KovsieJournals - University of the Free State (UFS)
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Predictors of corruption among town planners: A Nigerian case study
Get PDFThis article examines the predictors of corruption among selected town planners in Ogun State, Nigeria, through the Differential Association-Reinforcement Theory. Questionnaires were used to gather data about corruption, economic situation, job dissatisfaction, lack of commitment, learnt behaviour (criminal or anti-criminal), and reinforcement favourable to corruption among the sample of 81 town planners. Descriptive statistics, bivariate relationships, and a series of Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression models were used to analyse the data. Findings show that variables with the highest correlation with corruption are job dissatisfaction, commitment, learnt criminal behaviour, and reinforcement towards corruption. Findings also show that town planners significantly engage more in corruption when higher levels of job dissatisfaction and higher levels of lack of commitment interact with higher levels of learnt criminal behaviour. This study makes an important theoretical contribution to the existing literature as well as to urban and regional planning practice in Nigeria, considering the accountability of town-planning ‘officials’
PANDEMIC OASIS: POPULAR RELIGIOSITIES AS WOMEN’S LIFE-GIVING COMMUNITAS
No full textThis article argues and explores how popular Catholic piety can serve as an agent to create life-giving communitas forwomen in Macao, China. This research uses the narratives of six Catholic women about how their immersion in various public and private devotional practices creates solidarity and communities that are inclusive, empowering, and nurturing during the outbreak of COVID-19. Besides petitioning their long-lasting devotional images such as St Roch and Our Lady of Fatima, women learn and move on to a new model of online and live stream religious response and ritual innovations at the time of coronavirus in Macao. The digitisation of gathering strengthens the global connection among women to the rest of the world, shapinga new form of devotional culture and community ties that are not necessarily institutionalised. Devotional practices act as a spiritual oasis, personally and communally, for women coming together and bring hope, strength, and consolation to this unprecedented time
PREFACE
Get PDFWithin the context of the COVID-19 pandemic the 10th Biennial Conference of the Ecclesia of Women in Asia,2 22-26 February 2022, focused on the theme: Toward life-giving communities in a post-pandemic world: Asian feminist theological perspectives. “Life-giving community” is one that is inclusive, communitarian, egalitarian, empowering, andrespectful of differences. It is a community that goes beyond the boundaries of gender, class, or race/ethnicity, fostering the right relations with God, other peoples, and creation. This Special Issue is a collection of selected articles from that Conference
The role of the Writing Centre in negotiating inclusive learning spaces in the context of Covid-19
Get PDFThe Covid-19 pandemic catapulted higher education institutions to shifting their teaching, learning and assessment practices. Universities globally were abruptly forced to close their doors and adapt to digital learning platforms with the intention of meeting students’ learning needs. In a University of Technology (UoT) context such as the Durban University of Technology (DUT) in South Africa, the university had to relook the way it interacted and engaged with students. Writing centres at universities in South Africa have evolved and have led to the development of opportunities for collaborative learning underpinned by humanistic principles and interconnectivity in teaching, thinking and learning. Traditionally in the writing centre, students grow and develop in an informal way by face-to-face interactions in a physical space with tutors, peers and writing practitioners. However, as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, the writing centre has shifted to virtual learning platforms in order to continue creating inclusive and flexible learning spaces to foster criticality and academic and social resiliency in students. This paper explored how the writing centre as a vibrant community of practice (CoP), with the use of digital platforms initiated innovative tutoring techniques to contribute to creating a safe, enabling learning environment for students during these uncertainties. Paulo Freire’s idea of a Humanising Pedagogy (1970) and Lave and Wenger’s (1991) concept of communities of practice were used to gain insights into the contextual dynamics that shape a writing centre’s practice as the centre conceptualises how to respond to the ‘new normal’ in higher education. This paper asked a fundamental question about learning approaches and what is most valuable, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic. Data collection included written reflections from eight writing centre tutors from one writing centre site and surveys with 20 student users. This enabled an understanding of their perceptions and experiences of using the writing centre remotely, within a qualitative, exploratory inquiry. The findings revealed that the writing centre acknowledges the socio-economic difficulties faced by students and sees the value of CoP and a humanistic approach in its work in assisting students in coping with challenges and the realities that currently confront them. It found that tutors are central to contributing to transformative, multi-modal learning, and the writing centre can serve as a vehicle for promoting and sustaining inclusive learning environments and new ways of supporting students during uncertain times such as the pandemic
Advances made by the University of the Western Cape in the support of remote online teaching and learning for student success and access
Get PDFDuring the COVID-19 pandemic, ongoing advances were made by higher education institutions (HEIs) to support remote online teaching and learning for student success and access, which are increasing areas of research. The major objective of this paper is to address the shift to remote teaching and learning practices that Covid precipitated in higher education. We report on literature that captures the ongoing shift to remote teaching and learning practices. The response of the University of the Western Cape (UWC) to the crisis of the pandemic will be highlighted. Various themes related to the pedagogical value of emergency remote teaching (ERT), online learning, and continual post-pandemic support are discussed. We examine how challenges presented new opportunities for curriculum innovation and transformation at the UWC. The focus is the importance of a continual professional academic support structure and post-covid awareness campaigns in order to sustain fully online and hybrid teaching and learning approaches. Recommendations highlight that departments across faculties need to focus on training and support with regard to the attainment and effective application of eSkills and eTools; and that there is a need to intensify this, especially as part of the broader curriculum transformation agenda. More research that focuses on ongoing advances in the support of remote online teaching and learning for student success and access during a pandemic is necessary
The experiences of mathematics subject advisors when conducting school support visits
Get PDFGiven the importance of mathematics performance of learners andthe challenges in South Africa, it is important that the expertise of all role-players, including the subject advisors who visit the teachers to guide and support them, is used to its full potential. While some studies have explored the experiences of teachers in this regard, literature on the experiences of mathematics subject advisors is scant. Furthermore, little has been published on the experiences of subject advisors within the context of rural areas with a low population, such as the Northern Cape Province. This article addresses the gap by exploring the deeper understanding of mathematics subject advisors’ experiences when conducting school support visits. Taking a qualitative research approach, I conducted semi-structured interviews with six mathematics subject advisors from the four phases (foundation, intermediate, senior, and further education and training) in all five of the education districts of the Northern Cape Department of Education (Frances Baard; Z.F. Mgcwawu; Pixley Ka Seme; Namakwa; and J.T. Gaetsewe). Through Husserl’s phenomenological theoretical framework, complemented with Gibbs’ reflective cycle and Colaizzi’s seven steps of data analysis, participants were found to have had both good and bad experiences when conducting school support visits. Experiences included positive attitudes from educators and schools in general, and good curriculum implementation and teaching and learning practices. However, participants were sometimes received with hostility, and observed poor curriculum implementation and teaching and learning practices. Noteworthy is some negative union influence, lack of specialisation in mathematics by foundation phase departmental heads, lack of coherence in communication, and lack of cooperation and collaboration amongst district officials. If the concerns raised by mathematics subject advisors in this paper are not addressed, these may have a negative impact on the experiences of subject advisors and, by implication, on learner performance as well as education in general
“Activism in Tight Corners”: Decolonisation and the African Business Association Movement in Colonial Zimbabwe, 1953 – 1979
Get PDFThe article analyses the African business association movement in Zimbabwe between 1953 and 1979. It argues that African traders took advantage of the heightened African nationalist feeling of the period together with colonial anxieties around decolonisation to gain space within the colonial economy. This created an ambiguous position on decolonisation for African traders culminating in the formation of numerous business associations with the Zimbabwe African Business Union (ZABU) established in 1963 at the pinnacle of this process. With the thwarting of the nationalist movement after 1964, the African business association movement went into a hiatus emerging in 1973 as the moderate Rhodesia African Chamber of Commerce (RACC). A sister association to RACC known as the African Business Promotion Association (ABPA) emerged in 1978 to take advantage of decolonisation with the goal of winning economic space for Africans. By looking at these business associations, the study reimagines African nationalism during the critical junctures of the federal and Unilateral Declaration of Independence (hereafter UDI) periods. For example, the experiences of rural business associations like the Mt Darwin African Traders Association (hereafter Mt Darwin Association), and its leaders, in rallying African traders into forming a national association point to the role of previously unknown individuals and associations outside of urban townships such as Highfield, the capital of African politics in Zimbabwe. The article uses stories from the African-oriented press, the mainstream media and archival sources to reconstruct the experiences of African business associations during the period covered
Factors that influence public school principals’ professional discretion: Perspectives of South African public-school principals
Get PDFThrough the lens of the contextual intelligence theory, this article utilises previous empirical research studies as a base to support the application of professional discretion practices of public-school principals. The study focused in particular on the factors that influence or limit their use of professional discretion in their daily tasks. A mixed-methods study was conducted in which quantitative survey data were used to inform the questions that were asked to participants during semi-structured interviews. The findings suggest that public-school principals are susceptible to both internal and external factors that could limit or influence the application of their professional discretion. Even though public-school principals within a particular school district operate under the same set of policies, it is evident that some principals are more inclined to apply professional discretion than others
Leadership competencies for teacher professional development: perspectives of Namibian principals, heads of departments and teachers
Get PDFUsing a blend of functional, distributed, and instructional leadership theories as a theoretical lens, this article presents the perspectives of Namibian principals, heads of departments (HODs) and teachers on the various leadership competencies that are required in their role of enabling school leaders to support their teachers’ professional development. The study was approached from a pragmatist perspective employing a mixed-methods methodology. The sequential explanatory design employed combined quantitative and qualitative data obtained from school principals, HODs and teachers. Analysis entailed the generation of descriptive statistics using SPSS and open coding of qualitative data to generate themes. It was found that school leaders require multiple competencies, such as accountability, effective communication, good interpersonal relations, subject-matter competencies, administrative competencies, digital competencies and listening skills to be able to support their teachers’ professional development efforts. This study provides insights into how school leadership competencies enable principals’ and HODs to support teacher professional development within a Namibian context. The study also provides a new knowledge base for Namibian policy makers, political office bearers and administrators to avail human and financial resources to capacitate school leaders with much needed competencies to be able support teachers’ professional development through training
Common grace as theological encouragement for interreligious dialogue
Get PDFThe Dutch theologian-statesman Abraham Kuyper developed the doctrine of common grace in a lengthy manner. Common grace emphasises that God’s grace operates not only in a salvific way for the elect, but also in a general way for every individual. Despite sin, human beings are capable of doing beautiful, just, and wise things and are endowed with gifts and talents, due to God’s act of common grace. On that doctrinal basis, Christians are called upon to appreciate the people outside the church, for there are fruits of common grace in their lives. On many occasions, Kuyper acknowledgedthat people of other religions have better qualities than Christians. Although not salvific, common grace opens various possibilities for Christians to learn from non-Christians. Thus, common grace could be a theological encouragement for interreligious dialogue toward mutual enrichment. This doctrine shows how the interreligious relationship between Christians and non-Christians should not be reduced to evangelism alone; it should also include dialogue and further cooperation toward the common good