University Of The Western Cape Research Articles

Guidelines for chronic pain in adult spinal cord injury population: Scoping review

Background: Chronic pain among survivors of spinal cord injury (SCI) hurts physical and mental health. Persons with SCI have demonstrated dissatisfaction with the management of their chronic pain.Objectives: This study aimed to identify existing clinical practice guidelines for chronic pain in the SCI population.Method: A scoping review was conducted across various databases available at the University of the Western Cape, in addition to guideline clearing houses (BioMedCentral, Cambridge Journals Online, CINAHL, Cochrane Library, Medline [EbscoHost], Medline [Pubmed], Sabinet Reference, SAGE Journals Online, ScienceDirect, SCOPUS, Wiley Online Library, Springerlink, PubMed, Guideline Central, and Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality). The population consisted of adults with SCI, and the interventions that were included were pharmacological and nonpharmacological management of chronic pain. Guidelines that met the inclusion criteria were critically appraised by two reviewers from this study using the AGREE II instrument. Inter-rater reliability was calculated using SPSS 27, and Cohen’s kappa coefficients were established.Results: Five articles were included in the data extraction, analysis and appraisal. Two guidelines were rated as high quality, according to the AGREE II tool. In addition, most guidelines focused on neuropathic pain (NeuP) and only one guideline included nociceptive pain and NeuP.Conclusion: One guideline met the objectives of this scoping review.Clinical implications: Guidelines developed in the future should include a screening tool to identify the specific type of pain and distinguish peripheral NeuP from central NeuP.

“All we do has humans at its heart”: Linguistic Landscape’s Value in Scholarship and Pedagogy

Four prominent Linguistic Landscape (LL) scholars reflect on the value of LL research and its utility in education. Elana Shohamy is a Professor Emerita in the Multilingual Education program at Tel Aviv University. She has carried out extensive research on language policy, language testing, and LL, with a recent focus on injustices in the public space. David Malinowski is an Assistant Professor of Linguistics and Language Development at San José State University. His recent work focuses on education, language pedagogy and learning, and intersections between these areas and LL. Amiena Peck is an Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Linguistics at the University of the Western Cape. She has led innovative research in skinscapes, with a recent focus on autoethnography. Robert Blackwood is a Professor of French Sociolinguistics at the University of Liverpool. His recent work examines processes of memorialization in postcolonial Africa.

Vanaf Wellington na Universiteit van Wes-Kaapland (UWK)

The years between 1958 and 1994 saw radical shifts in the theological training of the DR Missionary Church (DCMC) in South Africa. This article offers a chronological overview of those changes by extensively quoting from and offering interpretation of the original documents. The shifts are analysed thematically as a journey from a pietistic inspired curriculum taught by missionaries in a single-church seminary in Wellington, to an academic education at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) in Belville. This was guided by well-trained theologians and represented a further leg of the journey, representing development from a single-church institution to an ecumenical collaboration with the University of the Western Cape (UWC).This article presents a historiographical overview of the development of theological training under the influence of the specific contexts of an era. It offers a window on an overview of the educational changes that were affected and indicates the need for the acceptance of a discipline that can consistently continue to accommodate formation, reformation, and transformation. The article in itself testifies to a changing and developing educational process and to the way that the passage of time enhances its growth and development.

Iingoma Zomzabalazo in Conversation: An Archival Engagement with Recordings of Liberation Songs

This text is a remix of an archival engagement with recordings/performances of 'freedom songs' or 'liberation songs' in a south or southern African context. The authors began this collaborative research project as part of a course in the Masters in History degree programme at the University of the Western Cape (UWC). The essay includes a re-edited, updated transcript of dialogue the authors shared along with two mix(tap)es they produced together. The conversation speaks of songs as archives, archives of song(s), and memory/ies pertaining to anti-Apartheid struggle and ongoing Fallism.

Oral/Aural: Pastness and Sound as Medium and Method

In archival footage uploaded online of a concert at the University of the Western Cape in 1988 musician Robbie Jansen declared that the next composition to be performed was named 'Freedom Where Have You Been'.1 Before counting the band in, Jansen offered a short discourse on the meaning of the phrase hoya chibongo. Hearing the Afrikaans hoorie (meaning listen here) in the expression hoya, Jansen proceeded to split up the word chibongo to accentuate chi- as aurally reminiscent of the suffix -tjie that is used in Afrikaans to mark the diminutive. bongo, in this context as Jansen remarked, is the drum, leading Jansen to exclaim that the phrase hoya chibongo means to 'listen to the (small) drum', the drum that is, according to Jansen, 'the truth'. In Jansen's exact words, 'the drum speaks the truth and the drum has always been our language before these funny words that we are speaking now'. Jansen's translation was markedly oral, not only in its expression of speech and languaging but also in its invocation of a historicity through the oral; an oral tradition, for all intents and purposes. In its locatedness in a musically expressive and performative moment, Jansen expressed a duality of sound that exceeds the oral itself: calling attention to how language might be a conduit for the instrument, and how in some sense the drum might speak across time and space. It usefully deepens the often cliché proclamation rehearsed in and out of music studies in particular that music is universal, or that sound might be thought of as a kind of connective tissue that allows a specific sense-making of the social.2 In Jansens invocation of 'before' in his statement about the drum as language, and in debates around the meaning of sound to the social, it is history - or, a representation of pastness - that is called upon to bring about a set of futures where sound mediates the experience of a temporal matrix where truth, or freedom, might be found. What Jansen does/did was not necessarily an act of translation into a local vernacular as it is the blurring of the oral and the aural in a moment that might express the relation between sound, its interpretation, and its social life, obliquely. The truth for Jansen was what the drum expressed; but it was also the drum itself. The oral is aural, as the aural is oral.

Contributor biographies

Ms Kaylianne Aploon-Zokufa Kaylianne Aploon-Zokufa is a lecturer in the Institute for Post-School Studies (IPSS) in the Faculty of Education at the University of the Western Cape (UWC). She is a PhD candidate and her research topic is: ‘An investigation into how mature women ECD (early childhood development) practitioners access higher education through the BEd Foundation Phase programme’.
 Prof. Suzanne Bester Suzanne Bester is an associate professor and healthcare practitioner in educational psychology. She is employed by the University of Pretoria in the Department of Educational Psychology, where she has gained extensive experience in, amongst others, clinical supervision of students in educational psychology. Together with her students, she consults with children, adolescents, and their families in the treatment of diverse psychological challenges. She has a special interest in the assessment and diagnosis of neurodevelopmental disorders in children.
 Dr Helen Brown Helen Brown is a PhD fellow in the IPSS in the Faculty of Education at the UWC. She is also a member of the Strategy and Research Division of the Manufacturing, Engineering and Related Services Sector Education and Training Authority. Her PhD in education focused on artisan trade testing in the engineering technical and vocational education and training space (TVET). Her work in quality development of vocational education and training (VET) systems has been in the areas of large-scale competence diagnostics, professional development of TVET college lecturers, information and communications technology (ICT) teaching and learning platforms, and skills for the industrialisation of new product innovations.
 Dr Marcus Brändle Marcus Brändle is a member of the Faculty of Management, Economics and Social Sciences at the University of Stuttgart. He has been working in the Department of Vocational Education with a focus on Teaching Technology (BPT) since 2018. His research interests include competency research for the interdisciplinary school subject, Science and Technology, as well as digitisation and digitisation-related competencies of teachers and student teachers in Germany and internationally.
 Ms Stefanie Holler Stefanie Holler is a research fellow in the Department of Vocational Education with a focus on Teaching Technology at the University of Stuttgart. Her research focus is professional development of TVET lecturers (with a particular focus on South Africa), digital teaching and learning, as well as language, literacy, and learning in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) disciplines. She has teaching experience in the engineering fields of study in Germany and, in research and development projects, has trained TVET lecturers in South Africa.
 Prof. Wayne Hugo Wayne Hugo is a member of the Department of Education and Development in the Faculty of Education at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. He is dedicated to pursuing how education and learning function as mechanisms across various sectors of education (academic, technical, vocational, and occupational), different modalities (contact, hybrid, online), different scales (from neuron to international), and different types of learning mechanisms (artificial and natural). 
 Dr Musa Mokoena Musa Mokoena is a member of the Department of Education and Development in the Faculty of Education at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and holds a PhD in education and development from this university. He has over 30 years’ experience in TVET in Eswatini and as a lecturer and later principal at two TVET colleges, the Swaziland College of Technology and the Vocational and Commercial Training Institute, Matsapa.
 Dr Ian Moll Ian Moll is a research fellow at the Centre for Researching Education and Labour (REAL) at the University of the Witwatersrand, having retired from the Division of Educational Technology at the university in 2021. With a PhD in cognitive science and education from the University of Geneva, his interests lie in theoretical psychology; knowledge, work and skill; the networked society; learning and pedagogy; and educational technology.
 Mr Mbofheni Abbie Mulaudzi Mbofheni Mulaudzi is a member of the Department of Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Technology Education in the Faculty of Education at the University of the Free State. He is a teacher educator and an emerging researcher who is establishing himself as a leading voice in the field of electrical engineering education. He is known for his innovative approaches to technical teacher training and for his commitment to quality teaching and training.
 Dr Seamus Needham Seamus Needham is the Acting Director of the IPSS in the Faculty of Education at the UWC. He has been active in vocational education, policy and development for about 25 years.
 Ms Victoria NepembeVictoria Nepembe is a member of the Department of Secondary Education in the Faculty of Education at Rhodes University. She is a PhD scholar in the faculty and, has used her experience with digital technologies in TVET colleges to research technological pedagogical content knowledge among instructors. Her goal is to understand how the three areas of knowledge enforce effective integration of technology and teaching at vocational schools.
 Prof. Joy Papier Joy Papier is the National Research Foundation Chair: TVET at the IPSS in the Faculty of Education at the UWC. She has published on vocational and general teacher education in several academic journals, presented at conferences and on public panels, participates in national government task teams, and is an external examiner for numerous postgraduate dissertations in the field of TVET. She has been actively involved in TVET research, policy development, and capacity-building for over 25 years.
 Dr Benjamin Seleke Benjamin Seleke is a member of the Department of Sciences and Technology Education in the Faculty of Education at Walter Sisulu University. He is a prominent teacher educator specialising in technology education and TVET. Renowned for his work on problem-based learning and the infusion of indigenous knowledge, he advocates for an inclusive curriculum. He also champions continuous professional development and extends his expertise to those working in adult and community education.
 Dr Clement Simuja Clement Simuja is a senior lecturer in the Department of Secondary Education in the Faculty of Education at Rhodes University. He has spent a decade researching the integration of digital technology at schools and universities and in adult learning. His research involves the intricate interaction between content, pedagogy and technology in digital education, specifically concerning the obstacles encountered in technology-based education implementation.
 Dr Nixon Teis Nixon Teis is a teacher educator and researcher and the former Head of School of Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Technology Education at the University of the Free State. His research interests are in teacher knowledge, with a discipline-specific focus on technical teacher knowledge, teacher professional development, and the impact of technological advancements on technical teacher knowledge and capacity.
 Prof. Bernd Zinn Bernd Zinn is a professor of vocational education with a focus on technology didactics at the Institute of Educational Science at the University of Stuttgart. His research focuses on teacher training, educational technologies, teaching and learning processes, competence development, as well as inclusion and dealing with heterogeneity in technical education and training.

28th International Nuclear Physics Conference (INPC2022)

The 28th International Nuclear Physics Conference (INPC2022) was successfully held in Cape Town, South Africa from 11 to 16 September 2022, marking the first time the conference was held on the African continent. This event, overseen by the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP), coincided with three major scientific events: The International Year of Basic Sciences for Sustainable Development (IYBSSD), the centenaries of the Nobel Prize awarded to Niels Bohr and the establishment of IUPAP.The conference program spanned a wide range of topics across the breadth of Nuclear Physics, from hadrons to nuclei, from fundamental science to applications, covering topics such as Hadron Structure and Spectroscopy and QCD Partonic Phenomena, Hot and Dense Nuclear Matter, Nuclear Structure and Nuclear Reactions, Nuclear Astrophysics, Applications and Societal Impact, Neutrinos and Nuclei, Fundamental Interactions and Symmetries, New Facilities and Instrumentation, Outreach and Science Education, and Quantum Computing, Machine Learning, and Artificial Intelligence in Nuclear Physics.The in-person conference was the largest to bring our scientific community together since the COVID-19 pandemic, and provided an excellent opportunity for the 468 delegates to explore the latest progress in the field and reconnect with colleagues. The INPC2022 was a great success, providing an excellent platform for the delegates to share their latest research work, techniques, experiences, challenges, and innovative solutions with colleagues from around the world and provided an opportunity for over 40 African students to be exposed to the field. The conference coincided with the completion of many projects that constitute the pillars of the 2017-2022 Long-Range Plan of iThemba LABS. The delegates had the opportunity to visit the facility and appreciate the advancement and completion of many of these pillars.The INPC2022 was sponsored and supported by the South African National Convention Bureau, Department of Science and Innovation, National Research Foundation, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, University of the Witwatersrand, University of the Western Cape, University of Cape Town, Metrological and Applied Sciences University Research Unit, IUPAP, NuPECC, ACF Metals, XIA and IBA.List of Local Organizing Committee, International Advisory Committee, Session Conveners are available in this pdf.

Excursions as an Immersion Pedagogy to Enhance Self-Directed Learning in Pre-Service Teacher Education

Pre-service teacher education should be underpinned by pedagogies that would enhance self-directed learning. Future teachers need to create contexts in the classrooms that would enable learners to, as self-directed learners, identify individual learning goals for themselves, search for appropriate resources, and monitor and assess their own learning. Self-directed learning is essential to adequately prepare learners for a complex and changing world. This paper focuses on the affordances of a first-year student teacher excursion to scaffold learning and the development of a professional identity, and to address the ‘apprenticeship of observation’ that could prevent optimal learning. Pre-service teachers often enter the Bachelor of Education degree with a naïve understanding of the teaching profession. Furthermore, they come from school contexts that often do not enhance self-directed learning. The faculties of education from three different universities have engaged in excursions for first-year student teachers, where the student teachers, as Homo ludens (the playing human), engage in problem-based and cooperative learning activities, exploring the complexities of the teaching profession. Social constructivism underpins the excursion. Findings over 17 years (2007–2023) across three universities—the University of Johannesburg, North-West University and the University of the Western Cape—show that such immersion pedagogy is a high-impact educational practice, in which student teachers learn from practice. The findings show that the excursion provides pre-service teachers with a more nuanced understanding of the teaching profession, enhanced sensitivity to diversity, social justice and inclusivity, an understanding of the value of reflection, and a sense of belonging as a student in the higher education sector. The findings also highlight the affordances of excursions to enhance self-directed learning, an important attribute to ensure continued professional development. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, higher education institutions had to rethink teaching and learning, and this article also explores the transformation of face-to-face excursions to virtual online excursions.

Decentralised systemising of Scholarship of Engagement in higher education towards societal impact

In this article, a case study is presented for the development of a Scholarship of Engagement (SoE) engagement database, to map the engagement footprint of the university, and develop a Knowledge Management System (KMS) at the University of the Western Cape (UWC), in order to facilitate the process of knowledge sharing. The aim of this article is to discuss a process of creating baseline data, to explore and profile the institution’s SoE landscape, and facilitate a decentralised system of the SoE, based on an integrated approach to the institutionalisation of the SoE. The sharing of exemplars are important; consequently, in this article the context and role of the Community Engagement Unit (CEU), as well as the motivation for embarking on the project are explained. Additionally, the process from conceptualization, through implementation, to reflections on lessons learnt, and the future path of decentralisation, are plotted and documented. All partners pilot an integrative approach to implementation, to facilitate acceptance and uptake, while enablers that facilitate the process are identified, and decentralisation for the protection of academic freedom is highlighted. This case study is relevant to other universities, especially those on the African continent, as we attend to the broader decolonialisation agenda, which presents an exemplar for the duplication, adaptation, and creation of a SoE database, for universities to profile and present their anchoring in communities, following the principles of engagement that are aligned to transformation and social justice.

Reading the Belhar Confession in a Wounded World

This paper was presented by the author as the annual Belhar Confession lecture at the University of the Western Cape on 21 April 2022. First, the paper presents what the Belhar Confession is, as well as how it has evolved in the church. The South African political, economic, social, religious and cultural landscape is portrayed as representing the “wounded world.” Second, the message of the Belhar Confession is applied to the situation, and attention is given to how this triune message can be read in the midst of emerging societal challenges.

Online Assessments for Reflection within a Large Class: A Case Study of English for Educational Development Law Students at the University of the Western Cape

This study reports on the use of online assessments in English for an Educational Development module for law students at the University of the Western Cape, South Africa. It highlights the benefits of using the method of an online test to manage and enable learning by reflection in a large class setting. The design and development of online materials and assessment activities is based on a theoretical and conceptual framework that stems from the main schools of learning, namely behaviourism, cognitivism, and constructivism, and alternative assessment. Upon the completion of the course, a survey of 12 questions was given to 530 students to determine the benefits and challenges they experienced while completing their online test within a formative and reflective context. The adoption of e-Learning practices to enhance teaching and learning was explored and has shown its advantages. Results revealed that this method enables students to engage with learning materials, stay motivated, and test their own understanding of meaningful knowledge in the English language especially in the Law context.  It is evident that the use of online methods for testing are beneficial for a large class context as in this case. It makes the learning and management thereof easier for both the learner and educator and accommodates different learning styles. Apart from the advantages, the findings of this study included some ethical and technical challenges and disadvantages of online assessments.
  

Factors that affected the efficacy of non-surgical periodontal treatment carried out by postgraduate periodontology students

The training of postgraduate students in periodontology has a significant clinical impact. The overall assessment of the efficacy of non-surgical treatment of periodontitis, has value to inform training protocols as well as assess the quality of clinical service delivery. Furthermore, obstacles to successful treatment can be identified. The aim of the study was to determine the effectiveness of non-surgical periodontal treatment, as well as the factors that may determine treatment outcome at the postgraduate clinic in the Periodontology Department at the University of the Western Cape, Tygerberg Dental Hospital, between 2016 and 2018. A cross-sectional record-based study of 100 patients was conducted. Demographic, social, clinical, treatment data were obtained from the hospital files. Periodontal parameters including bleeding index (BI), Pocket Probing depth (PPD), Plaque index (PI), and clinical attachment level (CAL), were recorded at the initial visit (Pre-treatment) and follow-up visits (Post-treatment), and the final treatment outcomes were calculated based on the differences of these parameters’ values between the initial visit and the last follow-up visit. Data were presented as mean and range for continuous variables and as a frequency for categorical variables. Statistical analyses were performed to determine if there was a relationship between the varied factors and treatment outcome with p < 0.05 as statistically significant. The results showed that all 100 patients demonstrated a marked reduction in PPD, PI, BI, and loss of CAL. The overall mean PPD reduction was 0.32 (0.5), the mean reduction in PI and BI were 37.2 (24.08) and 34.61 (22.78), respectively, and the mean clinical attachment gain was 0.42 (0.97) mm. Treatment outcome showed no difference in PPD, PI, BI, and CAL between females, smokers, and patients with systemic conditions compared to males, non-smokers, and patients without systemic conditions. On the other hand, patients who underwent more maintenance treatment visits over a period longer than 2 months duration had significantly better outcomes compared to patients who had less than two months of duration of treatment. This study proved the effectiveness of the non-surgical surgical periodontal treatment at the postgraduate periodontal clinic. Treatment duration and frequency of recall visits were the most influential factor impacting the treatment outcome.

Advances made by the University of the Western Cape in the support of remote online teaching and learning for student success and access

During the COVID-19 pandemic, ongoing advances were made by higher education institutions (HEIs) to support remote online teaching and learning for student success and access, which are increasing areas of research. The major objective of this paper is to address the shift to remote teaching and learning practices that Covid precipitated in higher education. We report on literature that captures the ongoing shift to remote teaching and learning practices. The response of the University of the Western Cape (UWC) to the crisis of the pandemic will be highlighted. Various themes related to the pedagogical value of emergency remote teaching (ERT), online learning, and continual post-pandemic support are discussed. We examine how challenges presented new opportunities for curriculum innovation and transformation at the UWC. The focus is the importance of a continual professional academic support structure and post-covid awareness campaigns in order to sustain fully online and hybrid teaching and learning approaches. Recommendations highlight that departments across faculties need to focus on training and support with regard to the attainment and effective application of eSkills and eTools; and that there is a need to intensify this, especially as part of the broader curriculum transformation agenda. More research that focuses on ongoing advances in the support of remote online teaching and learning for student success and access during a pandemic is necessary.

Transdisciplinary, transgressive and transformative: Pedagogical reflections on sexual ethics, religion, and gender

Over the last four years, student movements in South Africa have demanded the ‘fall’ of normative systems of power in government and higher education. These ‘fallist’ movements have called for decolonised curricula and pedagogies. However, there is debate surrounding what decolonial means and what it looks like. Drawing on four years of experience teaching gender and sexual ethics at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) we offer some tentative reflections on what constitutes a decolonial and socially just pedagogy. Facilitated through critical, queer, liberatory and feminist theories, our reflections comprise our teaching experience and the curriculum reform process of a third-year undergraduate module. In this module we explored the ways in which religious and cultural discourses form and transform understandings and experiences of gender and sexuality. This paper draws on a range of data which includes personal reflections, the module outline, course evaluations which were submitted anonymously via an electronic survey, classroom engagement and student essays. We reflect on the ways in which we made use of a transdisciplinary co-teaching method which drew on four disciplines, Ethics, Gender Studies, Sociology of Religion, and Biblical Studies. We also engage with how the classroom became transgressive as we destabilised the taken-for-granted separation between the academic and the popular. Last, by facilitating student-centred, participatory approaches to learning we argue that the classroom became a transformative space.

DEVELOPMENT OF THE TRAINING OF TIBB DOCTORS IN SOUTH AFRICA

The training of doctors in Tibb, was introduced in South Africa by the Ibn Sina Institute of Tibb after obtaining academic support from universities in India and Pakistan, where this system is taught and practiced under the name of Unani Medicine. Within the context of the South African Western environment, and the medical approaches in the country, the Institute identified concerns with respect to the training of Unani Medicine. In this paper, an overview is provided on the Institutes contribution with regards to addressing some of the concerns as well as the extensive research projects conducted between 2003 and 2020 that contributed positively to the philosophical principles of physis, temperament, humours, and lifestyle factors, in the training of Tibb doctors. This paper further details a sequence of events for the training of Tibb doctors at the University of the Western Cape that commenced in 2003, after having obtained formal recognition of Tibb (Unani-Tibb) with the Allied Health Professions Council of South Africa (AHPCSA) in 2001. Also, included are the number of students who completed the 1-year Postgraduate Diploma and the 5-year Undergraduate Degree between 2003 and 2007 and the three (3) reviews of the training curriculum. Unfortunately, the events also include the political and vested interests from other professions in the AHPCSA that had a negative effect on the training of Tibb in South Africa, and therefore the Institute is willing to share the Tibb training of doctors with universities globally.

Notes on Contributors

Duncan Brown is Professor of English in the Centre for Multilingualism and Diversities Research at the University of the Western Cape. He has published widely in the field of South African literary and cultural studies. His recent books include Wilder Lives: Humans and Our Environments (2019), and Finding My Way: Reflections on South African Literature (2020). He is Principal Investigator on the Andrew W. Mellon funded project on “Rethinking South African Literature(s)” (2019-2024), and Co-ordinator on the South African section of the University of Oslo funded project on “Global Trout: Investigating Environmental Change through More-than-Human World Systems” (2019-2024). Michael Chapman is a researcher-in-residence at the Durban University of Technology in South Africa. His creative nonfictional work Green in Black-and-White Times appeared in 2016. On Literary Attachment in South Africa: Tough Love (2022) seeks to embody in a single language of response two categories that are usually thought to be apart, criticism (conceptual) and art (creative). Andries du Toit is the director of the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies at the University of the Western Cape, where he has spent most of the last thirteen years answering emails and navigating the university's labyrinthine procurement and HR system. In his spare time he does research, focusing on the politics of landlessness, poverty, and inequality in South Africa.

Strategies and best practices that enhance participation in regular physical activities among undergraduate university students: a systematic review protocol

IntroductionPhysical activity has health benefits, including lowered obesity, diabetes and hypertension levels. However, participation in regular physical activities among undergraduate students is declining and, instead, physical inactivity sets the path...

The Changing Face of Colonial Education in Africa by Peter Kallaway

Reviewed by: The Changing Face of Colonial Education in Africa by Peter Kallaway Tiana Nowzari The Changing Face of Colonial Education in Africa. By Peter Kallaway. New York: Routledge, 2020. Peter Kallaway is a South African professor emeritus at the University of the Western Cape. He has published several works on education and society in Africa within a colonial context. His new book provides an extensive analysis of the authority figures that held power over policymaking and which knowledge prioritized over others. The Changing Face of Colonial Education in Africa offers a comprehensive and nuanced examination of colonial history in South Africa and its influences on educational policies during the last phase and formal end of colonialism. Although the research focuses on a South African context, the author applies the narrative to the general context of African history to illustrate infrequently explored topics of development and education in Africa. The research explains the process and evolution of educational reforms that have aimed to change perceived social and educational problems. More importantly, it describes the intent to reform African culture and way of life through a Eurocentric lens. This book provides extensive knowledge of colonial education in Africa and touches on sociological concepts of colonialism and postcolonialism. The author delivers a compelling description of African history based on scientific research and development. This book contributes to sociological research, particularly to colonial and postcolonial theories. These theories can be applied throughout the author's research as it underlines the main social and educational influences throughout the development of education in Africa. At the beginning of the book, Kallaway offers a broad social background of Western capitalist and imperialist goals that ultimately had an impact on the decisions made within policymaking in education. International organisations, such as the International Missionary Council, helped configure the initial objective of "civilising the natives" by westernising them. Based on Eurocentric ideologies, the aim was to assimilate South Africans into a Christian society. The main principle sought to create Christian Africans at school who could implement Christian values in everyday life. The book considers the socialisation process within schools through colonialism and displays the relevance of using education as an agent for social change. It further exhibits how education acted as a tool to propagate colonial discourses throughout other civilizations. African knowledge and customs were undervalued compared to the inclusion of Eurocentric and, primarily, white-led strategies. Kallaway's work thus offers a demonstration of how education served to shape a society influenced by Western culture. Kallaway's work provides historical examples that are important when compared to other sociological research and knowledge. He compares policymaking to other international events of assimilation and colonialism, such as Indian and African-American educational reform, that sought to create an emerging culture contingent on Christian values in South Africa. In other words, his book offers an insight into general colonial theories and practices that are a grander narrative of colonial and Eurocentric discourses imitated across continents that aimed to colonise societies. Policymakers used pre-existing knowledge and experiences from international and historical examples that designed the approach to sketching educational policies. His work issues a comprehensible conception of the social changes that would ultimately influence the developing goals and policies in education. The author produces an in-depth insight into the underlying problems stemming from the gap between education and greater African society. From a Eurocentric lens, educational policies excluded African culture and traditions. However, this book sheds light on the advocacy for the inclusion of African values and customs in the decision-making process of policy implementation. The removal of culture and tradition in education emphasised the separation of Africans from their Indigenous lifestyles and knowledge. It also fuelled the advocacy for the reclamation of culture with the argument that it would promote the reintegration of Africans into changing societies. The mission developed through the emergence and contribution of scientific research-based methodology. The importance of scientific methodology in policy development demonstrates a continuously changing phenomenon needing to evolve to produce promising results. It introduced a new way to assess policymaking and reconstructed methods that create academic institutions. Kallaway writes about a chronological timeline of the methodology that narrated South...

Facilitating technology-enhanced external examination moderation during the Covid-19 pandemic

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic and associated travel restrictions, the physical presence of international external examiners was a challenge when assessing the exit level outcomes of the MSc (Dent) in Paediatric Dentistry at the University of the Western Cape. External moderation of final examinations ensure an acceptable standard, coverage of content as specified by the programme outcomes and eliminates bias during assessment. Internationalization of the moderation andexamination process allows countries to compare and maintain international standards and graduate attributes expected for professional qualifications.Qualifications requiring assessment of skills often rely on ObjectiveStructured Clinical Examinations, Objective Structured Practical Examinations and simulated cases in combination with an oral examination, which requires the presence of all examiners to assess the student. This paper describes how the final examination in this MSc (Dent) degree was adapted and conducted in order to overcome the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic, to maintain the academic integrity and rigour of the programme. A narrative essay-style approach was adopted, which reflects on the challenges and opportunities created by Covid-19. The adapted assessment method proved to be an effective alternative to the more traditional assessment approaches employed pre-Covid.

Contributor biographies

Prof. Stephanie Matseleng AllaisStephanie Matseleng Allais is Research Chair of Skills Development and Professor of Education at the Centre for Researching Education and Labour (REAL) at the University of the Witwatersrand. She researches international education and development, focused on education/work relationships. Prof. Suzanne Elizabeth BesterSuzanne Bester is an Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Pretoria. Her main area of expertise is psychological assessment and intervention with a particular interest in dynamic assessment. She is also interested in well-being. Dr Tafireyi ChambokoTafireyi Chamboko is a Senior Lecturer in agricultural economics with 27 years’ experience in the field of agricultural economics, agricultural marketing and pricing analysis, farm management research, livestock economics and data analysis. He is a recipient of a PhD Fellowship from the Africa Economic Research Consortium (AERC) to pursue a DPhilAG at the University of Zimbabwe. Prof. Doria DanielsDora Daniels has a PhD in International and Intercultural Education from the University of Southern California. Her passion lies in understanding marginalised populations’ experiences with educational access and inclusion. This NRF-rated research focuses on women’s educational empowerment, gender in community history, and adult education and training for active citizenship. Ms Jennifer EsauJennifer Esau holds an MEd in Educational Support from the University of Stellenbosch and a BA (Hons) in Health Care Studies from the University of the Western Cape. She is currently studying towards a PhD in Education at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. Her MEd research was on TVET students’ educational experiences of family and community support. Associate Prof. James GarrawayJames Garraway works in the Professional Education Research Institute (PERI) at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. His research focus is on work-integrated learning and the development of the university of technology sector, primarily using Activity Theory and Change Laboratory approaches. He supervises PhD and Master’s students in this field. Prof. Darren LortanDarren Lortan is an Associate Professor and the head of department of Mathematics at the Durban University of Technology. His interests outside of Mathematics include Community Engagement and Articulation in and across the Post-School Education and Training Sector. He is the Project Coordinator of the Unfurling Post-School Education and Training (UPSET) Articulation Project. Dr Lucky MalulekeLucky Maluleke is an emerging researcher and academic in the field of career development and Technical and Vocational Education and Training. He is a lecturer in the Faculty of Education at Nelson Mandela University. His current research interest is in career development and career decision-making, as well as promoting post-school education and training among youth. Dr Muneta Grace Manzeke-KangaraMuneta Grace Manzeke-Kangara is a Soil Scientist in Climate- and Nutrient-Smart Agriculture at Rothamsted Research in the United Kingdom. While working at the University of Zimbabwe, Muneta promoted Integrated Soil Fertility Management and conservation agriculture for soil fertility and grain yield improvement; and agronomic biofortification with micronutrient-supplying fertilisers for improving grain quality in smallholder farming systems. Prof. Simon McGrathSimon McGrath is Professor of Education at the University of Glasgow and a Visiting Professor at Nelson Mandela University. He is co-editor of the Journal of Vocational Education and Training and of the Handbook of Vocational Education and Training. Dr Mary Mmatsatsi MadilengMary Mmatsatsi Madileng is a senior lecturer in the Department of English Studies at the University of South Africa (UNISA). Her key areas of teaching expertise and research interest include Applied Linguistics; Education, Skills Development and Pedagogy in Vocational Education and Training; Work-Integrated Learning; and Vocational Educator Development. Dr Chenjerai MuwanikiChenjerai Muwaniki is a lecturer in Adult and Continuing Education at Great Zimbabwe University. His research interests are in adult education, vocational education, especially green skills in vocational education, learning needs of smallholder farmers and curriculum responsiveness in Agriculture Education and Training in Zimbabwe. Prof. Shervani PillayShervani Pillay is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education at Nelson Mandela University. She is Head of the Post Graduate Studies Department. Shervani does research in Higher Education Transformation and Decolonisation in Curriculum, Educational Policy, Higher Education and Curriculum Theory. Dr Lesley PowellLesley Powell is the Chair of Youth Unemployment, Employability and Empowerment (CYUEE) at Nelson Mandela University. Her scholarship is largely focused on Vocational Education and Training (VET), with her theoretical interests being the ways in which education and training intervene in poverty and advance the conditions for sustainable livelihoods. She has published widely on VET from human development and social justice perspectives, and more recently also on skills and the informal sector. Prof. Suresh RamsuroopSuresh Ramsuroop is an Associate Professor in Chemical Engineering and the assistant dean in the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. He has over 33 years of industrial and academic experience. His current research interests include Computational Chemical Thermodynamics, Process Synthesis, and Design and Engineering Education. Mr Deepak SinghDeepak Singh has an MSc in Physics with research areas including Statistical Physics. He lectures in the Department of Physics at the Durban University of Technology. Dr Tanya SmitTanya Smit is a lecturer of higher education and the Acting Head of the Work Integrated Learning office of the Faculty of Education at the University of Pretoria. Her research interests include pre-service teacher self-regulated professionalism, lecturer and teacher professionalism, action research, mentorship and Technical and Vocational Education. Mr Rodney StopsRodney Stops is a lecturer in the Department of Electrical Power Engineering at the Durban University of Technology. He has over 29 years of lecturing experience and has a passion for Articulation and is using research in Education and Articulation to benefit present and future students. Prof. Volker WedekindProfessor Volker Wedekind is Professor of Education and Head of the School of Education, University of Nottingham. He is the convener of the Nottingham UNESCO-UNEVOC Centre. His research focuses on the policies and practices of vocational education in developing countries.