Wits 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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    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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    The application of programmed learning to athletics.
    (Johannesburg College of Education, 1966) Hubert-White, G.M.
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    An appraisal of the bilingual problem in Canada and South Africa.
    (Johannesburg College of Education, 1974) Kay, Sally Ann