The provision of quality basic education is essential as it can ensure that all learners have an equal opportunity to succeed in life. This paper discusses district officials’ perspectives regarding some factors that impede the achievement of quality basic education in schools under their jurisdiction. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews conducted with district officials in eight districts in one province of South Africa. Data analysis followed the iterative approach. Findings reveal that district officials viewed the state of education in their districts and circuit as unsatisfactory due to: low teacher morale, schools’ lack of confidence in their districts and the perceived neglect of the General Education and Training Band. It is argued that improved teacher working conditions, use of better service delivery model by the districts and education department, and full prioritisation of the GET Band are needed in these districts. In conclusion, to achieve social justice in education, corrective measures should be premised upon the understanding of the social and contextual issues as these represent the crippling factors in the province. 相似文献
Background: People’s perceptions of scientists have repeatedly been investigated using the Draw-a-Scientist Test (DAST). The test is used to identify people’s (stereotypical) images of scientists, which might affect attitudes towards science and science-related career choices.
Purpose: The current study has two goals. (1) Applying the DAST at a university in South Africa, the study will add to the existing research literature through its Southern African context. (2) The study will also look more closely at the link between (stereotypical) images of scientists and science-related career choices.
Sample: The DAST was applied to first-year students (n = 445) across different faculties at a South African university. If the assumption that young people’s perceptions of scientists influence their career choice is correct, one would expect differences in the drawings made by students who have opted for different fields of study.
Design and methods: The DAST was administered during orientation week of the first-year students in January 2017. Students were provided with a prepared blank sheet of paper and asked to draw a scientist and to fill in further information on the back of the paper. A content analysis applying the DAST checklist was used to analyse the images.
Results: The findings show that South African students use about four stereotypical indicators when drawing a scientist, and social science students drew stereotypical attributes more frequently when compared to students from other faculties. A typical scientist – as depicted in this study – is a man of uncertain age, who wears eyeglasses and a lab coat, and is surrounded by laboratory equipment.
Conclusions: Findings are largely in line with the international research literature. To challenge gender stereotypes, more contact between students and female role models might be essential. If (stereotypical) images really affect science-related career choices deserves further attention in future research studies. 相似文献
Adult non-formal education and training (NFET) in South Africa was adopted in 1990 to address the problem of unemployment of non-educated and unskilled adults. Public and private NFET centres aim to meet the training needs of adults who were deprived of formal education that would foster access to opportunities for employment. The paper reports on a study conducted to investigate what constitutes NFET enabling environments for employment. The paper focuses on the approach of training delivery fostering labour market entry of graduates. The findings show that individual trainees who participated in private centres had a higher probability of being employed because of the creation of internal enabling environments for skills acquisition and focus on income-generating activities. The authors conclude that an integration of technical skills with business skills and ‘learning by earning’ is a potential training delivery approach enabling graduates to participate in economic activities. 相似文献
Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have become ubiquitous in most people’s lives. Yet, within the developing and emerging regions, there are still many who have not fully benefitted from ICTs. This article reports on a research project that focused on investigating the barriers, opportunities and impact that ICTs have on the teaching and learning of mathematics in South African schools. A quantitative research methodology in the form of a survey was used to assess South African mathematics teachers’ access to and use of ICTs and mobile technologies. A literature study revealed that there were universal barriers (i.e. lack of access to resources, time, effective training, confidence; resistance to change and negative attitudes; and no perception of benefits) and numerous opportunities for using ICTs in teaching and learning in general, and in subjects such as mathematics and science, in particular. The survey findings suggested increased deployment of ICT resources; introduction of more ICT training opportunities for teachers and students; and the firm adoption of ICT policies and directives within the education domain. 相似文献
Purpose: The limited uptake of improved agricultural practices in Africa raise questions on the functionality of current agricultural research systems. Our purpose is to explore the capacity for local innovation within the research systems of Ethiopia, Malawi and Mozambique.
Design/methodology/approach: Using Conservation Agriculture (CA) as a case study, we qualitatively explore with 26 locally based agricultural researchers the context of CA research and promotion, including their perceptions on persistent research gaps and issues in closing them.
Findings: Respondents identified that CA was not yet a finished product, with concerns regarding the benefit, feasibility and relevance of CA implementation. They asserted that while further adaptation was required, they were unable to do this due to institutional constraints within their research, extension and policy contexts.
Practical implications: We find that CA continues to be considered a donor-driven intervention in its current form and requires substantial further adaptation to local contexts before researchers will deem it ready for farmer uptake. The five research gaps identified by respondents highlight practical areas where further adaptations must occur.
Theoretical implications: Our findings suggest a lack of participatory research and extension most likely reflects limited financial, human and social capital to implement more participatory approaches. Without addressing these capacities, widespread adoption of complex farming systems change appears unlikely.
Originality/Value: Whilst many studies have identified a need for local innovation to enable CA utilisation, few have qualitatively explored directly with local researchers the capacity of such systems to do so. We address this gap in the literature. 相似文献
ABSTRACTAfter nearly 25 years of democracy, lives of young South Africans are still profoundly shaped by the legacies of apartheid. This paper considers how these differences are produced, maintained and disrupted through an exploration of changing narratives developed by a small group of South African pre-service teachers, with a particular focus on the narratives developed around discourses of fatherhood generally and absent fathers in particular. We draw on interviews conducted with three students in which we discussed their digital stories and literature reviews. In this paper, we draw attention to the limitations of digital storytelling and the risks such autobiographical storytelling presents of perpetuating dominant narratives that maintain and reproduce historical inequalities. At the same time, in highlighting ways in which this risk might be confronted, the paper also aims to show the possibilities in which these dominant narratives may be challenged. 相似文献
This study compares three cohorts (1998–1999, 2005–2006 and 2010) of undergraduate psychology students at a South African university on the level of support for working women (women in paid employment) on various issues considered to be feminist. Cohort 1 (n?=?244), cohort 2 (n?=?311) and cohort 3 (n?=?266) completed an adapted version of a questionnaire used by the Research Group on Women and Work (Kitch, S. L. 1994. “‘We're All in this Alone’: Career Women's Attitudes Toward Feminism.” In Women and Careers: Issues and Challenges, edited by C. W. Konek and S. L. Kitch. London: Sage). The expected liberalisation of attitudes over the cohorts was evident for the females but not for the males: the second male cohort had more conservative attitudes than the first and third male cohorts. While there appeared to be strong overall support for gender equality in work and educational fields, there were equally solid endorsements of the importance of marriage and motherhood for working women. Across the cohorts there were somewhat moderate attitudes on the need for structural change in the family and at work. The implications of the findings are considered. 相似文献
ABSTRACT This papers draws on the compelling example of a political movement in South Africa in the 1960s and 1970s to explore both how epistemic justice conditions of possibility and of failure play out in practice. It provides a springboard to understand how and why failures of epistemic justice matter tremendously for democratic and inclusive lives and how the historical example can point us in the direction of higher education as a space for Amartya Sen’s redressable injustices if underpinned by Miranda’s Fricker’s core capability of epistemic contribution being available pedagogically to all. The paper engages with ideas, practices and actions fostered by Black Consciousness against apartheid as both a hermeneutical and a testimonial injustice in South Africa, with both having a relational structure of giving and receiving, as Fricker argues and as Jose Medina elaborates by extending the structure to include the communicative and participatory. The paper then shows the importance of these conceptual frames to transformative higher education practices and how such practices might contribute to more epistemic justice in higher education. 相似文献
