Masters Degrees (School of Education Management, Policy, and Comparative Education)

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Browsing Masters Degrees (School of Education Management, Policy, and Comparative Education) by Advisor "Tsotetsi, C. T."

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    An exploration of the role of college management teams in enhancing college lecturers’ workplace experiences
    (University of the Free State, 2023) Mokoena, Thembisile Lina; Tsotetsi, C. T.
    This study aimed to explore the role of college management teams in enhancing college lecturers’ workplace experiences. Since lecturers at colleges in South Africa are expected to perform according to challenging global demands, including transitions to adapt to the fourth industrial revolution (4IR), it became a necessity to unpack the reasons for college lecturers’ mediocre delivery of academic services. According to the Policy on Professional Qualification for Lecturers in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in South Africa (2013), the lecturers need to know both theory and practical work-related aspects of the curriculum. However, lecturers’ workplace experiences are still a matter of concern, particularly in the TVET sector. A gap that exists in research pertaining to the role of the College Management Teams in enhancing the workplace experience of college lecturers. This study was underpinned by the principles of the human capital theory which was appropriate to dissect the experiences of staff within institutions such that institutional practices are efficiently investigated. I conducted a comparative study of TVET colleges in South Africa, Nigeria, and the United States of America to describe the various practices of College Management Teams and college lecturers. To generate data, a qualitative research method was adopted. The selected sample of participants consisted of the Deputy Principal Academic, Curriculum Manager, Human Resources Manager, and six Campus Managers. Qualitative data was collected from College Management Teams through semi-structured interviews. The findings revealed that there were glaring challenges for the College Management Teams. Emanating from the findings and conclusions of this study, recommendations were suggested to address these challenges by implementing concerted intervention strategies to enhance lecturers' workplace experience which included establishing a partnership with industry, motivating lecturers to attend workshops to gain workplace experience, availing funds to pay substitute lecturers, curriculum matters, and management of resources to meet industry’s real-life standards. It is envisioned that the results of this study will convince TVET college lecturers, managers, and policymakers to become committed to ongoing professional development programmes that capacitate lecturers to enhance their daily work experiences.
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    Exploring the role of Technical Vocational Education and Training college management in utilising Learning Management Systems
    (University of the Free State, 2024) Mthabela, Sibongile Mirriam; Tsotetsi, C. T.
    This study aimed to explore the role of Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) college management in utilising Learning Management Systems (LMSs). A sample of 6 TVET managers was conveniently selected from a TVET college in a rural area in South Africa using a qualitative approach. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and analysed using thematic analysis. For many years South African TVET Colleges have not been using Learning Management Systems to support teaching and learning. However, recently these institutions have introduced LMSs; hence, it became necessary to unpack the role of TVET College Management in utilising these systems. The TVET college management needs to fulfil their roles since it is part of their responsibilities to ensure that LMSs at these institutions are used efficiently to enhance TVET college results. Lecturers and students must be supported by management to ensure the efficient usage of the LMS. This study was underpinned by the Technology Acceptance Theory which was appropriate to evaluate the level of technology acceptance by the lecturing staff and college management. I analysed policies that have an impact in the way in which TVET colleges should function in line with the introduction of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs), in addition to conducting a comparative study of LMS usage in America, Europe and Africa. A qualitative research approach was adopted to generate data from a selected sample of 6 participants from the campus management team. The findings revealed that management did not have clearly defined role-functions to support LMS at campuses, and that there were numerous challenges confronting the application of LMSs, especially that of not being fully utilised. Emanating from the findings and conclusions of this study, it is recommended that intensive support be provided for lecturers by college management including ongoing on-the-job training and availability of relevant resources to circumvent the challenges. College management needs to implement creative strategies to ensure that LMS is thoroughly and correctly implemented to yield enhanced academic results.
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    The implementation of the 𝘊𝘖𝘝𝘐𝘋-19 𝘙𝘦𝘨𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘙𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘝𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘗𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘺: rural university students’ experiences
    (University of the Free State, 2024) Mokone, Juliet Seapehi; Tsotetsi, C. T.
    As an immediate response to the COVID-19 pandemic, many universities in South Africa had to create COVID-19-specific policies. Many of these policies outlined the precautions that both students and staff had to follow to keep safe. This also entailed restricted access to university campuses and mandatory vaccination. To give background to this, students from rural-based university campuses, predominately come from disadvantaged backgrounds. Therefore, this study has attempted to understand the experiences of rural university students from one campus when a COVID-19-specific policy was implemented. Because of the disadvantaged nature of rural-based university students, it is essential to understand how the implementation of this policy affected them. Currently, there are limited studies that have attempted to understand the experiences of rural-based students, from a policy standpoint. Hence, this study aimed to explore students’ experiences with the implementation of the 𝘊𝘖𝘝𝘐𝘋-19 𝘙𝘦𝘨𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘙𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘝𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘗𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘺 on a rural University campus. Different studies have indicated that the pandemic did in fact widen the already existing inequalities between rural and urban-based universities. And across the world, different universities employed similar strategies in managing the spread of the virus and the main objective was to ensure the safety of students. Similarly, in countries like the United States of America, Nigeria and China students were removed from their university campuses and institutions enacted COVID-19-specific guidelines and policies to manage the spread of the virus on their university campuses. Of course, this came with some problems, for example, in a country like Nigeria, online learning and teaching presented some challenges. Therefore, with reference to realist social theory, this study has used the qualitative approach to collect data. Two data collection strategies have been used, which are focus group discussion and document analysis. Stratified purposive sampling was used to select participants from a rural university campus. In addition, data was analysed using thematic analysis and critical policy analysis. Results obtained from this study indicate that to a certain extend the implementation of the 𝘊𝘖𝘝𝘐𝘋-19 𝘙𝘦𝘨𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘙𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘝𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘗𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘺 did present students with some challenges. Students did not have the knowledge or the resources to learn successfully online, and they felt that the policy took their away their autonomy when it came to choosing whether or not to vaccinate. To add to this, policy analysis indicated that the policy was more specific when it came to employees but with regards to students, there were many omissions and silences. In brief, the institution did have an ethical moral obligation to keep its community safe however other less coercive alternatives should have been explored rather than mandating vaccinations.