Browsing by Author "Thaver, Beverley"

Now showing 1 - 8 of 8
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    Access to higher education: the case of the career preparation programme at the University of the Free State
    (University of the Western Cape, 2008) Rabie, Neville Errol; Thaver, Beverley; Faculty of Education
    When it comes to education, the legacy of apartheid in South Africa has had major implications for the higher education system. The White population group long dominated the nrolment of students in higher education institutions, although they were, and still are, one of the minority population groups in the country. The under-preparedness of black students means that they require structures to prepare and assist them within the higher education environment. In order to assist these disadvantaged students, higher education institutions have established certain Academic Support Programmes. One such programme is the Career Preparation Programme (CPP) being offered at the University of the Free State. This study attempts to measure the success rate of the Career Preparation Programme and to time to completion of graduates.
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    A comparative study of the development of vocational education in South Africa and China between 1948 and 1993
    (University of the Western Cape, 2016) Arong, Arong; Thaver, Beverley
    This study has compared and investigated the historical evolution and development of public vocational education in South Africa and China, between 1948 and 1994. The purpose of the study has been to understand and trace the relation between the internal and external socio-economic and educational factors and determine how these impacted on the development of vocational education in both countries. The main focus was on the public senior secondary-level vocational educational systems in South Africa and China, referred to as technical colleges and skilled workers schools, respectively. In setting up the study, it discovered that in the period preceding 1948 in South Africa and 1949 in China, that while there were multi-track systems in both countries, the roles and functions were different. Following this, the thesis took as the starting point two key periods, namely, 1948/9 and 1978. While 1948/1949 marked the establishment of centralised political adminstrations and nation-state processes; the year 1978 marked the start of economic liberalisation. In both instances, the thesis addressed the question how these two powers made meaning in terms of the nature of vocational education. In this respect, it investigated the ways in which the practices that unfolded were connected to the broader political economic forces in both countries. It drew mainly on primary, secondary and tertiary documentary sources to build a broad historical descriptive narrative of vocational education during this period.
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    Identifying the social and environmental factors that shape the achievement levels of grade 12 learners from two rural schools in the Oshikoto region of Namibia
    (University of Western Cape, 2013) Amutenya, Sakaria; Thaver, Beverley
    The primary purpose of this study was to understand how certain factors could contribute to the low achievement levels of Grade 12 learners from two selected rural schools. For the purpose of this research these two schools were referred to as schools A and B. The academic performance of Grade 12 learners from schools A and B has been very low since 2008-2010. On average, these two senior secondary schools produced less than 5% of their learners who qualified for entrance to the University of Namibia (Ministry of Education, 2003-2010).
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    Inducting BEd Hons students into a research culture and the world of research: the case of a research methods course in the BEd Hons programme
    (Unisa Press, 2013) Thaver, Beverley; Holtman, Lorna; Julie, Cyril
    It has become a policy imperative that the training of future researchers in Education should start at the Honours level. This training presents particular challenges as students entering the Bachelor of Education Honours (BEd Hons) programme have diverse professional backgrounds and personal motivations for pursuing the programme. Moreover, the majority of the students have fairly substantial experience in schools, one of the primary empirical sites for educational research. This diverse student profile yields several challenges in relation to the teaching of a Research Methods course. In this article, the authors reflect on their experiences of offering a BEd Hons course to induct students into research against the traditional, literature-renditioned components which comprise the practice of research in the Social Sciences. Working with the notions of critical aspects and encounters, the authors found that students experience a tension between their desire to solve their identified research problems in a common-sense way and a teaching interaction that moves them to an abstract/theoretical level. In light of this, the authors identify that students experience difficulty with shifting their strong beliefs about knowing the answers (in terms of their research), to notions of doubt. Each of these beliefs marks different academic cultures that respectively refer to, on the one hand, a teaching practice-supervisor and, on the other, a participant observer inquirer. The depth and richness of their experiences in the former tends to constrain the transition from predetermined answers to a curiosity driven mode.
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    National higher education reform in Tanzania : understanding institutional and state leaders' responses to access and quality initiatives at selected public universities
    (University of the Western Cape, 2015) Maduekwe, Catherine Chinenye; Thaver, Beverley
    Like many universities across the globe, African universities were not exceptional in so far as they were under the control of their nation states. While studies have explored the relationship between the State and the universities, this thesis argues that notwithstanding the debate around the issues of universities’ continuous demand for autonomy as against the pressure for accountability, universities in Africa can also challenge the state in hidden ways especially around issues of higher education policy. In substantiating this argument, this researcher has employed Foucault's (1979) concept of governmentality as the 'conduct of conduct' - and its subcomponent of power which points to the multiplicity or fluidity of power as originating from diverse sources. Within the exercise of power, institutions have to make the choice of freedom and resistance to state expectations. In this study, the public universities in Tanzania are expected to be responsive to a national priority poverty reduction policy (the MKUKUTA) that reflects the access and quality initiatives for the reform of higher education institutions. However, there is evidence in literature that wide consultation is one major aspect of the policy formulation, especially the poverty reduction policy paper. This researcher argues that in spite of the evidence in literature in respect of wide consultation, the case of public universities in Tanzania was quite different at systemic level. Aside from the issue of co-ordination at systemic level, this study also argues that the state is interested in regulating public universities to ensure their responsiveness to the MKUKUTA objectives. Drawing on a Foucauldian discourse, this researcher understand the state's choice of using funding for universities as a form of surveillance or panopticon to regulate institutional activities to fit the policy objectives. Even though the state uses funding as a form of surveillance, this researcher argues that the public universities, in their exercise of power, within the fluidity or multiplicity of power can choose to freely regulate their institutional activities that are aligned to the MKUKUTA objectives to their own advantage to raise an additional internal funding stream. This study is based on a qualitative research approach and indirectly also draws on the methodological framework of social constructionism. Being a qualitative study, it utilized structured interviews to engage respondents from three public universities, state agencies, international aid partners and the policy secretariat to understand the extent of responsiveness of the public universities to the mandate of the MKUKUTA for higher education.
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    Processes and patterns of responsiveness to the world of work in higher education institutions
    (University of the Western Cape, 2007) Garraway, James.; Rip, Arie; Thaver, Beverley; Faculty of Education
    The thesis took the general question of responsive curriculum development which meets both the needs of work and those of the academy as its starting point. The rationale for the topic flows out of education policy and societal pressures worldwide which are calling for an ever greater responsiveness from higher education to the workplace in the twenty-first century. Responsiveness to work requires collaborative and integrative work between communities of academic and non-academic practitioners. Differences between knowledge and practices at work and within the academy are broadly acknowledged in the literature, yet the ensuing nature and complexity of interactions between these two communities in curriculum design on the ground is poorly understood. A key point is to recognize that integration as such cannot be the goal; the differences remain, but have to turned into productive collaboration and joint development, for example, of a curriculum.
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    Reflections on the passing of Prof Bongani Mayosi: Universities and the burden of history
    (SUN journals, 2018) Thaver, Beverley; Thaver, L.
    Our heartfelt condolences to the family of Prof Bongani Mayosi. We begin by acknowledging that the condition of depression stalks societies, it silently chips away at the soul and identity of an individual. And, when tragedy strikes in the form of suicide, we desperately formulate questions in the hope that there will be clear answers. We have been witness to this confounding emotional process in our family. Notwithstanding, we continue to keep hope alive that advances in the social and natural sciences will walk us through the dense thicket of the vortex of our emotions. After all, it is the latter that is brought to bear on the everyday practices of our professional lives. Given that the psychological profile of an individual is layered onto the professional-workplace and since, Prof Mayosi�s tragedy is within the context of the university environment, we wish to reflect on the environment in which as academics we find ourselves in the current context.
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    Understanding the social and institutional factors related to the retention and progression of selected female academics in four higher education institutions in Zimbabwe
    (University of the Western Cape, 2011) Tarusikirwa, Moffat; Thaver, Beverley
    This study set out to investigate the social and institutional factors which impact on the retention and progression of female academics in four universities in Zimbabwe. Drawing on a qualitative research methodology the aim of the study was to understand the social and institutional factors related to the retention and progression of female academics in four institutions in Zimbabwe. In seeking to unpack the factors that shape the low representation of female academics in occupational spheres, the study finds unequal gender-based patterns in Zimbabwean society as a key condition that finds its way into the four institutions. In this regard, the patterns and shape of gender relations, based on the principles of kinship, become the platform for unequal relations among male and female academic staff. This manifests itself in different ways, including the (negative) role played by the extended kin family in the progression of married women academics to higher level management posts, resistance to women's authority by both men and women, the culture of male domination within institutions which works to the disadvantage of female academics and stereotypical behaviour by men within the institutions.