Browsing by Author "September, Rose"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    Children’s perspectives on child well-being
    (University of Johannesburg, 2009) September, Rose; Savahl, Shazly
    The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) through its reporting framework for nation states has prompted increasing interest on the measuring and monitoring of child well-being. The domains and indicators included in the repertoire of country measures of child well-being have mostly been constructed and monitored by adults, usually social scientists and government officials. This study explored children’s own understandings of children’s well-being. Sixteen focus groups were conducted with 200 children between the ages of 9 and 16 years. The study identified protection and safety, basic needs, community resources and psychosocial issues as the key domains of well-being. The study further highlighted the importance of perceiving well-being as an integrated whole consisting of closely interacting components rather than as a discrete multidimensional phenomenon.
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    The Expanded Public Works programme: Opportunities and challenges for the ECD sector
    (University of Johannesburg, 2007) September, Rose
    The author reflects on the findings of a study commissioned by the Human Science Research Council (HSRC). A qualitative research methodology was used to explore the perceptions of service providers in the early childhood development (ECD) sector on job creation through government’s Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP). The EPWP is aimed at drawing significant numbers of unemployed people into productive work by increasing their capacity to earn a sustainable income through training. In response, the national departments of Social Development, Health, and Education developed a Social Sector Plan (SSP) for EPWP in which the ECD sector was identified as one of the key areas for expansion. From a developmental social work perspective, both Early Childhood Development and productive employment are important strategies to alleviate persistent poverty. This article is intended to create dialogue, further research and action towards realizing the potential of the ECD sector to create more sustainable jobs in order to improve the quality of people’s lives.
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    An exploration into the impact of exposure to community violence and hope on children's perceptions of well-being: a South African perspective
    (Springer, 2013) Savahl, Shazly; Isaacs, Serena; Adams, Sabirah; Carels, Cassandra Zeta; September, Rose
    The study aims to explore the relationship between exposure to community violence, hope, and well-being. More specifically, the study aims to ascertain whether hope is a stronger predictor of well-being than exposure to violence. Stratified random sampling was used to select a sample of 566 adolescents aged 14–17 years, from both high violence and low violence areas in Cape Town, South Africa. A questionnaire consisting of Snyder’s Children’s Hope Scale, the Recent Exposure to Violence Scale and the KIDSCREEN-52 was used. Data analysis techniques included descriptive statistics, correlations, and multiple regression. A positive, significant relationship was found between children’s hope and their well-being. Although exposure to community violence was found to be significantly correlated with wellbeing, the relationship was negligible.While exposure to community violence and hope were found to be significant predictors of well-being, hope emerged as a stronger predictor of child well-being than exposure to community violence.
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    Gearing up for implementation: A new Children's Act for South Africa
    (Taylor & Francis, 2008) September, Rose; Dinbabo, Mulugeta
    The South African Government is presently processing a new comprehensive Children's Act, which is expected to be promulgated in 2008. The primary purpose of the Act is to give effect to the rights of children as contained in section 28 of the Constitution as well as other international child rights instruments ratified by South Africa. The implementation of the new Act holds extensive implications for the targeted beneficiaries, the mandated implementers and the capacity of the relevant organisations. Drawing on the perceptions of 700 social workers who participated in a Children's Act orientation training programme, the authors draw attention to several implementation challenges needing to be addressed if the objectives of the new legislation are to be realised.
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    Ideological Constructions of Childhood
    (University of the Western Cape, 2010) Savahl, Shazly; Malcolm, Charles; Slembrouk, Stef; September, Rose; Dept. of Psychology; Faculty of Arts
    The theoretical conceptualisation of children and childhood in the social sciences has traditionally been aligned to developmentalism and Socialisation theory. It is essentially this theoretical orientation that has spawned contemporary social discourses on children and childhood. Within this framework, children are typically perceived as immature, irrational, incompetent, asocial and acultural and have consequently contributed to the social and political marginalisation of children. Recent theorists have shown, through a process of deconstructing dominant scientific discourses on childhood, how the concept functions ideologically to establish taken-for-granted meanings about children. The present study is attempting to explore the ways in which children themselves construct and mobilise meanings of childhood. Using the social constructionist theoretical framework as a point of departure, the primary aim of the study is to explore the extent to which the meanings that children assign to ‘childhood’ are ideologically configured. More specifically, using the concept of well-being as a hermeneutic key, the study examines how children use specific discursive resources and repertoires to assign meaning to ‘childhood’. It is essentially offering an ideological analysis through an elucidation of the existing power relations between children and society and how these relations are perpetuated and manifested in children’s discourses. At the methodological level, the study is premised on working from the perspectives of children, thereby advancing a child participation framework. Key epistemological and methodological questions are explored with specific reference to the role of the child participation model as the methodological point of departure. A qualitative methodological approach is followed using focus groups as the data collection method. A series of focus groups was conducted with 56 thirteen year old children, from urban and rural geographical locations in the Western Cape. Thompson’s (1990) depth hermeneutics, which provides a critical and systematic interpretive framework for the analysis of ideological constructions, was utilised within a discourse analysis framework to analyze and interpret the findings. The key finding of the study was that the meanings that children assign to childhood are ideologically configured. The essence of this configuration is adult society’s mobilization and control of the meanings of childhood, which functions to maintain relations of domination. The outcome of this on children’s meaning assignation and constructions of childhood is characterized by a consensus/contestation dichotomy as children appear to both accept and resist the ideology. This emerges at the intrapersona level (within the consciousness of children), the interpersonal level (between children) and societal level (between children and adult society). The study concludes by advancing the notion that childhood should be conceived of as an ideological configured construction, and not merely as a discursive construction, functioning within various social contexts. Thus, the meanings of childhood, whether constructed by, or present in discourses, cannot be independent from the ideologically configured social, historical and material structures. It is believed that this theoretical maneuver will bring theories of childhood into better alignment with practical actions resulting in opportunities for intervention, services, monitoring and research initiatives, as well as policy development and implementation, aimed at improving child and youth wellness.