SUNScholar - Browsing by Author "Waghid, Y."

Browsing by Author "Waghid, Y."

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Can MOOCs contribute towards enhancing disruptive pedagogic encounters in higher education
(HESA, 2017) Waghid, Y.; Waghid, F.
In this article, we argue that MOOCs (massive open online courses) have the potential to enhance disruptive pedagogic encounters in higher education, especially in relation to a philosophy of African education. In the first part of the article, we expound on MOOCs as an initiative in higher education that grew out of a concern to advance access to higher education. Paradoxically, we show that MOOCs might not strictly advance equal access and inclusion but have the potential to cultivate student capacities of a critically transformative kind, more specifically, rhizomatic thinking, criticism and recognition of others. In the second part of the article, we show, in reference to an emerging MOOC, how an African philosophy of education should be considered as apposite to advance disruptive pedagogic encounters in higher education.
Can postpositivist research in environmental education engender ethical notions within higher education?
(Higher Education South Africa, 2001) Waghid, Y.; Le Grange, L. L. L.
In this article we contend that postpositivist research in environmental education can contribute towards promoting ethical activity within higher education. We argue that postpositivist inquiry breaks with utilitarian and uncritical assumptions about research in environmental education and also creates unconfined spaces for ethical notions such as truth-telling and sincerity, freedom of thought, clarity of meaning, non-arbitrariness, a sense of relevance and respect for people and evidence. Drawing on recent case study research in environmental education involving higher education institutions, we show that ethical notions of postpositivist research can engender self-determination, trust and respectful collaboration among diverse people.
Chartered accountancy and resistance in South Africa
(HESA, 2021) Terblanche, J.; Waghid, Y.
In recent times, the chartered accountant profession was regularly in the news for reasons pertaining to the unethical and unprofessional behaviour of members. The profession has an important role to play in the South African economy, as members will often fulfil important decision-making roles in business. In a response to the dilemmas the profession is facing, we analysed the implications for the profession and society due to a resistance to include research as a pedagogical activity in the chartered accountancy educational landscape. Through deliberative research activities, students have the opportunity to engage with community members and with societal challenges that could foster reflexivity and humaneness in students. In addition, critical and problem-solving skills are cultivated. These are skills that are difficult to assess in the form of an examination, and the absence of research as pedagogical activity in this particular educational landscape, impacts the cultivation of these skills in future chartered accountants. This is so, as the chartered accountancy educational landscape is significantly influenced by the power that resonates within the profession and culminates into the disciplinary power mechanism of the examination. The South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) set an external examination, called the Initial test of Competence (ITC), which graduates need to write upon leaving institutes of higher learning. Success in this SAICA-examination therefore impacts on the teaching and learning pedagogy adopted by chartered accountants in academe. If chartered accounting students were instead primarily being exposed to technical content assessed via an examination, also being exposed and introduced to deliberative research, the possibility exists that students, through critical reflexivity, could move beyond the constraints of the self to that of the communal other in line with the African notion of ubuntu can be enhanced.
A conceptual analysis of teacher education in South Africa in relation to the norms and standards for educators
(Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch, 2004-12) Waghid, Y.; Adams, Noel David; University of Stellenbosch. Faculty of Education. Dept. of
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Educators at schools are expected to implement education policy changes promulgated through policy frameworks by the Department of Education in South Africa. However, whether these teachers are equipped to implement education policy or whether they have interacted sufficiently with policy issues remains a contentious issue. My contention is that pre-service and in-service teachers are expected to perform certain roles and demonstrate certain competences, as required or implied by changing education policy frameworks, like the Norms and Standards for Educators (Department of Education, 2000), but might not necessarily be equipped to do so. This dissertation utilised conceptual analysis and a literature review, as research methods, to explore constitutive meanings of the concept 'education policy' in relation to teacher education transformation in post-apartheid South Africa, with reference to the Norms and Standards for Educators (Department of Education, 2000). Constitutive meanings (Fay, 1975) of post-apartheid teacher education refer to all those shared assumptions, definitions, and conceptions, which structure teacher education transformation and post-apartheid teacher education in certain definite ways. Without these constitutive meanings, according to Fay (1975: 76), social practices, like teacher education, could not exist. By revealing these constitutive meanings, in terms of the interpretive paradigm (Fay, 1975: 78), I have given a possible explanation of post-apartheid teacher education, by articulating the conceptual scheme that frames post-apartheid teacher education. These constitutive meanings, which were extracted from a literature review, were explored in relation to the main question of this dissertation: Can the new teacher education policy framework, as set out in the Norms and Standards for Educators of 2000, improve teaching and learning in South African schools? I argue that the latter process will not materialise because of question marks over the transformative potential of the Norms and Standards for Educators (Department of Education, 2000). The mentioned policy framework may be an inappropriate framework to structure and guide the transformation of existing teacher education practices because of certain conceptual gaps. These conceptual gaps are stumbling blocks to transform existing teacher education practice and improve teaching and learning in our schools in the post-apartheid era. I argue that these gaps could be bridged if the Norms and Standards for Educators are reconceptualised along the lines of Benhabib's (1994) deliberative democratic model. Deliberation is necessary because policy alone cannot lead to the transformation of post-apartheid teacher education. Deliberation is also necessary because of the limitations on the state's power to enforce its will through promulgated policy. More engagement, via deliberation, is needed between the government, educational leaders, policy-makers and the other policy actors, like teachers, bureaucrats and teacher education institutions. The arguments of Burbules (1997) and Biesta (2004) seem to substantiate my claim that education policy, alone, cannot lead to the improvement of teaching and learning in our schools. Burbules (1997) posits that teaching is a complex human endeavour that is characterised by predicaments or dilemmas, which cannot be permanently solved. I argue against the integration of the seven roles, as advocated by the Norms and Standards for Educators, because of certain dilemmas. We need the tragic perspective on teaching, of Burbules (1997), to approach teaching differently. Biesta (2004) also urges us to approach teaching differently, by advocating a new language for education.
Decolonising the African university again
(HESA, 2021) Waghid, Y.
The notion of the African university ought to be decolonised on the grounds that decolonisation enhances humanisation and rehumanisation, as well as cosmopolitan pluriversalism. This article argues that unless the university takes its task to liberate, resist, and advance cosmopolitan ideals seriously, the decolonisation of the African university will remain elusive.
Democratic engagement as denudation : moving beyond risk taking
(HESA, 2016) Waghid, Y.; Davids, N.
In this article, we argue that democratic engagement as a form of human action can be enhanced if enacted through disclosure. Firstly, we expand on the notion of democratic engagement whereby human action is enacted through democratic iterations, mutual respect and humanness. Secondly, we argue that practising humanness, such as when one learns from others, can most appropriately be enacted when one becomes reflectively open to the new, and reflectively loyal to the known. Thirdly, because of the latter point, we draw on Giorgio Agamben’s (2011) notion of denudation whereby it is argued that forms of human engagement can become substantively democratic if enacted through an unconcealed disclosedness, in other words, an unveiling of the self in which visibility and presence (nudity) hold sway. Inasmuch as others open themselves up to one, so one ought to disclose oneself to others in order for the encounter to remain democratic. And, when such a form of democratic engagement assumes a form of denudation, the possibility is always there that human action will be enacted through an unveiling of the self, which is infinitely free of secret. Hopefully then, democratic engagement will be more unconstrained and unrestricted by that which might be otherwise contained.
Developing leadership competencies for knowledge society : the relevance of action learning
(AOSIS OpenJournals, 2004-12) Van Niekerk, H. J.; Waghid, Y.
Zuber-Skerritt and Perry (2002:177) posit that action learning and action research are appropriate and effective methods for developing a person’s managerial 'soft' skills, competencies and other attributes required by managers and leaders within the 21 st-century learning organization. Action learning intrinsically promotes most of those competencies that need to be nurtured in a developmental leader. These competencies, which include problemsolving, leadership development, systems thinking, collective learning, ability to ask questions, building relations and developing trust, are highly relevant to knowledge organizations. Action learning is used by a number of leading international organizations as a leadership programme and has already shown itself as a highly effective way of developing knowledge leaders in preparation for the knowledge society of the 21 st century. The Yenza leadership framework not only reflects the values important to the African spirit, but also operates simultaneously on the fault line of the Western and African divide. It bridges this divide and is likewise relevant to and suitable for developing leaders in the Africa context.
Educational leadership as action : towards an opening of rhythm
(HESA, 2016) Waghid, Y.; Davids, N.
Nowadays, its seems as if higher education institutions have unobtrusively adopted leadership styles that seem to be in consonance with neoliberal, managerialist approaches to leadership in education. It has become apparent that, to lead, one has to occupy particular authoritative positions. Yet following such an account of leadership, institutional practices become more attuned to leadership styles in which it is erroneously assumed that people need to be told what to do and how they need to do it in order to meet the demands of the neoliberal and managerialism associated with the attainment of high levels of productivity within the institutions. Unfortunately, as we shall argue, such leadership approaches militate against the very idea of education and its intertwined practices. Consequently, we advocate a position of leadership in education that enhances the doing of action that opens up that to which Agamben (1999) refers to as ‘rhythm’. Education, we argue, has a better chance of being realised and sustained if institutions attune their practices towards an opening of rhythm – one that departs from an instrumentalist, leadership-by-position towards leadership that embraces rhythmic action.
Educational theory as rhythmic action : from Arendt to Agamben
(HESA, 2017) Davids, N.; Waghid, Y.
Traditionally, educational theory has been couched as modes of human action through concepts such as poiesis and praxis. Inasmuch as poiesis and praxis have significantly shaped educational theory, we argue that such modes of action – if considered as mutually exclusive – do not sufficiently explain the interrelationship between educational theory and practice. Firstly, we extend the notion of action as explained by Arendt. Next, we offer an account of Agamben’s ‘opening of rhythm’, which integrates the notions of poiesis and praxis to pave the way for an understanding of educational theory as creative will that moves human action from enacting the unexpected into ‘an increasingly free and rarified atmosphere’. Secondly, in re-examining the Aristotelian concepts of poiesis and praxis, we argue that Agamben’s ‘opening of rhythm’ extends the Arendtian notion of action to perform the unexpected, and offers an as yet unexplored lens through which to understand the nexus between educational theory and practice.
The fourth industrial revolution reconsidered : on advancing cosmopolitan education
(HESA, 2019) Waghid, Y.; Waghid, Z.; Waghid, F.
Since Klaus Schwab’s (2016) phenomenal book, The Fourth Industrial Revolution, commonly depicted as 4IR, the concept has significantly altered the multiple ways universities in (South) Africa look at or aim to address their institutional practices, most notably, teaching and learning encounters. Schwab’s (2016, 7) reference to a “new technology” revolution that would transform the way humans interact in the world today is inspired by “emerging technology breakthroughs, covering wide-ranging fields such as artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, the internet of things (IoT), autonomous vehicles, 3D printing, nanotechnology, biotechnology, materials science, energy storage and quantum computing”. In this leading article, we offer an argument in defence of prioritising what we refer to as the cosmopolitan human condition if any meaningful sense were to be made of what Schwab (2016, 7) refers to as the amplification of “fusion of technologies across the physical, digital and biological worlds”. In reference to our understandings of university teaching and learning, we give an account of how such encounters ought to be looked at in light of the new fusion of technology idea – that is, 4IR.
Interrogating a cosmopolitanism of African higher education
(HESA, 2019) Manthalu, C. H.; Waghid, Y.
The immensity and inevitability of global interconnectedness have necessitated higher education to be cosmopolitan in its epistemological, and skills and attitudes development scope. Much has been written about the urgency, necessity and proposed modes of cosmopolitan higher education in Africa responsive to modern day demands and challenges. However, there is an outstanding need to interrogate the ontological assumptions and subsequent normative implications of the cosmopolitanism that informs African higher education. This paper argues that the globally predominant cosmopolitanism that also informs and is being pursued by African higher education is normatively problematic because it is exclusively grounded only in commonalities of the diverse people of the world, regarding their individuating differences as morally arbitrary and inhibitive of a realisation of cosmopolitan aspirations. Using Seyla Benhabib’s (1992) difference-grounded moral universalism, the paper argues that difference is constitutive of being a concrete individual or collectivity. As such African higher education ought to, as a matter of normative necessity, centre the subjectivities of the African experience. The central claims of this paper have implications on endeavors of re-imagining curriculum design, curriculum content selection and pedagogy in African higher education.
Legitimising critical pedagogy in the face of timorous, mechanistic pedagogy
(UNISA Press, 2015) Isaacs, Tracey Illona; Waghid, Y.
The literature on critical pedagogy is awash, on the one hand, with notions of emancipatory pedagogy that liberate students and teachers from the snares of capitalist ideological hegemony. On the other hand, claims abound about the declining fortunes of critical pedagogy, as it has struggled to find credibility, coherence and legibility. This article delves into critical pedagogy and its implications for education in a state of advanced capitalism, as well as its attendant functionalist thinking. Practically, this means that, via theoretical analysis, critical pedagogy is scrutinised in relation to student/teacher agency and resistance; whether critical pedagogy stands in defence of ‘strong democracy’; the historical relevance of the theoretical genesis of critical pedagogy; whether critical pedagogy is effective as ideology critique; whether critical pedagogy is muscular enough as a counter-hegemonic practice; how critical pedagogy parades itself in practical situations; and whether critical pedagogy is able to conscientise students to asymmetrical power relations.
On education, human rights and cosmopolitan justice in Africa
(UNISA Press, 2013) Waghid, Y.
Today, ‘human rights’ are more egalitarian, less individualistic, and more internationally oriented than 18th century rights in the following ways: firstly, equality before the law involves ensuring the protection of people against discrimination; procuring equality for women in all areas of life; ensuring that political dissenters have rights to a fair trial and freedom from arbitrary arrest, torture and cruel punishments; restraining governments from perpetrating socio-economic abuses such as poverty, disproportionate illiteracy amongst women and girls; and affording people a lack of economic opportunities, social security and education; secondly, rights are considered to be less individualistic to ensure the protection of women, minorities and indigenous people against genocide; and thirdly, international inquiries and interventions are considered as justifiable to prevent large-scale violations of human rights (Nickel 2007, 12–13). Despite the fact that Africa has a ‘human rights’ system in place, produced by the African Union (AU) in 1981 and the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, established in 1986, Africa has been confronted with enormous ‘human rights’ problems, exacerbated by the reluctance of several sovereign nation states to cooperate about ‘human rights’ violations. One of the reasons why I think a ‘human rights’ agenda has not been implemented successfully on the African continent is because several African leaders have scant regard for the imposition of legal sanctions (as has been the case in Zimbabwe under the leadership of Robert Mugabe) and that encouragement, consciousness raising, persuasion, and even shaming have not actually worked. For many, the ‘human rights’ system on the African continent seems to remain ineffectual and hypocritical, as it rarely coerces recalcitrant violators to change their practices (ibid., 20). This article offers a defence of cosmopolitan justice with reference to the seminal thoughts of Judith Butler and Kwame Anthony Appiah in order to countenance ‘human rights’ violations on the African continent – in particular what the response of higher education ought to be.
On the polemic of academic integrity in higher education
(HESA, 2019) Waghid, Y.; Davids, N.
Academic integrity is integral to credible scholarship. Yet, the escalation of publications and the desire to publish, even in this journal – South African Journal of Higher Education – often bring into play the important practice of academic integrity. As the rush for publications increasingly becomes an obsession, rather than an intrinsically loved scholarly activity, the ugly side of academic fraud, cheating and plagiarism begins to accelerate, and this manifests in research outputs. This introductory article takes a critical look at three significant developments in realising research outputs in higher education: Turnitin for turnitout, academic cheating and Google cutting and pasting. We proffer what academics should be doing to avoid the malaise creeping into and manifesting in higher education.
On the relevance of an African philosophy of higher education
(HESA, 2021) Waghid, Y.
Nowadays, higher educational theory seems to be concerned with positional thinking that reconsiders what universities ought to accomplish to justify their existence in the realm of higher education (Waghid and Davids, 2020). I want to extend this claim by arguing in defence of an African philosophy of higher education – one that is genuine and enframes higher education as a pedagogical space for resistance, critique, deliberative iterations, autonomy, and intellectual activism. Put differently, an African philosophy of higher education is one that is not only concerned with thinking and justification but expands into notions of democratic engagement, citizenship, and activism. When the latter are present, African philosophy of higher education has a real chance of manifesting ubiquitously in higher pedagogical actions, mostly teaching and learning. Only then, it possibly maintains its relevance to higher education discourses.
On the unintended consequences of online teaching : a response
(HESA, 2021) Waghid, Y.
This article is a response to claims that online education is a pedagogical risk for teaching-learning. Of course, notions of privacy, authenticity, and ownership are real challenges to higher education but these complexities do not have to subvert engaged teaching-learning at higher education institutions. I offer a brief response as to why teaching-learning as a deliberative encounter does not have to be sacrificed with-in online education.
Prioritising higher education : Why research is all that matters
(HESA, 2018) Davids, N.; Waghid, Y.
Birthdays are joyfully relative events, which, at times, become more about reflection, and at times, regret, with each passing year. As Stellenbosch University embarks on its 100th year, celebrations and commemorations have adopted tentative nuances and burdens of heavily-laden legacies of wrongs and ills, which stand to be corrected. Much has been said, and rightly so, of assuming responsibility for questionable roles in highly divisive and harmful practices. In turn, much is envisaged for future actions of remedy and redress – particularly in relation to social responsibility and community interaction. In considering the role and responsibility of a university, many would agree that if the core of higher education is its epistemological contribution, then its impact is determined by its social worth. In this sense, any teaching and learning should not only be cognisant of its social context, but teaching and learning should always be both responsible and responsive to the world which it encounters. Yet, a university’s responsibilities can, and should never be at the expense, or risk of research. As will be discussed in this article, prioritising higher education means prefacing, and giving precedence to research. Prioritising higher education through research creates the spaces necessary for a philosophy of dialogue. Moreover, research is indispensable to meaningful teaching and learning. Put differently, it is with research that a university sustains and advances its intellectual, social and ethical project into the realm of the public. And, this implies a renewed look at the university with an ecological parlance of inquiry that accounts for the university on the basis of assemblages, engagements, reflections and sightings – whether smooth and or striated.
Quality, dissonance and rhythm within higher education
(HESA, 2019) Waghid, Y.
In this article, I argue for a position of quality in higher education commensurate with the cultivation of dissonance and rhythmic action. I focus specifically on the (South) African university and the reason why dissonance and rhythm offer pragmatic ways to respond to changes in and about university education. Without being oblivious of the tremendous strides universities have made on the African continent, my contention is that not enough has been done to ensure that quality and change have been enhanced. My argument is deconstructive and conceptual in the sense that I endeavour to imagine what universities will look like beyond merely consolidating their claims of rationality. In this article, I offer my thoughts on new imaginings for higher education as propositional pieces cohered by the central themes of dissonance and rhythm.
Reflecting on a doctoral supervision : from scepticism to friendship
(UNISA Press, 2013) Waghid, Y.; Davids, N.
In this article two colleagues are in conversation regarding doctoral supervision: The first author acted as a doctoral supervisor, while the collaborative author was a doctoral candidate during three years of study. The first author offers a narrative account of his sceptical encounter with the candidate while the candidate offers an account of her experiences during her doctoral studies. Drawing on the seminal thoughts of Harvard philosopher Stanley Cavell (1997), particularly on his ideas on 'living with scepticism', the first author argues that postgraduate student supervision ought to be an encounter framed by scepticism. He points out that supervising students sceptically might engender moments of acknowledging humanity within the Other (autonomous action); attachment to the Other's points of view with a readiness for departure (deliberative engagement); and showing responsibility to the Other (recognition of the other). Not necessarily in response, but certainly in conversation, the candidate presents her own experiences of encountering two unknowns, namely, the writing process demanded by a doctoral dissertation, and the unknown Other of a doctoral supervisor. She journeys her shift from naïve attachment to a writing that she thought she owned to one of mature detachment, strong enough to stand on its own. In exploring the necessary sense of completion and arrival that ought to accompany the doctoral process, the candidate singles out elements of trust, belief and the knowledge that the doctoral supervisor ought to attach the same value to a student's work as he/she does. Finally, in recognition of the unexpected of the doctoral journey, the candidate reflects on the flourishing of a friendship, which emerged from an encounter of scepticism.
Resistance and dissonance in higher education : on doing things differently
(HESA, 2018) Davids, N.; Waghid, Y.
The historical inequalities and imbalances, so deeply embedded in the institutional structures and discourse of higher education, continue to haunt university spaces as these institutions continue to veer along the precipice of transformation. While statues have been removed, buildings renamed, and fees adjusted, higher education in South Africa remains a largely disparate and alienating topography – no more so because of the gaping wounds left by iterative student protestations. Seemingly, the more leadership structures in higher education stonewalled student protestations, the more student resistance intensified – not only in scope, but in violence. In this sense, we are reminded of Foucault’s (1997) dyadic depiction of power and resistance – that is, that power necessarily provokes resistance, since without resistance, there can be no power. In this article, we reflect, on the necessity of resistance not only in relation to power, but as a practice that ought to be ubiquitous to higher education. And secondly, we argue that if higher education is to fulfil its ideological mandate of doing things differently for the sake of epistemological and public good, then it necessarily has to be underscored by dissonance.

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