Doctoral Degrees (Education Studies)

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An ecosystemic perspective on the raising of deaf children by hearing parents in South Africa : a mixed methods study.
(2009) John, Vijialakshmi.; De Lange, Naydene.
Deafness is one on the most common types of disability in South Africa with 90% of deaf children being born to hearing parents, many of whom are unprepared for the consequences of deafness. Since deafness is an invisible disability, the severity of its impact upon both the child and the family is often underestimated. The aim of this study was to explore the experiences of hearing parents raising deaf children. Thus, the primary research questions were: What are the experiences of hearing parents raising deaf children in South Africa, and how do various ecosystemic variables affect the way they manage their parenting role? This study was informed by the ecological systems theory which is the theoretical framework that underpins this study. The research paradigm shaping this study was pragmatism, while the strategy used was phenomenology. The mixed methods approach was employed, using both qualitative and quantitative approaches concurrently in a triangulation design. The findings emanating from the quantitative data served to complement the findings from the qualitative data. These findings were corroborated in the interpretation stage. The findings, representing the lived experiences of hearing parents raising deaf children, show that although the parenting experiences differ according to the unique circumstances in the family, school and community, there are several commonalities. These include issues associated with the diagnosis and parenting of deaf children. Some of these issues included the challenge of communicating with the deaf child, the financial burden, stigmatization from the general public, strained interpersonal relationships, concern about the child’s future, as well as lack of opportunities for the Deaf to study at tertiary institutions and limited employment opportunities for deaf persons. The findings from both sets of data reveal that, despite the resilience of participants, there is a need for formal support for parents from professionals in the community, as well as informal parental support from the family, friends, and community members, including other hearing parents raising deaf children, and the need for a central location to access information on deafness and related matters. Recommendations were made to address these issues, with a view to facilitating the emotional well-being of hearing parents raising deaf children, and consequently improving the quality of life of the deaf child and the family.
Curriculum recontextualisation : a case study of the South African high school history curriculum.
(2008) Bertram, Carol Anne.; Harley, Keneth Lee.; Hugo, Wayne.
This thesis aims to answer the question: How is history knowledge contextualised into pedagogic communication? Empirically, it takes place at a specific point in the curriculum change process in South Africa, namely the period when the new curriculum for the Further Education and Training (FET) band was implemented in Grade 10 classrooms in 2006. The study is theoretically informed by a sociological lens and is specifically informed by the theories of Basil Bernstein, particularly his concepts of the pedagogic device, pedagogic discourse, pedagogic practice and vertical and horizontal knowledge structures. It is premised on the assumption that the official policy message changes and recontextualises as it moves across the levels of the pedagogic device. It tracks the recontextualisation of the history curriculum from the writers of the curriculum document to the actual document itself, to the training of teachers and the writing of textbooks and finally to three Grade 10 classrooms where the curriculum was implemented in 2006. The empirical work takes the form of a case study of the FET history curriculum. Data were collected from a range of different participants at different levels of the pedagogic device. It was not possible to interrogate all the sets of data with the same level of detail. As one moves up and down and pedagogic device, certain things come into focus, while other things move out of focus. Data were collected through interviews with the writers of the history curriculum, with publishers and writers of selected Grade 10 history textbooks and through participant observation of a workshop held by the provincial education department to induct teachers in the requirements of the new FET history curriculum. Data were collected in the Grade 10 history classrooms of three secondary schools in 2005 and 2006. The school fieldwork comprised video recording five consecutive lessons (ten lessons over two years) in each of the three Grade 10 classrooms, interviewing the history teachers and selected learners, collecting the test papers and assignment tasks and assessment portfolios from selected learners. The study uses the pedagogic device as both a theoretical tool, and a literary device for the organization of the thesis. Within the field of production, the study examines what is the discipline of history from the perspective of historians and of the sociologists of knowledge. History is a horizontal knowledge structure that finds its specialisation in its procedures. However, an historical gaze demands both a substantive knowledge base and the specialised procedures of the discipline. Within the Official Recontextualising Field, the study examines the history curriculum document and the writing of this document. The NCS presents knowledge in a more integrated way. The knowledge is structured using key historical themes such as power alignments, human rights, issues of civil society and globalisation. There is a move away from a Eurocentric position to a focus on Africa in the world. Pedagogically, the focus is on learning doing history, through engaging with sources. Within the Pedagogic Recontextualising Field, the major focus of the teacher training workshop was on working with the outcomes and assessment standards within the ‘history-as-enquiry’ framework. Textbook writers and publishers work closely with the DoE Guidelines and focus on covering the correct content and the learning outcomes and assessment standards. The three teachers within the field of reproduction taught and interpreted the curriculum in different ways, but the nature of the testing (focused primarily on sources) was similar as there are strong DoE guidelines in this regard. For Bernstein, evaluation condenses the meaning of the whole pedagogic device. This is even more so when the curriculum is outcomes-based. The assessment tasks that Grade 10 learners in this study were required to do had the appearance of being source-based, but they seldom required learners to think like historians, nor did they require them to have a substantial and a coherent knowledge base. The FET history curriculum is in danger of losing its substantive knowledge dimension as the procedural dimension, buoyed up by the overwhelming logic of outcomes-based education and the strongly externally framed Departmental assessment regulations, becomes paramount.
Teacher education in Transkei : a critical and comparative study of the evolution of selected aspects of its administrative, curricular and course structures as an indicator of future policy and planning in the provision of teachers.
(1984) Ngubentombi, Sidwell Vusumzi Sinda.; Niven, John McGregor.
Citrus clouds on planet goofy : the reported experiences of children with learning disability.
(2009) Flack, Penelope; Ngwenya, Thengamehlo.
The purpose of this study is to illuminate the lived experiences of children with specific learning disability in an attempt to move beyond the deficit and reductionist models of theorizing learning disabilities that currently inform our understanding. A paradigm shift is proposed, a shift in focus towards a holistic or comprehensive view of the person with learning disability. By viewing the phenomenon from the inside, as it were, I shift my focus from “what it is” to “how it is experienced” (Hall, 1998). It is suggested that a change in focus from the deficit to the whole child in his context will better inform practice This research follows the empirical phenomenological tradition, a qualitative analysis of everyday accounts of living with LD. Justification is given for using life history methodology in order to garner insights into the experiences of a child with learning disability. Five informants between the ages of 12 and 14 years were selected to participate in this study. A multi-method approach to data collection was used. Data were collected from a number of sources, including audio journals kept by participants, guided conversations typical of life history research and visual representations such as collages or life maps submitted by the participants. Data, interpreted on multiple levels, are represented in narrative form. Findings challenge current thinking around inclusive education by suggesting that learners with LD experience exclusion in a system meant to create a sense of inclusion. It is in the mainstream that the “identity as LD” is constructed because of the comparison to the performance of peers who do not have LD. However in a specialised educational environment where peers all presented with the same learning differences, difficulties and styles, instead of comparison there is a sameness. I suggest that this leads to the development of an “identity as capable.” Finally there is much we can learn about pedagogical intervention or management from these informants’ experience of LD.
The experiences of women leaders in the South African Democratic Teachers' Union (SADTU)
(2008) Mannah, Shermain.; Samuel, Michael Anthony.; Govinden, Devarakshanam Betty.
This study answers the critical question: How do women leaders experience gender equality in the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (SADTU)? It focuses on five women leaders in the union, illuminating their experiences and evolving gender consciousness. This qualitative study addresses a gap in research on gender in teacher unions, to understand and reveal how women who have accessed previously male-dominated spaces experience gender equality. The women leaders’ experiences are a prism through which to understand the “depth” of the substantive experience of gender equality in the union. It examines how the union through its organisational bureaucracy, culture and politics shapes their experiences. Through a historical analysis of the gender and liberation struggle, I demonstrate the trajectory of achievements, challenges and visions for gender equity in South Africa within the trade union movement, noting the achievements and highlighting lost opportunities to advance gender struggles of its members. The study theorises different conceptions of feminisms and imagings of organisations to understand the women’s experiences in relation to the union and to broader society, within the culture, politics and bureaucracy of the organisation. I extended this lens by exploring differing conceptions of feminisms to understand the gendered experiences of the women leaders as they traverse life from childhood to adulthood. Conceived with the broader realm of feminist methodology, I use elements of life history research, notably in-depth interviews to produce narratives in the form of “harmonised poems” to illuminate the public and private experiences of the research participants, providing deep insights into their evolving gender consciousness. The analysis is multi-dimensional, traversing the influence of the family, school, and the historical and political contexts that shaped the women’s gender consciousness. The findings indicate that teachers’ contradictory class location, history of patriarchy and acceptance of sexual division of labour contribute to the women leaders’ experiences of gender inequality in the union. These experiences of inequality were magnified by apartheid’s1 structural and ideological roots, which shaped gender roles while simultaneously catalysing the development of gender consciousness and advancing political activism. In this regard, the family served as a crucial site of gender socialisation, while the school formally reproduced a hierarchical gendered society. At the organisational level, hierarchically bureaucratic structures maintained and reinforced particular patterns of control and power through the formal system of trade union governance in which gender oppression is institutionalised and legitimised under its banner of emancipatory politics. However, women in the organisation are by no means innocent victims of hostile patriarchal forces, but are active participants in their own oppression as they strategically comply with institutional norms. Significantly, the findings indicate that equality of opportunity for women leaders in the union does not translate into equality of outcome. This thesis contributes to the theoretical debates on evolving gendered consciousness by advancing an extended conceptual lens to interrogate women’s gendered experiences in predominantly patriarchal spaces. It identifies four domains of evolving consciousness. Starting with the divided self in the domain of home, girl children imbibe the dominant hierarchical social structures, and fixed gender roles are inscribed here. However, the family domain provides the catalyst for a developing consciousness among the women as children. The socialised self emerging in the domain of the school emphasises the gender socialisation, both overt and covert, that occurs in schools. It illuminates their evolving gender consciousness by resisting such subjugation initially as students and later as radical teachers. Progressing to the domain of the union, the women embody a strategic self in response to gender inequality in SADTU, which often takes an organisational form that contradicts its espoused policy and public pronouncements. Armed with the maturity to transcend their individualised gender consciousness, the women leaders emerge with a collective consciousness determined to break down the barriers to equality at the structural level. Finally, in the emerging collective self, the women simultaneously embody elements that constrain their individual emancipatory impulses while trajecting them to potentially higher levels of consciousness as change agents. Their willingness to embrace a shared consciousness and their call for activism indicate a shift towards heightened collective consciousness. As they move from their individual subjugated selves to their heightened collective, transformed consciousness, they express a compelling desire for collective agency to challenge structural drivers of inequality and enact change at the systemic level.
The progress examination as an assessment tool in a problem-based learning curriculum : a case study of the Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine.
(2009) Van Wyk, Jacqueline Marina.; Moletsane, Relebohile.; McLean, Michelle.
Medical schools have been reviewing their curricula to prepare caring and competent health professionals in the midst of a knowledge and technology explosion. The implementation of problem-based learning curricula signalled attempts to make learning more significant, based on constructivist perspectives that emphasise social interaction for meaning making and understanding. Available literature suggests that learning in PBL should be assessed by authentic, contextual real-life tasks that support and encourage students’ learning. To this end, the Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine implemented the progress examination (PE) to complement the aims of Curriculum 2001 (C2001). The potential formative function of the PE was specifically appealing in terms of allowing for the development of reflective, self-directed and deep learning. Early explorations revealed an apparent mismatch between the aims of C2001, the expectations of stakeholders and their experiences with the PE at the site and these resulted in a number of adaptations to the examination. Cognisant of the influence of assessment on students’ learning, this study sought to examine whether the educational principles governing the implementation of C2001 also informed the implementation and adaptations of the PE. Using a qualitative case study methodology, the study investigated stakeholders’ understandings of the PE and its goals and the lived experiences of its implementation as a suitable tool to assess students’ cognitive learning. In addition, the study also investigated the possible factors that influenced the reform. Findings suggest that the PE was not suitable to assess students’ learning in C2001. Despite the perceptions of a strong educational need for curriculum reform and the apparent suitability of the PE, some members of staff lacked understanding, skill and confidence to apply and implement its aims. Staff failed to apply transformative practices of teaching and learning, while the principles of the PE and C2001 were not well diffused through the organisation. Members of staff expected the PE to differentiate between high and low performing students, while students came to regard the examination as just another hurdle in an already hostile learning environment. Factors such as the unstable and poor leadership, the restructuring of the health and education sectors, impacted on the implementation of the reform. Curriculum and assessment reform is challenging for students and lecturers, requiring the transforming institution to actively prepare and support stakeholders in a conducive educational climate. This case study highlights the need for comprehensive planning for effective and sustained curriculum reform. Collaborative strategies and educational systems should be sought and implemented to sustain conceptual and practical reform.
Teacher Identity in Assessment Policy and Practice within the General Education and Training Band.
(2009) Govender, Dhanasagree.; Hugo, Wayne.
The democratic South Africa’s dual challenge in overcoming its own divisive history as well as addressing global economic imperatives, has led to transformations in education. Policy production thus takes place in an atmosphere infused by economic, political, social and cultural effects of globalization. Embedded within the wave of curriculum reform, are new forms of learner assessment which have shifted from being largely norm-based and summative to one which is formative, standards- based and continuous. The new discourse on assessment requires a ‘paradigm shift’ for most teachers implementing the new assessment policy. Although education policy reforms in schools challenge teachers’ existing practices and increases teachers’ work load, they seldom give due attention to teachers’ identities. My research raises questions about the political rationalities that have informed policies on a new conception of the ideal teacher as assessor and how these political rationalities have intersected with the individual lives and identities of teachers. This study investigates at a micro-level, the workings of how teachers govern themselves in their work and in general as human beings. The constitution of teacher identity through discourses and discursive practices of the assessment reform is central to the argument of this thesis which is guided by the following critical question: Within the historical context of the current wave of curriculum reform in South Africa, how is teacher identity constituted in the discourses and practices of assessment reform? Data was obtained from ten teacher participants through interviews, classroom observations and document evidence. Using the biographical / life history approach and teachers’ narratives of self, I explore patterns by which experiential and emotional contexts, feelings, images and memories are organized to form the teachers’ identity. My analytical strategy draws from the work of Foucault (1954-1984), Giddens (1991), Wenger (1998), Bourdieu (1977), Frankl (1984), Laclau and Mouffe (1985), Maslow (1943) as well as other scholars.
Why is classroom practice so difficult to change? : lessons from five schools in the Toyota Teach Primary Schools Project in Durban.
(2009) Lee, Lesley Jean.; Moletsane, Relebohile.
No abstract available.
Learning through teaching : a narrative self-study of a novice teacher educator.
(2007) Pithouse-Morgan, Kathleen Jane.; Moletsane, Relebohile.
This thesis reports on a small-scale, qualitative study of learning through teaching in three postgraduate modules in Education at a South African university. In the thesis, I take a narrative self-study stance toward research and pedagogy to explore my lived experience as a novice teacher educator. I illustrate my research journey by tracing the development of my key research question and re-examining my research and curriculum design processes. I use the medium of a ‘narrative self-study research collage’ to represent and engage with a range of data derived from my experience of teaching in the three modules. The thesis makes two unique contributions to the education field. The methodological contribution is the use of a textual collage, which draws on visual and language arts-based approaches to educational research, as a medium for data representation. The creation of the collage and its presentation in this thesis contributes to the ongoing development and exploration of alternative forms of data representation in educational research. The conceptual contribution of the thesis is the conceptualisation of my teaching-learning-researching experience as educative engagement. This conception of educative engagement offers a new way of looking at pedagogy and research in academic teacher education. In addition to these two unique contributions to the field of Education, the thesis adds further understanding and impetus to the growing body of work that seeks to explore and value the teacher self and teachers’ self-study in the context of lived, relational educational experience.
Occupational choices of women in South Africa.
(2000) Naidoo, Zaiboonnisha.; Jansen, Jonathan David.; Ramphal, Anandpaul.
The purpose of this study is to determine women's perceptions and choices of different categories of occupations and the reasons for such choices. Since the installation of the first democratic post apartheid government in South Africa, national policy has advanced women's rights. Affirmative action has opened up opportunities previously closed to women, but there is little research documenting changes in career trends. The influence of race, gender, social and political changes on perceptions and choices of occupations of women in the country is not known. This study has focused on African and Indian females in the 15 to 60 age range in the greater Durban area. Women born between 1940 and 1985 have experience of the pre- and post apartheid era, and therefore changes in perceptions and choices could be investigated. A survey questionnaire was administered to 390 female learners in seven former Indian schools. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 African and Indian women; six daughters in non - traditional occupations and six mothers in traditional occupations. The results from the survey and interviews suggest that women have a strong sense of empowerment and do not regard gender as a barrier to occupational choices. A limited number of occupations were categorized as suitable for men only, while the majority were deemed suitable for both men and women. Survey data indicated that African learners were more conservative in their choices than Indian learners. Interviews with the older women however, revealed that African women were more positive about opportunities open to them in the new South Africa. Detailed family profiles suggest that socio - economic factors rather than parental influence, impacted on decision-making patterns. The unique experiences of women in this country, who have been subject to political and social pressures of the apartheid policy and the rapid change of the post apartheid era, must be documented before any theoretical positions can be articulated about the career development of South African women. This study has contributed to research on the career development of women by providing some insight into how a sector of African and Indian women perceive and categorize occupations.
The undergraduate law curriculum : fitness for purpose?
(2009) Greenbaum, Lesley Anne.; Sookrajh, Reshma.; Combrinck, Martin.
This study reviews the curriculum of the four-year undergraduate Baccalaureus Legum (LLB) degree, introduced in 1998 as part of the transformation agenda in post-apartheid South Africa. Ten years since its inception, the question is whether the vision of the originators has translated into curricula that are producing a representative supply of appropriately-educated graduates for practice as legal professionals. The demand for the transformation of legal education resulted in the introduction of an undergraduate LLB as a single, affordable qualification for entry to legal practice. Law faculties were permitted to develop their own curricula, although there was agreement on core content. Three key principles were to inform curriculum design: (i) South African law exists in and applies to a diverse or pluralistic society; (ii) skills appropriate to the practice of law must be integrated into the degree; and (iii) faculties must strive to inculcate ethical values in students. A decade later, stakeholders are expressing dissatisfaction with the quality of graduates. Few graduates complete the LLB within four years, and a significant proportion of African students, already under-represented in law faculties, do not complete their studies. The attorneys’ profession is still predominantly white-owned. In the first part of the study, phenomenological interviews were conducted with three members of the 1996 Task Group of Law Deans who drafted the proposals for the new degree. The data elicited described the lived experience of curriculum change. Five current Law Deans were also interviewed to develop an understanding of their experience of implementing the law curriculum. The second component of the study was a phenomenographic analysis, in which six graduates, who are now attorneys, were interviewed, to identify their experiences of the law curriculum at one Law faculty. The graduates’ employers were interviewed to ascertain their perceptions of the graduates’ preparedness for professional practice. The study suggests that reactive conservatism on the part of legal academics resulted in law curricula that replicate a cycle of disadvantage, and fail to achieve transformative learning which integrates knowledge, skills and ethical values. A focus on incorporating an ontological component in law curricula, to develop high quality legal professionals is recommended.
Starting with ourselves : addressing HIV and AIDS education through integration in a South African pre-service teacher mathematics education curriculum.
(2008) Van Laren, Linda.; Mitchell, Claudia Arlene.; Moletsane, Relebohile.
The purpose of this study was to initiate integration of HIV and AIDS curriculum in
Teacher desegregation in KwaZulu-Natal : a spatial analysis.
(2007) Balkaran, N.; Sookrajh, Reshma.
Given the historically repressive and racist legislation and practices of a white supremacist government, and notwithstanding the subsequent advent of a new democratic state, this thesis argues that the desegregation of teachers is unlikely to unfold in accordance with the conceived ideals and expectations of the Constitution of South Africa. It is further contended that while teacher desegregation has occurred to a limited extent, it has not contributed substantially to the realization of non-racialism. Set against the backdrop of the values framework espoused in the Constitution, this study is located in KwaZulu-Natal, one of the nine provinces that constitute South Africa. Taking into account the 'layered' nature of social reality, and using a humanistic sociological approach, which is characterised by an emphasis on the human being as the central focus, this study combines both quantitative and qualitative methodologies. The first layer of the study comprises of a feasibility study which aims to ascertain the extent to which teacher desegregation has occurred in KwaZulu-Natal as well as to assess the experiences of a convenience sample of teachers who have moved to schools that were historically not designated to their race group. This layer of the study is exploratory and succeeds in providing the contour of the data and indicated the need for an extended, in-depth study. The feasibility study is followed by the second layer of study which serves the purpose of discovery and which comprises of an analysis of how teachers defIne, understand and manage desegregation. The subsequent layer is an intensifIcation of the data and interrogates the experiences of teachers who are currently employed at schools that were historically inaccessible places of employment. Driven by a strongly Lefebvrean theoretical perspective on space, the data is analysed taking into consideration the conception of space that prevails today in the country as opposed to the spatial practices and representation of space of the historical past which were determined largely by legislation such as the Group Areas Act and the Population Registration Act, both of which territorially divided the country and marked bodies in terms of race thereby contributing to the inextricable intertwining of race and space. It is suggested that while some progress has been made in respect of racial desegregation and integration, the enduring effects of history which are inscribed in space persist nonetheless. This is evident from the experiences of alienation, marginalisation, displacement, territorialism, resegregation as well as a sense of violation of space which are described by the participants. In addition, obstacles to desegregation are factors such as a fear of crime, inaccessibility of schools, racism and the challenges posed by language. Ideas for further research in respect of teacher desegregation in other provinces of the country as well as issues of teacher identity in desegregated spaces are suggested and the possible use of a spatial perspective in other studies is encouraged.
From our frames : exploring visual arts-based approaches for addressing HIV and AIDS with pre-service teachers.
(2006) Stuart, Jean.; Mitchell, Claudia Arlene.
This research is a qualitative study of a short project set up to explore the uses of a visual arts-based approach for addressing HIV and AIDS through teacher development. It was undertaken at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in the face of the HIV and AIDS pandemic. It responds to the suggestions that teachers need to explore their own understanding, attitudes and perceptions of the disease if they are to deal confidently with the demands it places on them as educators in schools. Thirteen preservice teachers, who had enrolled in a guidance course, used photographs and drawing to capture their views of HIV and AIDS and to construct messages for their peers. Methods for the approach were adapted from the work of Ewald and Lightfoot (2001) and from Wang’s (1999) photo-voice. A visual arts-based approach was chosen for its potential to simultaneously engage the mind, body and emotions (Weber & Mitchell, 2004). Drawing on the conceptual work of Banks (2001), Hall (1997) and Fairclough (1995), the photo texts were then analysed by the researcher who saw them as socially and culturally embedded constructions and was interested in how they were affected by and could have an impact on culture and social discourses. Reflections on the photo texts and their associated processes by both the researcher and pre-service teachers lead to suggestions as to the pedagogic possibilities of using a visual arts-based approach in education to address HIV and AIDS. The thesis concludes with discussion of what a visual arts-based approach can contribute to HIV and AIDS in teacher education and comments on the challenges and limitations of such an approach.
Birth and regeneration : the arts and culture curriculum in South Africa, 1997-2006.
(2007) Singh, Lorraine Pushpam.; Malcolm, Clifford Keith.
Towards a critical curriculum for mid-level community based rehabilitation training in South Africa.
(2008) Rule, Sarah Anne.; Muthukrishna, Anbanithi.
This study, conducted in Pietermaritzburg and surrounding rural and township areas, is a critical exploration of the training of mid-level Community Based Rehabilitation workers with a specific focus on the ability of course participants to understand and address the oppression and empowerment of people with disabilities. The aim of the study was to develop a conceptual framework for curriculum construction of a midlevel Community Based Rehabilitation course, through examining a Community Based Rehabilitation course and the changes that were made to it. The study was conducted within a critical theory paradigm. The social model of disability and an understanding of disability as a form of oppression were the key constructs that guided the research. Participatory action research was used in the initial phase of the research, followed by a second phase that adopted a life history approach. The initial phase of the study consisted of one cycle of action research, beginning with a reflection on the existing curriculum. The action research cycle then moved through stages of planning changes to the curriculum, implementing the changes, observing the effects of the changes and reflecting again. Data collection comprised interviews with staff members, students and community rehabilitation facilitators who had previously completed the Community Based Rehabilitation course, as well as focus groups with people with disabilities and parents of children with disabilities. Several participatory rural appraisal techniques were also used with the students. The action research cycle raised further questions about how the life experiences of the students influenced their responses to the changed curriculum. This stimulated the development of the second phase of the research which used life history methodology, comprising in-depth interviews with four students. The study found that several changes occurred in the students’ attitudes and understanding as well as in some of the activities they undertook. Some students worked with rather than for people with disabilities, indicating a change in the power relationship with their clients. The students were able to analyse their own oppression and that of people with disabilities, unlike previous students. The students also engaged in social action for the rights of people with disabilities. These findings cannot be solely attributed to the changes in curriculum. However, they raise the possibility that Community Based Rehabilitation personnel can work to address the oppression of people with disabilities rather than focusing entirely on technical rehabilitation, which is a common approach in the literature. An analysis of the life histories revealed that those students identified as ‘activists’, more willingly engaged in social action during the Community Based Rehabilitation course than other students. This challenges the dominant discourse in the literature of Community Based Rehabilitation personnel as rehabilitation workers rather than activists. One key contribution of this thesis is to research methodology through its combination of life history methodology and action research in the study. A second is its proposed framework for curriculum construction that incorporates findings from the action research and the life histories. This framework, with its macroenvironment, organisational and student influences on the curriculum, contributes to the under-theorised field of Community Based Rehabilitation training.
An investigation into the impact of a peer-driven model of teacher development : a case study of Ikhwezi.
(2008) Msimango, Busisiwe Peggy.; Ramrathan, Prevanand.
Abstract not available.
An analysis of change in the management practices of school principals in the context of an external intervention from 1977 to 2000 : case study of the Imbewu project in the eastern Cape province.
(2008) Adonis, Agrinette Nolwandle.; Morrell, Robert Graham.
This study focuses on a large-scale, foreign-funded education intervention, the Imbewu Project (IP). This project was funded by United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DfID) and was implemented in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa between 1997 and 2000 in close consultation with the Eastern Cape’s Provincial Department of Education (ECDE). The impact of the project is examined through the eyes of the primary school participants, principals, teachers and members of School Governing Bodies. The major concern of the study is to explore the impact of the intervention on the management practices of schools. The study examines those factors which promoted or undermined the efficacy of the IP. Cluster or multi-stage sampling was used for sampling schools from which respondents for questionnaires were selected. A total of 250 copies of the two questionnaires (200 for teachers and 50 for school principals) were sent to selected schools. Out of these, 33 were filled in and returned by school principals and 119 were filled in and returned by teachers. Convenience sampling was used for sampling the schools from which interviewees were selected. Five (5) principals, eight (8) members of the school governing bodies, 15 key teachers and 15 non-key teachers were interviewed. A largely descriptive research design was used to explore the views and perceptions of principals, teachers and school governing body (SGB) members about changes in the management practices in their schools. School documents from the schools used for interviews were analysed in order to corroborate the information given by the respondents. The training materials used by the IP were closely aligned with the imperatives identified in the South African Schools Act (1996). The education management development (EMD) modules of the IP and the management areas in the South African Schools Act (1996), for example, suggests that the IP training programme was guided by official policy. The IP programme was therefore appropriate for supporting and enhancing the work of the ECDE in improving school efficiency and for the transformation of education in the schools. Advanced age, lengthy experience and the poor quality of teacher training tended to limit the optimal impact of the IP. The IP training helped principals and SGB members to understand their roles in the school and to participate more effectively than before. In the IP, while the quality of the training was perceived as good, it appeared that the duration did not allow for assimilation and in-depth understanding of the content. In addition, the cascading model of training was regarded as a threat to the successful implementation of the IP as it distorted and reduced the amount of knowledge that reached the majority of teachers in the schools. Principals did not warmly support the transformation agenda that forced them to work with SGB members who were often poorly informed about school matters. However, principals were ready to use the SGBs in aspects such as mobilizing parents to attend meetings and providing security for the school that were not directly related to their own management work. Principals continued to wield power in the SGBs because they were superior to all parent members of the SGBs in terms of academic qualification, expertise, and official information. The heads of departments (HODs) in the schools were not targeted for the IP training. Consequently, most of them had to be trained by their teachers in the IP activities at the schools. The fact that these HODs were not trained in the IP meant that their professional authority in the implementation process of IP activities was undermined as they had to depend on their teachers regarding these activities in their departments. This tended to undermine the institutionalization and sustainability of the intervention. Poverty proved to be a serious challenge to the success of the IP intervention in the most disadvantaged schools. The poorest schools were unable to take full advantage of the IP intervention in terms of training manuals and learning material compared to those which were better off. There was therefore a tendency for the IP to inadvertently promote and increase inequalities.
An ethnographic study of rural community literacy practices in Bweyale and their implications for adult literacy education in Uganda.
(2008) Openjuru, George Ladaah.; Lyster, Elda Susan.
This was a study of rural community literacy practices in Uganda. I used the social practices theory of literacy as a theoretical framework to investigate literacy use in rural community life in Bweyale. The social practices theory of literacy sees literacy as variable social practice that can only be understood within the social context of its use. Consistent with the social practices theoretical perspective and following similar research traditions in this area of literacy study, I used ethnographic research methods to collect data and grounded theory methods to analyse data on literacy use in Bweyale. The study revealed that rural people, contrary to popular perceptions about their illiteracy and hence lack of literacy, actually use reading and writing in a variety of ways in different domains of literacy use. Literacy pervades most aspects of rural community life, making rural people use literacy in many rich and creative ways. Most people, regardless of their literacy status, participate in local literacy practices. The most prominent areas of literacy use in rural community life are livelihood activities, education, religion, bureaucracy, household life, and personal life. The study also found that the conception of literacy among rural people in Bweyale is similar to the dominant conception of literacy. In this conception, literacy is seen as equal to education and/or schooling and it relates to modernity. Rural people see literacy as a valuable and important aspect of life. The literacy they value most is the dominant English language literacy. This is due to the multilingual nature of Uganda and the national language policy that made English the dominant language of literacy even in rural community life. The use of English literacy is also reinforced by its use as the language of instruction in Uganda’s education system where most people learn how to read and write. This dominance of English complicates literacy use in rural community life because it brings in the need for translation, especially when people who do not understand English are involved in a literacy event. It also complicates local language literacy learning. The use of English is closely associated with the dominant non-traditional activities like school education, the police service, modern trade practices, and to some extent, Christian religious practices. Local language literacy is mainly used when communicating information relating to traditional activities, for example, traditional medicinal practices or for personal use. The study recommends that adult literacy education curricula should be tailored to the local literacy practices of the people for whom the literacy programmes are being developed. This will help to make the literacy programmes immediately relevant to the everyday literacy practices of the learners’ community. The programmes should promote literacy use in the community by exploring new areas of literacy use in rural community life. These are areas in which the use of literacy could lead to better management of some activities in rural community life. In all, rural people are literate in ways that are not acknowledged in dominant literacy thinking and hence even by rural people themselves. This way of thinking must be discouraged.
A gendered study of conflict and violence among boys in the construction of masculinities at a technical high school in Durban.
(2010) Hamlall, Vijay.; Morrell, Robert Graham.
The study analyses instances of disagreement or conflict among boys at Sunville, a technical high school in Chatsworth, Durban. In many, cases these episodes escalated and became physically violent encounters. In other instances, they were resolved without any physical violence. Conflict developed in two phases which were not mutually exclusive. In the first phase a learner would give various forms of provocation (for example insults). The provocations gave rise to or expressed conflict but did not necessarily lead to violence. In cases where physical conflict emerged various causes were at work. These related to the way boys saw themselves in the school and the manner in which they constructed their masculine identities. The major cause of fights (violence) was the hierarchal arrangement of masculinities in the school and the efforts used by boys to assert their power. Attempting to gain inclusion or hierarchical ascendancy led boys to jostle for position and this often led to physical violence. The competitive nature of hegemonic masculinity heightened the vulnerability of the boys. They responded to this vulnerability by forcibly and sometimes violently establishing their masculine credentials. Heterosexual masculinities are organised and regulated to a large extent through trying to bolster fragile masculinities or avoid humiliation. Avoiding humiliation is reactive and defensive and bolstering fragile masculinities is aggressive and assertive. Boys try to bolster their own fragile masculinity by humiliating other boys and they can do this most effectively and easily by picking on boys who are vulnerable, those who are not part of the main gang (the peer group that is most influential in defining hegemonic masculinity). This masculine practice was at the core of bullying at Sunville and bolstered and perpetuated hegemonic masculinity in its assertive, intolerant, blustering and violent form. Boys frequently used vulgar and offensive language to humiliate other boys. They also behaved in ways that proved allegiance to their peer group, took revenge, and involved themselves in acts of gambling to bolster their own masculinities. These actions often led to violence. Boys who largely reject hegemonic masculinity may be forced defensively to protect their own masculine identities when they are subject to aggression (often by hegemonic masculine frontline troopers). This explains why some ordinarily peaceful boys at the school got involved in fights and physical scraps. While the school’s hard boys were normally the aggressors they would also protect their own masculine identities (by reacting violently) if they felt vulnerable. This study looks at gender relationships, with a focus on how conflict and violence feature in the construction of masculinities. Two issues are important: a) how do conflict and violence contribute to the makings of specific masculinities and b) how do existing masculinities legitimate and delegitimate the enactment of conflict and violence. This study therefore examines, on the one hand, mechanisms by which conflict is mediated or resolved and, on the other, the processes by which conflict and disagreement escalate into violence. While there were high levels of tension at Sunville, not all conflict situations led to violence. Some conflict situations had peaceful resolutions. This study examines the specific circumstances that gave rise to these outcomes. In short, this study examines how conflict occurred among boys, how boys handled this conflict (violently or nonviolently) and how masculinities were implicated in handling conflict. What was common in all the incidents of conflict and violence was that boys projected certain images of themselves and sought to live up to certain versions of what it is to be a man. I argue in this thesis that the form of masculinity that boys subscribe to influences the manner in which they deal with provocation and conflict. The escalation or peaceful resolution of conflict depends largely on whether a boy subscribes to or rejects the values of the hegemonic masculinity that exist at Sunville, which include heterosexuality, toughness, authority, competitiveness, maintaining peer group prestige and the subordination of other boys. Those boys who subscribed to the hegemonic values of masculinity at Sunville in most instances were bound by its values to resolve conflict aggressively. Some boys had an allegiance to particular constructions of masculinity which are at variance with the school’s hegemony and this made it more likely that they would choose peace over violence in conflict situations. Their practices in handling conflict separated these boys from the hegemonic way of resolving conflict, which was to use force, aggression and violence. In those cases where the conflict was defused, different, alternative, non-confrontational understandings of masculinity were salient. The values which they asserted included respect, being able to exercise restraint, and being independent, strong willed and individualistic in their thinking and actions. I have identified the modus operandi of this group of boys as being autonomous. These boys took up autonomous positions in situations of conflict that did not support the hegemonic imperative at Sunville to escalate conflict into violence. I have chosen the term autonomous masculinity to describe that masculinity that is performed at a particular moment of conflict, at which moment particular non-hegemonic masculinity (in terms of the school’s masculinity) is drawn upon to avoid conflict. Masculinity is itself a contradictory gendered phenomenon and it is possible, and indeed quite common, for contradictory positions to exist side by side and indeed to be occupied simultaneously by boys. It is unlikely that boys will choose non-violence in every situation. Individuals occupy multiple positions and therefore have a range of identities with different ones acquiring significance in different contexts. Boys take up different positions in different contexts; identities are multiple and fluid. In dealing with conflict at Sunville there are hegemonic and counter-hegemonic positions that boys can inhabit and some boys inhabit one more than the other because they embrace particular masculine positions. The study was undertaken using a qualitative methodology. I undertook research by observing cases of provocation, actual instances of conflict and the manner in which conflict was defused or amplified into violence. My methods included observation and observation in class, around the school and during leisure activities, regular recorded informal discussions and formal interviews. I identified 10 boys to be the main respondents in this study. All the boys were in grade 10 (and were aged between fifteen and seventeen) when I began the research process. I conducted research with these boys for three years, gathering data on an ongoing basis. In the course of the research I used a snowballing technique to draw in further respondents. This study focuses on the uncritical conflation of conflict and violence in the existing literature on masculinities in schools. Conflict and violence are separate parts of a single process. The one does not automatically lead to the other, therefore this requires that we exercise caution when describing violent masculinities. Too often, in the desire to explain patriarchal violence, researchers have lumped aggression together with violence. In this study I witnessed aggression but show that it did not necessarily lead to violence. Connell (1989) has noted that schools are major sites for the making of masculinities. She argues that schools have particular patterns of gender relations (she terms this the gender regime) which impact on and are played out in the lives of boys. Conversely, male learners themselves contribute to the gender regime of the school. While each school may have one form of masculinity which is dominant and which prescribes the ideal form that masculine behaviour should take, there are always other masculinities present within a school. These may be marginal. They may be silenced or complicit or may challenge the dominant, hegemonic masculine form. This study contributes to debates about school masculinities in the context of conflict and violence. The study concludes that while there is a clear identifiable link between modes of the dominant masculinity and violence, there are other versions of masculinity that are being performed within the school that are democratic, peaceful and respectful. I propose that schools should be mindful and support these other versions of masculinity in order to reduce violence among boys in school.

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