Department of Education Policy Studies
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- ItemDie aard van jeugdiges se subjektiwiteite by 'n skool in 'n diverse plattelandse mynbou-omgewing(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2013-03) Groenewald, Emma; Fataar, Aslam; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Education. Dept. of Education Policy Studies.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The purpose of this study was to determine the nature of the youths` subjectivity at a school in a diverse rural mining environment. The study was done in an isolated rural mining environment. Space is an important point of departure and a thorough background of the contextual factors are given. The participants in this study are daily confronted with challenges such as long distances, poverty, unemployment and alcohol and substance abuse. Space, subjectivity and cultural capital are used to understand youth development and youth experience. The main premise of the study is that the environments of these youth greatly overlap. There is a dynamic relationship between their living and school environment. Distinctive processes, social networks, relationships and cultural groups are found in each of these environments. Another focus of this study was to determine how these young people bridge their different lived spaces, negotiate and adapt within these environments. Qualitative reseach methods were used in formal and informal interviews. Participants had the opportunity to present their experiences in storyline. A narrative-based, interpretive, -descriptive research paradigm was the most appropriate research method of capturing the wide variety of living experience. The study demonstrates how these youth are positioned within their environments in order to embody their space subjectivity. By making use of their own resources, networks and interactions, they navigate their overlapping spaces and thereby lead meaningful lives.
- ItemDie aard van leerderafwesigheid in ʼn plattelandse skool(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2016-12) Engelbrecht, Louisa; Dreyer, Lorna; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Education. Dept. Education Policy StudiesAFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING : Leerderafwesigheid, wat ‘n komplekse probleem is in plattelandse skole, was die fokus vir ‘n intensiewe ondersoek. Hierdie ondersoek na leerderafwesigheid is ’n volgehoue proses om die voorkoms, simptome en karaktertrekke van leerders te verstaan. Ten spyte van die Departement van Basiese Onderwys se duidlike riglyne oor die belangrikheid van gereelde skoolbywoning wat ook die ouers, skool en leerders se verantwoordelikheid insluit, bly leerders nog steeds afwesig vanaf die skool. Die klem van hierdie studie het ook spesifiek geval op die sosio-ekonomiese en kulturele karaktereienskappe van die plattelande skool en die gemeenskap waar leerderafwesigheid die wesenlike probleem is. Hierdie plattelandse leerders en gemeenskappe ervaar verskeie uitdagings, soos byvoorbeeld leerderafwesigheid, lae akademiese uitslae en dissiplinêre probleme. Die basiese interpretatiewe kwalitatiewe navorsingsparadigma is gebruik binne die die bio-ekologiese teoretiese raamwerk. Doelbewuste steekproewe is gedoen by die skool en die data is by wyse van agt semi-gestruktureerde individuele onderhoude, een fokusgroeponderhoud en visuele tekeninge ingesamel. Die versamelde data is geanaliseer volgens die inhoudsanalise. Na aanleiding van die data-analise en kodering het daar vier hoof kategorieë na vore gekom. Die vier hoof kategorieë is eerstens, omgewings faktore wat die kind se woonbuurt, skool se ligging en dwelmafhanklikheid insluit; tweedens, persoonlike faktore wat die kind se ouers en portuurgroep insluit; derdens die gesinsuitdagings wat die gesins-dinamika en ekonomiese faktore insluit en laastens die skoolaangeleenthede, naamlik boelie, kurrikulum en ouerbetrokkendheid. Die bevindinge was dat leerderafwesigheid deur verskillende sisteme soos die gesin, skool en gemeenskap beïnvloed word. Die fisiese, ekonomiese en sosiaal-maat-skaplike kwessies waarbinne die kind funksioneer, speel ‘n deurslaggewende rol in die leerders wat probleme ervaar met leerderafwesigheid. Die plattelandse konteks, waar gesinne in armoede leef en op plase werk as seisoenwerkers, het ‘n groot impak op die leerders se belewenis van skoolbywoning.
- ItemAn academic leadership model for transformation towards learning organisations in higher education(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 1998-12) Van der Westhuizen, Andre Jeanne; Kapp, C. A.; Bitzer, E. M.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Education. Dept. of Education Policy Studies.ENGLISH SUMMARY: The pressures and demands for change and transformation are not bounded by national borders or geography and the complex challenges facing higher education call for a diversity of viewpoints and approaches. Institutional leadership must adjust to realize the full potential of institutions. Leaders will have to look beyond their own self - interest and meet the emotional needs of followers and find a radically new understanding of what it is to be effective. The study indicates that higher education institutions must have the will and the ability to adjust and respond to rapid change. It will be the responsibility of the leader(s) to define reality, to have an understanding of the past, the present and the future. Leading requires a refocusing of the mind, that includes fundamental beliefs, knows what it aspires to and where it is going to. Organisations have become so complicated that conditions must be created that are flexible enough that they can create a value system and learning culture that will inspire employees to participate enthusiastically, and at the same time enable and empower followers and individual leaders. However, before leaders can lead others, they must learn to lead themselves. Leaders have to understand that self - leadership is the power that drives new "boundaryless organizations." Such strategies help to create organisational culture where people value strong leadership and strive to create it. For higher education institutions to be able to survive the next millennium, they will have to strive for empowering their workforce and becoming learning organisations. Employees must experience the aliveness of a learning organisation, of something that has to do with the "whole"(Senge, 1990:339;371). The format of the study is that of a literature review of the leadership, transformation and learning organisations disciplines for the purpose to identify patterns and regularities to provide a systematic representation to be able to create a model. The model for academic leadership to accommodate change and transformation provides the institutional culture for leadership development and becoming learning organisations. The model gives a "(w)holistic" viewpoint on how leadership development in institutions can create the "space" to become, not only, learning organisations, but boundaryless organisations as well.
- ItemAnalysing educational leadership in relation to deliberative democracy: towards a defffensible form of school leadership(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2021-12) Isaacs, Akeda; Waghid, Yusef; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Education. Dept. of Education Policy Studies.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Debates about developing a more equal society should consider evaluating the role of education by reimagining school leadership’s nature and scope in developing the foundations for a just society where human equality is an ideal norm. While there is a growing unease with the neoliberal agenda of education, visible through state policies and practices, not much research exists on school leadership’s role in developing cosmopolitan norms through a cosmopolitan- oriented education that enhances and teaches democratic citizens to thrive in a globalised world. I believe school leaders play a critical role in advancing social justice and democratic citizenry in education as they are ideally placed for developing and enacting just school policies and developing spaces for deliberation in the school environment. The current neo-liberal debates of leadership as an instrument of control and risk management has led to politicisation of school leadership’s role as one of compliance and local power distribution. More than two decades after democracy, South African schools continue to be poles apart. After apartheid, policy reforms facilitated the democratisation of schools addressing challenges of social justice through equity and redress. The Curriculum Assessment and Policy Statement (CAPS), developed as part of the democratisation process, emphasises the development of academic ability, but the implementation thereof reduces opportunities for critical thinking and deliberation in the classroom. The curriculum’s aim to deliver quality teaching and learning is not clearly evident with many learners struggling to read. Another decentralisation mechanism, school-based leadership, inclusive of governing bodies, was established to manage schools. Although, one of the main functions of the school governing bodies is the development of school policy in line with the constitution, research highlights the inequalities at school level. Two decades after apartheid, public schooling is tormented by dysfunctionality and increased violence. Learners most at risk of being affected by violence are from disadvantaged schools. Schools cannot be divorced from their communities and they carry the legacy of their apartheid histories. Democratisation through its policies, cannot obliterate the discourse of violence inherent in apartheid, unless the curriculum creates the space for different pedagogical encounters, and teacher training is adapted to address the challenges, and in so doing, creating alternative philosophies and worldviews. This dissertation explores the concept of forgiveness to frame deliberative encounters with others, creating a curriculum of refuge, thus paving the way for a re-orientating that can foster healing in a society with historical conflict between different groups. I advance an argument for reconceptualising the philosophical framework and foundational principles of school leadership via the inclusion of deliberative democracy, cosmopolitan education, and the concept of forgiveness in teaching and learning. The dissertation explores the concept of deliberative democracy and cosmopolitan education. Furthermore, it examines the commensurability with a defensible form of school leadership, examining the implications for the development of democratic citizens. I analyze the concept of deliberative democracy as a philosophical framework to assist leadership in understanding the practical implementation of the moral and ethical dimensions of schools. This deals with diversity, identity, and an understanding of the role of leadership in advancing democratic education systems. The dissertation explores the development of democratic citizenship, with its claims of justice for all individuals, as a prerequisite for cosmopolitanism, and for cosmopolitan education to develop the recognition and acknowledgement of rights and responsibilities. One of the research’s main findings is the role of school leadership with a cosmopolitan orientation, inclusive of deliberation and a social justice ethic, as a contributor to a democratic and more peaceful world. Another is the inclusion of forgiveness, as a concept and lived experience in pedagogy, contributing towards democratic education. Forgiveness taught as both a normative value and concept, and from the perspectives of the forgiver and perpetrator. The significance of its inclusion in the education of a pluralistic society, seeking to advance democracy and to live in a peaceful world, whilst recovering from the ravages of apartheid, colonisation and its consequences of continuing violence and poverty, is explored. I examine leadership’s role in creating cosmopolitan spaces for iterations and engagement to enable an understanding of the relationship of the self and the other. Iterations and engagements foster the development of critical thinking and imagining a peaceful, forgiving, and democratic society that can be shared.
- ItemAn analysis of democratic citizenship education in namibian primary education : implications for teaching and learning(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2019-12) Akumbi, Saara Taleni; Waghid, Yusef; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Education. Education Policy Studies.ENGLISH SUMMARY : The Namibian education system has not made significant efforts to promote democratic citizenship ducation (DCE) in the country, due to unequal opportunities towards quality education. Therefore, this study sought to understand the implications of democratic citizenship education for teaching and learning in Namibian primary education, from 1993 to 2017. This was done through the analysis of major education policies that support teaching and learning, in order to understand how these policies contribute to the promotion of democratic citizenship education in the country. The analysis was guided by interpretive theory as methodology. At the same time, conceptual, deconstructive and document analyses were employed as the methods to analyse education policies. This approach (methodology and method) assisted me both to establish meanings of democratic citizenship education in the Namibian context and to determine what is delaying the promotion of democratic citizenship education in Namibia. However, this study revealed that schools in rural areas are operating under poor conditions due to a lack of teaching and learning resources, which lead to poor quality education, while schools in urban areas have adequate resources that ensure good quality education. The disparities in the quality of education are contrary to the principles of DCE. Therefore, for the realisation of democratic citizenship education in Namibia to take place, there is a need to implement compensatory programmes that give schools in rural areas proportionately more teaching and learning resources to put them on an equal footing with those in urban areas. Moreover, at a conceptual level, the Ministry of Education needs to prepare future citizens for democratic deliberation by both engaging them in decision-making concerning their lives as well as introducing them to ubuntu values, which can guide them to become responsible citizens.
- ItemAn analysis of policies and strategies to reduce poverty(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2012-03) Daniels, Christine Gaynore; Van Wyk, B.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Education. Dept. of Education Policy Studies.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In this thesis I analyse policies and strategies to reduce poverty through education, and the focus is on global and national policies and strategies and I conduct a small-scale investigation into policies and strategies that exist at a local level (local is the Cape Winelands District Municipality). Poverty is one of the core problems facing many South Africans, and by using critical theory as my research methodology I present a different way of thinking about poverty. Education, just like poverty, is a complex concept because education determines human thoughts and actions. The literature review indicates three ways to reduce poverty: job creation, education and skills development. The policy analysis indicates four ways to reduce poverty: empowering the poor, increasing the capabilities of the poor by using education, the challenge of deliberative democracy, and social justice. The interview respondents indicated that these seven ways may have a major influence on their impoverished circumstances. I argue that individuals need to reflect critically on their social well-being in order to transform their lives. Critical reflection by individuals is needed to transform not only themselves, but also their communities, and it is by transformation that individuals can bring change in their social communities in order to achieve social justice. A remaining need I identify is that the South African government need to focus on the goal to halve the number of poor people by 2015 (according to United Nations, Millennium Development Goals). I realise that the government still has much work to do in order to reach this important goal.
- ItemAre doctoral studies in South Africa higher education being put at risk?(UNISA Press, 2015) Waghid, YusefInasmuch as many attempts are being made in South Africa to increase the doctoral throughput rate, it appears as if the rush to produce doctoral (PhD) qualifications might just be the biggest risk that confronts the pursuit of doctoral studies. The author argues that, in the quest to accelerate the number of doctorates produced in the country, higher education institutions (HEIs), in particular administrators and – to a lesser extent – supervisors, run the risk of trivialising doctoral education: because of an over-emphasis on throughput rates alone, the purpose of the doctorate is assigned to a mere exercise of technical compliance and completion. In this article, the author offers a word of caution as to what the doctorate should not be subjected to if such a highlevel achievement is to remain an aspiration of those serious about knowledge construction, reconstruction and deconstruction.
- ItemDie assesseringspraktyke van laerskoopopvoeders in respons tot die verwagtinge van die nasionale kurrikulumverklaring(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2013-12) Truter, Linley Clive; Fataar, Aslam; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Education. Dept. of Education Policy Studies.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The political dispensation in South Africa after 1994 experienced a complete change in different spheres of life. Not only was the country greeted with a new democratic government system, but also with widespread educational reform, of which curriculum reform in schools was one of its main drivers. This study focuses on implementation dynamics related to the latest iteration of curriculum reform namely the National Curriculum Statement (NCS) that was introduced in all public schools in 2005. Educators were sent for in service training in order to implement the new curriculum in their classrooms. Continuous assessment (CASS) became the operative on everybody’s lips, though learners would be assessed according to continuous assessment activities. These assessment marks or codes, obtained by the learners, would determine progression to the next grade. This resulted in a new educator practice, namely an assessment practice. Their initial encounter was somehow problematic because they found it difficult in marrying this new practice with their teaching and learning practices due to various reasons. One of the main reasons was that the NCS was never part of their tertiary education. The study’s main point of departure is that the assessment practices of primary school educators are diverse and divergent in response to the expectations of the NCS. The study uses the analytical lenses of forward and backward mapping as well as the ambiguity-conflict model in order to investigate and ascertain the underlying relationship between educator’s assessment practices and the assessment policy. The study belongs within the qualitative interpretative paradigm, as I attempt to form an understanding of the nature and range of their assessment practices. It emphasises the manifestation of the assessment practices of educators. Qualitative research instruments, which include individual interviews, were used to answer the research question and achieve the research objectives of the thesis. The research shows how these educators experience, interpret and implement the assessment policy in unique ways. It indicates how they, in striving to adhere to the expectations of the NCS, respond by tackling their respective assessment practices in a diverse and divergent way and at times deviate from what is expected of them as set out in the NCS.
- ItemAssessing learner needs for student academic support and development in the Early Childhood Education Department of the South African College for Teacher Education (SACTE)(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2001-03) Phatudi, Nkidi Caroline; Bitzer, E. M.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Education. Dept. of Education Policy Studies.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: SACTE is a distance education provider for practising educators in the Republic of South Africa. As a distance education provider, SACTE has to rely on teaching and learning media other than the tutor for providing service to its students. Study manuals are the main means of subject delivery the college employs. The college, however, cannot always reach its students through the media used, which in this instance is the study manual. This conclusion was reached after numerous telephone calls and letters from students requiring urgent assistance in connection with their studies. The researcher therefore felt that a need existed to find out the type of problems students encountered that prevented them from optimal performance as students and as teachers. The purpose of this study was to determine learner needs in the department of Early Childhood Education, and how they can be dealt with to improve the academic performance and the classroom practice of its students. The premise the researcher worked from, was that students of SACTE experience learning problems, thus they are unable to attain good academic performance, and this affects their classroom practice. A research survey was carried out to determine the type and the nature of problems that existed amongst the students. Two questionnaires were sent out to the ECE students and the academic staff. The following key questions were posed in the questionnaire for students: • What type of educational background do students have? • How long have students been registered with SACTE? • To what extent do they benefit from a tutor system if they have access to it? • To what extent are the study manuals 'accessible' to them? • If study manuals are not accessible, what are the problems and what suggestions do students have to eradicate those problems? • What type of intervention would they like to have from SACTE? The aim in asking these questions was to probe the root problem which might exist, to analyse the responses and to make appropriate conclusions and recommendations based on the data gathered. The questionnaire for the ECE academic staff was based on the following aspects: • The academic staffs experience in teaching teachers; • The academic staff's experience in distance education; • What the academic staff regard as problems inhibiting students from effective learning; • Suggestions and recommendations on how to deal with the problems identified. The questionnaire for students was sent out by mail with a self-addressed envelope included for the return mail. It took almost two months before the responses reached the sender. Almost 70% of the responses reached the sender. Data analysis was done by the Statkon Service of Rand Afrikaans University. The conclusions reached from the data analysis were divided into the following categories: Social background of students: Students do not have study rooms, thus they use dining-rooms and bedrooms as study places. An average household has more than ten members. This type of a situation does not promote effective learning. Educational background of students: Almost 90% of the respondents studied in the former Department of Education and Training (DET). Their highest qualification is M+2 (matric plus two years of professional training), which implies that 56,3% of teachers are not fully qualified to be teaching, as the minimum requirement is M+3. Experience of students at SACTE: Students expressed their desire for the upgrading of the total learning environment in order to enhance learning and classroom practice. Students wanted contact sessions with tutors as they felt that they do not benefit much by studying on their own without external assistance Recommendations made on these conclusions were the following: SACTE must establish Regional Learning Centers (RLC) to alleviate the students' problem of studying in overcrowded homes. RLCs, besides being places to study at, would also serve the purpose of being resource centres as well as discussion places where study support groups can meet. Study manuals should be written with the needs of the learner in mind. The language of the study manual, examples given and the context in which they are written, should reflect the learner and not the lecturer. The 'distance' between the student and the lecturer, that is created by the physical distance, can be narrowed by introducing interactive media. Based on the survey findings, it can be concluded that there is a need to establish student support measures at SACTE that would provide for students by answering to their needs as learners and educators.
- ItemAn auto-ethnographical account of curriculum flexibility in primary school science in relation to CAPS policy(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2023-12) Tryon, Tania Adelle ; Jansen, Jonathan D. ; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Education. Dept. of Education Policy Studies.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study is an auto-ethnographical account of my experiences as a teacher teaching CAPS in a primary school science classroom. This study aimed to investigate whether, and if so, to what extent the CAPS curriculum limited my ability as a teacher to experience curriculum flexibility in terms of allowing me to adapt the curriculum content to suit the needs of learners in my class. Furthermore, what strategies and approaches have I put in place to address my challenges of curriculum flexibility in the CAPS curriculum? Data gathered for this study indicate that the strict adherence to the topic coverage timeframes outlined in the CAPS policy, a teacher’s autonomy to make decisions about the pace at which they teach content in accordance with learner needs, is restricted. The study also indicates that teacher subject knowledge and pedagogical skills are key factors determining the extent to which the teacher can create opportunities for curriculum flexibility within the CAPS curriculum. The study recommends that for teachers to experience curriculum flexibility within the CAPS curriculum requires a less stringent approach to the implementation of curriculum content, as the timeframes outlined in policy are not necessarily always in line with the needs of the learners in a class. Therefore, teachers should have the ability to adapt and adjust the pace of their teaching and the delivery of content to suit learners' needs and should not solely comply with policy guidelines and timeframes.
- ItemDie behoefte aan ’n multidimensionele benadering tot dissiplineprobleme op skool(Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns, 2008-12) Van Louw, Trevor; Waghid, YusefAFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie artikel beklemtoon die belangrikheid van behoorlike sosiohistoriese kontekstualisering van dissipline in skole. Die argument wat deur die skrywers ontwikkel is, is dat skole ’n spieëlbeeld is van die samelewings waarin dit voorkom en dat hierdie feit in ag geneem moet word wanneer strategieë vir die hantering van die probleem gekontekstualiseer word. In the Suid-Afrikaanse konteks vra dit vir die erkenning van die impak van eeue van onderdrukking in die koloniale en apartheidsera soos wat dit verband hou met die huidige probleme in die breër samelewing en in skole. Die argument wat deur die skrywers ontwikkel word, hou rekening met die belangrikheid van die sosiohistoriese kontekstualisering van dissiplinêre probleme in skole as ’n sosiale werklikheid en die noodsaak om probleme in die samelewing met dié in skole in verband te bring. Dit word voorts geargumenteer dat die komplekse aard van die probleem wat op hierdie wyse blootgelê word, ’n veelfasettige benadering verg waar alle rolspelers (ook dié buite die skool, op ’n geïntegreerde wyse met die skool saamwerk om gepaste strategieë te ontwikkel, implementeer, moniteer en evalueer en om dit na kritiese refl eksie aan te pas, sou die omstandighede dit vereis.
- ItemBenaderings tot die bestuur van diversiteit in skole in die Republiek van Suid-Afrika(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 1997-12) Filander, Andre Leon; Du Toit, P. J.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Education. Dept. of Education Policy Studies.ENGLISH SUMMARY: The current process of transformation in South Africa makes the study of diversity in schools essential. Diversity in schools can be addressed by means of various management approaches. Management approaches can be divided into two categories, i.e. Assimilation and Pluralism. The assimilation approach is aimed at ignoring all aspects of diversity and causing learners to conform to a dominant culture . Pluralism is grounded in the acknowledgement and promotion of diversity in schools. This research addresses the pluralistic approaches of multi-cultural and anti-rascist education. The concept "culture" forms the basis of multi-cultural teaching and it is therefore essential that a clear understanding is developed of this concept. The stages in the development of multi-cultural education are of great importance, because different countries move from different motivational grounds in their implementation of this form of education. Multi-cultural education aims at equal opportunities for all diverse groups in schools. This approach in education should also adhere to certain conditions to ensure success. Some of these conditions are as follows: early integration, curriculum development and the development of values. Critics opposing multi-cultural education state that this approach would be insufficient if implemented on its own. For this reason the anti-rascist approach in education has also been researched in this study. In the study of the anti-rascist approach in education, it is essential to reach a clear understanding of concepts such as rascism, prejudice, discrimination and stereotyping. It is also essential that the various theories that describe the philosophical and theoretical principles of anti-rascism be clearly understood. In this study the following theories were used: conflict theory, resistance theory and the cognitive development theory. The aims of the anti-rascist approach are grounded in the principles of equality and equity for all. Criticism of the anti-rascist approach points to the fact that it should always be implemented in conjunction with another education approach. By implementing a multi-cultural and anti-rascist approach to education, an opportunity is created to answer many criticisms against these approaches. Successful implementation of the combined approach requires an approach that is more holistic in nature and that a process needs to be followed.
- ItemBlack lesbian identities in South Africa : confronting a history of denial(Desmond Tutu Centre for Religion and Social Justice, University of the Western Cape, 2018-07) Carlse, Janine E.Much of the existing literature on South African black lesbian identities has focussed on the prejudice and victimisation that they endure as subjects of homophobia in the form of hate speech and hate crimes, most notably brutal murders and corrective rape. However, not much has been written about the creative ways that black lesbians are fighting against these injustices that are built upon the historical erasure and denial of their very existence in Africa. By outlining three ‘denials’ of African female same-sex intimacy namely: the imperial denial and subsequent apartheid policing of same-sex intimacy, the denial of female same-sex intimacy through proclaiming it as un-African, and the conceptual denial through the lens of Euro-American feminist lesbian discourse; this article aims to show how black lesbians in South Africa are finding ways to confront these denials. In particular, some aspects of lives and work of selfidentified lesbian activist photographer Zanele Muholi and lesbian sangoma Nkunzi Zandile Nkabinde will be analysed. Muholi and Nkabinde work hard to locate themselves within the public sphere, and engage in projects that aim to educate and build black lesbian communities, in an effort to encourage open dialogue of what it means to be an African lesbian. It can be argued that the voices of South African black lesbians are not only becoming more audible but also more nuanced, where imported notions of sexual identity are being questioned and adapted to their lived realities. Ultimately, this article aims to show how Muholi and Nkabinde provide examples of how reimaginings and negotiations of lesbian identities in (South) Africa are at once complex and essential, and this echoes Msibi’s (2014) call for “greater voices from Africa in theorising sexuality – a terrain long ignored in African scholarship.”
- ItemThe blame game : mechanistic conceptions of teacher education and its impact on schooling(HESA, 2015) Isaacs, Tracey.; Waghid, YusefWith all the policy directives and reform initiatives post-democracy, education in South Africa is seemingly mechanistic and prodigiously carries productive logic: to produce students, to advance economic development, and so on. The active language of official educational policies is riddled with words such as assessment, efficient, high skills and progression that speaks to a technical rationality bent on turning everything into science to obscure the general meaning. In this way the process of education is comparable to a sophisticated, intellectual machine the more complex the machine becomes, the less control and understanding the teachers have of it (Braverman, 1974). In this article, we consider the ways classroom and university teachers have been brutalized through bureaucratic processes and an allegiance to technical rationality, even while we imagine hermeneutic rationality and emancipatory rationality as radical alternatives to recovering the subject in a bureaucratic tangle of educational control.
- ItemCan critical theory contribute towards enacting democratic policy implementation in schools?(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2002--12) Nxawe, Lungiswa; Waghid, Yusef; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Education. Dept. of Education Policy Studies.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This assignment addresses the question whether critical theory can contribute towards enacting democratic policy implementation in schools. With reference to the Norms and Standards for Educators of 2000, I argue that critical educational theory offers an adequate framework of thinking and acting to engender democratic policy implementation in schools. Using conceptual analysis, this assignment shows that one first needs to understand the meanings of concepts before one can consider implementing them. Many of the problems facing teachers in schools involve them not having sufficient understanding of educational concepts. Hence, they seemingly find it difficult to effectively implement policy. This results in the fact that democracy remains undermined. This assignment provides a modest attempt to show that democracy does not have to be sacrificed. However, then it requires teachers to use principles of critical educational theory to ensure that effective policy implementation does occur in schools.
- ItemCan 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.
- ItemA century of misery research on coloured people(African Sun Media, 2020) Jansen, Jonathan; Walters, CyrillWhen a group of Stellenbosch University (SU) researchers published an article on the “low cognitive functioning” and “unhealthy lifestyle behaviours” of coloured women,2 there was immediate outrage across the campus and the country. Yet this particular piece of published research was by no means exceptional. In fact, for the past hundred years Stellenbosch – and other South African universities – had been engaged in what is called race-essentialist research, that is, studies that insisted that there are four racial groups (whites, Indians, coloureds and Africans) and that certain aptitudes, behaviours and even diseases were directly related to these political classifications.
- ItemThe challenges of whole school evaluation for school governing bodies in Hlabisa district Kwazulu Natal Province(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2004-12) Ntombela, M. A.; Taylor, D. J. L.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Education. Dept. of Education Policy Studies.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: South Africa has a long history of apartheid and other forms of unfair discrimination in education. In the past there were separate and unequal school and education systems based on ethnicity, race and colour. Following the democratic elections of April 1994 a new era in education commenced. The education system was transformed to a unitary system and a programme of legislation was launched aimed at promoting democratic ideals and practices. Of particular importance to schools was the South African Schools Act (Act No 84 of 1996), which granted significant powers to school governing bodies (SGBs) at local level. The composition of SGBs was based on elected representation from four main stakeholder groups, namely parents (in the majority), educators, non-educator staff and learners (in Grade 8 or above), plus the principal ex officio. The powers and functions granted to SGBs were intended to promote participative decision-making, a sense of ownership and responsibility aimed at promoting the best interests of the school. The innovation of SGBs had far-reaching potential to improve school effectiveness and more importantly to contribute to the growth of democracy in South Africa. In 2001, aimed specifically at ensuring quality education, the government introduced the National Policy on Whole Schools Evaluation (WSE). The policy unified and integrated previous approaches to school and teacher assessment and was centred on a school-based and holistic approach to the monitoring and improvement of school quality. Using objective criteria and performance indicators on nine areas of functioning, the WSE model relied on an ongoing process of school self-evaluation, supported by external auditing and feedback, leading to each school having a school development plan (SDP). Ownership and direction of this was envisaged to be an important responsibility of SGBs. In this way, school improvement and educational quality became strategically linked to effective school governance. As an educator in the Senior Secondary School phase, the researcher has gained fruitful insights into schools in the rural and semi-rural areas of Hlabisa District in the province of KwaZulu Natal. This first-hand experience has made him keenly aware of problems and challenges for SGBs in fulfilling their role in implementing the processes of monitoring and evaluating school performance in line with WSE. The research therefore aimed to contribute to a better understanding of the particular needs of SGBs in meeting the requirements ofWSE. The research was structured therefore around two aspects: firstly, a conceptual and policy analysis that tried (a) to identify and explain significant concepts relevant to understanding both school governance and school evaluation and (b) to identify and explain the legislative and policy context by dealing with the relevant documents. This included a brief explanation and contrast of the policy approaches to governance and school assessment in the pre-1994 and post-1994 dispensations. The second, more empirical part of the study aimed to investigate the experience of SGBs in practice, by using questionnaires and interviews to collect data from a sample of ten schools in the Hlabisa district. Based on the responses collected the researcher was able to conclude that there are many positive signs of healthy development in school governance in the schools sampled. Particular challenges were also identified relating to the needs of SGBs in order to implement WSE programmes successfully. These challenges included drawbacks caused by illiteracy among school governors, the need for more effective training of SGBs in reaching a full understanding of the governance rights and responsibilities, and the need to bring about a more inclusive participation of all stakeholders, especially also by learners and non-educator staff in exercises such as WSE. In the light of these challenges, the study was able to make certain practical recommendations and suggest questions for future research on the role of school governance in improving school effectiveness through the Whole School approach.
- ItemChartered 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.
- ItemCoda: Beyond Critical Citizenship Education(AFRICAN SUN MeDIA, 2015) Waghid, YusefUndoubtedly, this volume offers a cogent and coherent account of citizenship education commensurate with critical curriculum inquiry at universities. Using social transformation in South Africa as a backdrop, Costandius and Bitzer posit that university education ought to be framed according to theories and practices of critical citizenship education that can hopefully engender more inclusive pedagogical practices, in reference to teaching, learning, policy changes and research. Their understanding of critical citizenship education, as aptly articulated in the first chapter, is couched within the parameters of a transformative pedagogy that accentuates the importance of critical reflection, imagination, human co-existence in the face of diversity and the cultivation of social justice. Moreover, in Chapter 2, by drawing on the seminal thoughts of an illustrious scholar of critical pedagogy, Henry Giroux, they contend that the domination, exclusion and marginalisation of students in and through university curricula should be counteracted, and that appropriate epistemological, conceptual, structural, narratival and paradigmatic changes should be enacted so that higher education discourses might be attenuated more towards spaces of democratic action.