Browsing by Author "Petersen, Melanie"

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    2020-12-31 The role of student feedback in university teaching at a research-led university
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2016-12) Petersen, Melanie; Bitzer, Eli; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Education. Dept. Educational Psychology
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT : Student feedback is widely accepted as a useful source of information about the quality of teaching and as a potential professional learning tool to enhance university teachers’ teaching. A review of the literature, however, revealed a shortage of systematic research about how student feedback influences university teachers’ teaching practices. A similar gap in knowledge was identified at Stellenbosch University. Preliminary studies at this institution indicated dissonance between university teachers’ perceptions of the potential value of student feedback and how they actually made use of student feedback in their teaching. In researchled university contexts, teaching is often perceived to have lower status than research. This study therefore set out to explore how university teachers at this particular research-led institution experienced the role of student feedback in their teaching. A case-study research design was followed, with the potential relationship between student feedback and university teaching practice at a research-led university constituting the unit of analysis. Qualitative data was generated by way of semistructured interviews with 16 purposely selected university teachers. Institutional policies relating to student feedback, teaching and learning and human resource management were also included as secondary sources of data to ascertain how university teachers’ experiences of student feedback related to institutional policy directives. Activity theory was used as analytical framework to interrogate the data. The findings of the study indicate that the research-led context at Stellenbosch University plays a significant role in how university teachers experience and respond to student feedback. The perceptions of research being more valued than teaching in terms of recognition and rewards, limits the optimal use of student feedback for the purpose of improving teaching. Raising the stature of teaching would thus be a necessary requirement for promoting the use of student feedback to improve teaching. Furthermore, the potential role of student feedback in university teaching practice at Stellenbosch is influenced by other subsystems, in particular the performance appraisal system. A concerted effort should be made at institutional level to come to a common understanding of what good teaching is considered to be. In the absence of such a common understanding, the growing culture of performativity has led to student feedback being reduced to a mere quantitative measure of the quality of teaching in many cases. Since mid-level university management carries the biggest responsibility for managing the performance appraisal processes in academic departments, they also exert a significant influence on how university teachers would use student feedback for professional learning and the enhancement of their teaching. The diverse practices followed by mid-level managers in the various academic departments represented in this study further pointed to the possible need for a guiding framework to support an ethics of practice approach to the use of student feedback. Based on its findings, this study is considered to have made a contribution to the body of knowledge regarding the contextual and relational nature of student feedback, particularly within a research-led university context.
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    'n Gevallestudie van die effek van die herverdeling van mag op vroue wat op skoolbeheerliggame dien DIEN
    (Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch, 2007-03) Petersen, Melanie; Berkhout, S. J.; University of Stellenbosch. Faculty of Education. Dept. of Education Policy Studies.
    Policy is generally established to provide for specific needs. In South Africa, for example, the South African Schools Act of 1996 was introduced, among other reasons, to promote democratic transformation in society, to protect the rights of all learners, parents and educators and to facilitate their acceptance of responsibility for the organisation, control and financing of schools in partnership with the state (RSA, 1996b). The SA Schools Act, in accordance with which school governing bodies are constituted, endeavours to effect greater devolution of power from the state to local communities to offer these communities greater participation in the control and management of their schools. Analysis of national and international literature, however, indicates that democratic government policy does not always deliver the desired results in practice (MacLean, 2003). Policy intention and implementation are frequently far removed from the practical reality within which they should be effecting change. Policy implementation is frequently aimed at promoting democracy and equality but, in reality, results in the maintenance and even the strengthening of existing inequalities between élite and marginalised groups. It is not always in touch with the cultural, political and economic obstacles that women in particular have to overcome to be allowed to participate at the same level as men in decision-making processes and in the exercise of power. This study endeavours to determine the real effect of such decentralisation on women as one of the most marginalised groups. During the study, personal interviews were conducted with two selected women and followed up with a questionnaire, which brought to light another dimension to the concept of empowerment: that of the women each attaching her own meaning to the concept of power, which emanates from their different backgrounds in respect of, for example, culture, education and language. Decentralisation can therefore result in different effects, depending on the meaning attached to the concept in a specific context. Women do not see power simply as the making of decisions on issues such as the formulation of policy; they see the right to power and the meaning that they themselves give to power as empowering. It can therefore be said that decentralisation as a policy involves certain textual intentions (which the policy stipulates as text) but that it also involves a contextual intention, which is influenced by different backgrounds. The very fact that women are accorded a voice in forums such as school governing bodies can in itself be experienced as empowering due to the women's own conceptualisation of it. The differences in the interpretation of and meaning attached to the concept indicate a need for research that delves deeper than simply a focus on the number of women participating in local politics. More research is necessary to investigate the circumstances and policy implications of the participation of women. Such research could investigate aspects such as different contexts and people's different interpretations and conceptualisations, which could ultimately be anticipated in policy frameworks. Due cognisance of women’s expectations in respect of the decentralisation or the redistribution of school governing powers and the position of women in such spheres could well result in a greater contribution to the empowerment of women.
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    Reflections on using community-based action research with a group of women/youth to explore the socio-emotional factors that enhance or inhibit participation in sustainable poverty alleviation initiatives
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2020-12) Petersen, Melanie; Damons, Lynne; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Education. Educational Psychology.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT : Youth unemployment is a serious problem in South Africa, particularly so among women. The exacerbating rates of unemployment leave many young women in the undesirable position of being unable to provide for themselves or their families, and often developing feelings of hopelessness and depression. Moreover, their unemployed status often leaves them vulnerable to being exploited and lacking the self-esteem to break out of the trap of poverty. With women and youth constituting a major portion of the world’s population, the empowerment of women has become a worldwide priority in addressing poverty reduction. This study explored the experiences of six young women who engaged in one such an initiative which was aimed at alleviating the challenge of poverty and unemployment in their community. A social constructivist research paradigm underpinned this exploratory study which generated qualitative data through the use of semi-structured interviews and focus group interviews with six women, participant-generated artefacts, as well as a semi-structured interview with a social development officer from local government structures. A multi-theoretical lens, including aspects from Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological model, Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) and Social Interdependence Theory (SIT) were used to analyse and interpret the data generated in this study. Triangulation of theories created opportunity to explore the data from various vantage points and to produce new perspectives. This added to the rigour of the study. Thematic analysis revealed that women’s trajectories into unemployment are complex and multifaceted, encompassing aspects of personal, contextual, structural, economic and socio-emotional nature. The findings indicated that women often have to navigate many challenges in these areas, to the extent that many of them reported that their self-esteem and self-efficacy had been eroded by these adverse conditions and experiences. This lack of confidence and insecurity caused them to struggle to access the job market. The impact that their participation in a social justice initiative had on them in terms of identity formation, however, built their resilience and enabled them to exercise their agency to actively and intentionally seek opportunities to access the job market. The Global University of Lifelong Learning (GULL) initiative enabled them to develop strategies that they employed to move themselves from impoverished self-perception to taking both personal and collective responsibility to collaborate and intentionally work towards becoming self-sustainable, with the added vision of extending their own learnings to empower other community members. Building developmental relationships where care and acceptance were expressed and a sense of belonging was experienced, strengthened their engagement in this initiative, enhanced their self-efficacy and sharpened their insights into aspects of starting and managing their own businesses. The results of this study highlighted a number of socio-emotional factors, such as engaging in regular self-reflection, critical decision-making and committing to shared goals, as crucial aspects to include for poverty alleviation initiatives to be truly successful and sustainable. Women economic empowerment has thus been revealed as extending beyond personal and professional empowerment to include fundamental shifts in how economic, social and mental well-being of women are perceived and enabled.