South African Education Research Articles

Institutionalized inequities and the cloak of equality in the South African educational context

The spread of neoliberalism in the South African education system provides a template for ways that regimes co-opt the values of excellence and equality while implementing policies that contradict these values. Specifically, South Africa’s education system is “cloaked” in equality, although institutionalized inequality persists long beyond the end of the Apartheid system. Neoliberal education policies legitimize the expectation that “excellence” (i.e., quality) and “equality” are synonymous, which is what leads to the development of a “cloak of equality.” But, in practice, these equivocations become mutually contradictory, as the South African context suggests. This paper examines selected elements of neoliberalism as they are embedded within the South African education system and connects those elements to the development of a symbolic “cloak of equality” that masks institutionalized inequities within the broader system.

Can COVID-19 bring about 20/20 acuity in education scholarship in South Africa?

This leading article to this special issue on “COVID-19: Opportunity to rethink and to restructure education in the world” is an overarching position paper, drawing on contributions made in papers in this issue, to argue the case that there is a compelling need to overhaul education research, in South Africa in particular, and that the COVID-19 pandemic has created an opportunity to do so. The South African education scene is surveyed and the survey reveals enormous challenges along all three dimensions of education supply: quantitative, qualitative and equality. The education sector in South Africa is clearly in need of guidance from the education research community. Education research activity, globally and in South Africa in particular, is surveyed and found to be seriously wanting in terms of the lack of theory, autochthonous and a unified, coherent theory, the small scale and fragmented nature of many research projects, the lack of practical impact, education scholars eschewing subscription to and building a normative superstructure in their research and the concrete problems of the education faculty regarding heavy teaching loads and difficulty in attracting funding for education research. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and the ravages it has brought to education have created the need and the opportunity to urgently and enthusiastically attend to these desiderata in Education scholarship.

An Evolving Model of Knowledge Management in Education and the South African Reality

Concepts of Knowledge Management struck three educators in Gauteng, South Africa, and inspired them to devise a Knowledge Management model for education and schools. The model is focused on how Knowledge Management is sandwiched between the country’s educational policies and the bedrock of literacy and reading. It encompasses the Constitution, common value systems, common leadership/management skills and professional values, inherited language skills and cultural knowledge and lifestyles, general knowledge, information/literacy/digital/IT skills, Intellectual Capital and collaboration between educational entities, school librarians and colleagues, communities and stakeholders. The model highlights the many challenges existing in South African education and further inspired the three educators to consider their own achievements as School Librarians – one at a Public/Government High School and the other at a Public/Government Primary School. The High School Librarian has used IT to promote reading to great effect, while the Primary School Librarian has made important strides in helping her subject/learning area colleagues to teach Information Literacy.

Is isiZulu a ‘problem or a ‘resource’? Engineering students’ perceptions of teaching and learning in a multilingual context

Research and praxis in the field teaching and learning in the South African higher education context has been characterised by calls to expand the languages of teaching and learning through the inclusive use of African languages in higher education. Such calls are based on the realisation of the critical role that students’ home language can play in cognitive and linguistic development, among other things, in education. The focus of this paper is to ascertain the perceptions of students about the inclusive use of isiZulu, an African language, as a language of teaching and learning. Data were gathered through a survey which employed a questionnaire targeting 120 students from a Faculty of Engineering at a South African university of technology. The study found that students’ understanding of the use of isiZulu for teaching and learning conflated issues of language as ‘problem’ and ‘resource’. The study also discovered elements of language ambivalence. The paper argues that helping students to shift their perceptions from a ‘problem’ viewof language to a view of language as a ‘resource’ could enhance their learning.
 Keywords: African languages; IsiZulu; Teaching and learning; Higher education; South Africa

Gender Inequality and Intersectional Disadvantage among Students in South African Universities

Although policies to widen participation have been implemented in South African higher education since 1994, inequality of achievements persists in universities. The failure of the higher education policy to clearly define ‘disadvantage’ in various interventions seems to have contributed to the continuing inequalities. This study theorises disadvantage using the capabilities approach pioneered by Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum and argues for a more nuanced definition of disadvantage by exploring the opportunities, agency and achievements available to students in universities. The theorisation is based on findings from a qualitative case study of 26 semi-structured interviews conducted with students from one South African university. Using empirical findings, the theorisation in this study shows how the conversion factors intersect, resulting in some students achieving fewer functionings, which put them at a disadvantage. While gender equality seemingly has been achieved through enrolment figures that show parity levels, some female students are still disadvantaged through subtle forms of discrimination and sexual harassment in universities. This study therefore recommends that higher education policies should consider an expansive definition of disadvantage that encompasses the various dimensions of student wellbeing for all students to have flourishing lives.

The implementation of the progression policy in secondary schools of the Limpopo province in South Africa

Globally, policy implementation in the education system has been found to be a challenging area of development. The South African education system is no exception to the ineffective implementation of policies. For example, in South Africa, the progression policy was introduced by the Department of Education in 2013 for the purpose of minimising school drop-out rates. It was intended particularly for learners who had been retained for more than 4 years in a phase. However, progressed learners have been said to be contributing to the decline of Grade 12 national results in 2015 and 2016. We argue that due procedures in the implementation of this policy could have affected the performance of progressed learners, and in turn the overall matriculation results. A qualitative approach was followed and a descriptive case study design was adopted in the study reported on here. Data were collected through document analysis and semi-structured interviews from 2 secondary schools in the Dimamo circuit, Limpopo province. We found that the progression policy was not implemented according to the stipulations. Communication breakdown, negative teacher attitude, overcrowded classrooms, a lack of knowledge and support were found to be contributory factors in the ineffective implementation of the policy.

Lessons for South Africa from Singapore’s gifted education – A comparative study

Since 1999 South African learners have participated in various international studies but sadly the learners have continued to perform dismally, which brings to question the quality of their education. Meanwhile, Singaporean students have been among the top achievers in all these competitions. Many comparative studies have been done between different nations and Singapore, but in few, if any, of these studies the focus has been on comparisons regarding gifted education. Singaporean policies and practices on gifted education generally prioritise a commitment to engaging learners from all ability levels with appropriately challenging curricula and instruction. In this article we report on a comparative study between the Singaporean and South African education systems. Three frames, (a) political context (b) curriculum structure and (c) loose coupling shaped the analysis. Results show that both countries had similar challenges at the point of independence from colonial rule and yet, they responded differently to those challenges. Singapore implemented inclusive education driven by excellence while South Africa’s inclusive education is driven by equity without excellence. South Africa has a one-size-fits-all curriculum, whereas Singapore has alternatives that create multiple pathways for learners to reach their full potential. Although gifted education is being proposed in current South African pronouncements, there is no evidence of coherence in terms of its implementation. Meanwhile, Singapore has a coherent system that ensures their policies move from theory into practice. All these are lessons that South Africa can learn.

Development in South African Primary Mathematics Teacher Educators’ Work with In-Service Teachers

This paper focuses, empirically, on the developments seen in a group of South African early grades’ mathematics teacher educators in the course of a university-provincial education department partnership project. This project sought to support the district Mathematics Subject Advisers to support, in turn, teachers to implement an intervention consisting of a sequence of four lessons focused on multiplicative reasoning. Outcomes based on pre- and post-tests administered by the Subject Advisers suggested substantial pre- to post-test improvement at the student level. Subject Adviser observations and reflections pointed to successes in engendering more dialogic conversations between mathematics teachers and mathematics teacher educators focused on mathematics and its teaching and learning. The ‘double move’ of increasing overlap between the subject adviser and teacher communities, coupled with evidence that implementing the intervention had enabled the Subject Advisers to develop their mathematical and pedagogical understandings, provides a useful way of considering development in the capacity of mathematics teacher educators to support mathematics teaching and learning.

Gender, Age and Grade Level Differences in Psychological Factors among Immigrant Francophone Adolescent Learners in the South African School Setting

Psychological factors are important for boys or girls, depending on age and grade level. This study examines emotional regulation, aggressiveness, empathy, and sympathy, as psychological factors to peer interaction, manifest in adolescence. Eighty-three participants were conveniently and purposively selected at South African schools (N= 83, 52 girls and 31 boys, aged between 14 and 19 years). A psychological factors scale was purposively employed as a data collection instrument. The chi-square results partially confirmed previous results, namely, aggressiveness and sympathy, by gender and age. However, this did not apply to emotional regulation. This study recommended that the South African education system consider aggressiveness a psychological factor, playing a critical role in violence at schools among young adolescents.

Corporal punishment and gender equality: regimes of care and rights in South African schools

ABSTRACT Many policy interventions designed to achieve gender equality in education are predicated on the assumption that the enforcement of a human rights framework will promote equality and reduce (gender) inequalities. In South Africa, the ending of apartheid led to the introduction of a rights-based constitution in 1996. In line with this Constitution the education system was overhauled and a new Act, the South African Education Act of 1996 came into force. Despite one of the most progressive constitutions in the world and the authority of the Education Act, progress has been limited towards reducing gender inequality and gender-based violence. In this paper we focus on the continuing illegal use of corporal punishment (CP) to explore the limitations of a right-based approach to gender transformation in schools. Drawing on research undertaken in schools of vastly different socio-economic status we argue that rights-based approaches against CP resonate most in middle-class schools that have close links to formal work. In contrast, in other schools, certain types of CP have persisted often with the approval of parents and learners where they are thought of as a caring and necessary means to redress schooling inequities.

Towards decoloniality in a social work programme: a process of dialogue, reflexivity, action and change

Both students and scholars have identified the critical imperative to prioritize decolonization and pedagogical and curriculum transformation in South African higher education institutions. The ongoing context of coloniality, persistent race-based inequalities and hegemonic Western-centric epistemologies led to the Rhodes and Fees Must Fall protests by students at South African universities. As a result of the questions raised by students during these protests, the Department of Social Work at the University of Johannesburg (UJ) embarked on a process of working towards decoloniality in their social work programme. This paper describes the unfolding critical participatory action research process toward decoloniality undertaken by this department. Various theoretical perspectives, including communicative action, reflexivity and ‘decolonising the mind’ informed the process of decoloniality that began at the UJ Department of Social Work. The process of critical reflection, dialogue, analysis, development of methodologies and initial implementation of changes that were used in this department may offer useful insights for working towards decoloniality in other academic settings.

Teaching ethnomusicology in times of trouble: a perspective from Johannesburg, South Africa

ABSTRACT Teaching ethnomusicology at a South African university as a white female in the context of the 2015–2016 national #FeesMustFall student protests presents a significant challenge. In this article, I discuss the context of Euro-American scholarship on the ethnomusicologist as pedagogue and compare this to the situation in South Africa, using the framing devices of three main statements, namely that all musics are equal, that a culturally diverse music education (and education in ethnomusicology) is beneficial for students and that teaching strategies for instilling broader understanding, openness and compassion should be prioritised over what musics are taught in the actual curriculum. Reflecting on pedagogy in tertiary education in this field at this particular time, I present certain strategies that have assisted in my own teaching practice. It is hoped that this work will contribute towards the broader discussion surrounding South African tertiary music education.

Reshaping our musical values: decolonising teaching and curricular frameworks in the Eastern Cape

ABSTRACT Musical ideals set by European standards and values, entrenched through colonial oppression and promoted by the continued veneration of Western culture need to be re-evaluated. This short essay in an alternative format of a critical report records the development and implementation of an African instrumental music studies course at Rhodes University, introduced to re-value and promote African ways of making and interacting with music. As a result of in-depth research with regard to the ailing Indigenous African Music (IAM) syllabus in the South African national school music curriculum, this university-level course has been designed to generate future teachers and culture-bearers who will possess a deeper understanding of, and feeling for, Indigenous African musics and who, as a result, will be able to engage with African musics through teaching and learning. Highlighting the crisis in South African music education decolonisation, this paper will also present other proposed solutions to this problem.

Multilingual Assessment: Levelling the Cognition–Emotion Playing Field at the University of the Western Cape

This article examines the relatively understudied question of how cognition and emotion (as induced by language) interact in assessment situations in higher education contexts. It does so against the backdrop of different outcomes for students with varying forms of linguistic cultural capital in South African higher education. Applying phenomenology as methodology, we unpack the ways in which students at the University of the Western Cape experience both monolingual and multilingual assessment from the standpoint of the cognition– emotion interface. The findings show that while monolingual assessment created affective barriers to cognition, a far more enabling environment was created by the provision of alternative multilingual linguistic arrangements. The article reflects on the implications of the analysis both for levelling the playing field in a context where language is a major source of inequality and for scholarship on language in assessment.

Students’ Challenges and Opportunities in Learning isiZulu at a South African Higher Education Institution

Students’ Challenges and Opportunities in Learning isiZulu at a South African Higher Education Institution

Validation of the Pier Framework for Healthcare Simulation Integration in Undergraduate South African Physiotherapy Education

Validation of the Pier Framework for Healthcare Simulation Integration in Undergraduate South African Physiotherapy Education

Towards Meaningful Decolonisation: The Role of Engaged Anthropology and Academic Coaching in the Decolonisation Project in South African Higher Education

Towards Meaningful Decolonisation: The Role of Engaged Anthropology and Academic Coaching in the Decolonisation Project in South African Higher Education

Recontextualising the teaching of commercial transactions law for an African university

This article reflects on the changing political environment in South African higher education and offers one potential view of the future of contract law teaching in the twenty-first century. Specifically, the author discusses changes made to the final-level LLB course, Commercial Transactions Law, at the University of Cape Town. These changes were inspired by the #MustFall protest movements and also incorporated the requirements of the South African Council on Higher Education’s 2018 report on the LLB degree. In essence, this involved a recontextualisation of the component topics to speak to a broader range of student life experiences, as well as an attempt to incorporate more materials focused on social justice or which are characteristically ‘African’.

AN EXPLORATION OF THE PROGRESSION POLICY AND ITS EF

This article examines the Progression Policy and its effects on learner achievement in the Further Education and Training Phase (Grades 10 to 12) amongst five underperforming public secondary schools in Pinetown. Since the adoption of the Progression Policy, the pass rate noticeable declined between 2014 and 2016. Thus, the Progression Policy is used in this study as an analytical framework, whilst the qualitative research design was used to gather data. The faceto-face semi-structured interviews, as well as focus group discussions with educators and principals, served as data collection methods. This study emphasized challenges attributed to the implementation of the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement and the Progression Policy in the Pinetown District. The study further revealed that the South African education system, from the Foundation Phase level all the way up, is plagued by serious challenges. The identified challenges include a lack of parental support, learner absenteeism, learner indiscipline, learner demotivation, resource allocation, and teacher-learner ratios. The results also revealed that the socioeconomic environment contributes to a dysfunctional condition in schools, which has a negative influence on the teaching and learning experience amongst educators and learners. Thus, the study proposes the reconfiguration of the Progression Policy alongside practicable and relatable recommendations inconsonance to study.

Promoting fair individual labour dispute resolution for South African educators accused of sexual misconduct (part 2)

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