1,720,958 research outputs found
Resource mobilisation for the sustainability of schools within rural context: voices of school stakeholders at UMzimkhulu circuit in Harry Gwala District Municipality.
Full text linkDoctoral degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2018.Research has suggested that if we are to make a difference in the lives of those who live, work
and learn in rural contexts, we urgently need studies with a focus on identifying existing
resources and assets in communities and schools, and among individuals and groups, as well
as on how we might harness them to effect the desired social change. In response to this need,
the study’s purpose is to explore and identify ways through which schools within rural contexts
identify and mobilise resources. It focuses on the nature of resources within the rural context,
the strategies used for identifying and mobilising resources within rural contexts, and the
conditions that are conducive to the successful application of strategies used for identifying
and mobilising resources for supporting educational processes, as well as the challenges
experienced during resource identification and mobilisation. The overarching research question
for this study is: What are possible strategies for identifying and mobilising resources for the
sustainability of schools within rural contexts? The South African Schools Act advises that,
through school leadership which includes school governing bodies (SGBs) and school
management, schools are required to supplement resources provided by the State (RSA,
1996b). However, this study discovered a gap in the literature, in terms of how school leaders
and school stakeholders can identify and mobilise resources for the sustainability of schools
within rural contexts. This is a qualitative study, underpinned by Critical Emancipatory
research (CER), which has its foundations in the critical theory paradigm. To understand the
issue of resources, the study draws from the asset-based approach and resource mobilisation as
its theoretical underpinning guided by traditions of participatory research and critical
emancipatory research, Free Attitude Interviews (FAI), SWOT analysis and Transect walks
coupled with photovoice were used to generate data.
Through transect walks and photovoice, this study identified crucial resources and approaches
or strategies for resource identification and mobilisation which are suitable for the context of
rurality. These resources include local businesses, government and non-government
organisations, traditional leadership, parents, school history and other organisations as crucial
providers of material and human resources. The key strategies for assets identification and
mobilisation were found to be the creation of school-community relations, schools’ consistency
in producing good results, participation in multi-stakeholder engagements and forums, running
schools like businesses and building from schools’ rich history. The study also identifies conditions
that are conducive to the successful application of resource mobilisation and the
challenges thereof. The key findings of this study revealed that resources are not always
situated far from rural communities and schools as the prevailing discourse on rurality and
availability of resources has always suggested. Informed by findings, the study proposes four
stages that schools can use towards identifying and mobilising resources. The stages aim at
consolidating and presenting all discussions made in chapter five and six thereby creating a
meaning as to how the asset-based approach and resource mobilisation theory may be utilised
in the mobilisation of resources. The proposed stages, as I indicated above, link with all areas
discussed in this study, which includes identifying the nature of resources within rural contexts,
identifying strategies for identifying and mobilising resources within rural contexts and
creating conditions conducive to the successful application of strategies for identifying and
mobilising resources. Finally, the last stage involves identifying challenges for resource
identification and mobilisation
Intoxicated in the classroom : teachers’ experiences of teaching drug addicted learners in KwaZulu-Natal township schools, South Africa
Full text linkJournal article published in African Perspectives of Research in Teaching & Learning Journal (APORTAL) Vol 6 (2) (2022)The number of drug users in Africa is projected to rise in the next decade by as much as 40 per cent, simply because of the growing youth population on the continent (UNODC,2021). Yet relatively very little is known and understood about the plight of teachers who contend with drug-addicted learners in their classrooms. The need for this study was prompted by the traumatic experiences of teachers in these drug-ridden classrooms in the KwaDabeka Township, in the KwaZulu-Natal province. Teachers are threatened, physically harmed, verbally abused, and emotionally and psychologically traumatised by learner who use drugs during class. The saddest part though, is that these teachers suffer in silence. The purpose of this study is to investigate teachers’ experiences regarding teaching learners addicted to drugs in KwaZulu-Natal township schools. There is a paucity of research that explores the plight of teachers who conduct lessons in drug-ridden classrooms within the township context. This is a qualitative study located within the Interpretivist paradigm. Six teachers from three high schools in KwaDabeka were selected for the study. Purposeful sampling was utilised to select teachers with experience of teaching drug addicted learners. Interviews were conducted as data-gathering techniques. We used thematic data analysis to analyse data. This study is supported by the Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory and Critical Emancipatory Theory. Four main findings emerged from the data, which were used to make recommendations to improve teaching and learning in drug affected township schools
Resources mobilisation challenges in rural schools of South Africa: What can we learn?
No full textGovernment efforts to provide equal and quality education in rural schools has yielded minimal change in South Africa since the dawn of democracy in 1994.Growing inequalities and recent economic constraints exacerbated by the COVID 19 pandemic have further exposed and deepened resource scarcity among rural communities and schools. The South African Schools Act (1996) is clear that, through school stakeholders such as School Governing Bodies (SGB’s), schools are required to supplement resources provided by the State. However, there is a paucity of research that explores resource mobilisation challenges experienced by school stakeholders in rural schools of South Africa. The article is based on a qualitative research study, supported by the Asset-based theory and Resource mobilisation theory. To collect data, we used participatory approaches such as the Free Attitude Interviews (FAI) and SWOT analysis. Four main findings emerged from the data, which were used to make recommendations to address and improve the quality of education in rural communities.Los esfuerzos del gobierno para brindar educación igualitaria y de calidad en las escuelas rurales han producido cambios mínimos en Sudáfrica desde los albores de la democracia en 1994. Las crecientes desigualdades y las recientes limitaciones económicas exacerbadas por la pandemia de COVID 19 han expuesto y profundizado aún más la escasez de recursos entre las comunidades y escuelas rurales. . La Ley de Escuelas de Sudáfrica (1996) deja claro que, a través de las partes interesadas en las escuelas, como los órganos de gobierno escolar (SGB), las escuelas deben complementar los recursos proporcionados porel Estado. Sin embargo, hay escasez de investigaciones que exploren los desafíos de movilización de recursos que enfrentan los actores escolares en las escuelas rurales de Sudáfrica. El artículo se basa en un estudio de investigación cualitativo, sustentado en la teoría basada en activos y la teoría de la movilización de recursos. Para recopilar datos, utilizamos enfoques participativos como las Entrevistas de Actitud Libre (FAI) y el análisis FODA. De los datos surgieron cuatro hallazgos principales, que se utilizaron para hacer recomendaciones para abordar y mejorar la calidad de la educación en las comunidades rurales. Se trata de recursos sin explotar, propensión a la acción, partes interesadas de la escuela infravaloradas y movilización de la voz de lacomunidad
Resources mobilisation challenges in rural schools of South Africa: What can we learn?
Full text linkGovernment efforts to provide equal and quality education in rural schools has yielded minimal change in South Africa since the dawn of democracy in 1994.Growing inequalities and recent economic constraints exacerbated by the COVID 19 pandemic have further exposed and deepened resource scarcity among rural communities and schools. The South African Schools Act (1996) is clear that, through school stakeholders such as School Governing Bodies (SGB’s), schools are required to supplement resources provided by the State. However, there is a paucity of research that explores resource mobilisation challenges experienced by school stakeholders in rural schools of South Africa. The article is based on a qualitative research study, supported by the Asset-based theory and Resource mobilisation theory. To collect data, we used participatory approaches such as the Free Attitude Interviews (FAI) and SWOT analysis. Four main findings emerged from the data, which were used to make recommendations to address and improve the quality of education in rural communities
Swimming Against the Tide: Resource Mobilization and its Implications for Rural Schools of South Africa
Full text linkIn a developing country like South Africa, the quality of education has a pivotal role in eliminating poverty and bringing about economic transformation. This constitutes the central goal of the National Development Plan. However, research has consistently demonstrated that providing quality education is linked to the availability or the absence of resources in South Africa. Therefore, in rural communities where resource scarcity is prevalent, the goal of quality inclusive education for all remains elusive and impossible to achieve. Driven by this challenge, in this study, we elicited insights from various stakeholders in a rural community about how they mobilize resources or can enhance resource mobilization in their context. We adopted a qualitative research approach, employing participatory methodologies such as transect walks, SWOT analysis and photovoice to engage the participants on what they described as resources in their rural context and how these resources could be mobilized. The findings presented three sets of capital under which resources that may drive the provision of quality education can be housed. These are human capital, cultural capital, and social-organizational capital. Based on the findings, we argue that the dominant discourse that rural communities lack capital is a “half reality” and that the challenge is the lack of awareness of what is available and how it can be harnessed to enhance the provision of quality education. We therefore recommend focused approaches to resource identification and mobilization
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
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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