Browsing by Author "Moolla, Fatima"

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An interpretivist account of the factors that facilitate and constrain the translation of inclusive education theory, legislation and policy into practice
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Moolla, Fatima; Letseka, Tebello
Inclusive education started off as an international movement through the Salamanca Statement, the Dakar Framework, and the World Declaration on Education for all policies and frameworks. Following the end of apartheid in 1994, South Africa followed the rest of the world in an initiative towards a more inclusive and equitable society centred on human rights ideals. It was the White Paper 6 policy, the South African Constitution, and the South African Schools Act that followed the initiative towards a more inclusive society. These policies provided frameworks and guidelines for achieving inclusive education in South Africa. The implementation of inclusive schooling in South Africa has resulted in considerable demands that necessitate systemic modifications and adaptation to fully fill the requirement for an inclusive education framework. There were continuous changes in policies, legislation, frameworks, and curricula. However, in spite of all the legislation and policy developments that were drafted to achieve inclusive education in South Africa, there have been challenges in translating them into practice. Hence, the drafting and changes have subjected inclusive education educators to the challenges of fully implementing inclusive education practices. Ultimately, there are several theories on inclusive education, for example, constructivism theory, sociocultural theory, and inclusive pedagogy theory; nevertheless, it is unclear if the theories are translating into teaching practices. Thus, this study explores the translation of inclusive education theory, legislation, and policy into practice through the experiences of in-service educators who have received inclusive education training at the postgraduate level. This dissertation used a qualitative approach. A snowball sampling method was used to select 11 in-service educators for this study. This study made use of part-time postgraduate inclusive education students who are currently enrolled and who have been enrolled at a higher educational institution. Multiple semi-structured interviews were employed to gather data from the research participants, and a thematic analysis method was employed to analyse the data. The data collection for this study was two-phased. In addition, this study used critical pedagogy and inclusive pedagogy combined to create a theoretical framework to understand how in-service educators make use of their theoretical knowledge in their pedagogical practices. Critical pedagogy and inclusive pedagogy assisted the research in framing how pedagogical practices should be and what constitutes them; therefore, critical 2 pedagogy and inclusive pedagogy assisted this research in understanding how educators’ theoretical knowledge is translated into practice. This study adds to our understanding of how in-service educators are translating their knowledge of inclusive education theory, legislation, and policy into practice. The results of this undertaking have confirmed that there are challenges in translating inclusive education theories, legislation, and policy into practice due to a lack of support, large class sizes, curriculum concerns, a lack of resources, financial constraints, and the theory not taking South African context into consideration. Many research participants cited that they are conscious and knowledgeable about inclusive education; however, macrostructures made it a challenge to implement. Therefore, there is a need for access to support systems from the school and macrostructures. Also, policies and theories need to be more realistic to implement within South African classrooms.
Assessing domestic resource mobilisation within the Southern African Development Community countries of South Africa and Zambia.
(2023) Moolla, Fatima
The focus of this research paper is on unpacking what is hindering the implementation and utilisation of Public Domestic Resource Mobilisation (DRM) for development financing within the South African Development Community (SADC) countries. The research paper occupies a growing space of research into DRM in Africa to better understand what would make a DRM development financing strategy work long-term on the continent. The research uses a comparative case study approach to study the two SADC countries of South Africa and Zambia to unpack public DRM through national-level analysis. The research also includes an assessment of SADC to introduce the dimension of inter-governance and highlight the role that joint governance plays in fostering sustainable development. The research uses as its theoretical framework, the theory of dependency and looks particularly at the frameworks of capacity development, good governance, and African solutions to African problems. This research begins by assessing SADC institutionally through a descriptive analysis of SADC’s institutional ability and capacity to incentivise a DRM strategy within its member states. The research finds that SADC needs to review its commitment to reducing economic dependency and strategies such as DRM development financing could rekindle the commitment to the manifesto. The findings show that by building on the already existing foundations of development in these countries and focusing on fostering a holistic Africanist approach to development financing that considers each economy as unique; the SADC region could flourish, the organisation could meet its goals, and DRM could rise to meet the need for an alternative sustainable development financing strategy in the region and the broader continent.