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Integrating ICTs into the Zimbabwean secondary school pre-service teachers’ curriculum
Get PDFThe need for nations to enhance their competitiveness by leveraging the imperatives of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) has seen major shifts in teaching and learning strategies employed by educators globally. Research in Zimbabwean education has pointed to a gap in teachers’ competences in the use of information communication technologies (ICTs) for teaching. Using the UNESCO ICT competency for teachers and Bernstein’s (2000) theory of the pedagogic device we propose a conceptual framework for the pre-service ICT curriculum at four Zimbabwean secondary school teachers’ colleges. This is in terms of the complexities present in the nexus of the curriculum’s architecture, pedagogy and delivery context. The framework suggests strategies on how this curriculum could address the teachers’ competencies gap through effective integration of content, knowledge, skills, technology and pedagogy into the salient contextual aspects of the country’s education sector such as the constraining shortage of ICT resources. 
The Residual Influence Of Colonial Planning Ordinances On The Divided City Conundrum In Nigeria
Get PDFSpatial inequalities permeate cityscapes across the world with varying magnitudes. Deeply entrenched fault lines of inequality manifest in the divided city conundrum witnessed in prominent cities in Nigeria. City scapes are inundated with pockets of isolated sectorial neighbourhoods for the rich and poor within the same municipal boundary. Although, segregation is typified by economic and social class, the foundations of these fault lines were engrained by colonial planning ordinances which abrogated different standards for European and Native areas. A synopsis of colonial planning ordinances in Nigeria with the searchlight upon the segregatory enactments embellished and propelled by these promulgations was corroborated with key informant interview of town planning administrators. This brought to the fore the discriminatory approach of colonial planning standards and its creation of divided cities with distinct European and Native areas. Analytical review of post-colonial planning regulations indicate a futile non-departure from the segregatory nuances of colonial ordinances. In place of racial segregation imposed by colonial ordinances, reinforcement of spatial inequalities along socio- economic dimensions has been entrenched post-independence. Moving forward, this paper advocates a strategic trajectory towards inclusivity through a review of extant physical planning and land use laws to address the multifarious constructs of spatial inequalities inherent in Nigerian cityscapes
DISASTER MANAGEMENT IN SOUTH AFRICA’S INFORMAL SETTLEMENTS: POLICY, PRACTICE AND COVID-19 IMPLICATIONS
No full textThe 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 government performance 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 events take 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
Understanding Higher Education: Alternative Perspectives (2021) by Chrissie Boughey and Sioux McKenna
Get PDFThis is a review of:
Boughey, Chrissie and McKenna, Sioux. 2021. Understanding higher education. Alternative perspectives. African Minds. ISBN: 9781928502210, 173pp
Introduction
Get PDFInclusivity challenges that are prevailing in African cities and beyond, require concerted multi-thronged efforts from allstakeholders to address them. This is so because inclusivity issues cannot just be viewed from a narrow periscopebut a comprehensive spectrum of inputs and actions. On the strength of the aforesaid, it became expedient for theSARChI-Chair for Inclusive Cities to organise a critical symposium that interrogated the concept of inclusivity froma multi-disciplinary dimension. Such an enquiry into the nature and extent of urban inclusivity in an African citycontext, provides an appropriate platform to understand factors underpinning the need to establish desired inclusivity(Medayese et al., 2016)
MIXED HOUSING DEVELOPMENT, INCLUSIVITY, AND URBAN SUSTAINABILITY NEXUS IN THE CITIES OF THE GLOBAL SOUTH: A SYSTEMATIC BIBLIOMETRIC REVIEW
Get PDFFaced with significant challenges, the creation of urban environments in the Global South that foster socio-economicdevelopment and upward mobility, access to economic opportunities, efficient use of scarce resources, and socialcohesion is fundamental in achieving global and regional sustainability objectives. The South African urban context,in need of significant spatial transformation, mixed housing development, and the elements inherent to its inclusivity,has been identified as an instrument to stimulate social, economic, and environmental sustainability in a divided andfragmented environment. These developments are characterised by heterogeneous housing typologies, medium-to high-density residential layouts, provision of public amenities, and unique neighbourhood designs. In additionto potential challenges related to mixed use development, there is also uncertainty regarding the ability of saiddevelopments to foster broad urban sustainability. Accordingly, this research investigates the interface betweenmixed housing development, inclusivity, and urban sustainability, with the objective to determine their relationshipand the extent to this has been studied in the developing country context. The method used to achieve the objectivesof the research is a systematic bibliometric review of existing publications on mixed housing development. Findingsindicate that there is limited research on the direct link between mixed housing development, urban sustainability, andinclusivity, especially in the context of the Global South. In addition, existing mixed housing development researchhas a transdisciplinary character with various research clusters, and that research on related themes have gainedprominence in recent years. The findings motivate further study of the relationship between the mentioned themesin the South African, and by extension, developing country context, and that broad policy perspectives ought to beconsidered in future research initiatives
Voice and voicelessness in the construction of assessment policies: Participation as a relevant dimension in the potential impact on teaching and learning
Get PDFThe article critically analyses the currently predominant processes of construction of large-scale assessment policies, using the national curriculum assessment system in Chile as a case. Based on qualitative evidence that includes media and policy texts analysis, ethnographic work and interviews with key policy actors, it aims at illustrating the disparity of participation in policy design as a potential reason for the lack of impact of these policies on teaching and learning. Conclusions aim at a need for reconceptualising our framework for the understanding of the processes of construction of large-scale assessment policies by overcoming the rationale of market-oriented accountability systems that predominate nowadays. Alternatives are explored through examples of large-scale assessment systems with a higher parity of participation of stakeholders in policy design and policy enactment
DEVELOPING PREDICTIVE MODEL FOR POVERTY AND COVID-19 INCIDENCES IN NIGERIA
Get PDFPoverty is one of the greatest challenges facing the world today. This is because it is a major cause of ill-health by forcing people to live in dirty environments and a barrier to accessing health care, especially in the developing world. As a result of these, it was predicted that the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic will pose a devastating impact on households living beneath the economic, social, health and educational services thresholds. This impact will stem from the direct and indirect effects of the illness and the transmission control policies of governments. Consequently, this study assessed the COVID-19 preventive strategies adopted as well as the statistical relationship between the pre and post-lockdown household income poverty in Minna, Nigeria. The study similarly developed a predictive model for the nexus between poverty headcount ratio and the incidence of COVID-19 in Nigeria. Both the primary and secondary sources of data were employed for this study and the data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics (t-Test and regression techniques). The outcome showed that there exists a statistically significant difference between the pre-lockdown poverty rate and the post-lockdown poverty rate in Minna. The study also revealed that for each unit increase in poverty headcount ratio, the incidences of COVID-19 cases and its fatalities decreases by -42.5625 and -0.56077 units respectively. The study, therefore, recommended the domestication of the existing social intervention programmes of the Federal Government, by States Governments in order to enhance the standard of living of more households. It was also recommended that all stakeholders most partake in enlightenment and sensitization programmes on the need to adopt preventive measures to guard against the transmission of the virus
EFFECTIVE SERVICE DELIVERY STRATEGY ADOPTION AND IMPLEMENTATION: A PANACEA FOR SOCIAL INCLUSION IN INKOSI LANGALIBALELE MUNICIPALITY
Get PDFOver the past twenty years, service delivery has increasingly received much attention to promoting positive social effects that address social inclusion and exclusion issues. A growing body of research suggests that central to the need to improve service delivery, at both national and local government level, is the need to guarantee that all groups within the community are integrated in the sustainable development effort development trajectory. This paper investigatesthe role of service delivery in fostering social inclusion in a typical local municipality in post-apartheid South Africa. The study used a qualitative case study approach to examine the role of service delivery in promoting and ensuring inclusive communities in Inkosi Langalibalele Municipality. In-depth interviews(n=26) including community members (n=16) and councillors (n=10) were conducted to understand the impact of service delivery towards social inclusion.The research had two main interests: (i) to unpack the service delivery strategies is implemented in the Inkosi Langalibalele Municipality; and (ii) To find out if these service delivery strategies are enhancing the prospects of social inclusion. Three broad strategies were identified from the data: increasing citizen participation, flexible response to service user complaints, and partnering with other players and outsourcing services. The results of this study reveal that, while the strategies may have enhanced the prospects of an inclusive municipality, the Ilangalibalele municipality needs to do more to ensure that their strategies are equitable and thus inclusive and foster social inclusion