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Free or co-ordinated markets? education and training policy options for a future South Africa
(University of the Western Cape, 1994) Kraak, Andre
This thesis is a comparative study of competing education and training (ET) policy options in South Africa today. The thesis examines the economic and ET policy proposals of the South African state, and in particular, the recently published National Training Strategy and Education Renewal Strategy. These documents are both critically examined and contrasted with the policy proposals which are currently emerging in the African National Congress (ANC) and Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu). The analysis establishes a continuum of ET systems, with the policy proposals of the South African state representing a
Towards the democratization of instructional leadership in South African schools: current trends and future possibilities.
(1995) Williams, Clarence Gordon
The Department of Education of the South Mrican Government of National Unity has accepted democratic governance as one of the principles of its education and training programme. At school level, especially at historically black schools, there is also an increasing demand for meaningful involvement in the decision-making that affects school policy. Unfortunately educational leaders have generally not been empowered to make a meaningful contribution to the transformation of the schools into democratic teaching and learning organizations. This motivated the decision to undertake this thesis. The focus on the democratization of instructional leadership is meant to serve as an example and catalyst for the democratization of all other aspects of the school. In order to contextualize the investigation the main approaches to schooling in South Africa were interrogated against the background of the conservative, liberal and radical theories of democracy in western capitalist societies. The main finding is that, in spite of obvious differences, South African schooling is essentially another form of mass education used as the legitimating apparatus of state ideology. Within this framework Christian-National Education and liberalism form the dominant educational discourse in South Africa while the aspirations of the majority of blacks find manifestation in People's Education which embodies radical/nco-Marxist theories. In spite of the claims of it being basically neutral and value free, educational leadership in South Africa has generally been used to legitimate and reproduce the existing hegemony. An investigation of the positivistic, interpretive and critical research paradigms indicated that, given the South African context, critical action research with its emphasis on, amongst others, collaborative participation, empowerment and emancipation is the most appropriate means to effect the democratization of instructional leadership. Relevant theories and research findings from the literature on action research were then explicated and made applicable to instructional leadership.
Emancipatory education in a workplace
(University of the Western Cape, 1995)
The thesis is about an action research project which had an emancipatory educational intent. The social situation in which this research took place involved people in a specific workplace. Because education is historically constructed, the process of education in the research was considered in relation to the historical background and prevailing socio-political, educational and business situation. The research efforts in this context were directed towards seeking "truth; not as an absolute category, but as a structural and relational one" (Giroux, 1988b:xx). Ostensibly this research was about my own practice. On the one hand, I wanted to examine traditional views of workplace operation in an educational context, and on the other hand, reveal new possibilities which would change my practice and the traditional approach to education that I was part of. In the process a practical learning experience for employers and employees, in a particular workplace, was set in motion. The need for this learning experience was identified by the people in the specific workplace and the attempts at change-action were developed based on the democratic values of equality; justice; empowerment; participation; responsibility and accountability. The primary focus of the employers (and hopefully the employees) in the workplace, was to produce profitable productive work, but one cannot work in a social and political vacuum. Ignoring the reality that a workplace was an area of accommodation and contestation among differentially empowered people was problematic. Issues such as culture, race, gender, economic access and educational opportunity were (are) highlighted in the South African situation and needed to be confronted Workplaces retreat into discourses of management and administration with a focus on issues of efficiency, control and results. It is a myth to believe a workplace can do without these. However, through this research I intended to alert people in workplaces that they need to develop a discourse which reveals the understanding of experiences by questioning, inquiring and reflecting on these experiences.
Besluitnemingsvaardighede: 'n Sielkundig-andragogiese perspektief
(University of the Western Cape, 1995) Strydom, Irene
Die volwassene wat 'n professionele beroep beoefen, vervul nie net die rol van professionele beroepsbeoefenaar nie, maar is ook 'n voltydse leerder (student); tuisteskepper en landsburger. Hierdie verskillende rolle kan só veeleisend raak dat die volwassene oorweldig voel en in spanningsituasies of te midde van 'n vol program, onvanpaste besluitnemingstrategieë aanwend. Die openbaring van onvanpaste besluitnemingsgedrag sluit in die onvermoë om • die kern van die probleem te formuleer • alternatiewe te genereer en te evalueer • die besluit te neem, te implementeer en te evalueer 'n Empiriese ondersoek is onderneem om te bepaal watter besluitnemingstrategieë deur professionele volwassenes bemeester behoort te word en of die andragoog die volwassene tydens die afhandeling van die besluitnemingsproses moet bystaan. Die faktore wat 'n rol by besluitneming speel, is ook behandel. Die navorser se eie voorstelling van die besluitnemingsproses, wat as opsomming van die literatuurstudie beskou kan word, is as raamwerk gebruik om vrae te genereer wat in die vraelys opgeneem kon word, asook om onderhoude te voer. Die belangrikste gevolgtrekking van die ondersoek is dat professionele volwassenes tydens die besluitnemingsproses op ondersteuning aangewese is en dat besluit nemingskonflik verlig kan word indien 33 belangrike besluitnemingsvaardighede bemeester is. Verder is gevind dat daar beduidende verskille is ten opsigte van die besluitnemingsvermoë van die agt verskillende beroepsgroepe wat by hierdie navorsing betrek is, asook tussen manlike en vroulike respondente en Afrikaanssprekende en Engelssprekende respondente. Die algemene gevolgtrekking waartoe gekom is, is dat sommige professionele volwassenes onderpresteer wat besluitneming betref en dat hulle in besonder op begeleiding aangewese is. Die andragoog wat as besluitnemingskonsultant optree, sal hom dit spesifiek ten doel stelom sy medevolwassene wat ontoereikende besluitnemingsgedrag openbaar, te begelei tot die vorming van 'n realistiese besluitnemingsidentiteit. Verder word 'n nuwe, meer omvattende uiteensetting van die besluitnemingshandeling vanuit die Sielkundige Opvoedkunde voorgestel wat ten doel het om 'n meer indringende beskrywing van dié konatiewe handeling daar te stel as wat tans in die opvoedkundige sielkundige teorie te vind is.
'n Poging tot onderwysinnovasie in die Richtersveld
(University of the Western Cape, 1997) Van Heerden, Monica Martha Aletha
This thesis represents the outcome of an interaction between a participating "outsider" and a group of teachers during which a continued dialogue between theory and practice was pursued. The goal was to enhance the quality of teaching practice in a specific situation on the one hand and on the other, gain deeper insight into the theoretical aspects which have a bearing on classroom practice. The research project was initially started in response to teachers' request for help with the teaching of Afrikaans first language to learners whose home language was Afrikaans, but who did not make satisfactory progress in Teachers from four schools in the Richtersveld, a far-off region in the Northern Cape, one of the nine provinces of South Africa, joined the INSET project and participated in a hands-on language programme in which a different approach from the traditional teaching and learning model was advocated. The innovative programme focused on an integrated approach to the teaching and learning of reading and writing as meaning-making activities. The research was carried out within a qualitative research framework in which participants not only had to carry out specific innovative learning tasks, but had to reflect on the value of their actions with a view to become change agents who would facilitate learning in such a manner that their pupils would also develop into reflective agents who would be able to take charge of their particular life world. The project experience was shared through a narrative which required of readers to take a stance since they had to make meaning of the identified themes and motifs which gradually emerged. Some of the major themes which, in my view, developed were: that successful communication between stakeholders in die teaching and learning event is a prerequisite for successful learning. Language is a social construct, but is the central medium of communication, therefore, all participants should understand the operative "rules" of communication in a specific learning context. All pupils in multi-lingual classes should be in a position where their life chances, not only their life-styles, are enhanced.