Magister Educationis - MEd (AL (Adult Learning and Global Change)

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Access, barriers to participation and success among mature students at a University in the Western Cape
(University of Western Cape, 2021) Williams, Gillian; Groener, Zelda
This research study is informed by the White Paper for Post-School Education and Training (2013) in which the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) sets out its focus and priorities concerning higher education and training. The main purpose of this study is to find out how mature students participate despite the barriers that they experience while participating in post-school education and to offer an opportunity to achieve greater clarity about the way that the students who exercised agency overcame the barriers that they faced and in turn, achieved success.
Access, participation and barriers to adult learning at a TVET College in the Western Cape
(University of Western Cape, 2021) Hector, Natascha; Groener, Zelda
This paper focuses on an investigation into adult students, experiences related to access, barriers to participation and success at a TVET college in the Western Cape. Through recognition of prior learning (RPL) many adult students have gained access to TVET colleges to obtain a qualification as educare practitioners. Many educare practitioners have worked in the ECD field for many years without a qualification. RPL provides an opportunity for these practitioners to upskill themselves and more importantly uplift themselves, giving them hope for a better future. The RPL offers adult students hope of advancement amidst challenging circumstances experienced in the past, thereby changing the tide in the latter years of their lives.
Group work in management education - The role of task design
(University of the Western Cape, 2007) Du Toit, Anna; Hendricks, Mohamed Natheem
This minithesis examines adult learners' experiences of group work in management education. Group work is an integral part of learning and teaching methods at most business schools because it develops team skills demanded by today's workplace. Furthermore, group work in education is grounded in the belief that much learning happens through social interaction and that diversity within groups promotes learning. At a more practical level, group work makes large projects feasible. Learners view group work as beneficial. But their experiences also reflect that it is often associated with problems. The main problems reported relate to unequal participation and group conflict. Underpinning the study is the recognition of the key role of social interaction in learning. This study analyses learners' group experiences in a business school. The study aims to identify conditions that hinder and promote group interaction with a view to enhance learning. Through questionnaires and interviews the study obtains an overview of the experiences of 45 adult learners on a one-year management programme at a business school in South Africa in relation to two group assignments. Questionnaires are also used to obtain the views of the two educators who designed the two group assignments. The study includes an analysis of the two group assignment briefs. The study found that non-participation or 'free-riding' and the sub-division of group tasks occurred frequently. The design of the group tasks promoted sub-division and non-participation, which in turn gave rise to tension and conflict. Learning objectives were unclear as the purpose of group work in the learning process was not communicated to students. The tasks did not demand much group interaction or learner interdependency which meant that tasks could be split up and done individually or by part of the group. This reduces the opportunity for group collaboration to clarify understandings and create shared meaning, which in turn negatively impacts on individual learning. The study argues that successful group work requires careful task design. To realise its full potential certain conditions must be met. Learners need to know that the group process is an integral part of their learning, group work must be integrated into overall course design and assessment, tasks must demand a high degree of interaction, learners need to be interdependent, and groups need support throughout the process.
Participation and barriers to participation in adult learning at a community college in the Western Cape: A chain-of-response model
(University of the Western Cape, 2018) Hearne, Vivian; Groener, Zelda
This study investigates “why adults participate in learning activities” and “what barriers deter adults from participating in learning activities.” Learning activities can include informal learning initiatives and formal education programmes. According to Larson and Milana (2006) “the question of why some people participates in adult education and training while others don’t thus” (p. 2) is as relevant and urgent as ever as we want to make lifelong learning accessible for everybody. While working at a Community College in the Western Cape (South Africa), for the period October 2007 until June 2010, I have observed and noticed that many of the learners who entered the different programmes were all of a certain age. Many of them experienced an excess of barriers deterring them from participation in learning. For the purpose of this study, I am going to use the Chain-of-Response (COR) Model by Cross (1981a) to investigate specifically the situational barriers affecting those learners. Cross (1981a) developed the COR model. The rationale behind it was to better understand what urges people to participate in higher education or learning institutions. This model can be seen as cyclic, and involves seven steps developed by Cross (1981a) which have different impacts on the decision-making process of whether to enter or participate and persist in an adult learning course. Cross (1981a) argues that “an adult’s participation in a learning activity is not an isolated act but is the result of a complex chain of responses based on the evaluation of the position of the individual in their environment” (p. 36). Responses leading to participation tend to originate within the individual, as opposed to outside forces; it can either encourage or discourage participation in learning.
Psychosocial interaction model and barriers to participation in adult learning: a case of community caregiver training in Gauteng
(University of the Western Cape, 2014) Ngidi, Nkosazana Fidelia Nelisa Nomalizo; Groener, Zelda
This study was prompted by my observations and feedback from trainers and learners on an array of barriers to participation in learning which are experienced by learners participating in accredited adult learning programmes offered by a NGO in Cape Town. The aim of this research was to investigate these barriers using a Psychosocial Interaction Model by Merriam and Darkenwald (1982) and the Transition Theory by Schlossberg (1981). Participants in a Health and Welfare Seta (HWSETA) accredited training programme, which is a qualification in Ancillary Health Care level 1, who are community caregivers, were used as research participants. This research provided empirical evidence on barriers to participation in adult learning experienced by these learners and recommendations have been made based on the findings. A new theoretical insight that was generated as a result of this study is that of the interplay between internal and external barriers to participation in adult learning and other variables within the continuum of the Psychosocial Interaction Model as well as certain variables within the Transition Theory. This came as a result of broadening the investigation into barriers to participation in learning, using all variables across the whole spectrum of the Psychosocial Interaction Model, instead of only using the barriers factor.
Recognition of prior learning, benefits and social justice in the policing sector
(University of the Western Cape, 2015) Lackay, Bradley; Groener, Zelda
Conceptualised within Habermasian critical theory, the conceptual framework includes concepts such as domination, emancipation and emancipatory education, and frames RPL as emancipation. Recognition of prior learning is promoted by the South African government as an instrument for access and redress. This research paper focuses on an investigation into the benefits of the implementation of RPL policies and practices in the policing sector. Findings reveal that the participants in the study who are employed in the policing sector enjoyed a wide range of emancipatory benefits, including access to formal academic programmes. Furthermore, these programmes enabled historically disadvantaged staff to gain formal qualifications which in turn provided access to higher salaries and promotions. Explaining the latter as redress, I argue that RPL is a form of emancipation that has liberated disadvantaged staff from apartheid discrimination and domination.
Social movement learning: Collective,participatory learning within the jyoti jivanam movement of south Africa
(University of the Western Cape, 2014) Rhamachan, Molly; Hendricks, Mohammed Natheem
The purpose of this research paper is to explore and examine the nature of learning within the context of and situated within a social movement. Based on an exploratory qualitative study of learning within the Jyoti Jivanam Movement of South Africa, this research explores the nature and purpose/s of learning within a social movement. Accordingly, this study is guided by the research questions: How and why do adults learn as they collectively participate in social movements; and what factors facilitate, contribute, hinder and influence learning within social movement? This study confirms that social movements are important sites for. Collective learning and knowledge construction. For this reason, social movements need to be acknowledged as pedagogical sites that afford adults worthwhile learning opportunities. Furthermore, social movements, as pedagogical sites, not only contribute to conceptions of what constitute legitimate knowledge(s), social movements also contribute to the creation of transformative knowledge(s).
Social movement learning: collective, participatory learning within the jyoti jivanam movement of South Africa
(University of the Western Cape, 2014) Ramlachan, Molly; Hendricks, Mohammed Natheem
The purpose of this research paper is to explore and examine the nature of learning within the context of and situated within a social movement. Based on an exploratory qualitative study of learning within the Jyoti Jivanam Movement of South Africa, this research explores the nature and purpose/s of learning within a social movement. Accordingly, this study is guided by the research questions: How and why do adults learn as they collectively participate in social movements; and what factors facilitate, contribute, hinder and influence learning within social movement? This study confirms that social movements are important sites for collective learning and knowledge construction. For this reason, social movements need to be acknowledged as pedagogical sites that afford adults worthwhile learning opportunities. Furthermore, social movements, as pedagogical sites, not only contribute to conceptions of what constitute legitimate knowledge(s), social movements also contribute to the creation of transformative knowledge(s).
A transformative approach to teaching adults in a culturally diverse context
(University of Western Cape, 2013) Wales, Raymond; Groener, Zelda
The post-modem society is described as a society on the move, a phenomenon the anthropologist, (Vigouroux, 2005) describes as 'flows'. These flows are mostly manifested by people moving in and towards countries with better economic prospects. In most African countries there is a large-scale migration from rural to urban areas and a lot of trans-national migration across countries, due to recent socio-economic and socio-political trends. Democracy in South Africa became a powerful drawing card on the African continent for those nations plagued by poverty, unemployment and civil wars and migration to South Africa became increasingly popular. Therefore, democracy in South Africa is also a spatial process, which transcends local and national geographical spaces.

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