 is described. More specifically, a journey, in which nine History and Geography teachers at two independent schools and one university lecturer, working collaboratively as an HSS research team, navigated their way through the national curriculum and assessment policy arena, pushed the boundaries of their own practice as reflexive practitioners, and implemented the first national application of the new General Education and Training Certificate (GETC), is outlined. The article consists of three sections. The first outlines and offers critical commentary on the national policy context in which the research was located, and in which all South African educators currently work. Drawing on national and international literature, it illuminates a number of issues pertinent to national policy enactment. The second section describes the Development Phase. It outlines two areas of curriculum innovation at the two schools, namely enquiry-based learning and the development of a learning process 'map', before honing in on Grade 9 CASS. Section three describes the implementation at the two schools of the HSS Common Tasks for Assessment (CTA) in October/November 2003. The conclusion synthesises the narrative.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
- Authors: Wilmot, P Dianne
- Date: 2005
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6106 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1009735
- Description: The second phase, the 'development phase' (January to December 2003), of an ongoing research project on policy implementation with specific reference to Grade 9 of the Human and Social Sciences (HSS) learning area of C2005 is described. More specifically, a journey, in which nine History and Geography teachers at two independent schools and one university lecturer, working collaboratively as an HSS research team, navigated their way through the national curriculum and assessment policy arena, pushed the boundaries of their own practice as reflexive practitioners, and implemented the first national application of the new General Education and Training Certificate (GETC), is outlined. The article consists of three sections. The first outlines and offers critical commentary on the national policy context in which the research was located, and in which all South African educators currently work. Drawing on national and international literature, it illuminates a number of issues pertinent to national policy enactment. The second section describes the Development Phase. It outlines two areas of curriculum innovation at the two schools, namely enquiry-based learning and the development of a learning process 'map', before honing in on Grade 9 CASS. Section three describes the implementation at the two schools of the HSS Common Tasks for Assessment (CTA) in October/November 2003. The conclusion synthesises the narrative.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
Emerging Models of Teacher Training: The Case of South Africa
- Authors: Wilmot, P Dianne
- Date: 2004
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/482922 , vital:78702 , https://doi.org/10.1080/09669580408668507
- Description: Since the transition to democracy in 1994, South African education has witnessed remarkable changes. Teacher training, like all other elements of the national education system, is part of an evolving post-apartheid educational landscape. This paper describes important forces of change that have helped to shape the education landscape and it explores the significance of these on teacher training. The complexity of change, as a process that is frequently unpredictable and contradictory, is illuminated. The writer contends that change is fraught with uncertainties and challenges, yet vibrant, dynamic and full of opportunities. For the goals of transformation to be achieved, the thrust of teacher training must be towards enhanced professional status and responsibility. Central to this is the development of critically reflexive practitioners who have the capacity and the will to act as agents of change in a period of transformation.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2004
- Authors: Wilmot, P Dianne
- Date: 2004
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/482922 , vital:78702 , https://doi.org/10.1080/09669580408668507
- Description: Since the transition to democracy in 1994, South African education has witnessed remarkable changes. Teacher training, like all other elements of the national education system, is part of an evolving post-apartheid educational landscape. This paper describes important forces of change that have helped to shape the education landscape and it explores the significance of these on teacher training. The complexity of change, as a process that is frequently unpredictable and contradictory, is illuminated. The writer contends that change is fraught with uncertainties and challenges, yet vibrant, dynamic and full of opportunities. For the goals of transformation to be achieved, the thrust of teacher training must be towards enhanced professional status and responsibility. Central to this is the development of critically reflexive practitioners who have the capacity and the will to act as agents of change in a period of transformation.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2004
The inception phase of a case study of outcomes - based education assessment policy in the Human and Social Sciences Learning Area of C2005
- Authors: Wilmot, P Dianne
- Date: 2003
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6107 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1009736
- Description: This article describes the Inception Phase (January to December 2002) of an ongoing research project focused on the Grade 9 Learning Area of Human and Social Sciences of Curriculum 2005. The case study involves a dynamic interaction between a university lecturer, playing the role of 'outside facilitator', and the History and Geography teachers at two independent schools. The article describes how teachers in a given context respond to outcomes-based education assessment policy, and the tools and processes they use to develop the deep understanding inferred by policy (Republic of South Africa, 2000) to implement change in a meaningful way. The article consists of three sections. The first contextualises significant events which foregrounded and provided the impetus for the research project. It provides an overview of the theory informing the research and the goals of the research. The second analyses in narrative form the various stages of the Inception Phase. It describes a process of curriculum development which has involved the development of criterion- referenced assessment rubrics, a Learner and Curriculum Profile, and an audit of current assessment practices in History and Geography at the two schools. The article illuminates the time and effort necessary for creative and systemic curriculum innovation. The final section synthesizes the information gathered.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2003
- Authors: Wilmot, P Dianne
- Date: 2003
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6107 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1009736
- Description: This article describes the Inception Phase (January to December 2002) of an ongoing research project focused on the Grade 9 Learning Area of Human and Social Sciences of Curriculum 2005. The case study involves a dynamic interaction between a university lecturer, playing the role of 'outside facilitator', and the History and Geography teachers at two independent schools. The article describes how teachers in a given context respond to outcomes-based education assessment policy, and the tools and processes they use to develop the deep understanding inferred by policy (Republic of South Africa, 2000) to implement change in a meaningful way. The article consists of three sections. The first contextualises significant events which foregrounded and provided the impetus for the research project. It provides an overview of the theory informing the research and the goals of the research. The second analyses in narrative form the various stages of the Inception Phase. It describes a process of curriculum development which has involved the development of criterion- referenced assessment rubrics, a Learner and Curriculum Profile, and an audit of current assessment practices in History and Geography at the two schools. The article illuminates the time and effort necessary for creative and systemic curriculum innovation. The final section synthesizes the information gathered.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2003
Investigating Children’s Graphic Skills: A South African Case Study
- Authors: Wilmot, P Dianne
- Date: 2002
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/482945 , vital:78704 , https://doi.org/10.1080/10382040208667500
- Description: Graphic literacy is identified as one of the critical outcomes of the new South African curriculum. For graphic literacy to become an achievable outcome of the new curriculum, we need to investigate the skills and concepts underpinning graphicacy as a form of communication. This paper describes a case study which has as its goals diagnosing and illuminating children's graphic skills development through identifying: what skills they use; how they use and apply these skills when communicating through symbols; and the difficulties they experience when encoding spatial information through a series of practical and drawing tasks. The research was based on a case study using a single Grade 5 class within an independent South African primary boys' school. The children who constituted this case, while from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds, were nevertheless from the more affluent and privileged sector of society. In that it was age, gender and economic class specific, this case study does not constitute a representation of all primary school children. However, the research findings will help to illuminate the current situation regarding graphic literacy of South African primary school children, and may contribute to wider international debates about graphicacy and the development of graphic literacy.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2002
- Authors: Wilmot, P Dianne
- Date: 2002
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/482945 , vital:78704 , https://doi.org/10.1080/10382040208667500
- Description: Graphic literacy is identified as one of the critical outcomes of the new South African curriculum. For graphic literacy to become an achievable outcome of the new curriculum, we need to investigate the skills and concepts underpinning graphicacy as a form of communication. This paper describes a case study which has as its goals diagnosing and illuminating children's graphic skills development through identifying: what skills they use; how they use and apply these skills when communicating through symbols; and the difficulties they experience when encoding spatial information through a series of practical and drawing tasks. The research was based on a case study using a single Grade 5 class within an independent South African primary boys' school. The children who constituted this case, while from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds, were nevertheless from the more affluent and privileged sector of society. In that it was age, gender and economic class specific, this case study does not constitute a representation of all primary school children. However, the research findings will help to illuminate the current situation regarding graphic literacy of South African primary school children, and may contribute to wider international debates about graphicacy and the development of graphic literacy.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2002
Graphicacy as a form of communication
- Authors: Wilmot, P Dianne
- Date: 1999
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6091 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1008613
- Description: Children of today inhabit a multi-dimensional world and in order to communicate effectively in it they need the ability to utilise four forms of communication namely, oracy, literacy, numeracy and graphicacy. Communicating in graphic form requires an ability to both encode and decode spatial information using symbols which requires the utilisation and application of spatial perceptual skills and concepts. The draft Curriculum Framework for General and Further Education and Training identifies graphic literacy as one of the critical outcomes of the new South African curriculum. Spatial information about the environment is most frequently communicated in the graphic mode. Yet if graphicacy is to be recognised as an essential mode of communication and, as such, a vital element in education, then we need to seek ways of developing and introducing an explicit and critical pedagogy in our schools to foster the development of graphic and critical graphic literacy. But first, the skills and concepts integral to graphicacy need to be identified and understood. This article provides a framework for thinking about graphicacy as a form of communication in the General Education and Training (GET) band, the compulsory component of South African education (Grades 1-9).
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 1999
- Authors: Wilmot, P Dianne
- Date: 1999
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6091 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1008613
- Description: Children of today inhabit a multi-dimensional world and in order to communicate effectively in it they need the ability to utilise four forms of communication namely, oracy, literacy, numeracy and graphicacy. Communicating in graphic form requires an ability to both encode and decode spatial information using symbols which requires the utilisation and application of spatial perceptual skills and concepts. The draft Curriculum Framework for General and Further Education and Training identifies graphic literacy as one of the critical outcomes of the new South African curriculum. Spatial information about the environment is most frequently communicated in the graphic mode. Yet if graphicacy is to be recognised as an essential mode of communication and, as such, a vital element in education, then we need to seek ways of developing and introducing an explicit and critical pedagogy in our schools to foster the development of graphic and critical graphic literacy. But first, the skills and concepts integral to graphicacy need to be identified and understood. This article provides a framework for thinking about graphicacy as a form of communication in the General Education and Training (GET) band, the compulsory component of South African education (Grades 1-9).
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 1999
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