Browse
Recent Submissions
Item Open Access Teacher-reported quality of schooling indicators in Botswana primary schools: an exploratory study(Faculty of Education, University of the Free State, 2015) Ntinda, Kayi; Ntinda, Magdalene Nakalowa; Mpofu, EliasThis study examined teacher self-reported views on quality indicators in Botswana primary schools. A purposively selected sample of primary school teachers in the city of Gaborone, Botswana (N = 72, females = 56; males = 16; mean age = 39 years, SD = 7.17 years; mean years of service = 15.6; SD= 8 years; public schools = 65%; private schools = 35%), completed a survey on their perceptions of quality of education indicators relevant to their school setting. Data were analyzed by type of school contrasting private and public schools. Findings suggest teachers in public schools to associate the use of teacher-led student supports as important quality indicators whereas those in private school consider access to learning materials significantly more important than other learning context variables. Type of school influenced perceptions of quality of schooling indicators in Botswana primary schools.Item Open Access Bridging theory and practice in teacher education: teaching schools – a bridge too far?(Faculty of Education, University of the Free State, 2015) Gravett, Sarah; Ramsaroop, SaritaThe study reported on in this article stems from the Integrated Strategic Planning Framework for Teacher Education and Development in South Africa (2011). This framework proposes the establishment of teaching schools to strengthen teacher education. This article reports on a qualitative inquiry into the views of school-based personnel and the teacher education sector on the implementation of teaching schools as sites for teacher education and whether they think teaching schools could enhance the education of student-teachers. The inquiry showed that the participants were positive that teaching schools will enhance teacher education through serving as a bridge between the academic, university-based preparation of student-teachers and the practice demands of the teaching profession. However, they had no clear notion of how such schools could add value to teacher preparation differentiated to schools in which student-teachers are placed for work-integrated learning. We contend that, prior to establishing teaching schools, much deliberation between all stakeholders is required about the purpose and means of integrating teaching schools in teacher education. If not, teaching schools that serve to bridge the gap between the education of student-teachers at universities and the demands that novice teachers face once they enter the teaching profession might remain an elusive ideal.Item Open Access Using ICTs (educationally) for development in an African context: possibilities and limitations(Faculty of Education, University of the Free State, 2015) Carrim, Nazir; Taruvinga, MandiThis article examines the possibilities and limitations of using ICTs for development in an African context from an education perspective. Although we provide an account of the Pan-African Agenda on integrating ICTs, which covers many countries on the African continent, our focus is specifically on using ICTs for development in a South African context. In addition, this article focuses more on using ICTs within the educational system in (South) Africa, and specifically on the possibilities and limitations of using ICTs for improving both educational achievements and teaching and learning experiences in South Africa. In the first section of this article, we provide an account of the importance of engaging with the increasing global ascendency of ICTs as a significant characteristic of the current, global information age and networked society. Drawing particularly on the theory of Castells (2001), we argue that access to ICTs is not only becoming unavoidable, but may also provide African countries with the possibilities to increase and enhance development. In this regard, we also briefly outline what we view as some of the critical features of development in an African context. In the second section, we provide an account of the Pan-African Agenda on ICTs integration in Africa. This account reveals that, while pedagogic integration of ICTs in education is still in its nascent stage, its relevance is an urgent imperative. In the third section of this article, we specifically examine the South African educational situation and show that, while the importance of using ICTs is recognized and attempts to increase access to ICTs is increasing rapidly, critical questions as to whether or not ICTs can, in fact, improve teaching and learning experiences and outcomes tend to be assumed rather than engaged with critically. We conclude this article by noting that, while ICTs may provide valuable opportunities for development, the recognition of possibilities and limitations of what ICTs can achieve within the African context need to be taken into account.Item Open Access Social justice as a conduit for broadening curriculum access: stories from classroom teachers(Faculty of Education, University of the Free State, 2015) Martin, Melanie; Ngcobo, JabulaniIt has become public knowledge that teachers have gradually been called to teach learners to world-class standards in order to enable them to participate actively in the global economy. This has fuelled a debate on how teachers should be prepared to fulfil this new role. In-service programmes on social justice and education have often been critiqued for failing to build teachers’ subject knowledge and pedagogical skills which are essential for facilitating learners’ access to the curriculum. This paper takes a position that teaching is an inescapably political act that often (if not always) involves ideas, power and access to learning and life opportunities. The study presented in this paper was designed to explore how teachers used social justice pedagogy as a conduit for making the curriculum accessible to all their learners. Data for this study were generated from self-reflexive action research reports from a sample of 20 teachers submitted as part of the assessment requirements for the Advanced Certificate in Education (ACE) programme. The data were used to understand 1) How teachers conceptualised and understood social justice, and 2) How teachers utilised these understandings in broadening curriculum access for their learners. The study found that participants conceptualised and understood social justice on a basis of a philosophy of education as transformation, which often called on them to traverse political borders. For these teachers, teaching for social justice meant that education was construed as a means to break the cycle of social ills, victimhood and hegemony. The study presented some emerging thoughts on how knowledge about social justice in education could be deployed by teachers to broaden access to and in the curriculum.Item Open Access Accountability issues in testing academic literacy: the case of the Test of Academic Literacy for Postgraduate Students (TALPS)(Faculty of Education, University of the Free State, 2015) Rambiritch, AvashaApplied linguists should strive to ensure that the tests they design and use are not only fair and socially acceptable, but also have positive effects – this, in light of the fact that tests can sometimes have far-reaching and often detrimental effects on test-takers. What this paper will attempt to do, is highlight how this concern for responsible test design is articulated in an emerging framework for applied linguistics. The paper begins by questioning the role of applied linguists working within this framework before focusing specifically on the concepts of accountability, dual accountability, public accountability and academic accountability with particular reference to their use in language and academic literacy testing. The last part of this paper sees the practical application of the concept of (academic) accountability to the Test of Academic Literacy for Postgraduate Students (TALPS). With regard to the accountability of the test developers, which is the focus of this article, the intervention programme which follows the test must be considered.Item Open Access Voices of divergence: resistance, contestation and the shaping of Namibia’s teacher education, 1990- 2010(Faculty of Education, University of the Free State, 2015) Nyambe, John; Wilmot, DiThis paper reports on an aspect of a broader study that investigated teacher educators’ uptake of learner-centred pedagogy in post-apartheid Namibia. The paper shares part of the study that illuminated the path traversed by Namibian teacher education policy from 1990 to 2010, two decades into the country’s post-apartheid self-rule. It argues that, far from being smooth sailing, teacher education reform in post-apartheid Namibia has been characterised by severe turbulence with divergent forces wrestling over the philosophical and epistemological orientations of the new teacher education. The paper concludes that these forces, voices of divergence, criticisms, resistance or contestations were a significant feature that helped define and shape post-1990 teacher education for basic education to its present-day state.Item Open Access Restoring our children: why a restorative approach is needed to discipline South African children(Faculty of Education, University of the Free State, 2015) Reyneke, Roelf P.Behavioural problems are commonly experienced in schools. This contributes to poor academic results and general disciplinary problems, among other things. It is argued that punitive disciplinary methods are aggravating unacceptable behaviours. This paper presents information about the use of punishment, how children react to these measures, and reasons why they react in the way they do. The Circle of Courage philosophy is linked to restorative practices as a response to disciplinary problems. By presenting this, the author contributes to the debate on approaches to discipline and aims to show that, since so many children are troubled, they need to be disciplined in a psychologically healthier way. High levels of caring and control could significantly reduce disciplinary problems in schools.Item Open Access The concrete-representational-abstract sequence of instruction in mathematics classrooms(Faculty of Education, University of the Free State, 2015) Mudaly, Vimolan; Naidoo, JayaluxmiThe purpose of this paper is to explore how master mathematics teachers use the concrete-representational-abstract (CRA) sequence of instruction in mathematics classrooms. Data was collected from a convenience sample of six master teachers by observations, video recordings of their teaching, and semi-structured interviews. Data collection also included focus-group interviews with learners. In South Africa, master teachers are considered expert teachers in their discipline. The master teachers in this study were selected by the Department of Education based on their many years of teaching experience; in addition, these selected master teachers taught at six different Dinaledi schools in KwaZulu-Natal (South Africa). A key finding of this research demonstrated that the use of the CRA instructional sequence was paramount for the effective teaching of mathematics. This instructional sequence was found to be predetermined as well as intuitive. The CRA instruction may be used in classrooms where learners are not streamed into ability levels, as is the case with the majority of schools in South Africa. These findings are important for shaping both teacher and curriculum development.Item Open Access Professional development networks: from transmission to co-construction(Faculty of Education, University of the Free State, 2015) Ngcoza, Ken; Southwood, SueThis article offers an extract of a qualitative case study focused on collaborative professional development of science teachers in a transformative continuous professional development (TCPD) network, whose aim is the professional development of science teachers with a view to improving praxis. Teacher narratives generated through an iterative process of active interviews are analysed inductively and themes are identified. Insights shared in this article focus on teachers’ ways of working with knowledge and how this was influenced. The study reveals that the ways in which the teachers are taught at times inhibit innovation, perpetuating transmissive approaches to teaching and learning. Lack of professional development and support, and tensions between policy formulation and implementation, also exacerbated the problem. The study, however, reveals a shift in ways of working with knowledge – a shift from the transmission of knowledge to the co-construction of knowledge.Item Open Access Theorising multiply disadvantaged young people’s challenges in accessing higher education(Faculty of Education, University of the Free State, 2015) Walker, Melanie; Mkwananzi, FaithThis paper sketches an innovative conceptualisation of disadvantaged youth, shaped dialogically by the interactions of theorising and data from a case study at Orange Farm informal settlement in South Africa in 2013. The study focused on the challenges for the young people in this area in accessing higher education. Drawing on Sen’s and Nussbaum’s capability approach, complemented by a theorisation of vulnerability by Misztal and of oppression by Young, the study illustrates how the concepts should be interconnected to generate a framework for understanding the experiences of multiply disadvantaged youth, as well as issues of equity for them in accessing HE. The paper highlights the need to understand young people’s experiences and aspirations using multidisciplinary theorising, in conversation with empirical lives. Overall, advantage is understood as having the freedoms (or capabilities) to live a life each person has reason to value, with genuine opportunities for secure functionings now and in the future. A disadvantaged life, by contrast, would have less or neither.