Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management

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    Public Policies to the Social Equality. Vol 1. (Políticas Públicas para la Equidad Social. Vol 1.)
    (Colección Políticas Públicas, Universidad de Santiago de Chile, 2018) Rivera Vargas, Pablo; Muñoz-Saavedra, Judith; Morales-Olivares, Rommy; Butendieck-Hijerra, Stefanie
    Las políticas públicas son una de las principales herramientas que tiene, por un lado, la ciudadanía para plasmar su voluntad a la hora de construir una sociedad representativa, democrática y justa, y, por otro lado, el Estado, para resolver los problemas de distribución, equidad e inclusión social. Por lo general emergen a partir de activos y diversificados procesos de interacción y participación entre Estado, expertos/as y la sociedad civil. De manera que las necesidades o demandas sociales puedan transformarse en proyectos, programas, normas o intervenciones gubernamentales correctamente fundamentadas. No obstante, esto no ocurre ni con la frecuencia esperada ni en los términos ideales. En ocasiones, las políticas también pueden diseñarse desde una mirada preferentemente vertical e institucional, lo que puede afectar su sostenibilidad, legitimidad, y el cumplimiento de sus objetivos. Desde las ciencias sociales, económicas y naturales es posible aportar al diseño de las políticas públicas una perspectiva crítica que ayude a garantizar su representatividad, excelencia y validez. Las herramientas investigativas de la academia permiten, explorar y eventualmente conocer y analizar las principales necesidades que presentan los colectivos y el contexto social que los define. Con este objetivo, el presente libro ofrece un espacio de diálogo internacional e interdisciplinario en torno a las políticas públicas a partir de tres ejes temáticos considerados imprescindibles para la construcción de sociedades más justas, a saber: Educación, Género y Economía. Bajo el convencimiento que la producción de conocimiento científico se erige como un insumo necesario para desarrollar políticas públicas más eficaces, equitativas y sostenibles capaces de abordar y corregir las diversas causas de las desigualdades. Este libro, titulado “Políticas Públicas para la Equidad Social”, es el primero de dos volúmenes y cuenta con 24 capítulos de destacados/as especialistas internacionales, consolidados/as y nóveles, que, desde distintos enfoques nos invitan a la reflexión en torno a la complejidad e impacto de las políticas públicas en la sociedad. La publicación está separada en 3 bloques a partir los 3 ejes temáticos antes mencionados. En el bloque de educación se presentan ocho artículos que justamente dan a conocer esfuerzos políticos y científicos realizados en este ámbito (a nivel internacional) con el fin de construir una sociedad más equitativa y con iguales oportunidades para todos y todas. Entre sus principales autores/a destacan: Cristóbal Cobo, Pablo Rivera, Cristina Cárdenas, Carlos Anaya, Diego Apolo, Felipe Aliaga, Melisa Maina, Cristina Alonso, Víctor Climent, Juana M. Sancho, entre otros/as. En el bloque de género, los ocho capítulos que lo componen ofrecen una mirada transdisciplinar desde diferentes países, realidades y perspectivas teóricas, en la que se integran los principales debates teóricos en torno a las políticas feministas y/o de género. Entre sus principales autores/a destacan: Judith Astelarra, Karina Batthyány, José A Noguera, Judith Muñoz, Beatríz Revelles, Ana González, entre otras /os. En el bloque de Economía, los ocho capítulos que lo componen se erigen como diversas miradas transdisciplinares y globales desde la economía, la sociología y las ciencias políticas, que dan vida a una observación global, desde la mirada de investigadores del continente africano, América Latina y Europa. Entre sus principales autores/a destacan: Patrick Bond, Juan A. Bogliaccini, Rommy Morales, Sofía Docetti, Felipe González, Ángel Rodríguez, entre otros/as. Finalmente destacar que este libro ha sido posible gracias a la colaboración activa del Departamento de Gestión y Políticas Públicas de la Universidad de Santiago de Chile, y su publicación, Colección en Políticas Públicas. A la vez agradecemos a la Universidad de Barcelona, y particularmente a la Facultad de Educación y al Departamento de Didáctica y Organización Educativa, por su vital colaboración.
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    ACCESS TO EDUCATION AND SCHOOL FEES FOR REFUGEES AND MIGRANTS IN CENTRAL JOHANNESBURG
    (2014-02-19) Sepuru, Thabo Dominic
    Education is regarded universally as a fundamental human right and is recognized officially by many countries including South Africa. South Africa is signatory to a number of United Nations (UN) Conventions relating to refugees and acquired certain obligations towards refugees such as the provision of basic education. For the children of refugees and asylum seekers, education has a developmental as well as an integrative and rehabilitative value. While there is recognition of education as a fundamental human right, the realization of this right is impeded by a number of obstacles. School fees have been cited as one of the barriers. In respect of the charging of fees by schools, South Africa seeks to ensure the realization of education as a fundamental and constitutional right by everyone regardless of their nationality, race, gender, religion and financial status through the mechanisms of fee exemptions and no-fee-school policies. This study attempts to explore and document the obstacles encountered by refugee and asylum seeker parents living in South Africa from accessing fee exemptions at a fee-paying school. Through a qualitative exploratory research study, the findings show that there are various barriers to accessing fee exemptions by refugee and asylum seeker parents whose children are enrolled at fee-paying schools. No-fee schools on the other hand are inaccessible to due amongst other issues the fear of xenophobia in the townships. As a result, some refugee/asylum seeker parents keep their children out of school. The findings show the negative impact of the fee exemption policy on fee-paying schools with large numbers of poor learners through the measures adopted to push parents into paying for school fees.
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    AID COORDINATION AND ITS EFFECTIVENESS: A CASE OF THE EDUCATION SECTOR IN MALAWI
    (2013-10-08) Taulo, Wongani Grace Nkhoma
    The 2008Accra meeting on Aid Effectiveness observed that aid is still fragmenting - that there are too many donors, financing too many projects, using different models. This has negative implications for aid effectiveness i.e. the extent to which aid efforts achieve intended results. Coordination of aid and activities is seen as a means to overcome these problems and achieve better impact. The purpose of this study was to explore the link between aid coordination and its effectiveness in the education sector in Malawi. The study used a case study design using qualitative methods for data collection and analysis. Data sources included interviews and documents analysis. In total, nine key informants were interviewed. These included donor representatives, government officials and representatives from civil society. A major finding of the study is that although there is a general agreement that aid coordination is necessary for achieving better impact of aid, it is practically difficult to achieve fully and only partial coordination is achievable at the moment. This is because donors lack confidence in the coordination mechanisms in place in particular the public financial systems and therefore large amounts of donor funding remain outside the coordinated mechanisms. Findings also show variations on the understanding of what aid coordination should look like in practice and the perceived roles of the different actors in the coordination processes.
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    LANGUAGE, EDUCATION AND INCLUSION: WHO‟S IN AND WHO‟S OUT?
    (2011-06-22) Jefferies, Suzanne Fiona Louise
    Language, Education and Inclusion: Who’s In and Who’s Out? The South African Language in Education Policy was formulated in response to the inequalities of the Apartheid regime. However, this policy, in respect to mother tongue education, has not yet been implemented. By comparing the Language in Education Policy to the UK‟s National Languages Strategy, this research examines the public policy process, including the intended as well as unintended consequences of policy implementation, the various policy interventions that have been implemented, as well as identifying and sketching the stakeholder environment of these policy interventions. In addition, the research looks at the phenomenon of social inclusion/exclusion, particularly with regard to the relationship between language and education and South Africa University students‟ attitudes to language choices.
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    PARENTS’ PREFERRED ATTRIBUTES
    (2011-05-17) Mendes, Hugo
    The business model of education – which treats parents as customers – has been adopted in order to perform a detailed study of parents’ preferences within the context of School Effectiveness Research. In t h i s study, the attribu tes perceived as important measures of quality in secondary schools, have been explored and identifi e d . The two-phased study applied input from an initial exploratory questionnaire with a variety of stakeholders to a mainly quantitative phase two questionnaire. The identified categories of at t ributes were rated and weighted by conjoint analysis by parents o f s el ec ted high schools. The findings ident i f ied th a t parents perceive tangi b l e a t t r i b u tes as more important than intangible ones. For instance, comprehensive facilities and information resources, as well as strict academic goals, were rated as more important than the quality o f t h e t e a c h e r s . Recommendations have been proposed, linking parents’ perceived attributes of school effectiveness to schools’ r o l e s i n maximising custome r sat i s f a c t i o n
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    NATURE AND EXTENT OF SCHOOL VIOLENCE IN THE GAUTENG
    (2011-05-05) Libago, Ndinannyi Justice
    Incidents of school violence are frequently reported in the South African media. Due to these media reports, school violence is increasingly perceived as a major problem in South Africa. It is hard to evaluate media statements because studies are dispersed and statistics are fragmented. The media reports can lead to wrong or misplaced interventions or programmes to reduce school violence. This research combined the dispersed studies of school violence in order to evaluate, amongst other things, if the popular view is correct or not. This study found that school violence accounts for less than 0.01% of deaths of among children aged 18 years and less in the Gauteng province per year. This figure is lower compared to deaths, which is 1%, of children of the same age in the developed countries. From the research findings recommendations were made to reduce school violence in Gauteng schools
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    FINANCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY CHALLENGES FACING
    (2011-05-05) KALI, MTUNASE HARGREAVES
    Notwithstanding growth on transfer payments allocated to Section 21 schools over the last five years, the SGBs are riddled with weak controls, financial mismanagement and poor accountability for such resources. The exploratory study was conducted using the data collected through interviewing the sampled SMTs, SGBs, Education Development Officers of Queenstown District and documentary analysis to understand their perspective on the issues. The study acknowledged that most SGBs do not have the requisite capacity to account for the resources allocated to them and there are confusing roles with SMTs. The delegation of authority to governance structures while maintaining a distinction between their mandate and the SMTs still present challenges. The efforts of other SGBs are recognised and can be embraced with ensuring that as recommendations financial skills become the prerequisite to serve in the governance structures. Further, may consider incentivising the schools for good governance and learner performance.
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    EXPLORING THE NEW ROLE OF THE PRINCIPAL
    (2011-04-12) GALEGO, Paula Cristina Antunes
    The Education Labour Relations Council of South Africa passed a resolution regarding the performance management of educators in public schools, namely, the Integrated Quality Management System (ELRC Resolution 3/2003). This new performance tool aims to ensure quality public education and to improve teaching and learning in schools. The implementation of this new policy has extensive implications for schools and impacts on the role of the principal as an implementer of school policy. The aim of this study was to explore and document the new management role of the principal within the implementation framework of the Integrated Quality Management System. Specifically, this qualitative research proposed to identify challenges of the implementation process as well as to gather some lessons learned from schools that have implemented the policy. One of the main findings of the research was that principals who teach had a good understanding of curriculum delivery. It was also established that principals who participated in IQMS processes, succeeded in motivating, developing and improving their educators as well as gaining the confidence of their staff.
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    THE ADOPTION DECISION OF TEXTBOOKS WITH SUPPLEMENTARY DIGITAL CONTENT BY SOUTH AFRICAN UNIVERSITIES
    (2011-03-24) Caseley, Gavin B.
    Higher education publishers increasingly invest in elaborate supplementary digital textbook packages in the competition for textbook adoptions. This supplementary digital content ranges from video demonstrations for instructors to online practice exercises for students. The research study was designed to examine how textbook adoption decisions are made at public universities in South Africa and the role played by supplementary digital textbook content in these textbook adoption decisions. In-depth interviews were conducted with twenty-four faculty members responsible for making textbook adoption decisions at two public universities in Gauteng. It was found that the quality of textbook content was the single most important criterion currently applied in textbook adoption decisions followed by the cost of the textbook to students. Supplementary digital textbook content was not found to have an important influence on textbook adoption decisions for most faculties included in the study. The research did find, however, that supplementary digital textbook content can be expected to play an increasingly important role in textbook adoption decisions made at public universities in South Africa with implications for both faculty and higher education textbook publishers.
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    Educators’ Perceptions on the Integrated Quality Management System (IQMS)
    (2011-03-22) Buntting, Diane Cheryl Lesley
    During the past decade performance management of public service employees has emerged as a major issue in terms of accountability. The purpose of this mixed methods research was to determine educators’ perceptions on the Integrated Quality Management System (IQMS). The IQMS aims to improve the quality of education. One of the main findings is that although most educators want to accept accountability for their own, the learners’ and the performance of the school, contextual factors in the schooling environment prevent this. The most important contextual factors affecting educator performance have been identified. Furthermore, the most observable unintended consequences resulting from IQMS implementation and causing policy failure have been identified. Policy review or replacement is urgently required. Educators have made valuable recommendations based on their personal experiences and observations. This study has given educators a ‘voice’ in policy evaluation and an opportunity to make recommendations for bottom-up policy improvement or replacement.