Learning to learn: a critical realist exploration into the home established learning practices of a marginalised community in Port Elizabeth
- Authors: Armstrong, Meredith
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Minorities -- Education (Higher) -- South Africa , Readiness for school -- Social aspects -- South Africa , Inclusive education -- Social aspects -- South Africa , Marginality, Social -- South Africa , Critical realism
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/93778 , vital:30939
- Description: This study was completed as part of a project exploring social inclusion and exclusion in South African higher education. In a globalised world, the achievement of a qualification from an institution of higher education is increasingly key to finding any sort of employment. This is particularly the case in South Africa where employment amongst black citizens is inordinately high. The aim of the research reported upon in this thesis was to better understand the construct of ‘epistemological access’ (Morrow, 1992), often used in relation to the needs of black working class students entering higher education, in relation to performance data (see for example, CHE, 2016) that repeatedly shows that black students fare less well than their white peers. Following what might be termed a ‘social’ approach to understanding access, this study begins long before most students have even heard of higher education and focuses on identifying the mechanisms that come into play at much earlier level of learning and literacy development. The study outlines the development of ‘ways of being’, or social practices, surrounding learning in a marginalised community in Port Elizabeth, in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. This was achieved by means of critical ethnography and it is therefore qualitatively based. The study shows how social structures enable or constrain a child’s school readiness and how they then go on to support or impede progress in school where the language and literacy needed for educational success are further developed. The study therefore aims to allow us to explain global data indicating that the single greatest indicator of a young person’s ability to access and succeed in higher education is the level of education of caregivers in their homes of origin. Examined from a critical perspective (i.e. with a concern for social justice), this study has made use of a framework using social, psychological and linguistic theory and more, particularly, the work of sociologist Margaret Archer (1995, 1996, 2003). The study makes particular use of Archer’s ‘morphogenetic framework’ which allows for an analysis of the way structure and culture impact on a child’s development over time. As I was concerned that my own social status might impact on the understandings I developed as a critical ethnographer, the study acknowledges my own experiences of learning and the way my own family sought to enhance them as enabling. In doing this, the study aims to better contribute to understandings of social justice in South Africa.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Armstrong, Meredith
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Minorities -- Education (Higher) -- South Africa , Readiness for school -- Social aspects -- South Africa , Inclusive education -- Social aspects -- South Africa , Marginality, Social -- South Africa , Critical realism
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/93778 , vital:30939
- Description: This study was completed as part of a project exploring social inclusion and exclusion in South African higher education. In a globalised world, the achievement of a qualification from an institution of higher education is increasingly key to finding any sort of employment. This is particularly the case in South Africa where employment amongst black citizens is inordinately high. The aim of the research reported upon in this thesis was to better understand the construct of ‘epistemological access’ (Morrow, 1992), often used in relation to the needs of black working class students entering higher education, in relation to performance data (see for example, CHE, 2016) that repeatedly shows that black students fare less well than their white peers. Following what might be termed a ‘social’ approach to understanding access, this study begins long before most students have even heard of higher education and focuses on identifying the mechanisms that come into play at much earlier level of learning and literacy development. The study outlines the development of ‘ways of being’, or social practices, surrounding learning in a marginalised community in Port Elizabeth, in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. This was achieved by means of critical ethnography and it is therefore qualitatively based. The study shows how social structures enable or constrain a child’s school readiness and how they then go on to support or impede progress in school where the language and literacy needed for educational success are further developed. The study therefore aims to allow us to explain global data indicating that the single greatest indicator of a young person’s ability to access and succeed in higher education is the level of education of caregivers in their homes of origin. Examined from a critical perspective (i.e. with a concern for social justice), this study has made use of a framework using social, psychological and linguistic theory and more, particularly, the work of sociologist Margaret Archer (1995, 1996, 2003). The study makes particular use of Archer’s ‘morphogenetic framework’ which allows for an analysis of the way structure and culture impact on a child’s development over time. As I was concerned that my own social status might impact on the understandings I developed as a critical ethnographer, the study acknowledges my own experiences of learning and the way my own family sought to enhance them as enabling. In doing this, the study aims to better contribute to understandings of social justice in South Africa.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
South African Trade Union responses to xenophobia in workplaces: the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA)
- Authors: Gongqa, Nombulelo
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Xenophobia , Xenophobia-- South Africa , National Union of Mineworkers , National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa , Labor unions -- South Africa , Immigrants -- South Africa , Marginality, Social -- South Africa , Social conflict -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/115061 , vital:34074
- Description: This research looks at how trade unions relate to immigrants and how inclusive they are to immigrants who form part of the South African working class. South Africa has been an immigrants receiving country for decades, where most immigrants are from neighbouring countries within the South African region. It was the trade unions that empowered workers to gain back some of their basic rights during the apartheid era, and they did this for all workers who worked in sectors where they were exploited and mistreated by the apartheid regime on the basis of their skin colour. This research aims to understand how trade unions respond to xenophobia in the workplace, and the ways their strategies increase inclusion of immigrants in the trade unions. This research focuses on the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA), seeking to find whether they have strategies and planned ways to respond to xenophobia in South African workplaces. This research also looks at the impact of nationalism in South Africa on immigrants. It shows that whilst the concept of nationalism is to protect South Africans, it does exclude immigrants because it places South Africans before immigrants when it comes to benefiting from the resources of the country. This shows that protecting one section of the working class over another weakens the working class movement. To get views from the trade unions, trade union officials were interviewed and from the interviews, common themes were picked out. From the interviews, it can be identified that trade union officials believe that immigrants should be included in the trade unions, and they should be treated with dignity. However, there are some conflicting themes, which highlight the view that South African locals deserve to get the resources of the country, such as housing, before immigrants. The themes will be discussed in the research to highlight the different perspectives that came from the trade union officials.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Gongqa, Nombulelo
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Xenophobia , Xenophobia-- South Africa , National Union of Mineworkers , National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa , Labor unions -- South Africa , Immigrants -- South Africa , Marginality, Social -- South Africa , Social conflict -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/115061 , vital:34074
- Description: This research looks at how trade unions relate to immigrants and how inclusive they are to immigrants who form part of the South African working class. South Africa has been an immigrants receiving country for decades, where most immigrants are from neighbouring countries within the South African region. It was the trade unions that empowered workers to gain back some of their basic rights during the apartheid era, and they did this for all workers who worked in sectors where they were exploited and mistreated by the apartheid regime on the basis of their skin colour. This research aims to understand how trade unions respond to xenophobia in the workplace, and the ways their strategies increase inclusion of immigrants in the trade unions. This research focuses on the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA), seeking to find whether they have strategies and planned ways to respond to xenophobia in South African workplaces. This research also looks at the impact of nationalism in South Africa on immigrants. It shows that whilst the concept of nationalism is to protect South Africans, it does exclude immigrants because it places South Africans before immigrants when it comes to benefiting from the resources of the country. This shows that protecting one section of the working class over another weakens the working class movement. To get views from the trade unions, trade union officials were interviewed and from the interviews, common themes were picked out. From the interviews, it can be identified that trade union officials believe that immigrants should be included in the trade unions, and they should be treated with dignity. However, there are some conflicting themes, which highlight the view that South African locals deserve to get the resources of the country, such as housing, before immigrants. The themes will be discussed in the research to highlight the different perspectives that came from the trade union officials.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
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