Research Articles (Curriculum Studies)
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- ItemPerspectives of early career supervisors on navigating the Socio-emotional needs of their doctoral candidates(Central University of Technology, 2024-06) Leshem, S.; Bitzer, E.M.All supervisors of doctoral research aim at guiding their students towards success on their doctoral journeys. Desired characteristics of successfully guiding doctoral studies have been widely reported in relevant literature and gave rise to various models of exemplary supervisory practice. One area within the supervisory relationship that has received limited attention is the emotional aspect of supervisors' role, their dispositional qualities of mind and character which are key factors in establishing an intellectual and emotional working rapport with candidates. This exploratory qualitative study sought to gain a deepened understanding of how supervisors address the socio-emotional needs of their students. A combination of online and in-person semistructured interviews with ten doctoral study supervisors, and thematic analysis of data, revealed that supervisors fully acknowledge the notion that interpersonal and emotional issues are key factors in the supervisory process. However, the way they see, and experience emotional factors differ. While some regard the supervisory process as an intellectual academic relationship, others regard supervision more as mentoring, allowing more space for selfexpression and emotions. The study's findings carry implications for enhancing the training and support offered to doctoral supervisors and students enrolled in doctoral programmes, as well as identifying potential areas for improvement.
- ItemTowards a critical pedagogy of global citizenship: breaking the silence as a trained dancer in post-apartheid South Africa(Springer Nature, 2024-01 ) Esau, Omar; Jones, Danielle‑MarieThis article reveals a reflective journey of a dancer through unpacking two performances experienced over the course of two years. It examines and navigates ways of decolonizing oppressive dominance and investigating the ramifications of indoctrination in dance. It depicts how a trained dancer evolved and became more conscious by breaking the “culture of silence” and changed in becoming a more critical reflective dancer in a post-apartheid South Africa. This project aligns itself with global citizenship education (GCE) as it re/imagines traditional forms of civic and citizenship education in a more critical and decolonial perspective. In writing this paper, we are reminded of “the myriad shifts of thinking, strategies and back-and-forth debating” with each other and can also see our “encounters as a dance” (Waghid in Dancing with doctoral encounters: Democratic education in motion, African Sun Media, 2015). In breaking the silence surrounding dance and its conservative elements, we question the technocratic practices and accepted norms in the performance arts and the dancing arena. How does a classical dancer redress the colonial past in a performance arts classroom? The significance of this paper lies in the argument that decolonization becomes an imperative within GCE if one is striving for social justice and intends to commit oneself to a more equitable society where crossing borders must be a seamless act.
- ItemDialogue, horizon and chronotope : using Bakhtin’s and Gadamer’s ideas to frame online teaching and learning(Springer Nature, 2024-04-05) Rule, PeterThe information explosion and digital modes of learning often combine to inform the quest for the best ways of transforming information in digital form for pedagogical purposes. This quest has become more urgent and pervasive with the ‘turn’ to online learning in the context of COVID-19. This can result in linear, asynchronous, transmission-based modes of teaching and learning which commodify, package and deliver knowledge for individual ‘customers’. The primary concerns in such models are often technical and economic – technology as a cost-effective ‘solution’ to educational challenges. In this paper I argue for the importance of dialogic learning space in teaching and learning by means of Information and Communication Technologies, whether in the form of fully online learning, blended learning or face-to-face encounters using ICT affordances. Although the 20th Century theorists Mikhail Bakhtin (1895–1975) and Hans-Georg Gadamer (1900–2002) produced their seminal works before the advent of ICTs, they were both concerned with the quality and authenticity of human engagement with texts and with other persons and contexts. Besides a shared interest in dialogue as an ontological feature of human life and being, they both used spatiotemporal concepts for understanding and interpreting texts. The article draws on Gadamer’s notions of dialogue and horizon, and Bakhtin’s notions of dialogue and chronotope, to conceptualize dialogic possibilities for online education. Its purpose is to provide a framework, grounded in Bakhtin’s and Gadamer’s ideas, for a dialogic approach to online teaching and learning in higher education.
- ItemConversations reflecting boundary-objects-related details of a teacher’s local practices with spreadsheet algebra programs on variables(AOSIS (Pty) Ltd., 2023-11-30) Gierdien M. Faaiz; Daher Wajeeh; Abu-Saman Awni M.The ways teachers converse about their work in relation to information and communications technologies (ICTs) are worth studying. We analyse how a teacher converses about her local practices in relation to two spreadsheet algebra programs (SAPs) on variables. During the conversations we noticed that the teacher keeps different policy documents – boundary objects – firmly in view, in relation to the design of the two other boundary objects, namely the two SAPs. The policy documents provide details on the operative curricula which entail the intended, implemented and examined curricula. Of these curricula, the teacher regarded the examined curriculum and associated examinations as most important. Also, she conversed about how she intends to align the design features of the two SAPs with particular policy documents, especially in the context of the South African high-stakes National Senior Certificate examinations and the attendant examination pressure. Our results confirm current professional development (PD) literature suggestions that emphasise fostering coherence, for example between policy boundary objects details and what university-based PD providers do when they interact with school teachers. Contribution: The results provide guidelines for university-based PD providers to integrate SAPs or other ICTs related to algebra and variables by keeping teachers’ local practices in view. These providers should note that different policy-related boundary objects shape the ways teachers understand and converse about their local practices, namely their work at the classroom level.
- ItemReducing violence through chess: involving pre-service teachers in participatory action in schools(Canadian Journal of Action Research, 2023-10-28) Omar, EsauIn this article, I critically reflect and describe how our Chess Development Project (CDP), initiated by pre-service teachers at a university in South Africa, helped create a safer, non-violent, and more supportive school environment. This participatory action research (PAR) project highlights the idea that higher education institutions should not only add to knowledge production but also contribute to practical improvement in the community. In this project, we introduced one sports code, chess, in a township school to reduce violence. The research question addressed was: To what extent does learner engagement in the CDP by pre-service teachers reduce school violence and bridge the gap between the university and the school? We set out to explore and discuss the potential of using chess as an educational tool for creating awareness, improving knowledge, and changing attitudes towards the challenges the learners face in life. The data collection techniques used were field notes, student assistant notes, interviews, questionnaires, and transcribed recordings of our research team reflections. As the coordinator of the project, I played the role of facilitator between the pre-service teachers and the township school. The findings suggest that this project was transformative. As a collective, the students and I became more aware of the day-to-day challenges that schools and communities face in the township areas in South Africa.