Research Articles

Permanent URI for this collection

https://hdl.handle.net/10566/24

Browse

Now showing 1 - 20 of 130

21st Century competencies in technical and vocational education and training: rhetoric and reality in the wake of a pandemic
(University of KZN, 2021) Papier, Joy
There is general agreement about the need for vocational education and training to embrace so-called modern technologies in gearing up to deliver to young people a broad range of what have become known as 21st century competencies, of which digital literacy, self-directed learning, and adaptive learning are but three. Recent Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) policies in South Africa incorporate the language of future competencies that ought to be acquired by college students through their curricula and delivered by lecturers with appropriate professional training. But in April 2020, confronted by the global COVID-19 pandemic and an immediate hard lockdown, TVET colleges went into crisis mode to try to meet a government demand that no student be left behind. While blended and remote methodologies had been employed to some extent in a few college programmes, the pandemic suddenly launched all lecturers into technology dependent teaching and learning. This article is based on a survey of conveniently selected public TVET college lecturers early in the lockdown who were under enormous pressure to continue the academic programme remotely. The snapshot I obtained was one of anxiety and consternation, but also of deep concern for students and their wellbeing under inordinately difficult conditions. Their conflicting priorities while they tried to balance remote teaching responsibilities and personal needs were illustrative of Maslow’s well-known theorisation of humans and their hierarchy of needs. The limited research I conducted for this article was exploratory at a time in the pandemic when there were more questions than answers in every sphere of social interaction. My findings, therefore, do not seek to be definitive and there was full understanding that the education and training landscape was dynamic and shifting. However, what can be shared here is a moment in time to appreciate the experiences of a critical component of the TVET college sector under emergency conditions, and the distance they would have had to traverse towards official exhortations to leave no student behind. Keywords:
21st Century competencies in Technical and Vocational Education and Training: Rhetoric and reality in the wake of a pandemic
(SAGE Publications, 2021) Papier, Joy
There is general agreement about the need for vocational education and training to embrace so-called modern technologies in gearing up to deliver to young people a broad range of what have become known as 21st century competencies, of which digital literacy, self-directed learning, and adaptive learning are but three. Recent Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) policies in South Africa incorporate the language of future competencies that ought to be acquired by college students through their curricula and delivered by lecturers with appropriate professional training. But in April 2020, confronted by the global COVID-19 pandemic and an immediate hard lockdown, TVET colleges went into crisis mode to try to meet a government demand that no student be left behind. While blended and remote methodologies had been employed to some extent in a few college programmes, the pandemic suddenly launched all lecturers into technology dependent teaching and learning. This article is based on a survey of conveniently selected public TVET college lecturers early in the lockdown who were under enormous pressure to continue the academic programme remotely. The snapshot I obtained was one of anxiety and consternation, but also of deep concern for students and their wellbeing under inordinately difficult conditions. Their conflicting priorities while they tried to balance remote teaching responsibilities and personal needs were illustrative of Maslow’s well-known theorisation of humans and their hierarchy of needs.
ABET and development in the Northern Cape province: Assessing impacts of CACE courses, 1996-1999
(Centre for Continuing and Adult Education (CACE), University of the Western Cape, 2001) Kerfoot, Caroline; Geidt, Jonathan; Alexander, Lucy; Dayile, Nomvuyo; Groener, Zelda; Hendricks, Natheem; Walters, Shirley
This study presents the results of an investigation into the impact of CACE courses for adult educators, trainers and development practitioners. The report describes how the courses affected the training practices and lives of past students. Case studies document and analyse the problems and successes of implementing capacity-building ABET training in the Northern Cape.
Activity theory as a lens to examine pre-service teachers' perceptions of learning and teaching of mathematics within an intervention programme
(Routledge, 2012) Pather, Subethra
This study was prompted by concerns around mathematics teaching and learning in the South African education system. Contributory factors to this situation are the lack of competent mathematics teachers in the classroom and mathematics at-risk students entering teacher education programmes. This paper reports on how a mathematics intervention programme (MIP) assisted in shaping at-risk student teachers’ perceptions of their learning and teaching of mathematics. Activity Theory (AT) is used as a theoretical lens for examining these students’ perceptions. Qualitative data were collected using in-depth interviews with 12 students and their written and graphical reflections of their experiences in the MIP. The results confirm that the students’ perceptions of their learning and teaching of mathematics had changed. Furthermore the study provides evidence that strategically planned interventions to deal with historically imbalances can and do work. The study concludes that the MIP had a positive effect on the students with regard to improving their attitudes and level of confidence in learning and teaching mathematics.
The affective effect: exploring undergraduate students’ emotions in giving and receiving peer feedback
(Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 2023) Bharuthram, S; van Heerden, M
While the peer feedback process has an important role to play in student learning and has many benefits, it is not without its challenges. One of these is the effect that emotions may have on the way that students engage with the feedback. Yet, the specific emotions experienced during peer feedback is relatively under-explored. Therefore, this exploratory qualitative study unpacks the range of emotions experienced by students during peer feedback. Using Plutchnik’s Wheel of Emotions to analyze students’ questionnaire responses, the study found that students largely exhibited positive emotions, which may be due to their perceptions of themselves in relation to the process, as well as the various scaffolds put in place. Knowing which emotions students experienced during peer feedback may enable a greater understanding of the role of emotions in peer feedback, as well as enabling student feedback literacy development.
The African intellectuals’ project
(UNISA Press, 2020) Sesanti, Simphiwe
Soon after taking the position of editor of IJARS at the beginning of 2019, I was contacted by the dean of Unisa’s College of Graduate Studies (CGS), Prof. Lindiwe Zungu, who informed me that the university’s principal and vice-chancellor, Prof. Mandla Makhanya, had decided to revive his project, the African Intellectuals’ Project (AIP). I was asked to coordinate this project, through which Makhanya sought to invite scholars, academics, and intellectuals, both on and outside of the African continent, to deliver presentations reflecting on the ills afflicting Africa and, at the same time, to offer possible solutions. In pursuing the AIP, Prof. Makhanya was carrying on a perennial tradition.
The Anthropocene crisis and higher education: A fundamental shift
(South African Association for Research and Development in Higher Education (SAARDHE), 2016) Carstens, Delphi
This article seeks to address a fundamental shift that has occurred in reality; a displacement that requires us to critically account for the ways in which knowledge is both being produced and taught at universities. The recent re-naming of the current geological epoch after anthropos has some chilling implications for humans and the ecosystems on which their livelihoods depend. As pedagogues, the crisis of the Anthropocene demands that we make drastic interventions in the way we teach and in what we teach. My aim is to suggest ways in which Deleuzoguattarian schizoanalysis, intersecting as it does with critical posthumanism, the affective turn and the new materialisms, might assist us in this process of crafting socially and environmentally-just pedagogies that are relevant to the contemporary situation. In so doing, I will address some of the uncanny ethical, ontological, epistemological and affective configurations of these theoretical perspectives to show how these ideas may impact the curriculum of socially/environmentally just pedagogies and the practice of such pedagogies in higher education.
Are school-based mentors adequately equipped to fulfil their roles? A case study in learning to teach accountancy
(Taylor and Francis Group, 2019) dos Reis, Karen; Braund, Martin
This article reports on a study that explored how school-based teachers fulfilled their roles as mentors in response to challenges faced by pre-service teachers while learning to teach accounting. Pre-service teachers in their final year at a University of Technology in South Africa and practising teachers from six high schools participated in the study. Pre-service teachers e-mailed reflection journals on a weekly basis over a period of four months to the first author who is a teacher educator. Unstructured interviews were carried out with each pre-service teacher and their respective mentors. The results indicated that not all mentors assisted the pre-service teachers according to the expectations of their roles. Despite mentoring having the potential to enhance the preparation of pre-service teachers, in the cases studied it did not always yield positive results. It became clear that the cumulative nature of the accounting discipline requires a different type of mentoring from other disciplines. In fact, numerous factors revealed in the study influenced the failure and success of mentoring pre-service teachers. Many of these factors are ones over which the university has no control.
At-risk student teachers’ attitudes and aspirations as learners and teachers of mathematics
(AOSIS, 2015) Moodley, Trevor; Adendorff, Stanley A.; Pather, Subethra
This study explored foundation phase first year student teachers’ perceptions about mathematics. The focus on their attitudes towards mathematics in two roles – (1) as learners of mathematics, based on their prior experiences at school and (2) as aspirant teachers of mathematics for children in the early grades. Data sources were students’ drawings/collages as well as written interpretations and elaborations of the drawings/collages. The findings indicated that participants had generally negative attitudes towards the learning of mathematics. Factors such as the transition from primary to high school, teacher qualities and mathematics-related anxiety contributed to the shaping of their attitudes. It was encouraging to note that over half the participants expressed positive attitudes in their roles as future teachers, with all expressing the desire to provide better mathematics experiences to their future learners.
Authentic learning for teaching reading: Foundation phase pre-service student teachers’ learning experiences of creating and using digital stories in real classrooms
(AOSIS, 2016) Moodley, Trevor; Aronstam, Shelley
Teaching and learning, an evolving endeavour, is associated with many factors, with advancements in technology, playing an ever-growing role in the classroom. It is therefore important to include the use of interactive communication technologies (ICTs) in university curricula of teacher education programmes. Universities ought to be creative in advancing autonomous learning among their students by providing opportunities for integrated and rich learning experiences. Accordingly, the purpose of this study was to intentionally integrate ICTs in the planning and delivery of foundation phase reading lessons. This was achieved by providing authentic learning opportunities to final year foundation phase student teachers through the provision of training in the creation of digital stories (DS), collaborating within communities of practice (COP) (peers and other relevant parties), and then using their creations in ‘real-world’ classroom contexts. The aims of this study were to explore student teachers’ perceptions and experiences of developing DS in groups with minimal formal initial input and their use of DS during foundation phase (FP) reading lessons in real-class settings during teaching practice. Data were collected via focus group interviews and participants’ reflection essays. The study’s findings indicate that the creation of their own DS provided rich, rewarding multidimensional learning experiences to student teachers. Participants reported that they found the ‘assignment’ to be of real value, since it was directly linked to classroom practice, and despite the cognitive demands of the assignment; the nature of the task nurtured, an agentic disposition towards their own learning. Participants further reported that the DS provided enthusiasm among young learners during the delivery of lessons and were of pedagogical value, despite experiencing some challenges in using DS during reading lessons. Participants were of the view that the use of DS in advancing reading and literacy holds much pedagogical promise, because it resonates with the this generation of digital natives, the present generation of learners who have been born into a world where they interact with digital technology from an early age.
The baseline assessment of Grade 1 learners’ literacy skills in a socio-economically disadvantaged school setting
(AOSIS Publishing, 2016) Wildschut, Zelda; Moodley, Trevor; Aronstam, Shelley
Research has revealed that the academic performances of learners in South Africa are below the required level. The Western Cape Education Department (WCED) launched the literacy and numeracy strategy 2006–2016 in response to the low literacy and numeracy levels. In addition, the WCED introduced the Grade 1 baseline assessment in 2006, as part of the literacy and numeracy strategy. The purpose of this study was to observe the implementation of the Grade 1 literacy baseline assessment programme of the WCED. This study aimed to determine what literacy barriers, if any, the learners were experiencing and to recommend literacy support strategies, in order to inform teaching practices. Purposive sampling was used for the selection of a Grade 1 class, with English as the language of learning and teaching Thirty-seven Grade 1 learners participated in the study. A mixed-methods research design was used to collect both quantitative and qualitative data. The data collection strategies employed included documentary analysis, by examining participants’ school admission forms to provide biographical information as well as their written baseline assessment scripts. The baseline assessment process was also observed as it was being conducted. The findings suggest that some of the learners experienced literacy barriers in terms of receptive and expressive language, perceptual skills and fine motor development. The data were summarised, and the information was used to describe the literacy barriers in terms of the biographical variables and to recommend learning support strategies for literacy development.
Being and becoming a university teacher
(Taylor & Francis group, 2017) McMillan, Wendy; Gordon, Natalie
This study examined how one academic framed the enablements and constraints to her project of being and becoming an academic. Complexity facilitated reflection in that it provided a visual representation of data, which was used to generate a concept map, which represented as equal all the component parts of her landscape. Five spaces with emancipatory potential to assist the academic in her professional development emerged, namely: communities of practice, academic freedom, position statements, development opportunities and a supportive environment. Rather than suggesting any generalisability in the findings, the authors argue that the significance of this study is theoretical and methodological.
The body as blind spot: Towards lived experience and a body-specific philosophy in education
(UNISA Press, 2018) Koopman, Oscar; Koopman, Karen Joy
What do the philosophies of phenomenological scholars such as Husserl, Heidegger and Merleau-Ponty tell us about education in South Africa? How can we use the philosophies of these scholars to develop the minds of our learners and students holistically? Drawing from Husserl’s “lifeworld theory,” Heidegger’s notion of Dasein and Merleau-Ponty’s “lived body theory,” this paper argues for a shift towards a philosophy of “lived experience” in the classroom that views the “body,” which is often dismissed in an educational setting, as an authentic, intelligible and privileged metaphysical object for learning. We argue that teaching should not promote a domain-specific epistemological ethos to open up new pathways to knowing and understanding the natural world, but instead should adopt a body-specific ethos that leads to a process of understanding our “true self,” “true nature” or “true humanity.” This means that education structured around preparing the masses for the corporate world should therefore not be our aim, but rather nurturing “body knowledge” that is already there.
Brexit: some implications for African higher Education
(Taylor & Francis, 2018) Langa, Patricio V.; Swanzy, Patrick; Law, David
This article considers how the decisions of the UK government, following the Brexit referendum, may impact on higher education in Africa. Ghana and South Africa are the two countries chosen to exemplify the claim that academic staff in African higher education will lose opportunities to acquire experience in British universities. Academic mobility between Africa and the UK is expected to fall significantly following Brexit.
A capability analysis on the implementation of the school progression policy and its impact on learner performance
(Wayne Hugo, 2016) Munje, Paul; Maarman, Rouaan
This paper focuses on the extent and consequences of learner progression in the form of ‘automatic promotion’ or grade promotion for reasons other than academic achievement, as propagated by the existing School Progression Policy (SPP) and how its implementation affects learner performance. The paper argues that, although the advantages and disadvantages of grade retention and automatic promotion, or the promotion of learners that do not possess the required content knowledge, are highly contentious, the SPP produces numerous complexities and unfreedoms on learners when examined through the lens of the Capabilities Approach (CA). Based on a study of three Quintile-1 (Q-1) primary schools in Cape Town, the paper argues that, although the SPP is ambitious and well intentioned, critical implementation and monitoring challenges negatively reconfigures the educational aspirations of primary school learners. The paper also reveals that the implementation of the SPP imposes many unfreedoms for both learners and teachers in high poverty level areas. The study revealed that the CA, despite its limitations in terms of conceptualisation, does provide a unique framework to investigate real freedoms and unfreedoms of the SPP.
Case study of isiXhosa-speaking foundation phase learners who experience barriers to learning in an English-medium disadvantaged Western Cape school
(Education Association of South Africa (EASA), 2020) Salie, Maimona; Moletsane, Mokgadi Elizabeth; Mukuna Kananga, Robert
In the study reported on here, we focused on the use of English as language of learning and teaching (LoLT) for isiXhosaspeaking Foundation Phase learners in a historically disadvantaged school in the Western Cape, South Africa. It was a qualitative case study within an interpretive research paradigm. We used focus groups and interviews for data collection and conducted thematic analysis for the qualitative findings. The participants were 12 Foundation Phase learners (6 females and 6 males aged 7–9 years), 8 female Foundation Phase teachers (aged 29–56 years) and 12 parents/caregivers (aged 29–57 years). The results from this study show that isiXhosa-speaking Foundation Phase learners growing up in historically disadvantaged areas and attending disadvantaged schools experience several barriers to learning. The barriers to learning investigated included exposure to isiXhosa as primary language, psychological-social barriers, English as language barrier to teaching and learning and a lack of parental involvement and support.
Changing conceptions of literacies, language and development: Implications for the provision of adult basic education in South Africa
(Centre for Bilingual Research, Stockholm University, 2009) Kerfoot, Caroline
This study aims to contribute to the growing body of knowledge on the circumstances under which adult education, in particular adult basic education, can support and occasionally initiate participatory development, social action and the realisation of citizenship rights. It traces developments in adult basic education in South Africa, and more specifically literacy and language learning, over the years 1981 to 2001, with reference to specific multilingual contexts in the Northern and Western Cape. The thesis is based on four individual studies, documenting an arc from grassroots work to national policy development and back. Study I, written in the early 1990s, critically examines approaches to teaching English to adults in South Africa at the time and proposes a participatory curriculum model for the additional language component of a future adult education policy. Study II is an account of attempts to implement this model and explores the implications of going to scale with such an approach. Studies III and IV draw on a qualitative study of an educator development programme after the transition to democracy. Study III uses Bourdieu's theory of practice and the concept of reflexivity to illuminate some of the connections between local discursive practices, self-formation, and broader relations of power. Study IV uses Iedema's (1999) concept of resemiotisation to trace the ways in which individuals re-shaped available representational resources to mobilise collective agency in community-based workshops. The summary provides a framework for these studies by locating and critiquing each within shifts in the political economy of South Africa. It reflects on a history of research and practice, raising questions to do with voice, justice, power, agency, and desire. Overall, this thesis argues for a reconceptualisation of ABET that is more strongly aligned with development goals and promotes engagement with new forms of state/society/economy relations.
Choreographic cartographies with-in learning: towards response-ability in higher education pedagogy
(Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in the South, 2023) Jonker, Francois
In this article, I seek to engage the liberatory impetus of critical pedagogies through an attentiveness to body-space-time so as to enrich the former with the notion of response-ability. Several learning activities are engaged within the context of a foundation year classroom of an Art School, to open up conceptions of the experiential nature of learning events and the ethico-onto-epistemological questions that emerge when foregrounding response-ability as a condition for learning-becoming. I have particular interest in notions of subjectivity, agency and affect, questioning how a new materialist reading of these concepts might serve to challenge representationalist conceptions of higher learning. I commence with a proposition: engage learning as an experience — through the processual potentialities of its in-act and prompt myself by drawing attention to the performativity of body-space-time cartographies and choreographies.
A cluster analysis of peer support training needs for foster parents
(Springer, 2021) Brown, Jason; Kapasi, Aamena; Eyre, Vanessa
Peer volunteers provide valuable support to foster parents. However, there has been limited research on what they consider to be valuable preparation for the role. In the present study, they were asked: “What is essential training for peer support volunteers to receive before starting?”. Fifteen participants grouped 41 different responses that were analyzed using multidimensional scaling and cluster analyses. The resulting concepts included: (a) self-care, (b) effective use of self, (c) policies and procedures, (d) finding information and (e) how to address common challenges.
COMPARE Forum: The idea of North-South and South-South collaboration
(Taylor & Francis, 2013) Holmarsdottir, Halla B.; Desai, Zubeida; Botha, Louis Royce; Breidlid, Anders; Bastien, Sheri; Mukoma, Wanjiru; Ezekiel, Mangi J.; Helleve, Arnfinn; Farag, Alawia I.; Nomlomo, Vuyokazi
The idea of having a Compare Forum focusing on the above title was first discussed with one of the Editors of Compare during a PhD defence in Oslo in 2011. The PhD dissertation itself was linked to a larger project in which researchers from the North (Norway) and the South (South Africa) had been collaborating in educational research for over 10 years. Despite the fact that North-South collaboration is not a new issue on the agenda (King 1985) it is still a timely topic to explore, particularly given the recent growth and moves towards North-South-South collaboration or even South-South Cooperation in Education and Development (Chisholm and Steiner-Khamsi 2009). Thus, any discussion of research collaboration, whether North-South or South-South, is seen as an ideal topic for comparative education, particularly when exploring why there should be collaboration at all and if so what are some of the challenges. While it may be argued that the difference between North-South and South-South collaboration may simply be a question of geography, King (1985) reminds us that collaboration is not necessarily between equals and that collaboration at times ‘appears to be a process initiated in the North, and in which the South participates, as a counterpart’ (184). Ultimately, the differences go beyond simple geographic location to issues of funding and power, something that each of the contributions will touch upon in their own way. While cooperation may mean working with someone, it does suggest that one partner provides information or resources to the other, while collaboration suggests a more equal partnership in which researchers work alongside each other. For the majority of our contributors, we use collaboration as opposed to cooperation, although the literature is not always so clear on this distinction.

Browse

Browsing by Title

Results Per Page

Sort Options