Magister Educationis - Institute for Post-School Studies

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    An investigation into barriers to participation in adult learning among refugees: The case of the Somalis in the Northern Suburbs of Cape Town
    (University of the Western Cape, 2020) Kakai, Kasifa; Papier, Joy
    This study seeks to investigate barriers to participation in adult learning among Somali refugees in Cape Town. It draws on scholarship around various conceptual frameworks on migration perspectives, and barriers to participation in adult learning, as lenses to understand and explain the experiences of the Somali refugee community. The Refugee Act of 1998 was promulgated post-democracy in South Africa. One of the objectives of this Act was to redress past inequalities by providing access to education for all the people of South Africa including foreigners who are refugees or immigrants legally settled in the country. Due to various challenges, not all refugees and migrants have access to education that would provide them with the necessary skills to enter the job market. Without access to the formal labour market, they resort to informal activities that enable them to generate cash and sustain livelihoods. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the gender dimension is important since women particularly are subject to prejudices and disadvantages that deny them entry into the labour market, both informal and formal. This study therefore investigated barriers to participation in adult learning among refugees. One of the main purposes of the research was to examine the impediments, which inhibit both men and women refugees from access to a decent education and opportunities for adult learning in South Africa. The methodology adopted was a qualitative research design. Through focused, in-depth interviews with a sample grouping of a Somali refugee community, insights were obtained into the challenges and blockages to learning access that are prevalent. The sample size comprised 50 participants: 25 males and 25 females, which were arrived at using the snowball sampling technique. An in-depth interview protocol guided the discussion, which was intended to elicit personal narratives. The findings of the study revealed that both men and women experience institutional, situational, dispositional and academic barriers, which prevent them from participating in adult learning programmes and other learning opportunities in spite of their willingness to do so. However, women particularly suffer from a lack of access due to cultural and religious norms, which limit their participation as women learners. This additional barrier proved to be a substantive situational barrier that did not affect Somali men. This study makes several recommendations that are based on the research findings. Participants generally desired sufficient access to adult learning programmes, harmonious living and integration within communities, and to employment opportunities, education funding support, and increased public awareness of such learning opportunities through seminars and workshops.
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    Understanding workplaces as learning environments: Staff Development at Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Colleges in the Western Cape (WC)
    (University of the Western Cape, 2020) Levitt, Russel; Omar, Rahmat
    The main objective of this research is to understand workplaces as learning environments. More specifically, the research explored how a TVET college affords opportunities for lecturers for learning through participation in work activities with guidance and support for learning on the job from peers and more experienced colleagues. The research also explored factors which enable or constrain their learning and how they elected to engage with workplace affordances for learning. Drawing on data gathered through analysis of national and institutional policies and semi structured interviews this paper argues that The TVET College does offer opportunities for learning on the job for lecturers. The TVET College affords opportunities for participation in authentic work activities through which lecturers can develop knowledge and understanding of the practices which are relevant and applicable to their particular work context. It is also evident that guidance and support from peers and more senior colleagues are available to lecturers, both less and more experienced. Practices which could become elements of a strategy for co-participation and learning through work do exist at The TVET College. However, there are also limitations and it cannot be argued that intentional strategies for learning exist at The TVET College which can be seen as aspects of workplace pedagogy and workplace curriculum. Finally it is clear that TVET colleges are seen primarily as sites of learning for students; there is little focus on TVET colleges as sites for workplace learning for lecturers. This is an under-researched area in the policy and academic literature on TVET colleges and it is hoped that this study has made a contribution, even if a small one, to filling this gap.
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    Structural Dynamics of Leadership in Current Intra-African Higher Education Collaborative Research Teams: The Case of Selected South African Research-based Universities
    (2023) Jithoo, Divinia; Langa, Patricio
    The study is situated in the field of higher education Internationalisation research. More specifically, the lens is on the structural dynamics of leading IRC within the borders of the African continent. Issues such as research team structure and leadership are explored. To overcome the complexities of executing research while grappling with contextual challenges, the research includes the modified snowball sampling method, Referral Sampling. Making use of an interpretivist paradigm and a mixed methods approach, data was obtained via online semi-structured interviews with South African researchintensive university representatives and collaborative research team PI’s. Data collected was analysed against internationalisation concepts and leadership theory.
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    The Changing Nature of Strategic Research Management at Selected South African Universities: 1997-2007
    (University of the Western Cape, 2024) Kulati, Tembile; Thaver, Beverly
    Universities and other institutions of higher education are key players in the knowledge, information, and data-driven economy, particularly more so in the context of developing countries, where the footprint of industry and the private sector in science and technology investment is still marginal when compared to the highly industrialised economies. In the case of South Africa, the latest available data show universities continuing to be major contributors to the national scientific and research enterprise, where they account for the largest proportion of research and development (R&D) personnel, and the second largest R&D expenditure after the business sector (Department of Science and Innovation, 2022).
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    Social movement learning: COSATU shop stewards constructing knowledge through social activism
    (University of the Western Cape, 2024) Jaftha, Michelle Theresa; Hendricks, Natheem
    This study sought to investigate how shop stewards within Cosatu Western Cape construct knowledge through social activism. The study employed a qualitative research design, using a multiple case study method, where shop stewards and activists were invited to offer their narrative accounts of what type of knowledge is constructed in Cosatu as a social movement. Secondly, the study investigated how shop stewards construct knowledge within this movement and what shop stewards’ lived experiences are while constructing this knowledge. Purposive sampling was used to select participants for this study and thematic analysis was performed to interpret the collected data. Working through a social constructivist paradigm lens, that used Community of Practice as its theoretical framework revealed interesting outcomes within this study. These results highlighted important insights into how shop stewards understand the importance of their role within this social movement and why they prefer to construct knowledge in and through Cosatu. It also highlighted the types of learning that occur and how this learning is absorbed through lived experiences. The most significant outcome of this study was that knowledge construction by shop stewards does indeed take place on various levels and in different settings within Cosatu. Shop stewards within this federation indeed view Cosatu as a social movement due to the varied issues that they address within the labour, political, health and education sectors. It is within this social movement space that shop stewards feel a sense of belonging and nurturing when it comes to learning within this social movement. The results of this study may inform, among other possibilities, the modification of the existing educational programmes provided by Cosatu and the formal recognition of shop stewards' roles and responsibilities within this learning space: To invest in further research, collaborating and exchanging knowledge across social movements while investing in a formalised mentorship programme provided by veteran shop stewards.