Electronic Theses and Dissertations (Masters)

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    Are our Head Teachers okay? Decision-making processes during COVID-19 across South African independent schools
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-10) Pahl, Julia; Evans, Mary
    The COVID-19 pandemic significantly affected the education sphere globally and in South Africa. The impact on pupils and teachers has been investigated. However, the impact on Head Teachers in schools, particularly independent schools in South Africa, has received less attention. Head Teachers within independent South African Schools are the decision makers, leaders, and influencers who were placed in a key role during the COVID-19 pandemic. These Head Teachers were asked to lead, make decisions, and positively influence and manage those under their care while the educational landscape shifted. This shifting educational landscape placed Head Teachers within independent schools under increased pressure and stress. This study aimed to understand the technological and financial access and contexts of Head Teachers at independent schools within South Africa and explore their decision-making processes and the impact of their decisions on their well-being. An online survey was sent to independent Head Teachers, and four in-depth, one-on-one interviews were conducted. Head Teachers showed that their financial and technological contexts did not constrain their pandemic responses as the nature of their independent school allowed them to have access to adequate technological resources and alternative financial support sources. Key findings of this research were that Head Teachers were commonly influenced both positively and negatively by the complex communication networks and channels created and used during the pandemic and the complex decision-making drivers they had to navigate while leading during the pandemic. The decision drivers of well-being and shared moral purpose were more dominantly considered than the decision driver of National Government Directives, as Head Teachers had to consider their complex and multi-dimensional environments when deciding which decision driver was to be prioritized. Head Teachers had to navigate two main tensions: would they prioritize outcomes such as assessment and reports during the pandemic or would they prioritize awareness and well-being of staff and learners, and would they make their decisions from a compliance standpoint where full compliance was key or from a standpoint where complying as much as possible or enough for deniability was chosen. These results also associated increased communication networks during the pandemic with increased stress and burn-out levels and therefore a decreased well-being of Head Teachers, and increased numbers of Head Teachers leaving the profession. However, a positive outcome of the pandemic was that schools, staff, learners, and parents were forced to increase their device and/or internet access and technological skills to maintain education during the lockdown and the changing educational environment. When these results were studied across the geographical landscape of independent South African schools it was clear that the findings on access, well-being and decision-making were linked to the context of the Head Teacher and their school and not to their geographic location. Yet using complex, multi-faceted communication networks and the resultant stress was a country-wide experience and that National Government Directives was the country-wide main decision-driver for independent South African Head Teachers. Overall, this study identified six key lessons for education within any future South African pandemics: the need for clear and concise instructions within legislation, standard operating procedures need to consider access and context, blended education should become a norm in schools, consistency within education should be maintained throughout, personal boundaries should be maintained throughout and networking between leaders should be increased.
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    Exploring Spatio-Temporal Climate Dynamics over Central Southern Africa: A Cross Border Analysis
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-07) Welff, Megan; Fitchett, Jennifer; Esterhuysen, Amanda
    Understanding the diverse nature of climate dynamics in southern Africa is imperative in the face of climate change. Ground-based meteorological stations provide high-resolution climate data that can be used to investigate and analyse climate in detail. However, southern African countries monitor and manage meteorological stations independently which presents various challenges when attempting cross-border studies. While there are many meteorological-station-based climate studies conducted for South Africa or Botswana, there are few that combine meteorological datasets from both these countries to investigate climate dynamics across political boundaries. In this study, meteorological data from Botswana Meteorological Services and the South African Weather Service spanning 1912-2019 is pre-processed, cleaned and combined to produce a cross-border dataset. A total of 44 stations covers the Gauteng and North West provinces in South Africa and the southern, Kweneng, Kgatleng, South-east and Kgalagadi districts of Botswana. The combined cross-border dataset includes the average monthly summer, winter and annual rainfall (RS, RW and RA respectively) and the average monthly minimum and maximum summer, winter and annual temperatures (TSmin, TSmax, TWmin, TWmax, TAmin and TAmax respectively). From the linear regression analysis, an overall increasing trend for temperature is identified barring two stations (TSmin and TAmin for Mahalapye Met station, and TWmin for Vaalharts). Additionally, for rainfall there is a significant decreasing trend identified. Lastly, the spatial variability of the region is determined using an Inverse Distance Weighted interpolation in the GIS Software, ArcMap, to interpolate between stations. From this a west to east reduction in rainfall and a north-western to south-eastern decreasing temperature gradient is identified across the study region.
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    The role of place names as indegenous knowledge in the archeology of the Makgabeng-Blouberg area, South Africa
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Vena, Kgolagano; Namono, Catherine
    The act of naming places has a twofold process of significance, firstly, it acts a locator of a particular geographical place and secondly reveals the ideology of the place that gives it its legitimacy. As such, place names represent one of the oldest forms of human cultural heritage. Place names are tailored for encrypting heritage and indigenous knowledge. However, in areas that have had significant interaction with external naming regimes, the indigenous naming processes have been suppressed. The Makgabeng-Blouberg area cultural landscape has an exceedingly long and interactive process with colonial naming processes. This research analyses the socio-political processes that shaped the prevalence of colonial place names in the Makgabeng-Blouberg area and significance of indigenous toponyms to the community. The study suggests that colonial power had far reaching effects in the region. The prevalence of colonial names is a result of subsequent naming regimes continuing the hegemonic ideological dominance over places to reflect their control. However, these indigenous communities, navigate this subjugation through engaging in alternative naming systems. Indigenous place names are used by these communities to preserve their culture and heritage. As such, these place names became part of the community's sense of identity and their historical value, thus creating generational ties and anthropological places for the community.
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    Climate change and heritage tourism: threats to Makgabeng in a regional context, Limpopo South Africa
    (2020-11) Mcpherson, Fazlin Ahdielah
    The Makgabeng area is situated in the north-west corner of the Limpopo province in South Africa. The Makgabeng area is an emerging tourist destination with a variety of activities to offer. The area is rich in ancient rock art sites and, as a result, has great potential for the development of heritage tourism. Extensive research has been conducted on the rock art in this region. However, the impact of climate change on heritage tourism has not yet been explored. The local community of the Makgabeng area is developing a heritage tourism destination within the region and it is important to determine whether the initiative will be sustainable, especially in the context of climate change threats to the region. In a region such as Makgabeng where the primary attraction is natural heritage tourism rather than cultural, this then poses a severe threat to tourism within the region, especially since most of these attractions are outdoors. Hence, this research project is primarily aimed at determining climate change threats to heritage tourism in the Makgabeng region, South Africa. The research has employed a mixed-method approach consisting of interviews done with various stakeholders within the tourism industry and community members in the Makgabeng region. The other methods used are hard-copy and online questionnaires, TripAdvisor reviews, and the Tourism Climatic Index (TCI). What the research has found is that people do not know that Makgabeng exists, and for those who are aware of its existence they have never visited the region. this is because the area is not being marketed effectively. The TCI scores show that winter is the best time of the year for tourism. Consequently, stakeholders and community members should market the area with this in mind. However, tourists have said they enjoy the weather in the region all year round.