Browsing by Author "Wedekind, Volker Ralf."
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Item At the policy-practice interface : exploring technical vocational education and training lecturers' educational reform experiences.(2016) Buthelezi, Zanele Gladness.; Wedekind, Volker Ralf.; Mthiyane, Cynthia Carol Nonhlanhla.This study investigated lived personal and professional educational reform experiences of Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) College lecturers at the policy-practice interface in the post-apartheid era. A literature search revealed that TVET lecturers’ voices in the South African context were a terra incognita, as they have been missing and neglected for decades. The study is a contribution towards filling that void. The study used a qualitative research approach from an interpretive paradigm. Open-ended life history interviews of 12 TVET college lecturers from two different colleges were conducted. The participants have worked in the sector for more than 10 years. Questionnaires were used to elicit lecturer biographical data. The main analysis technique used was narrative analysis. The study draws on a social theory by Norbert Elias, who emphasizes interconnectedness of relations amongst people, rejecting the homo clausus image of man. Findings suggest that educational change was complex and daunting for TVET lecturers. The experiences of TVET lecturers suggest that they were not adequately engaged during the conceptualization stages of the reform. Implementation had to start before they had familiarized themselves with the innovations, hence the lament that they were not ready. The reform was perceived as rapid and ephemeral. Rapidity led to the development of unrealistic timeframes, ambitious scope and inequitable practices in the distribution of resources. Educational reforms fell short of continuity and conformity to system norms and yielded a myriad of unintended and unanticipated consequences. Because of the prevalence of feelings of inadequacy precipitated by curricular changes, this study recommends that TVET lecturers be adequately capacitated. TVET lecturer development strategies need to fortify different kinds of knowledge such as disciplinary, tacit, pedagogical, work-place and knowledge of the heart, such as values, attitudes, intuition and situated learning. The study recommends that strategies to alleviate onerous administrative duties for lecturers be devised. The study recommends that solutions to NCV challenges, such as mixed ability classrooms, compounded student workloads, complex courses that are pitched higher than the level of the targeted student and lack of technical background, be found. The study highlighted adverse effects of prescriptive, top-down reforms which have been cited as silencing professional input. This study concludes that challenges could have been minimized if the lecturer was considered to be one of the key factors for educational reform to succeed. The study recommends that policymakers and college management utilize prudent participative and consultative strategies that include lecturers for enhancement of future policy conceptualization, implementation and evaluation.Item Curriculum and competence : exploring the relationship between competence development and the curriculum : a comprehensive case of two TVET institutions in South Africa.Zungu, Zolile Nicholas.; Wedekind, Volker Ralf.; Brown, Helen.The term “skills development” has been debated in South Africa by government, labour and scholars for the last few years. A lot has been written about the country’s shortage of skills in critical sectors such as mining and manufacturing. In response to these challenges the government has invested a lot of resources towards the development of policies that will facilitate the transfer of skills to the majority of South African citizens. The legislative and policy frameworks established in South Africa to facilitate skills development are quite clear on the mandate for institutions within the TVET sector. Historically TVET in South Africa has been viewed as a means to close the skills gap that exists within artisanal occupations and increase mass economic participation of previously disadvantaged individuals. However there remain significant challenges at the institutional level that make it difficult for a coordinated strategy to gain any traction in addressing the issue of skills development. The TVET system in South Africa is quite complex and has various components that fit quite intricately together. It is therefore critical to understand the TVET policy landscape and a significant portion of the discussion in this dissertation is focused on providing some insight into the various stakeholders. The intention is to understand how these various components interact within the TVET space and how this interaction affects the transfer of knowledge and skills to learners within the system. The discussions delve into the subject of how these various institutional components interact with each other within the TVET space and how this interaction affects the transfer of knowledge and skills to learners within South Africa’s system. In order to gain greater insight into some of these institutional dynamics this study was designed to investigate issues around curriculum and competence. This study is broadly framed by the relationship between curriculum and competence; to be more specific, curriculum design and its influence on competence development. The study makes use of the findings from a COMET study conducted in South Africa in 2011. COMET is a form of Large Scale Competence Diagnostics tool in TVET and is one of the instruments that can be used for assuring and developing quality TVET curricula. Using COMET as a benchmark, the focus of the study was uncovering some of the factors which influence the development of holistic problem solving competence amongst apprentices and trainees who are at various stages of their training at different types of TVET institutions in South Africa. Through this study we have endeavoured to answer the following questions; 1) what are the patterns of achievement of trainee electricians in the COMET test in relation to their training institutions? 2) What influence does the curriculum have on the development of holistic competence?Item Examining the instructional approach of the National Certificate Vocational Finance, Economics and Accounting curriculum in promoting employability skills.(2015) Mkhize, Lethukuthula.; Wedekind, Volker Ralf.This study set out to examine the promotion of employability skills within one of the national curriculum programs. The examination intended to understand the instructional approach of the official curriculum design by examining the recommended instructional methods. The intention behind the examination was to identify areas in which the curriculum could be strengthened and improved. This study was underpinned conceptually by Instructional Theory, as the focus was to examine the instructional aspect of the curriculum. The key research questions intended to examine which employability skills and instructional methods were potentially dominant within the curriculum, and the nature of instruction reflected by the recommended methods. This approach assisted the study in being able to identify what government envisages in terms of policy and what the implementation of the official curriculum would potentially entail. The study examined the curriculum’s subject and assessment guidelines, particularly focusing on the curriculum outcomes and recommended methods to be utilized in achieving the curriculum outcomes. The study investigated the potential embedding of employability skills within the various correlations: between the curriculum outcomes and the recommended instructional methods. Hence the study utilized document and text analysis as its method of collecting and analysing data. The findings do show commonality of employability skills within the various curriculum outcomes and in some parts matching of skills promoted by the instructional methods and those that would be potentially fostered by outcomes. It was discovered that Self-management and Communication were the most identified employability skills both within the curriculum outcomes and instructional methods. The significance of this is that the curriculum is primarily student centered and relies increasingly upon the student to manage their own work, if implemented accordingly. The curriculum allows for more interactive learning and an instructor who has a clear understanding of curriculum outcomes. It was discovered that this does have potential repercussions if the factors within an instructional context are not accommodative enough and if there is inadequate understanding of the implementation of outcomes. However, it did emerge that the curriculum has a strong recommendation of the utilization of Tests and it has no definite instructional nature.Item An exploration of articulation from TVET colleges to universities and the world of work.(2019) Needham, Seamus Micheal.; Wedekind, Volker Ralf.This thesis focuses on ways in which the Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) College sector articulates with universities and the world of work in South Africa, and draws on TVET research in Southern Africa as a comparative dimension. The definition of articulation used in South Africa’s 2014 articulation policy is Articulation refers to the mechanisms that enable student mobility within and among the institutions that comprise the tertiary system, for example, academic credit accumulation and transfer, recognition and equivalence of degrees, recognition of prior learning, and so forth (N’gethe et al. 2007, xvii). There has been a strong education and training policy focus on articulation since the advent of democracy in South Africa, both as a form of redress and as a mechanism for ensuring that the labour force was transitioned into the opening global economy. My interest in producing this thesis was to ascertain how this policy commitment to articulation arose and how the implementation of articulation within South Africa’s post-school education and training sector occurred in practice. The thesis is presented in the form of an Introduction chapter, five journal articles, a co-authored book chapter, and a Research findings and Conclusion chapter. The Introduction chapter outlines the contextual background for this study, as well as commissioned research that led to the production of the academic articles included in this dissertation. The research findings and conclusion chapter groups these research findings into key thematic areas and reflects on the use of these theoretical frameworks for future articulation research. This dissertation has drawn on a range of theoretical frameworks to analyse ways in which articulation of TVET Colleges with universities and the world of work has been framed and implemented. A central argument made within the thesis is that current policy definitions of articulation tend to focus on institutional mechanisms rather than theoretical and historical features that have shaped post-school articulation to further study and the world of work.Item An exploration of the enactment of vocational pedagogy in the NC(V) Financial Management NQF Level 4 curriculum.(2011) Moosa, Mahomed Farouk.; Combrinck, Martin.; Wedekind, Volker Ralf.The aim of this study is to describe how the National Certificate (Vocational) Financial Management at the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) Level 4 is enacted in the classroom and to analyse some of the data gathered regarding the enactment. The study is premised on the assumption that to teach the NC(V) curriculum takes on a new meaning (a new role) for its implementers (college lecturers) as the curriculum, in the form of outcomes, has both theoretical (academic) and practical (vocational) parts. Hence, the college lecturer is expected to lecture using a specialised practice of pedagogy. Data were collected from video and audio recording from ten lessons of the NC(V) Level 4 Financial Management class. Thereafter, a series of interviews were conducted with the college lecturer, who taught the class, as well as interviews with two senior lecturers and the Head of Department of the college. The theoretical framework used in this study is framed using the theories of Basil Bernstein and of Lev Vygotsky. The study will use these theories as tools to analyse the data collected, based on the assumption that these theories underpin sound pedagogic practice. Furthermore, the works of some academic writers have been used to provide some background information about the demands being placed by the global market and on the college lecturers, as well as the current status of the colleges and their attempts in embracing the new curriculum – NC(V). The data reveals that the enactment of the curriculum is almost devoid of the most distinguishing characteristic of the NC(V), namely the vocational part of the curriculum, as well as the lack of training for the college lecturer in meeting the expectations of the curriculum in both the academic and practical components. The end result is that the demands of both the government as well as industry to alleviate the skills shortage South Africa is facing, may not be fulfilled. Lastly, the analysis of the data also indicates that in the absence of support structures, be it in the form of supervision or mentorship, the enactment of the NC(V) could result in students not receiving the overt curriculum as per the policy guidelines.Item An exploration of the identities of qualified artisans employed as Technical Vocational Education and Training College lecturers.(2015) Msibi, Alice Ntombikayise.; Wedekind, Volker Ralf.One of the most important contributions of exploratory research is its potential to broaden ideas on currently accepted knowledge. This research ventured to do this by exploring the life histories of the lecturers who constitute a core group within the Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) sector. Their life histories are explored with explicit attention to occupationally directed changes in trying to make meaning of the impact their identities had on their occupational decisions and vice versa. Identity theory places emphasis on the relationships and interactions an individual has within their environment and how these contribute to the validation of their identities. In understanding this, the research utilised the Communities of Practice (CoP) theory as the framework that would provide the lens through which the participants‟ experiences are explored. The findings of the research illustrate how identities have determined ones‟ inclination to fulfil roles competently; and how the extent to which different identities interact and allow each other to flourish will contribute to the decisions each one makes in their various CoP. The findings furthermore offer insights into critical components of the TVET arena that upon further exploration can provide robust insights into the development of the sector. The expansion of knowledge around TVET lecturers, artisan development and occupational migration are presented as areas of opportunity with the need for further probing of these in the endeavour to expand a prosperous TVET sector in South Africa.Item Exploring professional development experiences of the professionally unqualified practicing teachers in rural secondary schools.(2009) Mukeredzi, Tabitha Grace.; Wedekind, Volker Ralf.Attempts to address global pressure to achieve Education For All (EFA) have been hampered by two fundamental challenges in developing countries, namely an acute shortage of teachers and the large rural populations in these countries. In addition there is a trend for qualified competent teachers to shun working in rural settings. While recruitment of professionally unqualified graduate teachers into the teaching profession has become internationally accepted, to address particularly rural school postings and EFA commitments, there remain outstanding questions regarding how such teachers grow and develop in those rural contexts. An understanding of how these teachers develop professionally is crucial. The study explored professional development experiences of professionally unqualified practicing teachers in rural secondary schools. Through a double site study involving two international sites, Zimbabwe and KwaZulu–Natal, South Africa, an interpretive/qualitative design was adopted. Three-interview series supported by document reviews and photo elicitations were employed to explore these teachers’ experiences. Data was transcribed and manually analysed inductively utilizing open coding. The findings suggest that professional development for these teachers occurs in a number of sites, namely: through the Post Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) / Post Graduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) programme; in the school through practice and school meetings; in the wider professional sites; and in informal communities. Drawing on Cultural Historical Activity Theory to describe, analyse and understand data, I argue that the professionally unqualified practicing teachers experience professional development through interaction in multiple domains of formality and experience: formal, non formal, informal and experiential. Professional development occurs across these domains however, findings show that these teachers feel incapacitated by lack of support. This implies a need for more supervisory and resource support. The teachers conceive their professional development experiences in rural secondary school contexts as underpinned by having to ‘make-do’, relational dimensions, interdependence and agency as well as resourcefulness, creativity and improvisation to address gross resource limitations. The thesis suggests a need for further research into enhancing professional development practices of the professionally unqualified practicing teachers in rural school settings. Professional development can be supported. Given that teachers are teaching in under resourced and geographically rural contexts where they have ‘to make-do’, this has a bearing on the achievement of EFA goals within the wider context. In relation to the Cultural Historical Activity Theory, my argument is that the framework provides a useful generic, analytical tool for thinking through how professional development occurs in multi-domains. However, on its own it does not provide a complete lens to make sense of the variations in professional development within the domains and levels of formality and experience. The thesis therefore argues for an additive model to CHAT, which includes domain based distinctions of formality and experience that may expand the framework and deepen its applicability specifically, in trying to understand professional development issues. The thesis therefore suggests the need for more studies, drawing on the framework and developing it to determine its applicability beyond this particular inquiry.Item A feminist analysis of women academics' experiences of restructuring in a South African University.(2014) Sader, Saajidha Bibi.; Wedekind, Volker Ralf.; Moletsane, Relebohile.Given the changes in South African Higher Education in the context of globalization and the tension over the nature and role of higher education in social, political and economic transformation, the question arises: How has South African Higher Education been positioned in this global arena to respond to local and global pressures? More importantly, if South African universities are to play a significant role in transformation, then they ought to be places that uphold and promote the goals of social justice, namely full and equal participation for all. The broad focus of this study was the relationship between gender and higher education restructuring and the implications thereof for gender equity. This study therefore aimed to investigate how women academics were experiencing institutional restructuring in the context of national higher education reform and globalization and the implications thereof for gender equity. Using theoretical constructs drawn from feminist standpoint theory and methodology, and my own autobiography and experiences, I conducted in-depth narrative interviews with fourteen women academics in the university. Investigating gender inequality and inequity in the context of higher education reform necessitates studying the characteristics of the restructured university as a social system and its relation to individual behaviour. Standpoint feminist theory allows for the interrogation of individual and intentional action in the context of structural constraints in terms of race, class and gender. The research site for this investigation was the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN). Given my experiences as a woman academic in a restructured university and my position as a researcher/participant, it made sense to use UKZN as the site for my research. There were two key reasons for selecting this as my research site: the restructuring of the university as a result of the wider transformation in higher education in South Africa; the formation of UKZN from and the merger of two universities in the province, one a historically white institution (HWI) and the other a historically black institution (HBI). I drew on Nancy Fraser‟s (2008) three-dimensional theory of justice to make sense of women academics experiences of higher education restructuring and its implications for how we understand and address gender and social injustice in the current context of globalization. The study found that participants experienced tensions in assuming an academic identity. Factors such as their temporary status, the lack of respect afforded to them within the institution and within their disciplines, their lack of a standing in a discipline as well as their perceived lack of expertise and research significantly influenced their construction of themselves as academics. The prevailing dominant masculine discourse and ethos served to reinforce feelings of inadequacy and inferiority further entrenching the ambivalence participants experienced in assuming an academic identity. For them, assuming an academic identity is an emotionally laden experience, influenced by the values they attach to their work and the emotional investment they make to teaching and learning. They perceived the university executive, in its corporatization of the university and its adoption of new managerial policies and practices to have privileged profits and not people. They saw this as compromising the purpose and role of universities. Participants experienced development of institutional policies and accompanying practices as exclusionary. Decentralization has resulted in an increase in administrative and bureaucratic work for academics. They experienced the emergent corporate culture as hostile, alienating and destructive; believing that it has eroded academic autonomy and collegiality: and saw this as negatively impacting on staff morale which left staff feeling excluded, marginalized, and alienated. For participants, their growing sense of alienation from the institution is the result of incongruence between their personal and professional values and the university‟s corporate values. As women, they value teaching, their students who they do not see as clients, their colleagues and collegial ways of working, not competition for rewards. They value the production and dissemination of knowledge for the betterment of society and do not see it as a commodity. Increased workloads, fewer resources, larger classes, semesterization and modularization, greater administrative responsibilities have resulted in greater constraints and less control for academics over their work. Career advancement is now closely tied to quantitative indices of value and worth which define an academic in the corporate university, which further alienates women from their academic work and the institution. For these women academics, collegiality and collaboration not competition, individuality not individualism, the process not the product is what counts, not the counting of what one does. This study concludes that the reinforcement of male dominated approaches, so prevalent in universities not only threatens equity gains, it leads to greater inequity in terms of misrecognition. Like other research findings, this research has demonstrated that the corporatization of the university and the prevailing masculine culture of new managerialism are set, to once again privilege men and disadvantage women (Metcalfe and Slaughter, 2008) thereby entrenching maldistristribution and misrecognition in relation to gender. According to Metcalfe and Slaughter (2008), women are advancing in their careers in the context of academic capitalism, but a celebration of their success ignores the majority of women who have not achieved similar gains, because of they have not adapted to fit the individualistic, competitive, market-based criteria now used to reward academic staff, which denies them parity of participation.Item Gendered social relations among adolescents in a South African secondary school : the Greenvale case study.(1999) Randall, Dianne L.; Wedekind, Volker Ralf.This dissertation incorporates a number of ethnographic case studies done within the qualitative paradigm from a feminist stance (Nielsen, 1995). It served to explore and understand the attributions and aspirations of adolescents in relation to their group association from their perspective. It was important that the voice of the adolescent emerged as central to the findings. The significance of individual freedom of choice as opposed to limited personal volition was also explored. Another aspect of the research problem was to try to establish adolescents' awareness, perceptions and beliefs of gender issues. Integral to the success of the research was honesty and ethics. Hence reflexivity was fundamental to continuous re-assessment of interpretation, an awareness of assumptions and manipulation, which could have occurred if the power relations between researcher and participants were not addressed. To ensure validation of the research findings triangulation-between and -within-methods was utilised. Hence a dynamic interaction among sociometric diagrams, participant observation, interviews, document analysis and photographs resulted. The research study incorporated the environs of Greenvale High School, whose multi-faceted dimensions of co-education, multi-culturalism, dual-medium and comprehensive curriculum, proved to be a boon to the nature of the research. I worked within the Grade 10 standard and ultimately isolated three groups and three "loners". The dimension of ethnicity emerged as pertinent to the study of two of the "loners" and it was therefore necessary to include a brief (if somewhat superficial) exploration of two Black girl groups. Contextualisation emerged as most signific4'lnt to the findings. The relationship of the groups to the learning environment and its significance in relation to the values and beliefs of the individuals within groups proved enlightening. Anomalies between gender beliefs and assertions and their actualisation were related to the individuals' experience of gender equality within the class situation, their awareness of gender inequality within the learning environment and their perception ofgender role perpetuation as unproblematic within the broader context of a patriarchal society. Hence this research advocates Hconsciousl1ess-raising" (Payne, in Spender and Sarah, 1988) so that issues regarded as unp1'oblematic, can be addressed in order to change the social order. Awareness can aid educationalists in formulating policy that will ensure that the learning environment can be made more worthwhile and meaningful to the Hmarginalised" adolescent. Methodologically, other researchers would benefit by replicating this study to pursue important aspects, which emerge from ethnographic case studies, particularly within a South African context compounded by race and gender.Item Policy and practice related constraints to increased female participation in education management in South Africa.(2006) Moorosi, Pontso.; Kaabwe, Eleanor Stella Musanga.; Wedekind, Volker Ralf.This thesis examines South African policies addressing gender inequality in education management, and interrogates whether or not these policies made a difference to the career route of women principals of secondary schools. The under-representation of women in education management has been a long observed problem in many countries including South Africa. A number of initiatives have been put in place to address this issue but little improvement is seen in the South African situation in education management. The purpose was to understand why women are still under represented in school management and to learn from their experiences. The study used data from three sources. Firstly, policy documents and practices were analysed in terms of their symbolic, regulative and procedural functions. Secondly, the personal accounts of 28 women principals in KwaZulu-Natal who had been appointed after 1994 were collected through the use of extended interviews, and thirdly, interviews were conducted with key officials and members of School Governing Bodies that had participated in the selection of principals. The data generated were analysed at two levels in order to understand the factors constraining the participation of women in education management. At the micro level, I use the 'management route model' as an analytical framework that identifies the three phases women principals go through in their career route, namely anticipation, acquisition and performance (van Eck and Volman, 1996). The model reveals that factors influencing women's career paths into management are very complex and based firstly on the individual agency where women grapple with more internal issues such as professional qualifications and experience, aspirations, lack of ambition and family responsibilities. Secondly, these factors are at the organisational level where women suffer discrimination at the recruitment and selection processes, and lack of institutional support through mentoring and sponsorship. Thirdly, it is the social level, which involves the cultural discourses in which women operate. These discourses include sex role stereotypes that inform the social expectations about the role of men and women in society. On the macro level, I use feminist theory to interpret and understand the women's experiences and findings in general. The findings reveal that policy interventions put in place since 1994 to close the gender gap were mostly informed by liberal feminism that focused on affirming women in order to gain access into the school management without tackling the social practices that are defined by sex role socialisation and which therefore continue to work subtly and insidiously towards the discrimination of women. I conclude that although the liberal feminist interventions that have been put in place have been useful to some extent, the problems impeding women's full participation in education management cannot only be tackled at a policy level because this attempt leaves the most problematic social practices intact. However, I argue for policy and legal intervention as a starting point to combat the gender crisis in a society that has inherited so much inequality. While I acknowledge that women of all races in South Africa have all been negatively impacted upon by the historical and traditional values and expectations on the role of women and men in society, I argue that the situation has been worse for women of the Black African race, who suffered dual oppression in terms of gender and race. The study proposes the need to look beyond provision of legal and democratic reforms and more into social practices that prevent legal reforms from reaching the desired goals. Social structures and cultural practices that hamper the greater representation of women should be dealt with in order to allow women freedom to participate in discourses where their choice is not informed by gender subordination.Item Power and subjectivity in leadership and management : an ethnographic study of the school management team in a South African school.(2011) Karikan, Kumarasen M.; Wedekind, Volker Ralf.1994 was a watershed in the history of education in South Africa. The post-apartheid government was faced with a large number of schools that were dysfunctional, especially black secondary schools in urban areas (Fleisch, 2004). Schools were in greater need of effective leadership than ever before. Since the advent of democracy in South Africa in 1994, there have been increasing demands on education leaders and managers. School leaders have been toted repeatedly in the media and literature as the key drivers of change. Studying school leadership is thus indeed an imperative, and the question to answer is not whether but how. This study uses ethnographic techniques to explore ways in which leadership is experienced in a school by individuals and groups through interactional events. Initial enquiries thrown up by this include: What best practice models could be revealed from a prolonged stay in the research field? What new leadership vocabularies permeate the educational space and what do these reveal about leadership practice? Given the political changes in South Africa, how has leadership evolved? This thesis presents an ethnographic portrait of a functional school in South Africa and focuses specifically on providing an analysis of how discourse, power and ethics are central to individual subjectivities of school leaders and managers by addressing the following critical research questions: (i) What are the leadership discourses in a school setting?; (ii) How do power and subjectivity play out within daily interactions of the school management team (SMT)? The concepts of surveillance, gaze, normalisation, and discourses throw new light on the discipline and practice of leadership and management, exposing their power relations’ pervasive effects in shaping the ethical decisions made. Without critical reflection and attention to power relations, school management could easily become inward looking and give inadequate attention to parents, learners and other stakeholders. The thesis concludes by drawing out four significant findings on the practice of leadership and management: (i) discourses shed light on institutional practices and the working of power; (ii) building social capital is an essential part of effective leadership; (iii) in an organisation such as the school, individuals are placed in a matrix of power relations; and (iv) schools advance iii the concept of moral ecology through the subjectivities and ethical actions of collective leadership of the school and community. Key Terms: Power relations, leadership, discourse, subjectivity, ethics, ethnographic techniques.Item The skills-based approach to History teaching: perceptions of teachers in selected secondary schools.(1995) Sishi, Sibusiso Nkosinathi Patrick.; Wedekind, Volker Ralf.In the light of the decision by the ad hoc Provincial History Subject Committee of the KwaZulu-Natal Education Department to implement the skills-based approach to history teaching in 1995 (which by November 1995 had not materialised) and to plan that the 1996 common national matriculation examination be skills-oriented, this study examines the preparedness and level of awareness of hi.story teachers, in selected secondary schools, about the implications of introducing such an approach. Dominant trends in history teaching in South Africa are described and the consequences of a ragical shift in teaching methodology are examined. Teachers from selected schools in Umlazi answered structured open ended questionnaires. The purpose of the empirical research was to establish if the key role players in the implementation of the skills-based approach, the teachers, are ready for the challenge. They were asked questions based on their own history teaching practices, their concerns, how they envisaged the new history curriculum, and how they teach historical skills, if at all. The results were analyzed to establish whether teachers are ready to deal with the past imbalances of the education provisions in their schools along with attempts to learn and practise the new history teaching approach and unlearn the old teacher anci subject centred approaches. The study discovered that teachers still largely prefer content-based teaching methods and that the external assessment of the standard 10 candidates dominates their teaching methodology. Their attitude towards the teaching of historical skills is favourable but they do not practice this in their own teaching. Attention is drawn to the contradiction that exists between the stated aims of the history syllabus which mentions the teaching of skills, attitudes and content, and the external examination of factual content: The study results suggest that immediate implementation of the skills-based approach will be problematic and makes a number of recommendations.Item Social class and community in post-apartheid South African education policy and practices.(2013) Vally, Salim.; Wedekind, Volker Ralf.This thesis traces and analyses the dynamics of policy formulation and implementation in South Africa over the past two decades and attempts to identify the possibilities for democratic processes to change an unequal and multi-tiered education system. The study suggests that what has been missing from most analysis of transitional policymaking in South Africa is a careful examination of social class, and particularly how and why social movements and social actors on the ground, who were initially central to policy formulation and critique, became largely marginalised once policies were institutionalised. The trajectory of the latter trend, related to the class nature of the post–apartheid state and the political economy of the transition from apartheid to democracy is explored in detail in several of the chapters that comprise this thesis. The thesis builds an argument around class, political economy and community participation situated in critical education policy analysis as the theoretical approach. Critical policy analysis views the terrain of the state and therefore policy formulation processes as spaces of contestation and negotiation. It also allows insight beyond the symptoms of educational inequality and dysfunctionality and shows connectivity between education policy and social relations of power. The major characteristics of an ‘evaluative’ case study which combines description, explanation and judgement is employed in the study of the Education Rights Project. Such a methodological approach allows for reflection on the generation of extant post-apartheid education policy and its implementation. Various chapters provide an account of how communities can use research to document violations of education rights and claim their rights which in turn also provide insights into the complex nature of democratisation of education and formal policy making arrangements. The thesis also demonstrates how experiences of transformational education and activism actively seek to disrupt the dichotomies between formal and informal educational arrangements, the public and private spheres, and cultural and political spaces. The role of local education activism in South Africa has been relatively under researched and largely ignored by mainstream education policy theorists; this thesis attempts to rectify this gap in South African education scholarship. One of the questions explored is whether the elision of social class analysis and meaningful community participation in education policy deliberations has contributed to the failure in addressing and overcoming the profound inequalities and social cleavages that characterise the South African education system. Relatedly, this thesis examines the critical role of community, civil society and social movements in policy critique and development. The study also focuses on issues impacting on the implementation of the right to basic education through formal policy and legislative frameworks and whether these fall short of the needs of people living in South Africa as well as the constitutional imprimatur around the fulfilment of their potential. The thesis suggests that educational reforms should be accompanied by a wider range of redistributive strategies, democratic participation, political will and clear choices about the social ends policy interventions seek to achieve. These issues are prompted by other framing questions such as does the right to education impact on the development of democracy and social transformation in South Africa, what are the obstacles and impediments to the fulfilment of educational rights and what is the relationship between the state and civil society in educational policymaking and the meaning of this relationship for the establishment of democracy in education?Item The study of factors influencing teacher mobility in post-primary schools of Leribe, Lesotho.(2003) Masoebe, Liteboho E.; Wedekind, Volker Ralf.; Kaabwe, Eleanor Stella Musanga.One of the practices in post-primary schools of Leribe is teacher movement between schools (Teacher Mobility). This study was intended to determine factors influencing teacher mobility in Leribe post-primary schools in Lesotho. Random sampling of heads of department, teachers (transferred and not transferred), and parent representatives was carried out from the target population of all heads of departments, all teachers in different categories, head teachers, deputy head teachers, education officers and parents representatives in the Leribe district. Samples were made up 18 head teachers and 18 deputy head teachers, 36 heads of department, 144 teachers (72 transferred and 72 not transferred), 36 parent representatives and 8 education officers. Two leaders of teachers unions were part of the sample. The study used both quantitative and qualitative research techniques in collecting data. Questionnaires were used to collect data from head teachers, deputy head teachers, and heads of department, teachers and parent representatives. Education officers and leaders of teachers unions were personally interviewed because they were fewer in number. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to analyze the data and the following results were revealed by the study: The lack of facilities in schools and poor management of schools contributed to teacher mobility in the Leribe district. Teachers' preference of teaching near home and teaching in schools situated in urban areas. Unsatisfied teachers' needs and interests, lack of grants in schools and teachers' preference of teaching in better performing schools in examinations. Lack of co-operation among teachers themselves and between teachers and administration. The remaining teachers were negatively affected because of high teaching overloads. Disorganization of schools plans Students' academic performance was negatively affected. Respondents were aware of teacher mobility, however, they could not determine the extent at which it was happening. Suggestions by the respondents to address teacher mobility were as follows: Teachers must be involved in the affairs of the school and provision of equal facilities by stakeholders in all schools. Meeting teachers' needs and interests and creation of good working relationships in schools. Review of policies and rules in relation to teachers' transfers. From the findings it was noted that several factors contributed to teacher movements between schools in Lesotho and more particularly in the Leribe district. Teacher transfers were exacerbated by the teaching service regulation on transfer which allowed teachers to transfer to other schools whenever they deemed necessary. Recommendation for further research was that, research could be undertaken using a more qualitative approach in order to get in-depth information from the respondents. The further study could also be undertaken involving more than one district in the country to determine factors influencing teacher mobility in schools which the present might not have accomplished.Item Teacher development and change : an analysis of a school-based action research staff development programme.(1995) Wedekind, Volker Ralf.; Harley, Keneth Lee.Abstract available in PDF.Item Teacher perceptions of the process of desegregation in selected Pietermaritzburg schools.(1999) Sader, Mahomed Yusuf.; Wedekind, Volker Ralf.; Harley, Keneth Lee.This research project attempts to identify teacher perceptions of school desegregation at three schools in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa. A targetted selection of schools was made to ensure that three of the former apartheid era Education Departments were represented. Data were gathered from interviews with teachers and by means of questionnaires that were completed by pupils. The study attempts to replicate a study that was carried out by Verma et al (1994) in secondary schools in Britain. The Pietermaritzburg study sought to examine the experiences and attitudes of teachers in three racially desegregated schools to deepen our understanding of the complex processes of inter-racial and inter- cultural exchange within the three schools. The Pietermaritzburg (as did the Verma et ai, 1994) study focussed on the following areas: • How well did the teachers know themselves, their students and colleagues? • What, if any, relevant policy frameworks did they operate with, and how widely were these internally known and acknowledged? • To what extent were teachers equipped by knowledge, experience, training and disposition to contribute to good inter-ethnic relationships? • What were the teachers' perceptions of the state of pupil inter ethnic relationships? • To what extent did school/community links affect the pupil inter-ethnic relationships? • see page 38. The teacher interviews were used to create a profile for each school and selected data from the pupil questionnaires were used to compare the opinions of the pupils to that of the teachers. The profiles of the three schools were compared to determine similarities and differences in terms of the research questions. The major findings of the study were that: • The teachers did not know their pupils' ethnic backgrounds. • None of the schools operated with any policy frameworks with specific reference to either the promotion of inter-ethnic relationships, or the handling of racial incidents or racism in general. None of the schools were equipped by knowledge, experience, training or disposition to contribute to good pupil inter-ethnic relations. Assimilation was the primary approach adopted in response to desegregation. Very few links existed between the schools and the communities that they served. The state of pupil inter-ethnic relationships was perceived by the teachers as being poor. The comparison of the findings of the Pietermaritzburg and Verma et al (1994) studies revealed that: • The circumstances under which school desegregation took place in the United Kingdom and South Africa were different; teachers in both the studies were ill-prepared to teach in multi-ethnic schools; insufficient INSET was identified as a problem in both studies; significantly better school-community links were identified in, the Verma study as compared to the Pietermaritzburg study and; • teachers in the Verma study were better informed about macro and micro education policies as compared to the teachers in the Pietermaritzburg study. This study recommends that mechanisms need to be established to ensure that the role players involved in education work together as it is impossible to implement any form of educational reform without the participation of all the role players. The study also recommends that research needs to begin focussing on actual classroom practice to determine how racism is addressed in lessons and how it is tackled as a problem among children.Item Teachers' and parents' perceptions of their relationship : a case study of two secondary schools in Ubombo circuit, KwaZulu-Natal.(2004) Sibiya, Simamile Nontokozo KaPhumasilwe.; Wedekind, Volker Ralf.Parent-teacher relationship and support to children are essential for effective education to be functional. Sound parent-teacher relationships influence teaching and learning. Hence it was evident from literature review that so many studies were conducted in parent involvement in schools to enhance teaching and learning, this study focused on the dimension of the perceptions of both teachers and parents on their relationship to accelerate parent involvement in schools. The study focused on how parents and teachers view their relationship, how they raise problems encountered in the relationship, what enhances and/or aggravates the status of their relationship, and the issue of policies pertaining parent-teacher relationship. The objectives of the study were to examine and define the concept of the parent-teacher relationship, to investigate the perceptions of parents and teachers about their relationship with a focus on their obligations and responsibilities, to understand what enhances and/or impedes the parent-teacher relationship in rural Black communities, and to discuss possible solutions towards enhancing parent-teacher relationship. The research questions were: a) How do parents and teachers describe their relationship? b) What factors do parents and teachers suggest impede and/or enhance their relationship? c) What school policies and practices are in place that facilitate or hinder the relationship? The outline of the dissertation took this shape: Chapter One provides a background to the study explaining the motive behind it, and discussing the rationale of the study. The main objectives of the study and the research questions are explored in this chapter and the chapter has further furnished readers with the description of the setting of the schools under study. Chapter Two defines terms used in the study, and then reviews relevant literature adopted in this study. The contextual and theoretical framework of the study is explored in this chapter. Chapter Three deals with the methodological aspects and procedures. A justification on the use of qualitative approach is given and the choice of research instruments is also discussed. How access was gained from high structures to the parents on the ground level is also discussed. Experiences and methods used during interviews are also explored. Chapter Four embarks on the clear milieu of the two schools, the initial visits and the description of respondents. Chapter Five present, analyses and discusses the findings and implications of the study employing literature reviewed. Chapter six concludes the entire study and makes recommendations. The briefing of the study is of two schools that were selected purposively and then three teachers per school including the principal and six parents per school community that resulted in eighteen respondents in all. The study opted for a qualitative approach and for a case study. The findings of the study were that there is poor or no parent-teacher relationship. Teachers and parents admitted the need for each other. Though parents admitted their deficiency in supporting schools and in making good relations with teachers, however, they shifted more blame to teachers who do not initiate the relationship whilst they stand a good chance. The study revealed that there are factors that impede parent-teacher relationship and those that are supposedly to enhance the relationship. Both parents and teachers raised a need for empowerment on how to deal with each other.Item Vocational education and training curriculum responsiveness to the learning needs of A1 farmers in post-2000 Zimbabwe.(2019) Muwaniki, Chenjerai.; Wedekind, Volker Ralf.The study explored vocational education and training curriculum responsiveness to the learning needs of smallholder farmers (commonly known as A1 farmers after the Fast Track Land Reform Programme) in Masvingo province of Zimbabwe. The study was a qualitative comparative study of two colleges in Masvingo province. Of the two, College A was government owned and administered while College B was a non-governmental organisation initiative. The study utilised Bhaskar’s Critical Realism (CR) as an under-labourer for this qualitative case study. Bhaskar’s seven laminations of social phenomenon as well as the position-practice system provided analytical lenses for the study. CR was complemented by Ian Moll’s stratified model of curriculum responsiveness the latter of which provided an organising framework. Moll’s model works well with both the laminations of reality as well as position-practice system. The critical realist ontology works well in studying complex open systems such as vocational training institutions as was the case in this study. CR works well in studies that seek to understand the often hidden aspects of causality, which cannot be reached at empirically. It also influenced the choice of the comparative case study design that was adopted in the study. Twenty-eight purposively selected participants took part in the study. Data collection was done through multiple methods which included semi-structured interviews, focus group interviews, document analysis and observations. Data were analysed using critical realist modes of inference, abduction and retrodiction as well as thematically through a data matrix. The study noted that both VET colleges were responsive to the learning needs of A1 farmers but their responsiveness was not uniform. Responsiveness to the learning needs of A1 farmers was mediated by a number of factors or causal mechanisms that were unique to the colleges. CR as applied in the study provided a useful theoretical lens for analysing the causal mechanisms of VET curriculum responsiveness. The reasons for variations were located at the different levels of the VET system as supported by Bhaskar’s scalar laminations of reality which linked to Moll’s model of curriculum responsiveness. Bhaskar’s position- practice system was used to explain the influence of power dynamics on VET curriculum responsiveness at the different levels in which research participants operated. The VET curriculum at both colleges showed greater inclination towards non-market responsiveness whereby A1 farmers were taught various agriculture related skills to enable their participation in the non-formal market as well as for community development. The thesis suggests that VET curriculum responsiveness to the learning needs of A1 farmers in the two colleges in Masvingo province is a feasible alternative to labour market responsiveness that could be adapted by other rural-based colleges in Zimbabwe and beyond.Item What are the factors that militate against or facilitate parental involvement in school governance? A comparative case study of two public primary schools in the northern suburbs of PIetermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.(2007) Ramisur, Praversh.; Wedekind, Volker Ralf.Apartheid education in South Africa created and maintained deliberate inequalities between schools serving the Indian, Coloured and African communities on one hand and the White population on the other hand. The advent of democracy in South Africa in 1994 addressed a range of issues, one of which was school governance. The South African Schools Act of 1996 was a bold attempt by the government to address issues like school governance. This act created a new school-governance landscape based on a partnership between the state, schools, learners, parents, school staff and the local communities. The aim of this study was to establish reasons why parental involvement is muted in some public schools but more active in other public schools. The participants in the study were parents, school principals and the chairpersons of the school governing bodies of the two schools. The purpose of the study was to listen to differing perspectives on why parents were involved, or not involved, in school governance. The research used both quantitative and qualitative methodology to gather data, and it assumed the form of a comparative case study of the two schools. A survey questionnaire and semi-structured interview were used as data collection techniques. Findings of the study revealed that those parents who were involved in school governance did so because they wanted to be of assistance to both their children, as well as the schools their children attended. In addition, parents who were not involved in school governance cited different reasons for their noninvolvement, ranging from a lack of time, a lack of knowledge and skills, as well as institutional difficulties at the schools their children attend. There was evidence of a conflict between policy and practice in respect of parental involvement in school governance. Policy expected parents to be involved in school governance, and assumed that all parents were familiar with the roles of school governors. Parents, on the other hand, seemed to lack a clear understanding of what school governance entailed, and what the school governance policy expected from them.