Towards SoTL as Critical Engagement: A Perspective From the South

Excerpt: In my role as Director of a Centre for Teaching and Learning I support academics to enhance their teaching role by conducting research into teaching and learning, In some cases I am a fellow traveler, working alongside academics, and in some cases I am a team leader, providing support rather than working as a partner. I draw support from the various approaches to research on teaching, of which the scholarship of teaching and learning remains..

Cognitive justice and the higher education curriculum

This article is set against the backdrop of calls for the decolonisation of the curriculum in higher education institutions in South Africa. It is an attempt to contribute towards the debate on decolonising the curriculum, with a focus on the tasks of academics and academic developers. The first half of the article outlines several key aspects of current theorising about academic development or teaching and learning in higher education, informed by more general debates about education. These aspects limit the potential to imagine a more inclusive or socially just, decolonised curriculum. The second half of the article proposes cognitive justice as a useful concept to lead thinking about how to change the curriculum. It discusses what cognitive justice is and how this intersects with writing on decolonisation. It outlines some of the gaps in this conceptualisation, which would need more attention if this concept were to be useful to take the process of transforming teaching and learning forward

A case study of students from mixed educational and linguistic backgrounds learning English as a first language in a non-racial school

This is a case study of a multilingual Standard Nine class in a non-racial Cape Town college, studying English as a first language. It assesses the social and academic effects of the multilingual composition of the class. The study locates the class in the broader South African social and educational context and provides a rationale for emancipatory and reciprocal research. The theoretical foundation for the research methodology, i.e. participant observation, with the teacher as primary observer, is then presented. Theories of Second Language Acquisition (SLA) are discussed in relation to the broader context of language, society and education in South Africa. Arising out of this discussion is a description of progressive English teaching, which is suggested to be appropriate for the multilingual classroom. The prior learning experience of the second language students and the impact of this experience on the second language students in the case study, is illustrated. The social dynamics and level of participation of all students in the classroom, as well as the academic and linguistic development of the second language students. is discussed. The effectivity of the research process itself is assessed. Finally, suggestions for future research and a summary of the findings are presented

Power, Knowledge and Learning: Dehegomonising Colonial Knowledge

This article contributes to the debate on the decolonisation of knowledge by discussing the varieties of harm generated by Western enlightenment knowledge, which affects the colonised and oppressed, as well as the colonisers and privileged. The harm is discussed in relation to five points: it is interwoven with violence and imposition; it generates inequality; it leads to alienation; it lacks a foil to counter its own excesses; and it fails to answer the pressing challenges of our time. Several dehegemonising approaches are considered, including centring knowledge in relation to place; an ecology of knowledges; decolonisation from the outside; hybridisation; and comparison. These approaches all have value, although some contain challenges inherent to their conceptualisation. Most of these approaches are influenced by societal conditions of quality and inequality. The influence of broader conditions limits the potential impact of these dehegemonising approaches. The implications for the responsibilities of academics are delineated at the macro, meso and micro levels

Foundation provision - a social justice perspective

The article uses data gathered during monitoring and evaluation work at two institutions, policy documents, published articles, correspondence with key role-players at South African higher education institutions and other documents in the public domain in order to present a critique of the existing foundation provision and policy. We argue that foundation provision focuses on a narrow band of students, over a limited time period and that it separates the educational thinking and planning for the foundation students from the mainstream. This is to the detriment of either group of students and lecturers. We suggest questions for further investigation regarding foundation provision, based on the throughput trends across the country and institutional reports, which would shed light on the effectiveness of the present approach. We share two approaches which we believe offer productive alternative ways of thinking about the curriculum and arrangements for learning, for the benefit of all students and lecturers, namely Universal Design for Learning and a Capabilities Approach.Dept of Higher Education and Trainin

A pedagogy of critical hope in South African Higher Education

How can discerning critical hope enable us to develop innovative forms of teaching, learning and social practices that begin to address issues of marginalization, privilege and access across different contexts? At this millennial point in history, questions of cynicism, despair and hope arise at every turn, especially within areas of research into social justice and the struggle for transformation in education. While a sense of fatalism and despair is easily recognizable, establishing compelling bases for hope is more difficult. This book addresses the absence of sustained analyses of hope that simultaneously recognize the hard edges of why we despair. The volume posits the notion of critical hope not only as conceptual and theoretical, but also as an action-oriented response to despair. Our notion of critical hope is used in two ways: it is used firstly as a unitary concept which cannot be disaggregated into either hopefulness or criticality, and secondly, as an analytical concept, where critical hope is engaged and diversely theorized in ways that recognize aspects of individual and collective directions of critical hope. The book is divided into four sub-sections: Critical Hope in Education Critical Hope and a Critique of Neoliberalism Critical Race Theory/Postcolonial Perspectives on Critical Hope Philosophical Overviews of Critical Hope. Education can be a purveyor of critical hope, but it also requires critical hope so that it, as a sector itself, can be transformative. With contributions from international experts in the field, the book will be of value to all academics and practitioners working in the field of education

The purpose and impact of postgraduate knowledge

Purpose: Much research into outcomes of doctoral learning focuses on employability, or the dearth of academic employment in relation to doctoral graduate expectations, emphasising precarity of academic future work. This new work begins with and moves beyond employment issues, highlighting professional practice and personal knowledge development and impact. Design/methodology/approach: Much doctoral education research focuses on the academic identities of postgraduates, their change and alignment to the work and experience of being a doctoral student and beyond, in academic or other jobs. This longitudinal work explores professional and social impact from doctoral research and transformational changes experienced and reported by graduates in two projects. Based on narrative interviewing turned into case studies, it asks fundamental questions about the purpose and impact of postgraduate knowledge. Findings: Respondents emphasised change in their sense of personal, academic and professional identity; immediate impact on professional practice leading to job change, status, changes in practices and longer-term impacts of further influences on professional practice, some international in reach. Research limitations/implications: This small-scale study has widespread implications for understanding the impact of postgraduate knowledge on professional practice and personal development. Practical implications: The work could influence doctoral student intentions and the focus of doctoral programmes. Social implications: Postgraduate knowledge is seen as crucial in theorised and practical contributions to social development. Originality/value: This longitudinal work generates new knowledge, answering questions: What is the purpose of postgraduate knowledge? Who benefits from results? What is the impact from the research? How are outcomes put into professional practice? It found significant developments in professional practice and personal development

Leading change from different shores: The challenges of contextualizing the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

This article offers narratives of individual journeys through the scholarship of leading in three different contexts—Asia, Europe, and Africa. Together, these narratives argue for the need to make explicit the diversity of practices of the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL), with each practice inextricably tied to specific geographical, sociocultural, and political contexts. In offering these contextual specificities, we call on all who engage in SoTL to exercise reflexivity in thought, language, and action—to actively foreground our mental models and assumptions about SoTL and what it looks like for ourselves and for others; to sensitively engage scholars who do not share our context; and to strive toward an inclusive mindset and practice that will situate all of us within the “international” of an international organization. We highlight the problems of language, meaning, and translation; and the challenge scholars from “different shores” face in engaging with “other” shores.&nbsp

The scholarship of teaching and learning from a social justice perspective

We argue that there is a reciprocal relationship between all scholarly activities, most importantly between teaching, learning, research and professional learning. The article builds on the work of others who call for a social justice approach to inform the SoTL. It focuses on the implications for professional learning, as an aspect of the SoTL which has been neglected. The tripartite account of participatory parity as advanced by Nancy Fraser is shown to be a valuable frame to describe instances of social justice, as well as the kind of institutional arrangements that should be instituted to support participatory parity. Alongside this, the notion of a ‘pedagogy of discomfort’ is shown to be an effective, but challenging means to advance awareness of justice and injustice amongst academics. The article draws on examples from three action based research projects run by the authors.IS

Towards a Slow scholarship of teaching and learning in the South

Although the concept of a scholarship of teaching and learning (SOTL) has emanated from the global North, it is a relevant and useful concept in the global South. The concept was initiated in the 1990s in the US. The original emphases in the seminal Boyer Report, on the integration of various forms of scholarship, the importance of intellectual thought and the collaborative nature of teaching have been subject to various distortions, in part due to the depredations of neoliberalism and performativity. We argue that Slow scholarship, which has resonances with Boyer’s notions of the scholarship of teaching and learning provides much potential for reconceptualising SOTL in the South. These claims are explored via a case study set in South Africa, where academic developers at eleven higher education institutions covering the range of institutional types were interviewed