Masters Degrees (School of Education Foundations)
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Item Open Access The influence of LGBTQ celebrities on school youthโs perceptions of gender and sexual diversity(University of the Free State, 2023) Botha, Tercia; Nichols, H. J.๐ฌ๐๐๐๐๐๐ In recent times, South Africans have started to acknowledge and support counter-normative celebrities; celebrated Gay Pride Parades in cities such as Johannesburg and Cape Town; watched same-sex relationships on popular soap operas such as โGenerationsโ; listened to music from counter-normative performers within the music industry and elected gay and lesbian members in the South African parliament. Role models such as celebrities, parents, teachers, and peers influence the attitudes and behaviours of teenagers and school youth. This can determine what kind of person they become, including their appearance, attitudes, gender and sexual diversity, and goals in life. A key aspect of identity development is the media, specifically social media, and television; hence, there is increasing concern that the youth learn more about gender and sexual diversity outside schools than in the formal curriculum. It is not surprising that the school youth are bound to look at LGBTQ celebrities in the media, in order to form their perceptions based on gender and sexual diversity. This research study explores the influence of LGBTQ celebrities on school youthโs perceptions of gender and sexual diversity. Using a case study methodology, semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven Grade 10 high-school learners studying at a co-ed high school in the Free State province of South Africa. Findings reveal that exposure to LGBTQ celebrities does influence their perceptions of gender and sexual diversity; the high-school learners expressed a need to be taught about gender and sexual diversity for their peers and teachers to have a better understanding; they revealed that they educate themselves on social media and learn more about gender and sexual diversity outside the schoolyard rather than in the formal curriculum; religion, culture and their parents also played a role in their perceptions of gender and sexual diversity. While the data is clear evidence of the influence of LGBTQ celebrities on their perceptions of gender and sexual diversity, it also revealed that the school youth realised the importance of being taught about gender and sexual diversity in the school system and they expressed a need to be taught for a better understanding. I conclude by calling on UMALUSI; the Department of Education; the Independent Examinations Board, and the South African Comprehensive Assessment Institute officials and inspectors of schools to pay regular visits to schools to ensure that the codes of conduct and policies are implemented thoroughly according to the South African Schools Act of 1996, the South African Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. ___________________________________________________________________Item Open Access Exploring place-attentive education and decoloniality in the english home language curriculum and assessment policy statement(University of the Free State, 2023) Tsoeu, Matladi Rosina; Barnett, E.In my study I undertook to explore place-attentive education and decoloniality in the ๐๐ฏ๐จ๐ญ๐ช๐ด๐ฉ ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ถ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ ๐๐ถ๐ณ๐ณ๐ช๐ค๐ถ๐ญ๐ถ๐ฎ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ด๐ด๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐๐ฐ๐ญ๐ช๐ค๐บ ๐๐ต๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต (2011), with the overarching aim of the study being to explore how place-based education and Ingoldโs (2017) concept of attention can be read together to create the concept of place-attentive education. This was achieved by garnering a better understanding of concepts such as place and attention and place-based education. Moreover, a thorough understanding of Ingoldโs principles of attention, namely the principle of habit, volition and correspondence as well as coloniality and decoloniality and the intersection of place-attentive education and decoloniality also proved seminal to my study. In that understanding how Ingoldโs concept of attention intersects with decoloniality through the concepts of grounded normativity and grounded relationality enabled my analysis to be informed by these critical concepts. I sought to address the aim of the study through conducting an analysis of policy and education related documents, namely, the ๐๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ต๐ถ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ช๐ค ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต๐ฉ ๐๐ง๐ณ๐ช๐ค๐ข (1996); the ๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ต๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ 1 ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐๐ฅ๐ถ๐ค๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ณ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ฏ๐จ๐ญ๐ช๐ด๐ฉ ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ถ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ ๐๐ถ๐ณ๐ณ๐ช๐ค๐ถ๐ญ๐ถ๐ฎ ๐๐ด๐ด๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐๐ฐ๐ญ๐ช๐ค๐บ ๐๐ต๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ด (๐๐ณ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด 10-12) (2011). I found that the policy and documents achieve alignment, the White Paper 1 (1996) and the ๐๐ฏ๐จ๐ญ๐ช๐ด๐ฉ ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ถ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ ๐๐ถ๐ณ๐ณ๐ช๐ค๐ถ๐ญ๐ถ๐ฎ ๐๐ด๐ด๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐๐ฐ๐ญ๐ช๐ค๐บ ๐๐ต๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ด (๐๐ณ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด 10-12) (2011) essentially echo the Constitution (1996) which is befitting since it is the supreme law of the land. Place-based education is premised as central throughout the documents as the importance of environmental education is emphasised, a factor which I contend is essential for the promotion of place-attentive education in order to promote decoloniality.