Masters Degrees (Curriculum Studies)

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Browsing Masters Degrees (Curriculum Studies) by browse.metadata.advisor "Boshof, H."

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    Perceptions of academic workload with particular reference to research : a cross sectional survey of lecturing staff at the Port Elizabeth Technikon
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2001-03) Ruscheniko, Iona Helen Felicity; Bitzer, E. M.; Boshof, H.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Education. Dept. of Curriculum Studies.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Change characterises life in the early twenty first century and higher education is no exception. Higher education in South Africa is currently in a considerable state of flux which ultimately is actualised at institutional level. It is academic staff who encounter these changes first hand. Technikon lecturers, in particular, are faced with additional challenges not faced by their university counterparts - they have been called upon to change from a primarily vocational to an academic alignment as a result of technikons being given the right to award degrees. This study conducts a cross sectional survey of academic staff at the Port Elizabeth Technikon to identify their academic workload, with particular reference to their research function. It also seeks to establish whether lecturers consider themselves to be adequately prepared for their research function. A review of the literature reveals that lecturers in higher education are involved in a wide variety of activities, the main ones being teaching, research, service, and scholarship. The literature review also shows that in overseas institutions with missions similar to the technikons, lecturers experienced changes to their workload as a result of the restructuring of higher education. The empirical study shows that academic staff at the Port Elizabeth Technikon have much in common with their international peers in terms of the changes and pressures that have been experienced. The work reality for lecturers at the named institution includes all the traditional elements associated with being academic: teaching, research, service and scholarship. Although research is a new function, this has been positively embraced by most staff and that in most cases lecturers consider themselves to be adequately prepared for this function. The empirical study also shows that more than one third of the respondents do not support the institutional vision of becoming "the first choice technological university of South Africa". Further, the study shows that, in common with other studies, staff were of the opinion that the institution undervalues teaching and that research attracts more recognition and rewards. Finally, it shows that significant numbers of staff work in excess of 50 hours per week and carry teaching loads that are greater than the institutional guidelines. Recommendations are made on the basis of these findings and a further avenue of research is suggested.