Prophets and Profits. A case study of the restructuring of Jewish community schools in Johannesburg - South Africa

This is a case study of the restructuring of the Jewish community schools in Johannesburg, South Africa. The purpose of this research is to explain why, how and with what impact, economic and ideological forces shaped the restructuring of the Jewish community schools. This is explored by drawing out the views of the different stakeholders as well as the meanings that they attached to the change and by recalling their experiences and understandings vis-à-vis the restructuring process. This study investigates what was considered to be the “first stage” of restructuring – a stage that aimed at ejecting the past, establishing new management and designing a blueprint for the future. The study follows the process as it evolved from April 2001 when a CEO was contracted to manage the schools until March 2003 with the 27th National Conference of the South African Board of Jewish Education, at which the changes were endorsed and constitutionalised. The study suggests that the restructuring evolved through the interaction and convergence of two globalised forces: one force pulled the schools towards marketisation and managerialism; and the other force pushed the schools towards the intensification of their religious identity. The study explores the impact of these two sets of dynamics as they came together in the context of a faith-based community school, and the contradictory forces that were set in motion. The main argument is that the synergy created between new managerialism and religious extremism, in a transitional and unstable context, undermined the fragile democracy of the faith-based community schools and caused them to change, thus shifting them towards ghettoisation, exclusion and autocracy. The study identifies and explains the global, national, local and institutional conditions and realities that enabled and constrained this process. This qualitative case study relies on insider accounts of the process of change and contestation, and raises important methodological and ethical questions around the difficulties of researching one’s own community and colleagues.Thesis (PhD (Education Management and Policy Studies))--University of Pretoria, 2005.Education Management and Policy Studiesunrestricte

Obstacles to success - doctoral student attrition in South Africa

The article explores doctoral attrition in South Africa, investigating and comparing the attributions of attrition of doctoral students and PhD programme leaders. The article is based on secondary data analysis of two large studies on doctoral education in South Africa. The main point of the article is that the different understandings of the students and the PhD programme leaders, as well as the gaps in the narratives of both groups, are an indication of a lack of in-depth understanding of the actual causes of doctoral attrition. Using attribution theory, the article suggests that this lack of understanding may contribute to further attrition and calls for further research on the topic.http://journals.sabinet.co.za/ej/ejour_persed.htm

Expanding doctoral education in South Africa : pipeline or pipedream?

The purpose of this paper is to discuss both the status of the PhD in South Africa and the feasibility of the country’s aspiration to increase by fivefold the production of PhDs by 2025. Based on the first empirical studies on doctoral education in South Africa, it is argues that in order to move towards this target an expanded and coordinated effort is necessary. This includes the removal of barriers that hinder the expansion of the South African higher education system. In particular the paper highlights insufficient funding, policy that stands in the way of expansion, scarcity of students and limited supervisory capacity, lack of recognition in the value of the doctorate and higher learning as well as limited and inadequate partnerships. The main question is whether South Africa can achieve the desired outcome by following international trends or whether the expansion target is merely a pipedream.http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/cher20gv201

Looking back at doctoral education in South Africa

This article provides a quantitative picture of doctoral education in South Africa up to 2010, from the time the first doctorate was awarded in 1899. It identifies the different institutional profiles and emphases of doctoral graduation in South African universities at various periods of time in the context of economic, political and social change. In addition, it analyses the progress that has taken place in attaining the national goal of equity, redress and increased research production to allow South Africa to become a player in the knowledge economy. The article is based on a comprehensive database of all the doctoral degrees awarded by South African universities for over a century. This database was compiled by triangulating various data sources.http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/cshe202017-04-30hb201

Doctoral education in South Africa – research and policy

The doctorate has a long history in South Africa. The first doctorate was in law and was awarded at the University of the Cape of Good Hope in 1899 to William Alison Macfadyen. Since then, South African universities have awarded nearly 30.000 PhD degrees, about two-thirds of which in the past two decades. Despite this long history, doctoral education in South Africa has been an unknown phenomenon, mostly conducted behind closed doors, as a private affair between the doctoral student and a supervisor. Knowledge about the doctorate was anecdotal and informal. Furthermore, until the late 1980s, such education in South Africa was the privilege of élite, white, mostly male students.http://journals.sabinet.co.za/ej/ejour_persed.htmlgv201

The PhD conundrum in South African academia

South African universities need more academics with PhDs, from historically disadvantaged population groups in particular, but they face a conundrum. In order to have more staff with PhDs, they need to produce more PhD graduates. But in order to produce more PhD graduates, they need more staff with PhDs to supervise. This article explores this conundrum by comparing academic qualifications with national policies and targets, by developing a quantitative profile of staff without PhDs and describing government and institutional measures to improve academic qualifications. An institution's supervisory capacity is found to be closely related to institutional history. Four main factors are identified: (a) whether or not the institution was originally established as a traditional university or as a technikon; (b) whether or not it was advantaged or disadvantaged under apartheid, which was closely related to the racial group for which it was established; (c) whether or not it was merged post 2004; and if so, (d) with what type of institution it was merged.The Australia–Africa Universities Network (AAUN)https://wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/hequ2019-10-01hj2019Education Management and Policy Studie

Learner behaviour management in culturally diverse classrooms

This article explores learner behaviour management practices of teachers in culturally diverse classrooms in a South African high school. The theoretical underpinnings of culturally responsive classroom management are used to describe and interpret the practices of teachers. The data for this qualitative study was collected through semi-structured interviews, analysis of pertinent documents, observation of ten culturally diverse teachers who teach the same class of culturally diverse learners, as well as other key stakeholders. The findings reveal that learner behaviour management practices of the teachers are not culturally responsive. This is the result of factors such as lack of recognition of their own ethnocentrism and biases (as demonstrated by their unrealistic expectations, pessimistic attitudes and stereotyping perceptions); ignorance of learners’ cultural backgrounds (as demonstrated by their denial and minimisation of the importance of understanding learners’ cultural backgrounds, which leads to misinterpretation of the behaviour of culturally different learners); lack of commitment to building caring classroom communities; and lack of ability to apply culturally responsive classroom management strategies. The implication of these findings is that teacher education programmes need to prioritise teacher development on intercultural issues and the acquisition of intercultural competencies.https://journals.co.za/journal/jedshj2024Education Management and Policy StudiesSDG-04:Quality Educatio

The role of social networks in the transitional experiences of international African doctoral students at one university in South Africa

International doctoral students’ sojourn encompasses three transitional processes: to the new country, to the university and to a new academic identity as a researcher in a specific discipline. This article examines the role of social networks in facilitating these transitions for international doctoral students at one South African university. It is based on qualitative interviews conducted with 23 international PhD students representing eight different disciplines and various countries in Africa. The findings suggest that students are involved in a number of social networks, which all, apart from the academic network, exclude local students. This close-knit co-national network, while providing international PhD students with a well documented survival mechanism, may hinder their international experiences and limit the acquisition of the inter-cultural skills necessary for global citizenship in the twenty-first century. The findings also indicated that family networks back home played a role in instilling worries and doubts among students related to xenophobic attacks against foreignerhttp://www.tandfonline.com/loi/cher202020-06-18hj2019Education Management and Policy Studie

Inclusive education : a case of beliefs competing for implementation

The study explored the understanding and implementation of inclusive education in an independent Jewish community school; a school with a community ethos of care and belonging, whose context is, by definition, exclusionary on the grounds of a particular social category – religion. However, this exclusionary agenda positioned the school as inclusive on the grounds of strong communal values. Nevertheless, the school struggled with difference and diversity despite its purportedly strong communal spirit and religious culture. Further, it is arguable that the challenges encountered by the school may be indicative of the emergent economic context of South Africa where aspiration is often thwarted by economic realities. This study relied on qualitative methods of data generation such as insider interviews, personal accounts and document analysis. The participants were drawn from four stakeholder groups, namely, teachers, parents, middle managers and top managers. Guided by Lewin’s theory of planned change, the study identified four belief systems which influenced the way inclusive education was both understood and practised in this school. The study argued for the recognition of the importance of different belief systems in the implementation of inclusion in South Africa.http://www.sajournalofeducation.co.zaam201

Mentoring:A Review of early career researcher studies

This paper reviews 23 journal articles on ‘mentoring’ in the context of Early Career Researchers, defined as those in academia with less than 10 years of experience from the start of their PhD. Achieving a better understanding of mentoring is important since within the higher education context new dynamics have created expectations towards more supportive mechamisms for ECRs. In order to better understand the benefits of mentoring for ECRs careers and psychosocial well-being, it is important to understand (1) the core definitions of mentoring used in research, (2) the research methodologies that are applied to research mentoring, (3) the empirical evidence showing the value of mentoring and (4) the remaining gaps for which future research will be needed. Results of the review lead to the following conclusions: there is much research to do, first, to better inform our conceptualization of ECR mentoring and, second, to better understand the value of ECR mentoring support. A research agenda is outlined