Electronic Theses and Dissertations (PhDs)
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10539/37988
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Item Investigating the effectiveness of a blended professional development intervention in improving the teaching of Physical Sciences: A study of novice teachers in South African rural schools(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Radebe, Nomfundo Knowledge; Mushayikwa, EmmanuelProfessional development is a cornerstone in shaping the teaching practice of novice teachers as well as those teachers who are teaching subjects they are not qualified to teach (off-field teachers). However, such support is scarce in rural schools because of the shortage of qualified teachers and geographical constraints, leaving teachers with two options, either to sink or swim, particularly in getaway subjects such as Physical Sciences. This is possible because Physical Sciences has fewer teachers graduating each year and is most likely being taught by off-field and novice teachers due to the lack of desired posts in other schools besides those in rural areas. As such, a blended professional development intervention for Physical Sciences teachers in a circuit consisting of rural schools in Mpumalanga province was administered by another study (referred to as larger study). This province was selected because of the persisting poor performance in Physical Sciences. The intervention was blended because it consisted of online and face-to-face teacher workshops, using the training model from the transmissive category of professional development aimed at transmitting information. The blended nature of the professional development intervention also emanates from the utilisation of WhatsApp, an online tool, to establish a community of practice, promoting collaboration amongst teachers and facilitators. The aim of the intervention was to shape the teaching practices of the Physical Sciences teachers in the circuit. It was also aimed at helping the teachers improve the performance of their learners by sharing with them skills they can use to prepare their learners for examinations. However, research has shown that professional development initiatives tend to fail to meet their intended objectives, exacerbating the need for its effectiveness to be continuously determined. Given this background, this study examined the effectiveness of the intervention in shaping the teaching practice of novice teachers only due to the challenges they experience as outlined above. The novice teachers were defined as teachers with less than five years of experience teaching Physical Sciences, inclusive of off-field teachers. A total of three novice teachers, out of thirteen Physical Sciences teachers, were available in the circuit and participated in the intervention. Two of these novice teachers (Mr Jones and Mr Smith) were not qualified to teach Physical Sciences unlike Mr Brown. In addition, Mr Smith has been teaching Mathematics for sixteen years and had only two years’ experience in teaching Physical Sciences. Page | XXI To determine the effectiveness of the intervention, the following research questions were answered: (1) What are the teaching and learning needs of novice Physical Sciences teachers in the rural schools of Mpumalanga province? (2) What are the views of the novice Physical Sciences teachers about the effectiveness of the blended professional development intervention workshops? (3) In what ways have the teaching practices of Physical Sciences novice teachers changed after participating in a blended professional development intervention? (4) How were the identified teaching and learning needs of novice Physical Sciences teachers in the rural schools of Mpumalanga addressed by the blended professional development intervention? As such, two lessons per teachers were observed before and after they participated in the intervention. Semi- structured interviews were conducted with the teachers individually before and after participating in the intervention. Furthermore, field notes were written down during the intervention workshops. Triangulation of data methods and data sources (all collected data) was used to analyse the data in order to determine the teaching and learning challenges of these novice teachers as well as how the identified needs were addressed. The data was organised into two themes, classroom and professional efficacy, sub-categories of teacher efficacy which refer to teachers’ own set of beliefs about their capability to successfully perform tasks related to teaching. To determine the views of the teachers about the effectiveness of the blended intervention workshops, patterns from the interviews were sought and categorised into themes. Triangulation of data sources was utilised to strengthen the reliability and validity of the emerging findings by drawing mainly on the written field notes as well as lesson observations collected before and after the intervention. To determine ways in which the teaching practice of these three novice teachers changed, triangulation of frameworks was used to categorise and analyse all the lesson observations. The frameworks used were the knowledge building approach from the pedagogical links making (PLM) framework and semantic codes from the legitimation code theory (LCT). Their lesson observations before the intervention were compared with those conducted after the intervention to note changes, or lack thereof, in the teaching practice of these teachers. Using the described analysis process, this study found that the blended professional development intervention failed to shape the teaching practice of these teachers. This failure was primarily the result of poor design of the blended professional development intervention. For example, insufficient time was allocated to some topics that were identified as challenging by the teachers. Page | XXII Additionally, those topics that the majority of the teachers found challenging and needed professional development on were not addressed in the intervention workshops. Furthermore, there was poor attendance in online workshops perpetuated by the lack of active engagement as well as lack of sufficient digital tools, particularly internet data to access the workshops. Moreover, there was lack of individual support in online workshops, which has a potential to promote opportunities of assistance tailor made to the needs of the teachers through coaching and/or mentoring. Although the intervention did not succeed in shaping the teaching practices of these novice Physical Sciences teachers, it was able to assist them in improving the performance of their learners. This success was because of the explicit focus on this aspect, whereby the strategies to prepare learners to pass the examination were shared with the teachers per topic. Due to improved learner performance, this study noted a newfound confidence in these teachers, particularly Messrs Jones and Brown, resulting in an improvement in their classroom and professional efficacy. As such, this study recommends that professional development initiatives should consider learner performance as a separate entity that requires explicit focus instead of treating it as a byproduct of improved teaching practice. Furthermore, blended professional development interventions must be carefully designed to shape teaching practice by focusing on developing teachers’ subject content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge. It must be informed by the needs and goals of all education stakeholders, be of long duration - not less than twenty hours of contact time, encourage active engagement, provide individual support, make provisions for required digital tools, promote active collaboration and it must be sustainable. However, Mr Smith did not see any improvement in the performance of his learners. This study attributed this to the attitude Mr Smith has about learners who can take Physical Sciences, thereby affecting his teaching practice. Furthermore, he is not qualified to teach Physical Sciences and showed lack of competence in teaching the Chemistry component of Physical Sciences compared to the other teachers. Therefore, great care should be taken in professional development initiatives to ease such attitudes and provide the required support to all novice teachers with distinct backgrounds.Item Exploring students experiences of receiving e-formative feedback during emergency remote learning: A case study of first-year students at a teacher education university in South Africa(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Simelane, Raudina Madina; Pillay, PreyaThe COVID-19 pandemic necessitated an abrupt transition to Emergency Remote Teaching and Learning (ERT&L) across the higher education landscape globally, including teacher education programs in South Africa. This seismic shift profoundly disrupted conventional assessment approaches dependent on face-to-face teaching and continuous formative assessments. Consequently, instructors were compelled to reconceptualise formative assessment for the realities of remote learning, adopting digital tools to administer e-assessments and provide e-formative feedback. Concurrently, first- year student teachers faced monumental challenges accessing and productively responding to digitally-mediated formative feedback amidst the isolating remote context lacking traditional supports. Against this backdrop, this qualitative case study explored the lived experiences of thirty- six first-year Bachelor of Education students receiving e-formative feedback through a university’s Canvas Learning Management System during ERT&L conditions in South Africa. Framed by an interpretive paradigm combining Social Constructivist, Feedback Intervention, and Feedback Design theoretical tenets, the study aimed to explore how students perceived and engaged with e-formative feedback to facilitate their self- regulated remote learning. Through Thematic Analysis of semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions, findings unveiled diverse student realities shaped by multifaceted technological, cognitive, and motivational barriers. Prominent obstacles included lack of digital access, connectivity issues, deficient computer literacy skills, and unfamiliar vocabulary – factors impeding feedback reception. Moreover, untimely and unspecific feedback further undermined its value, with many students prioritising marks over substantive comments. Ultimately, suboptimal design coupled with insufficient feedback literacy and self-regulation capacities among this vulnerable population severely constrained productive feedback engagement and autonomous learning progress during the emergency transition. This study’s findings highlight the need for reconceptualised e-formative feedback approaches that holistically account for technological equity gaps, targeted skills development, and psychosocial support mechanisms to foster meaningful feedback utilisation during disruptions. Crucially, it calls for elevating student voices to better understand their contextualised needs, informing responsive interventions. Emergent insights illuminate opportunities to enhance digital feedback literacy, diversify feedback modes, accelerate feedback turnaround, and nurture conducive ecosystems where first- year students thrive as empowered, self-regulating learners even amid crises. Such learner-centric innovations have lasting relevance for optimising equitable, sustainable assessment design across evolving educational futures.Item Inclusive education and the plight of children without legal documentation: A case study of Cosmo Oasis in Johannesburg, South Africa(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Matanhire, Vimbayi; Carrim, NazirChildren without documentation are excluded from formal school due to contestations and contradictions between the South African Constitution and the Admission Policy for Ordinary Schools and the practices of the Department of Home Affairs alongside legislative gaps and inconsistencies in South African schools regarding the admission of children without legal identification documents. This study investigated the plight of children without legal documents in relation to inclusive education in South Africa using a case study of a non- governmental organisation named Cosmo Oasis. I argue that a human rights approach to inclusive education within the social model paradigm is essential for this study because education is in itself a human right. I further develop a framework of inclusive education for undocumented children and outline the intricacies surrounding the origins and debates around the universality and enjoyment of human rights specifically by children without documentation. This study was a qualitative study that used mixed methods and it had the characteristics of a case study. Semi-structured audio-recorded interviews and questionnaires with open and closed questions were used as data collection tools. Data was analysed using qualitative data analysis methods by organising and sorting data into major themes and presented in the form of figures, tables, excerpts and descriptions. The findings of the study showed that, the South African education system was not inclusive to children without legal documents. These children are not integrated into the mainstream leading to varied socio-economic and political implications on the children without documents, their parents and on the South African education system. Contradictions between policies, the legal aspect, the Home Affairs Department, revealed the contestation between citizenship rights and problems with the social contract which continues to create an impasse between the realisation of rights by non-citizens and the rigidness of the social contract.Item Internships & intentions: A grounded theory study of a South African government graduate internship programme(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Hendricks, Sumaya; Hewlett, Lynn; Wedekind, VolkerThe researcher used a grounded theory approach to understand the factors which affected intern learning on a graduate internship programme run by the South African government, with a focus on one national government department. In particular, the focus was on understanding how factors worked to create a disjuncture between the intended and experienced curriculum. To conduct this research, interviews were conducted with interns who completed their internship in the 2018-2021 period; HR officials; and mentors – all of whom were based in the department of focus. This was complemented with document analysis and intern demographic data. While the interest in this subject matter was from a learning perspective, this programme is also a labour market intervention to help alter the bias towards these young, black and unemployed graduates who are the target audience of this programme. In this study, the central phenomenon that emerged is that of Curricular fission which is a metaphor to describe a situation in which various factors worked to create a rupture between what interns were intended to learn compared to what they actually learned. In short, the metaphorical large atom which caused the fission were institutional, individual and task related factors with these factors preventing interns from moving from legitimate peripheral participants to full participants. Institutional factors operated at the level of the department, individual factors concerned the individual - whether that be the intern themselves; the government officials that interns reported to; or other people interns interacted with - while task related factors were related to the tasks allocated to interns, which had a direct bearing on intern learning. While the interns had control over some of the factors, many were ‘beyond’ their control which reinforces the view of learning as being shaped, hindered or aided by factors beyond the learners themselves. With a situation of curricular fission characterising the overall intern learning experience, the programme could be considered a form of ‘warehousing’ which in a South African context carries a transformation component arising from the ‘special’ burden that workplaces have in addressing the bias towards black graduates.Item Teachers' Discourse, Language, Genetics, Life Sciences, South Africa, classrooms(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Mupfawa, ShunguSouth Africa has consistently ranked close to the bottom in international studies on the quality of mathematics and science education. This poor performance portrays a negative picture of the quality of teaching and learning science and mathematics in the country. Local reports such as the South African National Diagnostic Report on grade 12 performance attest to this as it shows that the quality of passes in life sciences at the matric level is low. As a result, fewer matriculants enrol for life sciences-related careers at higher institutions of learning. The overall quality of passes in life sciences could be aggravated by the poor performance of learners in genetics-related questions which make a substantial contribution to scores in the Life Sciences examination. Literature on the teaching and learning of genetics also points to difficulty with the teaching and learning of this topic, including the use of language by the teachers. This thesis reports on a case study in which I investigated the classroom Discourse of four life sciences teachers while teaching basic genetics to grade 12 learners. The study aimed to characterise the teachers’ Discourse during the teaching of basic genetics. In this study, my conception of Discourse was influenced by Gee’s Theory of Discourse which makes a distinction between Discourse with an upper-case ‘D’ denoting language and other factors associated with it and discourse with a lower-case ‘d’ as referring to language. Therefore, in this study, the teachers’ Discourse ‘D’ was conceptualised in terms of language ‘d’ (the language of science) and context which entailed Discourse strategies, interaction patterns, teacher Discourse moves, and multimodal representations. This study drew on literature and research from the fields of Discourse analysis, language, teacher talk, science teaching, and classroom Discourse to develop a complex picture of the classroom. A case study was conducted in three high schools in Johannesburg, South Africa. Data was collected from four teachers each of whom was observed three times, and video recorded while teaching basic genetics concepts to grade 12 learners. A follow-up interview was conducted with each teacher. These post-observation interviews together with field notes were added for data triangulation purposes. The interviews helped me to access teachers’ rationale for taking certain actions during the observed lessons. Moreover, the interviews enhanced the trustworthiness of my analysis. The lesson observation transcripts were analysed using Lemke’s Thematic Analysis merged with Mortimer and Scott’s Communicative Approaches and Discourse patterns. This study unveiled two major types of Discourse of teachers who followed an examination based approach and teachers whose Discourse followed a conceptual approach. This led to the development of a Discourse Teaching Strategy Model which portrays teachers as being either conceptually or assessment focused. My Discourse Teaching Strategy Model shows that amongst other characteristics, conceptually focused teachers used higher-order questions to build conceptual understanding and logical exposition for consolidation. Further, the model shows that logical exposition was sometimes replaced by selective summary where the teachers justified the curriculum. Teachers adopting a conceptual focused strategy used controlling pacing and marking importance as pedagogical measures and admonition for maintaining discipline. This study contributes to the effective teaching of genetics by offering the Discourse Teaching Strategy Model as a model to guide thinking about the planning and development of science teaching as well as a tool for reflection upon one’s teaching strategies. Thus, this model can be used to expand self-development or in-service development especially if one is to teach for ii conceptual understanding. Researchers can use the model as an analytical tool for identifying a particular teacher’s Discourse practices.Item Grade 11 rural teachers’ perceptions of and the teaching of Sepedi literature and English literature in Acornhoek, Mpumalanga Province: A critical study(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Mafunganyika-Ndlovu, Annie Tiny; Nkambule, ThabisileThis study investigated the intricate relationship between language, culture, and knowledge within the context of rural South African high schools. It emphasised the pivotal role of language as both a cultural carrier and a determiner of which knowledge is valued or overlooked. Central to this exploration is the impact of literature teaching, especially in African languages, serving as a reflective mirror of society, history, and individual experiences over time. As part of a broader research project titled “Conditions of Teaching and Learning that Facilitate and/or Constrain Learning English in Rural High Schools,” this study focused on the teaching of Sepedi language literature and English literature in Acornhoek secondary schools. It aimed to reveal how literature teaching can renegotiate and articulate the complexities of rural epistemological repositories, values, moral wisdom, and social cohesion. By examining the pedagogical approaches of grade 11 teachers towards Sepedi language literature and English literature, the study sought to identify underlying assumptions that influenced their teaching methods. Utilising cultural historical activity theory (CHAT) and Bernstein’s concepts of visible and invisible pedagogy, the research conducted a deep dive into teachers’ responses, discourses, and classroom practices. This theoretical backdrop facilitated an understanding of literature’s pedagogy, underscoring the significance of reflective teaching and literature’s potential as a tool for social justice and cultural affirmation. The study engaged with four teachers across four secondary schools in Acornhoek, Mpumalanga Province, employing qualitative non- participatory observation, video-stimulated recall interviews, and semi-structured interviews to gain insights into teachers’ pedagogical choices and perceptions. This multi-faceted approach allowed for an in-depth analysis of teaching practices, encouraging teachers to become more aware of their methodologies with the goal of enhancing the educational experience and deepening the understanding of literature’s societal and educational roles. Findings from the study, analysed through Scott and Mortimer’s Communicative Approach, highlighted the complexity of teaching, though there was dominance of teacher-centered interpretations of literature. This overshadowed opportunities for learners’ active participation to learning and meaning making, because teachers leant the literature for the learners. Despite occasional use of dialogic teaching methods, these instances were sporadic v and largely implicit. The research further identified several challenges, including limited resources, teachers’ perceptions of their learners, and time constraints, as key factors prompting authoritative teaching practices. Based on these insights, the study recommends further research that will include learners to get the overall teaching and learning picture in rural classrooms, to better understand the evolving pedagogies and learning approaches. Also to expand research into investigating the diversity that exists within African indigenous languages.Item Exploring the fourth-year Sol Plaatje University student teachers’ professional identities development during teaching practice(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Arnold, Laura Jane; Nkambule, ThabisileProfessional identities are important because they guide teachers’ perceptions, decisions, and actions. Most initial teacher education research focuses on student teachers’ acquisition of subject and pedagogical knowledge. During teaching practice (TP), student teachers reflect on experiences in authentic schooling contexts to develop their professional identities. Most research focuses on South African student teachers’ experiences at schools instead of their development of professional identities during TP. This study contributes to the research by exploring how eight fourth-year student teachers developed their professional identities during TP. The theoretical lenses for the study were Community of Practice Theory and Positioning Theory while the research design was narrative inquiry. The participants told their stories in different journals during TP and during one-on-one follow-up interviews. The findings showed that student teachers developed two main professional identities during TP: relational and collegial. The participants developed their relational and collegial professional identities through the rapport that they built with learners, and staff members, mostly their assigned mentor teachers. They developed these identities through reflection on prior teaching and learning experiences, and participation in the school communities through mutual engagement, joint enterprise, and shared repertoires. The factors that influenced their professional identities development were personal, social, and temporal conditions. It is recommended that teacher trainers and teacher educators assist student teachers to surface and reflect as individuals and in groups on their relational and collegial professional identities prior to and during TP. These reflections could include student teachers’ motivations for choosing teaching as a career, past teacher role models, and classroom management, including the regulation of emotions. Through their professional identities development during school visits, the student teachers developed and enhanced their professional skills, including, classroom management, learner- centred teaching and 21st century teaching skills, and provision of care through pedagogies associated with love, freedom, and hope.Item The Development of Learner Network Society Skills by Technology Subject Teachers in the Gauteng Full ICT Schools(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Shindiri, Charlotte Dineo; Ndlovu, Nokulunga SithabileThe issue of teacher utilization of Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) confidently and creatively, to help South African learners develop the skills and knowledge they need, has been debated extensively. This is essential for learners to achieve their personal goals and become full participants in the global community. Although the National Curriculum Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) envisions the utilisation of ICTs for teaching and learning in each subject, it is silent on the pedagogical approaches for learners to acquire the desired ICT skills to participate meaningfully in the global community. Instead, the literature reviewed has revealed that teachers are utilising the available ICT resources deployed in schools mainly for content acquisition. Teachers offering Technology in Gauteng Full ICT schools also fall within this category. The Grade 8 Technology CAPS curriculum is also silent on using ICTs to solve the real-life problems identified. In an attempt to ensure that South Africa does not fall victim to a ‘digital divide’, the ICT resources deployed in these schools need to be utilised effectively to develop the necessary knowledge and skills for learners to compete successfully in the global world. Accordingly, teachers in these schools have been capacitated to use ICT resources to enhance the quality of teaching and learning. However, the studies conducted to establish the return on investment in the ICT resources deployed in schools have revealed a mismatch between the desired educational outcomes and what is prevailing on the ground at the implementation level. This study focused on understanding how Grade 8 Technology teachers from the Full ICT schools in Gauteng utilise the available ICT resources during teaching and learning activities to create opportunities for learners to acquire the ICT skills required to solve the identified real-life problems in Technology and participate meaningfully in the global world. The findings assist in the development of an ICT Teacher Development Framework that guides teachers on how to utilise the available ICT resources to facilitate teaching and learning activities in sync with the South African Education Policy (the CAPS document) aspirations. The study used a multiple case study design that relied on semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, lesson plans and social media use to understand the development of Learner Network Society Skills (LNSSs) by the Grade 8 Technology teachers in four Full ICT xiv schools in Gauteng. This aimed to customise the findings to facilitate the development of the desired ICT skills, considering the South African context. The study adopted Connectivism as the main learning theory to understand how teachers could equip learners with network society skills. Since this theory is not wholly suitable for teaching and learning in the South African context, the developed Guided Blended Connectivist Learning Framework became instrumental in achieving this goal. It employs four learning frameworks to merge traditional face-to-face teaching and learning with online learning to help identify teaching and learning activities that facilitate the development of LNSSs in the context of the Full ICT schools in Gauteng. The results reveal the conditions that support the development of the desired ICT skills in these schools. It is recommended that the current content-heavy Grade 7 - 9 Technology curriculum be reviewed, to incorporate the pedagogy and LNSS to be acquired, as learners engage in the standard technological design process, to address real-life problems.Item Transforming Education through the implementation of ICT pedagogical integration: A case of ICT and Non- ICT schools in South Africa(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Seegobin, Tarishma; Dewa, Alton; Ndlovu, Nokulunga SithabileThis study investigates the complexities of integrating Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) into educational practices within Johannesburg, Gauteng province, South Africa. Despite national aspirations outlined in the ICT in Education policy, the White Paper on e- Education (2004), there are challenges that hinder the effective integration of ICTs in classrooms. This results in the exacerbation of the digital divide due to the uneven policy implementation across schools. This qualitative research aims to identify essential components and principles for successful ICT integration in diverse educational settings. It is a case study that sought to understand the socially constructed nature of ICT integration within specific school contexts to understand how the implementation of ICT pedagogical integration unfolds in South African schools. It is thus guided by Collis and van der Wende's model (2002). Four purposefully selected public primary schools, encompassing both those with adequate ICTs (provided by government) and those with inadequate resources (basic ICTs procured by the schools) participated in this study. The schools are situated in both township and suburban areas. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 16 participants (four from each school), including principals and educators teaching across all phases, viz Foundation, Intermediate and Senior. The findings reveal several critical factors influencing ICT integration. Policy ambiguity emerges as a major obstacle. Inadequate awareness and inconsistent interpretations of the policy seem to hinder implementation efforts. Furthermore, educator preparedness is compromised by insufficient ICT knowledge, skills, and training, limiting their ability to effectively integrate technology into their teaching practices. Resource paucity, encompassing infrastructure limitations, inadequate technical support, and financial constraints, further impede ICT adoption Leadership style significantly influences the level of ICT integration within an organization. Younger leaders often demonstrate a greater willingness to adopt and implement ICT compared to their more experienced counterparts. Finally, the absence of robust monitoring and evaluation mechanisms undermines sustained support for ICT initiatives. To address these challenges and unlock ICT's potential for educational transformation, the study recommends a multifaceted approach . Revisions to policies for clarity and consistency are crucial. Strategic resource allocation, targeted at professional development programs, enhanced communication channels, and fostering leadership support are essential. Stakeholder collaboration is vital to ensure a holistic approach. Furthermore, the study proposes the development of a versatile vi ICT framework (RISE) specifically tailored to the South African context, aiming to foster inclusive learning environments and bridge the digital divide within educational institutions.Item Strategic Approaches to Disruptive Innovations in Regulated Markets: Two Cases Of State-owned Electric Utilities(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Bhugwandin, Kubeshnie; Carmichael, TerriBoth state- and privately-owned electric utilities are currently navigating a wave of disruptive innovations that are reshaping the energy sector. While the overarching goals of profit and shareholder value apply to both, state-owned utilities have a distinct set of challenges in that their objectives also encompass social welfare, economic growth, and national development. Thus, their survival is a matter of national interest. An interpretivist paradigm guided this research, and a qualitative multi-case study was used to investigate strategic approaches to disruptive innovations in the regulated electricity markets of South Africa and France. The theoretical interrelationships between Disruptive Innovation theory, Dynamic Capabilities and Ambidexterity were holistically explored within the regulated markets. The data comprised documentation and interviews with the electric utilities, Eskom and Électricité de France and the national energy regulators in each country. The study's key findings indicated that disruptive innovations are multi- organisational and multi-dimensional, impacting the industry at the macro- and meso-levels, transforming the entire ecosystem via concurrent interconnected actions. Hence, there are many pathways to disruption, and state-owned electric utilities must reposition themselves in the market and respond with multifaceted approaches. State-owned electric utilities are recommended to engage in coopetition strategies such as investing in disruptive innovations with start-ups and building strong partner interdependence via joint activities or investments to facilitate the exchange of resources and capabilities and build trust. This research recommends an integrated response when faced with a wave of disruptive innovations, e.g. (i) investing in an existing business to improve efficiencies and retain customers, or extending the life of power plants and converting coal-fired power plants to biomass technology, whilst at the same time (ii) adopting disruptive innovations which have emerged in the market to offer new products iv and services such as e-mobility, energy efficiency, solar photovoltaic and energy storage services and (iii) investing in continuous research and innovation to compete with disruptors such as the piloting of floating wind turbines and lightweight solar photovoltaic structures. Furthermore, ambidexterity and dynamic capability can be used as tools by electric utilities to strategise effectively under VUCA conditions. Dynamic capabilities should be built to support sensing, sensemaking, shaping, seizing and transforming the organisation to retain competitive advantages and market leadership. The study identified risk-taking, negotiating ability, and organisational agility as dynamic capabilities required to seize opportunities. The research also identified the ability to modify and reconfigure human resources, organisational structure, assets, processes and culture as dynamic capabilities required to compete and maintain market leadership. Lastly, this study presented an alternative pathway to achieve ambidexterity. Electric utilities can utilise a hybrid ambidextrous approach, which entails simultaneously combining different modes at both the meso and micro levels, such as (i) creating structural separation, forming intra and inter-organisational alliances, (iii) building dynamic capabilities to accelerate exploration activities, and (iv) establishing dual executive management roles. This study has made theoretical contributions by proposing a new definition of disruptive innovations for the electricity industry and has widened the domains for Strategy-as-Practice research by extending the levels of praxis from micro, meso and macro to include an industry level. This moves strategising actions beyond the firm to incorporate wider practices in society. Furthermore, the dynamic capability theory was extended to include sensemaking and shaping as micro foundations to respond to disruptive innovations and maintain competitive advantages. This finding also contributed to the understanding of the resource- based theory by providing a source of heterogeneity. In addition, the research suggested that simultaneous use of casual and effectuation decision-making logic can be a source of heterogeneity for firms. The study clarified that shaping v capabilities are used not only during sensing and seizing opportunities but also influences or shapes transformation activities of the firm. The ambidexterity view was extended by presenting an alternative combination of modes within the hybrid ambidexterity approach. Practically, this research suggests that an integrated approach should be implemented by state-owned electric utilities to respond to a wave of disruptive innovations
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