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A Comparative Analysis of Environmental Justice Between Urban Neighbourhoods
No full textInequality and spatial disparities in the provision of amenities and services is a serious problem that often expressed itself in the realms of social and environmental justice. This study investigated the level of environmental justice or otherwise in the provision of amenities and services in selected Northern and Southern neighbourhoods of Minna. Qualitative and quantitative data were acquired through physical surveys and direct observations of amenities and facilities to aid identification of salient features while a checklist was used to guide the research and converting field data to a digital tool using the Open Data Kit (ODK) tool. With purposive sampling technique, descriptive statistic, spatial data analysis and the Gini coefficient; it was shown that injustice in the provision of environmental amenities is both a cause and effect of distributive and procedural inequities across space. Although there is a moderate level of environmental justice (GC=0.33) on the aggregate in the study area, this is not even across sampled amenities, as there is a low level of equality in the provision of schools (GC=0.51). However, the provision of facilities like water boreholes (GC=0.37) and waste dumpsites (GC=0.28) performed fairly with moderate environmental justice; it is, worrisome to note that access roads recorded a high level of inequality (GC=0.19) – particularly as Bosso town with 40% of the residents of the metropolis only has 20% of access roads, while, Tudun Wada South is having 22% of the road for just 7% of the population. The study, therefore, recommended equitable construction of more access roads across the neighbourhoods; imbibing equity and justice in the provision of more water boreholes and waste dumpsites to help institute more sustainable development and management in Minna and similar cities
Comparative Analysis of Ecological Footprint of Urban and Rural Households in Minna Emirate of Niger State, Nigeria
Get PDFNigeria is an unsustainable country due to ecological deficit arising from the excessive utilisation of natural resources. Resources are consumed more than its bio-capacity. Lifestyle and variation in the needs of households has exert demands on the natural resources and eventually on the global environment. This research therefore aimed at estimating the Ecological Footprints of the average individual in a household in the urban and rural areas of the Minna region in Nigeria. It identifies the types of resource consumption; the impact of consumption on the EF and compare the EF of both in relation to level of sustainability. Data were collected employing primary and secondary sources for the study. A total of 400 households was selected for the study. Questionnaire administration was employed to collect the data and random sampling was employed. The data were analysed through explanatory and inferential statistics. The result of the study shows that the EF of Minna and Maikunkele were 1.10 and 0.892 gha. Households require average 0.91 and 0.74 planets to sustain their living standard and generate 6.2 and 4.3 tonnes of CO2 annually. There are 9 and 6 factors that influence EF. It is recommended that the lifestyle of the household in Minna region has to be modified to reduce pressure environmental resources and emission of GHG for sustainable development
Early childhood teachers’ and managers’ lived experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa
Get PDFThe declaration of the novel corona virus as a global pandemic by the World Health Organisation in March 2020 brought many changes to the early childhood sector globally. The South African response is best understood in the context of an under-developed sector with pre-existing vulnerabilities. The aim of this article is to gain a contextual understanding of the lived experiences of ECD teachers and managers in the lock down and the opening phases of a risk-adjusted approach. A phenomenological lens together with systems theory illuminates’ struggles, tensions and resilience. Data was produced through an online survey with 28 ECD teachers and semi-structured interviews with a subset of 8. Findings show that disruptions of Covid-19 led to entrenching inequities in service provision and early learning opportunities. These intersecting dimensions have implications for building effective ECD systems.
 
How the ‘outside’ becomes ‘inside’: the social orientation of South African teachers’ expectations for learning
Get PDFThis paper reports on the investigation of teachers’ expectations in two relatively highperformingprimary schools in disadvantaged communities in South Africa’s Western Capeprovince. Expectations are conceptualised as multi-dimensional, based upon schooleffectiveness research, and explored through Bernstein’s concepts of regulative discourseand expressive order. Interviews with teachers are employed to discern how teachers’pedagogical beliefs are shaped by their expectations. Findings suggest that teachers’expectations are shaped by the ideals and values of the surrounding community. Aninterrelation is found between teachers at each school and between expectation dimensions,which suggests that an ‘expectation orientation’ is present at the level of the school.Comparative analysis reveals that these relatively high-performing primary schools respondto their external environment in different ways. Both schools regulate teaching and learningthrough forms of high expectation; School 1 relays its community optimism as the school isin open relation to its context, while School 2 remains ‘closed yet within’ its communityand fosters pragmatic expectations driven by high teacher accountability.How does the outside become inside, and how does the inside reveal itselfand shape the outside?(Basil Bernstein, 1987, p.563
A pedagogy of supervision: ‘knowledgeability’ through relational engagement
Get PDFan initial participant in this debate, having published an article on the topic in 2005. In thisresponse article I offer an exposition of what I term a ‘pedagogy of supervision’ (PoS),which I suggest as a way of addressing the debate’s silence about the link between thepersonal or subjective dynamics of students’ thesis work and their knowledgeabilityacquisition processes during the supervision process. Based on my personal supervisionexperiences, I present three engagement moments – habitus engagement, knowledgeabilityengagement and data-analysis engagement – as a way of substantiating a productive PoSapproach. The article is an argument for understanding supervision work as leveragingstudents’ intellectual knowledgeability through active relational mediation, which I suggestis more likely to secure the student’s ability to produce a thesis that makes a knowledgecontribution to the chosen field of study
Integration of the Demographic Dividend into Government Plans: A Case of the Kwazulu-Natal Province of South Africa
Get PDFThe Population reference Bureau policy brief, (Gribble and Bremmer, 2012):1) described the demographic dividendas “…the accelerated economic growth that may result from a decline in a country’s mortality and fertility and thesubsequent change in the age structure of the population. With fewer births each year, a country’s young dependentpopulation grows smaller in relation to the working-age population. With fewer people to support, a country has awindow of opportunity for rapid economic growth if the right social and economic policies developed and investments made”. Several South Africa based studies have explored age structure and the prospects of a demographic dividend. These studies range from those that explore timing of the dividend to those that investigate readiness to harness the dividend. Three aspects of the demographic dividend are investigated by this research. Firstly, the paper will explorethe age structure of KwaZulu-Natal population to ascertain the timing of the age-structure (youth bulge) that is a pre-requisite for the dividend. Secondly, demographic, health and education characteristics that are knows to affect the achievement of the dividend will be examined. Lastly, the extent of integration of the demographic dividend into Integrated Development Plans (IDPs) in the province will be explored
Unhelpful Helplines: Inaccessibility for the Deaf
Get PDFThe COVID pandemic has unleashed several developments in the field of telemedicine including the emergence of several helplines. However, those who are D/deaf do not have accessibility to these services due to their disability. This letter focuses on this issue along with possible solutions for rendering these services to this community.
 
Exploring Grade 6 mathematics teachers’ use of the language of learning and teaching in assessment for learning
Get PDFAbstract
The aim of this study was to exploring grade six mathematics teachers’ use of the language of learning and teaching in assessment for learning in selected primary schools in Alexandra Township, South Africa. Research has shown that in primary schools, where learners are taught using their home-language (Grades 1-3), performance seems better than where the use of English as a First Additional Language (EFAL) (Grades 4-6) is used for teaching and learning. Guided by qualitative cases study design, semi-structured interviews and no-participatory observation were used to collect data from the nine purposefully sampled Grade 6 mathematics teachers. Themes were used to analyse, interpret and discuss data collected in conjunction with the literature reviewed and the theory underpinning the study. The findings of this research revealed that learners struggle to learn using English as the LoLT and to augment concept development and understanding, teachers and learners use code-switching. However, because of the different language backgrounds of learners and teachers in the same class, code-switching is often not effective, but in many instances, code-switching has become the norm to ensure understanding where learners have limited language proficiency.
Keywords: English first additional language, the language of learning and teaching, assessment for learning, mathematics, Grade 6, code-switchin
Child labour is a matter of national concern: What is the curriculum doing about it?
Get PDFThere is fine line between work or labour that is appropriate and acceptable, minimum working age for children and when work becomes inappropriate and unacceptable for children. While some children do work that is beneficial for them; others are trapped in illegal labour practices. The elimination of child labour is high on the international agenda of the Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Yet, the South African school curriculum seems to be silent on the issue. A non-empirical qualitative document analysis conducted on all South Africa’s compulsory school curricula for Grade 1–9 revealed that while some subjects engage with concepts related to legal or illegal labour practices to some extent, others do not engage with these concepts at all. It appears that much more attention needs to be given to the difference between legal and illegal child labour practices to help prevent children from becoming victims of illegal labour practices. This paper closes by highlighting further research needed to address the issue of illegal child labour practices – specifically on raising awareness in the school curriculum as a preventative measure