Electronic Theses and Dissertations (PhDs)

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A social realist perspective of academic advising in a South African higher education context: a study of practices and practitioners
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023) De Klerk, Danie
The South African higher education sector has numerous challenges to contend with. Students' prospects of success are often vulnerable to uneven secondary schooling, structural and material constraints, massification of the sector, and a range of other factors. In this thesis, I argue that academic advising has the potential to help find responsive and sustainable solutions to address these challenges. Academic advising is well established in the global north. In contrast, it remains an emerging field of practice in South Africa, with a dearth of literature about how advising is developed and practiced within the country’s unique higher education context. This thesis aims to contribute to the limited knowledge base about advising as a practice and the work of academic advisors as practitioners in South Africa. The study provides a social realist perspective of the emergence of advising within a South African higher education context. It draws on Margaret Archer’s work on structure, culture, and agency, the morphogenetic approach, and the notion of stratified layers of social reality to analyse data, make inferences, and draw conclusions. This is a qualitative study that adopts a mixed methods approach. The research paradigm is phenomenological, while phenomenographic principles are used selectively to advance the objectives of the study. The data that informs the study consists of a quantitative baseline dataset and qualitative data collected through semi structured interviews with 15 academic advisors working at the University of the Witwatersrand. As this is a PhD by publication, the thesis consists of four interconnected papers (i.e., chapters), bookended by introduction and conclusion chapters. The first paper provides insights about advising as gleaned from the baseline data, while the second draws on the same data to highlight the impact of students’ structural and material constraints on the work of academic advisors. Papers three and four use interview data to glean academic advisor insights about advising prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic, respectively. The thesis concludes by highlighting the transformative potential of academic advising for South African higher education yet cautions that a major shift in the way advising is perceived and practiced is required for its potential to be realized.
A social realist perspective of academic advising in a South African higher education context: A study of practices and practitioners
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-08) De Klerk, Danie; Dison, Laura
The South African higher education sector has numerous challenges to contend with. Students' prospects of success are often vulnerable to uneven secondary schooling, structural and material constraints, massification of the sector, and a range of other factors. In this thesis, I argue that academic advising has the potential to help find responsive and sustainable solutions to address these challenges. Academic advising is well established in the global north. In contrast, it remains an emerging field of practice in South Africa, with a dearth of literature about how advising is developed and practiced within the country’s unique higher education context. This thesis aims to contribute to the limited knowledge base about advising as a practice and the work of academic advisors as practitioners in South Africa. The study provides a social realist perspective of the emergence of advising within a South African higher education context. It draws on Margaret Archer’s work on structure, culture, and agency, the morphogenetic approach, and the notion of stratified layers of social reality to analyse data, make inferences, and draw conclusions. This is a qualitative study that adopts a mixed methods approach. The research paradigm is phenomenological, while phenomenographic principles are used selectively to advance the objectives of the study. The data that informs the study consists of a quantitative baseline dataset and qualitative data collected through semi-structured interviews with 15 academic advisors working at the University of the Witwatersrand. As this is a PhD by publication, the thesis consists of four interconnected papers (i.e., chapters), bookended by introduction and conclusion chapters. The first paper provides insights about advising as gleaned from the baseline data, while the second draws on the same data to highlight the impact of students’ structural and material constraints on the work of academic advisors. Papers three and four use interview data to glean academic advisor insights about advising prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic, respectively. The thesis concludes by highlighting the transformative potential of academic advising for South African higher education yet cautions that a major shift in the way advising is perceived and practiced is required for its potential to be realised.
Adolescents’ identity development through literature: A study of pedagogy and canon in the Grade 11 English FAL poetry classroom
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-10) Mavhiza, Grace; Nkealah, Naomi
The aim of this study was to analyse the effect of pedagogy and canon on adolescents’ identity development in the Grade 11 English First Additional Language (FAL) poetry classroom. Despite the well-documented benefits of poetry (Femer, 2003; Pushpa & Savaedi, 2014; Antika, 2017), this study identified the problem that poetry is not realising its potential as a subject in the schools in relation to the identity development of adolescents. The school is a place where adolescents spend much of their time and there are many factors which shape adolescents’ identities within the school context. This qualitative study focused on pedagogy and canon among these many factors. The study was designed as a dual case study and set up within the interpretivism paradigm which allowed different interpretations of the data about the effect of pedagogy and canon on adolescents’ development. The complexity of the study meant a dual focused theoretical framework. Thus, the study used a combination of the theories of identity development by Erik Erikson (1963; 1968) and critical pedagogy by Paulo Freire (1970). Purposive sampling was used to identify the cases for this study. The two schools selected happen to be within Ekurhuleni District. In one school the teacher applied traditional pedagogy while in the other school the teacher employed the modern pedagogy which included multimodality, multiliteracies and new literacies. Qualitative data was collected using three tools, namely, participant observation, questionnaire, and reflective journals. Descriptive and thematic analyses of data were conducted, and the results show that there are limitations and affordances of both the traditional and modern pedagogies. In relation to the impact of the poetry pedagogy and canon on adolescents’ identity development in the Grade 11 English FAL poetry classroom, key findings reveal that traditional pedagogy takes away adolescents’ opportunities to explore their personal identities. In addition, the modern pedagogy is preferable among the Grade 11 English FAL poetry adolescents who participated in this study. The study concluded that the current Grade 11 English FAL poetry canon is alienated from the lives of adolescents who participated in this research. Learners yearn for new poetry which speaks to their daily experiences.
Children Moving Across Borders: Equitable Access to Education for Undocumented Migrants in South Africa
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-09) Blessed-Sayah, Sarah Enaan-Maseph; Griffiths, Dominic
South Africa is experiencing an increase in intra-regional migration, and the management of migration in the country is increasingly becoming highly securitised. Individuals who move intra-regionally across borders include children –accompanied by parents or caretakers, unaccompanied, and those seeking refuge because of untenable and oppressive circumstances in their home country. Also, individuals who move to South Africa without legal documentation often give birth to children within the State, who are then undocumented. Without documentation, these children cannot access education, which means that achieving their educational right becomes impossible. This happens partly because of legal contradictions that exist in immigration and education policy frameworks. For instance, the Bill of Rights, as contained in Section 29(1)(a) of the Constitution of South Africa (The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa No. 108, 1996), states that everyone has the right to basic education, and further states in subsection 2 that the State (being South Africa) is obligated to respect this right. Additionally, the South African Schools Act 84 of 1996 (Republic of South Africa, 1996) states that public schools are obliged to admit children without any form of discrimination on any grounds. However, the Immigration Act No 13 of 2002 states that no ‘illegal foreigner’ should be allowed on the premises of any learning institution (Republic of South Africa The Presidency, 2002). Thus, the question remains whether undocumented migrant children are included in the ‘all’ or ‘every’ because of existing legal contradictions between the Constitution and the Immigration Policy. Furthermore, the need to consider how the educational right of undocumented migrant children is upheld comes from the evident nationalist view on migration in South Africa, which is projected through government, and in local communities. Although some studies have evaluated the extent to which this right is protected or ensured, and others have considered the barriers to exercising the right to education in South Africa, only a few specifically focus on the right of undocumented migrant children to equitable education, and strategies to ensure its fulfilment. Thus, an explanation of equitable access to education in South Africa entails developing an approach for understanding undocumented migrant children’s educational experience, because this approach would provide a platform to achieve workable ways to ensure the fulfilment of their right to basic education. This research explores the difficulties undocumented migrant children experience in relation to education. Given this, an explanation regarding access to education for undocumented migrant children, from an equity viewpoint in South Africa, is developed. Thus, this study had three major aims. Firstly, to develop an understanding of equity in relation to access to education. Secondly, to investigate the impact (problems) of migration on undocumented migrant children in relation to equitable access to education in South Africa. Thirdly, to develop strategies that can ensure that these undocumented migrant children have their right to basic education protected in South Africa. Using the capability approach combined with Unterhalter’s (2009) description of equity as a three-fold concept as the study’s conceptual framework, I argue that ensuring equitable access to education for undocumented migrant children in South Africa requires an integrated approach, which goes beyond top-down strategies and highlights the role of agency. Each finding under the study’s objectives serves as evidence that support my overall argument for an integrated approach. A qualitative research design, from an interpretivist phenomenological lens provided me with the opportunity to carefully interact and bring forward the contextualised lived experiences of undocumented migrant children. This brought about an in-depth description of equitable access to education for them. The study was conducted with an NGO working with undocumented migrant children in the eastern region of the Johannesburg area in the Gauteng province of South Africa. The criterion used for selecting participants was based on the fact that the Project staff members, children who attend the Project, and their parents understand the social environment in which the children reside. They were able to give detailed and in-depth explanations on the impact of migration on their access to education, in an equitable manner. Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) officials who deal with undocumented migrant children, and South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) staff who deal with education also understand the impact of migration on these children’s chance to equitably access education and were included in the study. A total of 45 participants who were conveniently selected, based on the inclusion criteria, made up the sample size. Nineteen undocumented migrant children (n=19), eleven parents of undocumented migrant children (n=11), and fifteen professionals participated in this study (n=15). I served as the primary tool for data collection while employing different qualitative methods, including individual semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions. The method of data analysis I used for this study included an inductive and deductive approach using the NVivo QSR 12 software. From this method of data analysis, I identified three key themes relating to the specific objectives of the study. Objective 1: I found that undocumented migrant children, their parents, and professionals who deal with this group of children perceive equity to mean ‘the opportunity to thrive’ and ‘fairness’. In addition, under the first objective, it was found that equitable access to education is closely linked to being able to attend schools. While the undocumented migrant children described this in terms of the right to attend school and learn educational skills, the parent and professional participants explained it as a fundamental human right which should not be constrained by one’s legal status in South Africa. Along this line, it was also revealed that equitable access to education is important for various reasons including access to other services; capabilities, functioning, and the platform to achieve other human rights; and the avoidance of social ills. In all, equitable access to education strongly supports the human dignity of undocumented migrant children. Objective 2: Under objective two, I found that the impact of migration to South Africa, as it concerns equitable access to education for undocumented migrant children, was negative. Various problems faced by these children were identified. Firstly, the overarching problem was the lack of documentation which affects the opportunity for undocumented migrant children to equitably access school. This lack of documentation includes the non-issuance of proper birth certificates and so, the non-registration of the births of these children; and the fear of going to renew or apply for permits at the South African Department of Home Affairs (DHA) because of fear of police arrest. Secondly, the problem of continued discrimination, and xenophobic attacks and attitudes was also experienced by undocumented migrant children and their parents. These attacks affected their chance to access education. Thirdly, the lack of access to basic services presented itself as a difficulty which affects the opportunity to access schools, in an equitable way. Fourth, policy gaps, including ambiguities and non-implementation of recent court judgments, also served as problems which affect access to education for these children. Lastly, Covid-19 and the effects of the pandemic further compounded already existing difficulties undocumented migrant children face concerning their equitable access to education. Objective 3: The study revealed that strategies to address the problems experienced by undocumented migrant children include government-level, community-level, and individual-level strategies, and a combined, planned approach (integrated approach). Under government-level strategies, it was found that undocumented migrant children need to be issued birth certificates with identification or registration numbers and so, be appropriately registered at birth. Existing policies about education and immigration also need to be revised, and recent court judgments like the Phakamisa Judgment must be implemented. Also, stakeholders must be trained to ensure the proper implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of policies and recent judgments on equitable access to education for undocumented migrant children. As part of community-level strategies more assistance from NGOs, who bridge educational gaps for undocumented migrant children, would be useful in ensuring undocumented migrant children get educated. Individually, promoting social cohesion between migrants and non-migrants was highlighted. Also, parents of the identified children were encouraged to acquire documentation for their children. However, these different levels, on their own, are not sufficient to ensure equitable access to education. Thus, this study advocates an integrated approach to addressing the problems experienced by undocumented migrant children and their parents, regarding their children’s equitable access to education. Supporting this, the professionals interviewed recommend that all levels of society need to work together, in an organised way, to achieve access to education for the identified group of children. Also, the role of the agency and a bottom-up approach to ensuring access to education in an equitable way were highlighted through the integrated approach. Based on the findings, I argue that the various strategies identified require an integrated approach (for thinking and doing), which includes recognising the agency (individually and collectively) of undocumented migrant children. This approach draws on both top-down and bottom-up approaches with the significant roles of policy implementation, monitoring, and evaluation as well as agency (in both individual and collective forms) highlighted. Important is that this integrated approach (for thinking and doing) will be based on a thorough knowledge of the context. The findings thus serve as supporting empirical evidence for the overall thesis which is that to ensure equitable access to education is achieved, equity must be explained in detail, as a multi-faceted notion, and combined with the capability approach, which allows us to identify and interrogate specific structural limitations.
Conceptualisation of Inclusive Education: Impact on primary school principals and Foundation Phase teachers
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-09) Dewa, Nokuthula Ntombiyelizwe; Bekker, Tanya
This study investigated how the conceptualisations of Inclusive Education (IE) by primary school principals and Foundation Phase teachers impact teaching practices. The study places a high value on participants' IE conceptualisations because they have an impact on teachers' actions in their classrooms, which can either support or limit teachers' inclusive practices in granting epistemic access to learning to all learners. The study addressed the question of how primary school principals and Foundation Phase teachers conceptualise IE and considered the implications of these conceptualisations on their practice. Conceptualisations inform pedagogical practice, and I argue that a pedagogical shift that takes accountability for providing learning opportunities for all learners regardless of difference is necessary. A qualitative transformational research method was used to collect data, and thirteen Foundation Phase (FP) teachers and three school principals were conveniently and purposefully chosen from three Government primary schools, in Johannesburg South. Individual semi-structured interviews and focus group interviews were used to collect data, which was then thematically analysed using both inductive and deductive methods. With some extensions and adjustments, two theoretical frameworks were used for this study: the Inclusive Pedagogical Approach (IPA) and Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Systems Theory. Although Black-Hawkins (2017) argues for three required inclusive pedagogical shifts for teachers to teach inclusively, this study’s findings reveal that teachers in South Africa are currently at three different levels of development toward the required pedagogical shift, which is why IE implementation is hampered despite the numerous IE issues raised by previous studies. According to the findings of this study, there are teachers who have little to no pedagogical shift toward inclusive practices, teachers who have an emerging shift, and teachers who have an established shift. These stages of the pedagogical shift are supported by various conceptualisations that influence teachers' actions, leading to a variety of teaching strategies, some of which do not involve all learners in teaching and learning. The study recommended that the actual stage of shift be considered to support continued progress toward inclusive practice. Teachers who have made little or no pedagogical shift toward inclusivity should be made aware of IE policies and practices, while those who have made an emerging pedagogical shift should be encouraged and assisted in including everyone in their teaching and learning, and those who have made an established pedagogical shift should be developed further in maintaining and improving inclusive practices.
Dental occupations in transition: Boundary contestation and curricula for Oral hygienists in South Africa
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-09) Vergotine, Glynnis; Allais, Stephanie; Shalem, Yael
This study sought to understand how changes to the scope and autonomy of the oral hygiene occupation in South Africa have influenced relations among dental occupations. Over the past two decades, legislative advances in South Africa have sanctioned new possibilities for mid-level dental occupations such as oral hygienists, allowing them greater independence and additional procedures. The division of labour within the dental profession is that oral hygienists and dental therapists supplement the work that dentists do by offering some of the basic dental services. The changes to oral hygienists’ scope and independence have initiated boundary contestations around the work and training of dental professionals. The qualitative study involved analysing relevant regulatory documents and included semi-structured interviews with representatives of professional bodies and regulatory bodies as well as practitioners and lecturers representing the three dental occupations, and curriculum analyses. A key empirical finding is that the regulatory changes have not been implemented and this is so not only because of contestations by dentists. The study highlights boundary contestations between dentists and oral hygienists. These contestations are about specific procedures in the expanded scope of practice and the opportunity for hygienists to practice independently. The study found that boundaries have been established from outside of the oral hygiene occupation by dentists, to control their work and training. Dentists’ power is exhibited in the labour market and the education and training arena and provides justifications for why the official legislative changes in scope are not being implemented. Despite this, hygienists also place boundaries on themselves, so within the occupation, there are various ways in which hygienists limit their advancement. The hygienists are hesitant to perform certain procedures and have not opened independent practices. This suggests that pressure to narrow the scope and autonomy may not only come from outside of occupations but also from the inside of an occupation. The thesis shows a web of power relations between occupations and provides insights into a dominant occupation controlling the jurisdiction of subordinate occupations; but more unusually, it reveals the dynamics within the mid-level occupation that stifle its advancement.
Exploring a culture of reading: A case study in an under-resourced South African primary school
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-09) Biesman-Simons, Claire; Dixon, Kerryn
South Africa faces an undeniable literacy crisis. Since 2000, there have been increasing calls for the creation of a culture of reading to address this crisis. This has been on the part of the South African government, academia and civil society. However, this has occurred without clear consensus on the term’s meaning and with little explanation of how a poorly-defined concept with its origins in the Global North would achieve this outcome. How this term has achieved such national prominence and the ways it affects school practices motivated this research. The first phase of the study investigated how the term “culture of reading” functions in national government education discourse, and its impact on the country’s reading landscape. This was followed by an ethnographic-style case study exploring the factors that shaped a culture of reading at a no-fee primary school, situated on the Cape Flats in Cape Town. Drawing on a review of more than 400 South African, African and global texts that reference “culture of reading”, this study provides a definition of a culture of reading that is appropriate for the African context, and central to the analysis of this study. To investigate how the term “culture of reading” functions in government discourse, I performed a textual analysis of a corpus of 58 publicly available texts produced by the South African government from 2000 to 2019. The analysis reveals an uncritical faith in a culture of reading as fundamental to improved reading levels despite there being no clarity on the term’s meaning or evidence of tangible outcomes in learners’ reading achievement. Bourdieu’s notion of doxa is drawn on to demonstrate how the government’s consistent return to an ill-defined Global Northern ideal is indicative of a misunderstanding of what reading is and can achieve, and of a need to further grapple with the complexities of South Africa’s reading landscape. Approaching reading from a socio-cultural perspective, the ethnographic-style case study investigates how habitus, capital and field (Bourdieu, 1990b) interact to shape school reading practices, and how the resulting culture of reading is reflected in one school’s reading practices. The case study shows the contextual realities and conditions in the field that affect the promotion of a culture of reading. Data was generated from interviews with 51 participants, classroom and schoolwide observations, photo elicitation, and document reviews which were subjected to a thematic analysis. Findings indicate that despite the evident value that staff and most learners attribute to reading and their positive dispositions towards reading (i.e. their habitus), the school’s culture of reading is undermined by external and internal forces. This is most notably with regard to inappropriate curriculum demands, a multilingual learner body restricted to learning in English, the impact of a community fraught with violence, as well as a dysfunctional culture of teaching and learning that has resulted in a divided staff body and poor discipline. Bourdieu’s attention to how no field exists in isolation is demonstrated by educators’ battles to promote reading in an education field that does not account sufficiently for social, cultural and economic contextual realities. Data generated in the Grade 5 classroom evidenced that agentive educators, equipped with the necessary cultural capital, can construct a sub-field that supports a culture of reading in spite of these constraints. However, this is precarious, and findings from the Grade 1 classroom demonstrated how overlapping fields and a dysfunctional culture of teaching and learning constrained an experienced educator, impacting on her wellbeing. The study highlights that there are many ways in which schools and educators can navigate and overcome institutional constraints that threaten South African learners’ reading development. The research highlights the need for closer alignment between government’s expectations of schools and their contextual realities, with educators’ professional and emotional wellbeing needing to be prioritised. Recommendations for research include further investigation into learners’ home and community language and literacy practices and how these practices can be built on at school.
Exploring Grade 10 physical science teachers’ pedagogical approaches to the Electricity topic in selected Vryheid rural schools, KwaZulu-Natal Province
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-10) Zulu, Sphamandla Innocent; Nkambule, Thabisile
In a context often characterised by lack of resources, with its peoples’ agencies often ignored, how do teachers teach difficult yet practical science topics in rural classrooms? This question was asked in a context where teaching is described as a complex task. Without overlooking teachers‘ individual agency, teaching science in rural schools is an arduous undertaking. Science teachers require sufficient and appropriate content knowledge and pedagogical knowledge for enhanced science teaching and learning experiences. Understanding teachers‘ pedagogical knowledge was the interest of this study. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore teachers‘ pedagogical approaches during the Electricity lessons in Grade 10 rural classrooms and examine teachers‘ pedagogical reasoning for the observed teaching approaches. The paucity of physical science education research in rural schools has not been able to offer an account of teachers‘ pedagogical approaches and what influences their pedagogical practices within rural classrooms. Hence, the current study as introductory for other science education researchers in researching physical science teaching and learning in rural schools. The present study used Mavhunga‘s (2012) topic specific pedagogical content knowledge (tsPCK) as a theoretical framework focusing on all five components of the theory. To supplement tsPCK, Scott et al.‘s. (2011) pedagogical link-making (PLM) was also used in identifying and discussing the nuances of teachers‘ pedagogical approaches during electricity lessons. I used a collective case study design and adopted a qualitative research approach and classroom observations, video-stimulated recall interviews (VSRI‘s), and semi-structured interviews as methods of data generation. The case study focused on three teachers from Vryheid rural schools in KwaZulu-Natal Province of South Africa, to investigate their classroom practices, particularly, pedagogical approaches to Electricity topic and factors that shape their teaching of the topic. The three teachers were purposefully and conveniently selected. To guide this case study investigation, the main research question of the study was: How do Grade 10 rural physical science teachers teach the Electricity topic? The findings of this study revealed that the teaching of Electricity topic requires multiple representations at symbolic, macro, and sub-microscopic levels; and that explicit links of these representations are vital for science knowledge building. Teachers used mostly symbolic level, with some teachers limitedly representing the Electricity topic macroscopically through practical work (hands-on practical work and demonstrations). Important also was the contextualized level of representations including analogies that teachers used to teach the topic. Moreover, teachers constantly worked with learners‘ prior knowledge in their facilitation methods while also considering curricular sequencing and content skills linkage made within and across the lessons. Also, some observed electricity concepts or processes proved to be difficult for teachers to teach, while, I acknowledge the various conceptual teaching approaches that teachers used to ensure deep understanding of the topic of Electricity including those concepts that seemed difficult to teach. Other observable teachers‘ approaches included the dominance of question and answer teaching approach and teacher-centered approach, with some subject-matter centered approach and limited learner-centered approach. All three teachers taught the same topic differently. During VSRI and semi-structured interviews, teachers commented on their teaching for assessment purposes. Teachers‘ pedagogical approaches were influenced by various factors including teachers‘ teaching and learning experiences, learners‘ prior knowledge, teaching for compliance, teaching for assessment (examination), availability and appropriate use of science laboratory apparatus for Electricity topic. Given the findings of this study, I recommend among other things, research intervention intending to equip rural teachers with pedagogical skills for teaching physical science topics including Electricity topic.
Investigating the Development of Experiential Skills in Grade 11 Life Sciences
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-09) McPherson-Geyser, Genevieve; Kavai, Portia
The aim of this study is to investigate the development of experiential skills in Grade 11 Life Sciences learners, and the influence of experiential skills on learner proficiency. The study seeks to gain insight into experiential skills development as a teaching approach, while aligning assessments with the needed cognitive levels for improved proficiency. South Africa’s educational system uses the Curriculum Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) to guide teachers in developing and assessing learners’ Life Sciences proficiency, which tests the extent to which skills and knowledge are applied successfully in assessments. Experiential skills involve a cyclic process, the stages of which are necessary to the achievement of a desired performance objective (Lalwani, 2020). However, McPherson-Geyser et al. (2020) argue that teachers’ limited knowledge of experiential skills is challenged when they are faced with the four modes of experiential skills development, namely: concrete experiences, reflective observations, abstract conceptualisation, and active experimentation (Kolb & Kolb, 2005). When developing experiential skills in the Life Sciences classroom, the correct tool as a guiding source is needed, and this study uses lesson plans as that tool. Competent lesson planning is vital for effective teaching and can be used to best facilitate the development of experiential skills among learners across each topic covered in the classroom (Daft & Marcic, 2014). The study reported an interconnection between the interpretivist and positivist paradigm when applied in a mixed method study containing both qualitative and quantitative approaches. Qualitative descriptive case studies were used to analyse experiential skills development lessons, which were created using the conceptual framework. Concurrently, quantitative pre, during, and post-testing—together with questionnaires completed by 66 learners—explored the extent to which the experiential skills developed influenced learner proficiency. Findings from both the quantitative and the qualitative approaches were triangulated to give an in-depth understanding of the study. The qualitative data proved that effective lesson planning by the teacher bears a significant influence on learner experiential skills development. Conversely, it can be hypothesised that the ineffective use of lesson planning can negatively influence learner experiential skills development. Therefore, understanding what aspects are needed in designing an effective experiential skills lesson shows itself to be of great importance in the process. The quantitative data findings clearly indicate that there were significant differences between the means of the pre-test and the during-test, as well as the pre-test and post-test, across the entire group of 66 learners. A significant difference was found between the answers and explanations learners gave in the pre-test, as compared to their answers and explanations in the during and post-tests, displaying different levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy, a classification system used to distinguish levels of cognition. The participating learners also indicated that there was a significant improvement in their experiential skills, which in turn had a positive influence on their proficiency in assessments. I perceived that moving towards a more student-centred classroom assignment was most effective when it included the development of all four modes of experiential learning. Learners identified that the lessons, and the sequence in which they were taught, allowed for the development of a variety of experiential skills. In the pre-test, results showed that if learners merely complete assessments for the sake of complying with the Department of Education’s requirement, without developing the related experiential skills, there is no long-term benefit for upcoming assessments as the skill will soon be forgotten or lost. The study showed that these experiential skills can be acquired through experiential skill lesson planning. I then developed a tool to assist teachers when planning for experiential skill lessons using the given conceptual framework. If the tool is implemented and used effectively to develop experiential skills, teachers may fulfil more than the requirements in the Curriculum Assessment Policy Statement of the Department of Education. This study recommends research into the use of this tool in the development of experiential skills, measuring the tool’s effectiveness both in classrooms and during assessments, and identifying any attributes and shortcomings which would influence overall learner proficiency.
Investigating the Emotional Dimension of Subject Advisers’ Work with Teachers
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-08) Nwachukwu, Chioma; Steinberg, Carola
This doctoral thesis investigates the emotional dimension of subject advisers’ work with teachers. The emotional aspect of subject advisers’ work is relatively under-researched. So, this study aims to find out how subject advisers in two differently performing Gauteng districts think and feel about their work with teachers. A conceptual framework was developed using Nussbaum’s (2003) understanding that emotions are always directed at an “object”, Turner’s (2014) understandings that emotions are a valued resource and are unequally distributed, and Frijda’s (1986) understanding that emotions are relevance signalling mechanisms. The conceptual framework also draws on Hochschild (1979; 1983), Zembylas (2002; 2006) and Steinberg (2008; 2014) to operationalize the concepts of emotional rules and emotional labour. The conceptual framework comprises of three concepts: emotions, emotional rules and emotional labour, utilized as a conceptual and analytical lens for analysing subject advisers’ work. The conceptual framework opens opportunities for further research into subject advisers’ emotions. Using a basic interpretive qualitative approach, the study focuses on nine subject advisers’ experiences of their work with teachers. Individual interviews and document reviews provided most of the data for this study. Key findings that arise from this study are that the subject advisers are frustrated at the inability to mediate their monitoring and support roles, which generates tensions that complicate the interaction between subject advisers and teachers. Additionally, the disempowering emotions of subject advisers is caused by lack of influence. Even so, the subject adviser-teacher relationship is complicated by competing power dynamics. However, subject advisers are committed to their jobs despite the challenges they encounter. Their emotional labour shows that subject advisers struggle to escape the negative impressions teachers have about them, while aiming to better support teachers. Their emotional rules show how they strive to fulfil their personal moral mandate of improving the education system. The key insight gained is that subject advisers’ relationship with teachers can be improved, if both teachers and subject advisers commit themselves to an open trusting relationship through proper teacher support. Real cooperation between teachers and subject advisers is possible if the work subject advisers do with teachers is premised on knowledge sharing, rather than on monitoring for compliance.
Investigation of complex multilingual practices of learners and teachers in a Johannesburg school
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-09) Matariro, Mariyeni; Makalela, Leketi
This thesis investigates the experiences and affordances of using more than two languages for literacy development for Grade 8 learners in a Johannesburg multilingual school. It investigates how languages are used in the teaching and learning of multilingual senior phase learners and what this affords them in the development of literacy in selected subjects. Underpinned by the sociolinguistic view of literacy the study adopted translanguaging and Ubuntu translanguaging as both conceptual and theoretical frameworks. A Johannesburg high school was purposefully chosen as the research site. Adopting an ethnographic case study design a single class was purposefully chosen to participate in this study. Over a period of 16 weeks data was collected in the form of observations, semi structured interviews, metacognitive reflections, focus group discussions and mediated translanguaging. Three teachers who taught this class, Natural Sciences, English, and Social Sciences also took part in this study. Data was collected using both quantitative and qualitative methods. The collected data was analysed using both quantitative and qualitative approaches. In analyzing the collected data, the thesis demonstrated a huge mismatch between the learner’s language practices and the ways they are expected to use language in the school setting. The hegemony of the English language is overpowering even though the context is a rich multilingual space among both the teachers and the learners. This was evident in classroom language use, school notices, classroom display charts and the absence of any other language except English and very little Afrikaans within the school. Besides this, teacher practices indicated a huge monolingual bias which favors English even though both learners and teachers are fluent in the same languages that are not languages of the school. The study also demystifies the myth that learners do not want to be associated or to learn in their own languages. This cohort of learners who participated in this study demanded the use of their languages within the school for teaching and learning. However, for as much as the learners would want their languages included, they are not familiar with the orthography of the languages and as a result they cannot read or write in those languages. The study also found that translanguaging and UT are a good starting point for teaching learners with complex linguistic profiles. However, besides the work on UT there is very little translanguaging work that is informed by research carried out in Africa. Consequently, most translanguaging work refers to the use of two languages, a Western view that does not hold in this context. The study gravitates from this weak view of translanguaging and calls for further research for translanguaging work, which delves deeper into the realities of African contexts to understand and appreciate the pervasiveness of multilingualism in this context and leverage on it as a resource for teaching and learning.
Professional learning communities for inclusive pedagogy: what teacher talk in professional communities reveals about teacher professional identity and agency
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023) Kimani, Anne Wacango Muguro
In-service teacher learning for inclusive pedagogy seeks to address the perceived lack of capacity for teaching in inclusive classrooms in South Africa. Research suggests that teachers feel underprepared for this task, and that the prevalent delivery models for this learning, workshops, and short courses, have done little to enable sustained inclusive practices. This study took a new direction, arguing that simply acquiring knowledge and skills for inclusive teaching misses the need to focus on teacher professional identity and agency. The professional and institutional change required for teachers to be pedagogically responsive to a range of learners, demands that professional learning address teachers’ immediate realities, be a long term, school-based professional learning programme. A three-year study in a full-service school in Johannesburg, South Africa, investigated teacher talk within professional learning communities (PLCs). PLCs are situated in practice and can promote and sustain teachers’ learning over an extended period. Wenger’s (1998) theory of learning as social practice and Sfard and Prusak’s (2005) theory of identity as narrative provided analytical insights into identity and agency in the PLCs. The subject focus of the PLCs was inclusive pedagogy, and the analysis was based on the Inclusive Pedagogical Approach in Action (IPAA) (Florian & Spratt, 2013). Using a Critical interpretivism perspective, teacher talk in the PLCs and individual teacher interviews were analysed. Analysis of teacher talk in relation to the IPAA revealed two themes of talk: Inclusive Talk and Difference Talk. “Difference Talk” showed that the enactment of inclusion cannot be rigidly defined and demarcated in advance in every situation or in every instance or be abstracted from time and place. A nuanced interpretation of difference may help researchers avoid the binary distinctions about inclusive education and inclusive pedagogy and deficit interpretations about teachers’ practices. The findings show that even though teachers talked about enacting inclusive pedagogy they did not consider themselves inclusive educators. They implied that since they had not had ‘special education training’ they could not consider themselves as inclusive educators despite saying that they had taught in an inclusive manner. Participation in the PLCs enabled teachers to negotiate meaning and create a coherent community. A coherent community allowed teachers to challenge their perspectives about teaching inclusively and to share their experiences. This study contributes a conceptual understanding of the interplay between teachers’ professional identity and the sociocultural contexts of PLCs, and how teacher talk can mediate teacher learning for inclusive pedagogy. The findings could be of interest to teacher educators in designing professional learning communities for inclusive pedagogy
Professional learning communities for inclusive pedagogy: What teacher talk in professional communities reveals about teacher professional identity and agency
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-09) Kimani, Wacango Muguro; Brodie, Karin; Walton, Elizabeth
In-service teacher learning for inclusive pedagogy seeks to address the perceived lack of capacity for teaching in inclusive classrooms in South Africa. Research suggests that teachers feel underprepared for this task, and that the prevalent delivery models for this learning, workshops, and short courses, have done little to enable sustained inclusive practices. This study took a new direction, arguing that simply acquiring knowledge and skills for inclusive teaching misses the need to focus on teacher professional identity and agency. The professional and institutional change required for teachers to be pedagogically responsive to a range of learners, demands that professional learning address teachers’ immediate realities, be a long-term, school-based professional learning programme. A three-year study in a full-service school in Johannesburg, South Africa, investigated teacher talk within professional learning communities (PLCs). PLCs are situated in practice and can promote and sustain teachers’ learning over an extended period. Wenger’s (1998) theory of learning as social practice and Sfard and Prusak’s (2005) theory of identity as narrative provided analytical insights into identity and agency in the PLCs. The subject focus of the PLCs was inclusive pedagogy, and the analysis was based on the Inclusive Pedagogical Approach in Action (IPAA) (Florian & Spratt, 2013). Using a Critical interpretivism perspective, teacher talk in the PLCs and individual teacher interviews were analysed. Analysis of teacher talk in relation to the IPAA revealed two themes of talk: Inclusive Talk and Difference Talk. “Difference Talk” showed that the enactment of inclusion cannot be rigidly defined and demarcated in advance in every situation or in every instance or be abstracted from time and place. A nuanced interpretation of difference may help researchers avoid the binary distinctions about inclusive education and inclusive pedagogy and deficit interpretations about teachers’ practices. The findings show that even though teachers talked about enacting inclusive pedagogy they did not consider themselves inclusive educators. They implied that since they had not had ‘special education training’ they could not consider themselves as inclusive educators despite saying that they had taught in an inclusive manner. Participation in the PLCs enabled teachers to negotiate meaning and create a coherent community. A coherent community allowed teachers to challenge their perspectives about teaching inclusively and to share their experiences. This study contributes a conceptual understanding of the interplay between teachers’ professional identity and the sociocultural contexts of PLCs, and how teacher talk can mediate teacher learning for inclusive pedagogy. The findings could be of interest to teacher educators in designing professional learning communities for inclusive pedagogy.
Secondary school mathematics teachers' identity and mathematical discourse in instruction
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-08) Masondo, Wanda; Carrim, Nazir; Pournara, Craig
More often than not, a disjuncture tends to exist between teaching practices that are encouraged during professional development (PD) interventions and what in-service teachers actually do when teaching mathematics. The study reported in this thesis uses the notion of teacher identity to examine in-service teachers’ experiences of learning and their new ways of teaching mathematics after they had participated in a PD intervention called the Transition Maths 1 (TM1) course. The theoretical framework for the study draws on Wenger’s (1998) social theory of learning as a foundational framework, and on Sfard and Prusak’s (2005) narrative identity and Darragh’s (2016) performative identity frameworks to analyse teachers’ mathematics teaching identity. The integration of Wenger’s (1998) social theory of learning, Darragh’s (2016) performative identity and Sfard and Prusak’s (2005) narrative identity frameworks is a key contribution of this study to research teacher identity in the field of mathematics education. The inclusion of Darragh’s (2016) performative identity framework harnessed Wenger’s (1998) social theory of learning and Sfard and Prusak’s (2005) narrative identity frameworks. Drawing on Wenger’s (1998) to analyse teachers’ identities in relation to what they actually do when teaching mathematics in the classroom was going to be limited for the study. Thus, the study has emphasised the learning and teaching of linear equations (a specific domain of mathematics), whilst researchers in mathematics education who draw from social theories and identity often render mathematics invisible. The findings of the study revealed that the teachers shared a positive sense of identity towards learning and teaching mathematics. The teachers’ positive sense of identity emerged from being conscious of achieving lesson goals through exemplification and explanatory communication. However, the teachers were not paying much attention to how they invite learners to participate in their lessons. The characterisation of the teachers in how they achieve lesson goals from their mathematical discourse in instruction became their actual teaching identity. The teachers’ designated teaching identity highlighted aspects where there was a “mismatch” between their mathematical discourse in instruction and what was promoted in the TM1 course. Nonetheless, the gap between the teachers’ actual and designated teaching identities remained relatively narrow when considering that there were fewer aspects where teachers were not competent in their mathematical discourse in instruction. The study employs an explanatory mixed methods research design. The use of the explanatory mixed methods research design and its elaboration in this study is another key contribution to researching teacher identity. In the quantitative processes, 45 teachers who participated in the TM1 course completed a closed-ended questionnaire. The questionnaire was analysed using Exploratory Factor Analysis to explore teachers’ shared experiences of participating in the TM1 course, which demonstrated that the inclusion of the quantitative processes can be valuable to research teacher identity. In the qualitative processes, four teachers were selected for observations when teaching learners mathematics and for individual interviews to talk about their learning and teaching of the subject. The observations were analysed using Mathematics Discourse in Instruction framework to understand the teachers’ teaching practices. The interviews were analysed using narrative analysis to confirm and expand on the teachers’ experiences of learning and teaching mathematics.
The Development and Validation of a Theoretical Construct Describing Content Knowledge for Teaching Science: A Case Study with Organic Chemistry
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-08) Ndlovu, Bongani Prince; Mavhunga, Elizabeth
The distinction between academic disciplines and school subjects has not found enough attention in teacher education research. Thus, a question about the nature of content knowledge suitable for pre-service teacher education and as a base for PCK development in science was raised. The purpose of this study was to conceptualize and validate a theoretical construct that describes a version of content knowledge appropriate for training secondary school science teachers. This construct was termed Teacher-related Science Content Knowledge (TerSCK). The study followed the traditional two-step process of developing a theoretical construct. The first phase entailed the conceptualization of the envisaged theoretical construct through a systematic literature review. This was followed by the second phase which empirically proved the validity of the conceptualization as a theoretical construct TerSCK. The validation of the conceptualization was located in the methodology class of the 3rd year pre-service science teachers (PSTs), who majored in physical sciences. As such, the study employed a mixed-method research design with a whole class sample of 35 PSTs. The PSTs were exposed to a TerSCK-based intervention to explore various shifts in the quality of their content knowledge for teaching Organic Chemistry. The findings from the systematic review presented TerSCK as a unique construct located between the academic discipline content and the school science content knowledge. The construct is described through three dimensions that describe the relationship between academic discipline and school subjects. These relational dimensions are the “logical, epistemological and social dimensions”. Translating the relational dimensions into the curriculum through Schwab’s three faces yielded five curriculum elements of TerSCK. These are (i) Fundamentals of the discipline on the topic, (ii) Interconnections between the concepts that make up the fundamental concepts, (iii) Tensions emerging from the process of filtering the discipline fundamentals into the school curriculum scope, (iv) Scientific and other modes of inquiry from other disciplines, and (v) Cultivating social agency. Findings emerging from the empirical study presented the TerSCK construct as valid based on the acceptable calculated fit statistics values at 0.5 to 1.5 and -2.0 to +2.0 for MNSQ and ZSTD, respectively. The empirical findings further indicated that participant PSTs experienced a significant improvement in the quality of TerSCK after the intervention. Implications for initial teacher education have been drawn and the recommendations include large-scale research on the nature of TerSCK in organic chemistry and other chemistry curriculum topics.
The Impact of Learning Mathematical Vocabulary of Functions using the Frayer Model on Conceptual Understanding and Mathematical Performance of Grade 11 Learners
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-09) Madzore, Edwin; Mofolo-Mbokane, Batseba
This study investigated the impact of integrating the learning of mathematical vocabulary and the learning of mathematical content by Grade 11 learners in secondary schools in Gauteng province, South Africa. The main research question of the study is: what affordances does the integration of focused vocabulary and mathematical content learning provide for conceptual understanding and performance in mathematics? A cohort of Grade 11 learners (n=157) took part in this quasi-experimental study with control (n=83) and experimental (n=74). The experimental group was exposed to explicit learning of mathematical vocabulary using the Frayer model, while the control group used any other method preferred by their teachers. During the posttest, learners from the experimental group outperformed their counterparts in associating mathematical vocabulary with a mathematical graph. The study showed that the Frayer model is an effective strategy for learning mathematical vocabulary. When learners learnt mathematical vocabulary using the Frayer model, they mastered more vocabulary than their peers in the control group and this translated into improved conceptual understanding and performance in mathematics. There is a positive moderate correlation (r = 0.61) between the quantity of correct mathematical vocabulary that learners know and the marks those learners obtain in a mathematics test. The study further showed that it is possible to adopt Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) in South African Schools.
Towards a Decolonized and Africanized School History Curriculum in post apartheid South Africa
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-10) Maluleka, Paul; Ramoupi, Neo Lekgotla; Mathebula, Thokozani
This study explores and discusses ways in which the School History Curriculum (SHC) in South Africa was designed by colonialists to depict their history favourably and how this continues to be the case after independence. The study also investigates ways in which the SHC could be decolonized and Africanized, especially where knowledge building is a concern. This is done both conceptually and empirically. Conceptually, a critical decolonial conceptual framework strengthened with Bernstein’s Code Theory and Pedagogic Device, Maton’s Epistemic-Pedagogic Device, and Legitimation Code Theory’s Autonomy dimension were employed. Firstly, to highlight how the legacy of colonialism, apartheid, coloniality, and their monolithic epistemic nature, and to some extent, their alienating pedagogic and assessment practices, continue to underpin the SHC in post-apartheid South Africa. Secondly, to explore conceptual ways in which decoloniality could be applied in curriculum knowledge building and its structures in cumulative and principled ways. This was done to counter much of the knowledge blindness that characterize sociology of education including many of the calls for decolonization and Africanization. In turn, this was meant to reposition scholarship on decolonization and Africanization to also be vested in a sociological approach to knowledge and curriculum that is vested in investigating the relations within knowledge and curriculum and their intrinsic structures. A qualitative research approach was adopted, and semi-structured interviews were used as methods of generating empirical data, with descriptive and interpretive elements of data analysis used to engage the data. Empirically, four in-service history educators from Gauteng and Limpopo Provinces were purposefully and conveniently selected. The purpose of interviewing in-service history educators was to gain insights into how they thought of the current SHC. Whether, according to them, calls to decolonize and Africanize the SHC were imperative and justified, and how they could be carried out. Both the conceptual and empirical findings reveal that there is a need to decolonize and Africanize SHC in post-apartheid South Africa given that its knowledge base is still characterized by the legacy of colonialism, apartheid, and coloniality. To achieve this, both the conceptual and empirical findings pointed out the need to reimagine and construct epistemologies, ontologies and methodologies that not only move beyond universal explanations of the world; but embrace trans-modernist and pluriversal explanations of the world. These are informed and shaped by time and the place, perspective, orientation, and situatedness of their authors. Secondly, the findings of the study revealed how historical knowledge is both dialectically and intersectionally produced, recontextualized and reproduced in the three fields of practice. Interrogating critically who are the knowers that are legitimated and de-legitimated in all these processes, can enable us to better understand the colonizing gaze that continues to characterize the SHC. It can also allow us to better understand how these fields of practice can also be seen as spaces where de-legitimated knowledge and knowers are recentred and where decolonization and Africanization can happen. This would see the continued marginalization of indigenous knowledge systems, traditions, and cultural practices in the SHC at the altar of Eurocentric methods being disrupted. Thirdly, the findings also pointed out that presently CAPS SHC does not have a settled African philosophy (of education): it is torn between two worlds, i.e., the universal and the particular. In a strict education for Africanization sense, the SHC in post-apartheid South African schools should be perceived first and foremost as a professional philosophical project that African philosophers in higher education devote their time and energy to. Second, a sage project that oMakhulu’s as part of the broader school communities help in-service history educators and their learners through oral history and research projects to address problems and deal with issues facing locals. Last, but not least, it should be perceived as a hermeneutic project that brings philosophy down from the sky, i.e., helps both in-service educators and their learners to make practical sense of deep philosophical issues in post-apartheid South African schools.
University of Mpumalanga Students' Use of Moodle in Promoting Mathematics Self-Directed Learning
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-08) Makhubele, Yeyisani Evans; Makonye, Judah Paul
Research indicates that most students admitted at universities are underprepared in terms of self-directed learning. There is evidence that suggests that students who are not self-directed learners face a greater risk of failure when placed in the rich but complex environment of online learning. This mixed-method study investigates the students’ experiences on Moodle in promoting mathematics self-directed learning (SDL). This study utilises an explanatory sequential mixed method design and a pragmatic paradigm for data collection. The study used four data sources, namely, the pre-evaluation questionnaires (150 participants), the post evaluation questionnaires (150 participants), the action logs and semi-structured interviews with six (N = 6) participants who were randomly selected. Two students were selected from one standard deviation of the mean, two from one standard deviation above the mean, and two from one standard deviation below the mean. This selection provided a varied reflection of the students’ experiences than concentrating solely on the high or low end. The study sought to answer the following research question: What relationship exists between Moodle Learning Management system and students’ self-directed learning? And how do students use Moodle Learning Management system for self-directed learning? These research questions were underpinned by a specific set of research objectives. These research objectives were aimed at identifying the relationship that exists between Moodle Learning management system and students’ self-directed learning, and also evaluating the readiness level of self-directed learning among first year students. This study utilises the Planned E-learning Interactions Framework. The quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics, and the qualitative data were analysed using thematic analysis. The pre-evaluation questionnaire was used to measure the higher or lower readiness for students’ SDL. 150 students completed this pre-evaluation questionnaire. The overall data analysis of the pre-evaluation questionnaire shows that the total mean for all the questions is 2.87, and the standard deviation is 0.88. The relative standard deviation (RSD) is therefore 2.9 ± 30.7%. This shows that the data is tightly clustered around the mean which is 2.9. The data is spread around the undecided score which is three. The main findings from the pre-evaluation questionnaire indicate that the majority of first year students lacked the technological skills needed to manoeuvre the Moodle platform. Their self-directed learning skills were low, and they display a low positive attitude towards Moodle learning. A post-evaluation questionnaire was then administered to measure the higher or lower readiness for students’ SDL after Moodle learning intervention strategies were implemented. 150 students completed this post-evaluation questionnaire. used. In terms of the post evaluation questionnaire, the overall data analysis shows that the total mean for all the questions is 4.43, and the standard deviation is 0.68. The relative standard deviation (RSD) is 4.3 ± 15.3%. This shows that the data is tightly clustered around the mean which is 4.3. The 15.3% shows more data is spread around four relative standard deviation which confirms that the participants’ choices are closer to the mean, which is itself closer to the undecided score. The data shows that students have high self-management skills, high desire for mathematics learning and display high self-concept skills in their learning. Students therefore display high positive attitude towards Moodle teaching and learning. The qualitative findings indicate that students have the capacity to take ownership of their learning in ways exemplified by self-directed learners. This study recommends that universities should invest a significant amount of energy and resources in orientation programs designed to assist first-year students in developing a sense of self as students and a sense of affiliation with their institution and course. With increasing use of information and communication technologies in education, students entering university need a basic level of computer proficiency to be able to access course material and complete assignments. Computer basic skills assist and encourage students to be self-directed, autonomous learners.

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