ResearchSpace
ResearchSpace is the institutional repository of the University of KwaZulu-Natal, unlocking knowledge, empowering impact, and preserving UKZN's research legacy.
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Co-constructors of policy-shaping in Mauritius: ICTE policies.
(2023) Ramtohul, Premlata Kooshmi.; Samuel, Michael Anthony.; Mohabeer, Tejwant Chana.
This thesis builds on my ongoing experience in the field of ICT within education. Since the 1980s, the global interest in expanding the use of ICT devices to activate pedagogy in schooling has produced mixed reactions. The voices of support or challenge have emerged from within and outside schooling. These voices include the views of the governmental officials, the industrialists in the private and public sector and parents of school-going children. The study explores the co-involvement of a range of stakeholders influencing policy-shaping against the backdrop of postcolonial theory and appropriate postmodern and post-structuralist thinking. The particular case study of the small island Mauritius context forms the location of this study. This study explicates the rarely acknowledged colonial entanglements of the multiple consistencies and contradictions of the varied voices. It exposes the contingent and polyglot perspectives and processes of the shaping of the policy for ICT in education. Drawing on a foundation of the specific official educational policies, this study produced data through semi-structured narrative interviews of a range of shapers of policies, probing their responses to their involvement, reaction and/or implementation of the planned goals in practice. A grounded, inductive approach to qualitative analysis and a cross-case analysis yielded the emergence of five superordinate, yet fluid and overlapping typologies to depict the key construction shaping processes of ICT policy. The typologies were labelled Negotiators, Influencers, Legitimisers, Enactors and the self-proclaimed Excluded voices of the policy-shaping processes. The initial theoretical framework presented at the opening section of the thesis was used to further abstract deeper levels of analysis of the study’s findings. The emergent analysis provides a critique of the continuing impact of colonial and neoliberal educational policies on SIDS contexts. The implicit powers of the industrial agents collude with the official governmental systems. More powerful political interests related to the need to develop support from local populations as part of electioneering campaigns dominate the official space. The pedagogical foci underpinning ICT introduction are relatively sidelined during the introduction of ICTE efforts. What constitutes even the official policy becomes contestable. Paradoxically, those who initially appear disempowered in the policymaking process, like parents and teachers, exert powerful shaping forces over the ICT enacted space in education contexts. Policy emerges as a contested complication conversation. The thesis highlights the confluence of perpetual colonialism, political rhetoric versus pedagogical reasoning and the paradoxes of power. The thesis expands the framing of the ICT environment as infused simultaneously with a complicity, vulnerability and invisibility of the stakeholders. These characteristics are also not stable or consistent within particular stakeholder groups or individuals who speak a polyglot discourse of policy-shaping. The spaces are characterised by a tacit discourse of electioneering timeframes, a deliberate choice for ignoring and silencing of the rationale and concrete research evidence and logic. The policy-shaping space is dominated by illusory information and under-scrutinised global discourses. The effect is to sustain ICT globalisation and intensive marketing propaganda where international benchmarks are prioritised over local relevance. In such a space, post-truth policymaking emerges as a new construct. This thesis recommends that any potential to improve policymaking processes lies not only in the hands of policymakers but the population in general, as it has been found that everyone is a policy-shaper. Therefore, everyone needs to be critical about what is proposed or borrowed from the international community, including from their subtle spokespersons as depicted by the influences of the industry shapers. The thesis recommends foregrounding pedagogical and educational logic rationales and sensitivity to contextual schooling contexts when developing policies. To be able to do so, experts and bureaucrats would need to draw clear boundaries between electioneering agenda and education policies. Enhancing synergy between policymaking and the research space has the potential to protect policy from the dominant international discourse. The public, in general, must also be made more aware of dis/misinformation and be critical of political and industry rhetoric.
Critical success factors of female entrepreneurs in maledominated spaces: An exploratory study of the logistics sector in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
(2023) Dladla, Nompilo Sharon.; Derera, Evelyn.
This study examines the key success factors of female entrepreneurs in the logistics sector in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The study explores the five key success factors of financial capital, human capital, innovation, social capital and work-life balance, to understand the lived experiences of females in the logistics sector. This research is qualitative as it gathers in-depth insights from 15 female entrepreneurs in the logistics sector in Pietermaritzburg and Durban in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa using the snowball sampling technique. The physical and virtual in-depth interviews which lasted approximately 45 minutes were conducted during May to July 2022. The interviews were transcribed and recorded by the researcher. Data was analysed using NVIVO 12 software. The findings revealed that financial capital, human capital, innovation, social capital and work-life balance enhances the success of female entrepreneurs in the logistics sector. In terms of financial capital, most females reinvested their profit into the businesses and skills development. Human capital assisted the females to develop stakeholder relations, self-confidence, business innovation which led to improved business performance. Although social capital is crucial for the success of female entrepreneurs, their networking abilities were limited by male dominance in the sector and barriers such as sexual harassment and inability to grasp business lingo used in the sectors. Lastly, achieving work-life balance proved to be challenging to female entrepreneurs due to the multiple roles and responsibilities expected of them. Nonetheless, the females developed survival strategies which include effective time management, good communication and setting boundaries between work and family responsibilities. Having a good support system from family members or a spouse is essential to achieving work-life balance. This improves business productivity, promotes creativity and good mental health. This study, therefore, concludes that the five key success factors enhance the success of female entrepreneurs in the logistics sector. Consequently, the study recommends that the government should continue to prioritise and reduce bureaucratic requirements for female entrepreneur support programs. The government and the private sector are encouraged to prioritise female entrepreneurs in the logistics sector by outsourcing business from them and by contributing a portion of their corporate social responsibility towards programs that support female entrepreneurship. Future research studies should consider conducting a comparative study of female and male entrepreneurs in different male dominated spaces such as construction and engineering to examine the success factors and draw possible learnings for better representation and advancement of gender equality. The study contributes to the body of knowledge on female entrepreneurship in maledominated spaces. The study is valuable to policymakers who are instrumental in enacting and implementing gender policy. The study acknowledges its limitation in that it gathered data from a sample of 15 female entrepreneurs. Therefore, the study results cannot be generalised to female entrepreneurs in the logistics sector in Pietermaritzburg and Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. However, the study laid a foundation for future studies on the subject.
Towards the flourishing of Women Ministers in Evangelical Lutheran church in Southern Africa: an African women’s theological engagement with the lived experiences and systemic realities faced by women ministers in the Evangelical Lutheran church in Southern Africa-South Eastern diocese.
(2024) Ngcobo, Nondumiso.; Van der Walt, Charlene.
Towards the flourishing of Women Ministers in Evangelical Lutheran Church in Southern Africa: An African Women’s Theological engagement with the lived experiences and systemic realities faced by Women Ministers in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Southern Africa- South Eastern Diocese. A phenomenological study of lived experiences of women ministers and how they are influenced by systematic patriarchy in their ministry and career growth. The study listened to seven (7) women ministers of ELCSA in their ministerial journey from pre-ordination to ordination and working the field to discover lessons that could be derived from the environmental inhibitors/enhancers of the flourishing of women in ministry. The study looked at processes, acceptance of women and policies and programmes that support flourishing and further sought recommendations from these women on what could be done to enhance women's flourishing. The study used phenomenological approach and held interviews to collect data to understand these lived experiences. Interviews were either face to face or virtual depending on the availability of participants. Engagement with participants enabled the study to draw some conclusions on factors such as heteronormativity, enculturation and absence of gender affirming policies as inhibiting the flourishing of women ministers in ELCSA. The study unveiled an unexpected theme of how sexual reproductive rights as a “sin” has inhibited the flourishing of unmarried young women ministers and remains even a regret for some. Lastly, based on the conclusions drawn, the study brought forth recommendations that may influence or enhance the flourishing of women ministers in ELCSA. The study asserts that should ELCSA leadership engage with gender equity policies, employment policies and clear disciplinary processes that foster a Human Rights advocating space, ELCSA can become an empowering safe space where the flourishing of women ministers can be enhanced and achieved.
Exploring the role of the United Church of Zambia in institutional education in the public space.
(2019) Mwiche-Zulu, Mary.; Kumalo, Raymond Simangaliso.; Siwila, Lillian Cheelo.
This study sought to explore to what extent the United Church of Zambia (here after the UCZ), understands its role in institutional education that is in the public space. The problem of the study was conceptualized in the background formation of the UCZ, in which it inherited an institutional education ministry that is in the public space, and is referred to as its mission schools. Despite the UCZ being in existence since 1965, the preliminary literature search revealed that there is very little, if any, literature that describes the role of the UCZ in institutional education that is in the public space. The study further problematized that what is often described of Church schools to be Christian Education falls short of the theological distinctions in the light of secular philosophies that govern public educational systems. Therefore, the study explored the interpretation of Christian education from a theological, historical and philosophical perspective to locate what the UCZ understands of its role in institutional education. The key question that this study engaged with is: “to what extent does the UCZ understand its role in institutional education that is in the public space?” The key findings of this study can be categorised into three areas; philosophical, theological and in systems theory. The UCZ lacks an institutional philosophy of education that makes its role appear ambiguous in meaning and purpose. This is shown in the understanding of its role as secular and sacred, with the grant aided schools representing the former, and the private schools the latter. In addition, despite its strong background of understanding that education is for evangelism, the trends, patterns and relationship of its education ministry indicate a lack of ethos as it depends so much on the humanistic secular philosophies that determine modern education. This has led me to conclude that the UCZ lacks a defined policy and administrative structure for its education that is in the public space. Therefore, it allows the Church to perpetuate a hegemonic theology of mission in that projects a Eurocentric model of education. As a result, the role of the UCZ is seemingly weak in terms of defining its role- identity and purpose in education that is in the public space. It is much more evident now as this study finds that the UCZ does not have a comprehensive system to manage all its educational ministry.
Peripheral arterial disease in diabetes aspects of preventable foot loss in KwaZulu-Natal.
(2020) Thompson, Anette Leonor Telmo.; Aldous, Colleen Michelle.; Zipfel, Bernhard.
Overview available in a PDF.