1,720,960 research outputs found
The perceptions of social workers on the implementation of the Occupation Specific Dispensation policy (OSD) within the Department of Social Development in the Johannesburg Region
No full textA research report Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for a Master of Arts , In the Faculty of Humanities , School of Human and Community Development, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024The Occupation Specific Dispensation (0SD) policy was introduced in the public service for social workers in 2009 as a strategy to recruit and retain social workers with the introduction of new salary scales, career pathing, pay and grade progression and recognition of appropriate experience. The perceptions of social workers on the implementation of the OSD policy have not been established and this lack of knowledge leaves a gap in understanding the perceived impact this policy has had on social workers. The aim of the study was to explore the perceptions of social workers on the implementation of the Occupation Specific Dispensation policy within the Department of Social Development in the Johannesburg Region. Since implementation of the policy, there has been research studies conducted on the outcomes of the OSD policy within the public health sector yet no studies have been conduct that focus on the challenges encountered by social workers in the implementation of the policy. The study utilised the qualitative research approach which was exploratory and descriptive in nature. The collective case study design was adopted. A sample of ten social workers and three key informants were selected using purposive sampling. Data was collected using semi-structured interviews and analysed using thematic content analysis. The key finding was that the OSD policy was not effective in recruitment since it is rigid and inflexible. Another concern raised was the long period it took to move from one occupational level to the next resulting in a demotivated and demoralised workforce. The study also found that there was management bias in the implementation of the performance management and development system. The study contributes to our understanding of the perceptions about the unintended consequences of the OSD policy and how these are perceived to have impacted negatively on the recruitment and retention of social workers.MM202
Engaging with Immigrant Adolescent Learners to Co-construct an Acculturation Strategy for Integration in South African Schools
No full textThesis submitted in fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in the Faculty of Humanities, in the School of Human and Community Development, in the Department of Social Work, at the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in 2023.Immigrant adolescent learners have a dual task of acculturating into new society whilst adjusting to normative age-related psychological, social and biological developments. Hence, a theory-driven, and evidence-based acculturation strategy for integration is imperative in aiding immigrant adolescents as they navigate through the simultaneous occurrence of developmental milestones with acculturation related tasks. In this study, I aimed to explore the affordances and challenges faced by immigrant adolescent learners during their process of acculturation and use the findings to co-construct an acculturation strategy for integration. The paradigm of this intervention study is critical realism. The two theoretical frameworks that I used to underpin this study are the human capabilities approach and acculturation theory. This qualitative study used participatory action research, to ensure active involvement of twelve (12) immigrant adolescent learners as co-researchers. I used purposive sampling strategy to recruit participants from three public schools in the Mthatha Township, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa (SA). Data was collected through photovoice and focus group discussions. I then analysed the data using thematic data analysis which yielded a synthesis of affordances and challenges to acculturation. Findings of this study offered rich and thick descriptions of co-researchers’ perspectives on how to foster successful acculturation and integration. Main findings include that language proficiency is a key determinant factor of acculturation outcomes. Hence, co-researchers recommended language support and immersion programmes. Moreover, discrimination by peers, educators, and community members emerged as a major impediment to integration. To address the problem of discrimination, this study recommends a culturally responsive curriculum in schools, intercultural training for educators and awareness campaigns that should focus on attitudinal change for communities. Another significant output of this study are recommendations given to various stakeholders who are key to an acculturation strategy for the integration of immigrant adolescent learners in SA schools. Moreover, supported by critical realism, the study calls for broader multiculturalism and diversity education to facilitate the integration of immigrant adolescent learners.University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg`s Post Graduate Merit Award (PMA)
Eastern Cape Provincial Department of EducationMM202
A THEORY-BASED SCHOOL VIOLENCE PREVENTION PROGRAMME FOR HIGH SCHOOL LEARNERS IN THE TSHWANE SOUTH DISTRICT, GAUTENG PROVINCE, SOUTH AFRICA
Full text linkThere is a lack of theory-driven and evidence-based school violence prevention programmes targeting high school learners. In line with a developmental social work approach within a framework of stakeholder participation and empowerment, the Think Smart-Take Charge-Turn a New Leaf programme was designed and implemented e. Following a one-group pre-test/post-test survey design, a focus group interview with eight Grade 11 learners to obtain information on their experiences and their opinions about the outcomes of the programme was conducted. This pilot evaluation determined that the programme effectively enhanced student knowledge and positively influenced attitudes towards violence, but did not appear to change behaviour
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
FOSTERING TRIPARTITE PARTNERSHIPS IN SOUTH AFRICA: THE CRITICAL ROLE OF COLLABORATIVE PARTNERSHIPS BETWEEN SOCIAL WORK TRAINING INSTITUTIONS AND PUBLIC-PRIVATE WELFARE SECTORS
Full text linkThe necessity of collaboration and partnership among key stakeholders in advancing the social work profession in South Africa is evident. Accordingly, the development of formal communication structures between social work training institutions and public-private welfare sectors is strongly encouraged. Initiatives such as joint task teams, working groups, or advisory committees should be established to facilitate streamlined collaboration and partnerships, thereby enhancing the design and delivery of social service programmes. The collaboration of all three key stakeholders is crucial to establishing an effective and efficient social welfare and social work system that responds appropriately to the contextual needs of South Africa. Strengthening and fostering the proposed tripartite collaboration is indispensable for advancing social work research and education, shaping and analysing social policy, and improving social work practice to maximise its societal impact
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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