School of Education

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    Academic mobility and the experiences of foreign staff at South African higher education institutions
    (Stellenbosch University, 2019) Sehoole, C.; Adeyemo, K.S.; Ojo, E.
    This article analyses the patterns of international academic mobility in higher education with particular focus on academic staff. Using the ‘pull and push factors’ as a conceptual framework, it argues that the patterns of international academic staff mobility follow the pattern of international cross-border migrants. These are driven mainly by the pull factors which include quest for better opportunities in life including education. The article uses three sources of data namely documentary analysis, statistical data from the Department of Education’s Higher Education Management Information System (HEMIS), and data from questionnaires that were distributed to international academic staff at the three South African universities; namely, the University of Pretoria, University of South Africa, and University of the Witwatersrand.  For the international academic staff working in South Africa, it was demonstrated that they have both positive and negative experiences. The negative experiences seem to be related to the major nation building project to overcome racism and xenophobia. The principles of non-racialism and, non-discrimination need to be promoted in order to build an inclusive and socially coherent society
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    Academic support programmes
    (Johannesburg College of Education, 1989-12) Hunter, Peter; Starfield, Sue
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    The access paradox.
    (2004) Janks, Hilary
    Because English is a dominant world language, access to English provides students with ‘linguistic capital’. Bourdieu’s theory of the linguistic market (1991) has important consequences for the teaching of a powerful language such as English. English teachers, who take issues of language, power and identity seriously, confront the following irresolvable contradiction. If you provide more people with access to the dominant variety of the dominant language, you contribute to perpetuating and increasing its dominance. If, on the other hand, you deny students access, you perpetuate their marginalisation in a society that continues to recognise this language as a mark of distinction. You also deny them access to the extensive resources available in that language; resources which have developed as a consequence of the language's dominance. This contradiction is what Lodge (1997) calls the ‘access paradox’. This paper explores ways of working inside the contradiction by examining language in education policy in South Africa as well as classroom materials and classroom practices. It shows the importance of counterbalancing access with an understanding of linguistic hegemony, diversity as a productive resource, and the way in which ‘design’ can be enriched by linguistic and cultural hybridity.
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    "Adaptation of the Marginal Budgeting for Bottlenecks model for planning, costing and budgeting in the educational sector".
    (2015-05-14) Duehring, Momo E.
    Already in its Education Strategy, adopted by the Executive Board in 2007, UNICEF fully obligates to the international commitment to universal education and defines its contribution to national efforts to fulfil children’s right to education. In September 2010, UNICEF further published a special report on a study showing that an equity-focused approach to child survival and development is the most practical and cost-effective way of meeting the health MDGs for children. For the modelling process of the research a simulation was run employing the Marginal Budgeting for Bottlenecks (MBB) model, jointly developed by the World Bank and UNICEF. This model has been widely used in international public health research to design and test development strategies. In its consistency with the human-right based approach, the MBB model addresses bottlenecks in the capacity of duty-bearers to fulfil human-rights as well as barriers of the capacity of right-holders to claim their rights. Using the MBB model, policymakers and researchers can simulate varying configurations of service delivery modes to expand access of coverage and measures to encourage usage. For each strategy, the model generates the predicted impact on intervention coverage and outcomes, overall cost and cost-effectiveness. UNICEF’s global refocus on equity and the most disadvantaged children makes it necessary to introduce improved planning and monitoring instruments. In this context, the MBB model is used as a budgeting and simulation tool for UNICEF interventions in health and nutrition. UNICEF aims to use harmonized tools across different sectors to reduce transaction costs and to improve comparison and sharing of lessons learned between the different sectors. However, it is also important to adapt and develop instruments based on the diverse needs of different sectors to ensure best results. Therefore, the main purpose of this research is to find an answer to following question: Can, and if so, how can the Marginal Budgeting for Bottlenecks model, developed for the health sector, be adapted for planning, costing and budgeting allocations in the education sector? An adapted Marginal Budgeting for Bottleneck model for education could be applied for a comprehensive sector analysis, comparing intervention alternatives and setting policy goals and strategies. It could further be used to monitor the implementation of major sector reforms with regard to the comparison of potential versus actual impact of interventions on learning achievements. Applying two production functions, the MBB model applies the basic principle of Cost-Effectiveness Analysis, comparing the costs of education interventions with the corresponding expected impact on increased service coverage. However, detailed inputs, outputs, outcomes and impacts and the corresponding correlations would need to be defined for an Service Production Function (inputoutput) and an Education Production Function (output-outcome/impact). Further, a selection of globally proved remedial actions to overcome sector bottlenecks need to be specified. Education interventions largely depend on the country context and different countries and regions apply different remedial actions. Since the relationship of input and impact is not as linear as the illness-treatment relationship in health, international research and comparison of effective interventions would need to be conducted. The MBB model is applying service coverage determinants of both, supply and demand side. Therefore the approach could be a helpful instrument in the context of the Human Rights-based Approach as used within programming of the United Nations and UNICEF. However, applying further analysis on humanitarian aspects of programming always depends on the availability of disaggregated information. Based on the outline of the Service Coverage Concept and the Marginal Budgeting for Bottlenecks model and the conceptual adaptation of the MBB model for its use in education, following suggestions can be made for the Service Delivery Modes and Service Coverage Determinants: Overall, an MBB model in education could have added value for education planning, budgeting and impact simulation. However, it has to be considered that applying the model requires extensive data input for all six Service Coverage Determinants for each of the five Service Deliver Modes. Although, the MBB model could be adjusted to only cover a certain sub-sector within Quality Education for All. Five Service Delivery Modes Ten Sub-Packages 1. Pre-School Education 1.1 Public Early Childhood Education 1.2 Private Early Childhood Education 2. Formal Basic Education 2.1 Public Formal Basic Education 2.2 Private Basic Education 3. Non-Formal Basic Education 3.1 Public Non-Formal Basic Education 3.2 Private Non-Formal Basic Education 4. (Lower) Secondary Education 4.1 Public Secondary Education 4.2 Private Secondary Education 5. Adult Literacy, Continuing Education 5.1 Youth and Adult Literacy Interventions 5.2 Continuing Education Six Service Coverage Determinants Indicator Supply side 1. Availability of essential commodities Pupil-Classroom Ratio by grade Pupil-Textbook Ratio 2. Availability of human resources Pupil-Teacher Ratio (or Pupilqualified Teacher Ratio) by grade 3. Geographic and financial accessibility School-Distance School-Costs by grade Demand side 4. Initial Utilization Net-Enrolment Ratio (or Gross- Enrolment Ratio) by grade 5. Continuous Utilization Survival Rate by grade 6. Effective Utilization Graduation Ratio Graduation Test Scores Overall, an MBB model in education could have added value for education planning, budgeting and impact simulation. However, it has to be considered that applying the model requires extensive data input for all six Service Coverage Determinants for each of the five Service Deliver Modes. Although, the MBB model could be adjusted to only cover a certain sub-sector within Quality Education for All.
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    Adaptive teaching machines
    (Johannesburg College of Education, 1964) Lake, I.
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    Additional comments [on the crisis of teacher supply].
    (Johannesburg College of Education, 1976) Richards, Mervyn Whitmore
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    Addressing curriculum decolonisation and education for sustainable development through epistemically diverse curricula.
    (2018) Padayachee, K.; Matimolane, N.; Ganas, L.
    Transformation in Higher Education has been an ongoing concern in post-apartheid South Africa, especially in light of universities’ expected contribution to economic and socio-political transformation. In particular, curriculum transformation has proved challenging, as evidenced in actions and calls by students in recent years for decolonisation of the curriculum. This study, which formed part of an institutional response to the challenge of curriculum transformation and decolonisation, initially sought to examine perceptions of the term “decolonisation” amongst a group of early career lecturers at a leading university in South Africa. Highlighted in the outcomes of the study was the centrality of personal and contextual relevance in notions of decolonised curricula, the impact of curriculum conversations on lecturers’ well-being, and the broader implications of responsive and relevant curricula for institutional and societal well-being. In this respect, the findings of the study illustrated the similarities of curriculum decolonisation approaches and the concept of education for sustainable development which is underpinned by the goal of global well-being and the common good. Also highlighted was the need for greater balance between Mode 1 (theoretical) and Mode 2 (contextually relevant) knowledge in curricula, leading us to posit that both curriculum decolonisation and education for sustainable development are equally necessary for institutional and broader societal reform and well-being, and that both imperatives may potentially be achieved by focusing on the principles of epistemically diverse curricula
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    Advancing professional teaching in South Africa: Lessons learnt from policy frameworks that have regulated teachers' work.
    (2018) Rusznyak, L.; Kimathi, F.
    Teaching and teacher education in South Africa have emerged from a highly fragmented past. Teachers from diverse backgrounds, experiences and qualifications find themselves working together in schools where they do not necessarily have access to a common language of practice, nor a shared understanding of professional teaching practices. To address these challenges, the South African Council of Educators (SACE) has developed a set of professional teaching standards for use in the South African context. This is not the first time a policy framework has tried to articulate and direct teachers’ work. This paper analyses four other frameworks that have been used to regulate, monitor and evaluate the work of South African teachers over the past two decades. These other frameworks are The Roles of the Educator and Their Associated Competences, the SACE Code of Professional Ethics, the Integrated Quality Management System (IQMS) and the Basic Competences of a Beginner Teacher. Our analysis shows how these frameworks present teaching in ways that constrain teacher professionalism in some ways. They address some aspects of professional teaching while ignoring others. In particular, none of them adequately acknowledge the relations between knowledge, skills, judgement and the ethical orientations that underpin professional teaching. The ways in which previous frameworks have constrained teacher professionalism has important implications for SACE if its set of professional teaching standards is to more successfully enhance teacher professionalism in the South African context.
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    Affordances for learning linear functions: A comparative study of two textbooks from South Africa and Germany.
    (Publisher: AOSIS (pty) Ltd, 2018-09) Mellor, K; Clark, R; Essien, A
    Textbook content has the ability to influence mathematical learning. This study compares how linear functions are presented in two textbooks, one of South African and the other of German origin. These two textbooks are used in different language-based streams in a school in Gauteng, South Africa. A qualitative content analysis on how the topic of linear functions is presented in these two textbooks was done. The interplay between procedural and conceptual knowledge, the integration of the multiple representations of functions, and the links created to other mathematical content areas and the real world were considered. It was found that the German textbook included a higher percentage of content that promoted the development of conceptual knowledge. This was especially due to the level of cognitive demand of tasks included in the analysed textbook chapters. Also, while the South African textbook presented a wider range of opportunities to interact with the different representations of functions, the German textbook, on the other hand, included more links to the real world. Both textbooks linked 'functions' to other mathematical content areas, although the German textbook included a wider range of linked topics. It was concluded that learners from the two streams are thus exposed to different affordances to learn mathematics by their textbooks.
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    African education in Zambia: A partial bibliography
    (Johannesburg College of Education, 1966) Parker, Franklin
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    African education: A partial bibliography of U.S.A. doctoral dissertations
    (Johannesburg College of Education, 1965) Franklin, Parker
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    Against all odds: The role of ‘community cultural wealth’ in overcoming challenges as a black African woman
    (Unisa, 2014) Nkambule, Thabisile
    Academic challenges for students from ‘previously disadvantaged backgrounds’ do not necessarily begin at university, but start during their school years, as was the case for the author. This article is in three parts. Firstly, the author presents a brief narration of the challenges faced before she went to university, which influenced her undergraduate progress. Secondly, the author describes the key challenges she experienced as an undergraduate in particular courses and in a postgraduate education course. Thirdly, she focuses on the challenges she encountered during her first work experience as a black African PhD student and tutor on an education campus. In particular, the author focuses on key challenging incidents and how she approached and engaged with them to enable a successful journey through university as a student and young academic staff member. In the form of a first-person narration, the qualitative research method of ‘testimony’ is used to reflect critically on her academic and professional journeys as a black African woman in the post-apartheid era. Testimony was chosen because it provides an epistemic lens to support an analytical inquiry into experiences and intellectual understanding of self and community.
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    Alma Mater
    (Johannesburg College of Education, 1960-09) Rose, Brian Waldron
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    "Am I what I can do?" - Grade 10 learners' choices between mathematics and mathematical literacy and questions of identity
    (2015-09-03) Malahlela, Dorcas
    Subject choices afford differential opportunities to children when they leave school. Mathematics offers more elite, post-school education and employment opportunities. The introduction of Mathematical Literacy in post-Apartheid schooling was framed as a democratic imperative to provide all learners with some mathematical knowledge. The supposed choice between the two subjects has to be made by adolescents at the end of grade 9 for grade 10 to grade 12.However, subjects are not particularly ‘chosen’ by the learners. Rather, the schools allocate them to a stream that is determined by their previous academic performance. Subject allocation interacts with the self-perceptions that adolescents have of their capability to succeed in school. In Phase one, 356 learners in two schools were surveyed. The Mathematics learners surveyed attributed their subject choice primarily to their intended careers and tertiary study. Mathematical Literacy learners emphasised the ease of the subject, that they could not qualify for Mathematics, and that they did not feel that they had the required skills for Mathematics. The perception that a lack of ability and natural skill is the fault of the learner is entrenched by these statements, and serves as a foundation for the acceptance of inequality. In Phase two, the data from the individual interviews with11 adolescent girls was analysed, and the themes formulated were that Mathematical Literacy was easier and more accessible for the Mathematical Literacy learners, that high school was very different from primary school, that the cultural capital conferred by Mathematics will allow them to live up to the investments from their parents and teachers, and that sex and sexuality poses a threat to their futures.Subjects that a learner does at school impact on identity formation in that it controls the cultural capital that an individual has access to.Subject allocation confers senses of self-worth, capability, and opportunity. Subject ‘choice’ directs the path of the learner/individual, emphasising the school’s (as institution) role in the reproduction of inequalities through race, class and gender.
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