Knowledge and knowers in Educational Leadership and Management (ELM) Master’s Programmes in South Africa
- Authors: Kajee, Farhana Amod
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Educational leadership -- South Africa , Teachers -- Training of -- South Africa , Education, Higher -- South Africa , Master of education degree -- South Africa , Knowledge, Theory of , Educational sociology -- South Africa , Education, Higher -- Aims and objectives -- South Africa , Legitimation Code Theory (LCT)
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/60698 , vital:27819
- Description: This dissertation examines the knowledge and knower practices in the Master’s in Educational Leadership and Management (ELM) coursework programmes at South African public universities. This study was prompted by my growing awareness of problems and tensions in the field of ELM generally, and at the level of programme design of the M Ed degree in particular. Many of these had been identified by a national audit of coursework M Eds in ELM (CHE, 2010), and this study sought to find a way of theorising these with a view to improving both course design and teaching. To this end I employed Maton’s Legitimation Code Theory (LCT) which enables critical engagement with knowledge and knowers in programmes, how they are positioned, and how this positioning may be problematic. Hence my first research question sought to discover and critique what counted as knowledge in these programmes and why, while the second asked how knowers were positioned, and why this had come to be the case. LCT has its roots in the work of Bernstein and Maton, whose preoccupation with curriculum was/is driven by a sense of social justice: if we can understand how and why the curriculum is organised and presented in a particular way, it becomes possible to re-imagine teaching and learning, making it accessible to a broader, more inclusive body of learners. The study also drew on critical realism as an underlabourer. This philosophy provided a nuanced understanding of ontology, encouraging and enabling me, as researcher, to unearth causal mechanisms driving the status quo. Only seven South African universities currently offer the coursework option of a Master’s degree in ELM, compared to thirteen when the audit was conducted in 2010. Six of the universities agreed to take part in the study. Data was gathered through content analysis of the six course outlines and interviews with individual co-ordinators or academics centrally involved in the programmes. Through the development of a translation device I was able to establishing that a knower code was dominant in the programmes. Using this point as my departure, I interrogated the knowledge practices and found that different types of knowledge were being privileged across the programmes, with some having a practical/professional leaning and others a more academic/theoretical orientation. The resultant tension does, I argue, restrict knowledge building and helps to account for the fact that the field is generally considered to be under-theorised. The fact all of these programme are registered with the same national qualifications authority, ostensibly following the same national guidelines for Master’s degrees is worrying. The study attempts to find underlying, historically significant reasons for this unevenness. An analysis of the programmes revealed a leaning towards supportive pedagogical approaches. While all programmes promote a cultivated gaze their purposes are not always the same. While a hegemonic practices potential for opening counts as knowledge, cultivated gaze can enable transformation, it can also encourage that can impede real change and empowerment. The study has the up much needed debate on what is meant by a Master’s in ELM, what and what kinds of knower are envisaged.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
- Authors: Kajee, Farhana Amod
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Educational leadership -- South Africa , Teachers -- Training of -- South Africa , Education, Higher -- South Africa , Master of education degree -- South Africa , Knowledge, Theory of , Educational sociology -- South Africa , Education, Higher -- Aims and objectives -- South Africa , Legitimation Code Theory (LCT)
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/60698 , vital:27819
- Description: This dissertation examines the knowledge and knower practices in the Master’s in Educational Leadership and Management (ELM) coursework programmes at South African public universities. This study was prompted by my growing awareness of problems and tensions in the field of ELM generally, and at the level of programme design of the M Ed degree in particular. Many of these had been identified by a national audit of coursework M Eds in ELM (CHE, 2010), and this study sought to find a way of theorising these with a view to improving both course design and teaching. To this end I employed Maton’s Legitimation Code Theory (LCT) which enables critical engagement with knowledge and knowers in programmes, how they are positioned, and how this positioning may be problematic. Hence my first research question sought to discover and critique what counted as knowledge in these programmes and why, while the second asked how knowers were positioned, and why this had come to be the case. LCT has its roots in the work of Bernstein and Maton, whose preoccupation with curriculum was/is driven by a sense of social justice: if we can understand how and why the curriculum is organised and presented in a particular way, it becomes possible to re-imagine teaching and learning, making it accessible to a broader, more inclusive body of learners. The study also drew on critical realism as an underlabourer. This philosophy provided a nuanced understanding of ontology, encouraging and enabling me, as researcher, to unearth causal mechanisms driving the status quo. Only seven South African universities currently offer the coursework option of a Master’s degree in ELM, compared to thirteen when the audit was conducted in 2010. Six of the universities agreed to take part in the study. Data was gathered through content analysis of the six course outlines and interviews with individual co-ordinators or academics centrally involved in the programmes. Through the development of a translation device I was able to establishing that a knower code was dominant in the programmes. Using this point as my departure, I interrogated the knowledge practices and found that different types of knowledge were being privileged across the programmes, with some having a practical/professional leaning and others a more academic/theoretical orientation. The resultant tension does, I argue, restrict knowledge building and helps to account for the fact that the field is generally considered to be under-theorised. The fact all of these programme are registered with the same national qualifications authority, ostensibly following the same national guidelines for Master’s degrees is worrying. The study attempts to find underlying, historically significant reasons for this unevenness. An analysis of the programmes revealed a leaning towards supportive pedagogical approaches. While all programmes promote a cultivated gaze their purposes are not always the same. While a hegemonic practices potential for opening counts as knowledge, cultivated gaze can enable transformation, it can also encourage that can impede real change and empowerment. The study has the up much needed debate on what is meant by a Master’s in ELM, what and what kinds of knower are envisaged.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
Waste management knowledge, its production, recontextualisation and circulation in Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) training programmes
- Authors: Giqwa, Nomfundiso Louisa
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Refuse and refuse disposal -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , South Africa. Expanded Public Works Programme , Refuse and refuse disposal -- Employees -- Training of -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , South Africa. Department of Environmental Affairs , Knowledge, Theory of , Knowledge, Sociology of
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/63729 , vital:28478
- Description: This study set out to investigate the structuring, recontextualisation and circulation of waste management knowledge in the South African environmental Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) Waste Management Projects. In this thesis these projects also referred to as the Working on Waste (WoW) programme or focus area within the Environmental Protection and Infrastructure Programme (EPIP) hosted by the National Department of Environmental Affairs. Expanded Public Work Programmes are a strategy used by governments to address unemployment and in South Africa; the programmes also seek to address a need for skills development. In this study, the focus is on EPWP waste management knowledge, training programmes and activities only. With waste management knowledge as the core interest, the focus of the investigation was on knowledge circulation of waste management via informal (participation in the project) and formal training of workers at Level 2 National Qualifications Framework (NQF). The study started by firstly investigating what waste management knowledge is produced in the Field of Production via scientific research and policy. It then studied how this waste management knowledge is recontextualised into qualifications and skills programmes designed in the official recontextualising field and learning materials and training programmes designed and offered in the professional recontextualising field. The study also focused on the knowledge of workers and their experience of training in the EPWP workplaces, with an emphasis on rural workplaces. This is where the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) is placing emphasis on training for job creation, empowerment and skills development, and it is also where a number of EPWP Working on Waste programmes are being implemented. The aim was also to develop an understanding of how knowledge circulates amongst learners in training sessions and in workplaces. To do this, I drew on Bernstein’s theory of the pedagogical device which provides theoretical lenses and a language of description to explain how knowledge is recontextualised from the field of production to the field of reproduction. To investigate the structuring of this knowledge by official and pedagogical recontextualisers, I drew on the work of Maton, who offers a Legitimation Code Theory to explain the principles structuring knowledge, of which I used specialisation and semantics (two of his suite of knowledge structuring principles) for analysis. The questions that guided the study throughout were: 1. What is the structure of legitimate knowledge and knowers in waste management? 2. What are the underlying principles underpinning knowledge and knowers in waste management? 3. How is the knowledge recontextualised in waste management training qualifications, documents and manuals for worker training at NQF Level 2? 4. How is the knowledge reproduced and evaluated in the waste management EPWP training activities (formal) and workplaces (informal)? 5. How does waste management knowledge circulate amongst the workers in the EPWP training activities and workplaces? For this study I used the case study method, focusing only on one field or DEA EPWP focus area (waste management) and one programme (EPWP Working on Waste), looking in more depth at two cases (two similar types of projects) within the EPWP Working on Waste programme, though they are situated in different areas and though I could only carry through observations of actual workplace training in one of the two sites due to contextual circumstances. The first project was situated in the Amathole District Municipality while the second one was situated in the Chris Hani District Municipality, both of which are in the rural towns of the former Transkei region in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. This area has been at the forefront in accessing funding for these projects due to the level of poverty surrounding these towns and the inability of the local government sphere to deliver on its mandate in the region. Data was collected through document analysis, questionnaires, interviews and observations. Documents analysed were research documents produced by researchers at the level of production as well as legal frameworks guiding waste management processes in this country. Qualifications and Unit Standards at Level 2, as well as training materials designed by providers were analysed. Training in one of the projects was observed and workers in both sites were interviewed twice. The main finding of the study is that waste management knowledge is characterised by interdisciplinarity and a strong epistemic relation which emphasises procedural and technical forms of knowledge. The study found that the knowledge constructed in the field, as well as the policies, qualifications and training programmes are all consequently characterised by a strong epistemic code (ER+) and a weak social relations code (SR-). The study also identified a ‘code clash’ with the knowledge of workers in rural towns whose knowledge and experience of waste management was found to reflect a strong social relation (SR+) and weak epistemic code (ER-), a pattern which was traced back to a similar code in waste management knowledge at home and school (i.e. workers’ prior knowledge and learning experiences). This created difficulties for the trainers who sought to use strategies of descending from the abstract to the concrete in various ‘descending’ semantic waves that tended to move from high levels of semantic density (SD+) to lower levels of semantic density (SD-) as the training provider sought to contextualise a range of concepts. This was the main strategy identified for mediating waste management knowledge reflecting a dominant pattern of SD+/SG- to SD-/SG+ (with SG meaning semantic gravity). This shows that the trainer seldom started mediating concepts from the basis of workers’ prior knowledge and experience and observations showed little responsiveness from workers resulting from this strategy. Despite this, the study found that workers did develop an improved understanding of specialised waste management knowledge over time, especially through observing and doing more complex tasks in the workplace. The study offers a model for addressing the pedagogical difficulty identified around the code clash, and suggests that further attention needs to be given to ‘ascending’ from the concrete to the abstract in pedagogical practices. The study also pointed to the need for a more inclusive knowledge framework for waste management training, especially in the field of recontextualisation (both the official and pedagogical recontextualisation fields) to extend possibilities for workers to learn more about economic potential and access routes into more sustainable jobs. It identifies the need for a more systemic approach to waste management in rural towns and municipalities, improved compliance and also proposes that better waste management practices are modelled to avoid performative contradictions between the knowledge promoted in the field of production and the official and pedagogical recontextualising fields and the field of reproduction, where workers are learning this knowledge via a mix of accredited training and exposure to participation in waste management practices. This study contributes to new knowledge in that it offers an epistemically grounded and theorised pedagogical process model for Level 2 Waste Management Training (in the EPWP programmes, but potentially also more broadly) that accords with the need for a strong epistemic relation code (ER+) embodied in the need for learning scientific and technical waste management knowledge and procedures. It also addresses workers’ needs for greater epistemic access and participation in knowledge building and application of waste management knowledge in praxis as per the purpose of the EPW training programmes, thereby potentially opening up more sustainable learning pathways for them out of poverty through the EPWP training opportunities. The study has pointed to key areas for further research, including further research on the proposed model, further research into Level 2 pedagogical practices and further research into the foundations of waste management learning in schools. Most of the workers who were participating in the training in the EPWP programmes were educated at above Level 2 before participating in the projects, yet their knowledge and experience of waste management was mostly based on everyday knowledge, pointing to an absence of adequate waste management education in schools in rural contexts in South Africa. The study has also made various recommendations for improving waste management education and training at Level 2 in EPWP programmes in rural areas in particular (but potentially also more widely), notably the need to develop a more inclusive knowledge framework that includes historical and economic knowledge more explicitly at all levels of the recontextualisation process; improved pedagogical and assessment practices that take better account of learners knowledge and experiences in knowledge building processes; and giving attention to structural and systemic approaches to waste management in rural areas to avoid performative contradictions that arise between the knowledge being promoted in the field of production and the field of reproduction and the actual context of waste management.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
- Authors: Giqwa, Nomfundiso Louisa
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Refuse and refuse disposal -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , South Africa. Expanded Public Works Programme , Refuse and refuse disposal -- Employees -- Training of -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , South Africa. Department of Environmental Affairs , Knowledge, Theory of , Knowledge, Sociology of
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/63729 , vital:28478
- Description: This study set out to investigate the structuring, recontextualisation and circulation of waste management knowledge in the South African environmental Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) Waste Management Projects. In this thesis these projects also referred to as the Working on Waste (WoW) programme or focus area within the Environmental Protection and Infrastructure Programme (EPIP) hosted by the National Department of Environmental Affairs. Expanded Public Work Programmes are a strategy used by governments to address unemployment and in South Africa; the programmes also seek to address a need for skills development. In this study, the focus is on EPWP waste management knowledge, training programmes and activities only. With waste management knowledge as the core interest, the focus of the investigation was on knowledge circulation of waste management via informal (participation in the project) and formal training of workers at Level 2 National Qualifications Framework (NQF). The study started by firstly investigating what waste management knowledge is produced in the Field of Production via scientific research and policy. It then studied how this waste management knowledge is recontextualised into qualifications and skills programmes designed in the official recontextualising field and learning materials and training programmes designed and offered in the professional recontextualising field. The study also focused on the knowledge of workers and their experience of training in the EPWP workplaces, with an emphasis on rural workplaces. This is where the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) is placing emphasis on training for job creation, empowerment and skills development, and it is also where a number of EPWP Working on Waste programmes are being implemented. The aim was also to develop an understanding of how knowledge circulates amongst learners in training sessions and in workplaces. To do this, I drew on Bernstein’s theory of the pedagogical device which provides theoretical lenses and a language of description to explain how knowledge is recontextualised from the field of production to the field of reproduction. To investigate the structuring of this knowledge by official and pedagogical recontextualisers, I drew on the work of Maton, who offers a Legitimation Code Theory to explain the principles structuring knowledge, of which I used specialisation and semantics (two of his suite of knowledge structuring principles) for analysis. The questions that guided the study throughout were: 1. What is the structure of legitimate knowledge and knowers in waste management? 2. What are the underlying principles underpinning knowledge and knowers in waste management? 3. How is the knowledge recontextualised in waste management training qualifications, documents and manuals for worker training at NQF Level 2? 4. How is the knowledge reproduced and evaluated in the waste management EPWP training activities (formal) and workplaces (informal)? 5. How does waste management knowledge circulate amongst the workers in the EPWP training activities and workplaces? For this study I used the case study method, focusing only on one field or DEA EPWP focus area (waste management) and one programme (EPWP Working on Waste), looking in more depth at two cases (two similar types of projects) within the EPWP Working on Waste programme, though they are situated in different areas and though I could only carry through observations of actual workplace training in one of the two sites due to contextual circumstances. The first project was situated in the Amathole District Municipality while the second one was situated in the Chris Hani District Municipality, both of which are in the rural towns of the former Transkei region in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. This area has been at the forefront in accessing funding for these projects due to the level of poverty surrounding these towns and the inability of the local government sphere to deliver on its mandate in the region. Data was collected through document analysis, questionnaires, interviews and observations. Documents analysed were research documents produced by researchers at the level of production as well as legal frameworks guiding waste management processes in this country. Qualifications and Unit Standards at Level 2, as well as training materials designed by providers were analysed. Training in one of the projects was observed and workers in both sites were interviewed twice. The main finding of the study is that waste management knowledge is characterised by interdisciplinarity and a strong epistemic relation which emphasises procedural and technical forms of knowledge. The study found that the knowledge constructed in the field, as well as the policies, qualifications and training programmes are all consequently characterised by a strong epistemic code (ER+) and a weak social relations code (SR-). The study also identified a ‘code clash’ with the knowledge of workers in rural towns whose knowledge and experience of waste management was found to reflect a strong social relation (SR+) and weak epistemic code (ER-), a pattern which was traced back to a similar code in waste management knowledge at home and school (i.e. workers’ prior knowledge and learning experiences). This created difficulties for the trainers who sought to use strategies of descending from the abstract to the concrete in various ‘descending’ semantic waves that tended to move from high levels of semantic density (SD+) to lower levels of semantic density (SD-) as the training provider sought to contextualise a range of concepts. This was the main strategy identified for mediating waste management knowledge reflecting a dominant pattern of SD+/SG- to SD-/SG+ (with SG meaning semantic gravity). This shows that the trainer seldom started mediating concepts from the basis of workers’ prior knowledge and experience and observations showed little responsiveness from workers resulting from this strategy. Despite this, the study found that workers did develop an improved understanding of specialised waste management knowledge over time, especially through observing and doing more complex tasks in the workplace. The study offers a model for addressing the pedagogical difficulty identified around the code clash, and suggests that further attention needs to be given to ‘ascending’ from the concrete to the abstract in pedagogical practices. The study also pointed to the need for a more inclusive knowledge framework for waste management training, especially in the field of recontextualisation (both the official and pedagogical recontextualisation fields) to extend possibilities for workers to learn more about economic potential and access routes into more sustainable jobs. It identifies the need for a more systemic approach to waste management in rural towns and municipalities, improved compliance and also proposes that better waste management practices are modelled to avoid performative contradictions between the knowledge promoted in the field of production and the official and pedagogical recontextualising fields and the field of reproduction, where workers are learning this knowledge via a mix of accredited training and exposure to participation in waste management practices. This study contributes to new knowledge in that it offers an epistemically grounded and theorised pedagogical process model for Level 2 Waste Management Training (in the EPWP programmes, but potentially also more broadly) that accords with the need for a strong epistemic relation code (ER+) embodied in the need for learning scientific and technical waste management knowledge and procedures. It also addresses workers’ needs for greater epistemic access and participation in knowledge building and application of waste management knowledge in praxis as per the purpose of the EPW training programmes, thereby potentially opening up more sustainable learning pathways for them out of poverty through the EPWP training opportunities. The study has pointed to key areas for further research, including further research on the proposed model, further research into Level 2 pedagogical practices and further research into the foundations of waste management learning in schools. Most of the workers who were participating in the training in the EPWP programmes were educated at above Level 2 before participating in the projects, yet their knowledge and experience of waste management was mostly based on everyday knowledge, pointing to an absence of adequate waste management education in schools in rural contexts in South Africa. The study has also made various recommendations for improving waste management education and training at Level 2 in EPWP programmes in rural areas in particular (but potentially also more widely), notably the need to develop a more inclusive knowledge framework that includes historical and economic knowledge more explicitly at all levels of the recontextualisation process; improved pedagogical and assessment practices that take better account of learners knowledge and experiences in knowledge building processes; and giving attention to structural and systemic approaches to waste management in rural areas to avoid performative contradictions that arise between the knowledge being promoted in the field of production and the field of reproduction and the actual context of waste management.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
Analysis of a foundational biomedical curriculum: exploring cumulative knowledge-building in the rehabilitative health professions
- Authors: De Bie, Gabrielle
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Medical education -- Curricula , Human anatomy -- Study and teaching -- Curricula , Physiology -- Study and teaching -- Curricula , Occupational therapy -- Study and teaching -- Curricula , Physical therapy -- Study and teaching -- Curricula , Medical rehabilitation -- Study and teaching -- Curricula , Knowledge, Theory of
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/18617 , vital:22361
- Description: This study was motivated by the researcher's experience that students in the rehabilitative health professional programmes were finding it difficult to access fundamental knowledge upon which their professional practices and clinical contexts are based. An important focus of the research was the extent to which cumulative knowledge-building was impacted after the foundational biomedical curriculum became an interdisciplinary programme. The study explored whether the organisation of the interdisciplinary foundational curriculum served the fundamental needs of the professions, and whether, as a matter of social justice, students' access to powerful knowledge was enabled by the form that the fundamental curriculum assumed. This curriculum study at a particular Faculty of Health Sciences foregrounds the structuring, organisation and differentiation of disciplinary knowledge, and reflects a twenty year period that included not only transitions in professional education but also extensive transformation in, and a different approach to, health delivery. At the institution, physiology and anatomy, the biomedical sciences basic to the health professions, underwent disciplinary merging and subsequent altered positioning in curricula. Medicine opted for a problem-based learning approach whereas the rehabilitation health sciences did not. Legitimation Code Theory (LCT) provided the means for analysis of the extent to which interdisciplinary organisation in the foundational curriculum for Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy enabled integrative, cumulative building of knowledge for professional and clinical contexts. Specialisation and Semantics dimensions of Legitimation Code Theory were used to reveal the principles underpinning practices, contexts and dispositions of Anatomy and Physiology at the Faculty of Health Sciences over a twenty year period post democratisation in South Africa (1994 - 2013). Disciplinary positioning in curriculum prior- and post-merger, were compared and contrasted. LCT were used to characterise the distinctiveness of Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy at the university including the kind of knowledge and the kind of knower that specialises the different professions, and what is valorised and legitimated for each kind of professional. Semantic gravity was used to explore the expected knowledge recontextualisations in diverse and complex clinical settings for each of the professions. Registered professionals who are clinical educators as well as curriculum designers for clinical studies were interviewed. Profession-specific course outlines were further data sources. The biomedical disciplines Anatomy and Physiology were characterised for their measures of distinction and their respective knowledge-knower structures. Analysis traced each discipline from its strongly classified form in autonomous curricula when there were separate learner-cohorts for physiotherapists and occupational therapists, to post-merger when the disciplines were framed as human biology in an integrated foundational curriculum for a joint cohort of students. Curricular documents for the twenty year period were analysed quantitatively and qualitatively to establish the positioning of Physiology and Anatomy before and after the disciplines merged to a single course of Human Biology. Teaching staff were interviewed for their understanding of what specialises the physiological and anatomical components of the Human Biology curriculum, what they considered as powerful knowledge for the professions, and who they envisaged as the ideal student-knower exiting the basic sciences platform to enter more advanced clinical studies. The degree of context-dependence for meaning-making in the different disciplinary domains and the condensation of meanings inherent in the respective practices and contexts, were analysed. The thesis argues that following the merger Anatomy is preferentially legitimated as powerful knowledge at the expense of Physiology; that the ideal of disciplinary integration is not reached, and that the segmental organisation and structuring of the curriculum negatively impacted on cumulative knowledge-building and application of professional knowledge in the clinical arena. After the merger the disciplines lost their shape, and in particular the hierarchical knowledge structure of Physiology collapsed. By not having access to the necessary disciplinary knowledge structures and their associated practices, students' ability for scaffolding and integrating knowledge into the clinical arena was constrained. The organisation of the current Human Biology curriculum does not facilitate cumulative learning, and in so doing may not contribute to the envisaged graduate professional who is required to practice within a complex and demanding healthcare work environment. The significance of this study conveys that interdisciplinary programmes should be carefully considered, and there is an added imperative in the health professions which ultimately realise treatment of patients. If, aside from interdisciplinary teaching, there are also merged cohorts of participant students, then a sound understanding of the epistemic requirements of each profession is required. Those involved in curriculum development in various fields need to take these recommendations into account to enable cumulative learning and enable epistemological access to powerful knowledge for an increasingly diverse student body.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
- Authors: De Bie, Gabrielle
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Medical education -- Curricula , Human anatomy -- Study and teaching -- Curricula , Physiology -- Study and teaching -- Curricula , Occupational therapy -- Study and teaching -- Curricula , Physical therapy -- Study and teaching -- Curricula , Medical rehabilitation -- Study and teaching -- Curricula , Knowledge, Theory of
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/18617 , vital:22361
- Description: This study was motivated by the researcher's experience that students in the rehabilitative health professional programmes were finding it difficult to access fundamental knowledge upon which their professional practices and clinical contexts are based. An important focus of the research was the extent to which cumulative knowledge-building was impacted after the foundational biomedical curriculum became an interdisciplinary programme. The study explored whether the organisation of the interdisciplinary foundational curriculum served the fundamental needs of the professions, and whether, as a matter of social justice, students' access to powerful knowledge was enabled by the form that the fundamental curriculum assumed. This curriculum study at a particular Faculty of Health Sciences foregrounds the structuring, organisation and differentiation of disciplinary knowledge, and reflects a twenty year period that included not only transitions in professional education but also extensive transformation in, and a different approach to, health delivery. At the institution, physiology and anatomy, the biomedical sciences basic to the health professions, underwent disciplinary merging and subsequent altered positioning in curricula. Medicine opted for a problem-based learning approach whereas the rehabilitation health sciences did not. Legitimation Code Theory (LCT) provided the means for analysis of the extent to which interdisciplinary organisation in the foundational curriculum for Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy enabled integrative, cumulative building of knowledge for professional and clinical contexts. Specialisation and Semantics dimensions of Legitimation Code Theory were used to reveal the principles underpinning practices, contexts and dispositions of Anatomy and Physiology at the Faculty of Health Sciences over a twenty year period post democratisation in South Africa (1994 - 2013). Disciplinary positioning in curriculum prior- and post-merger, were compared and contrasted. LCT were used to characterise the distinctiveness of Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy at the university including the kind of knowledge and the kind of knower that specialises the different professions, and what is valorised and legitimated for each kind of professional. Semantic gravity was used to explore the expected knowledge recontextualisations in diverse and complex clinical settings for each of the professions. Registered professionals who are clinical educators as well as curriculum designers for clinical studies were interviewed. Profession-specific course outlines were further data sources. The biomedical disciplines Anatomy and Physiology were characterised for their measures of distinction and their respective knowledge-knower structures. Analysis traced each discipline from its strongly classified form in autonomous curricula when there were separate learner-cohorts for physiotherapists and occupational therapists, to post-merger when the disciplines were framed as human biology in an integrated foundational curriculum for a joint cohort of students. Curricular documents for the twenty year period were analysed quantitatively and qualitatively to establish the positioning of Physiology and Anatomy before and after the disciplines merged to a single course of Human Biology. Teaching staff were interviewed for their understanding of what specialises the physiological and anatomical components of the Human Biology curriculum, what they considered as powerful knowledge for the professions, and who they envisaged as the ideal student-knower exiting the basic sciences platform to enter more advanced clinical studies. The degree of context-dependence for meaning-making in the different disciplinary domains and the condensation of meanings inherent in the respective practices and contexts, were analysed. The thesis argues that following the merger Anatomy is preferentially legitimated as powerful knowledge at the expense of Physiology; that the ideal of disciplinary integration is not reached, and that the segmental organisation and structuring of the curriculum negatively impacted on cumulative knowledge-building and application of professional knowledge in the clinical arena. After the merger the disciplines lost their shape, and in particular the hierarchical knowledge structure of Physiology collapsed. By not having access to the necessary disciplinary knowledge structures and their associated practices, students' ability for scaffolding and integrating knowledge into the clinical arena was constrained. The organisation of the current Human Biology curriculum does not facilitate cumulative learning, and in so doing may not contribute to the envisaged graduate professional who is required to practice within a complex and demanding healthcare work environment. The significance of this study conveys that interdisciplinary programmes should be carefully considered, and there is an added imperative in the health professions which ultimately realise treatment of patients. If, aside from interdisciplinary teaching, there are also merged cohorts of participant students, then a sound understanding of the epistemic requirements of each profession is required. Those involved in curriculum development in various fields need to take these recommendations into account to enable cumulative learning and enable epistemological access to powerful knowledge for an increasingly diverse student body.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
An analysis of the certificate of the theory of accounting knowledge and knower structures : a case study of professional knowledge
- Authors: Mkhize, Thandeka Fortunate
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Accounting -- Study and teaching (Higher) , Dropout behavior, Prediction of , Knowledge, Theory of , Knowledge and learning , Critical realism , Education -- Philosophy , Educational sociology
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2057 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1019771
- Description: This research project explores issues around the poor throughput and high dropout rate in the Certificate of the Theory of Accounting (CTA) by focusing on Accounting knowledge as an object of study. The CTA was identified as a serious block in the steps that one needs to go through on the journey to becoming a Chartered Accountant. Having a clear understanding of Accounting knowledge can lead to finding ways that can make the subject more accessible to students from diverse backgrounds. This study contributes to understanding Accounting knowledge at the CTA level with the aim of clearly delineating its legitimate knowledge and knower structures. It answers the following two research questions: • What constitutes legitimate knowledge structures in the CTA? • What constitutes legitimate knower structures in the CTA? Academics from nine universities and representatives of the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) participated in this study. Data was collected through interviews, observation and document analysis. Eighteen CTA lecturers and two members of the SAICA management team were interviewed. Three universities provided documents on their practices, which included learner guides, examination papers, suggested answers, lecture notes, tutorials and other curriculum documents for each of the four CTA subjects. SAICA provided the competency framework and examinable pronouncements. A conference that was jointly hosted by SAICA and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) Foundation was observed. This study used Critical Realism as its ontological underpinnings and Legitimation Code Theory (LCT) as its substantive theory. It used the Specialisation and Autonomy principles of LCT to analyse the data. Specialization establishes the ways agents and discourses within a field are constructed as special, different or unique and thus deserving of distinction and status (Maton, 2014). The principle of Autonomy is concerned with the extent to which the field is self-governing and can do things of its own free-will (Maton, 2004). The study found that the CTA has a hierarchical knowledge structure, which means that when new knowledge is created in Accounting it is integrated into existing knowledge, resulting in coherent and integrated knowledge. CTA also has a hierarchical curriculum structure. While horizontal curriculum structures evolve through the replacement of existing knowledge by new approaches and content, a hierarchical curriculum typically grows through integration and subsumption of new knowledge into pre-existing knowledge and it relies on the acquisition of knowledge developed in previous modules or levels of study.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
- Authors: Mkhize, Thandeka Fortunate
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Accounting -- Study and teaching (Higher) , Dropout behavior, Prediction of , Knowledge, Theory of , Knowledge and learning , Critical realism , Education -- Philosophy , Educational sociology
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2057 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1019771
- Description: This research project explores issues around the poor throughput and high dropout rate in the Certificate of the Theory of Accounting (CTA) by focusing on Accounting knowledge as an object of study. The CTA was identified as a serious block in the steps that one needs to go through on the journey to becoming a Chartered Accountant. Having a clear understanding of Accounting knowledge can lead to finding ways that can make the subject more accessible to students from diverse backgrounds. This study contributes to understanding Accounting knowledge at the CTA level with the aim of clearly delineating its legitimate knowledge and knower structures. It answers the following two research questions: • What constitutes legitimate knowledge structures in the CTA? • What constitutes legitimate knower structures in the CTA? Academics from nine universities and representatives of the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) participated in this study. Data was collected through interviews, observation and document analysis. Eighteen CTA lecturers and two members of the SAICA management team were interviewed. Three universities provided documents on their practices, which included learner guides, examination papers, suggested answers, lecture notes, tutorials and other curriculum documents for each of the four CTA subjects. SAICA provided the competency framework and examinable pronouncements. A conference that was jointly hosted by SAICA and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) Foundation was observed. This study used Critical Realism as its ontological underpinnings and Legitimation Code Theory (LCT) as its substantive theory. It used the Specialisation and Autonomy principles of LCT to analyse the data. Specialization establishes the ways agents and discourses within a field are constructed as special, different or unique and thus deserving of distinction and status (Maton, 2014). The principle of Autonomy is concerned with the extent to which the field is self-governing and can do things of its own free-will (Maton, 2004). The study found that the CTA has a hierarchical knowledge structure, which means that when new knowledge is created in Accounting it is integrated into existing knowledge, resulting in coherent and integrated knowledge. CTA also has a hierarchical curriculum structure. While horizontal curriculum structures evolve through the replacement of existing knowledge by new approaches and content, a hierarchical curriculum typically grows through integration and subsumption of new knowledge into pre-existing knowledge and it relies on the acquisition of knowledge developed in previous modules or levels of study.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
Knowledge and knowing in the public management and public administration programmes at a comprehensive university
- Authors: Lück, Jacqueline Catherine
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: Knowledge and learning , Public administration -- Study and teaching (Higher) , Knowledge, Sociology of , Learning, Psychology of , Knowledge, Theory of , Educational equalization -- South Africa , Education, Higher -- South Africa , Literacy -- South Africa , Technical institutes -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:1326 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1013166
- Description: Knowledge is often tacit and under researched in educational fields. In order for student access to knowledge and its related academic discourses to be facilitated, a deep understanding needs to be gained of the form that this knowledge takes. This study interrogates the ways in which knowledge is constituted in the first year of a Public Management Diploma and a Public Administration Degree at a comprehensive university in South Africa. The study takes a social realist approach that understands reality as fact but sees our knowledge thereof as a social phenomenon. The study was concerned with knowledge structures and knower structures as it argues that these have not been adequately accounted for in the sociology of education research. But this study comes to this concern from a strongly ideological view of student reading and writing. This study calls on a social practices approach that sees literacy as embedded within specific academic discourses, which vary from context to context. It uses this ideological understanding of literacy as the orienting framework for the study of knowledge. The study takes place in a Higher Education mileu that has begun to transform from its divisive past. The transformation brought about new institutional formations such as the comprehensive university, with its mix of vocational, professional and formative programmes and varied emphasis on contextual and conceptual curriculum coherence. Increasingly, the transformation agenda also shifts concern from simply providing physical access to a previously disenfranchised majority to ensuring full participation in the context of high attrition rates in first year and low retention rates. The data was analysed using the Specialisation Codes of Legitimation Code Theory to see what was being specialised in the Diploma and Degree curricula of the Public Management and Administration fields. These fields are characterised in the literature by ongoing tensions about focus, and perceptions of there being a theoretical vacuum and an inability to deal adequately with challenges in the South African public sector. Analysis of lecturer interviews and first-year curriculum documentation showed that both the Public Management Diploma and Public Administration Degree have stronger epistemic relations (ER), with an emphasis on claims to knowledge of the world. The data showed relatively weak social relations (SR), in that there was not the valuing of a particular lens on the world or a specific disposition required for legitimation within this field. The combination of ER+ and SR- indicates that these curricula are Knowledge Codes, where legitimation is through the acquisition of a set of skills and procedures. The programmes were characterised by fairly low-level procedural knowledge, which may point to a workplace-oriented direction that is dominant in the comprehensive university. In keeping with concerns raised in the literature about this field, there was little evidence of theoretical or propositional knowledge in the Public Management Diploma and while the Public Administration Degree had some evidence of this, it was arguably not to the extent expected of a degree as described in the National Qualifications Framework. This study was limited to the first-year of the Diploma and Degree and subsequent years could present different findings. Lecturers showed awareness of student challenges with literacy practices and made concerned attempts through various interventions to address this but they were found to value the surface features of writing practices over personal engagement with the knowledge. Though the expectations of student literacy practices in tests and assignments were aligned to the ways in which knowledge was constructed in the curriculum, there was little evidence of student induction into disciplinary discourses of the field as knowledge was presented as being neutral and student writing primarily took the form of retelling objective facts. The implications of these findings could include student exclusion from higher-level academic discourse, more powerful knowledge in the workplace and, finally, constrain them from becoming producers of knowledge.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
- Authors: Lück, Jacqueline Catherine
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: Knowledge and learning , Public administration -- Study and teaching (Higher) , Knowledge, Sociology of , Learning, Psychology of , Knowledge, Theory of , Educational equalization -- South Africa , Education, Higher -- South Africa , Literacy -- South Africa , Technical institutes -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:1326 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1013166
- Description: Knowledge is often tacit and under researched in educational fields. In order for student access to knowledge and its related academic discourses to be facilitated, a deep understanding needs to be gained of the form that this knowledge takes. This study interrogates the ways in which knowledge is constituted in the first year of a Public Management Diploma and a Public Administration Degree at a comprehensive university in South Africa. The study takes a social realist approach that understands reality as fact but sees our knowledge thereof as a social phenomenon. The study was concerned with knowledge structures and knower structures as it argues that these have not been adequately accounted for in the sociology of education research. But this study comes to this concern from a strongly ideological view of student reading and writing. This study calls on a social practices approach that sees literacy as embedded within specific academic discourses, which vary from context to context. It uses this ideological understanding of literacy as the orienting framework for the study of knowledge. The study takes place in a Higher Education mileu that has begun to transform from its divisive past. The transformation brought about new institutional formations such as the comprehensive university, with its mix of vocational, professional and formative programmes and varied emphasis on contextual and conceptual curriculum coherence. Increasingly, the transformation agenda also shifts concern from simply providing physical access to a previously disenfranchised majority to ensuring full participation in the context of high attrition rates in first year and low retention rates. The data was analysed using the Specialisation Codes of Legitimation Code Theory to see what was being specialised in the Diploma and Degree curricula of the Public Management and Administration fields. These fields are characterised in the literature by ongoing tensions about focus, and perceptions of there being a theoretical vacuum and an inability to deal adequately with challenges in the South African public sector. Analysis of lecturer interviews and first-year curriculum documentation showed that both the Public Management Diploma and Public Administration Degree have stronger epistemic relations (ER), with an emphasis on claims to knowledge of the world. The data showed relatively weak social relations (SR), in that there was not the valuing of a particular lens on the world or a specific disposition required for legitimation within this field. The combination of ER+ and SR- indicates that these curricula are Knowledge Codes, where legitimation is through the acquisition of a set of skills and procedures. The programmes were characterised by fairly low-level procedural knowledge, which may point to a workplace-oriented direction that is dominant in the comprehensive university. In keeping with concerns raised in the literature about this field, there was little evidence of theoretical or propositional knowledge in the Public Management Diploma and while the Public Administration Degree had some evidence of this, it was arguably not to the extent expected of a degree as described in the National Qualifications Framework. This study was limited to the first-year of the Diploma and Degree and subsequent years could present different findings. Lecturers showed awareness of student challenges with literacy practices and made concerned attempts through various interventions to address this but they were found to value the surface features of writing practices over personal engagement with the knowledge. Though the expectations of student literacy practices in tests and assignments were aligned to the ways in which knowledge was constructed in the curriculum, there was little evidence of student induction into disciplinary discourses of the field as knowledge was presented as being neutral and student writing primarily took the form of retelling objective facts. The implications of these findings could include student exclusion from higher-level academic discourse, more powerful knowledge in the workplace and, finally, constrain them from becoming producers of knowledge.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
- «
- ‹
- 1
- ›
- »