Asian/Pacific Islander Communities: An Agenda for Positive Action

In June of 2001 the National Council on Crime and Delinquency, in cooperation with the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, convened a symposium to assess the current state of research, exchange information, and establish a tentative agenda for action regarding the quality of life and unmet needs of the API population in the United States. Scholars, activists, community-based and non-profit organizations, educators, law and policy experts, and foundations were all present for this conversation. This report includes many of the data and concepts presented and discusses recurring issues, such as the myth of the model minority, documenting the diversity of API communities, and historical issues which affect federal policies and legislation

Critical Issues in School Mathematics and Science

Cite: Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf), (2011). Critical Issues in School Mathematics and Science. [Online] Available at: DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.17159/assaf.2016/0027The Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf), as a body of natural and human scientists, has an important role to play in providing government and members of society with evidence-based information that can be used to influence policy and guide decisions for the benefit of society. The ASSAf Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Education Standing Committee organised a forum to deliberate on critical issues in school mathematics and science education and to make concrete proposals on how the situation can be improved. The state of science and mathematics in South African schools has frequently been termed a national crisis. South African learners have fared poorly in comparative tests of science and mathematics at both international and regional levels and in local bench mark tests. This is true at both primary and secondary levels. These averaged results mark a very wide disparity between our learners: a small minority continue to make significant progress in these subjects, while the majority fail to perform at appropriate levels. As a result, the pool of potential scientists, engineers, health practitioners and future teachers of mathematics and science is severely limited. This, in turn, limits South Africa’s ability to be internationally competitive, as well as its ability to provide the infrastructure needed for the well-being of the majority of its people. 2009 was a seminal year for education in South Africa as the first recipients of the new National Senior Certificate (NSC) entered higher education, and in larger numbers than in the past. The NSC, and particularly the requirements related to Mathematics and entry into higher education (HE), succeeded in releasing what was a considerable blockage to entry to HE. Early indications were that overall student performance in science-based programmes at Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) was below that of previous years. The larger intake resulted in larger numbers of students performing very poorly in their mid-year assessments. HEIs have mounted various interventions to prevent a large failure rate of first year students. What has become clear is that the knowledge and skills with which students who obtained an NSC in 2008 entered HEIs were different from either the knowledge or skills that HEIs expect students to have or from those held by entering students in the past. The situation highlighted the need for an in-depth look at school mathematics and science – the curricula, how they are taught, how they are assessed and how teachers are prepared to teach them –and the interface with science and mathematics at higher education level. In the process, issues related to transformation, equity and social justice were also discussed.Academy of Science of South Africa, South Afric

Citizenship education religion and religious identity in public schooling in South Africa

Religion education grounded in universal human rights and civil toleration raises tensions between liberal assumptions of citizenship and religious perspectives. In the public school environment, nurturing learners to become responsible, effective citizens grounded in their worldview and identity may conflict with their developing religious identity and can pose a problem in realizing the vision of a democratic South Africa. This article unveils how the new focus of citizenship education within the Policy on Religion and Education in South Africa interacts with the competing, conflicting claims of religious identity and considers the complex interrelationship of the above concepts and the implication for learners in public schools

Constructions of students as clients or partners in knowledge creation?

This study explored notions of ‘the student’ within the South African higher education context. Qualitative data from interviews with twenty-three executive and senior Student Affairs staff and practitioners were collected from three higher education institution in South Africa. The data were thematically analysed. The findings suggest that notions about students as ‘disadvantaged’ and ‘needing support’ as reflected in the South African policy documents is not congruent with the discourses in current Student Affairs in South Africa. Findings suggest that deficit discourses have been replaced by strengths based paradigms which construct the student in heterogeneous individualistic terms. Consumerist frameworks constructing the student as client have also emerged. The conceptual framework within which Student Affairs is embedded needs to reflect the changed discourse in Student Affairs practice in South Africa.International Bibliography of Social Science

Inserting Space into the Transformation of Higher Education

In this article we argue for a socio-political conception of space in order to show how conceptualisations of space can provide conceptual tools in the reframing of policy and designing of policy interventions in pursuit of higher education transformation goals. In keeping with Lefebvre and others, we conceptualise space as a co-producer of social relations with agentic capability in the transformation of higher education. Using this understanding of space as a conceptual framework, we analyse four national cornerstone policy documents on higher education transformation in South Africa. We find that space is almost consistently conceived of only as an object in transformation – be it with respect to macro policy on mergers to reconfigure the apartheid spatial landscape of higher education, or with respect to discriminatory institutional cultures and the need to create secure and safe campus environments.  Since the landmark White Paper on Higher Education of 1997, it is only the most recent policy document we analyse, the Draft National Plan for Post-school Education and Training of 2017, which blurs the lines between the social ills affecting higher education, the student experience and student academic performance, and different functions of space. We conclude by introducing the conceptual tool of spatial types as an opening gambit for a research agenda that aims to explore the organisation of space in higher education institutions to identify the underlying rules that govern their social nature and promote conceptualisations of social space in the reframing and design of policy that respond to calls for the creation of transformed and ‘decolonised’ higher education, as heard in studentmovement campaigns in 2015/16

Special Education Practices for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders in the UK and Egypt

: This study aims to compare the development of special education practices for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in the UK and Egypt and gain an understanding of those factors that enhance special education in both countries. The study applies a comparative framework method. The findings provide a better understanding of special education practices and factors that enhanced the special education for ASD across the two countries. The findings reveal that special education practice in Egypt was hindered by low economic status, scarcity of cultural awareness, inadequate financial support and absence of education policy for ASD. While, in the UK education policy, cultural awareness, economy, and scientific technology have been identified as important enhancing factors for special education. The study suggests some recommendations for developing special education for ASD in Egypt

Professional development of educators : an illuminative evaluation of INSET for life orientation.

In-service education and training (INSET) has become a key vehicle for the professional development of educators in the school context. However, its role and impact has yet to be fully comprehended. This study resulted from the realization that educators often attend short training courses without being tracked or monitored afterwards. Using an illuminative approach to evaluation, this study aimed to establish the impact of INSET on educators’ ability to effectively implement the Life Orientation (LO) curriculum, after attending national INSET in 2005. It was also important to gauge if educators had gained the knowledge and skills to deal with emergent issues not addressed during the training. The field of adult education offered a particular lens through which I aimed to look at both LO and INSET. The sample selected for this study consisted of three teachers teaching at co-educational government schools in Johannesburg, who attended the 2005 Gauteng provincial training in LO for grade 10. Data collection methods included questionnaires, naturalistic observations, semi-structured interviews and document analysis. The findings of this study suggest that the success of this INSET programme depends heavily on the individuals who attend them and their personal experiences and beliefs. The study concluded that for educators to implement LO effectively they would not only have to develop professionally but they should also be committed to lifelong learning

Management of rehabilitation personnel within the context of the National Rehabilitation Policy

M.P.H.(Health Policy and Management), Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, 2008The provision of rehabilitation services has received little attention within the context of health sector reforms in South Africa. This study explores the human resource (HR) management component of the National Rehabilitation Policy (NRP), formulated to improve access to rehabilitation services within the public health sector. Qualitative methodology was used to understand the alignment of policy to practice, with data derived from both the deductive approach (document reviews); and inductive approach (key informant interviews and focus group discussions). The findings reveal that there is a gap between policy and practice. Resistance to integration, problems with professional identity and capacity constraints at national, provincial and local levels hindered the implementation of an integrated rehabilitation service. In addition, polices and norms and standards that aim to guide HR in public health are not coherent. These directly influence HR performance, and have served to highlight the social and institutional phenomena impacting on service delivery