Access to higher education in South Africa: expanding capabilities in and through an undergraduate photovoice project

ABSTRACT

There is a gap in research on access to universities in South Africa. The research that exists focuses on quantitative methodologies, although some qualitative studies are now emerging. These research methodologies, although necessary and substantial for the development of equity measures and policies, might be less successful in their impact on the local context, on research participants and in expanding what counts as knowledge in the university. In this paper, participatory research, which has not been used to research access, is explored. The paper seeks to go beyond the instrumentalization of research participants – especially those from low-income households – highlighting the potential of using multi-strategy research, in which participatory elements are included as a way to foster both participants’ human development and local impact. Drawing on a research project on access to higher education in South Africa, the paper demonstrates that by including participatory elements (in this case photovoice) has the potential to operationalize Appadurai’s notion of the ‘right to research’ among undergraduates. Using data, including processes, observations, workshops, interviews, and visual narratives from a participatory photovoice project, the findings highlight how methodological plurality creates space for locally and relevant knowledge production, challenging epistemic barriers and fostering human development among the research participants.     

What troubles early childhood educators in New Zealand: a 20-year cross-sectional study of ethical difficulties in early childhood practice

For more than 20 years, the New Zealand early childhood (EC) sector has had guidance about how to deal with situations of ethical difficulty in daily practice through the ECE Code of Ethics. This paper reports on three surveys undertaken at 10-year intervals that sought to understand EC educators’ experiences of such situations, and how they addressed them within their EC settings. An analysis of educators’ stories of ethically troubling situations from the three data-sets traced shifts and similarities in the content reported, and in how educators responded to these challenges over the two-decade period. We situate this analysis alongside changes in the New Zealand ECE policy context during the same time frame. We argue that a connection exists between the reported situations and teachers’ responses to them, and changes within the policy and professional context of daily EC practice.     

An Onto-Semiotic Analysis of Combinatorial Problems and the Solving Processes by University Students

In this paper we describe an ontological and semiotic model for mathematical knowledge, using elementary combinatorics as an example. We then apply this model to analyze the solving process of some combinatorial problems by students with high mathematical training, and show its utility in providing a semiotic explanation for the difficulty of combinatorial reasoning. We finally analyze the implications of the theoretical model and type of analysis presented for mathematics education research and practice.     

A chronology of Hong Kong’s umbrella movement: January 2013–December 2014

Abstract

The Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong is a 79 days political protest and occupy campaigns in major areas in the city. This chronology lists the key events prior to and during the movement.     

What drives teacher engagement: a study of different age cohorts

Despite the growing body of research on work engagement, little is known about what drives work engagement among different age cohorts. This study aims to investigate whether engagement varies across age cohorts and examine the job resources that foster teacher engagement. A questionnaire was distributed to 537 teachers who were employed in elementary, lower and upper secondary school. Findings show that work engagement did indeed vary across the diverse age group and is influenced by different resources. In line with previous studies, data revealed that the engagement of younger teachers is driven by the opportunity for development and interaction with colleagues, while older employees appreciate the opportunity to see their competencies acknowledged. What is most noteworthy is the opportunity to design practices and to provide every age group with the appropriate set of motivators.     

Validating a model of effective teaching behaviour and student engagement: perspectives from Spanish students

Research consistently shows that teaching behaviour is a highly-important indicator of learning environments. Based on a teacher effectiveness model with six observable teaching behaviour domains (safe learning climate, efficient classroom management, clarity of instruction, activating teaching, teaching–learning strategies, and differentiation), the present paper examines the psychometric quality of the My Teacher questionnaire for capturing student perceptions of teaching behaviour in the Spanish secondary-education context. Additionally, this study validated the model of teaching behaviour and student engagement and its relevance in Spain. 7114 students of 410 teachers attending 56 public and private Spanish schools constituted the sample. The six teaching behavioural dimensions model were confirmed in the Spanish context. Regarding student academic engagement, the presence of two domains (behavioural and emotional engagement) were confirmed. Furthermore, results of a multiple-group structural equation modeling path analysis, examining the relationship between teaching behaviour and student engagement across different teaching experiences, revealed differential effects of teaching behaviour influences on students’ engagement. The percentage of explained variance was larger for emotional engagement than for behavioural engagement. Furthermore, teachers’ teaching experience explained differences in the relationship between perceived teaching behaviour and engagement. Two domains (learning climate and activating teaching) appeared to be the two most-important teaching domains for students’ behavioural engagement while, for emotional engagement, the most important domains for student engagement were learning climate and teaching learning strategies.

     

Women in the Academy: the politics of speech and silence

This paper examines women's voice and silence in the academy. It begins with a discussion of the theoretical underpinnings of feminine voice and silence, and then analyses the gendered production of girls'/women's voices throughout their schooling careers from the primary to university classroom. This is followed by a discussion of the contradictory politics of voice when differences clash among women (students) of colour. I argue here that ‘granting’ spaces for women's speech may be pedagogically desirable but has potentially silencing effects. In closing, I consider some pedagogical strategies that can potentially enable women to better partake in the management of their own academic, social, and political interests.     

Women faculty seeking tenure and parenthood: lessons from previous generations

This research explores the problems that women professors encounter when combining the pursuit of tenure with having and raising children. In‐depth interviews were conducted with 19 women academics at one Canadian university. These women believe that engaging in childbearing/childrearing practices prior to obtaining tenure is detrimental to their career progression.     

The Self‐evaluation of Teachers: a Strategy for the Improvement of Teaching at Higher Education Level

Teaching assessment at higher education level is required in order to improve the quality of teaching in universities. As both teaching staff and students are equally involved in the teaching/learning process, the views of both must be taken into account when determining the quality of teaching. Basically, a self‐evaluation process has two aspects. On the one hand, there is the source of information, the teacher in this particular case. He or she has the opportunity to reflect upon the actual teaching situation by evoking his or her own point of view in regard to his or her vision of reality even if it might be judged as a complementary view as opposed to other views. On the other hand, the objective of the process might be one either of providing a means of checking (process evaluation) or of improving (result evaluation). A detailed analysis of the two characteristics will enable us to appreciate properly their inter‐connectedness. This analysis, as well as the prior experience of the authors in the domain of teaching assessment within their university, enables them to present a model of self‐evaluation applicable to the context in which they are working.