Research Reports (DLL)

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https://hdl.handle.net/10566/1292

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Now showing 1 - 11 of 11

Navigating our way: a compass for popular educators
(Taylor and Francis, 2016) Von Kotze, Astrid; Walters, Shirley; Luckett, Thembi
This article addresses the tensions and contradictions of applying a popular education approach in the current context of South Africa. It draws upon data from an 18-month research project exploring the traditions of popular education. It presents an extended discussion on the meanings of popular education, and their varied implications for practice. It presents a heuristic device in the form of a ‘compass’, to assist popular educators locate themselves in their work at different historical moments.
The time is burning: The right of adults to basic education in South Africa
(Journal of Education, 2006) Rule, Peter
The government has neglected the constitutional right of adults to basic education over the last decade. This paper examines the bases for holding the government to account in the constitutional court for its performance. It examines the effectiveness of government responses to adult illiteracy since 1994, drawing on a range of policy documents, statistics, scholarly reviews and other data. It outlines two lines of argument which might be pursued against the government: its underspending on adult basic education, and its failure to cater for adults for whom the formal ABET system is not accessible. On a constructive note, it calls for a comprehensive approach to the challenges of adult basic education, outlining key principles that might inform such an approach as well as alternative models of provision.
Struggle and compromise: A history of South African adult education from 1960 to 2001
(Journal of Education, 2003) Aitchinson, John
This article provides an overview of the history of adult education in South Africa from 1960 (when the apartheid regime crushed the main black political movements) to the end of 2001 when, after a period of painful struggle (which reached its climax in the late eighties and early nineties), South Africa was well into the second term of a democratic government. It is a history of an amazingly complex relationship between adult education and political trends (many of them foreign influenced) and with the changes in the associated social, economic, religious and cultural features of South African society. The article describes the sixties when what remained of a night school movement was closed down and rendered illegal and an “alternative” education NGO movement began (originally in support of black student activists expelled from universities); the seventies when, in spite of severe repression, there was a revival of radical literacy work and innovations in alternative educational media under the influence of a heady melange of Paris 1968, Freire’s pedagogy of the oppressed, ‘black consciousness’ and liberation theology; and the eighties with its bitter and dramatic resurgence of internal resistance associated with trades unions, NGOs, and ‘people’s education’ . The nineties saw the victory of democracy and the (so-far) lacklustre attempt to institutionalise a state system of adult basic education and training as South Africa made ethical, political and economic compromises with the new world order. The author, himself an adult education activist since 1962, provides a number of reflections on this history and the ideologies that were embedded in the discourses, actions and compromises that adult education actors, their supporters and enemies, engaged in during this period and describes some of the rethinking that a small but growing group of adult educators are beginning to articulate about a renewal of a more radical adult education tradition.
Worker education in South Africa: Lessons and contradictions
(All Rights Reserved © Faculty of Education, McGill University, 2013, 2013) Vally, Salim; Bofelo, Mphutlane; Treat, John
Worker education played a crucial role in the development of the trade union movement in South Africa and in the broader struggle for social transformation. This article reviews key moments and dynamics in the trajectory of worker education in South Africa. We argue that international developments, the rise of neoliberalism, and the negotiated compromise between the African National Congress (ANC) and the apartheid state, as well as corporatism resulted in changes to worker education. While the latter as it existed in the past has weakened, the centre of gravity has shifted to community organizations where various forms of learning and creativity continue. Despite the challenges and setbacks of recent years, there remains a significant legacy and influence of the traditions of worker education and militant trade unionism in South Africa, which can and should be drawn upon.
New challenges and opportunities for lifelong learning in South Africa
(Taylor and Francis Ltd, United Kingdom, 1999-06-28) Walters, Shirley
The imperatives for lifelong learning in South Africa are driven by its reinsertion into the global economy and by the social and political necessities of equity and redress after the years of colonialism, segregation and apartheid. It is therefore not surprising to find the discourse of lifelong learning infused into new policy documents. Utilizing Belanger's framework, which argues that lifelong learning is not a norm to prescribe but an empirical reality to analyze and reconstruct, the contexts for lifelong learning in South Africa are surveyed by focusing in on the state of initial education, adult education, and the learning environments. The framework, which acknowledges the daily lived realities of women and men, is a helpful way of retaining an holistic and integrated vision of lifelong learning and its humanistic, democratic goals. For lifelong learning in South Africa to deepen for more than a small group of well-educated, mainly urban, formally employed people, the author concludes that initial education, adult education and the learning environments of all the people will have to be improved. If this does not happen, then at least two polarized 'lifelong educations' will result.
Discussion document: understanding the dynamics of part-time studies at UWC
(University of the Western Cape, 2003) Watters, Kathy; Koetsier, Jos; Walters, Shirley
This study into understanding the dynamics of part-time studies at UWC is part of on-going institutional research that is required to improve the conditions of and services to part-time students at UWC. Approximately 23% of UWC’s students are part-time in any one year. One of DLL’s mandates is to grow and develop the part-time programme. Through the DLL Board there has been an enquiry into financing part-time students through the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS). This has lead the Board to pose questions about the dynamics of the part-time programme and what it means to be part-time at UWC2. This paper is a preliminary report in progress and covers three of the following research aims. A subsequent paper will cover recommendations for improving the quality of part-time programme. The research aims of this documents are: (1) To help the institution think about the future of the part-time programme amidst the many shifts in national policy that affect the part-time programme, (2) to create clarity about the part-time terminology, (3) to get a better understanding of the actual dynamics of the part-time programme at UWC and the student profiles in terms of study patterns, class attendance (during the day or during after hours), payments records and need for financial aid, (4) To generate practical recommendations for quality enhancement of the part-time programme in terms of protocols for quality improvement and contractual obligations, staff development processes and student support.
University of the Western Cape Lifelong Learning by 2001 'Giving content to commitment'
(University of the Western Cape, 1997) Walters, Shirley
The report draws on findings from an investigation into the feasibility of a university-wide Programme of Lifelong Learning at UWC. The survey was completed by three Task Groups of the Rector to investigate Distance Education, Resource-based Learning and Continuing Professional Education. The investigation consisted of surveys and interview of RBL and DE practices on the one hand and of CPE on the other. There was a 38% return rate of questionnaires of RBL and DE and 42 submissions received on CPE.
An overview of distance education and resource-based learning initiatives at the University of the Western Cape: research report
(South African Institute for Distance Education (SAIDE), 1997) Du Plessis, Irma
UWC has since 1998 a new Mission Statement which commits the university to Lifelong Learning. Since 1996 there has been a process to give content to this commitment and was driven by 3 tasks group within UMILL, the University Mission Initiatives Lifelong Learning. The process included surveys of distance education and resource-based learning at UWC, continuing professional education and an overall report with recommendations on Lifelong Learning by 2001. This research report produced with the support of the South African Institute for Distance Education (SAIDE) sketches initiatives per department in distance education and resource based learning at UWC. The findings are contextualized within regional and national initiatives. The report evaluates the merits of resource based learning and distance learning as a teaching strategy at UWC.
Survey Knowledge Commons: Main Library University of the Western Cape
(University of the Western Cape, 2010) Koetsier, Jos
Knowledge Commons is the most frequently visited level of the Main Library. A project initiated by the SRC to extend opening hours has taken off well. The survey was initiated by the Student Representative Council of the University of the Western Cape. All students in the survey have responded very positively to the project and have expressed the wish that it should continue. Suggestions have been given by respondents to improve systems and to provide training of assistants on duty and for students in need of research skills.
Continuing professional education at the University of the Western Cape - survey results
(University of the Western Cape, 1997) Koetsier, Jos; Walters, Shirley
UWC has since 1998 a new Mission Statement which commits the university to Lifelong Learning. Since 1996 there has been a process to give content to this commitment. The process included surveys of distance education and resource-based learning at UWC, continuing professional education and an overall report with recommendations on Lifelong Learning by 2001. This report is a further component of the investigation into lifelong learning which highlights specifically the situation of Continuing Professional Education in all faculties, School and Centres and how to quality assure the programmes. The report formulates recommendations to increase enrolments and how to acquire full accreditation through the South African Qualification Authority (SAQA). It recommends the development of an institutional CPE policy and course database in line with this goal.
Lifelong Learning at UWC: a study of the part-time accredited programmes
(University of the Western Cape, 1998) Koetsier, Jos
UWC has since 1998 a new Mission Statement which commits the university to Lifelong Learning. Since 1996 there has been a process to give content to this commitment. The process included surveys of distance education and resource-based learning at UWC, continuing professional education and an overall report with recommendations on Lifelong Learning by 2001. This report is a further component of the investigation into lifelong learning which highlights specifically the conditions for part-time students of accredited programmes at UWC. The report provides quantitative and qualitative profiles of the part-time learners and formulates recommendations to increase enrolment through target marketing and to improve support services and teaching and learning over the period 1998-2001 and beyond.

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