1,721,083 research outputs found
Reconsidering ubuntu: On the educational potential of a particular ethic of care
No full textArticleIn this article we argue that ubuntu (human interdependence) is not some form of essentialist notion that unfolds in exactly the same way as some critics of ubuntu might want to suggest. Rather, we offer a philosophical position that (re)considers the situation of the self in relation to others. The article starts from the general issues at stake in the debate concerning particularity and universalist ethics. We then reconsider the general position of the ethics of care, and particularly how it has recently been revisited by Michael Slote. Following this, ubuntu is characterised as a particular kind of ethic of care. With this in mind, what we shall put forward is an extension of Seyla Benhabib's (2006) view that the self and others should iteratively and hospitably engage in deliberation. Although we agree with Benhabib that iterations (as arguing over and over again and talking back) are worthwhile in themselves, considering ubuntu ('a person becoming a person in relation with other persons'), we find Stanley Cavell's (1979) idea of 'living with skepticism'-particularly, acknowledging humanity in the Other and oneself-as more apposite to extend the theoretical premises of ubuntu. Although the practice of ubuntu is lived out differently amongst Africa's people, we want to add to the diverse ways in which ubuntu can both disrupt and offer ways as to how challenges of human conflict and violence can possibly be resolved. The article finally addresses a couple of educational examples and argues that this approach, by being well-grounded in the life experience of learners, can critically assist the central role of education.© 2011 Philosophy of Education Society of Australasia
Taking into account African Philosophy: An impetus to amend the agenda of philosophy of education
No full textPlease help us populate SUNScholar with the post print version of this article. It can be e-mailed to: [email protected] of an Africanisation of education have often lambasted its proponents for re-inventing something that has very little, if any, role to play in contemporary African society. The contributors to this issue hold a different view and, through the papers included in this issue, arguments are proffered in defence of an Africanisation of education on the African continent, particularly through the notion of ubuntu. Since the 1960s, Africana philosophy as an instance of Africanisation has emerged as a 'gathering' notion for philosophical endeavours practised by professional philosophers and intellectuals, either of African descent, including those living in the diaspora, or those of non-African descent but who are devoted to matters pertaining to African and African-descended individuals and communities (Outlaw, 2004, p. 90). These philosophical endeavours mostly relate to a 'critical analysis and reflective evaluation of the evidence and reasoning' that constitute the beliefs, customs, values, traditions, oral literature (parables, proverbs, poetry, songs and myth), languages and histories of African and African-descended peoples (Hallen, 2004, p. 105). The articles presented at this symposium analytically explore ideas and practices central to Africana philosophy, their underlying rationales, and how these forms of philosophical inquiry can potentially engender defensible educative relationships. © 2011 The Authors. Educational Philosophy and Theory © 2011 Philosophy of Education Society of Australasia
Disruption of higher education policy through an ethics of care in South Africa
Full text linkThesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2020.ENGLISH ABSTRACT : The study on which this dissertation reports, argued that the newly reformed university policies and practices of the four public universities in the Western Cape still affect students from poor
schools in a considerable way, as they still seem to struggle to gain access into higher education,
even after the enactment of the White Paper for Post School Education of 2013. My argument is
corroborated by findings and conclusions that ensued after the conceptual analysis of policy
structures of the four public universities under study. The findings also exposed the university
system in general as an elitist institution that is unable to change or be changed to recognise the
poor. The argument is that the strategies the universities utilise to integrate students into the
university system intensify this setback, as those strategies do not attempt to increase
universities’ capacity to grant access to poor students, who are incidentally fatalities of the
apartheid system. Instead, the universities want the students to bring the same capabilities as
their private and former Model C-schooled counterparts. Because of this practice, the university
system appears to favour affluent students, which then compounds the social inequity at
universities. My contention in the study therefore was that the university system ought to
embrace approaches such as an ethics of care to disrupt the alienating culture within their policy
processes. The ethics of care as the disruption paradigm may achieve a reconceptualised notion
of external inclusion by which lived experiences of the vast majority of poor students can be
accommodated, and may also introduce a conciliatory paradigm to higher education, from which
social justice can be attained.
In the study, I have used ‘poor students’ interchangeably with ‘black students from poor
schools’, as the colour of poverty in South Africa, even after 25 years of democracy, is still
predominantly black.AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING : Die navorsing waaroor hierdie proefskrif verslag doen, het van die standpunt uitgegaan dat die nuut hervormde universiteitsbeleide en -praktyke van die vier openbare universiteite in die Wes-
Kaap steeds studente afkomstig arm skole nadelig beïnvloed, aangesien dit lyk asof hulle steeds
sukkel om toegang tot hoër onderwys te kry, selfs ná die Witskrif oor Naskoolse Onderwys en
Opleiding. My argument word bevestig deur bevindings en gevolgtrekkings wat gevolg het ná
die konseptuele ontleding van beleidstrukture van die vier openbare universiteite in die studie.
Die bevindings dui ook op die universiteitstelsel in die algemeen as ’n elitistiese instelling wat
nie kan verander of verander kan word om die armes te erken nie. Die argument is dat die
strategieë wat die universiteite gebruik om studente in die universiteitstelsel te integreer hierdie
agterstand versterk, aangesien die strategieë nie poog om die vermoë van universiteite om
toegang aan arm studente te verleen, wat toevallig oorblyfsels van die apartheidstelsel is, te
vergemaklik nie. In plaas daarvan wil die universiteite hê dat die studente dieselfde vermoëns as
hulle eweknieë uit privaat en voormalige Model C-skole sal hê. As gevolg van hierdie praktyk
blyk dit dat die universiteitstelsel gegoede studente bevoordeel, wat dan die maatskaplike
ongelykheid by universiteite vererger. My standpunt in die navorsing was dus dat die
universiteitstelsel benaderings soos ’n etiek van omgee moet gebruik om die vervreemdende
kultuur in hulle beleidsprosesse te ontwrig. Die etiek van omgee as die ontwrigtingsparadigma
kan ’n herkonseptualiseerde opvatting van eksterne insluiting bewerkstellig waardeur die
deurleefde ervarings van die oorgrote meerderheid arme studente geakkommodeer kan word en
wat ook ’n versoenende paradigma na hoër onderwys kan bring, waardeur maatskaplike
geregtigheid bereik kan word.
In dié navorsing het ek ‘arm studente’ afwisselend met ‘swart studente uit arm skole’ gebruik,
aangesien die kleur van armoede in Suid-Afrika, selfs na 25 jaar van demokrasie, steeds
oorwegend swart is.Doctora
Are doctoral studies in South Africa higher education being put at risk?
Full text linkCITATION: Waghid, Y. 2015. Are doctoral studies in South Africa higher education being put at risk? South African Journal of Higher Education, 29(5):1-7.The original publication is available at http://www.journals.ac.za/index.php/sajheInasmuch as many attempts are being made in South Africa to increase the
doctoral throughput rate, it appears as if the rush to produce doctoral (PhD)
qualifications might just be the biggest risk that confronts the pursuit of doctoral
studies. The author argues that, in the quest to accelerate the number of
doctorates produced in the country, higher education institutions (HEIs), in
particular administrators and – to a lesser extent – supervisors, run the risk
of trivialising doctoral education: because of an over-emphasis on throughput
rates alone, the purpose of the doctorate is assigned to a mere exercise of
technical compliance and completion. In this article, the author offers a word
of caution as to what the doctorate should not be subjected to if such a highlevel
achievement is to remain an aspiration of those serious about knowledge
construction, reconstruction and deconstruction.Publisher's versio
Deliberative democratic theory in relation to private general and further education and training
Full text linkThesis (DEd)--Stellenbosch University, 2023.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Quality equal education is not available to everyone in South Africa. Our country has a traumatic history that continues to have significant implications for the development and implementation of educational legislation. In addition, the perceived inadequacies of a contextualised approach to deliberative democratic engagement have resulted in poor policy development for private general and further education and training (GFET). This contributes to regulatory barriers that render it virtually impossible for private providers to contribute much needed resources where the state continues to fail.
This dissertation, which is located within the discipline of education policy studies, provides a historical evaluation of education legislation enacted within the Southern African education sector. An evaluation of deliberative democratic engagement concerning private GFET required a critical educational theory approach. In addition, a qualitative evaluation of relevant literature, policies, regulations, Acts, and reports, was employed. The dissertation reviewed the theory that emerges from this literature in relation to a contextualisation of deliberative democracy for South Africa. This included a measure of critical realism required by deliberative democracy to acknowledge the historical injustices within the education sector. Unless we undertake this task, we may repeat aspects of past injustices. To begin with, the dissertation provides a historical overview of the successive sets of policy implementation that have negatively impacted upon the development of an equitable, quality, basic education system in South Africa. This overview provides an account of an education system that has a history of inequality, discrimination, neglect, and inferiority, that will take years to overcome. Two distinct historical periods that shaped our education sector are discussed. Firstly, the discussion includes a review of the colonial and apartheid eras. During this period education and religion were used to socially engineer a segregated, unequal society, based on race, gender and language. The dissertation argues that education was used as a tool for disenfranchisement. Secondly, the discussion provides a review of post-apartheid educational policies and legislation that continue to propagate the cycle of discrimination and inequality within the education sector. The dissertation then facilitates a critical engagement with the theory of deliberative democracy in relation to the pervasive problems with policy development and implementation in the private GFET sector in contemporary South Africa. Having conducted this critical conversation it is argued that to address the inadequacies in policy formation and implementation in contemporary GFET in South Africa, a contextually appropriate form of deliberative democracy is required that considers the complexity of our history and embraces the rich cultural diversity that makes South Africa unique. The dissertation presents the recommendations for a form of deliberative democracy that embraces the principles of ubuntu and encourages communities of care that are built on mutual trust. The recommendations include the need for a politics of reconciliation and unhindered communicative freedom for the achievement of liberty rights within the South African focus on communal identity. The study offers two unique and novel contributions to the field of educational policy studies. Firstly, it offers proposals for an amended approach to deliberative democracy for the South African context that focuses on the impact of policy studies in private GFET. Secondly, this study offers a thorough critical reflection on the ways in which policy development and implementation in the South African GFET sector were shaped and misshaped by political ideology and social actors (such as religious movements during the colonial era, politicians, political movements, and unions in the democratic era).
This research adds a further necessary contribution towards research that seeks to understand the complexity of policy development and implementation within the private GFET. While it is not possible for a single dissertation to solve such a complex problem, it does offer some novel and unique insights that help us to understand the challenges we face, while offering some constructive proposals for how we can move forward.AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Gelyke onderwys van gehalte is nie vir almal in Suid-Afrika beskikbaar nie. Ons land het 'n traumatiese geskiedenis wat steeds beduidende gevolge vir die ontwikkeling en toepassing van opvoedkundige wetgewing het. Daarbenewens het die oenskynlike tekortkominge van 'n konteksgebonde benadering tot doelbewuste demokratiese betrokkenheid gelei tot swak beleidsontwikkeling vir private algemene en verdere onderwys en opleiding (AVOO). Hierdie dra by tot regulerende hindernisse wat dit feitlik onmoontlik maak vir privaat-verskaffers om hoogs nodige hulpbronne beskikbaar te stel daar waar die staat steeds te kort skiet. Hierdie verhandeling, gelee binne die dissipline van opvoedingsbeleidstudies, gee ’n historiese ontleding van opvoedkundige wetgewing wat binne die Suid-Afrikaanse onderwys-sektor toegepas is. ’n Ontleding van doelbewuste demokratiese betrokkenheid in verband met private AVOO het 'n kritiese opvoedingsteorie-benadering vereis. Voorts is ’n kwalitatiewe ontleding van tersaaklike literatuur, beleid, regulasies, wette, en verslae gedoen. Die verhandeling het die teorie ondersoek wat uit hierdie literatuur gespruit het rakende die vorming van ’n konteks vir doelbewuste demokrasie vir Suid-Afrika. Hierdie het ’n mate van kritiese realisme ingesluit wat deur doelbewuste demokrasie vereis word om die historiese ongeregtighede binne die onderwyssektor te erken. Indien ons nie hierdie taak onderneem nie, bestaan die moontlikheid dat ons aspekte van die ongeregtighede van die verlede kan herhaal. Om mee te begin, die verhandeling gee ’n historiese oorsig van die negatiewe uitwerking wat die toepassing van 'n reeks opeenvolgende beleide op die ontwikkeling van ’n gelyke, gehalte, basiese onderwysstelsel in Suid-Afrika gehad het. Hierdie oorsig gee ’n uiteensetting van ’n onderwysstelsel wat ’n geskiedenis van ongelykheid, diskriminasie, verwaarlosing, en minderwaardigheid het wat jare gaan neem om oorkom te word. Twee kenmerkende historiese periodes wat ons onderwyssektor gevorm het, word bespreek. Die bespreking sluit eerstens ’n ontleding van die koloniale era en apartheidsera in. In hierdie tydperk was onderwys en godsdiens gebruik om ’n onderverdeelde, ongelyke samelewing op grond van ras, geslag, en taal te skep. Die verhandeling hou voor dat onderwys as ’n middel tot uitsluiting gebruik is. Die bespreking gee tweedens ’n oorsig van post-apartheid pvoedingsbeleid en -wetgewing wat steeds ’n kringloop van diskriminasie en ongelykheid binne die opvoedkundige sektor voortsit. Vervolgens bevorder die verhandeling ’n kritiese betrokkenheid by die teorie van doelbewuste demokrasie aangaande die omvattende probleme in die private AVOO sektor rakende beleidsontwikkeling en -implementering. Ná die uitvoering van hierdie kritiese gesprek word die argument gevoer dat, om die tekortkominge in beleidsvorming en -implementering in die hedendaagse AVOO in Suid-Afrika aan te spreek, ’n konteksgepaste vorm van doelbewuste demokrasie nodig is om die kompleksiteit van ons geskiedenis in ag te neem en die ryk kulturele verskeidenheid wat Suid-Afrika uniek maak, te verwelkom. Die verhandeling stel onder andere ’n vorm van doelbewuste demokrasie voor wat die beginsels van ubuntu insluit sowel as om omgee-gemeenskappe aan te moedig wat op onderlinge vertroue gebou word. Die aanbevelings sluit die behoefte in vir ’n politiek van versoening en ongehinderde kommunikasie-vryheid vir die verwesenliking van vryheidsregte binne die Suid-Afrikaanse fokus op gemeenskaplike identiteit.
Die studie lewer twee unieke en nuwe bydraes tot die gebied van opvoedingsbeleidstudies. Eerstens stel dit ’n aangepaste benadering tot doelbewuste demokrasie voor vir die Suid-Afrikaanse konteks wat fokus op die uitwerking van beleidstudies in private AVOO. Tweedens, bied hierdie studie ’n deeglike oordenking aan oor die wyses waarop beleidsontwikkeling en -implementering in die Suid-Afrikaanse AVOO-sektor gevorm en misvorm is deur politieke ideologie en sosiale rolspelers (soos godsdienstige bewegings tydens die koloniale era, politikusse, politieke bewegings, en unies in die demokratiese era). Hierdie navorsing lewer ’n verdere en noodsaaklike bydrae tot navorsing wat daarna streef om die kompleksiteit van beleidsontwikkeling en -implementering binne die private AVOO te verstaan. Hoewel dit nie moontlik is vir ’n enkele verhandeling om so ’n komplekse probleem op te los nie, bied dit wel ’n paar nuwe en unieke insigte aan wat ons help om die uitdagings te verstaan wat ons in die gesig staar, terwyl dit enkele opbouende voorstelle vir die pad vorentoe maak.Doctora
Joint Doctoral Programmes as a Platform for Global Citizenship Education Between the United Kingdom and South Africa
No full textThis chapter examines how a Global South-North joint doctoral degree programme between the UK and South Africa is serving as a platform for fostering Global Citizenship Education (GCE). Emphasizing the collaborative and cross-cultural dimensions of the programme, we present and discuss the complex interplay of factors (experienced as both opportunities and hurdles) to overcome in supporting international joint doctoral degrees. In particular our goals are to share a) how our joint doctorate degree programme is facilitating GCE across our global South-North contexts, b ) the broader implications in preparing doctorate candidates and supervisors for active participation in a globalized world, c) how joint doctoral degrees serve to develop early career researcher’s critical skills for civic literacy, and d) how our joint venture has created challenges and opportunities for challenging institutional hierarchies and establishments. We conclude with suggestions on ways institutions may think through the design and delivery of joint degree programmes of this nature as a useful conceptual tool through which to explore doctoral pedagogy from a more globally equitable perspective
Race and Indigeneity: The search for transformative Leadership in Aotearoa New Zealand Higher Education
No full textOur chapter confronts and intentionally links race and Indigeneity to higher education practices that promote diversity and inclusion. The search for transformative leadership in higher education requires critical undoings of eurocentric practices and the associated institutional structures and processes. The experiences of racially and ethnically diverse educators and researchers engaged in the critical undoings of eurocentric practices across higher education landscapes in Aotearoa New Zealand have been captured and expressed through e-talanoa, an online Pacific-centric method of data gathering. Indigenous Pacific spaces and practices centred on tauhi vā or teu le vā offer constructive frames to analyse diversity and inclusion and their relation to transformative leadership practices across Aotearoa New Zealand universities. The acts of ‘critical undoings’ in this chapter critically interrogates notions of diversity , and moves to disrupt hegemonic norms and practices that prioritise eurocentric forms of learning, teaching, communication, and behaving. The employment of Indigenous Pacific ideas enables a shift from eurocentric rhetoric of inclusion and diversity as tick boxes to the valuing of Indigenous knowledge systems and their relevant (re)constructions of diversity in higher education
Pedagogical practices in a higher education context : case studies in environmental and science education
Full text linkThesis (PhD) -- Stellenbosch University, 2001.Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Education. Dept. of Curriculum Studies.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: My study investigates opportunities that may currently be available to enable the transformation
of post-apartheid teacher education. I examine two case studies of my own professional practice.
The first case study involves in-service education work that I performed with teachers in a local
community, Grassy Park. The second case study represents work I performed with students in a
pre-service education programme at the University of Stellenbosch. My study aims to:
• Critically examine the implications of social issues, particularly environmental issues, for
pedagogical practices generally and for South African pedagogical work in particular.
• Critically review the changing socio-historical determinants of pedagogical practices in South
African teacher education.
• Investigate changing pedagogical practices by describing and reflecting on work done in my own
professional contexts as a science/environmental teacher educator at a historically Afrikaner
university.
With respect to teacher education, Pendlebury (1998) argues that we are seeing shifts in public
space, evaluative space, pedagogical space and institutional space from insulated space (hidden
from public scrutiny) to a more porous space. In this study I am concerned with pedagogical
space that, in Pendlebury's (1998:345) terms determines 'who may learn (or teach), how and
what they learn (or teach), when and for how long and where'. I use these categories of
Pendlebury (1998:345) together with Turnbull's (1997) perspectives on knowledge production as
conceptual tools to frame my analyses of the cases. Although a significant part of my study
focuses on classroom practices, I take pedagogy to have a much broader meaning that
incorporates in Hernandez's (1997:11) terms 'all spaces in which knowledge is produced and
identities are formed'.
This research report offers a brief insight into the complexities of change at the micro-level of
classroom practices. But, importantly also contextualises these micro-level pedagogical practices
within broader socio-historical determinants and provides praxiological comments on postapartheid
education policies. The research also initiates an investigation into the social
organisation of trust in post-apartheid South Africa.AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: In hierdie studie ondersoek ek die geleenthede vir die transformasie van onderwyseropleiding in
die post-apartheidsera. Ek bespreek twee gevallestudies uit my eie professionele praktyk. Die
eerste gevallestudie handel oor die indiensopleiding van onderwysers in Grassy Park, 'n
plaaslike gemeenskap. Die tweede gevallestudie handel oor die werk wat ek met studente in 'n
voorgraadse onderrigprogram aan die Universiteit van Stellenbosch gedoen het. Die studie het
die volgende ten doel:
• 'n Kritiese ondersoek na die uitwerking van sosiale aspekte, met die klem op
omgewingsaangeleenthede, op opvoedkundige praktyke in die algemeen en op die Suid-
Afrikaanse opvoedkundige praktyk in die besonder.
• 'n Kritiese oorsig oor die sosio-historiese veranderinge wat deeI vorm van die opleiding
van Suid-Afrikaanse onderwysers.
• 'n Ondersoek na veranderende opvoedkundige praktyke aan die hand van 'n beskrywing
van en refleksie op my eie professionele werk as dosent in die
wetenskap/omgewingsopvoeding aan 'n historiese Afrikaanse universiteit.
Ten opsigte van onderwyseropleiding beweer Pendlebury (1998) dat verskuiwings in die
publieke ruimte, evaluerende ruimte, pedagogiese ruimte en institusionele ruimte, plaasvind van
'n afgesonderde ruimte (verberg vir publieke waarnemimg/evaluasie) na 'n meer deursigtige
ruimte. In hierdie studie fokus ek op die pedagogiese ruimte wat, volgens Pendlebury
(1998:345), bepaal 'who may learn (or teach), how and what they learn (or teach), when and for
how long and where'. Ek gebruik Pendlebury (1998: 345) se kategoriee saam met Turnbull
(1997) se perspektiewe oor kennisproduksie as konseptuele raamwerk vir my analise van die
twee gevallestudies. Alhoewel 'n beduidende gedeelte van my studie op klaskamerpraktyke
fokus, moet die term pedagogie(k) volgens my 'n veel breer betekenis verband gesien word om
ook Hernandez (1997: 11) se 'all spaces in which knowledge is produced and identities are
formed' intesluit.
Hierdie navorsingsverslag lig die komplekse aard van transformasie op die mikro-vlak van
klaskamerpraktyke toe. Van groot belang is ook die kontekstualisering van opvoedkundige
praktyke op mikro-vlak binne die breer sosio-historiese veranderlikes en lewer praktykverwante
kommentaar op die opvoedkundige beleid van die post-apartheidsera. Die navorsing dien ook as
vertrekpunt om sosiale vertroue in die post-apartheids-Suid-Afrika te ondersoek.Doctora
Leading Australian Catholic Schools:Lessons from the Edge
No full textAt the beginning of the twenty-first century, Catholic schools in Australia lie on the edge of possibility. In this chapter a series of themes are presented about leading Catholic schools ‘on the edge’. The author shares his insights about Catholic schools (i) on the edge of the mainstream through reference to their position as nongovernment schools in policy and funding terms relative to schools in the public sector and secular Australian and State/Territory governments and statutory authorities, (ii) on the edge of town highlighting the context and challenges of Catholic schools serving diverse low, middle and high SES communities and the hope and distinctive educational opportunities they promote, and (iii) on the edge of faith drawing upon ecclesial writings, research findings and emerging forms of governance relating to the authenticity and sustainability of Catholic schools. The message from these insights is that leading Catholic schools ‘on the edge’ not only requires a thorough understanding of the local community context; broader educational trends, accountabilities and opportunities; and the teachings and changes in the Church; but also an appreciation of what emerging Catholic school communities can be. The implication is that Catholic school leaders need to have a vision for Catholic schools on the edge of possibility that encompasses the challenges of distinctiveness, equity, diversity, authenticity and sustainability; and the capability to share and realize that vision.</p
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