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The management and governance of racial integration in public secondary schools in Gauteng
Full text linkThe main purpose of this paper was to establish the effectiveness of school management and governance structures in managing racial integration in public secondary schools. A qualitative study was conducted utilising Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Lewin’s Change Management Theory. A sample of grade 10 learners and educators, which included members of the School Management Team (SMT), School Governing Body (SGB), which represented the four previous education departments, was purposefully selected. Semi-structured, individual interviews and focus group discussions, including a questionnaire with open-ended questions, were used to gather data. The findings, obtained through content analysis, indicate that SMTs and SGBs experience difficulty in managing and governing racial integration in public schools due to the following: policy and practice issues, poor interrelationships, need for capacity building of educators, and on-going racial conflict. Based on the findings, recommendations are made on how SMTs and SGBs could effectively manage racial integration in public secondary schools. Keywords: governance, management, racial integration; Critical Race Theory, Lewin’s Change Management Theor
Early Education of orphans and vulnerable children: A crucial aspect for social justice and African development
Full text linkIn the last decade there has been a significant escalation in the number of orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) in various parts of the world, more particularly, in Sub-Saharan Africa. The author strongly asserts that early childhood education is the main vehicle to address the concerns of OVC in order for them to develop skills and human capital as future adults in order to improve the outcomes for governance and economic development in Africa. He argues on the basis of inclusion that a social justice framework is essential in taking the rights of OVC into consideration. Adopting a bio-ecological systems theoretical model the author presents research findings on the educational, psychological and social experiences of OVC to motivate the need for African governments to take on the responsibility of addressing the plight of OVC through early childhood development and education interventions if they are serious about economic sustainability and prosperity. Although the research discussed in this paper was conducted in South Africa the author believes that the findings could easily depict what happens in the rest of Africa. In concluding, the author considers the implications of the findings in relation to future policies and directions needed for crucial development in Africa.OPSOMMINGGedurende die laaste dekade was daar ‘n aansienlike verhoging in die aantal wees- en kwesbare kinders (WKK) regoor die wêreld maar veral in Sub-Sahara Afrika. Die skrywer argumenteer sterk dat vroeë- kinderopvoeding die hoof voertuig is om die bekommernisse oor WKK aan te spreek deur die ontwikkeling van vaardighede en menslikekapitaal vir toekomstige volwassenes en daardeur die bestuur en ekonomiese ontwikkeling in Afrika te stimuleer. Hy agumenteer dat deur inklusieweopvoeding ‘n sosiaal regverdige raamwerk belangrik is om die regte van WKK in ag te neem. Deur van ‘n bio-ekologiesesisteemsteorie model gebruik te maak hou die skrywer navorsings voor gebasseer op die opvoedkundige, sielkundige en sosiaale ervaringe van WKK om die behoefte vir die aanvaarding van verantwoordelikheid om die lot WWK deur vroee-kinderontwikkeling en –opvoedkundige intervensies deur regeings in Afrika te motiveer indien hulle ernstig is oor ekonomiesevolhoubaarheid en –voorspoed. Alhoewel die navorsing wat in hierdie referaat bespreek word in Suid Afrika gedoen was glo die skrywer dat die bevindinge verteenwoordigend is van dit wat in die res van Afrika gebeur. Ter afsluiting, die skrywer beskou die implikasies ten opsigte van die bevindinge, deurslaggewend vir toekomstige beleids- en opvoedkundige-rigtinggewing vir die noodsaaklike ontwikkeling in Afrika. https://doi.org/10.19108/KOERS.83.1.233
?n Kykie na Kopstukke: Filosofie op Potchefstroom die afgelope eeu (1917-2017), Deel 2: die sisteembouers
Full text linkABSTRACTA peephole on big guns; philosophy at Potchefstroom during the past century (1917-2017). Part 2: the systematic philosophersWhile during the last century philosophy played a key-role in shaping the Christian character of the erstwhile Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education (now a campus of the North-West University), its history has not yet been documented and published. In a series of four articles the author provides a preliminary reconnaissance and outline to fill this lacuna and to encourage possible further research.A previous article in this journal investigated the philosophers, F. Postma and S.O. Los, and the nature of the philosophies they taught about a hundred years ago (1916) at the Potchefstroom University College (cf. Van der Walt 2017). This first period may be characterised as a time of philosophical reconnoitring. The following hundred years (of about 1916 to 2017) of philosophy can be divided into three main phases: first a time of system-building, followed by a period of philosophical elaboration and finally of reconsideration. This review deals with the second period of system-building (Stoker & Taljaard) while the next will discuss the third period of elaboration (the following philosophers) while the third will review the present critical situation. As the title of the first two contributions suggests, the writer acts as a fly on the wall looking back at the “big guns”, those philosophers who headed the Department (later School) of Philosophy at Potchefstroom, to indicate inter alia what their academic backgrounds, fields of specialisation and publications were.Since all of them shared a commitment to a Christian approach in their philosophising the essay in conclusion focuses on the deepest religious foundations of their thinking. The third article will provide a more detailed critical evaluation of the possible impact of the Christian Reformational philosophical tradition in philosophy at Potchefstroom.SAMEVATTINGDie vak Wysbegeerte (later herdoop tot Filosofie) se handvol filosowe het vir die grootste deel van die afgelope eeu belangrike bydraes gelewer in die bepaling van die Christelike karakter van die Potchefstroomse Universiteit vir Christelike Hoër Onderwys. Behalwe min of meer terloopse verwysings na die vak of persone wat dit aangebied het in algemene geskiedenisse van die PUK, is daar egter nog niks oor die geskiedenis van filosofie en die kopstukke daarby betrokke te boek gestel nie. Met enkele hooflyne wil hierdie verkenning in dié leemte voorsien en verdere detailnavorsing stimuleer.In ?n vorige bydrae (Van der Walt, 2017) is die tydperk van wysgerige verkenning tot ongeveer 1916 met figure soos proff. S.O. Los en F. Postma bekyk. Hierdie bydrae fokus op die bydraes van twee figure gedurende die tweede periode van sistematisering van ?n Christelike filosofie, Hendrik Gerhardus Stoker (dosent aan die begin van die twintigerjare en vanaf 1936 tot 1964 departementshoof) en Jan Adrian Louw Taljaard (dosent vanaf 1948 en departementshoof vanaf 1965 tot 1974). Wat het hulle akademiese opleiding behels, wat was hulle besondere belangstellings en publikasies? Die artikel word afgesluit met ?n terugblik op die gemeenskaplike religieuse grondslae van hulle denke.In ?n volgende (derde) aflewering sal daaropvolgende, latere filosofiese kopstukke bekyk word, verteenwoordigers van ?n derde periode in die geskiedenis van filosofie op Potchefstroom, naamlik wysgerige uitbouing. Die reeks sal afgesluit word met ?n vierde en laaste bylae oor die meer resente situasie vanaf ongeveer 2010.https://doi.org/10.19108/KOERS.83.1.237
“In a Golden Coach”: an educational musical event about fullness of life
Full text linkThis article discusses a community musical event that took place in Winchester Cathedral on 17 November 2012. June Boyce-Tillman annually composes a participatory community music making event with a specific theme. One such event, In a Golden Coach, was designed for mass participation, in which school-children, dispersed instruments, an orchestra, solo singers, three community choirs and the cathedral organ participated. The central theme of the musical event was that the nature of the Queen’s vocation to serve people which can make her a role model for children. She lived a life that could be associated with fullness of life. Unstructured interviews with a group of pupils from two schools who participated in the performance, combined with an autoethnographic account of the composer’s intentions and aspirations, shed an interesting light on the role of musicking in the expression of spirituality. These two data sources are combined using grounded theory, and then applied to prominent concepts in the literature on spirituality particularly from Radboud University, Nijmegen. Finally, the expression of spirituality of performance is linked with the Aristotelian concept of eudaimonia, which is commonly translated as ‘wellbeing’ and can be related to fullness of life. The educational value of the musical event has moments that highlight fullness of life. https://doi.org/10.19108/KOERS.83.1.243
The Christian ethic of inclusive leadership within diastratic diversity: employing liminality as an analytical tool.
Full text linkAbstractThis article discerns the ingredients leadership ought to employ when it functions within the plurifactorial dimensions of the sociological, economic, political, cultural, religious and class diversity. It discerns what qualities enable leadership to befriend and contain diastratic conditions present in a diverse living environment unique to the South African society. For analytical purposes, it employ the art of liminality and the Christian ethic of inclusivity, so as to make provision for the variable situations, providing leadership with flexibility, and an openness to embrace the new, the unknown and uneventful elements of life. AbstrakHierdie artikel besin die bestanddele wat leierskap in diens behoort te neem wanneer dit funksioneer binne die multifaktoriese dimensies van die sosiologiese, ekonomiese, politieke, kulturele, godsdienstige en klasverskeidenheid. Dit besin aan watter eienskappe leierskap in staat gestel moet word om die diastratiese toestande, teenwoording in die leefomgewing, uniek aan die Suid-Afrikaanse samelewing, te bevriend en te omvat. Vir analitiese doeleindes gebruik dit die kuns van liminaliteit en die Christelike etiek van inklusiwiteit om voorsiening te maak vir die veranderlike situasies, om leierskap met buigsaamheid te verskaf en om die nuwe, onbekende en onbeduidende elemente van die lewe te omhels.https://doi.org/10.19108/KOERS.83.1.232
Catholic secondary education and identity reformation in Zambia’s Southern Province: an outcome of a conflict of educational policy values or not?
Full text linkOPSOMMINGHierdie artikel, “Katolieke sekondêre onderwys en identiteitsreformasie in Zambië se Suidelike Provinsie: ’n Gevolg van strydige waardes van onderwysbeleid of nie?”, is ’n uitvloeisel van ’n studie getitel “Katolieke sekondêre onderwys en identiteitsreformasie in Zambië se Suidelike Provinsie”. Die artikel dui aan dat sedert Katolieke skole in Zambië gevestig is, hulle deel van daardie land se onderwysvoorsiening uitmaak en oor die jare ’n goeie reputasie as verskaffers van onderwys van ’n goeie gehalte opgebou het. Sedert Zambië se onafhanklikwording in 1964 het Katolieke onderwys egter ’n ongewenste identiteitsverandering of -reformasie ondergaan, wat behels dat dit van Katolieke onderwyspraktyk, soos aanbeveel in Katolieke onderwysbeleid, afwyk. Kenners van Katolieke onderwys in Zambië en die Zambiese nasie erken die identiteitsverlies wat Katolieke skole sedert onafhanklikwording ondervind en gee hul ontevredenheid daarmee te kenne. Die betrokke kenners verwys slegs oorsigtelik na die probleem van identiteitsverlies wat Katolieke skole ondervind, wat tot gebrekkige insig in die probleem bydra. Die Zambiese nasie verwys slegs op spekulatiewe en onduidelike wyse na hierdie probleem, wat ook tot gebrekkige insig in die probleem van identiteitsverlies in Katolieke skole in die land bydra. Met verwysing na die argumente wat kenners van Katolieke onderwys oor hierdie probleem in Zambië aanvoer, is hierdie artikel gemoeid met die argumente wat Carmody (2007) aangaande die oorsake van ongewenste identiteitsreformasie in Katolieke skole aanvoer; die argumente word spesifiek met katolieke sekondêre skole in Zambië se Suidelike Provinsie in verband gebring met die doel om hulle te verifieer. Die artikel dui aan dat Carmody se argumente nie op Katolieke sekondêre skole in Zambië se Suidelike Provinsie van toepassing is nie en voer redes hiervoor aan. Die artikel gee ook ’n tentatiewe beskrywing van die ongewenste identiteitsreformasie wat Katolieke sekondêre skole in die Suidelike Provinsie ondervind en sluit af met ’n uiteensetting van die vier ware oorsake van ongewenste identiteitsreformasie in Katolieke sekondêre skole in Zambië se Suidelike Provinsie.Sleutel woorde: identiteit, Katoliek, akademies. godsdienstig ABSTRACTThis article sets out to reflect critically on the causes of undesired identity reformation that has occurred in Catholic secondary schools in Zambia’s Southern Province since the country gained independence from Britain in 1964. This critical reflection is necessitated by the fact that although scholars in the field of Catholic education and the Zambian people acknowledge the presence of undesired identity reformation in Catholic schools, this issue is presented in brief, speculative and indefinite terms. This is against a background where such schools have earned themselves a good reputation due to their provision of quality education to the Zambian people since independence. Catholics and other people concerned with the welfare of Catholic education have started to express their discontent with the identity reformation experienced by Catholic schools. This article, therefore, critically engages with Carmody’s (2007) contentions regarding the causes of undesired identity reformation in Catholic schools and relates them specifically to Catholic secondary schools in Zambia’s Southern Province in order to verify them. It is shown in this article that Carmody’s contentions are not relevant in explaining the causes of undesired identity reformation in Catholic secondary schools in Zambia’s Southern Province. As such, in stating the nature and the scope of the undesired identity reformation in Catholic secondary schools in Zambia’s Southern Province, the article highlights four genuine causes of undesired identity reformation. These four genuine causes are linked to a weakening of the “academic” and “religious” missions of Catholic schools, which contributes to their loss of Catholic education identity as recommended in Catholic education policy. Key words: Identity;Catholic;academic;religioushttps://doi.org/10.19108/KOERS.82.1.227
Corporate Social Responsibility in the Zambian mining sector: an overview of three distinctive operational eras
Full text linkABSTRACT Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) within the extractive industry is a relevant and contentious issue globally. Issues pertaining to equality, human rights and sustainable development are pervasive throughout the economic, social and environmental arenas of the extractive industry. There is still not consensus on the definition of CSR regarding the measurement of performance or impact, or how to determine which of the various ‘developmental’ components of the concept – namely economic, social or environment – takes precedent over the other where there are competing interests. This article on CSR in the Zambian Copperbelt uses the experiences of mining communities as stakeholders who have gone through three types and eras of CSR practices within a generation. The Zambian Copperbelt has a history of operating under colonial rule, nationalisation and privatisation. The aim is to interrogate the CSR practices of the three identified eras in the history of the Zambian Copperbelt. The article is based on the findings from a mainly qualitative research approach. The research employed the survey procedure through focus groups, personal interviews and inputs from key informants.The findings are presented by a selection of narratives of CSR experiences from the Zambian Copperbelt mining communities. Consequently, an in depth discussion and analysis reflecting the effects of a CSR enabling environment in the three eras as experienced by community members follows. The paper concludes with a brief overview of the lessons learnt throughout the three eras. OPSOMMING Korporatiewe Sosiale Verantwoordelikheid (KSV) binne die ontginningsindustrie is \u27n relevante en omstrede kwessie wêreldwyd. Kwessies met betrekking tot gelykheid, menseregte en volhoubare ontwikkeling is universeel ooglopend binne die ekonomiese-, sosiale- en omgewingsarenas van die mynsektor. Daar is steeds nie konsensus oor die definisie van KSV rakende die meting van prestasie of impak daarvan nie, ook nie hoe om te bepaal watter een van die verskillende "ontwikkelings" komponente van die konsep (naamlik die ekonomiese, sosiale of omgewingsaspek) bevoordeel moet word bo die ander, waar daar mededingende belange is nie. Hierdie artikel oor KSV in die Zambiese Koperstreek gebruik die ervarings van myngemeenskappe as belanghebbendes wat deur drie tipes en tydperke van KSV praktyke gegaan het, binne \u27n generasie. Die Zambiese Koperstreek het \u27n geskiedenis van die bedrywighede onder koloniale heerskappy, nasionalisering en privatisering. Die doel is om die KSV praktyke van die drie bogenoemde eras te ondersoek deur die geskiedenis van die Zambiese Koperstreek. Hierdie artikel is gebaseer op die bevindinge van \u27n hoofsaaklik kwalitatiewe navorsingsbenadering en het gebruik gemaak van fokusgroepe, persoonlike onderhoude en insette deur sleutel informante. Die bevindinge word aangebied deur \u27n seleksie van verhale rakende die KSV ervarings van die Zambiese Koperstreek myngemeenskappe. Daarna volg ?n in-diepte bespreking en ontleding rakende die gevolge van \u27n KSV bemagtigende omgewing, in die drie eras soos ervaar deur lede van die gemeenskap. Die artikel sluit af met \u27n kort oorsig oor die lesse wat geleer is oor die drie eras.https://doi.org/10.19108/KOERS.82.1.228
Decolonizing the school curriculum for equity and social justice in South Africa
Full text linkThe starting point of decolonizing the curriculum is in the schools and classrooms that I regard as the formal education laboratories for equity and social justice in a just society. Unfortunately, many South African public schools’ curriculum are not yet decolonized and thus continue to perpetuate the preparation of learners for leading western lives in a continent that is not western by nature. The South African school curriculum does little to address decolonization for equity and social justice in the South African public schools.This article argues for the decolonization of public school curriculum for equity and social justice in South Africa. Background information is provided. Key terms will be decoded, followed by an outline of the frame of reference, method of research and a discussion of the process of decolonising the curriculum. The importance of decolonizing the school curriculum for equity and social justice in South Africa will be discussed. Threats of not decolonizing the curriculum for equity and social justice in South Africa will also be discussed. Conclusions will be drawn. https://doi.org/10.19108/KOERS.82.3.233
Ensuring Educational Leadership in the Creation and Leadership of Schools
Full text linkResearchers have grappled to speculate about why people in almost all societies share a concern with social justice and equity in education. It is increasingly recognized, internationally and in South Africa, that leading and managing teaching and learning is one of the most important activities for principals and other school leaders. This paper shows that managing teaching and learning are often inadequate, and largely fails to improve educational problems facing school communities. A lot was written about arguably the biggest challenge facing today’s teachers and principals. The question remains how schools could be made to work effectively and equitably for all learners in ever more diverse classrooms. This article will attempt to ensure that there is educational leadership in the creation and management of schools. Quality leadership skills and competencies for effective teaching and learning in schools are also highlighted. The rationale for this study is based on the growing concern that school leadership is not sensitive to the needs of the learners they serve and continue to experience unjustifiable expenditure in relation to community expectations in terms of teaching and learning. The equity theory underpinned this study. It is imperative to note that people feel most comfortable when their relationships are maximally profitable and they are giving and getting exactly what they deserve from their relationships; no more and certainly no less.The ethics of care theory is used as a lens to understand how principals leader and manage schools to improve learner performance. This theory is considered pertinent for this study due to the fact that leaders have authority and power over their subordinates. A leader should possess instructional leadership skills that emphasizes the achievement of the core task, teaching and learning, in schools. Effective leaders understand their staff and learners’ unique needs, can create a supportive environment and engage in practices that build on employee self-confidence to enhance their performance. Ethics of care is deemed suitable for this study since school leaders should have a passion to care for teachers and learners they lead. Ethics of care is a suitable way to connect people and emphasizes helping others. Leaders should go an extra mile to address, nurture and support the needs of the teachers. The role of caring in a school environment has a more specific aim, which is to establish an environment that isconducive to effective teaching and learning because an environment that is caring enhances productivity.An investigation was conducted to explore the effective school leadership through teaching and learning. This effect presents an exhaustive review of the article and suggests a direction for future developments. Based on the study, a qualitative approach was employed to investigate effective school leadership practices as perceived by school leaders. The belief is that schools should be led by quality of leaders in order to produce good results. It is on this backdrop that schools need effective, dedicated, responsible, accountable school leaders, and staff members, if they are to provide quality education for all learners. It became evident from the findings that effective principals put learning at the center of their daily activities and that this can only be achieved if the creation of a conducive environment plays a major role in developing a professional community of teachers who work as a team under an effective instructional leadership. Recommendations evolved from the findings.
https://doi.org/10.19108/KOERS.82.3.232
Thoughts on Strategies and a Paradigm Shift to Achieve Equity in Education
Full text linkAlthough the terms “equity” and “social justice” are often used together in phrases such as “equity and social justice”, and although these concepts are clearly related, I will confine my discussion to the concept of “equity”.
There are clear signs of a widespread belief that equity can indeed be achieved in education in South Africa if policy can be implemented better and become practice, and if everyone can intensify their efforts in this regard. This belief suggests that equity remains elusive in education in South Africa, despite the fact that innumerable policies have been developed that were assumed to be suitable for addressing some of the more urgent challenges, and enabling education to progress towards the goal of equity. Seemingly uncontested notions exist, among others the notion that equity can be operationally defined, and the idea that laws and policies can be used as levers to turn around a worrisome situation, such as an apparent lack of equity in education. Policymakers, in particular, seem to believe that goals, whose attainment can be measured quantitatively, can be set in regard to equity in education.
Some of the assumptions in regard to education and equity are questionable, and possibly even mistaken, and I will examine them in this article. I will argue that merely re-examining the causal relationship between policy and practice in regard to equity in education is not likely to bring equity within reach in education, or through education. Meaningful strides towards equity cannot be made before clarity has been achieved on the meaning and implications of equity. I will argue that a paradigm shift regarding equity needs to precede a rethinking of policy and practice.
I propose to develop my argument, which I expect to be eminently contestable, by
Seeking to trace the origin and meaning of the concept of “equity”,
Examining the apparent general confusion over terminology such as “equality”, “equity”, “redress”, “quality”, “affirmative action”, “(re)distributive justice”, and “social justice” in the educational policy, law and practice literature,
Asking questions that could provoke answers that could illuminate the concept; these questions would relate to, among other things, points of departure when thinking about equity, for example• “Is it an aim, a point of departure, or an outcome?”• “Is it measurable, and is there a way in which to measure its achievement?”, and• “Can people, through education, be brought to a place where they will recognise whether they are enjoying equity, or not?”, and
Proposing that the ultimate meaning of equity is to remove what impairs people’s inherent human dignity and is therefore untenable, repugnant, and unconscionable in any social sphere (such as education). Although equity is hard to measure (if it can be measured at all), I will argue that it can be sensed when people believe that a previously abhorrent, unconscionable or untenable situation that affected the essence of their human dignity and existence or being negatively has been removed and that it is now possible for them to live their lives in dignity. A change in thinking, or a paradigm shift, needs to take place, where we come to the realisation that we cannot keep on pursuing numerical targets, which, in the final analysis, do not do much to prove that we have moved towards equity. In addition to following obviously needed educational strategies to eliminate inequities, we need to develop a coherent understanding of what would constitute equity in people’s minds, and to consider ways and means to make people aware of such a place, and move them towards it.
Equity plays itself out in, and must essentially be achieved in, the sphere of interaction and contact between people, and, as such, it is closely bound up with, among other things, people’s human dignity and social justice. If equity is to be employed to achieve equality, it should be remembered that absolute equality seems impossible, and is, in any case, statistically improbable, given the highly complex multiple sub-contexts from which people come. One should also remember that people do not have a right to equality per se, but rather that they are equal before the law, and that they have the right to equal protection and benefit of the law (Section 9(1) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa of 1996). I cannot provide definitive answers to questions such as “What is equity?”, “How does one achieve equity?”, and “How does one know that equity has been achieved?” I will, however, suggest ways that we can think differently about equity, in which we can get closer to a proper understanding of the concept.
https://doi.org/10.19108/KOERS.82.3.233