Browsing by Author "Janak, Raksha."

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An exploration of the emotional dimensions of teachers' work.
(2014) Janak, Raksha.; Amin, Nyna.
This study is an exploration of the emotional dimensions of teachers’ work. The study sought to understand the emotional experiences of high school teachers in the type of work they do at school. The research design adopted for the study was that of a qualitative approach, accompanied by an interpretive paradigm. This allowed for the researcher to be able to gather rich, detailed data within real contexts of each participant to allow for the interpretation of emotions that each participant experiences. There was six participants in this study. Each of the participants are from diverse school contexts, two of whom teach at the same school. The study was underpinned by a conceptual framework that focused on the conceptualization of feelings and a theoretical framework that comprised of seven theories of emotions. These theories were namely the Social Constructionist theory, Naturalistic theory of emotion, James-Lange theory, Cannon-Bard theory, Two-Factor theory, Broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions and the cognitive theory of emotions. The conceptual and theoretical framework assisted the researcher in understanding and interpretation of teachers’ emotions. A case study methodology with six participants was employed to derive insight on teachers’ emotional experiences. Participant selection was conducted using the purposeful sampling technique. The instruments used in the collection of data were individual semi-structured interviews and a focus group interview which comprised a group of all six teachers. The interviews were audio-recorded to prevent loss of information and to ensure that it would be available for analysis. The findings are organised under headings: what consists of teachers’ work and what are the emotions involved in such work. Further sub-headings were used to represent the data. Findings revealed that teachers were found to be involved in administrative work, extracurricular activities, learner management and leadership at school. Various emotions in teachers’ work ranged from positive to negative feelings were discovered in the data. It was found that teachers felt great dissatisfaction and frustration towards non-teaching tasks at school. Positive feelings towards teachers work were attributed to learners’ success, acknowledgement, and when teachers were rewarded or appreciated for their work. Findings provide key insights into teachers’ work and emotional experiences.
Technology teachers' perspectives on the Technology curriculum.
(2019) Janak, Raksha.; Amin, Nyna.
South Africa‟s new democratic government adopted widespread reforms aimed at transforming the country‟s education system and redressing apartheid inequities. The new curriculum framework based on Outcomes Based Education (OBE) introduced nine new learning areas, including Technology. However, many challenges such as contextual constraints, unqualified teachers, inadequate training of teachers, the lack of resources and varied interpretations of the Technology curriculum were encountered during its implementation that led to several curriculum reviews. It is against this backdrop that this study explores Technology teachers‟ perspectives of their experiences in interpreting and implementing the Technology curriculum in the classroom. The conceptual framework that was adopted enabled an understanding of the term perspective, the philosophical background of perspectives and the kind of knowledge that could be obtained from such. The theoretical framework comprised of Nietzsche‟s (1882) theory of „perspectivism‟ on which this study relies heavily to understand Technology teachers‟ perspectives. Perspectives operate on the general notion that that they are altering all the time. Hence, Nietzsche postulates that there should be no stopping points to arrive at an understanding of a perspective. As a result of this, there were various interpretations obtained to synthesise the data obtained. Nietzsche‟s (1882) theory of affects in „perspectivism‟ namely, coherency, legitimacy and practicality, were used in understanding the perspectives of teachers. Thus, the multiplicity of perspectives used in the study crystallised the understanding of this study. The various interpretations of the data obtained as well as the findings align with Nietzsche‟s proliferation of perspectives for interpretation to be correct. A qualitative research design and an interpretive paradigm were adopted to gather rich, detailed data within the participants‟ real contexts. Four participants were purposefully selected from four different school contexts. A case study methodology was employed to gain insight into Technology teachers‟ perspectives. Data collection techniques utilised in the study included individual semi-structured interviews, a video recording of each teacher‟s Technology lesson, followed by a stimulated interview. The semi-structured interviews were believed to provide in-depth information as well as elicit perspectives that would have historical underpinnings of the participants. Video recording of a Technology lesson followed much later by a stimulated interview would ensure that richer data was generated for better understanding of individual teacher‟s perspectives on the curriculum. The data was sorted using thematic analysis. In the data analysis chapters, nine themes were constructed and analysed with the literature and understood using the conceptual and theoretical framework to assist with the ontology. The main finding in this study is that the Technology curriculum is not only widening the gap between the privileged and underprivileged schools, but is implicated in the reproduction of inequalities in South Africa. The findings reveal that South Africa‟s education system as a whole is plagued by several challenges confronting the teaching of the Technology curriculum, which include the disruption of university preparation of Technology teachers due to constant curriculum changes and the constraints of a rigid curriculum which leave little room for flexibility. Learners‟ use of technological devices is disapproved, a universal Technology curriculum for a diversity of school contexts is set and teacher beliefs and Technology curriculum pedagogy are not synchronised. The Technology curriculum is viewed as unfair in terms of its expectations in poorly resourced schools. Assessment was found to be unrealistic, impractical and irrelevant in the Technology curriculum. Furthermore, the Technology curriculum revealed how learners from underprivileged schools lacked cultural capital which hinders them from competing at a global level, creating even further inequalities. Based on these findings, it is recommended that the Department of Education (DoE) keeps Technology teachers up-to-date about curriculum matters and supports teachers during implementation and ensures that the sharing of resource on wheels be implemented so all schools have access to some resources. It is also recommended that Technology teachers should be part of the curriculum design process and that perhaps schools can be used as centres to keep parents of the community up-to-date with technological developments.