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Connecting knowledge and practice: Mathematics teacher educators’ knowledge and use of formative feedback in Ghana
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The feedback aspects of formative assessment have been shown to be an indispensable tool for improving teaching and learning. This case study explores the knowledge of formative assessment of six teacher educators and their feedback practices when conducting formative assessments in mathematics modules. Data was generated through semi-structured interviews, lecture observations, and textual analysis of students’ assessment scripts, and was analysed using thematic analysis. Our findings suggest that teacher educators consider feedback to be a formative assessment tool for identifying gaps in students’ learning and for shaping instructional practices. The study also established that the teacher educators’ feedback practices were superficial, and that they lacked the expertise to give the informative feedback required to scaffold students’ learning of mathematics. We therefore recommend a continuous professional development programme for Ghanaian teacher educators that focuses on how to provide feedback comments that move learning forward.
Keywords: Feedback, teacher educators, mathematics, pedagogy, formative assessment
DISASTER MANAGEMENT IN SOUTH AFRICA’S INFORMAL SETTLEMENTS: POLICY, PRACTICE AND COVID-19 IMPLICATIONS
Get PDFThe rise of informal settlements in the global south during the latter part of the twentieth century led to the role of disaster management being recognized as a crucial aspect of urban planning. As a result of this, the United Nations called for all the world’s governments to develop and integrate proactive and preventative disaster management policies into their respective countries’ development plans while integrating informal settlements in their urban planning initiatives in a bid to create inclusive cities. South Africa, being one of the countries that are heavily impacted by informal settlements, was swift to embrace these international recommendations, especially from a policy making perspective. The implementation of these policies has however been overshadowed by lacklustre governmentperformance with respect to reducing the disaster risks associated with informal settlements or the inclusion of these areas in urban development. (hazards and lack of services aggravating disaster vulnerability) This article, therefore, explores the policy-practice realities that have given birth to the challenges faced by South Africa’s post-apartheid disaster management initiatives, especially with regard to the disaster vulnerability of informal settlement dwellers. By assessing how international best practice recommendations have influenced the country’s disaster management policy, the article proceeds to analyse the implementation inadequacies that have induced the existing policy-practice disjuncture, and the resultant safety and socio-economic concerns that arise for the country’s informal settlement dwellers. Also, with the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic triggering a state of national disaster in the country, the article analyses the aggravated vulnerability of contacting and spreading of the virus amongst informal settlement residents, along with the socio-economic implications that the national lockdown restrictions have had on these areas. The findings of this article suggest that, although South Africa’s disaster management policy and legislation has comprehensively developed the necessary guidelines for all the spheres of government to play their respective roles in the country’s disaster reduction and recovery initiatives, Information from the government’s databases suggests that the implementation of risk preventative disaster management approaches has been extremely sporadic in informal settlements, despite these areas accounting for 75 per cent of where the country’s disasters eventstake place. Findings also suggest that South Africa’s informal settlement dwellers have been the hardest hit by the Covid-19 disaster, intensifying the levels of exclusion in these areas
ADDRESSING INNER-CITY DECLINE THROUGH URBAN REGENERATION – THE CASE OF DURBAN POINT PRECINCT DEVELOPMENT
Get PDFMost inner cities and big towns have in one way or other experienced urban decline. So many reasons can be attributed to urban decline and these include, property abandonment, crime, high unemployment and the rundown of inner-city services thereby leading to the failure to attract new investments. This study focused on exploring the extent to which inner city urban regeneration strategies impact on socio-economic issues in order to create a sustainable inner-city urban environment. This was achieved by exploring applicable inner-city planning principles and examining the role of institutions in the regeneration process. The focus was on the Durban Point Precinct which is a waterfront environment – an area which falls under the eThekwini Municipality Central Municipal Planning Region. This paper is based on empirical research whose data was collected using both qualitative and quantitative research methods such as face-to-face interviews, direct observation and household questionnaires. More so, the study was governed by the competitive city theory and neoliberalism which both speak to the emerging nature of regeneration intervention measures (as typified by mixed developments). The study concluded by noting that inner city urban regeneration strategies are an ideal approach in dealing with declining areas since they resuscitate economic and social life. In the process, such intervention measures do not only redevelop the city, but they rebrand the inner city
From measuring impact to informing course design: The second design trial of the Maths Intensive course
Get PDFThis paper describes the changes made to the administration of assessments in the second design trial of a ‘Maths intensive’ course at a comprehensive university in South Africa as a result of Covid-19. The ‘Maths intensive’ course was designed in direct response to poor attainment in the Primary Teacher Education (PrimTEd) mathematics test project. Building on the positive findings of improved attainment evident in the first design cycle; the ‘Maths intensive; course was further refined and shifts in attainment once again analysed. The post-test data could not be used to measure impact and instead was used to establish what the student teachers know and were able to do at the end of the course. The Maths Intensive test framework mapped the test item to the learning outcomes for the course. Facility scores and average facility scores per topic area revealed areas where students were capable and areas where they still required support. These findings may be of interest to lecturers and teachers seeking to develop assessment reports which provide useable information to improve their instructional design and teaching practice. They may also be of interest to academics and training providers designing mathematics education programmes for initial teacher education or for ongoing professional development courses for teachers in primary schools
Towards learner-centric pedagogies: Technology-enhanced teaching and learning in the 21st century classroom
Get PDFEffective professional development contributes to improved teacher knowledge and practice as well as deep, meaningful student learning. Despite professional development being cited by the South African Department of Basic Education as a priority goal, teacher professional development activities have been inadequate. In lieu of the teacher knowledge and practice gaps, this paper used a socio-cultural lens to investigate the pedagogical affordances of digitalisation and technology integration. This study is part of a larger mixed method study but focuses solely on the qualitative results. This was done in an effort to understand teachers’ best practices with digital technologies and how they are being used in transformative ways in the classroom to inform the 21st century classroom and encourage a learner-centric environment. The findings reveal the weaknesses of the professional development activities on digital pedagogies and learner-centric pedagogies, which are generally episodic, one-size-fits-all events largely focused on technical knowledge. The chief impediment towards learner-centric pedagogies and the implementation of technology-enhanced teaching and learning is the misalignment between teachers’ digital abilities and the demands of the 21st century technology equipped classrooms. Our recommendation is the continuous situated professional development of teachers, including the creation of professional learning communities and harnessing digital technologies to provide an effective, hybrid approach to teacher learning and instructional delivery in the 21st century
Restorative learning for fostering a decolonised curriculum attuned to sustainable teacher education
Get PDFSocial sustainability is paramount for peaceful and inclusive societies. It embraces all cultures and civilizations while promoting that these contribute to, and are crucial enablers of, sustainable development. One aspect hereof is knowledge: what is taught at universities and who decides. Students in South African universities remain frustrated with Eurocentric and Western dominated curriculum. This is made evident through the iconic 2015 (and ongoing) student protest movements that have laid bare the stark inequalities that persist in higher education and students outcries for socially relevant education that acknowledges the global South. This article listens to the voices of teacher education students to unlock their concerns and aspirations for a decolonised curriculum that strives towards sustainable education. Using qualitative interviews, students expressed their concerns with the political nature of higher education’s systems of power that are exclusionary, the need for the curriculum to be contextualized and the tendency for decolonisation to be perceived as a threat. Students voiced their aspirations for a decolonized curriculum by specifying the importance of decolonisation as a process and not a product through teaching approaches like storytelling. Students have made clear the need to challenge abyssal thinking and to challenge the root of hegemonic knowledge systems. We propose restorative learning as one possible avenue to pursue this. Restorative learning promotes sustainable education because it is attuned to an embeddedness in affiliation, it invigorates learning that is ecological and embraces radical relatedness that prizes how we live in relations with ourselves and others
Visual methodologies as effective tools in reflecting on aspects of identity as an educator for inclusion and social justice
Get PDFAs an educator for inclusion and social justice, it is essential to be self-reflective about all aspects of identity which relate to diversity and differential power relations. As part of this commitment, I am part of a group of critical academics and practitioners who comprise the SAERA Special Interest Group on Self-Reflexive Methodologies. This paper comprises reflections on two artworks created during self-reflexive exercises using visual methodologies. The first artwork led to interrogating aspects of meaning and identity as a white person in post-apartheid South Africa. What emerged was the need to confront my privileged racial identity, fashioned in a divided and exclusive past and reposition myself beyond my white socialisation, recognizing the possibility of new frames of understanding and new identities, new social spaces and new communities, beyond the historical differences which keep up separated and alienated. Critical reflection on the second artwork revealed embedded commentary on the need to challenge patriarchal articulations of the professional identity and dominant discourses of learning and teaching in academia. What emerged was the possibility of how lost feminine aspects of knowledge could inform teaching and learning strategies that contribute to a critical pedagogy which challenges the prevailing system of social relations and disrupts and unsettles the stereotypical assumptions of a dominant masculine discourse in academia. This paper highlights the effectiveness of using visual methodologies to explore various aspects of identity, especially relevant for educators as transformative agents, educating for inclusion and social justice
Sink or swim: Exploring resilience of academics at an education faculty during Covid-19
Get PDFThere is a proliferation of local and international research focusing on COVID-19 and its impact on the practices of teaching and learning in higher education. However, a dearth of research exists that focuses on the resilience of academics in higher education during COVID-19 in South Africa. Considering this gap, a group of curriculum officers at an Education faculty based at a university of technology in the Western Cape set out to explore how resilient academics were during COVID-19. Thirteen academics who teach in and across the Foundation Phase, Intermediate Phase and Further Education and Training phase participated in a focus group interview. Data was analysed thematically using content analysis whereby three themes were identified: creativity through complexity, embracing challenge through resilience and connecting with self. The implications reveal that universities as a contextual environment for promoting resilience need to engage with the social and physical ecology of staff by providing support and resources to be resilient during times of crises. The dominant nature of the hierarchical dynamics of university’s management also needs to be considered as part of a social ecological perspective in valuing academics’ wellbeing during times of crises
Parents resist sexuality education through digital activism
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South Africa has high rates of HIV infection among its young population, high rates of unintended pregnancies among youth, and extremely high rates of Gender-Based Violence. These high rates all point to a need for skills-based education to provide accurate and relevant information for young people to manage their sexuality. Through the Life Orientation (LO) curriculum, the Department of Basic Education offers age-appropriate sexuality education as a response to these concerns. However, research in sexuality education shows that there is a lack of guidance and preparedness by educators, which hampers how it is delivered in South African schools. A recent attempt by the Department of Basic Education (DBE), to upscale and strengthen the sexuality education curriculum in South African schools, was met with resistance from parents and other lobby groups. This resistance was driven across multiple media platforms, and particularly through an online hashtag #LeaveOurKidsAlone, largely on Facebook and Twitter. Through this resistance, we are introduced to parents/adult responses to the teaching and learning of CSE in South African schools, a voice that has largely been missing in this debate. Working within a broad qualitative framework, this paper utilizes critical discourse analysis to map out some of the key discourses emerging from the #LeaveOurKidsAlone resistance, in an attempt to understand how parents/adults, use social media to resist Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) in South Africa. This paper is critical in foregrounding adult voices and their implications to the teaching and learning of CSE in South African schools
Comment on Yunus Ballim’s “The place of teaching, learning and student development in a framework of academic freedom: Attending to the negative freedoms of our students”
Get PDFYunus Ballim’s article, based on his 2021 TB Davie lecture, focuses on how academic freedom can enhance teaching, learning and institutional culture in South African universities. He uses the concept of “negative freedom” to argue that universities’ institutional culture and everyday practices can shape the kinds of education students receive and potentially enhance their learning, development and humanity. We appreciate this creative approach to the concept of academic freedom that moves beyond classic understandings of the term. We also call for further exploration into how student agency is conceptualised from this perspective, questioning how university-society relations intersect with forms of academic freedom.