Doctoral Degrees (Education Policy Studies)

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Browsing Doctoral Degrees (Education Policy Studies) by browse.metadata.advisor "Davids, Nuraan"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    Exploring the lived experiences and identities of ‘coloured’ women as professional mathematics educators in higher education
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2020-12) Kenny, Sinobia; Davids, Nuraan; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Education. Education Policy Studies.
    ENGLISH SUMMARY : ‘Coloured’, as a marker of race, has become normalised in the political, social and economic rhetoric in a democracy. The study recognises the controversy and othering associated with the term ‘coloured’, but without delving into it, the label cannot be ruptured and disrupted. To date, the dominant research on ‘coloured’ women in South Africa has not only relied on stereotypical depictions of sexualisation and slander but have served to entrench these women as displaced and valueless. As a result, very little is known about the resilience and contribution of ‘coloured’ women. In attempting to rebuild the existing research and knowledge on women classified as ‘coloured’ by the brutal system of apartheid, this study brings to the fore the lived experiences of seven women. The purpose of this study, therefore, is to reflexively explore the particular experiences and identities of ‘coloured’ women as professional educators in higher education, with special attention given to employment in roles centred around mathematics and mathematics education. The racialised schooling experiences, tertiary education and winding career paths post-apartheid calls for a confrontation of race and race construction in South Africa. Critical Race Theory provided a relevant conceptual framework. Understanding how these seven women adopted the identity label of ‘coloured’, the extent to which it shaped them, and positioned or relegated them in South African society was not possible without consideration of identity and identity construction. In this regard, identity and identity construction concerning theories on (mis)recognition were studied. Using interpretivism and phenomenology as research paradigms, this study examined the lived experiences and identities of the seven women as they traversed through their schooling, and tertiary education, and as professional mathematics educators in various spaces of higher education. The study showed that public spaces and separate schools were sites where racialised hierarchical othering and inequalities mirrored a demeaning picture of themselves, questioning their worth and diminishing their self-esteem. The way mathematics was taught, reflected similar kinds of divisions and differentiated treatment. Separate learning and teaching meant that higher grade learners received more attention and time, while standard grade learners were neglected under the guise that they were incapable of performing well at mathematics. As ‘coloured’ women, they had limited opportunities to, and funding for tertiary education – most of the participants opted for government-restricted teaching bursaries as a way into tertiary education. Following their tertiary education, there were no apparent pathways into professional mathematics education for ‘coloured’ women, and they sought alternative winding routes. While the women were determined and successful at Stellenbosch University paving pathways into higher education, they continued to be at the mercy of higher education institutions who overlooked the challenges they overcame to participate in higher education, holding them to the same standards as those who had benefited from apartheid legislation. Consequently, their roles as professional mathematics educators transpired across a range of higher education spaces with no uniformity in their job titles and terms of employment.
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    An interpretive analysis of the Early Childhood Development Policy Trajectory in post-apartheid South Africa
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2019-04) Atmore, Eric; Davids, Nuraan; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Education. Dept. of Education Policy Studies.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT : Early childhood development (ECD) is universally recognised for its concern with the most important foundation years of life, focussing on the holistic development of the young child’s potential. It is during the first six years that much learning takes place and is developed. The primary research question in this study was: What was the ECD policy trajectory in postapartheid South Africa and how did it unfold? In answering this question, the study traced, described and interpreted the ECD policy trajectory in post-apartheid South Africa, and critically analysed the ECD policy-making processes, viewed through an interpretive lens. My original contribution to knowledge is to provide an explanation of how the ECD policy trajectory shaped the evolution of ECD in post-apartheid South Africa during a period of unprecedented social, political, economic and education transformation. This study is significant since it contributes to knowledge building about ECD policy-making through the voice of ECD policy-makers and activists who had been central to ECD policy-making in South Africa. The study findings and recommendations could also have global relevance given the increased focus on ECD and ECD policy-making across the world. The research comprised a policy trajectory study that used a qualitative research paradigm. Data was constructed from a comprehensive examination of ECD policy documents, including policy statements, government White Papers and government reports over the period 1990 to 2015 and from structured, face-to-face interviews with 19 key stakeholders who were centrally involved in ECD policy-making in South Africa over this period. During a pilot study, the interview schedule was tested for its appropriateness, relevance and ease of administration. Triangulation was used to enhance the validity and trustworthiness of the study. In undertaking this research study, I had the benefit of having been involved in the ECD policy-making processes in South Africa from 1990 to 2015. During this period, I was on various ECD policy-making teams, firstly set up by the anti-apartheid structures and thereafter by the new democratic government, to assist with policy-making and policy implementation. I used my involvement and participation in ECD policy-making to locate myself within this study. In analysing the findings of the study, I adopted an interpretive approach aiming to provide an understanding of the ECD policy trajectory. The data was analysed using a modified version of Tesch’s (1990) stages of data analysis. The study found that the ECD policy-making process in South Africa had been haphazard, contradictory, unplanned and confusing. Key findings in this study relate to how ECD policy was made in South Africa from 1990 to 2015, how the ECD policy trajectory unfolded, how ECD policy was implemented, how the ECD policy choices were communicated, enhancing ECD policy-making, and the challenges and constraints in ECD policy-making. The dissertation concludes by reflecting on the state of ECD in South Africa at the time of this study, making recommendations for the future, discussing the implications of the study findings for ECD policy-making and for ECD in South Africa, and suggests areas for further research.
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    On bridging the gap between theory and practice: a conceptual analysis of practice in relation to a teacher professional learning programme at Stellenbosch University
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2018-12) Jeram, Ramesh; Davids, Nuraan; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Education. Dept. of Education Policy Studies.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT : There are extensive efforts to improve the quality of teaching and learning of teachers in South African schools. The South African government has experienced numerous challenges to address the educational neglect of the previous 350 years. Since 1994, there have been curriculum changes coupled with various training initiatives, to enhance the capacity of teachers in South Africa. The focus of these training initiatives has been on improving the efficacy of teachers. However, many of these training initiatives have been decontextualised and without support to teachers, that is, these teacher training sessions took place outside of the context within which the teachers practice their profession and without the required support to make the paradigm shift from learning as a finite activity, to learning as a lifelong activity. It has now become necessary to explore other means of teacher professional learning to make this paradigm shift. Practice-based professional learning has increasingly been offered as an approach to continuous professional learning through which the impediments (overly theory-laden contents, not relevant to the context within which teacher work, no clear link between theory and practice) of conventional mostly transmission-mode training could be addressed. After an in-depth survey of the literature as well as critical reflection on own practice, the intention of this research was to find ways of improving continuous teacher professional learning initiatives by utilising a practice-based approach to teacher professional learning, using practice theory as a theoretical and conceptual framework. Using conceptual analysis and phenomenology as research paradigms, this study explored the current research on practice theory and offers suggestions on how to improve the efficacy of teacher professional learning programmes within the South African context. The study examined the effectiveness of the current abstract, theory-laden modes of teacher professional development initiatives in South Africa, and suggests alternative ways of effective professional learning that has been proved to elicit changes in teachers’ practices, taking into account the contexts within which teachers learn while they interact with others on practice-based issues. This study therefore recommends a practice-based professional learning approach where teachers could learn in and from practice rather than in preparing to practice.
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    ‘n Ontleding van beleide met betrekking tot skoolhoofde : die verandering van verantwoordelikhede
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2020-12) Sonnekus, Wessel Christoffel; Davids, Nuraan; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Education. Education Policy Studies.
    AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING : Die rol wat die skoolhoof as leier en bestuurder van ’n skool speel, het oor die jare heen heelwat verander – nie net in Suid-Afrika nie, maar ook internasionaal. Uit die literatuur was dit duidelik dat die verantwoordelikhede van skoolhoofde daar vandag heel anders uitsien as drie dekades gelede. Sedert 1990 het drastiese verandering in Suid-Afrika plaasgevind. Onderwys is geensins gespaar wat hierdie verandering betref nie, onder andere weens die potensiaal wat onderwys bied tot grootskaalse transformasie. In die vroeë negentigerjare was die belangrikste doel met beleid in die onderwyssektor die regstelling van die rasverdeelde onderwysstelsel om ’n eenvormige onderwysstelsel vir alle leerders in die land te implementeer. Hierdie potensiële oplossing tot bogenoemde probleem is in beleidsdokumente omskryf in die verwagting dat die implementering daarvan tot ’n verbetering in die onderwys sal bydra. Hierdie studie het ’n ontleding gemaak van die beleide wat aan die verantwoordelikhede van die skoolhoof aandag skenk. Die jongste toevoeging, die Suid-Afrikaanse Standaard vir Hoofskap, sowel as ander dokumente soos die Personeeladministrasiemaatreëls en die Suid-Afrikaanse Skolewet 84 van 1996 wat almal aan die werksaamhede van die skoolhoof aandag skenk, is ontleed. Daar is verder ook ondersoek ingestel na die manier waarop die verandering in die skoolhoof se verantwoordelikhede ervaar word soos duidelik uit skoolhoofde se persepsies. Na aanleiding van ’n noukeurige literatuuroorsig rakende die ervarings van skoolhoofde in Suid-Afrika sowel as ander lande wat daaglikse uitdagings betref, is ook gekyk na moontlike opleidingsgeleenthede wat hierdie uitdagings die hoof kan bied. As deel van die gevallestudie wat tydens hierdie navorsing gebruik is, is die sewe deelnemende skoolhoofde se skole twee weke lank besoek om eerstehandse ervaring op te doen van die manier waarop hulle te werk gaan tydens die nakoming van hulle daaglikse verantwoordelikhede en die invloed wat beleide daarop het. Die studie het onder andere bevind dat die toename in beleidsdokumente nie die gewenste uitwerking op Suid-Afrikaanse skole het nie weens die komplekse posisie waarin die skoolhoofde hulle bevind. Die skoolhoof is veronderstel om kennis te neem van beleide (soos hierbo genoem) wat sy of haar verantwoordelikhede uitstippel, sowel as alle skoolverwante beleide, wette en witskrifte. Derrida se siening van dekonstruksie is in ag geneem tydens die ontleding van die verskynsel van agtergrondverwante aspekte wat die skoolhoof se potensiële werksaamhede beïnvloed.