African Journal of Inter/Multidisciplinary Studies
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Gender Perspective on the Study of Information Technology in Schools in Ghana: The Case of Ghana Communication Technology University
Get PDFGender disparities in the field of Information Technology (IT) have persisted over time. Globally, women made up only 27.2% of IT workers in 2018. In the United Kingdom, only one in six IT specialists is female. Such extreme male dominance may result in a gender structure that influences women's experiences with IT work. Women face more challenges once hired, and they leave the field twice as fast as men. These disparities stem from a gamut of factors, including the misconception that women are weak in technology. Gender disparities in IT also find expressions in student enrolment numbers in institutions of higher learning. In Ghana Communication Technology University (GCTU), gender disparities in student enrolments are pronounced. In both diploma and degree programs, male students constituted about 90% of the student population. Using a qualitative method, the study randomly distributed open-ended questionnaires to forty students pursuing diploma and degree programs in IT at GCTU. Furthermore, the study randomly analysed the examination scripts of fifty students in the IT department from 2020 to 2023 to determine the gender patterns in their academic performances. In addition, the admission of students into GCTU to study IT programs from 2018-2023 was analysed to determine gender trends. The study concluded that there are ingrained gender perspectives of students both in terms of study and career prospects. The study recommends that GCTU should vigorously pursue a holistic integration of the study of IT to bridge the overt gender gaps
The Blended Roles of Professional and Academic Staff in Universities of Technology: Are We Getting It Right?
Get PDFTensions between academic and professional staff are still experienced in universities of technology. The article focuses on the mobility and shifting boundaries which appear to be developing in regard to this working relationship at one South African university of technology. The mixed-methods exploratory research involved data gathered in 2018 and in 2021 from both academic and professional staff. The data included findings from staff whose work spans both roles and those who have moved from one role to the other. Findings indicate that professional staff are often drawn into performing teaching and research functions, and yet experience barriers which impede their academic progress. The article argues for more overt recognition and facilitation of this blending of roles, which would seem to be particularly appropriate for universities of technology. No current literature exists on this phenomenon in South African Universities of Technology and this article hopes to fill this gap and initiate this conversation
My Hijab Covers my Mane, Not My Mind: Challenges Facing South African Muslim Women Academics
Get PDFMuslim women in South Africa constitute 1.6% of the population, yet they have and continue to contribute significantly to the economy, pursue political freedom and rise to the upper echelons of academia. Research reveals that the identity of South African Muslim women centres on Islamic principles, such as modesty and dietary requirements, and cultural roles, such as being a mother and a homemaker. Despite Muslim women being more visible through media in recent years, literature shows that many remain marginalised, misunderstood, and often discriminated against for not subscribing to the dominant culture of the Western workplace. The study explores the challenges Muslim women academics face in South African higher education institutions when fulfilling their professional roles while maintaining Islamic and cultural obligations. Viewed through the lens of social identity theory, the chapter provides insight into the lived experiences of seven Muslim women academics and how they navigate the often-exclusionary spaces of academia. It will also provide practical solutions which may mitigate marginalisation and promote inclusivity within the South African academic landscape
Crossing Disciplinary Boundaries and Extending Participation through Film and Applied Theatre Techniques: Reflecting on the Umzi ka Mama Oral Histories Project
Get PDFScholarship on African women has progressed from mainly focusing on royal women, political struggle heroines, and activists to include more stories of domestic workers, farmers, mothers, and daughters. Over time, feminist oral historians gradually moved from research with rigid traditional approaches to update their approaches to include creative methodologies that can enhance and extend interlocutor participation. Through a feminist lens, the paper articulates how a creative and alternative methodology extended interlocutor participation in the Umzi ka mama oral history project. The project explored unreported stories of seven African women who have owned family property in Fingo Village, Makhanda since pre-1994. The article explores how a multidisciplinary methodology spanning over three disciplines, history, drama and film, helped gather data using interviews, video, forum, play-back and image theatre inspired techniques. The results revealed how extended participation beyond oral history interviews presented more opportunities for shared authority and negotiations throughout the process. Additionally, the results show how accessible dissemination can be achieved. Although history, film and drama methods pair well together as cross-cutting approaches, there are disciplinary tensions that are embedded in multidisciplinary studies. The paper highlights these tensions to show why negotiation is a necessary part of multidisciplinary research
Poverty in South Africa: Drivers of Perpetuation
Get PDFPoverty remains a persistent issue within the socio-political landscapes of Africa. This study explores the income, food, and multidimensional nature of poverty in South Africa. The study found that economic, social, and political factors are not only responsible for poverty, but they perpetuate poverty in South Africa. These factors include weak institutions, unemployment, service delivery issues, corruption, security challenges and dysfunctional family settings. The study adopted the state fragility theory to demonstrate how weaknesses in state institutions affect their ability to discharge their functions as expected and how they manage the dynamics associated with these expectations. The study utilised the qualitative research method based on literature search from secondary sources. These included journal articles, books, institutional documents, and newspaper articles. Data were descriptively analysed. The study recommends strong state institutions to coordinate stemming the threat these poverty drivers pose to the well-being of South Africans. It also recommends commitment through good values demonstrated by the political class, bureaucracies, and the citizens
Using Natural Language Processing Models to Automate Text Labelling: Categorising Semantic Density in Preservice Teachers' Lesson Observation Reports
Get PDFEducation researchers have long had to choose between studies that provide rich insight into teaching and learning in a particular context and insight into broad patterns revealed from large-scale studies. The advances in natural language processing models potentially generate research that offers detailed analysis of specific cases and reveals broader patterns in a much larger dataset. This paper reports on the findings of a study that tested the accuracy of advanced natural language processing models to assign labels to a qualitative dataset. The dataset for this analysis comes from lesson observation reports written by a cohort of preservice teachers pursuing a Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE). Their responses were manually analysed using Legitimation Code Theory (LCT) and graded from simple descriptive observations to complex ones that suggested an interpretation of teachers’ pedagogic actions. The Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT) and its derivatives, namely DistilBERT and RoBERTa, were trained to recognise coding decisions made by researchers on a subset of empirical data. This study compares the efficacy of BERT models in assigning appropriate labels to sections of the dataset by comparing its assigned labels to those allocated manually by the research team. Built upon a dataset consisting of 2167 manually annotated sections, the natural language processing models were trained, refined, and tested in labelling the dataset. A comparative analysis of BERT, DistilBERT, and RoBERTa offers insights into their strengths, efficiencies, and adaptability, achieving an accuracy rate between 72% and 78%. The metrics reveal the current efficacy of these models in coding semantic density in lesson observation reports and create possibilities for analysing massive datasets of similar text. The challenges experienced also reveal the potential limitations of this approach.
Building Resilient FMCG Supply Chains in South Africa Amid Prevailing Load-Shedding Challenges
Get PDFLoad-shedding (the controlled interruption of electricity supply) has become a prevalent challenge in South Africa, and it has had a significant impact on the operations of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) supply chains. The goal of this study was to find ways of developing FMCG supply chains that are resilient enough to endure the negative consequences of prevailing power outages. The frequent and erratic nature of load-shedding poses serious issues for South Africa’s FMCG sector. An exploratory research approach was used to uncover six overarching themes in the midst of prevailing load-shedding challenges in South Africa. Semi-structured interviews were used to explore primary data from 25 supply-chain industry professionals, complemented by secondary data from industry reports and literature. In the face of persistent issues with energy supply, this study adds to the body of knowledge by offering FMCG companies in South Africa useful insights and practical recommendations for sustaining operations and achieving long-term sustainability. Furthermore, the findings can provide FMCG businesses in South Africa with useful tactics and information. This useful advice is priceless for operational effectiveness and business continuity planning. Although supply-chain resilience and uncertainty management are extensively covered in the current literature, there is a deficiency of research concentrating specifically on the FMCG industry in South Africa and its particular load-shedding difficulties
Challenges Faced by National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) Graduates in Repaying Loans and Debt: A Content Analysis
Get PDFThe National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) serves as a pivotal mechanism to counteract higher education disparities in South Africa. This pivotal mechanism plays a crucial role in levelling the playing field, ensuring that financial constraints do not hinder individuals from pursuing higher education. However, in recent years, NSFAS has faced challenges, including unpaid loans from graduates, reduced funding for current students, and an ongoing corruption crisis. These issues hamper NSFAS's ability to provide essential financial support, underscoring the need for immediate reforms and strategic interventions. This article aims to scrutinise the challenges encountered by graduates of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) in the process of repaying loans and managing debt. Utilising qualitative content analysis, the researcher draws insights from diverse sources such as academic journals, books, reports, and theses, accessed through platforms like Google Scholar, Science Direct, ResearchGate, NSFAS, the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) reports, and Council on Higher Education (CHE) reports. The findings spotlight the considerable impact of unemployment on the repayment capacity of South African graduates with NSFAS loans. In the face of a challenging economic milieu and heightened unemployment rates, recent graduates encounter formidable obstacles in attaining financial stability. The conclusion underscores the imperative for collaborative efforts to address these challenges, acknowledging their deep-seated connection to historical inequities and their exacerbation by contemporary economic dynamics. It advocates for a holistic and sustainable restructuring of the higher education financing system, aiming not only to benefit individual graduates but also to contribute to the broader goal of socio-economic transformation within the nation
Engaging Creativity as an Alternative for Sustainable Inclusion and Integration in Schools: Visual Participatory Approach
Get PDFCurrently, the creativity approach is seen as one of the strategies used to support education through the teaching and learning process. In this regard, an art-based creative approach was used as a research design, which in recent years has been massively developed and has generated multiple data in research studies. Despite its collaborative feature and benefits, the creative approach is not usually employed in the teaching and learning process in schools, because this approach requires resources and time to accomplish the goals for the teaching and learning process in schools. This paper aims to evidence the use of the creative approach as an alternative for the sustainable inclusion and integration of learners in South African schools, as well as why it should be used as a supportive model in the educational context. To do this, the study presents a creative visual participatory approach which was done using recycled materials. The creative visual participatory approach and focus group interviews were employed with six teachers and six learners in the intermediate and senior phases in selected primary schools. Thematic data analysis enabled us to identify codes and themes that indicated the practical examples for inclusion and integration programs, events and sessions in schools. The data generation methods used met the standards of creativity expectations and extended the possibility of availability of recyclable resources and materials within the school environment. The findings reveal that creativity enhances critical thinking and problem-solving skills; thus, at present, both teachers and learners are benefiting from the use of this innovative strategy. The study also insists that it is crucial to employ the creativity approach for sustainable inclusion and integration of learners in South African school contexts
A Conceptual Framework for Safety Challenges in South African Schools
Get PDFThe purpose of this research study is to propose the implementation of a conceptual framework related to safety challenges in South African schools. One such challenge is asbestos-containing material (ACM) that was banned in South Africa in 2008, yet the National Institute for Occupational Health (NIOH) in South Africa indicated that one in every eight schools contains asbestos exposing persons to potential asbestos-related diseases. The research question: How can a conceptual framework within schools be managed to overcome safety challenges? An extensive literature review was used to structure a conceptual framework, through the identification of key building blocks that are connected and interdependent to address the safety challenges in South African schools.. The study offers important insight, where this framework clarifies a solid plan for school stakeholders who need to know about school safety challenges. The results of this research provide a solid foundation to add value for future research related to asbestos safety hazards facing South Africa