Masters Degrees (School of Higher Education Studies)
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Browsing Masters Degrees (School of Higher Education Studies) by Author "Francis, D."
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Item Open Access A Bourdieuen analysis of learners’ expectations of sexuality education: implications for teacher education(University of the Free State, 2014-07) Botha, Maria Gertruida; Francis, D.English: Much research has been done on Sexuality Education because of the importance of this topic. In South Africa Sexuality Education forms part of the Life Orientation curriculum and falls under the personal well-being outcome (Department of Basic Education, 2008:8). Life Orientation promotes the development of skills, knowledge and attitudes that learners can use to respond to life’s challenges. Learners should be taught what sexuality is, which includes their attitudes, values and beliefs regarding this topic. They should be assisted in understanding their attitudes towards sexuality and in taking control of their sexual behaviour. School-based Sexuality Education programmes are an effective vehicle to improve young people’s sexual health through the development of sexual competence. The effectiveness of these programmes depends largely on how comfortable and confident the teacher is with sexual learning content. During training LO teachers are not equipped to teach Sexuality Education with confidence, which influences the effectiveness of Sexuality Education programmes. It is widely recognised that not enough attention is paid to Sexuality Education in tertiary institutions because there exists no mandated national curriculum for Sexuality Education. Each tertiary institution decides to what degree it wants to include Sexuality Education in its pre- service training curriculum. To improve the efficacy of Sexuality Education programmes the voices of those being taught should be heard. The most significant and relevant background to sexual behaviour are the teenagers’ own sexual beliefs, attitudes and skills. Young people should be acknowledged as good judges of what content they need. This will empower them with the ability to make positive sexual decisions. Young people want Sexuality Education to move away from a sex-negative approach to a sex- positive one. In this regard numerous studies criticise the preventative slant of sexuality programmes and appeal for programmes that take learners’ needs into consideration.Item Open Access Improving my professional practice by infusing values of social justice as a teacher educator(University of the Free State, 2014-01) Mdunge, Percivale Mondli; Le Roux, A.; Francis, D.English: My dissertation is a reflection on the first cycle of a journey in which I seek to make my practice a living theory by answering the question: How do I improve my professional practice as a teacher educator by infusing it with values of social justice? In undertaking this study I identified four guiding questions: • What is my own understanding of social justice and its values? • Why is it important to influence my practice so as not to be a living contradiction? • How do I improve my own professional practice as a social justice educator for the benefit of my professional growth and development, and that of my students and colleagues? • How can I open up spaces for my students and colleagues to engage in issues of social justice? I employed a living theory approach in conducting this study because it created a space for me in which to improve my practice by embedding it with the values that I cherish. The data collection methods I used included video and audio recordings of my lessons, document analysis, validation group and a journal for personal reflection throughout this process of seeking to improve my practice. The first chapter begins with mapping out some of the concerns and the rationale that led me to conduct this study, while also reflecting on the process of deepening my understanding of social justice. Chapter 2 details my research design and methodology, providing arguments for selecting a living theory approach to improve my practice. In the third chapter, I deconstruct my own socialisation with the aim of understanding the role it plays in shaping both my personal and professional identity. Chapter 3 concludes with a reflection on how my socialisation was contested and how I identified contestation as one of the reasons why I began to value social justice and, eventually, to undertake this study. In the fourth chapter, I contextualise my practice by reviewing various policy documents that inform curriculum development within teacher training and schooling. I further discuss the vision and mission of the University of the Free State as my current employer and explain the implications they have for my practice and curriculum development for the Faculty of Education. Within chapter 4 I also extend my understanding of what it means to teach for social justice by discussing its frameworks and components. The chapter concludes with the argument that teaching is a conscious act that engages students in the type of learning that equips them with knowledge to be specialists in their chosen field of study, while enabling them to realise their citizenry responsibility to become active change agents. Finally, chapter 5 reflects on my first action cycle by identifying concerns regarding my practice, reflecting for action, planning for action and implementing my plan. The chapter concludes by reflecting on the implementation of my first cycle before alluding to some of the implications for teacher education, staff development and schooling.Item Open Access Parent’s expectation of sexuality education: implications for teacher education(University of the Free State, 2014-11) Mapetla-Nogela, Lineo; Francis, D.Adolescents and young people represent the future of every society. In South Africa however young people are carrying the burden of the HIV pandemic and unintended pregnancies. South Africa is seeing unprecedented levels of sexual violence and increasingly early sexual debuts. The South African Department of Education, in conjunction with the Department of Health and Welfare, developed the National Policy on HIV and AIDS Education which subsequently gave way to a life skills curriculum in schools to address these challenges. With the Minister of Education’s call for parental involvement in the sexuality education of the youth and studies calling for a multi-sectoral approach to try and address these issues, it became imperative to understand the perspectives of parents in this regard. Depending on Wenger’s (1998) Theory of Communities of Practice and Ladson-Billings (1995) Theory of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy, the study explored the expectations of parents of Grade 10 learners of Sexuality Education offered as part of Life Orientation (LO). In this enquiry I sought to answer the following questions: • Whom do parents want to teach sexuality education? • What do parents want from sexuality education? • How do parents want sexuality education to be taught? • What does all this mean for teachers? The study was conducted in the Free State Province and the sample included fourteen participants selected using snowball sampling. Data was collected using In-depth interviews that took place in the homes, places of work of the participants and at restaurants. A focus group was facilitated at one of the participants’ home and five parents participated in this 111 session. Institutional ethical clearance was sought and granted and participants consented to participate in this study. Chapter 1 introduced the research topic and contextualised this study. The chapter outlined the impetus for this study and provided rationale and significance of the study. Chapter 2 introduced literature on sexuality education. In this chapter, the evolution of sexuality education was detailed and the significance of its evolution in response to societal challenges. In Chapter 3 the research methodology is detailed. In this section the methodological orientation of the study was discussed and a rationale for the study was presented. In Chapter 4 findings of the study were presented with the individual in-depth interviews and the focus group being the sources of data. Chapter 5 presents and analyses the data collected and shows how the Communities of Practice and culturally relevant pedagogies frameworks, provided in chapter 2, were applied in the data analysis. This chapter also relates the findings to the literature that was detailed in chapter two. Chapter 6 summarises the study and contains the recommendations, followed by the conclusion of the study.