Magister Philosophiae - MPhil

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Browsing by Author "Bak, Nelleke"

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    Can the view of persons and society that is presupposed by Higgs's account of fundamental pedagogics be compatible with a concept of demographic education?
    (University of the Western Cape, 1993) Jerome Albert, Slamat; Morrow, Wally; Bak, Nelleke
    Yes, the view of persons and society that is presupposed.by Higgs's account of Fundamental Pedagogics can be compatible with a concept of democratic education. However, I shall argue that this is a charitable rather than a certain answer. I shall firstly examine Carol Gould's thesis that every social and political theory presupposes, explicitly or tacitly, a social ontology. I critically reinterpret her conceptual tool of social ontology as a presupposed view of persons and society, but retain some positive aspects of her argument. Secondly, I provide an analytical summary and critical discussion of three recent articles by Professor PhiI Higgs on the nature and task of Fundamental Pedagogics (FP). Consequently, I apply the conceptual tool of a presupposed view of persons and society to Higgs's account of FP. The following steps of my argument are the development of an account of democratic education that is linked to agency, authority, reciprocity and participation and the interpretation of the view of persons and society (VOPS) that underpins it. In the concluding chapter Higgs's account of FP, together with its constitutive VOPS, is measured against eight criteria provided by the account of democratic education and its matching VOPS. My conclusion is that the VOPs that is presupposed by Higgs's account of FP can charitably said to be compatible with the concept of democratic education developed in Chapter Five, given some adjustments, clarifications and elucidations. Finally, I consider some objections that Higgs might raise against the argument of this mini thesis, and briefly respond to these.
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    Die Morele afspek van die Suid -Afrikaanse onderwysprofessie
    (University of the Western Cape, 1993) Moolman, Steven Daniel; Bak, Nelleke
    By consulting the work of J. Kovesi with specific reference to the way in which he interprets the origin and meaning of concepts I argue that concepts influence human practices and that human practices have an influence on the meaning of concepts. According to Kovesi every concept has a formal element (FE) and material elements (ME). The full meaning of a concept is to be found in the FE of the concept and not in the ME or the ways in which the FE is lived out. The FE of a concept be it an object (eg. a table) or a human action (eg. education) serves as a standard or criterium whereby one could measure if such an object or action has come to its full meaning. The FE of a concept is also determined by the needs, institutions and human practices (the context). However, in the case of a change in the context, the possibility exists that the meaning of a concept might also change accordingly. Therefore, by investigating the FE of the concepts morality, schooling, education, profession, trade and teaching profession', firstly with reference to their connections with one another and secondly their connection with the concept morality, I argue that there is a necessary connection between the concepts education, profession, teaching profession and morality and that therefore the teacher is primarily a moral- agent.
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    An Investigation Of The Extent To Which Liberal Principles Shaped The South African Schools Act Of 1996
    (University of the Western Cape, 2002) Roussouw, Paul; Bak, Nelleke
    By November 1996 the vision of an equitable South African education system moved closer to becoming a reality with the establishment of the South African Schools Act (SASA). The SASA can be seen as a definitive break from apartheid education. The perception that liberalism has generally not received a warm reception amongst South Africans might not be entirely convincing. However, we have in South Africa a Constitution and a Bill of Rights which display liberal features. I argue that liberal features of our government are also present in the SASA. It would appear that liberal principles are very generic values, but I do conclude with a typology of Gray (1986) onto which I build a framework of liberal principles for my purpose, viz. individualism, freedom, autonomy, egalitarianism, meliorism and universalism. On the basis of these principles, the purpose of a liberal education is to develop the learner into a person who is able to act freely, rationally, autonomously and who has concern for the intrinsically worthwhile rather than the solely utilitarian. The various characteristics of a liberal education, I argue, can be brought under two main principles: liberal education is antidiscriminatory by protecting learner's rights, and it develops autonomy of the individual through the development of a learner's rational, aesthetic and moral capacities. This frame of liberalism and liberal education is used in Chapter 5 to analyse the SASA. My mini thesis suggests that liberal principles are implicit in the SASA of 1996.
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    The status of environmental education in Eritrean junior secondary schools
    (University of the Western Cape, 2000) Gebreab, Freweini; Bak, Nelleke
    Environmental Education (EE) can be very broadly interpreted to mean all education or narrowly to refer to Nature studies. For the purpose of my minithesis, I used the interpretation of Fier, i.e., Environmental Education as education about, through and for the environment. The central question my minithesis tries to answer is " what is the present status of EE in Eritrean junior secondary schools?" I look at the extent to which EE is included in the education policy of Eritre4 at how EE is included in the curriculum, how it is taught and assessed, the kind of raining available for teachers and the availability of instructional materials for the teaching of EE in Eritrean junior secondary schools. The purpose of this minithesis is to give a broad overview of the present situation with regards to teaching EE. In doing so, I discuss some of the factors that are considered to have a significant influence on the status of EE in Eritrean junior secondary schools. The government of Eritrea for the people of Eritrea has formulated a National Environmental Management Plan (NEMP-E) in 1995. The responsibility for formal EE is in the ambit of the Ministry of Education, which is essentially the policy maker for the formal education sector. However, there seems to be a lack of a comprehensive plan or clear guidelines at a national level for the implementation and support of EE at school level. In Eritrean junior secondary schools, EE has been included in the Geography, Science and English curricula. The textbooks aim to educate students in knowledge about, through and, for the environment. Despite the positive attitudes teachers had to all three forms of EE, the results revealed that in the classroom teaching, and assessment more emphasis was given to education about the environment, i.e., the emphasis is on information transfer and recall. It appears that some of the reasons why teachers do not fully infuse EE in their classroom might be due to large class size, overcrowded curriculum, short periods, lack of awareness of EE, lack of instructional materials and lack of institutional and administrative support. Environmental Education was implemented as a subject at the TTI (Teacher Training Institute) in 1995. This implies that teachers before 1995 had no formal exposure to EE. The aim of the EE course is for trainees to acquire knowledge and understanding about the environment, develop skills through the environment and attitudes and interest for the environment. The EE lecturer at the TTI had a positive attitude to all aspects of EE. What strikes me though is that despite the many and exciting learning activities that trainees experience in their TTI course (mainly skill development and consciousness raising), very few questions in the exam tested this learning. Although the minithesis shows that there is a certain amount of EE policy, teaching and training in place, there is still much development work that needs to be done. The study concludes that to improve the status of EE in Eritrean junior secondary schools, more research is needed on effective integration of EE into the curriculum; on a systematic rigorous assessment of the prescribed textbooks which include EE themes and are used by teachers of EE; on ways EE can be enhanced and supported; on how teachers can be supported; and on how EE training can draw on nongovernment organizations involved in EE.