South African Experience Research Articles

The Role of Data Handling in Teaching and Learning of Mathematics in Grade7 Classes: South African Experience

Mathematics as a subject is an important subject that leads to the development of other scientific fields; in South Africa, the teaching of mathematics seems to experience major problems confronting educators, which are the lack of qualified teachers in the teaching of mathematics, particularly in data handling mostly in rural schools. The other factor is that the majority of learners studying through the medium of English are usually second or third language speakers. It has been noticeable that the education crisis has continued in post-apartheid South Africa. This study investigates the role of data handling in teaching and learning of mathematics among grade 7 students. A qualitative research approach was adopted with semi structure interview as the major instrument to elicit information from the respondents. In addition, document analysis was also used get information concerning the teacher and learners’ performance. One hundred and twenty-five participants (125) were chosen using simple random sampling techniques. The information gathered were coded, transcribed, and categorised according to the different themes. The findings revealed among others that, only 11% of the respondents specialised in mathematics; 78% said that their schools did not have enough teachers and learners support materials. Less than 60% of the respondents involved their learners during the teaching and learning and only 11% said that their students always do their homework. It was recommended among others that greater attention should be paid to the needs of larger number of students who currently learn very little useful mathematics; Major innovation is needed to develop a provision that meets the diverse needs of all our students and not just the most talented DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n23p1151

The Teaching and Learning of Data-Handling in Primary Schools: South African Experience

South Africa has achieved a lot in term of accessibility to education. According to the Consortium for Research on Educational Access, Transitions and Equity (CREATE, 2008), almost all children of school-going age (7 to 13 years) are enrolled in schools in South Africa. However, there are still some gaps between success and access in term of performance in some subjects especially mathematics. In fact the results of students in mathematics according to the Southern Eastern African Consortium for Monitoring Education Quality (SACMEQ) were of great concern. Therefore, the study explores some factors that affect the teaching and learning of data handling in mathematics at primary school. The study succinctly examines factors such as inability of the educators to explain and understand the curriculum according to Curriculum Assessment and Policy Statement (CAPS) that is, Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK); Subject Matter Knowledge (SMK) and Pedagogic Knowledge (PK), lack of qualified teachers to teach mathematic, lack of mathematics problem solving skills, language difficulties, inadequate statistical qualifications, and poor mastery of the prerequisite skills, fact and concepts. The study however, recommends among others that; the mathematics teachers should endeavour to identify what constitute challenges in mathematics. Especially in data handling oriented concepts, and devote more time to each of them in order to enhance students achievement, government needs to intensify teacher development to prepare educators for the implementation of the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) and pay special attention to the training of principals/educators DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n23p814

Education services and resilience processes: Resilient Black South African students' experiences

The resilience literature is increasingly drawing attention to formal service provision as a means for social ecologies to support children's and youths' positive adjustment to challenging life circumstances. This article interrogates the universality and simplicity of this argument. Using a secondary data analysis of the life stories of 16 resilient, Black South African students from impoverished families, we show that education services predominated students' childhood and youth experience of formal support and that there was scant experience of other formal services. We theorise that contextual and cultural specifics informed the dominance of education services. However, this service did not consistently facilitate resilience processes. When it did, education services were characterised by active teacher–community connectedness and student responsiveness. Moreover, education service providers (i.e., teachers and principals) engaged in supportive actions that went beyond the scope of typical teacher tasks. Thus, we suggest that formal service facilitation of resilience processes is complex. It requires collaborative activity that might well demand atypical service acts.

“I Would Say it Does Concern Me and on the Other Hand it Doesn't.” Perceptions of South African Learners' Experiences with Sex, Pregnancy, and HIV

AIDS Research and Human RetrovirusesVol. 30, No. S1 Pregnancy Intentions, Safe Conception and PMTCT“I Would Say it Does Concern Me and on the Other Hand it Doesn't.” Perceptions of South African Learners' Experiences with Sex, Pregnancy, and HIVCecilia Milford, Lizzie Moore, Mags Beksinska, Muriel Kubeka, Kedibone Sithole, Sibusiso Sibiya, Faith Smangele Luhthuli, and Jennifer SmitCecilia MilfordSearch for more papers by this author, Lizzie MooreSearch for more papers by this author, Mags BeksinskaSearch for more papers by this author, Muriel KubekaSearch for more papers by this author, Kedibone SitholeSearch for more papers by this author, Sibusiso SibiyaSearch for more papers by this author, Faith Smangele LuhthuliSearch for more papers by this author, and Jennifer SmitSearch for more papers by this authorPublished Online:30 Oct 2014https://doi.org/10.1089/aid.2014.5111.abstractAboutSectionsView articleView Full TextPDF/EPUB ToolsPermissionsDownload CitationsTrack CitationsAdd to favorites Back To Publication ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmail View article"“I Would Say it Does Concern Me and on the Other Hand it Doesn't.” Perceptions of South African Learners' Experiences with Sex, Pregnancy, and HIV." AIDS Research and Human Retroviruses, 30(S1), p. A62FiguresReferencesRelatedDetailsCited byExtra mouths to feed: The odds of young mothers engaging in transactional sexual relationships in South Africa4 June 2018 | Cogent Social Sciences, Vol. 4, No. 1 Volume 30Issue S1Oct 2014 InformationCopyright 2014, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.To cite this article:Cecilia Milford, Lizzie Moore, Mags Beksinska, Muriel Kubeka, Kedibone Sithole, Sibusiso Sibiya, Faith Smangele Luhthuli, and Jennifer Smit.“I Would Say it Does Concern Me and on the Other Hand it Doesn't.” Perceptions of South African Learners' Experiences with Sex, Pregnancy, and HIV.AIDS Research and Human Retroviruses.Oct 2014.A62-A62.http://doi.org/10.1089/aid.2014.5111.abstractPublished in Volume: 30 Issue S1: October 30, 2014PDF download

An Investigation into Some Lexical Ambiguities in Algebra: South African Experience

Many scholars in the field of mathematics education have written a lot about algebra. They commented that the simple and consistent rules for using abstract numbers and the shorthand symbols for mathematical verbs and operators in algebra evolved very slowly. Therefore, this study has revealed some of the lexical ambiguities in algebra aspect of mathematics. These ambiguities include among others; word problem in algebra, fallacies and hitches of word problem in algebra, linguistic complexity in algebra, proficiency in language of instruction problem just to mention but a few. The model for conceptualizing algebraic activity was no left behind. The study however recommends among others that there should be a paradigm shift in the method of teaching algebra and mathematics as a subject so as to enhance students’ academic performance. The choice of methodology especially the student-centred methods (contemporary methods of teaching) are very pertinent at this stage since researches have shown that many students have phobia for mathematics. Hence, there is need for teachers to update their knowledge about the problem solving skills that can be used as a panacea to mathematics phobia and algebra ambiguities. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n20p1243

'We have to be satisfied with the scraps': South African nurses' experiences of care on adult psychiatric intellectual disability inpatient wards.

Migrating nursing labour inadvertently reinforces South Africa's care drain, contributes to a global care crisis and forces us to reconsider migration motivation. This paper highlights issues that complicate psychiatric intellectual disability nursing care and identifies loci for change in an attempt to redress this care challenge. An exploratory descriptive-interpretivist method investigated nurses' experiences of psychiatric intellectual disability work. Sixteen free association narrative interviews were collected in 2013. Thematic analysis allowed findings to emerge from the data. Findings reflect a number of themes: 'relational interaction', 'care burden', 'system fatigue', 'infantilising dynamic of care' and 'resources for coping'. System fatigue contributes more to negative experiences of providing care than direct patient work, and nurses experience more relational reciprocity from patients than from institutional management. Organizations should meet nurses' needs for burnout prevention, afford them impact in implementing institutional controls, and engage in a non-exploitative and non-exclusionary way.

Mortality Improvements -- The Case of South Africa

We remedy the lack of quantified mortality improvement information for South Africa by deriving forecasts of the mortality trend based on the South African experience for the years 1996-2011 using the Lee-Carter (1985) and Cairns-Blake-Dowd (2006) models. We utilize a public health perspective to provide context to the modelled forecasts. Conversely, we discuss the possible benefits to public health policy provided by actuarial forecasts of mortality trends. Our results, which indicate a decreasing mortality trend for the geriatric population, are used to illustrate a range of annuity values and comment on the industry use of the PA(90) table. Lastly, we discuss possible implications of our forecast for future public health decision making and point the way to future research.

The Behaviour of South African Consumers Under Debt Counselling

Purpose: The National Credit Act, No. 34 of 2005, introduced debt counselling as a means to relieve consumer over-indebtedness in South Africa. This South African experience can inform the current regulatory interest in consumer protection within financial services. Why do many consumers who enter debt counselling subsequently fail to make the agreed payments as they enjoy legislated advantages under debt counselling? The consequential exit from debt counselling can ultimately lead to default on the underlying credit agreements and possible sequestration. Approach: Access to a large proprietary dataset allows this question to be answered. Expectations and techniques from consumer credit scoring were used to make sense of the data. Findings: Overall the results show that the behaviour of consumers under debt counselling is similar to consumer behaviour in consumer credit, yet more rational. South African consumers only persist with debt counselling whilst the benefits outweigh the costs indicating that debt counselling accomplished a partial transfer of power from financial institutions to consumers. Social implications: The results show that low-income consumers are not benefitting from debt counselling, in contrast to the aims of the National Credit Act, No. 34 of 2005. This is because they are not often taken on as clients by debt counselling firms and because low-income consumers rationally choose to withdraw from the debt counselling relationship by skipping payments. The results also show that the minority of a consumer’s credit agreements are included in their debt counselling arrangement. The evidence shows that consumers derive benefit from the lengthening of payment terms available under debt counselling. Limitations: Only data from a single debt counselling firm was considered and might not be representative of the entire population of debt counselled consumers. Variables related to exit from debt counselling could have been omitted from the regressions.

Contextualizing South Africa’s Freedom Songs

This article offers an examination of Lee Hirsch’s Amandla!: A Revolution in Four-Part Harmony. Beginning with the liberation songs that gained salience during the National Party’s implementation of apartheid policy in 1948 and ending with the struggle songs of a post-1994 democratic South Africa, the documentary’s aim is to retrieve and recount the role of freedom songs in antiapartheid struggle. Using the writings of Ernesto Laclau, John Mbiti, Paul Ricoeur, and Alfred Schutz, this essay will argue that liberation songs are ancestral text that were partly used by antiapartheid activists to create their collective identities. This essay will further argue that Amandla! set itself the task of retrieving South Africa’s liberation songs and liberation’s praise singers from the ancestral region John Mbiti calls Zamani to a region he calls Sasa. However, this essay will assert that the ancestral retrieval task of this documentary is compromised by the documentary’s privileging of the hegemonic groups within the African National Congress (ANC), the documentary’s presentation of the ANC as a monolithic and univocal organization, and the producer’s snowball sampling method. Arguing that this documentary relegates some of the South African struggle experiences into Zamani, this essay will attempt to correct these omissions and broaden the context of liberation songs.

Santu Mofokeng: Alternative Ways of Seeing (1996–2013)

Over the past 30 years, Santu Mofokeng has developed a radical and alternative photographic documentation of South African life. His work is mainly devoted to scenes of everyday life, but he has also been concerned with representing landscape in relation to history, memory, and trauma. Throughout his life, Mofokeng has also produced work that investigates spirituality, both as a part of black South African cultural and social experience, and in a more personal capacity. This article considers how Mofokeng’s work provides an opportunity to consider the spiritual and social challenges raised by the HIV epidemic in South Africa. Mofokeng has produced two photographic series which engage tangentially with the epidemic: Chasing Shadows and Child-headed Households. These two series strongly resist and challenge stereotypes associated with HIV and AIDS in South Africa and offer a powerful alternative way of visually and intellectually engaging with the impact of the epidemic.

On Photographs at War: Images of the South African 6th Armored Division in Italy 1944–1945

The photography of the South African 6th Armored Division campaign in Italy in the World War II affords this essay its occasion for a consideration of the relation of photography to the political and historical project to which it pretends. The essay takes a loosely semiotic interest in the “signification” of war and of time, extending the sense of that process to encompass not only the mediation of concepts of the world, but also their invention against the disordering current of time. Its analysis of photographic signs form the campaign offers some specific insights into the particulars of the South African experience in the Italian theater, but more into the general compact between photography and history.

The evolution and consolidation of the timeshare industry in a developing economy: The South African experience

The timeshare industry is one of most under-researched aspects of tourism accommodation. Within existing scholarship most writings pertain to industry development and challenges in the USA and Europe. This paper provides an examination of the evolution and consolidation of the timeshare industry in South Africa from the 1980s to the present-day. The South African timeshare industry is revealed as one of the most mature in the international timeshare economy. Historically, the industry confronted parallel challenges to those in developed countries in respect of adapting the product to local conditions and confronting a tarnished image from the impact of unscrupulous developers. Currently the South African timeshare sector faces different challenges including service management and consumer dissatisfaction, marginalization within the tourism economy, and the need to address the emerging Black middle class market.

European Union Constitutional Property Law

For European property lawyers, property is the law of things and this has been so for the past centuries. In this perspective, property law focuses on transactions of these things and is therefore transactional law. Increasingly there is a number of lawyers that considers property in a constitutional context. However, this is mostly done at a national level, or by comparing national constitutional property law, usually constitutional property provisions, to other countries. Constitutional property, I submit, is much more than just the national constitutional provision, and concerns the way in which property is to be understood, organised and applied in a legal order.In the EU legal order, which has a single or internal market, which is more than a mere sum of its components, there is a great need to rethink the position of property. The EU internal market is a social market economy to which fundamental principles of property law (freedom of ownership, free circulation of goods and freedom of contract) are inextricably linked. A change away from the market economy will bring great difficulties in the current composition of the EU legal order, as too many aspects are dealt with at the national level. The EU legal order relies heavily on the existence of these fundamental principles of property law in the systems of the Member States that ‘upload’ these to the EU level. EU economic constitutional law as well as EU social constitutional law can provide guidance for the development of EU (constitutional) property law. There is - borrowing from the South African experience - an algorithm for the development of property law in the EU, in which the primacy of regulation is with private parties, followed by the Member States who are all bound by the economic and social context provided for by EU law. That normative framework is not to be followed voluntarily, but comes with the method and thus with the force of supranational EU law, including direct effect, effet utile, and the principle of sincere cooperation between Member States. This is all balanced by the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality that keep the EU out of matters it should not concern itself with.

Inferior vena cava injuries: A case series and review of the South African experience

IntroductionPenetrating injury may involve the major vessels in the abdomen. Injury to the abdominal inferior vena cava (IVC) is uncommon and is usually caused by gunshot wounds. Mortality from IVC injuries is high and has changed little over time. AimThe aim of the study was to report a series of IVC injuries from an urban trauma unit and to compare this with reports from similar institutions. MethodA retrospective review of penetrating abdominal injuries at Kalafong Hospital from 1993 to 2010 was performed. All cases of injury to the IVC were retrieved and the following data recorded: patient demographics, incident history, origin of referral, description of the IVC injury, associated injuries, operative management, hospital stay and outcome. The results were compared to those from similar institutions. ResultsTwenty-seven patients with IVC injuries were treated. All were caused by gunshot wounds, and all had associated intra-abdominal injuries. The majority (56%) of injuries were infrarenal. The injury was managed most commonly by venorrhaphy and, when successful, all the patients survived. A third of patients with infrarenal injuries died, some after exploration of a stable peri-caval haematoma. Ten of the patients died (37%), half of them during surgery. These results are similar to those from similar institutions from earlier time periods. ConclusionsThis report concurs with other studies. IVC injury carries a high mortality rate and that this has not improved over several decades. Less aggressive management of some stable patients or stable injuries is proposed by the authors for possible improvement of the mortality rate.

South Africa's protracted struggle for equal distribution and equitable access - still not there.

The purpose of this contribution is to analyse and explain the South African HRH case, its historical evolution, and post-apartheid reform initiatives aimed at addressing deficiencies and shortfalls. HRH in South Africa not only mirrors the nature and diversity of challenges globally, but also the strategies pursued by countries to address these challenges. Although South Africa has strongly developed health professions, large numbers of professional and mid-level workers, and also well-established training institutions, it is experiencing serious workforce shortages and access constraints. This results from the unequal distribution of health workers between the well-resourced private sector over the poorly-resourced public sector, as well as from distributional disparities between urban and rural areas. During colonial and apartheid times, disparities were aggravated by policies of racial segregation and exclusion, remnants of which are today still visible in health-professional backlogs, unequal provincial HRH distribution, and differential access to health services for specific race and class groups.Since 1994, South Africa’s transition to democracy deeply transformed the health system, health professions and HRH establishments. The introduction of free-health policies, the district health system and the prioritisation of PHC ensured more equal distribution of the workforce, as well as greater access to services for deprived groups. However, the HIV/AIDS epidemic brought about huge demands for care and massive patient loads in the public-sector. The emigration of health professionals to developed countries and to the private sector also undermines the strength and effectiveness of the public health sector. For the poor, access to care thus remains constrained and in perpetual shortfall.The post-1994 government has introduced several HRH-specific strategies to recruit, distribute, motivate and retain health professionals to strengthen the public sector and to expand access and coverage. Of great significance among these is the NHI Plan that aims to bridge the structural divide and to redistribute material and human resources more equally. Its success largely hinges on HRH and the balanced deployment of the national workforce.Low- and middle-income countries have much to learn from South African HRH experiences. In turn, South Africa has much to learn from other countries, as this case study shows.

The usefulness of transplantation studies in monitoring of metals in the marine environment: South African experience

Due to their close proximity to the point sources of pollution, estuaries and harbours are exposed to metals. Mussels are used worldwide to monitor marine pollution due to their ability to take up contaminants and the ease of transplantation. Mussels were collected from two reference sites and transplanted in Richards Bay Harbour (2006 and 2010) and in three harbours. Transplanted and resident mussels were removed after 6weeks exposure and metal concentrations were analysed using ICP-MS techniques. Transplanted mussels had higher metal concentrations than the resident mussels. This was attributed to regulation of metals by the resident mussels. Metal regulation was greater in mussels that are continuously submerged as opposed to those that undergo tidal influences. For monitoring it is essential that the reference population for transplantation is considered carefully as upwelling events in the pristine reference location results in significant increases in metal bioaccumulation.

Towards Excellence in Public Administration Education and Training: an African and South African Experience

Not only did globalization bring about profound changes to public administration worldwide, but it also challenged the implementation of the New Public Management (NPM) paradigm in terms of service delivery, posing the question whether public administration must reinvent itself to address these challenges more effectively. Many changes that have been implemented in the public sector have not been based on evidence that change would benefit those using the services, those working in them and the community as a whole. Taking cognizance of especially the current African and South African higher education environment, it became clear that in order to move towards excellence in public administration education and training, the curricula must be amended and should the focus be on particular skills to be transferred to learners to address the above- mentioned situation. The question arises whether the nature of these developments would be relevant to the needs of both the learner as well as public institutions.

Experiences and conceptualizations of sexual debut from the narratives of South African men and women in the context of HIV/AIDS

Given the pivotal role of first sex in the development of sexual and reproductive health (SRH) practices, there is a need for more contextualised and nuanced understandings of young people's early sexual debut experiences. This study used sexual history narratives to investigate how South African men and women experience and attribute meaning to their sexual debut, and their SRH practices. In light of the gendered disparities among young people's SRH awareness and risk, differences between men and women's narratives of sexual debut were assessed. Fifty sexual history interviews were conducted with men and 25 sexual history interviews with women, with participants purposively sampled from three age categories, a range of cultural and racial backgrounds and urban and rural sites across five provinces. Narrative interviews were designed to elicit stories around participants’ early knowledge of sex and sexual experimentation, their range of sexual relationships and SRH practices. The data were analysed using a thematic approach. Participants generally reflected on their early sexual experiences with feelings of inadequacy and disappointment. While men appeared to hold greater decision-making power than women at sexual debut, descriptions of men's early sexual experiences were often characterised by respect, intimacy and vulnerability. Many men attributed the timing of their sexual debut to peer pressure, which typically generated higher social status and rarely included consideration of the need to practice safer sex. Several women felt pressured by their partner to sexually debut, which could have informed their perceptions of men being sexually controlling and aggressive. The study demonstrates the value of a narrative approach for generating insights on young people's sexual debut experiences and SRH practices, and the underlying gendered norms and expectations that shape these. The findings indicate the need for gender transformative HIV interventions to take into the diversity of young people's SRH needs and social realities.

REVISITING THE INDIAN EXPERIENCE OF ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL RIGHTS ADJUDICATION: THE NEED FOR A PRINCIPLED APPROACH TO JUDICIAL ACTIVISM AND RESTRAINT

AbstractThe Indian Constitution embraces economic and social rights as directive principles of state policy, ostensibly insulated from judicial review. The Supreme Court's interpretation of traditional civil and political rights to include economic and social guarantees has been praised by academics and activists keen to advance the cause of justiciable economic and social rights. In recent commentary, however, the extent to which the court's jurisprudence furthers the goal of increasing access to goods such as health care, housing, food and water for India's poor, is questioned. This article reconsiders the court's record in this area. It suggests that a more realistic assessment of the court's jurisprudence is necessary and draws on the South African experience of economic and social rights adjudication to argue for more serious engagement with factors that inform the level of judicial activism or restraint applied in the cases.

Consolidation of the number of treasury shares: The South African experience

Unlike most other values found in companies’ annual reports, there are no accounting standards that prescribe the calculation of market capitalisation and net asset value per share. These two figures play quite a significant role whenvaluing and comparing different companies. It is also frequently used in determining when a company should repurchase its own shares. In South Africa the number of the holding company’s shares can differ from the total number of the group’s shares after consolidation, as subsidiaries and share trusts are allowed to hold shares in their holding company. The published financial statements of a sample of JSE-listed companies were investigated to determine which number of shares companies use to calculate net asset value per share and market capitalisation, and if it is used consistently. Eight different combinations of consolidated and unconsolidated numbers of shares were found in the calculations of market capitalisation and net asset value per share showing inconsistency in application across the JSE-listed companies