Education Studies

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The contours of disadvantage and academic progress : analysis of perceptions of students from disadvantaged schools at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.
(2013) Mpofu, Bhekimpilo.; Mbali, Valerie Charlotte.
The overall purpose of this study was to analyse the perceptions and experiences of students from disadvantaged schools regarding their academic progress at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN). The study focused on the students’ material and social circumstances, their learning environment while at University, their connections to their home community, and their career aspirations. It set to answer three key research questions, namely: (1) what are the contours of disadvantage that can be discovered through investigating samples of students from disadvantaged schools at UKZN? (2) How do the ‘contours’ seem to co-occur with factors relating to academic progress? (3) What are the perceptions of students from disadvantaged schools at UKZN about their pre-university experience and the learning environment at university? The notion of disadvantage was defined using the Department of Education (DoE)’s classification of schools into the quintile system which is based on measurements of the poverty of the catchment community. Thus, this study shows that the notion of disadvantaged students in higher education can be investigated through class-based, rather than merely racially-based definitions. This study was conducted within a three-fold conceptual framework based on sustainable livelihoods approaches (SLA), social capital theory and social justice ideology. The SLA approach teaches us that livelihoods can only be understood and captured in particular contexts. This research project therefore aimed to gain a clearer understanding of such a context, in this case, the campus environment. Through the phenomenological approach of the openended questions in the interviews, this thesis taps into the perceptions of students themselves about their environment and how they cope. Social capital theory postulates five spheres: the academic, the social, the economic, the support, and the democratic. These were probed in both a survey of a sample of disadvantaged students, and by interviewing eight students. With regard to academic progress, the measurements used were the matric aggregate, the grade point average for salient years and programmes, and the time it took for students to graduate or dropout. Comparisons are made between the norm of students, the disadvantaged (those from low quintile schools), and those in the sample. The purpose of utilizing such measurements is to contribute to the social justice discourse about university education based on Taylor’s notion of Fair Equality of Opportunity (FEO), where disadvantaged students’ abilities and aspirations can best be developed and exercised, leading to the attainment of self-realization. Until disadvantaged students show academic progress that fits the norm, the contours of their disadvantage need to be continually investigated; it is hoped that the findings of this thesis will contribute to further research and concrete proposals which can be implemented to improve conditions so that students who are already disadvantaged as a result of their schooling are not further disadvantaged while at University .
Exceptional academic achievement in South African higher education.
(2014) Munro, Nicholas.; Vithal, Renuka.
This thesis reports on a study which explored the equity of representation within the phenomenon of exceptional academic achievement in South African higher education. The significance of the thesis rests with its unique position among a prevailing higher education discourse of academic underachievement and high levels of failure. In this way, this study offered a complementary strengths-based perspective within the South African higher education domain. Firstly, the study was located in a historical-contextual framework, and secondly grounded within three conceptual frameworks. These included a critical quantitative stance, a social cognitive framework, and a sociocultural framework. The latter framework specifically incorporated cultural-historical activity theory and was offered as an integrative stance from which the phenomenon of exceptional academic achievement in South African higher education could be most effectively conceptualised. In response to the historical-contextual and conceptual frameworks, the study first sought to identify the profile of exceptional academic achievement in South African undergraduate students. Given the critical nature of the study, the second and third research questions sought to explore those students who did not fit the profile of exceptional academic achievement. In resonance with the historical-contextual and conceptual frameworks and the research questions, a critical dialectical pluralist stance was assumed, and a critical dialectical mixed methodology was employed. This methodology involved two interlinked phases, and these were embedded within a case study of a racially transformed and internationally ranked South African higher education institution. In the first phase of the study, a logistic regression model for exceptional academic achievement in South African higher education was developed. The model was developed from a sample of 20 120 graduates from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, who completed undergraduate degrees between the years 2006 and 2010. The model identified that even when controlling for financial aid, matriculation score, and matriculation English symbol, white female students were 16 times more likely to excel when compared to African female students, and seven times more likely to excel when compared to African male students. In the second phase of the study, 18 academically exceptional African female and African male undergraduate students were purposively invited to participate in the study. Their first task involved an interpretation of the logistic regression model, this interpretation being garnered through the students’ participation in three focus group discussions. Of the original 18 students, eight then embarked on an auto-photographical data production process and participated in photo-elicitation interviews with the researcher. Using the theorised activity system within cultural-historical activity theory as a heuristic device, three systems of academic activity were constructed and analysed. The constructions generated evolving and historical activity systems of exceptional academic achievement, and a third institutional system of academic activity. The analyses highlighted the regulatory role of collective emotions in exceptional academic achievement, and in particular, the importance of the resolution of an injustice-based anger and edu-emotional struggle, with a vision for the future and the development of a positive edu-emotional valence. The three activity systems offer a conceptual perspective of exceptional academic achievement in higher education that is persistently unjust, however prospectively hopeful. The current and historical dynamics involved in the academic trajectories of undergraduate African students who excel are offered as a way in which a transformative and socio-political object of exceptional academic achievement could be attained. This object is constituted by an iterative trajectory within a fragile and homologous space between enabling and constraining environments. Importantly, these environments are positioned as having the potential to yield outcomes of both exceptional academic achievement and academic underachievement in higher education.
A parent behind bars : investigating the scholastic experiences of learners whose parents are incarcerated.
(2013) Moodley, Nolene.; Muribwathoho, Henry Nkhanedzeni.
Abstract available in PDF file.
Some strategies used by isiZulu-speaking learners when answering TIMSS 2003 science questions.
(2006) Zuma, Sandile Cleopas.; Dempster, Edith Roslyn.
The purpose of this study was to describe the performance of the South African Grade 8 learners in Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2003 science test, to explore the translatability of TIMSS 2003 science items into isiZulu without significant loss of meaning, and to explore the strategies used by isiZulu-speaking learners when answering questions in the TIMSS 2003 test. Thirty six isiZulu-speaking learners were tested using written test questions taken from the science test in the TIMSS 2003. The degree to which a sample of 36 learners represented their understanding of the questions in a written test compared to the level of understanding that could be elicited by an interview is presented in this study. The findings of this study are presented, interpreted and discussed using Pollitt & Ahmed's (2001) model of question answering process as well as other relevant literature. The key findings of this study are as follows : • the South African Grade 8 learners performed very poorly on TIMSS 2003 science test, • close translation of TIMSS 2003 science items into isiZulu is possible if conducted with care by expert teachers, • the language of the test had some effect on isiZulu-speaking learners' performance on TIMSS 2003 science test, • the strategies used by isiZulu-speaking learners when answering science questions included: • translating the question into isiZulu before trying to answer it, • choosing an answer containing a word/term common in the question stem and in the options, • choosing the answer containing a familiar/unfamiliar word in the options, •guessing , •looking at patterns of previous choices, •'picture memory', and •'general knowledge'. When Pollitt & Ahmed's (2001) model of question answering is applied to isiZuluspeaking learners, two 'new' phases are introduced. The findings of this study suggest that language factors are embedded within other factors, importantly, the appropriate level of cognitive proficiency to enable correct answering of science questions. The findings of this study further suggest the need for development of cognitive/academic language proficiency (CALP) in both English and isiZulu languages, or in one of them.

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Browsing Education Studies by Subject "Academic achievement--South Africa."