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Exploring perceived sources of conflict among educators in three Eastern Cape schools
Get PDFConflict is part of organisations and manifests between people in various contexts, including in schools. The
purpose of this exploratory intrinsic qualitative interpretive case study was to explore the causes of conflict
among teachers in three primary schools residing in previously disadvantaged social contexts, as previous
studies have not explored these perceived causes among primary school teachers and neither have these
studies been able to frame the causes by means of a conceptual nor Bourdieuan lens. Exploring conflict as
tensions are important as it has the potential to result in dysfunctional conflict that negatively impact on the
teachers, learners and learning. Purposive sampling was used and fifty-nine educators participated from three
primary schools in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Qualitative data was gathered using semi-structured
individual interviews, focus group interviews and an open-ended questionnaire. The six categories of the
conflict cube of Bradshaw were used to indicate the six main themes, namely relationship conflicts, value
conflicts, data conflicts, structural conflicts, interest conflicts and needs-based conflict. The categories
associated with each of the main themes are presented as sub-sets by utilising the categorisation properties of a
conflict cube. A Bourdieuan lens has also been utilised to interpret the data. The findings suggest that
principals, School Management Teams (SMTs) and educators have to be made aware what causes conflict
within the field to enable all role players to be more cognisant of these issues in order to become more proactive
in their day-to-day interactions within the school context. It is proposed the visual participatory
methodologies are explored as tools to assist with the drafting of policies
Attributes for the field of practice of the administrator and office manager
Get PDFThe arrangements for the curriculum for administration studies are based mainly on the work of the
administrator in support of people in different professions, industries, and contexts. The research objectives on
which this study focused, aimed to identify those attributes which are considered legitimate for carrying out
office management work, and to establish the attributes required by graduates of the National Diploma in
Office Management to enter the field of practice. The utilisation of the Specialisation dimension of
Legitimation Code Theory (Maton, 2014) enabled the identification of the attributes required for graduates to
function effectively in the workplace. A Delphi approach comprising three rounds of surveys was utilised and
distributed to employers, academics and graduates. A survey was also distributed to third year and alumni
students. The findings show that the employers and practitioners have strong consensus on the generic
qualities such as self-management, participating in team work, having honesty and integrity and applicable
attitudes and conduct for graduates entering the field of practice. This is significant as these attributes are
considered legitimate for the expected identity of administrators and office managers in future professional
practices
Tinder or flint: igniting grade 2 teachers’ understanding of learning, teaching and assessment
Get PDFThis article reports on a study conducted to determine Grade 2 teachers’ knowledge and understanding of
learning, teaching and assessment for use in the planning and implementation of a large-scale professional
development programme on Assessment for Learning. A baseline survey was used to collect data from
teachers in 86 schools, randomly selected across fee paying and no-fee schools in two Gauteng districts.
Teacher responses across both school types indicate a predominant emphasis on teacher-centred approaches,
despite acknowledging the importance of effective learner engagement in their lessons. An overwhelming
majority displayed limited knowledge of formative assessment, often conflating formative with formal
assessment. More concerning however, was the absence of a deeper understanding regarding the use of
assessment for enhancing learner participation and for identifying specific learning needs of learners. The
implications of these findings for supporting teachers to develop and implement formative assessment
approaches are explored further. The paper concludes by noting areas for further research to determine
whether professional development programmes, implemented within the context of learning and teaching in
South African schools, can succeed in enhancing teachers’ knowledge and skills for the effective use of
formative assessment approaches to improve learning for all
Examining pre-service teachers’ subject matter knowledge of school mathematics concepts
Get PDFThis article explores the nature of the subject matter knowledge that pre-service mathematics teachers’ possess
by analysing its components, namely, common content knowledge and specialised content knowledge of the
high school mathematics curriculum. The data was generated from 59 final year pre-service mathematics
teachers’ written responses, which tested three sets of competencies: solving problems on Functions and
Inequalities; analysing and interpreting learners’ errors; and their expertise in allocating marks to questions.
Analysis of the written responses identified five categories of response patterns and thereafter individual
interviews were conducted with four participants to discuss the responses. The results revealed that while the
participants were competent solvers of school mathematics problems, they were unable to analyse and
interpret learners’ errors for diagnostic purposes. This suggests that teacher preparation should develop
pre-service mathematics teachers’ specialised content knowledge. The findings also confirmed the value of
learner error analysis as an alternative strategy to cultivate the specialised content knowledge of future
mathematics teachers
An exploratory study of Heads of Departments’ responses to student calls for decolonised higher education
Get PDFCentral to the tumultuous student protests of 2015 and 2016 was an urgent call for the decolonisation of South African universities. Existing curricula, including teaching and assessment practices, as well as institutional cultures and structures were challenged. Against this backdrop, this article focuses on the academic leadership role of Heads of Departments (HoDs) at Rhodes University. In this small-scale project cultural historical activity theory was used as an analytical tool to interrogate how HoDs conceptualised their roles in this uncertain and complex context. Data were generated from an online questionnaire administered to all HoDs. The data analysis pointed to a number of contradictions in the ways HoDs conceptualized and enacted their roles. Also emerging from the analysis were institutional enablements and constraints which influenced their ability to offer transformative leadership. This was particularly in relation to the concepts of social and epistemic inclusion/exclusion; central to debates in the decolonising literature. The findings indicate that the role of HoDs has become increasingly complex. Despite this, the issues that were raised during the protests catalysed HoDs into reclaiming stronger academic leadership roles
The value of drama-in-education as a decolonising pedagogy through embodied drama strategies in a higher education classroom
Get PDFIn this paper I provide a detailed account of how drama-in-education was used to engage third-year university students in an education module entitled Issues and challenges in education. The aim of the research was to introduce aspects of decolonisation in South Africa through the module and to implement drama-in-education strategies, such as the use of tableaux, improvisation, and role plays to enhance the understanding of these issues. The data collection method I implemented was based on students’ written reflections on their experiences of drama-in-education as pedagogy in this module. The findings indicated that although students were initially resistant to engaging with the drama-in-education process, through their embodied participation they became more involved in their learning. They felt that, since the strategies provided a context for learning, the issues that led to enhanced learning, engagement, and reflection could be interrogated more critically. I argue that as a decolonising pedagogy in the university lecture room, drama-in-education contributes significantly to an enhanced understanding of teaching and learning and the development of students’ critical and creative skills
Religion and Migration in Africa and the African Diaspora
Get PDFReflections on migration and religion at a time when migration remains a controversial political issue, whether it concerns disagreements in the US senate over financing President Trump’s proposed wall at the US-Mexico border, the continuing influx of refugees from Africa and the Middle East into Europe, or xenophobia towards African migrants in South Africa and the Royinga in Myanmar. Consequently, continously changing trajectories, net-works and caravans of migration are produced, as a result of peoples differing needs and desires for movement and settlement.Those who have worked in the field of migration know that the migration of people has been a sustained phenomenon that has shaped the ma-king of societies, it has fractured hegemonies and ultimately produced diverse diasporas. This was evident in the works Stuart Hall, Paul Gilroy and Jamaica Kincaid as they have reflected on the fortunes and hardships of the windrush generation in the United Kingdom. Similarly, their predecessors Frantz Fanon, James Baldwin, Aime Cesaire, and Sol Plaatjie wrote widely about the social condition of being black in the world through narratives of migration, where they variously came to confront themselves of the objects of terror, curiosity and the exotic – all tropes that operate to deny black subjectivity. Thus we take as a starting point that transnational migration has significantly shaped the political and intellectual labour has of people of colour
Conversing at the Intersection: Religious Identity and the Human Right to Gender Equality in a South African Teacher Education Context
Get PDFThis article argues that it is essential to explore conversations at the intersection between personal religious identity and Human Rights issues in an attempt to bridge the gap between policy and practice. To facilitate this exploration an empathetic-reflective-dialogical approach was adopted to engage with pre-service teachers in a South African Higher Education Institution. Selected pre-service Religion Education teachers were encouraged to engage in self-dialogue and to write their self-narratives. Participating in Communities in Conversation, Communities in Dialogue and Communities for Transformation provided the opportunity for empathetic-reflective-dialogical restorying to take place. This restorying has the potential to address the possible disconnect between the individual’s personal and professional identities when considering Human Rights issues, and in this case, gender equality in particular. Conversing at this intersection has the potential to increase the individual’s identity capital and to transform classroom practice to classroom praxis and this can possibly impact the wider society
An Analysis of the Higher Education Qualifications Sub-Framework: Towards Decoloniality in South African Higher Education
Get PDFAs a national policy imperative, transformation has dominated efforts towards change in higher education in South Africa in the post-1997 period. Twenty years later, students are echoing continuous calls for transformation by the government and scholars, with renewed attention to student fees and decolonisation of the curriculum. Recent violent national protests necessitate interventions at the national higher education policy level as well as at an institutional level. However, the relationship between quality assurance policies and decolonisation priorities has not been considered. The Higher Education Qualifications Sub-Framework (HEQSF) is proposed as a guide to inform curriculum development and programme accreditation. This qualitative study explored how the HEQSF could contribute to calls to decolonise the curriculum. As a national government directive, transformation was interpreted and implemented differently in the various higher education institutions. Due to a lack of adequate debate on how decoloniality should be implemented nationally, transformation and decoloniality will continue to co-exist as discourses in higher education until this is resolved. The analysis of the HEQSF indicates the possibilities and limitations of both the HEQSF and decoloniality to contribute to calls to decolonise the curriculum. The HEQSF was designed in line with a neo-liberal world view which militates against shifts towards embracing different ways of thinking and ‘de-linking’ from traditional perspectives. Re-examining the very notion of a qualifications framework and proposing relevant alternatives to facilitate the decolonisation of the curriculum, is required. Since no alternative exists to replace the HEQSF, the possibility for change based on prescriptions in a decolonial context are questionable. The article concludes with possibilities and challenges for moving towards decoloniality in the South African higher education system
Exploring Black Female Post-graduate Science Students’ Experiences and Understandings of their Intersectional Identities
Get PDFBlack women face oppression in various fields but research indicates that black women in the science, technology, mathematics and engineering (STEM) fields face even more scrutiny. Black women belong to two oppressed groups – black and women – and therefore face discrimination on multiple levels. This article, underpinned by the theory of intersectionality, explores ten black female postgraduate science students’ experiences and understandings of their intersectional identities, and interrogates the implications of their views in this era of women’s rights and feminism. Interviews with the students focused on their experiences in their degree, knowledge of their intersectional identities, and understandings of their professional career trajectory and was analysed qualitatively. The study found that these students were a bi-product of their schooling socialization and the influence of their science discipline, prompting the authors to question whether transformation is occurring in higher education in South Africa or if classism is now the new ‘racism’. Further, the implications of entering the workplace, whilst holding outdated patriarchal views, are interrogated