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The school economics textbook as programmatic curriculum: An exploited conduit for neoliberal globalisation discourses
Get PDFIn the South African school context, the textbook serves as an indispensable, trustworthy source of disciplinary content knowledge. While the constitution and vetting of such knowledge is subject to the state’s textbook publication protocols as it relates to screening for race, gender and other overt prejudices, there is a dearth of understanding of covert ideological hegemony embedded in the textbook as revered artefact. This programmatic curriculum, the school textbook, has received minimal attention from local curriculum theorists and researchers. As such, it is likely to masquerade as innocent purveyor of selected (or subversive) ideology. In an attempt to unveil the subtext, this paper reports on a study that set out to examine the discourses of globalisation that manifest in selected contemporary high school economics textbooks. The study draws on the tenets of Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis, to reveal how particular knowledge selections romanticise globalisation through discourses of ideoscapes, financescapes and ethnoscapes, presenting and perpetuating a neoliberal discourse as normal and acceptable. Reflections on how critical curriculum theory might offer insights for classroom pedagogy, especially as it relates to re-embracing the critical pedagogy project in the South African school context, is presented for contemplation
The Survival of Female-owned Micro Enterprises in the UMkhanyakude District
Get PDFThe purpose of this research report is to determine factors that increase the probability of rural female entrepreneurs remaining in business for at least two years or longer. Contemporary development theory asserts that women play a prominent role in uplifting their families and developing their communities. The promotion of entrepreneurship among women in rural communities has been shown to be a formidably successful approach to development. Owing to the paucity of local studies in this vein, this project investigated the causal factors behind female entrepreneurs of the uMkhanyakude district staying in business for two years or more. Primary data were collected from entrepreneurs operating their businesses in the locality, using snowball sampling method, a sample of 273 entrepreneurs were interviewed by means of questionnaires. Logistic regression was used to estimate factors that increased the probability of women staying in business. The study revealed that the higher the levels of business experience, education, business success and hours spent on business the greater the chances of women staying in business. Financial and input constraints were major restrictions on women staying in business. Marital status, age, competition and marketing constraints were found to be insignificant. As most of the entrepreneurs in the uMkhanyakude district depend on stokvels and their saving for financing their businesses, the study suggest that such groups be harnessed by the DTI in the Grameen-bank type programmes manner which offer poor rural women low-cost loans for entrepreneurial purposes
The Materiality of Pentecostal Religious Healing: The Case of Cameroonian Migrants in Cape Town
Get PDFBased on ethnographic research among Cameroonian migrants living in Cape Town, South Africa, this study looks at the use of sacred healing objects among these migrant groups. Exploring the extent to which migrants’ everyday lives are rooted in the nexus of attaining divine healing and consolidating healing gains through the use of religious sacred healing objects and the ‘word’, I interrogate how the use of these objects within Pentecostal churches fulfils the quest for divine healing among Cameroonian migrants. I argue that the sheer challenges of migration and the difficulties that goes with it, increases the tendency of migrants to look towards Pentecostal churches for healing, increases, so too does their belief in the healing powers of various healing objects that migrants buy in a bid to attain wholeness and be at peace with oneself
Designing Heterotopic Transversal Equitable Foundations for Open Knowledge: Access, Freedom & e/Quality
Get PDFFollowing on the publications based on Smit’s 2017 International Open Access lecture (cf. Smit & Chetty 2018a; and 2018b), we capture some aspects from his 2018 presentation, in this article. It further develops his exploration of the significance of Michel Foucault’s triad, subject – communication – knowledge-power production in the digital paradigm, or e-episteme, in terms of knowledge-power networks (KPNs). For this, the article has two main parts. Firstly, it provides a theoretical framework for the empirical interpretation of the 2018 international topic for the Open Access week, seminally, incorporating the no-tions of the ‘heterotopic’ and ‘transversal’. Secondly, in South Africa’s ascendant history into openness, as a free country, it provides a sample of three significant events in our affirmative genealogy, or genealogies, of freedom. These are, access to the full participation in, or ‘contribution’ to, world civilization, or world information-, data-, or knowledge-power, or science-power productions, á la Anton Lembede; freedom as founded in the Universal Declaration of Hu-man Rights (UDHR); and equity/ equality/ e/Quality, as founded in ‘The Free-dom Charter’. As such, the advocacy for access, freedom, and equality in South Africa’s affirmative genealogy of freedom, are three of the seminal elements, and historical empirical events, for South Africa’s entry into its free democratic dispensation, in 1994. The presentation was dedicated to the international celebration of the seventieth year of the founding of the UDHR, in 1948
Through the Lens of Teachers: The Use of Geography CAPS Textbooks, Concomitant Challenges and a Reimagining of the Textbook
Get PDFThe latest school curriculum offering in South Africa, has been the introduction of the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) in 2011 and this has logically been followed by the production of new textbooks in 2013 aligned to the current education syllabus requirements. This paper examines the use of the Geography grade 11 and 12 CAPS textbooks and the challenges experienced by teachers (as articulated by them) in their use in two poor provinces that lie on the eastern coast of South Africa. The data emanates from a northern and southern hemisphere Geography Textbook and Pedagogy mixed methods study involving Norway, South Africa (SA), Swaziland and Zimbabwe. This paper utilizes the data generated from two instruments namely questionnaires and interviews from the South African data sets in the following two poor provinces: Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal. Selected theoretical filaments deriving from Bates and Poole’s (2003) SECTIONS model (a refinement from Bates, 1995, ACTIONS model) and Kasule’s (2011) ‘readability’ of a textbook, were of significance. The findings on the CAPS textbook use reveal an immense dissatisfaction amongst the Geography teachers. They bemoaned the lack of learner access to textbooks. It was evident that textbook shortages negatively impacted on effective teaching and learning thereby affecting learner performance in the final years of schooling. Teachers also expressed their disappointment at many of the textbooks’ quality with respect to inadequate and insufficient geographic content, decontextualised material, extraneous examples and some incorrect information. There were concerns that some of the current textbooks did not adequately acknowledge the needs of learners for whom English is a second language in these provinces. The authors recommend a reimagining of the CAPS textbooks by stakeholders to address some of the existing challenges in their use
Geography Student Teachers’ Perceptions of Online Problem-based Learning Activities: A Case Study
Get PDFAs online learning is being embraced in higher education, geography modules that implement problem-based learning can integrate online platforms to support geography curriculum delivery and facilitate student collaboration. The aim of this case study was to explore full-time BEd geography student teachers’ (n = 98) perceptions of online problem-based learning activities in two third-year geography modules. The study used quantitative and qualitative research approaches based on questionnaire applications. The findings of the study indicate that the full-time BEd geography student teachers showed positive perceptions regarding the general aspects of online problem-based learning and the online problem-based learning process. Moreover, these student teachers were specifically impressed with the management of the university’s learning management system (Sakai named Efundi), Google Docs, as a collaborative online space on which to compile the problem-based learning report. The student teachers also held positive perceptions of the role-players in online problem-based learning, as well as the assessment rubric used to assess the online problem-based learning activities; hence, these have good correlations with online community of inquiry principles
Locating the Experiences of Rural Science Students in Higher Education
Get PDFIn higher education in South Africa, the home practices with scientific underpinnings students from rural areas bring with them to their learning are not clearly understood and, therefore, are often marginalized in university teaching and learning. In a context where issues of equity of access to higher education and success are highly politicized, the experiences of these students cannot be ignored. This paper argues against absenting the experiences of these students in higher education with a view to harnessing the resulting knowledge to facilitate access to formal, disciplinary science knowledge. The paper posits that the way in which science curriculum (and/or teaching and learning) is structured tends to favor certain world views and not others, as a consequence, students from rural areas are often alienated because how they have learned to see the world is often not used as a starting point or seen as relevant when teaching the science curriculum. In order to contextualize learning and teaching, the paper argues for Archer’s social realism as a theoretical framework to access students’ prior experiences to enrich the curriculum and the student experience more broadl
Africa Radiation Oncology Network (AFRONET): an IAEA Telemedicine Pilot Project
Get PDFIn developing countries, many centres work in relative isolation with limited access to up-to-date published literature, international meetings, and expert opinion. Methods: The International Atomic Energy Agency established the AFrica Radiation Oncology NETwork (AFRONET) as a pilot project for African countries. Through videoconferencing, cancer professionals discussed and reviewed challenging cancer cases. Monthly virtual meetings took place among radiotherapy centres in Africa. During these meetings, individual cases were presented and discussed, and a consensus recommendation for treatment was reached. The platform was also used for regularly scheduled webinars. Results: 64 monthly meetings were held and 154 cases have been discussed. The average number of participating centres was 9 per session. Central nervous system tumours were the most common and 5.2% of patients were HIV positive. The profile of diseases and comorbidities represents a window into the typical patient population of radiotherapy centres in Africa. Videoconferencing discussions strengthened clinical decision making for oncology patients. Both the case discussions and the webinars contributed to resident education in participating centres. Conclusions: This pilot experience has shown that it is feasible to use available telemedicine tools to establish a network for case discussions and education in radiation oncology in African countries.
 
Using Mobile Videoconferencing to Deliver Simultaneous Multi-Centre Health Education to Elderly People: A Pilot Study on Acceptance and Satisfaction
No full textBackground: Improving the health literacy of elderly people is an important means of promoting preventive care by empowering self-health management. While talks and workshops are common ways of delivering health education, their scale and coverage are limited by practical constraints. In this regard, a mobile multi-centre videoconferencing (VC) approach is proposed to connect elderly people at different elderly care centres, so that healthcare promotion activities conducted at one centre can be multicast simultaneously to others. The aim of this pilot study is to evaluate the acceptance and satisfaction of users with this approach. Methods: Three VC sessions were conducted to evaluate users’ acceptance and satisfaction of the proposed approach in different settings from a technical perspective. Healthcare promotion activities concerning healthy diets and health-promoting exercises were delivered using a commercial videoconferencing system and a cellular 4G network. User acceptance and satisfaction were measured at the end of each session using a 10-item 5-point Likert questionnaire, with 5 indicating the most positive response. Results: A total of 96 participants aged 60 years or above were recruited, with 12, 30, and 54 participants taking part in the three sessions, respectively. The mean scores of the items for the three sessions were within the ranges of 4.3–4.8, 4.4–4.8, and 3.7–4.5, respectively. Conclusion The results show that the multi-centre videoconferencing approach was accepted by the participants from a technical perspective. It is potentially a feasible approach for promoting health literacy to elderly people
Developing epistemologically diverse learning frameworks
Get PDFEducation in South Africa is regularly referred to as being in a crisis, with learners and educators struggling with various local and international assessments. This state of affairs persists despite considerable efforts at reforming and revising the national education system. It is contended here that these efforts are misguided and will continue to fail those they target for as long as schooling continues to be grounded exclusively upon the current dominant epistemological bases. The paper argues for a need to diversify the epistemological foundations of educational systems in South Africa and in Africa in general, and offers a strategy for pursuing such aims. In this regard it suggests that the notion of an historical epistemology together with cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT) may offer useful conceptual and methodological tools for developing a counterhegemonic epistemological framework in the form of a networked-relation model of learning