‘We are never invited’: School children using collage to envision care and support in rural schools

The voices of school children who are orphaned and vulnerable are more often than not missing from conversations about their care and support at school. In a rural ecology this is even more so the case. This article draws on a study with school children in rural KwaZulu-Natal and explores their constructions of care and support in the age of HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) and AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome). A qualitative approach using collage, a visual arts-based method was used with 20 school children from two rural schools in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa to co-produce data with the participants, which was analysed using thematic analysis. A bio-ecological systems theory was used to frame how rural school children understand and envision care and support in a rural school context, explaining their ideas of transforming school care and support provided for  vulnerable children. The findings point to the need for strengthened competencies and agency, improved collaboration and inclusion at school level, and enhanced relations and agency at community level. The findings suggest a democratising of care and support, and have implications for systemic pro-grammatic interventions and policy-making aimed at strengthening the relationships of the individual, the school and the community.Keywords: care and support provision; collage; HIV and AIDS; intervention; rural school; school children; visual arts-based researc

Improving The well-being of learners with visual impairments in rural Lesotho schools: an asset-based approach

Purpose: The scarcity of resources, especially in Lesotho rural schools, obstruct the holistic well-being of learners with visual impairments (LVIs). Moreover, the voices of LVIs are often missing about the use of resources to improve their well-being. The study explored an asset-based approach for the improvement of LVIs' well-being in Lesotho.Method: Twenty-eight participants, including six teachers, four learners with and four learners without visual impairments, from two rural primary schools in Lesotho, were purposively chosen. Focus group discussions and collages were employed to generate data. The data were then analyzed thematically.Results: Involving LVIs in the decision-making, building positive relationships within the school, collaboration with parents and school leaders were provided as 'enabling assets' to improve the well-being of learners. Findings also revealed the constraints on LVIs' holistic well-being, such as, lack of management of the existing resources, shortage of qualified teachers,  and inadequate teaching resources. These were consistent with those identified in the literature, highlighting the asset-based complexity approach in rural schools.Conclusions: While the asset-based approach is virtuous, it may not be sufficient if the existing assets are not adequately managed. Therefore, were argue for the critical use of the asset-based approach towards improving the well-being of LVIs

Education Studies in South Africa

The thesis of this volume is that the fields of scholarly enquiry of Education — internationally as well as in South Africa in particular — despite being fields of virile scholarly activity and output, are in need of a major overhaul. In this collected work this want in research is encapsulated in three words: relevance, rigour and restructuring. Research in the scholarly field(s) of Education is predominantly of small scale, non-accumulative, widely condemned as not of a comparable standard to research done in other social sciences, much less upon a par with research in the natural sciences, and lacking structure in the sense of being anchored in a firm theory. To make matters worse, scholars in Education internationally and in South Africa have till very recently eschewed discussion as to the packaging or structuring of knowledge produced by Education research. The book consists of chapters containing original research unpacking these desiderata from a variety of angles. The authors had them served by a variety of methods, from deductively argued position papers, to empirical research, the latter both quantitative (survey research) and qualitative

Education Studies in South Africa

The thesis of this volume is that the fields of scholarly enquiry of Education — internationally as well as in South Africa in particular — despite being fields of virile scholarly activity and output, are in need of a major overhaul. In this collected work this want in research is encapsulated in three words: relevance, rigour and restructuring. Research in the scholarly field(s) of Education is predominantly of small scale, non-accumulative, widely condemned as not of a comparable standard to research done in other social sciences, much less upon a par with research in the natural sciences, and lacking structure in the sense of being anchored in a firm theory. To make matters worse, scholars in Education internationally and in South Africa have till very recently eschewed discussion as to the packaging or structuring of knowledge produced by Education research. The book consists of chapters containing original research unpacking these desiderata from a variety of angles. The authors had them served by a variety of methods, from deductively argued position papers, to empirical research, the latter both quantitative (survey research) and qualitative