Making secondary education relevant for all: reflections on science education in an expanding sub-sector

Abstract

This think piece focuses on relevance in secondary science education to propose a research agenda for contexts in sub-Saharan Africa, where enrolments are expanding from a low base. The notion of sustainable work is used to consider what kind of science education is relevant for students who will continue to become science specialists and those who will apply their science knowledge in non-specialist paid and unpaid roles. Drawing on insights from the literature on science and indigenous knowledge, on education for sustainable development and sociolinguistic analysis of science classrooms, it is argued that making connections between informal and formal knowledge is essentially the work of secondary education. Understanding secondary education in these terms highlight its vital contribution to addressing sustainable development, which at its heart recognises the interconnectedness of human and natural systems.     

Clustering schools to improve teacher professional development: Lessons learnt from a Zimbabwean case study

Abstract

Much still needs to be done to transform schooling in South Africa and provide education of equal quality to all learners. The notion of encouraging close collaboration between schools is widely accepted as a possible strategy to improve the quality of schooling in a particular geographical area. In this article, we discuss research conducted on the implementation of the Better Schools Programme cluster in Zimbabwe (BSPZ), a system of inter-school collaboration aiming at improving the quality of teaching and learning at the member schools. One of the primary objectives was to enhance teachers’ professional development by means of the establishment of professional infrastructure. Despite the shortcomings highlighted, our exploratory study brought to the fore potential advantages of school clusters as a type of formalised school collaboration which can indeed promote quality and equality in the South African schooling system.     

Private higher education in Africa: The case of Monash South Africa

Abstract

The aim of this paper was to review the contribution of private institutions to higher education in Africa and use Monash South Africa as a case study. A literature search was conducted to gain perspective on the current situation with respect to private higher education institutions in Africa and how they are perceived in relation to public higher education institutions.

In comparison with public higher education institutions, private higher education institutions in Africa were successful in four areas: ? Widening access to higher education in the continent

? Improving the quality of education

? Improving student experience

? Increasing the recognition and marketability of their degrees

However, private higher education institutions in Africa have failed in two areas: ? Reducing the costs of higher education in Africa

? Assisting with retention of skilled human capital in African countries.

In fact, private higher education institutions in Africa, have exacerbated the two situations above.

Monash South Africa was the first foreign university to be established in South Africa and one of over 100 private universities in the continent. As a campus of Monash University in Africa, it has seen a steady growth with over 3,500 students in the past 10 years of its existence. Like other private institutions, the campus was successful in the four areas above and also fails in the area of costs and assisting in retention of skilled staff in Africa. The campus has been successful in blending its private provider status with a public purpose mandate by offering degrees in social science, business and economics, information technology and health sciences.     

Tobephobia experienced by teachers in secondary schools: An exploratory study focusing on curriculum reform in the Nelson Mandela Metropole

Abstract

Because of its history from apartheid to democracy, the aspiration to reform schools is a recurrent theme in South African education. Efforts to reform education in schools based on the outcomes-based education (OBE) curriculum approach created major challenges for policy makers in South Africa. The purpose of this exploratory research was therefore to determine whether secondary school teachers lack the professional competence to cope with curriculum reform and whether this incompetence results in them experiencing Tobephobia (TBP). The qualitative research method was used to conduct this investigation. Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with 50 teachers in 25 public secondary schools in the Nelson Mandela Metropole. In terms of their responses, it was evident that the teachers’ concerns about their professional competencies associated with the OBE curriculum had a negative impact on their ability to implement curriculum changes in their classrooms. The comparison of OBE with the syllabus by the teachers evoked their bias towards the traditional syllabus approach in maintaining the quality of education for all learners. Because of the historical bag gage associated with the syllabus in South Africa, it is recommended that a standards approach to the curriculum be considered by the Department of Education to resolve the curriculum problems in secondary schools. The responses from the teachers in this exploratory study once again affirmed the existence of TBP in secondary schools.     

South African contributions to LGBTI education issues

ABSTRACT

South Africa stands out in the African region for its protection of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) rights. This article examines South Africa’s contributions to local policy for LGBTIs and to work on LGBTI issues in education policy and education rights progress internationally. It also considers broader South African contributions to the theorisation of gender and sexuality. Data derive from an analysis of 102 interviews with key informants participating in high-level global networking for LGBTI students’ rights, and documentary analysis showing how stakeholders characterise South African contributions to transnational LGBTI education work. Informants identified how such contributions have a strong human rights emphasis, furthering post-colonial resistance to simplistic gender and sexuality classification schema imposed via imperial colonising dynamics. While South African work in this area has also promoted and facilitated research, it has at times been limited by ambivalence from its leadership. The nation’s early adoption of constitutional rights, relationship rights and educational equity provisions as acts of decolonisation contribute valuable African LGBTI work examples to the region. Their success encourages further funding for South-South transnational LGBTI education work.     

No Pain No Gain? Reflections on Decolonisation and Higher Education in South Africa

Abstract

Calls for the decolonisation of higher education in South Africa have been punctuated by comments on black pain. This is not surprising if it is acknowledged that violence inordinately marks so much of South African life. What is rarely discussed though is the idea that pain has also come to be fetishised. Pain, for example, is valued as a pedagogical means. While invoking notions of the decolonisation of education that cohere with humanisation, the authors critically reflect on the ways in which pain remains a dehumanising feature of higher education in South Africa. In doing so, they hope to start a discussion around issues seldom addressed more than in deeply felt sentiments that are rarely clarified and defined in terms of their importance for the transformation and decolonisation of higher education.     

Teacher educators’ professional journeys: pedagogical and systemic issues affecting role perceptions

ABSTRACT

Teacher educators in many countries share similar concerns as they aspire to improve education for learners and stimulate interest in further study and careers. The roles and professional development of school teachers have been researched, but little attention has been given to teacher educators. Using a small-scale, illuminative study in England and South Africa, this paper examines pedagogical implications of progression from classroom teacher to teacher educator-tutor. Systemic issues include attitudes to personal scholarship in moving to high stakes academic environments requiring research. In both countries, there were issues of student teachers’ subject knowledge and their capacity to translate knowledge for learners. South African teacher educators were concerned about student teachers’ lack of appreciation of the integrity of conceptual understanding and sequencing of topic content. Implications for the professional development of teacher educators and their role identities are considered.     

Cultivating the next generation of academics in South Africa

Abstract

The academic workplace is experiencing numerous changes in South Africa and around the world, including increasing managerialism, declining governmental funding and massification of university systems. Global trends have impacted South Africa, and additional local contextual factors combine to create a situation in which the pool of prospective academics is limited, particularly with regard to individuals from diverse backgrounds, at the same time as vacancies for academic staff are expected to increase. In order to address the question of who will become the next generation of academics in South Africa, the author investigates potential barriers to developing academics through qualitative research conducted with postgraduate students, academic staff and administrators at two higher education institutions. Two central thematic categories are explored—induction into postgraduate studies and induction into the academic profession. The author posits that systematic socialization, both into postgraduate studies and into the academic profession, is a vital link toward cultivating emerging academics to fill academic positions for an equitable workplace in South African higher education institutions.     

Teachers as change agents in making teaching inclusive in some selected rural schools of Limpopo Province,South Africa: implications for teacher education

ABSTRACT

This paper reports on teachers as change agents to implement inclusive education in some rural secondary schools in South Africa. The study followed a qualitative case study research methodology. Eight teachers were recruited to form part of the study through a purposive sampling strategy. Data were collected through interviews, observations and document analysis. The study found that: (a) teachers were resilient in the face of lack of resources to implement inclusive education, (b) teachers did their best despite lack of capacity to implement inclusive education, (c) teachers showed the willingness to effect change, and (d) when they collaborated with others, they achieved more. These findings have at least four implications for teacher education: One that institutions should train teachers to survive with meagre resources. Two, professional development initiatives should be planned to capacitate teachers on inclusive education. Three, teacher education institutions should develop programmes that include models of teacher agency such as the one displayed by these teachers. Four, teacher education should develop programmes that teach teachers how to collaborate with parents and other stakeholders to make inclusive education possible.     

非洲高等教育与经济发展的关系新探

非洲高等教育发展缓慢。长期以来人们认为,在非洲,初等教育和中等教育对经济发展的推动作用大于高等教育。因此,非洲政府比较重视初等教育和中等教育的发展,忽视了高等教育的发展。然而,最新的有关高等教育与经济发展的研究表明:高等教育的教育收益率比原来所认为的要高得多。以世界银行为代表的国际组织也开始重视非洲高等教育的发展。在种种原因推动下,近年来非洲高等教育的发展出现了新迹象。     

Managing the GAP between rich and poor? Biopolitics and (ab)normalized inequality in South African education for sustainable development

Abstract

The extreme inequality in South African education is well-documented by researchers. There is also a rich literature concerned with education for sustainable development (ESD) in the country. The relationship between these two phenomena has, however, been sparsely investigated. Drawing on biopolitical theory and fieldwork conducted in South Africa, this paper queries how ESD programmes handle the lifestyle gap that separates rich and poor populations. The article demonstrates how ESD, through ostensible sensitivity to local ‘realities’, is adjusted to comply with different socio-economic living conditions, and how different roles are assigned to rich and poor in the quest for sustainable development. This differentiation, it is argued, can be understood biopolitically. The paper further argues that the differentiation between populations in rich and poor settings implies a depoliticized notion of local ‘realities’ as something isolated and given, rather than relational and produced. While the overall findings suggest that ESD unfolds through a regime of practice wherein inequality has become effectively normalized, the paper also points to rare disruptive moments where the normal is rendered abnormal. Ultimately it is argued that the South African case is a useful entry-point for discussing generic problems of globally implementing ESD in an enormously unequal world.     

WhatsApp use among African international distance education (IDE) students: transferring,translating and transforming educational experiences

ABSTRACT

Much of the research on how social media is embedded into the educational practices of higher education students has a Western orientation. In concentrating on a case study of the varied ways in which African International Distance Education (IDE) students actively use social media to shape their learning experiences, we discuss an under-researched group. The paper draws on analysis of 1295 online questionnaires and 165 in-depth interviews with IDE students at UNISA, South Africa, one of the largest providers of IDE globally. WhatsApp emerges as ‘the’ key social media tool that opens up opportunities for IDE students to transfer, translate and transform their educational journey when studying ‘at a distance’. Although WhatsApp does provide a ‘space of opportunity’ for some students, this is framed through socio-technical marginalisation, itself a reflection of demographic legacies of inequality. Exploring social media practices though the case of African IDE students places these students centre stage and adds to the awareness of the multiple centres from which international education is practiced.     

Educational change in post-conflict contexts: reflections on the South African experience 20 years later

ABSTRACT

Reflecting on South African experience, this paper develops an analytical framework using the work of Henri Lefebvre and Nancy Fraser to understand why socially just arrangements may be so difficult to achieve in post-conflict reconstruction. The paper uses Lefebvre's analytic to trace three sets of entangled practices (perceived–conceived–lived) as evident in education in post-apartheid South Africa in order to illustrate the complexity that is entailed in a particular moment of social reconstruction. Coupled with this approach, It draws on Fraser's analytic to show how the different forms of social injustice and their different remedies (redistribution–recognition–representation) may easily shift and slip in times of complex change. The paper shows that post-conflict reconstruction in education requires a number of different social practices that are not easily orchestrated.     

Promoting sustainable development through whole school approaches: an international,intercultural teacher education research and development project

This paper focuses on a British Council funded Higher Education Link project involving three institutions—Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) in the UK and two South African institutions, the University of South Africa (UNISA) and Rhodes University. The link is a research and development project that has three main research strands: contextual profiling that will establish the applicability of a European teacher education project to the South African context, evaluative materials development and piloting predicated on a respect for indigenous and contextual knowledge, and impact analysis that will examine the role of multidirectional intergenerational mentoring in disseminating messages about sustainable lifestyles. The project is strongly influenced by the South African Revised National Curriculum statements pertaining to environment and an analysis of the impact that these materials have had on promoting whole school approaches to environmental education in South Africa. The link's initial purpose is to develop advanced certificate in education (ACE) course materials that will promote whole school approaches to environmental education, based on developing concepts of collaboration, pupil participation, educational process and action in schools in South Africa. Materials from the MMU‐based, European Commission funded Sustainability Education in European Primary Schools (SEEPS) Project will be adapted for use in South Africa by UNISA and Rhodes.

This paper reports on the development of the project and explores some of its activities and results to date. It documents how the project team approached the integrating redevelopment of SEEPS ideas and materials to use these resources in the design of continuing professional development (CPD) activities for ACE courses in environmental education at UNISA and Rhodes. The second section is written in semi‐dialogue form to try to reflect the nature of the discussions that occurred between the partners in the link during meetings in the UK. This dialogue outlines the conceptual and philosophical background to the SEEPS Project before examining continuities and tensions that arose in clarifying and situating guiding perspectives for CPD and whole school approaches in and for South African school contexts through the medium of teacher education. The paper also reviews how the South African team are interacting with ideas and materials from SEEPS to clarify whole school approaches to environmental education in South Africa and discusses the contexts within which the outcomes of the link will unfold.     

African(a) philosophy of education and deliberative university teaching

Abstract

This article explores the notion of an African(a) philosophy of education and its implications for university teaching in South Africa. African(a) philosophy of education brings into sharper focus the need to reconceptualise university teaching in South Africa, particularly along the lines of deliberative inquiry. This article examines constitutive meanings of African(a) philosophy of education and what it means for teachers both to be deliberative and to cultivate deliberation.     

The effectiveness of a course for helping educators cope with the demands of the IQMS

Abstract

In 2004, the South African Education and Labour Relations Council announced that an agreement had been reached to integrate several existing programmes on quality management in education into a new programme entitled Integrated Quality Management System (IQMS) for School-based educators. In order to help educators in a particular Province of South Africa to cope with the demands of this programme, an Advanced Certificate in Education was instituted. The first cohort of teacher-students taking this particular ACE was subsequently subjected to an empirical survey intended to determine the effectiveness of the training. It was found that although the ACE was deemed to be generally helpful for meeting the IQMS requirements, it also failed in several respects. The survey also exposed several aspects of outcomes-based education with which school educators seem to be constantly struggling. Certain changes will have to be made to the ACE itself, but also to the current South African outcomes-based curriculum approach.     

A University and Local School Partnership: Utilizing Tension as a Catalyst for Growth

ABSTRACT

Intending to foster a partnership between his university and a local school and to create a new identity as a teacher educator in the community, a newly hired assistant professor of English education offered support to a secondary English department and ended up working extensively with the teachers (planning, observing, giving feedback, reflecting, and modeling lessons by teaching classes). This self-study examines the experience of the teacher educator as he navigated this 2-year commitment. A systematic analysis of all data collected (detailed journal, observation notes, debriefing notes, correspondence, and transcribed interviews) reveals how the conditions that allow tensions to become productive – a need for interaction, a willingness to engage in commonalties and differences, a sense of value for various skill-sets, and a suspension of judgment for the good of the community – within an emerging community of practice offered opportunities of professional growth for teachers and a teacher educator. This research provides insight into how university professors can better recognize and understand the conditions that allow perceived tensions to function as catalysts for professional development, offering an example of how to improve collaborative relationships between teacher education programs in higher education and K-12 school districts.     

千年发展目标进程中的博茨瓦纳中等教育改革

联合国千年发展目标对非洲国家的基础教育产生了积极的影响。其中,博茨瓦纳是撒哈拉以南非洲国家中基础教育发展最好的国家之一。博茨瓦纳以中等教育改革为重点推动基础教育千年目标的进程。其改革措施包括:通过建立多元化的教育体制,加大对教育的投入;通过基础教育课程的改革,解决政策的适切性和课程设置的合理化等。同时,博茨瓦纳中等教育的发展也存在着一些困境和挑战。     

撒哈拉以南非洲中等教育改革分析

随着"非洲千年计划"的实施,撒哈拉以南非洲地区的基础教育得到了迅速发展,其发展的重点逐渐由小学教育转向相对薄弱的中等教育。为了加快非洲全民教育目标与千年发展目标的进程,世界银行和撒哈拉以南非洲各国政府对该地区的中等教育的体制和机制进行了改革,在教育经费、教学质量、课程和学校权力下放等方面推行了一系列的改革政策。经过几年的努力,改革虽然取得了一些成效,但是仍然存在很多制约实现改革目标的因素。     

Revisiting China’s Africa policies and educational promises: towards a global convergence of development in the post-2015 era?

ABSTRACT

Comparing China’s 2006 and 2015 Africa policies, this article reveals how China’s political discourse has become more confident, practical, and depoliticised. In particular, this paper shows how education is allocated, promised, and embedded in China’s ‘shared’ agenda, which is centred on development co-operation and mutual learning. It then reflects on the extent to which China may move towards traditional donors. This paper concludes that, despite fragmented convergences in the discourse and an increased recognition of a Chinese model, China maintains its distinctive role and position in the post-2015 era.