1,720,970 research outputs found
Exploring the influence of learner background on managing school behavioural patterns: a case study
Get PDFMEd (Management and Leadership), North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, 2018Unacceptable behaviour by learners in South African schools is a major concern for all stakeholders in the education sector. This explains the increased interest in the role and responsibilities of educators in managing problem behaviour and the effect of this behaviour on both the learners and educators' quality of life in the schools. It was the purpose of this study to explore the influence of learner background on the management of
their behavioural patterns and academic performance in public schools. The study was a mixed methods and utilised an exploratory sequential mixed methods as the design. The population from which a sample of 40 participants was selected using systematic and purposive sampling techniques were educators and learners from Gauteng's Lenasia South schools. Data were collected from the participants through the unstructured and structured questionnaires as well as through the focus group interviews held with the learners only. The rationale was to elicit the data for both the qualitative and quantitative aspects of the study. The analysis of data followed both the descriptive statistical and thematic approaches to ensure both the quantitative and qualitative aspects of the study were taken care of. Among the chief findings of this study was that the learners' disruptive behaviour on learning stems predominantly from their home environments where it was evident from the study that some of the child rearing raising practices for many of the behaviourally maladjusted learners are naturally disruptive culminating in their effects in schools. The conclusion drawn from this study was that there is an urgent need for parents and teachers to engage in serious partnerships in education if the teaching and learning atmospheres are to remain cordial in South African schools. The study's key recommendation was that although not all educators experience excessive emotional reactions that may contribute to stress as a result of learner maladjustment challenges, there is need for the School Governing Bodies to ensure that they work hand in glove with all educators and learners towards promoting a conducive school culture and tone.Master
The use of instructional leadership in the management of mathematics education
Get PDFMEd (Educational Management), North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, 2018The purpose of this study was to explore the role of instructional leadership in the management and leadership of mathematics teaching and learning so as to promote improved learner performance. The study adopted a mixed method as the overall methodology and an explanatory sequential mixed method as the design genre. Data were collected from systematically randomly sampled respondents through self-administered structured questionnaires for the quantitative aspect of the study and from purposefully sampled participants through
unstructured questionnaires and interviews for the qualitative aspect of the study. Overall, a total sample size of 74 participants or respondents took part in the study. The data analysis for the quantitative part of the study involved the use of descriptive statistical analysis, exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling with the aid of a quantitative data analysis software, SPSS version 24.0 For the qualitative part of the study, the analysis of data involved a thematic approach, where data codes were clustered into super ordinate themes and aided by a qualitative data analysis software, Atlas-ti formed the basis of the discussion of the findings of the qualitative part of the study. Among the key findings of the study was that very few instructional leaders in schools, employ real instructional leadership practices in encouraging mathematics educators and learners to excel. The conclusion drawn from this study was that unless and until the relationship between a sound instructional leadership and the extent to which the mathematics educators and learners are encouraged to be focused is upheld, performance standards in mathematics will remain a cause for concern for South Africa. A key recommendation from the study was that effective instructional leadership practices need to be fully adopted if a significant improvement in mathematics achievement is
to be realised in South African schoolsMaster
Using a Vygotskian sociocultural approach to pedagogy: Insights from some teachers in South Africa
Get PDFThe goal of the study on which this article is based was to examine teachers’ perspectives on the effectiveness of adopting a Vygotskian sociocultural approach to teaching and learning in the classrooms. The study used focus group interview discussions to gather views from 20 classroom practitioners who had completed a BEd Hons in Education Psychology. The teachers were from five secondary schools in the Gauteng region. Among the key concepts explored in the focus group discussions (FGDs) were the role of scaffolding when linked to mediated learning experiences (MLEs), the use of situated learning experiences in the learners’ zones of proximal development (ZPD), and how the approach helped transform the learners’ skills from lower to higher psychological functions through the use of material, psychological and semiotic tools in the classroom. The analysis of the data followed a thematic approach, with emerging codes being clustered into code families. Among the key findings of the study was the view of teachers that adopting a multipronged strategy that includes the use of authentic learning conversations, learning tools (material, psychological, and semiotic) and situated learning experiences goes a long way towards fostering useful teaching and learning. The study illustrated that classroom practitioners do need to take into account and adopt the many and varied benefits that can be derived from an authentic sociocultural approach to teaching and learning
Interrogating the Discourse of Educational Policy Analysis: Insights from the South African Outcomes Based Education (OBE)
Get PDFThis conceptual paper proffered critical examination of the subject of educational policy analysis and the factors, theories and methods that shape the process. The paper thus begins with an overview of major debates in policy sociology including the conceptualizations of policy as process, text anddiscourse before delving into the discussion of the models of policy-analysis often articulated in social and political science disciplines. The factors influencing policy-making are highlighted and so are the shifts in education policy with examples drawn from the South African context of education. In doing so, the paper also explores the various conceptions, methodsand theories of educational policy and policy analysis. This implies that the paper alsooutlines what constitutes educational policy and methods of policy analysis in a country. In this regard, the views of Steven Ball on policy as discourse and astext are employed to demonstrate how the social agentive nature of people as actors helps them make sense of texts through interpretations, contestations, constructing responses and dealing with contradictions and attempting representations through educational policy analysis. Jonathan Jansen’s perspective of how curriculum policyreform sometimes reflects thestruggle for the achievement of a broader political symbolism are also explored in the paper with examples drawn from the South African experiences of how the post-apartheid curriculum policy reforms were used to mark a paradigm shift or transition from apartheid education policy to the post-apartheid educational curriculum. In this sense the emphasis will be on how the conditions of social transition from apartheid to democracy in South Africa made politicians of the new democratic South Africato analyse and useeducational policy reformto herald this educational policy transformation in a sense that made educational policy reforms to function as a form of political symbolism.Trevor Gale’s criticalsociological perspective on policy analysis is also used as one of the lensto show how the workings of society particularly the relations of what Wright Mills would call personal troubles and public issues influence policy analysis and reform. Keywords: Curriculum, discourse, organizational politics, text, political symbolis
Embracing equitable learning in managing the physical and financial resources in South-African-schools: A social justice perspective
Get PDFIn this article I report on the findings of an empirical study conducted to show the merits of integrating equitable learning by members of the South African School Governing bodies (SGBs) in managing the physical and financial resources. Within the interpretivist paradigm and utilising a qualitative descriptive phenomenological design, the data generation followed the use of an unstructured questionnaire administered to a sample of 30 participants purposefully sampled. Adopting a social justice perspective as the lens, we unpack the necessity of learning equity in the SGB’s dealing of school resources. The study was guided by the following key research question; How can South African schools embrace the learning equity agenda in managing their physical and financial resources? The findings show that adopting such principles of equity in learning as integrating diversity in the equitable deployment of the physical and financial resources goes a long way towards entrenching social justice in managing the resources. The key conclusion was that unless members of the SGBs adopt an equitable mechanism for allocating these resources in the face of competing priorities, real equitable learning remains elusive. The recommendations include the need for adopting policies designed to deal with the complex relationships between concerned stakeholders in the provision of guidelines for public-school funding – most of which come from public budgets.
Keywords: Education Laws Amendment Act; equitable learning; financial resources; physical resources; school governing bodies; South African Schools Act; steward
Unpacking Student Feedback as a Basis for Metacognition and Mediated Learning Experiences: A Socio-cultural perspective
Get PDFThe study examines the effects of the feedback given to students by lecturers as learning support. It was conducted with undergraduates in an educational theory course in a South African university. The thesis was that although some of the feedback messages transmitted to students regarding strengths and weaknesses in learning get easily decoded and turned into action to improve performance, some messages are misconstrued by the students making the process of giving feedback complex. Data was collected through a cross-sectional feedback survey utilizing focus group interviews with 50 Bachelor of Education pre-service students conveniently sampled. The data analysis followed a thematic approach with superordinate themes used to structure the discussion of findings. The study found that student feedback needs to be culturally responsive for it to foster metacognition in them. The conclusion was that unless lecturers provide feedback that is simple, meaningful and clearly focused, students are unlikely to take much heed of it as there is a general tendency to focus more on the marks obtained than on the role of the feedback provided. This makes some students leave university under-prepared or half-baked in terms of providing student feedback on performance
Manifestations of Differential Cultural Capital in a University Classroom: Views from Classroom Observations and Focus Group Discussions in a South African University
Get PDFBased predominantly on Pierre Bourdieu’s social and cultural reproduction theory, particularly his notions of cultural capital and symbolic violence, this paper explores how first year post graduate Diploma in Higher Education (PGDHE) university students from diverse socio-linguistic backgrounds differ in the levels at which they understand and express themselves in classroom activities. The paper’s thesis is that the diverse nature of South African classrooms presents a number of challenges not only for students but also for educators in terms of the use of English as a medium of instruction or the language for learning and teaching (LOLT). Owing to the fact that the South African Language in Education Policy (LiEP) of 1997 empowers both learners and educators in schools to use any of the eleven South African official languages as a LOLT wherever that is reasonably possible, students whose English backgrounds were deficient in enculturating them in the use of English as a learning tool often encounter challenges in expressing their ideas in the classroom, whether in writing or in oral presentations. The discussion is anchored in the data elicited through two data collection methods, lesson observations in a Diploma in Higher Education, Research class composed of students from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds and through focus group discussion sessions with 40 multi-ethnic Diploma in Higher Education students from the same classroom. The data management and analysis for this study was done thematically, with views emerging from the observations and focus group discussions being clustered into superordinate themes for convenience of the discussion of the findings. The findings of this study were that students from affluent socio-economic backgrounds who enter university with a rich and relevant English linguistic capital, values and attitudes enjoy an enormous advantage compared to their counterparts whose social class and linguistic backgrounds lack the cultural capital cherished in university as conducive for educational success. The study thus recommends that the South African LiEP policy needs to be repealed so that it spells out unequivocally the LOLT especially in institutions of higher learning
Unmasking the ramifications of the fees-must-fall-conundrum in higher education institutions in South Africa: A critical perspective
Get PDFThe purpose of this study was to explore the ramifications of the fees-must-fall-protests that rocked South Africa’s universities for a couple of months in the years 2015 and 2016. Using a critical perspective, the thesis of the study is that the shutting down of universities in the context of student protests was neither unique nor original to South Africa for it has been a preferred weapon of repression by dictators all over the world. Several post-independence African governments invoke this weapon many times to silence dissenting voices. The data to embellish arguments in this study were gathered through focus group discussion interview sessions (FGDIS) from 40 participants purposefully sampled from 26 South African universities. The analysis of data followed a thematic approach with themes emerging from the FGDIS forming the basis of the discussion of the findings. Chief among the findings was that despite the salutary role of student protests as a force for social change well-established and never being gainsaid, higher education fees needs to fall, albeit cautiously. The fees-must-fall protests raised an important consciousness of how challenging a colonised education system can lead to academic disruptions. The key conclusion drawn was that if tuition fees dry up as would be the case if a fee-free decolonised education policy were to be adopted prematurely, the country could suffer severe consequences such as inevitable budget cuts, compromised research standards, demoralised academics and curtailed university offerings. The recommendations made included a need for governmental commitment to calm the students’ temper tantrums before they spiral out of control and for curriculum decolonisation advocates to denounce the government’s repressive tendencies if a truly decolonised education system is to be realised
Perceived gender-based challenges endured by Zimbabwean secondary school girls in their academic and occupational prospects
No full textThis study explores and unmasks factors in the Zimbabwean school curricula that predispose or channel
girls into particular occupational trajectories, in particular occupations or careers traditionally
stereotyped as feminine. As a qualitative research study of the culture of the schooling system within
this country, it employs the views of a sample size of 20 Sixth Form girls who were purposively selected.
The study also examines the impact of the pupils’ gender and their teacher attitudes and expectations
towards them as girls on their resultant career trajectories. The design adopted is an exploratory case
study that utilises the focus group interview for data collection from four secondary schools conveniently
sampled from the Ngezi District of Zimbabwe. The study establishes that as part of the hidden culture and
curriculum, teachers’ perceptions, attitudes and expectations of pupils’ gender roles exert a significant
influence on their academic achievement and career aspirations. This study concludes that effective
intervention strategies are an imperative if the Zimbabwean school curriculum is to be made gendersensitive.Publisher's versio
Perceptions about the use of language in physical science classrooms: A discourse analysis
Get PDFThe low enrolment, lack of interest, exacerbated by the general poor performance in physical science in South Africa paints a gloomy picture about the status of physical science in the country. Despite the fact that there might be other factors at play, one factor which cannot be ignored is the discourse about the use of language in the science classroom as viewed by physical science teachers. In the study reported on here a quantitative methodology was followed in which a closed-ended questionnaire survey was used as data collection tool. In the study we examined South African physical science teachers’ perceptions about the language use in science classrooms, and the study was informed by the Vygotskian socio-cultural theory (SCT). The target population from which a sample size of 37 physical science teachers was systematically sampled was high school classroomteachers and learners in Grades 10, 11 and 12 in the Ngaka Modiri Molema district of the North West province of South Africa. The study revealed that physical science teachers encountered difficulties with meanings of non-technical words used in science context. The conclusion drawn was that many physical science teachers were not proficient in the discourse of the science classroom and this often compromised their effectiveness in the teaching and learning of science. The main difficulty was confusion in differentiating between technical and non-technical words and the lack of convincing explanations of meanings of these words in teaching and learning. Key among the recommendations of this study was the need to address teachers’ challenges with regard to the language use and the implications thereof.
Keywords: discourse; non-technical words; proficiency; science classroom language; technical word
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