Department of Education Policy Studies

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Browsing Department of Education Policy Studies by Subject "Active learning"

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    Enabling organisational knowledge through action learning : an epistemological study
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2004-12) Van Niekerk, Herman J.; Waghid, Yusef; Leibold, M.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Education. Dept. of Education Policy Studies.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Key words: Organisational knowledge, pluralistic epistemology, action learning, systems theory, structuration theory, organisational learning, knowledge management. In today's competitive environment the value and importance of knowledge as an organisational resource is considered to be a key element and source of power. Knowledge is regarded as the single most important source of core competence to ensure competitiveness and long term sustainability. The value of most products and services now depends on knowledge-based intangibles and many organisational theorists argue that strategy formulations should be built on a resource-based theory. The challenge for many organisations is therefore how to enable organisational knowledge and how to increase their organisational learning capacity and performance. Following a multi-disciplinary approach, this study critically evaluates and interprets existing theories on action and systems thinking. The traditional positivist paradigm no longer answers to the needs of a post-modem paradigm and corporate epistemologists and practitioners alike are in search of a new paradigm on how to construct organisational knowledge. Drawing on Habermasian theory of communicative action, as well as Parsons' general theory of action and Giddens' structuration theory, I argue that the construction of knowledge happens in a pluralistic manner, in contrast with traditional approaches which support a paradigm informed by a singular epistemology. A pluralistic approach to the development of knowledge, in relation to a Habermasian theory of communicative action which emphasises the importance of communication and which integrates action and systems theory, is therefore proposed. Constitutive features of organisational knowledge, such as deliberation, knowledge leadership, organisational culture and technology, are identified and analysed. Action learning has been adopted by a number of leading international comparues as a learning methodology. However, action learning has seemingly not been grounded in a defensible epistemological framework. In redescribing action learning, this study explores epistemological foundations of action learning in an attempt to provide corporate epistemologists with a defensible epistemological framework which promotes pluralism and constitutive features of organisational knowledge. A framework for organisational learning and knowledge construction, the Pluralistic Action Learning Systems theory (pALS), is suggested as an improved model of organisational learning suitable for implementation in a post-modem era. This framework incorporates the primary "technical" elements of the learning process, namely problem identification, collection of information, analysis and interpretation, application/use and reflection, as well as organisational enablers inherent in collaborative learning. Organisational knowledge is therefore seen as the outcome of a learning process which occurs at the individual, social and organisational system levels. Organisational knowledge is also constituted by features such as communication, knowledge leadership and trust which are essential in a collaborative learning environment. Knowledge is therefore not constructed through a single paradigm, but socially constructed through a pluralistic epistemology. Organisational knowledge is the outcome of organisational learning and such an organisational learning process is enabled by an action learning approach. An empirical study is conducted which is based on a forty-point questionnaire. The sample size is 120 part-time MBA students who are enrolled for an action learning management development programme and who have all been theoretically and practically exposed to an action learning programme. The findings of the empirical study conclude that the construction of knowledge happens in a pluralistic manner and that an organisational epistemology should be shaped by a pluralistic framework if it were to be successful in a post-modem business environment. It proposes that action learning, which is shaped by a pluralistic epistemology grounded in the Habermasian theory of communicative action, provides a defensible framework to enhance organisational knowledge through a collaborative learning approach fostering values such as deliberation, trust and openness.
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    Learning takes place : how Cape Town youth learn through dialogue in different places
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2014-12) Cooper, Adam Leon; Badroodien, Azeem; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Education. Dept. of Education Policy Studies.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study is a multi-site ethnography that focuses on young people from one low-income, Cape Town neighbourhood, an area that I got to know well between 2008 and 2012, when I worked and conducted research there. I explore how young people from this area, that I call Rosemary Gardens, learn in three different places. These places are, firstly, classrooms at Rosemary Gardens High School, secondly, a community-based hip-hop/ rap group called the Doodvenootskap, and, thirdly, a youth radio show called Youth Amplified, which involved many young people from Rosemary Gardens. In each of the three places a ‘spatio-dialogical’ analysis was used to examine learning that emerges through collaborative interactions between people. Dialogic learning may take place when young people are exposed to multiple, different perspectives, which manifest through language. This form of learning is ‘spatialised’ because it occurs through sets of social relations that coalesce at particular moments to form ‘places’. Places are junctions or points of intersection within networks of social relations. I use the work of Bakhtin (1981; 1986) and Bourdieu (1977; 1991) to illustrate how, in each of the three places, language operates as a socio-ideological system that is divided, in flux and differentially empowered. This work on language as a social system was put into conversation with Lefebvre’s (1991) spatial theory, producing tools that were used as lenses through which to interpret the ethnographic fieldwork. What emerged was the centrality of the workings of language as a social system at Rosemary Gardens High School, Youth Amplified and amongst the Doodvenootskap. The control desired by educators, combined with the bureaucratic forces that restrict spontaneity in their teaching practices, resulted in the use of highly prescribed language forces dominating dialogic interactions at Rosemary Gardens High School. The different cultural influences and historical traditions, which produce the Doodvenootskap, led to the group reclaiming and reinventing varieties of language. At times this produced more sufficiently interactive forms of dialogic learning, amongst this group, and on other occasions they merely reiterated the words of others, without reflection or rigorous thought. Critical pedagogy, at Youth Amplified, laid the foundations for multiple contrasting perspectives and different linguistic forms to manifest. In the media and in the imaginary of the South African middle and upper classes, schools in neighbourhoods that were formerly reserved for ‘Black’ and working-class ‘Coloured’ children are generally perceived to be dysfunctional places. Young people who live in the neighbourhoods in which these schools are located, are assumed to learn very little. Research with youth from Rosemary Gardens discovered that this kind of negative portrayal is only one view of a multi-faceted set of stories. On a daily basis, young people from Rosemary Gardens use language in interactions with peers and adults, exchanges that shape their consciousness and influence how they make sense of the multiple social worlds which they partially produce.
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    Die plek van selfopvoeding in die vestiging van 'n demokratiese kultuur in die skoolmileu
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 1997) Brand, Heinie Andre; Steyn, J. C.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Education. Department of Education Policy Studies.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study was undertaken to determine the role self-education plays in establishing a democratic culture in the school milieu. The child's education and the influence adult accompaniment plays in this, provide the framework within which human development takes place. The human being is exposed to diverse influences on a daily basis. He establishes contact with the world and those around him, and in the process develops skills which equip him for life's tasks. The child strives to be regarded as a complete human being, while the adult strives to develop his soul and quality of existence to greater completeness. Self-education is the refined product of education and accompaniment. By means of selfeducation, the human being may fulfil his own potential through personal authority, and is it possible that he becomes that which he is meant to become. Education in South Africa is currently confronted by a striving towards democracy which also aims to be established in society. Democracy may become a way of life in reality, if demonstrated and employed by the individual as a personal life pattern. School is a social ecosystem that should not be considered as isolated from structures in the state order and the education system as a broad society. It is the school's task on micro level to counter the challenges of democratisation and provide children with relevant training and life skills. To realise this ideal, it is also necessary to take a closer look at structures in the local community which have an impact on the school milieu. The parent community, headmaster, leader structures, teacher and pupils become role players in the school environment who can employ democracy as a way of life. A striving towards democracy in schools creates the right ciimate for transparent leader structures. Didactic principles in the classroom should encourage active participation, group work and negotiation skills, so that a curriculum can be employed in the correct manner. Facilitators should inspire passive learners to become active thinkers through the way in which they handle the relevant contents. When a human being demonstrates an attitude of tolerance, respect and recognition, there is a possibility that democracy can be established as a way of life. Democracy in the school milieu can then make an important contribution to the creation of fully developed citizens equipped with the necessary skills. In management practices and school activities, the involvement of children and adults should take place in such a way that every person can experience the opportunity for self-fulfilment and selfdevelopment. A democratic culture in the school milieu has the potential to develop the latent abilities of people (pupils and teachers) and bring it to fuller realisation. Specific norms become good guidelines for an accommodating lifestyle by means of goal-oriented accompaniment. When a human being accepts responsibility for his own development, selfeducation can be achieved. Self-education not only has implications for the democratic school milieu, but ·also for the wider democratic society. It enriches democracy, while the latter, in turn, makes self-education possible.
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    'Youth amplified' : using critical pedagogy to stimulate learning through dialogue at a youth radio show
    (University of South Africa Press, 2017) Cooper, Adam
    In this paper I describe and analyse how critical pedagogy, an approach to teaching and learning that encourages students to reflect on their socio-political contexts, may stimulate critical consciousness and dialogue at a youth radio show. The participants, who attended four diverse Cape Town high schools and predominantly lived in poor townships, named the show Youth Amplified. Youth Amplified dialogues were catalysed by a range of materials, including documentary films, newspapers and academic articles, which participants engaged with prior to the show. Participants then generated questions, which contributed to the dialogues that took place live on air. Two central themes emerged from the radio shows. First, the values and discourses of elite schools were transported to Youth Amplified and presented as incontestable truths that often denigrated marginalised learners. Second, participants used ‘race’ as a marker of social difference to make sense of peers and South African society. I argue that critical pedagogy interventions also need to work with educators to reflect on inequalities and socio-political contexts, if such interventions are to be successful. The show illuminated that young South Africans want to speak about racialised and class-based forms of historical oppression, but that these kinds of discussions require skilled facilitation.