The role of principals in the induction of new educators in their schools
- Authors: Mfenqe, Phyllis Phindiwe
- Date: 2005
- Subjects: School principals -- South Africa , Teachers -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:9490 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/385 , School principals -- South Africa , Teachers -- South Africa
- Description: This study focuses on the role of the induction programme for teachers who are new to a specific school. The main aim of undertaking this research study is to investigate the role played by principals in the induction of new educators in their schools. The main questions the study addresses are: · Why is it necessary for new educators to be inducted · How could mentoring play a role in an induction programme? · What should the role of the principals be in the induction process? · What should the induction programme include and how should it be implemented? The study highlights the problems new teachers experience with respect to aspects such as classroom control and imparting information. It also emphasizes the role of the principal and the mentor in assisting new educators with these issues. The qualitative approach was used to collect data. Data were collected through interviews and observations. The main findings were that new educators experienced problems with classroom control, discipline and that principals should help them with adjustment in the school by allocating a mentor teacher for support.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
- Authors: Mfenqe, Phyllis Phindiwe
- Date: 2005
- Subjects: School principals -- South Africa , Teachers -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:9490 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/385 , School principals -- South Africa , Teachers -- South Africa
- Description: This study focuses on the role of the induction programme for teachers who are new to a specific school. The main aim of undertaking this research study is to investigate the role played by principals in the induction of new educators in their schools. The main questions the study addresses are: · Why is it necessary for new educators to be inducted · How could mentoring play a role in an induction programme? · What should the role of the principals be in the induction process? · What should the induction programme include and how should it be implemented? The study highlights the problems new teachers experience with respect to aspects such as classroom control and imparting information. It also emphasizes the role of the principal and the mentor in assisting new educators with these issues. The qualitative approach was used to collect data. Data were collected through interviews and observations. The main findings were that new educators experienced problems with classroom control, discipline and that principals should help them with adjustment in the school by allocating a mentor teacher for support.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
"Speak American"! or language, power and education in Dearborn, Michigan: a case study of Arabic heritage learners and their community
- Authors: Ayouby, Kenneth Kahtan
- Date: 2004
- Subjects: Arabic language -- Study and teaching (Higher) -- Michigan -- Dearborn , Education and language -- Michigan -- Dearborn
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DEd
- Identifier: vital:11015 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/369 , Arabic language -- Study and teaching (Higher) -- Michigan -- Dearborn , Education and language -- Michigan -- Dearborn
- Description: This study examines the history and development of the “Arabic as a foreign language” (AFL) programme in Dearborn Public Schools (in Michigan, the United States) in its socio-cultural and political context. More specifically, this study examines the significance of Arabic to the Arab immigrant and ethnic community in Dearborn in particular, but with reference to meanings generated and associated to Arabic by non- Arabs in the same locale. Although this study addresses questions similar to research conducted on Arab Americans in light of anthropological and sociological theoretical constructs, it is, however, unique in examining education and Arabic pedagogy in Dearborn from an Arab American studies and an educational multi-cultural perspective, predicated on/and drawing from Edward Said’s critique of Orientalism, Paulo Freire’s ideas about education, and Henry Giroux’s concern with critical pedagogy. In the American mindscape, the "East" has been the theatre of the exotic, the setting of the Other from colonial times to the present. The Arab and Muslim East have been constructed to represent an opposite of American culture, values and life. Through the agency of conflation, Arab (and Muslim) Americans are accordingly lumped together with people from abroad, making for their status as permanent outsiders. Thus, if the American Self represents an ideal, the inhabitants of this oppositional world of Arabs and Islam (an Anti-world) represent an Anti-self. A source of fear and object of hate and prejudice, this Anti-self is the object of derision and anything connected with it (e.g. language, customs, religion, etc.) becomes suspect and is devalued by association. This document has two objectives: First, to present an historical account of this context, and, secondly, to shed light on how and why things that are associated with Arab Americans in Dearborn are devalued. This is achieved by addressing the developments of meanings (of actions and symbols) in their American context, and how they have shaped (and still shape) the local culture's depiction of and understanding of Arab (and Muslim) Americans. Therefore, Arab American issues of language, culture and societal interactions should be understood as constituting a stream of American life, which represent a dimension of the total American experience, past and present, that is best understood through the paradigm of American studies. Viewing this experience as a cultural whole rather than as a series of unrelated fragments (e.g. immigration waves and settlement patterns, religious and state affiliations, assimilation and preservation debates), Arab American culture and issues begin to shine through as an organic and holistic experience whose characteristics are shared with other groups, suggesting research on this community is equally generalisable to others. ii As an academic work, this document promotes an understanding of the Arab American experience from an interdisciplinary point of view through focusing on the phenomenon of language in the community with emphasis placed on the AFL experience at school. Therefore, it is a broadly-framed outlook that permits, in an introductory way, a view of the richness of the Arab American experience, particularly in Dearborn, Michigan, as part of the American experience. Data were collected using two surveys, one for AFL students at a high school, and another was administered to adults in the community—in Dearborn. In addition, an action-research-based effort, individual personal interviews and focus groups were conducted with stakeholders in the community: parents/community members, teachers/school personnel and students, utilising personal involvement in understanding and analysing the data. Also, the study referred to archival and documentary evidence available in the school system. Four hypotheses regarding importance/significance and utility of Arabic were offered and tested by means of qualitative, interpretive analysis. Findings included: (1) Arab Americans valued Arabic as an emblem of their community in Dearborn, suggesting its employment as an indicator of political empowerment. (2) Conversely, in the non-Arab community Arabic was observed as a mark of the Other, and an artefact of ethnic retrenchment and rejection of assimilation. (3) Interestingly, however, development of English language competence emerged as a major concern in the community, outweighing Arabic language preservation. (4) While, language maintenance efforts in the community were observed as minimal, especially at the organisational level, and support for such programmes was marginal to nil. (5) Additionally, Arabic, while not the object of a desire to master as a medium of communication, was observed to signify a special symbol of heritage for Arab American youth in the Dearborn community, who may have rejected their parents’ ideas about learning Arabic, but had developed their own. (6) What is more, Arab American youth were observed developing a viable hybridised identity, whose mainstay is being “Arabic”, despite the dominance of English and Euro-Anglo cultural norms. (7) At the institutional level, Arabic was observed devalued in the school setting due to its association with Arabs, Islam, Arab Americans, and immigration. (8) Moreover, relations between Arab Americans and non-Arab Americans in the school system seems to have been equally impacted by this process of devaluation, furthering the cause of stigmatisation, prejudice and racism.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2004
- Authors: Ayouby, Kenneth Kahtan
- Date: 2004
- Subjects: Arabic language -- Study and teaching (Higher) -- Michigan -- Dearborn , Education and language -- Michigan -- Dearborn
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DEd
- Identifier: vital:11015 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/369 , Arabic language -- Study and teaching (Higher) -- Michigan -- Dearborn , Education and language -- Michigan -- Dearborn
- Description: This study examines the history and development of the “Arabic as a foreign language” (AFL) programme in Dearborn Public Schools (in Michigan, the United States) in its socio-cultural and political context. More specifically, this study examines the significance of Arabic to the Arab immigrant and ethnic community in Dearborn in particular, but with reference to meanings generated and associated to Arabic by non- Arabs in the same locale. Although this study addresses questions similar to research conducted on Arab Americans in light of anthropological and sociological theoretical constructs, it is, however, unique in examining education and Arabic pedagogy in Dearborn from an Arab American studies and an educational multi-cultural perspective, predicated on/and drawing from Edward Said’s critique of Orientalism, Paulo Freire’s ideas about education, and Henry Giroux’s concern with critical pedagogy. In the American mindscape, the "East" has been the theatre of the exotic, the setting of the Other from colonial times to the present. The Arab and Muslim East have been constructed to represent an opposite of American culture, values and life. Through the agency of conflation, Arab (and Muslim) Americans are accordingly lumped together with people from abroad, making for their status as permanent outsiders. Thus, if the American Self represents an ideal, the inhabitants of this oppositional world of Arabs and Islam (an Anti-world) represent an Anti-self. A source of fear and object of hate and prejudice, this Anti-self is the object of derision and anything connected with it (e.g. language, customs, religion, etc.) becomes suspect and is devalued by association. This document has two objectives: First, to present an historical account of this context, and, secondly, to shed light on how and why things that are associated with Arab Americans in Dearborn are devalued. This is achieved by addressing the developments of meanings (of actions and symbols) in their American context, and how they have shaped (and still shape) the local culture's depiction of and understanding of Arab (and Muslim) Americans. Therefore, Arab American issues of language, culture and societal interactions should be understood as constituting a stream of American life, which represent a dimension of the total American experience, past and present, that is best understood through the paradigm of American studies. Viewing this experience as a cultural whole rather than as a series of unrelated fragments (e.g. immigration waves and settlement patterns, religious and state affiliations, assimilation and preservation debates), Arab American culture and issues begin to shine through as an organic and holistic experience whose characteristics are shared with other groups, suggesting research on this community is equally generalisable to others. ii As an academic work, this document promotes an understanding of the Arab American experience from an interdisciplinary point of view through focusing on the phenomenon of language in the community with emphasis placed on the AFL experience at school. Therefore, it is a broadly-framed outlook that permits, in an introductory way, a view of the richness of the Arab American experience, particularly in Dearborn, Michigan, as part of the American experience. Data were collected using two surveys, one for AFL students at a high school, and another was administered to adults in the community—in Dearborn. In addition, an action-research-based effort, individual personal interviews and focus groups were conducted with stakeholders in the community: parents/community members, teachers/school personnel and students, utilising personal involvement in understanding and analysing the data. Also, the study referred to archival and documentary evidence available in the school system. Four hypotheses regarding importance/significance and utility of Arabic were offered and tested by means of qualitative, interpretive analysis. Findings included: (1) Arab Americans valued Arabic as an emblem of their community in Dearborn, suggesting its employment as an indicator of political empowerment. (2) Conversely, in the non-Arab community Arabic was observed as a mark of the Other, and an artefact of ethnic retrenchment and rejection of assimilation. (3) Interestingly, however, development of English language competence emerged as a major concern in the community, outweighing Arabic language preservation. (4) While, language maintenance efforts in the community were observed as minimal, especially at the organisational level, and support for such programmes was marginal to nil. (5) Additionally, Arabic, while not the object of a desire to master as a medium of communication, was observed to signify a special symbol of heritage for Arab American youth in the Dearborn community, who may have rejected their parents’ ideas about learning Arabic, but had developed their own. (6) What is more, Arab American youth were observed developing a viable hybridised identity, whose mainstay is being “Arabic”, despite the dominance of English and Euro-Anglo cultural norms. (7) At the institutional level, Arabic was observed devalued in the school setting due to its association with Arabs, Islam, Arab Americans, and immigration. (8) Moreover, relations between Arab Americans and non-Arab Americans in the school system seems to have been equally impacted by this process of devaluation, furthering the cause of stigmatisation, prejudice and racism.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2004
An investigation into the effects of co-operative learning strategies on the test results of science students at N3 level at the Port Elizabeth College for Further Education and Training
- Authors: Ferreira, Dennis Compton
- Date: 2004
- Subjects: Group work in education , Examinations -- Validity , Science students -- Rating of -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth , College students -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MTech
- Identifier: vital:9488 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/245 , Group work in education , Examinations -- Validity , Science students -- Rating of -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth , College students -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth
- Description: The poor academic performance of Engineering Science N3 students at the Port Elizabeth College for Further Education and Training prompted me to conduct this study. The aim thereof was to investigate the influence that a co-operative learning strategy would have on the test results of students who enrolled for this programme. The hypothesis being tested in this study was whether co-operative learning strategies would improve the test results of science students in the N3 Engineering Science class. A literature review on co-operative learning, its principles as well as the role of the lecturer as facilitator was conducted. In addition, the different types of co-operative learning techniques were investigated so that an approach conducive to the needs of students studying at Further Education and Training Colleges could be selected. The Student Team Achievement Divisions (STAD) technique was deemed to be the most suitable approach. Both qualitative and quantitative data gathering techniques are employed in this study. Interviews were carried out with fellow lecturers at the Port Elizabeth College to determine what teaching strategies are generally implemented in the N3 class. Experimental research involving two groups of 30 students was then conducted to determine the results of students. The one group (experimental) was subjected to an intervention, namely the STAD co-operative learning technique while the other group (control) was taught using the traditional method of talk and chalk. This intervention took place over a period of ix two weeks. However, prior to the co-operative learning intervention and before students were divided into groups, they were taught as a single group for a period of two weeks. The total time spent on this experiment was therefore four weeks. Student test scores gathered from the experiment was statistically analysed and reported on in chapter five. These results indicated that the experimental group out-performed the control group by a significant margin. The higher academic achievement of students in the experimental group could only be attributed to the alternative teaching strategy (STAD) which was absent in the teaching of the control group. This proved the hypothesis.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2004
- Authors: Ferreira, Dennis Compton
- Date: 2004
- Subjects: Group work in education , Examinations -- Validity , Science students -- Rating of -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth , College students -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MTech
- Identifier: vital:9488 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/245 , Group work in education , Examinations -- Validity , Science students -- Rating of -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth , College students -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth
- Description: The poor academic performance of Engineering Science N3 students at the Port Elizabeth College for Further Education and Training prompted me to conduct this study. The aim thereof was to investigate the influence that a co-operative learning strategy would have on the test results of students who enrolled for this programme. The hypothesis being tested in this study was whether co-operative learning strategies would improve the test results of science students in the N3 Engineering Science class. A literature review on co-operative learning, its principles as well as the role of the lecturer as facilitator was conducted. In addition, the different types of co-operative learning techniques were investigated so that an approach conducive to the needs of students studying at Further Education and Training Colleges could be selected. The Student Team Achievement Divisions (STAD) technique was deemed to be the most suitable approach. Both qualitative and quantitative data gathering techniques are employed in this study. Interviews were carried out with fellow lecturers at the Port Elizabeth College to determine what teaching strategies are generally implemented in the N3 class. Experimental research involving two groups of 30 students was then conducted to determine the results of students. The one group (experimental) was subjected to an intervention, namely the STAD co-operative learning technique while the other group (control) was taught using the traditional method of talk and chalk. This intervention took place over a period of ix two weeks. However, prior to the co-operative learning intervention and before students were divided into groups, they were taught as a single group for a period of two weeks. The total time spent on this experiment was therefore four weeks. Student test scores gathered from the experiment was statistically analysed and reported on in chapter five. These results indicated that the experimental group out-performed the control group by a significant margin. The higher academic achievement of students in the experimental group could only be attributed to the alternative teaching strategy (STAD) which was absent in the teaching of the control group. This proved the hypothesis.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2004
Designing an evaluation instrument for South African intermediate phase school textbooks
- Authors: Vosloo, Barend Jacobus
- Date: 2004
- Subjects: Textbooks -- South Africa -- Evaluation , Curriculum change -- South Africa -- Evaluation
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DEd
- Identifier: vital:11014 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/324 , Textbooks -- South Africa -- Evaluation , Curriculum change -- South Africa -- Evaluation
- Description: No coherent theory about the practice of South African intermediate phase school textbook evaluation has been forthcoming since the advent of a new South African school curriculum in 1998. This deficiency has had an adverse effect on the quality of intermediate phase school textbooks, as well as on the capacity to assess their value. This research project, therefore, had two aims. The first was to articulate a theory about the practice of textbook evaluation. The second was to develop a procedure for evaluating South African intermediate phase school textbooks in terms of the theory. The research method was underpinned by the interpretive research paradigm in terms of which relevant data were analysed and interpreted. The data emanated from a literature review, an analysis of the national Department of Education’s Revised National Curriculum Statement and its draft policy for the evaluation of learning support material, and two surveys. The first survey comprised a sample of intermediate phase teachers and the second a sample of intermediate phase textbook authors. Sufficient evidence was found to conclude that the capabilities of the authoring team, the authors’ rationale and their observance of the process of learning and instruction, the accessibility of the textbook, the availability of teacher support, meeting the requirements of the Revised National Curriculum Statement, and certain key notions about textbook evaluation play a role in articulating a theory about textbook evaluation in order to guide the process of determining the effectiveness of South African intermediate phase school textbooks. Based on the above-mentioned theory, this study proposes a procedure to assist teachers and textbook evaluators to assess the worth of South African intermediate phase school textbooks in a brief, systematic, thorough, rigorous, and practical manner.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2004
- Authors: Vosloo, Barend Jacobus
- Date: 2004
- Subjects: Textbooks -- South Africa -- Evaluation , Curriculum change -- South Africa -- Evaluation
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DEd
- Identifier: vital:11014 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/324 , Textbooks -- South Africa -- Evaluation , Curriculum change -- South Africa -- Evaluation
- Description: No coherent theory about the practice of South African intermediate phase school textbook evaluation has been forthcoming since the advent of a new South African school curriculum in 1998. This deficiency has had an adverse effect on the quality of intermediate phase school textbooks, as well as on the capacity to assess their value. This research project, therefore, had two aims. The first was to articulate a theory about the practice of textbook evaluation. The second was to develop a procedure for evaluating South African intermediate phase school textbooks in terms of the theory. The research method was underpinned by the interpretive research paradigm in terms of which relevant data were analysed and interpreted. The data emanated from a literature review, an analysis of the national Department of Education’s Revised National Curriculum Statement and its draft policy for the evaluation of learning support material, and two surveys. The first survey comprised a sample of intermediate phase teachers and the second a sample of intermediate phase textbook authors. Sufficient evidence was found to conclude that the capabilities of the authoring team, the authors’ rationale and their observance of the process of learning and instruction, the accessibility of the textbook, the availability of teacher support, meeting the requirements of the Revised National Curriculum Statement, and certain key notions about textbook evaluation play a role in articulating a theory about textbook evaluation in order to guide the process of determining the effectiveness of South African intermediate phase school textbooks. Based on the above-mentioned theory, this study proposes a procedure to assist teachers and textbook evaluators to assess the worth of South African intermediate phase school textbooks in a brief, systematic, thorough, rigorous, and practical manner.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2004
Die bestuursrol van die skoolhoof in die implementering van 'n nuwe kurrikulum
- Authors: Mey, Hermanus Pieter
- Date: 2004
- Subjects: School principals -- South Africa , Educational leadership -- South Africa , Curriculum change -- South Africa
- Language: Afrikaans
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MPhil
- Identifier: vital:11010 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/367 , School principals -- South Africa , Educational leadership -- South Africa , Curriculum change -- South Africa
- Description: The implementation of a new curriculum has become a very relevant issue in South Africa with the implementation of Curriculum 2005 (C 2005) since 1998. The school principal plays a very important role at school level in the implementation of change in general and a new curriculum in particular. The aim of this study was to have a closer look at this role. It is a qualitative study executed in six schools in the Port Elizabeth area. It investigates the problems school principals experienced with the implementation of C 2005 with the objective of identifying guidelines for the role of the principal in the implementation of a new curriculum The most important findings include the importance of equipping the principal to provide guidance with the implementation of a new curriculum. This equipping refers to the principal’s knowledge of the new curriculum, the ability to employ various leadership styles, as well as the maintenance of a certain balance between supporting and putting pressure on the staff. Other findings refer to the importance of well-trained and prepared facilitators of workshops, as well as the role the Department of Education needs to play in the training and preparation of these facilitators. The ongoing support of schools in the implementation process also needs to be emphasized. The principal should play a key role with respect to this last role of the Department. The study also emphasizes the principal’s responsibility to bind the educators together in building a shared vision, so that their focus will remain on the curriculum implementation.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2004
- Authors: Mey, Hermanus Pieter
- Date: 2004
- Subjects: School principals -- South Africa , Educational leadership -- South Africa , Curriculum change -- South Africa
- Language: Afrikaans
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MPhil
- Identifier: vital:11010 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/367 , School principals -- South Africa , Educational leadership -- South Africa , Curriculum change -- South Africa
- Description: The implementation of a new curriculum has become a very relevant issue in South Africa with the implementation of Curriculum 2005 (C 2005) since 1998. The school principal plays a very important role at school level in the implementation of change in general and a new curriculum in particular. The aim of this study was to have a closer look at this role. It is a qualitative study executed in six schools in the Port Elizabeth area. It investigates the problems school principals experienced with the implementation of C 2005 with the objective of identifying guidelines for the role of the principal in the implementation of a new curriculum The most important findings include the importance of equipping the principal to provide guidance with the implementation of a new curriculum. This equipping refers to the principal’s knowledge of the new curriculum, the ability to employ various leadership styles, as well as the maintenance of a certain balance between supporting and putting pressure on the staff. Other findings refer to the importance of well-trained and prepared facilitators of workshops, as well as the role the Department of Education needs to play in the training and preparation of these facilitators. The ongoing support of schools in the implementation process also needs to be emphasized. The principal should play a key role with respect to this last role of the Department. The study also emphasizes the principal’s responsibility to bind the educators together in building a shared vision, so that their focus will remain on the curriculum implementation.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2004
Emotions, social transformation and education
- Authors: Delport, Aletta Catherine
- Date: 2004
- Subjects: Educational sociology -- South Africa , Education -- Philosophy , Emotions (Philosophy)
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DEd
- Identifier: vital:11009 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/318 , Educational sociology -- South Africa , Education -- Philosophy , Emotions (Philosophy)
- Description: This thesis addresses the topic of the education of the emotions in the context of a rapidly transforming South African society. It attempts to reconfigure the conceptual landscape in terms of which we think about rationality, social transformation and education, and contests the intellectual and instrumental prejudice in the currently dominant ways of thinking about education. It reclaims a sense of what it would be to think of education in terms of cultivating humanity, as a key to the profound transformation of the South African society. It argues that the emotions should be relocated in our conception of transformation and education, because without it, education will fail to assist South African society to transform into a society where most people are able to live improved quality lives. The thesis comprises three distinct parts. The first part consists of an account of a particular cognitive theory of the emotions, as developed by Martha Nussbaum in her book, Upheavals of thought. The Intelligence of Emotions (2001). This theory is then applied in Part 2 to examine the complexities of social transformation in South Africa at the more profound, personal level. This investigation is presented as a narrative and comprises the perspectives of the author, who is a white Afrikaner female, who grew up in South Africa in the heyday of Apartheid. In the final part, the concept of ‘education for transformation’ is discussed. It is argued that, in order for education to enhance the social transformation of South Africa, social transformation should be conceived according to a fundamental aspect of Rousseau’s political philosophy, namely that the ideal society comprises two reciprocally related spheres, the political and the personal sphere. Part 3 argues that ‘education for transformation’ should be conceived according to a conception of transformation, which acknowledges this double-layered texture. It further argues that ‘education for transformation’ should primarily be concerned with transformation at the personal level, since, according to Rousseau’s philosophy, this dimension is fundamental to ensuring the stability and legitimacy of the political order. However, built on the main insights of Part 2, this thesis also argues that personal transformation is only possible within a framework of rationality, which acknowledges the emotions as constitutive elements of rationality itself. Essentially, this thesis is about the conception of human being, which should be esteemed as the most fundamental and crucial element of successful social transformation.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2004
- Authors: Delport, Aletta Catherine
- Date: 2004
- Subjects: Educational sociology -- South Africa , Education -- Philosophy , Emotions (Philosophy)
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DEd
- Identifier: vital:11009 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/318 , Educational sociology -- South Africa , Education -- Philosophy , Emotions (Philosophy)
- Description: This thesis addresses the topic of the education of the emotions in the context of a rapidly transforming South African society. It attempts to reconfigure the conceptual landscape in terms of which we think about rationality, social transformation and education, and contests the intellectual and instrumental prejudice in the currently dominant ways of thinking about education. It reclaims a sense of what it would be to think of education in terms of cultivating humanity, as a key to the profound transformation of the South African society. It argues that the emotions should be relocated in our conception of transformation and education, because without it, education will fail to assist South African society to transform into a society where most people are able to live improved quality lives. The thesis comprises three distinct parts. The first part consists of an account of a particular cognitive theory of the emotions, as developed by Martha Nussbaum in her book, Upheavals of thought. The Intelligence of Emotions (2001). This theory is then applied in Part 2 to examine the complexities of social transformation in South Africa at the more profound, personal level. This investigation is presented as a narrative and comprises the perspectives of the author, who is a white Afrikaner female, who grew up in South Africa in the heyday of Apartheid. In the final part, the concept of ‘education for transformation’ is discussed. It is argued that, in order for education to enhance the social transformation of South Africa, social transformation should be conceived according to a fundamental aspect of Rousseau’s political philosophy, namely that the ideal society comprises two reciprocally related spheres, the political and the personal sphere. Part 3 argues that ‘education for transformation’ should be conceived according to a conception of transformation, which acknowledges this double-layered texture. It further argues that ‘education for transformation’ should primarily be concerned with transformation at the personal level, since, according to Rousseau’s philosophy, this dimension is fundamental to ensuring the stability and legitimacy of the political order. However, built on the main insights of Part 2, this thesis also argues that personal transformation is only possible within a framework of rationality, which acknowledges the emotions as constitutive elements of rationality itself. Essentially, this thesis is about the conception of human being, which should be esteemed as the most fundamental and crucial element of successful social transformation.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2004
The role of school management teams in school improvement
- Authors: Sister, Loliwe Fezeka
- Date: 2004
- Subjects: School management teams -- South Africa , School improvement programs -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:9489 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/372 , School management teams -- South Africa , School improvement programs -- South Africa
- Description: This study is aimed at investigating the role of the School Management Team (SMT) in school improvement. The investigation was carried out using the qualitative approach and the study is underpinned by the interpretive paradigm. The declining performance of some schools academically as reflected by the end of year results, as well as the confusion that engulfed me on assuming duty on my appointment as a head of department of Science and, therefore, becoming part of the SMT in my school, encouraged me to investigate the role of the SMT in school improvement. The study covers, among others, the following areas: § Functions performed by the SMT members. § Challenges faced by the SMT members in their management practice. § Ways of addressing these challenges. Methods of data collection used in this study were interviews, questionnaires, own observations as well as the analysis of documents. The main recommendations emanating from the study are that SMT members should be better equipped for their roles through workshops and in-service training and that the respective roles of SMT and School Governing Body (SGB) members should be better demarcated by the Department of Education.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2004
- Authors: Sister, Loliwe Fezeka
- Date: 2004
- Subjects: School management teams -- South Africa , School improvement programs -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:9489 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/372 , School management teams -- South Africa , School improvement programs -- South Africa
- Description: This study is aimed at investigating the role of the School Management Team (SMT) in school improvement. The investigation was carried out using the qualitative approach and the study is underpinned by the interpretive paradigm. The declining performance of some schools academically as reflected by the end of year results, as well as the confusion that engulfed me on assuming duty on my appointment as a head of department of Science and, therefore, becoming part of the SMT in my school, encouraged me to investigate the role of the SMT in school improvement. The study covers, among others, the following areas: § Functions performed by the SMT members. § Challenges faced by the SMT members in their management practice. § Ways of addressing these challenges. Methods of data collection used in this study were interviews, questionnaires, own observations as well as the analysis of documents. The main recommendations emanating from the study are that SMT members should be better equipped for their roles through workshops and in-service training and that the respective roles of SMT and School Governing Body (SGB) members should be better demarcated by the Department of Education.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2004
Reader-response approaches to literature teaching in a South African OBE environment
- Authors: Van Renen, Charles Gerard
- Date: 2003
- Subjects: Reader-response criticism -- South Africa , Literature -- Study and teaching -- South Africa , Competency-based education -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DEd
- Identifier: vital:11013 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/297 , Reader-response criticism -- South Africa , Literature -- Study and teaching -- South Africa , Competency-based education -- South Africa
- Description: This research is based on the hypothesis that response-based approaches to teaching literature and an outcomes-based system of education (OBE) are conceptually incompatible. This thesis claims that reader response involves processes that cannot be accommodated pedagogically within a system based on pre-determined outcomes. Furthermore, the kind of assessment prescribed by OBE is inappropriate to the nature of reader response. The hypothesis is based on three main premises. The first is that each reader brings a highly individual and complex set of personal schemata to the reading of imaginative texts, and these schemata have a decisive influence on the nature of a reader’s response. This means that response during imaginative engagements with literary texts tends to be idiosyncratic, and therefore largely unpredictable. Because of this, it would be inappropriate for a teacher, working within an OBE system, to try to teach towards pre-selected outcomes and to attempt to ensure that these outcomes, based on responses to literary texts, are in fact achieved. The second premise is that readers’ imaginative engagements with literary texts are essentially hidden events, which even the individual reader cannot fully bring to the surface and articulate. Because they are complex, and to some extent inaccessible, it would be inappropriate to assess the processes of response in the form of tangible evidence that a particular kind of response has taken place, or an outcome achieved. The third premise is that responses need time to grow and develop and do not merely happen quickly and cleanly. Consequently, aesthetic response, already a complex and inaccessible process, has no clearly distinguishable beginnings or endings. It would therefore be inappropriate to try to pinpoint the exact nature and parameters of a particular response or fragment it into a discrete unit of competence or knowledge. A two-dimensional problem emerges. The first is a conceptual one: whether there is an inherent tension between encouraging response to imaginative literature on the one hand, and accepting the rationale for OBE, on the other. The second dimension of the problem is empirical: whether teachers of literature experience any tension of either a conceptual or a practical nature when following response based approaches within the OBE system of Curriculum 2005, and if so, what they do in order to cope. In exploring the conceptual problem, the argument of this thesis is supported by reception theory and reader response criticism. The former provides key theoretical principles and insights that illuminate the nature of aesthetic reading, while the latter describes and analyses the nature, extent and manifestations of response in educational contexts, underpinned by both reception theory and empirical research. Together they offer evidence that personal response is determined by a complex range of processes, and is the core activity in reading for aesthetic purposes. This thesis also examines the conceptual basis and the structure of OBE as interpreted in both Curriculum 2005 and the revised National Curriculum Statement. The purpose of this is to establish the extent to which the philosophy and modus operandi of these curricula are rooted in notions of competence, and the requirement that learners give tangible demonstrations of pre-determined outcomes being achieved. If it is found that the curricula do lean heavily on pre-determined outcomes in regard to competencies that must be demonstrated, it may be concluded that 1) reader response activities are incompatible with OBE in a South African context, and 2) the potential exists for such incompatibility to create obstacles to creative and effective literature teaching. This can lead to difficulties for the teacher, who will then have to adopt acceptable strategies to cope with the situation. These strategies may ultimately be to the detriment of the pupils, particularly if the teacher seeks a compromise between genuine response and the kinds of activities that would yield precise, palpable measures of attainment that can be easily demonstrated. Exploring the empirical dimension of the problem involves investigating the responses of both teachers and teacher trainers to the experience of promoting response-based literature teaching and learning in an OBE environment. In order firstly investigated whether the practitioners do encourage reading response as a core activity in reading for aesthetic purposes. The extent to which practitioners have a sound grasp of the conceptual issues relevant to this research is also investigated. Insight into such issues depends on teachers and teacher trainers understanding the nature of reader response, on the one hand, and the rationale and structures of the relevant OBE curricula, on the other. Whether, and to what extent, practitioners experience tensions through their awareness of conceptual incompatibilities is also investigated. It should be borne in mind that practitioners work in real contexts in which a variety of complex factors play a role in determining how they respond to pressures from the environment. It cannot therefore be expected that teachers and others involved in delivering the curriculum will be able to reflect on purely conceptual issues without being influenced to an extent by more practical or logistical considerations. However, this study argues that the extent to which they are able to identify the relevant factors that affect the conceptual underpinnings of their practice will determine the degree to which their responses support the argument of this thesis. Together, the empirical and the theoretical findings offer qualitative evidence that should illuminate the nature and extent of the problem.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2003
- Authors: Van Renen, Charles Gerard
- Date: 2003
- Subjects: Reader-response criticism -- South Africa , Literature -- Study and teaching -- South Africa , Competency-based education -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DEd
- Identifier: vital:11013 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/297 , Reader-response criticism -- South Africa , Literature -- Study and teaching -- South Africa , Competency-based education -- South Africa
- Description: This research is based on the hypothesis that response-based approaches to teaching literature and an outcomes-based system of education (OBE) are conceptually incompatible. This thesis claims that reader response involves processes that cannot be accommodated pedagogically within a system based on pre-determined outcomes. Furthermore, the kind of assessment prescribed by OBE is inappropriate to the nature of reader response. The hypothesis is based on three main premises. The first is that each reader brings a highly individual and complex set of personal schemata to the reading of imaginative texts, and these schemata have a decisive influence on the nature of a reader’s response. This means that response during imaginative engagements with literary texts tends to be idiosyncratic, and therefore largely unpredictable. Because of this, it would be inappropriate for a teacher, working within an OBE system, to try to teach towards pre-selected outcomes and to attempt to ensure that these outcomes, based on responses to literary texts, are in fact achieved. The second premise is that readers’ imaginative engagements with literary texts are essentially hidden events, which even the individual reader cannot fully bring to the surface and articulate. Because they are complex, and to some extent inaccessible, it would be inappropriate to assess the processes of response in the form of tangible evidence that a particular kind of response has taken place, or an outcome achieved. The third premise is that responses need time to grow and develop and do not merely happen quickly and cleanly. Consequently, aesthetic response, already a complex and inaccessible process, has no clearly distinguishable beginnings or endings. It would therefore be inappropriate to try to pinpoint the exact nature and parameters of a particular response or fragment it into a discrete unit of competence or knowledge. A two-dimensional problem emerges. The first is a conceptual one: whether there is an inherent tension between encouraging response to imaginative literature on the one hand, and accepting the rationale for OBE, on the other. The second dimension of the problem is empirical: whether teachers of literature experience any tension of either a conceptual or a practical nature when following response based approaches within the OBE system of Curriculum 2005, and if so, what they do in order to cope. In exploring the conceptual problem, the argument of this thesis is supported by reception theory and reader response criticism. The former provides key theoretical principles and insights that illuminate the nature of aesthetic reading, while the latter describes and analyses the nature, extent and manifestations of response in educational contexts, underpinned by both reception theory and empirical research. Together they offer evidence that personal response is determined by a complex range of processes, and is the core activity in reading for aesthetic purposes. This thesis also examines the conceptual basis and the structure of OBE as interpreted in both Curriculum 2005 and the revised National Curriculum Statement. The purpose of this is to establish the extent to which the philosophy and modus operandi of these curricula are rooted in notions of competence, and the requirement that learners give tangible demonstrations of pre-determined outcomes being achieved. If it is found that the curricula do lean heavily on pre-determined outcomes in regard to competencies that must be demonstrated, it may be concluded that 1) reader response activities are incompatible with OBE in a South African context, and 2) the potential exists for such incompatibility to create obstacles to creative and effective literature teaching. This can lead to difficulties for the teacher, who will then have to adopt acceptable strategies to cope with the situation. These strategies may ultimately be to the detriment of the pupils, particularly if the teacher seeks a compromise between genuine response and the kinds of activities that would yield precise, palpable measures of attainment that can be easily demonstrated. Exploring the empirical dimension of the problem involves investigating the responses of both teachers and teacher trainers to the experience of promoting response-based literature teaching and learning in an OBE environment. In order firstly investigated whether the practitioners do encourage reading response as a core activity in reading for aesthetic purposes. The extent to which practitioners have a sound grasp of the conceptual issues relevant to this research is also investigated. Insight into such issues depends on teachers and teacher trainers understanding the nature of reader response, on the one hand, and the rationale and structures of the relevant OBE curricula, on the other. Whether, and to what extent, practitioners experience tensions through their awareness of conceptual incompatibilities is also investigated. It should be borne in mind that practitioners work in real contexts in which a variety of complex factors play a role in determining how they respond to pressures from the environment. It cannot therefore be expected that teachers and others involved in delivering the curriculum will be able to reflect on purely conceptual issues without being influenced to an extent by more practical or logistical considerations. However, this study argues that the extent to which they are able to identify the relevant factors that affect the conceptual underpinnings of their practice will determine the degree to which their responses support the argument of this thesis. Together, the empirical and the theoretical findings offer qualitative evidence that should illuminate the nature and extent of the problem.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2003
Towards a new educational psychological model for learner support in South Africa
- Pienaar, Christoffel Frederick
- Authors: Pienaar, Christoffel Frederick
- Date: 2003
- Subjects: School psychologists -- South Africa , Educational psychology -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DEd
- Identifier: vital:11012 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/296 , School psychologists -- South Africa , Educational psychology -- South Africa
- Description: This study presents a description of the development and history of learner support, as well as educational psychological leaner support, in South Africa. The role and function of the educational psychologist was researched through literature study and empirical research. It was found that whereas this pivotal profession is still vital in any educational system, the nature of contemporary society has necessitated a new dimension in educational psychological service delivery, namely systemic involvement. Guidelines for a new model for educational psychological learner support in the education dispensation are put forward. This model asks for the enlargement of the role of the educational psychologist to include assessment and support of all of the systems that play a role in the learner’s life.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2003
- Authors: Pienaar, Christoffel Frederick
- Date: 2003
- Subjects: School psychologists -- South Africa , Educational psychology -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DEd
- Identifier: vital:11012 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/296 , School psychologists -- South Africa , Educational psychology -- South Africa
- Description: This study presents a description of the development and history of learner support, as well as educational psychological leaner support, in South Africa. The role and function of the educational psychologist was researched through literature study and empirical research. It was found that whereas this pivotal profession is still vital in any educational system, the nature of contemporary society has necessitated a new dimension in educational psychological service delivery, namely systemic involvement. Guidelines for a new model for educational psychological learner support in the education dispensation are put forward. This model asks for the enlargement of the role of the educational psychologist to include assessment and support of all of the systems that play a role in the learner’s life.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2003
Main thesis title: Onderwysers se belewing van multikulturele onderwys
- Authors: Strydom, Louise
- Date: 1999-04
- Subjects: Port Elizabeth (South Africa) , Eastern Cape (South Africa) , South Africa
- Language: Afrikaans
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/60003 , vital:62732
- Description: The South African Schools’ Act of 1996 terminated segregated education in South Africa. Multi-cultural education has become a reality in the new democratic South Africa. As a result of this major shift in policy, the researcher probed for an answer to the following question: “How does the teacher, especially the teacher already in service, experience this new situation regarding multi-cultural education?” To find an answer to this question, a literature study and empirical research, making use of a representative sample of respondents in the Southern Cape, were undertaken. The researcher has personally experienced the challenges of having to adapt from a mono-cultural teaching environment to a multi-cultural teaching environment at school level, hence a further interest in this research problem. Relevant terminology was highlighted and a brief historical synopsis of the course that multi-cultural education took in Western societies such as the USA, Canada, Australia and Britain was studied. These sources were utilised to draw a comparison with the South African situation. A concise synopsis of the history of multi-cultural education in South Africa was also undertaken to highlight the complexity of the educational situation presently being experienced in South Africa. The empirical research, with a target group representing teachers in the Southern Cape, was undertaken by means of a self-compiled questionnaire to make an analysis of teachers’ attitudes, expectations and perceptions of multi-cultural education as experienced in the classroom. The information obtained from the respondents indicated a generally positive attitude towards multi-cultural education amongst teachers. A great need for in-service training also became evident. xvi The researcher has thus made recommendations regarding in-service training that she thinks is of utmost importance. The practical problems that were highlighted during the research, make a vital contribution towards the successful implementation of multi-cultural education in South Africa. , Thesis (DEd) -- Faculty of Education, 1999
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1999-04
- Authors: Strydom, Louise
- Date: 1999-04
- Subjects: Port Elizabeth (South Africa) , Eastern Cape (South Africa) , South Africa
- Language: Afrikaans
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/60003 , vital:62732
- Description: The South African Schools’ Act of 1996 terminated segregated education in South Africa. Multi-cultural education has become a reality in the new democratic South Africa. As a result of this major shift in policy, the researcher probed for an answer to the following question: “How does the teacher, especially the teacher already in service, experience this new situation regarding multi-cultural education?” To find an answer to this question, a literature study and empirical research, making use of a representative sample of respondents in the Southern Cape, were undertaken. The researcher has personally experienced the challenges of having to adapt from a mono-cultural teaching environment to a multi-cultural teaching environment at school level, hence a further interest in this research problem. Relevant terminology was highlighted and a brief historical synopsis of the course that multi-cultural education took in Western societies such as the USA, Canada, Australia and Britain was studied. These sources were utilised to draw a comparison with the South African situation. A concise synopsis of the history of multi-cultural education in South Africa was also undertaken to highlight the complexity of the educational situation presently being experienced in South Africa. The empirical research, with a target group representing teachers in the Southern Cape, was undertaken by means of a self-compiled questionnaire to make an analysis of teachers’ attitudes, expectations and perceptions of multi-cultural education as experienced in the classroom. The information obtained from the respondents indicated a generally positive attitude towards multi-cultural education amongst teachers. A great need for in-service training also became evident. xvi The researcher has thus made recommendations regarding in-service training that she thinks is of utmost importance. The practical problems that were highlighted during the research, make a vital contribution towards the successful implementation of multi-cultural education in South Africa. , Thesis (DEd) -- Faculty of Education, 1999
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1999-04
Disciplinary strategies for public secondary schools in Kenya in the post-caning era
- Authors: Kiprop, Catherine Jematia
- Subjects: School discipline -- Kenya , School children -- Discipline -- Kenya , Classroom management
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DEd
- Identifier: vital:9444 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/533 , School discipline -- Kenya , School children -- Discipline -- Kenya , Classroom management
- Description: The purpose of the study was to develop strategies for maintaining discipline among learners in secondary schools in Kenya in the post-caning era. More specifically, the objectives of this study were to: - Examine disciplinary strategies that are revealed in the relevant literature that will assist the Kenyan public secondary schools manage student discipline in the post-caning area; - Examnine the exsisting approaches to discipline that are being adopted by secondary schools in Kenya in the post-caning era; - Develop strategies for managing student discipline in public secondary schools in Kenya in the post-caning era.
- Full Text: false
- Authors: Kiprop, Catherine Jematia
- Subjects: School discipline -- Kenya , School children -- Discipline -- Kenya , Classroom management
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DEd
- Identifier: vital:9444 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/533 , School discipline -- Kenya , School children -- Discipline -- Kenya , Classroom management
- Description: The purpose of the study was to develop strategies for maintaining discipline among learners in secondary schools in Kenya in the post-caning era. More specifically, the objectives of this study were to: - Examine disciplinary strategies that are revealed in the relevant literature that will assist the Kenyan public secondary schools manage student discipline in the post-caning area; - Examnine the exsisting approaches to discipline that are being adopted by secondary schools in Kenya in the post-caning era; - Develop strategies for managing student discipline in public secondary schools in Kenya in the post-caning era.
- Full Text: false
Philosophies that inform discipline strategies among teachers
- Authors: Von Wildemann, Amy-Rose
- Subjects: School discipline -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:9504 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/1302 , School discipline -- South Africa
- Description: Numerous teachers in South Africa are experiencing ill‐discipline within the classroom environment. They are not receiving the necessary support and guidance from the relevant departments, and thus, rely on their own reactive measures to manage the disruptive behaviour present in the classroom. Previous studies have shown that the South African Education Department has not provided all teachers with the necessary training needed to implement the new discipline strategies proposed by the Department of Education. Therefore, teachers rely on what they perceive to be effective in maintaining discipline, which is an indication of their personal teaching philosophy, as they base their own knowledge on what they have experienced and learnt in the past. This study followed a qualitative enquiry, which is descriptive and explorative. The data generation tools that were utilised for the study were, ‘drawing’ and ‘photo album’, both of which represent visual methodology activities. Furthermore, the primary aim of the study is to determine the underlying teaching philosophies that inform selected township teachers’ approaches to discipline in their classrooms. However, the findings indicated that the use of corporal punishment is still visibly prevalent in this township school. Even though it was revealed that the prominent teaching philosophy was not that of fundamental pedagogics, but featured somewhere in between the humanising pedagogy and Noddings’ theory of caring, the effects of teaching during Apartheid under the principles of fundamental pedagogics is still existent in the township.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Von Wildemann, Amy-Rose
- Subjects: School discipline -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:9504 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/1302 , School discipline -- South Africa
- Description: Numerous teachers in South Africa are experiencing ill‐discipline within the classroom environment. They are not receiving the necessary support and guidance from the relevant departments, and thus, rely on their own reactive measures to manage the disruptive behaviour present in the classroom. Previous studies have shown that the South African Education Department has not provided all teachers with the necessary training needed to implement the new discipline strategies proposed by the Department of Education. Therefore, teachers rely on what they perceive to be effective in maintaining discipline, which is an indication of their personal teaching philosophy, as they base their own knowledge on what they have experienced and learnt in the past. This study followed a qualitative enquiry, which is descriptive and explorative. The data generation tools that were utilised for the study were, ‘drawing’ and ‘photo album’, both of which represent visual methodology activities. Furthermore, the primary aim of the study is to determine the underlying teaching philosophies that inform selected township teachers’ approaches to discipline in their classrooms. However, the findings indicated that the use of corporal punishment is still visibly prevalent in this township school. Even though it was revealed that the prominent teaching philosophy was not that of fundamental pedagogics, but featured somewhere in between the humanising pedagogy and Noddings’ theory of caring, the effects of teaching during Apartheid under the principles of fundamental pedagogics is still existent in the township.
- Full Text:
Re-thinking our pedagogical approaches in teacher education to subvert the neoliberal stronghold on higher education
- Authors: Athiemoolam, Logamurthie
- Subjects: Education, Higher--South Africa , Teacher educators
- Language: English
- Type: text , PDF , Lectures
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/66405 , vital:75239
- Description: The focus of this lecture is on an interrogation of neoliberalism, what it entails, the pedagogies it espouses, and some pedagogies that we could consider implementing in our classes, with reference to teacher education, or broader, to subvert its influence. While the initial conceptualisation of the university was to prepare students to be critical and creative thinkers for democratic citizenry, this notion of the university has been severely impacted with the onset of neoliberalism, which uses market-based logic to dictate the kind of knowledge that students should receive at university, as its focus is specifically on preparing them for the workplace, and nothing else. This implies that, according to neoliberalism, the role of universities is not to prepare students to become critically engaged citizens for a democratic society, but to specifically prepare them for the market economy. It is with this background in mind that the lecture commences by firstly providing an overview of the key features of neoliberalism, as it manifests in society, with reference to how it aims to disrupt democracy by infiltrating principles, synonymous with the market economy, into all aspects of society. Thereafter, the lecture will proceed to examine some of the key features that drive its agenda, such as competition, individualism, narrow minded self-interests, and its focus on preparing students for the market economy to serve a capitalist society. Using this premise as a base, the lecture will examine the impact of neoliberalism on higher education, especially in terms of how the relationship between lecturers and students becomes increasingly commodified, with a strong focus on measurable performativity. Hence universities are perceived as institutions where knowledge is bought and sold to students who are the obedient consumers of knowledge, being prepared for the workplace. By critically engaging with the pedagogies that inform neoliberalism, such as its focus on a measurement-based, positivistic, banking approach to education, the lecture aims to shed light on the teaching strategies and approaches that underpin its philosophy, and to examine how its influence could be subverted. Hence, to curtail its impact on teaching and learning in higher education contexts, the lecture sheds light on alternative pedagogies that we could embrace that could lead to transformative learning spaces for enhanced critical reflection and meaning making. This then leads to an examination of the pedagogies that I believe could counter its harmful impacts on pedagogy in higher education, especially in terms of our focus on preparing young people to become critically engaged citizens, who will become agents of change. Based on many years of teaching and lecturing experience I believe that the following three pedagogies namely transformative pedagogy, culturally responsive pedagogy and arts-based pedagogies could make a constructive contribution to impeding its influence. The lecture will examine these pedagogies by providing an overview of what they entail and the ways in which they could subvert neoliberal principles, especially in terms of their transformative nature. Since the key features of these pedagogies are that they lead to collaborative meaning-making through dialogical engagement, develop students’ critical and creative thinking skills, promote critical consciousness, and stimulate reflective practice, they offer the potential to contribute to the development of a critically reflective citizenry, thereby subverting the influence of neoliberal pedagogy in higher education teaching and learning contexts.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Athiemoolam, Logamurthie
- Subjects: Education, Higher--South Africa , Teacher educators
- Language: English
- Type: text , PDF , Lectures
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/66405 , vital:75239
- Description: The focus of this lecture is on an interrogation of neoliberalism, what it entails, the pedagogies it espouses, and some pedagogies that we could consider implementing in our classes, with reference to teacher education, or broader, to subvert its influence. While the initial conceptualisation of the university was to prepare students to be critical and creative thinkers for democratic citizenry, this notion of the university has been severely impacted with the onset of neoliberalism, which uses market-based logic to dictate the kind of knowledge that students should receive at university, as its focus is specifically on preparing them for the workplace, and nothing else. This implies that, according to neoliberalism, the role of universities is not to prepare students to become critically engaged citizens for a democratic society, but to specifically prepare them for the market economy. It is with this background in mind that the lecture commences by firstly providing an overview of the key features of neoliberalism, as it manifests in society, with reference to how it aims to disrupt democracy by infiltrating principles, synonymous with the market economy, into all aspects of society. Thereafter, the lecture will proceed to examine some of the key features that drive its agenda, such as competition, individualism, narrow minded self-interests, and its focus on preparing students for the market economy to serve a capitalist society. Using this premise as a base, the lecture will examine the impact of neoliberalism on higher education, especially in terms of how the relationship between lecturers and students becomes increasingly commodified, with a strong focus on measurable performativity. Hence universities are perceived as institutions where knowledge is bought and sold to students who are the obedient consumers of knowledge, being prepared for the workplace. By critically engaging with the pedagogies that inform neoliberalism, such as its focus on a measurement-based, positivistic, banking approach to education, the lecture aims to shed light on the teaching strategies and approaches that underpin its philosophy, and to examine how its influence could be subverted. Hence, to curtail its impact on teaching and learning in higher education contexts, the lecture sheds light on alternative pedagogies that we could embrace that could lead to transformative learning spaces for enhanced critical reflection and meaning making. This then leads to an examination of the pedagogies that I believe could counter its harmful impacts on pedagogy in higher education, especially in terms of our focus on preparing young people to become critically engaged citizens, who will become agents of change. Based on many years of teaching and lecturing experience I believe that the following three pedagogies namely transformative pedagogy, culturally responsive pedagogy and arts-based pedagogies could make a constructive contribution to impeding its influence. The lecture will examine these pedagogies by providing an overview of what they entail and the ways in which they could subvert neoliberal principles, especially in terms of their transformative nature. Since the key features of these pedagogies are that they lead to collaborative meaning-making through dialogical engagement, develop students’ critical and creative thinking skills, promote critical consciousness, and stimulate reflective practice, they offer the potential to contribute to the development of a critically reflective citizenry, thereby subverting the influence of neoliberal pedagogy in higher education teaching and learning contexts.
- Full Text:
Role of early childhood development practitioners in developing children’s oral language in three selected centres in Buffalo City
- Authors: Nodlela, Lumka
- Subjects: Early childhood education , Language acquisition , Early childhood teachers
- Language: English
- Type: text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/27887 , vital:70453
- Description: The child's language development is one of the most notable achievements of the preschool years. Children must develop their language skills effectively to access the curriculum. Practitioners of Early Childhood Development (ECD) have a substantial impact on children's spoken language development. As a result, three centers in the Buffalo City Education District are the subject of this dissertation's investigation into how ECD practitioners contribute to children's oral language development. The applicable theory used in the study was Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) theory. The existent phenomenon was examined using the interpretivist research paradigm and the qualitative research methodology. The study used a phenomenological research approach to examine the perspectives, functions, and experiences of individuals (ECD practitioners) in the growth of children's oral language. The study used purposive sampling. Participants were purposively selected as because of their proximity to the researcher’s workplace. The fifteen practitioners in the chosen ECD centers were interviewed in semi-structured interviews, and data were also gathered through observations. Following transcription, sorting, and categorization, the gathered data were thematically analysed using themes inferred from the study objectives. The study's conclusions showed that ECD specialists help children improve their oral language in a useful way. As a result, they require training in the creation and application of various strategies for fostering oral language in young children. Short courses will also assist practitioners in fostering the overall development of children. One of the key elements that interferes with effective teaching and learning at ECD centers, though, is a shortage of resources. , Thesis (MEd) -- Faculty of Education, 2023
- Full Text:
- Authors: Nodlela, Lumka
- Subjects: Early childhood education , Language acquisition , Early childhood teachers
- Language: English
- Type: text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/27887 , vital:70453
- Description: The child's language development is one of the most notable achievements of the preschool years. Children must develop their language skills effectively to access the curriculum. Practitioners of Early Childhood Development (ECD) have a substantial impact on children's spoken language development. As a result, three centers in the Buffalo City Education District are the subject of this dissertation's investigation into how ECD practitioners contribute to children's oral language development. The applicable theory used in the study was Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) theory. The existent phenomenon was examined using the interpretivist research paradigm and the qualitative research methodology. The study used a phenomenological research approach to examine the perspectives, functions, and experiences of individuals (ECD practitioners) in the growth of children's oral language. The study used purposive sampling. Participants were purposively selected as because of their proximity to the researcher’s workplace. The fifteen practitioners in the chosen ECD centers were interviewed in semi-structured interviews, and data were also gathered through observations. Following transcription, sorting, and categorization, the gathered data were thematically analysed using themes inferred from the study objectives. The study's conclusions showed that ECD specialists help children improve their oral language in a useful way. As a result, they require training in the creation and application of various strategies for fostering oral language in young children. Short courses will also assist practitioners in fostering the overall development of children. One of the key elements that interferes with effective teaching and learning at ECD centers, though, is a shortage of resources. , Thesis (MEd) -- Faculty of Education, 2023
- Full Text:
The Plastic University: Knowledge, Disciplines and Decolonial 'Circulations'
- Authors: Keet, Andre
- Subjects: Critical pedagogy , Transformative learning , f-sa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Lectures
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/21077 , vital:29436
- Description: The university is as plastic as the social figure of ‘Mandela’ after whom it is named. It is as plastic as the globe and its humanity in whose name it exists. And, it is as plastic as the human subject that is ‘perpetually called on to reconfigure itself in relation to the artefacts of the age’, as Mbembe2 argues in Critique of Black Reason. The very nature of addressing, of writing … of inaugurating … oneself, through an address is an act of reconfiguration, of responding to an artefact of the university and the professoriate. It is, when all is said and done, a performance, a performative act: declaring so and so a professor of this or that status, authorizing ‘it’ to utter something with some kind of formative force.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Keet, Andre
- Subjects: Critical pedagogy , Transformative learning , f-sa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Lectures
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/21077 , vital:29436
- Description: The university is as plastic as the social figure of ‘Mandela’ after whom it is named. It is as plastic as the globe and its humanity in whose name it exists. And, it is as plastic as the human subject that is ‘perpetually called on to reconfigure itself in relation to the artefacts of the age’, as Mbembe2 argues in Critique of Black Reason. The very nature of addressing, of writing … of inaugurating … oneself, through an address is an act of reconfiguration, of responding to an artefact of the university and the professoriate. It is, when all is said and done, a performance, a performative act: declaring so and so a professor of this or that status, authorizing ‘it’ to utter something with some kind of formative force.
- Full Text:
Two decades of curriculum transformation: what have we learnt and where do we go from here?
- Authors: Blignaut, Sylvan
- Subjects: Curriculum change -- South Africa , Education -- South Africa , f-sa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Lectures
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/16076 , vital:28318
- Description: In this lecture, I will revisit the implementation of a new curriculum in South Africa’s schooling system and provide a brief overview of why curriculum change is so complex and fraught with difficulties. I will argue that an important reason for the failure of curriculum implementation could be ascribed to a relative neglect by policymakers of “teacher landscapes” or the beliefs teachers have about teaching. I will argue that it “matters what teachers think and do” and if policymakers do not take account of this reality, successful curriculum implementation will remain a challenge.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Blignaut, Sylvan
- Subjects: Curriculum change -- South Africa , Education -- South Africa , f-sa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Lectures
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/16076 , vital:28318
- Description: In this lecture, I will revisit the implementation of a new curriculum in South Africa’s schooling system and provide a brief overview of why curriculum change is so complex and fraught with difficulties. I will argue that an important reason for the failure of curriculum implementation could be ascribed to a relative neglect by policymakers of “teacher landscapes” or the beliefs teachers have about teaching. I will argue that it “matters what teachers think and do” and if policymakers do not take account of this reality, successful curriculum implementation will remain a challenge.
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