Compassion,Citizenship and Education in South Africa: An Opportunity for Transformation?

This study explores how citizenship education in South Africa is guided by liberal and communitarian concepts of citizenship. Its contention is that citizenship education, as it has evolved through policy discourses on Values, Education and Democracy, is heavily influenced by liberal and communitarian concepts of citizenship. Nonetheless, the liberal-communitarian concept of citizenship education is not sufficient on its own to bring about educational transformation in institutions. Instead, citizenship education initiatives in South Africa need to promote a sense of compassion, motivating learners to take seriously the suffering of others. It is argued that such compassion represents a precondition of genuine educational transformation.     

Compassion, Citizenship and Education in South Africa: An Opportunity for Transformation?

This study explores how citizenship education in South Africa is guided by liberal and communitarian concepts of citizenship. Its contention is that citizenship education, as it has evolved through policy discourses on Values, Education and Democracy, is heavily influenced by liberal and communitarian concepts of citizenship. Nonetheless, the liberal-communitarian concept of citizenship education is not sufficient on its own to bring about educational transformation in institutions. Instead, citizenship education initiatives in South Africa need to promote a sense of compassion, motivating learners to take seriously the suffering of others. It is argued that such compassion represents a precondition of genuine educational transformation.     

Concepts in Conflict: Students and Customers–An Australian Perspective

ABSTRACT

Increasingly, pressure is being brought to bear on Australian academics as service providers in the higher education ‘industry.’ Students are attracted to universities by marketing and promotion activities which inculcate the perception that the student is a customer. Furthermore, education is being treated by various governments as a commodity which may be purchased by customers in a free market system. The authors argue that students are not customers in the sense currently recognised by business. An alternative view of the customer base of an institution is put forward. This alternative more effectively accounts for the variety of interests that must be served by the higher education industry.     

Resource Provision in Primary Schools—An Australian Perspective

Abstract

This article gives an Australian perspective on resource provision in primary (elementary) schools. The overall current context is firstly outlined against the background of economic rationalism and devolution in schools. The conclusion reached is that primary schools regard themselves as a disadvantaged group in the area of resourcing, and supports the view that action should be taken to reverse this situation. A framework for conceptualizing resources as a partnership of human and non‐human factors with the supremacy of human resources is advanced. Finally, the notion of equality is explored and suggestions made for future developments, with a view to making resourcing more equitable in schools.     

An Integrated Perspective of Humanism and Supernaturalism for Education: C. S. Lewis’s Version of Education

This paper explores some theoretical reflections on the connection between C. S. Lewis’s thoughts on the purpose and process of education and his understanding of supernatural human nature which has been relatively little explored. An introduction about Lewis’s career as a college teacher blends into the background of this paper. It is followed by Lewis’ argument on the purpose of education which is: To produce a “good man” (“human”) who pursues knowledge for the sake of learning and makes the right emotional and behavioural responses, affirming truly objective and universal values (Tao). Intertwined with this argument is the dual reality of the human condition straddling this world and the other one with the latter taking precedence over the former. In order to produce educated men and women, Lewis argues for making the most of literary experiences and liberal studies as a main avenue toward the transformation of the inner self of each student. These literary experiences need to be combined with a healthy dose of the right action and behaviour because deliberate action with a purpose can create a reality in our character through the process of gaining momentum as a real interest or attitude in that direction takes hold. Lastly, some of the implications of these reflections for those who work with the young in schools and in liberal education are drawn out.     

British and French Evaluation of International Higher Education Issues: an identical political reality?1

In both Britain and France, evaluation has been seen as one element of national strategies to internationalise higher education (HE), with the spread of evaluation indicating policy convergence. However, there are dangers in describing the cross‐national adoption of evaluation as an instance of policy transfer in higher education. This article compares two evaluation agencies, the French Comité National de l’Évaluation des Établissements Publics à caractère scientifique, culturel et professionnel (CNE) and the British Quality Assurance Agency (QAA), which have both been seen as guarantors of the quality of domestic HE, and concomitantly as elements in international HE promotion. It indicates considerable differences in the evaluation reports produced by each agency, and links these to the context in which they were produced: the institutional relationships between each agency, higher education institutions, and the state; and the general context of ‘evaluation’ in each country's public sphere. The article thus challenges analyses which have seen the proliferation of evaluation across national contexts as evidence of ‘policy transfer’ or of ‘homogenisation’. Instead, it shows how differences in an ostensibly similar ‘product’, the ‘quality reports’ produced by each agency, reflect the institutional context of evaluation and its role in public policy writ large.     

Children’s Perspective on Learning: An International Study in Denmark,Estonia, Germany and Sweden

This article explores how some children in Denmark, Estonia, Germany and Sweden describe their perspective on learning. The aim of the international study is to gain knowledge of how preschool children in Sweden, Denmark, Estonia and Germany reflect and perceive their learning in preschool and other surrounding social contexts. The results are based on 51 focus group interviews from 181 children. The results indicate that, in general, children from all four countries seem to be aware of their own learning. One can conclude that encouraging children to think about what they are doing and why they are doing it makes the activities more goal-oriented from the children’s perspective and thus more conscious. Children are able to describe their own perspectives on learning.     

Transferred and Adapted Models of Secondary Education in Ghana: What Implications for National Development?

The secondary-education models implemented in Ghana since colonial times constitute a classic case of educational transfer and adaptation. Transferred from England, and in recent years the United States of America and Japan, these models have had a significant impact on Ghana's development in diverse ways. Yet educational research on Ghana has under-recognized this important issue of educational transfer and adaptation, especially the relationship between these transferred models and national development. This study addresses such neglect by first focusing on those institutions that served as prototypes. Second, it appraises the models pointing out their implications for national development. It is contended that the foreign models that were adapted (indigenised) have been significant instruments for the human- resource and socio-political development of Ghana. However, their emphasis on the academic type of education ultimately has tended to create a situation of dependency particularly with respect to techno-scientific and economic development.     

Transferred and Adapted Models of Secondary Education in Ghana: What Implications for National Development?

The secondary-education models implemented in Ghana since colonial times constitute a classic case of educational transfer and adaptation. Transferred from England, and in recent years the United States of America and Japan, these models have had a significant impact on Ghana's development in diverse ways. Yet educational research on Ghana has under-recognized this important issue of educational transfer and adaptation, especially the relationship between these transferred models and national development. This study addresses such neglect by first focusing on those institutions that served as prototypes. Second, it appraises the models pointing out their implications for national development. It is contended that the foreign models that were adapted (indigenised) have been significant instruments for the human- resource and socio-political development of Ghana. However, their emphasis on the academic type of education ultimately has tended to create a situation of dependency particularly with respect to techno-scientific and economic development.     

Cultural Issues in Secondary Education Development in West Africa: Away from colonial survivals,towards neocolonial influences?

The urban areas of Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) have become sites for cultural and educational convergence, as well as the reproduction of the élite as a class, far more than the rural areas. The urban secondary schools in cities such as Accra and Cape Coast in Ghana, and the lycées in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, serve as sites for the realization of these goals. Here, the cultural pull and push factors arising from West Africa's 'triple cultural heritage' that is African, EuroChristian and Islamic have placed considerable strain and stress on secondary school students and secondary education as a whole. This situation has been further complicated in recent years by the interplay of cultural pull and push factors emanating from the West, especially Britain, France and the United States. This complicated postcolonial condition with its implications for nation-building and development in Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire constitutes the subject of analysis in this article. It is argued that the cultural pull and push factors and the forces of globalization emerging from the West tend to move secondary education and secondary school students in both countries towards neocolonial influences.