Department of Curriculum Studies

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Browsing Department of Curriculum Studies by Author "Adams, Tania Bernadette"

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    A conceptual framework for leadership development in the South African police service based on transformative learning theory
    (Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch, 2011-03) Adams, Tania Bernadette; Frick, B. L.; University of Stellenbosch. Faculty of Education. Centre for Higher and Adult Education.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Leadership development is an essential and valuable tool for capacitating police leaders in the South African Police Service to deal with the diverse challenges that they face in the policing environment. There seem to be a need for leadership development processes that can stimulate change, and for perspective transformation to enable police leaders to find alternative ways of dealing with the challenges experienced in their working environment. This thesis explored transformative learning as a tool to enhance the leadership development processes of police leaders. The essential elements of transformative learning are: centrality of experience; critical thinking; rational discourse; and policy praxis. Theory development were chosen as best to carefully construct the foundational argument through non-empirical literary-based sources, in which the literature itself became the database towards theoretical formulation in this non-empirical study. The alignment and integration of the elements of transformative learning were explored as a strategy to capacitate police leaders to: reflect on past experiences; think critically about ways of dealing with policing challenges based on experiences; discuss these challenges with other police leaders; and act on reflections made during leadership development processes. The study is limited to the analysis of the status of leadership development in the South African Police Service, which was the context of this study.
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    A reflective account of facilitator practice improvement in a leadership development programme in the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) sector
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2018-03) Adams, Tania Bernadette; Frick, B. L.; Albertyn, R. M.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Education. Dept. of Curriculum Studies.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The purpose of this study was to facilitate transformative learning, essential to address the need for leadership capacity building in the South African Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) College Sector. The underlying research approach used to guide and operationalise the study was the Living Educational Theory (LET) within an action research methodology. The action research study was concerned with the development of epistemological understanding of how to facilitate transformative learning in practice within a leadership development intervention. Moreover, the study proposed recommendations for other novice facilitators on epistemological development of transformative learning practice. The empirical part of this study was conducted over a five-year period. True to the nature of action research, a cyclical process was followed. The study consisted of three action research cycles. The focus of the first action research cycle was to facilitate a transformative learning model to help leaders change perspectives about leadership challenges in the TVET sector. The sample included sixty-one (61) participants, who signed up for the leadership development workshop on a voluntary basis. Data collection methods for Cycle 1 included participant reflection journals; workshop evaluation forms; audio recordings and transcripts of these recordings from informal interviews conducted during the workshops; independent participant evaluation and practitioner-researcher reflection journals. Reflective learning was facilitated in Cycle 2. Participants were encouraged to engage in a deeper level of reflective learning, which was not achieved during the first cycle, with five participants taking part in reflective learning activities. Data collection methods for Cycle 2 were transcripts from audio recordings derived from semi-structured interviews and practitioner-researcher reflection journals. The third cycle involved the participants from the previous cycle, who were engaged in reflective dialogue and action activities. The facilitation process concluded the final two quadrants in the transformative learning model. In the third cycle, data were collected through a focus group activity that was audio-recorded during the workshop and participant evaluation forms. This study is significant as no study could be found, where transformative learning was facilitated in leadership development in the TVET sector in South Africa. This study addressed such research gap and proposed a transformative capacity-building framework to build leadership capacity in the TVET sector in South Africa. This study explored the developmental learning experiences of a novice facilitator of transformative learning in South Africa. My original contribution is a transformative professional development framework that demonstrated how a novice facilitator of transformative learning developed an epistemology of practice. In conclusion, the study recommends that transformative learning theory be integrated into leadership development aimed at the individual transformational capacity building of the leadership in the TVET sector.