Using a Vygotskian sociocultural approach to pedagogy: Insights from some teachers in South Africa

The goal of the study on which this article is based was to examine teachers’ perspectives on the effectiveness of adopting a Vygotskian sociocultural approach to teaching and learning in the classrooms. The study used focus group interview discussions to gather views from 20 classroom practitioners who had completed a BEd Hons in Education Psychology. The teachers were from five secondary schools in the Gauteng region. Among the key concepts explored in the focus group discussions (FGDs) were the role of scaffolding when linked to mediated learning experiences (MLEs), the use of situated learning experiences in the learners’ zones of proximal development (ZPD), and how the approach helped transform the learners’ skills from lower to higher psychological functions through the use of material, psychological and semiotic tools in the classroom. The analysis of the data followed a thematic approach, with emerging codes being clustered into code families. Among the key findings of the study was the view of teachers that adopting a multipronged strategy that includes the use of authentic learning conversations, learning tools (material, psychological, and semiotic) and situated learning experiences goes a long way towards fostering useful teaching and learning. The study illustrated that classroom practitioners do need to take into account and adopt the many and varied benefits that can be derived from an authentic sociocultural approach to teaching and learning

Unmasking the ramifications of the fees-must-fall-conundrum in higher education institutions in South Africa: A critical perspective

The purpose of this study was to explore the ramifications of the fees-must-fall-protests that rocked South Africa’s universities for a couple of months in the years 2015 and 2016. Using a critical perspective, the thesis of the study is that the shutting down of universities in the context of student protests was neither unique nor original to South Africa for it has been a preferred weapon of repression by dictators all over the world. Several post-independence African governments invoke this weapon many times to silence dissenting voices. The data to embellish arguments in this study were gathered through focus group discussion interview sessions (FGDIS) from 40 participants purposefully sampled from 26 South African universities. The analysis of data followed a thematic approach with themes emerging from the FGDIS forming the basis of the discussion of the findings. Chief among the findings was that despite the salutary role of student protests as a force for social change well-established and never being gainsaid, higher education fees needs to fall, albeit cautiously. The fees-must-fall protests raised an important consciousness of how challenging a colonised education system can lead to academic disruptions. The key conclusion drawn was that if tuition fees dry up as would be the case if a fee-free decolonised education policy were to be adopted prematurely, the country could suffer severe consequences such as inevitable budget cuts, compromised research standards, demoralised academics and curtailed university offerings. The recommendations made included a need for governmental commitment to calm the students’ temper tantrums before they spiral out of control and for curriculum decolonisation advocates to denounce the government’s repressive tendencies if a truly decolonised education system is to be realised

Embracing equitable learning in managing the physical and financial resources in South-African-schools: A social justice perspective

In this article I report on the findings of an empirical study conducted to show the merits of integrating equitable learning by members of the South African School Governing bodies (SGBs) in managing the physical and financial resources. Within the interpretivist paradigm and utilising a qualitative descriptive phenomenological design, the data generation followed the use of an unstructured questionnaire administered to a sample of 30 participants purposefully sampled. Adopting a social justice perspective as the lens, we unpack the necessity of learning equity in the SGB’s dealing of school resources. The study was guided by the following key research question; How can South African schools embrace the learning equity agenda in managing their physical and financial resources? The findings show that adopting such principles of equity in learning as integrating diversity in the equitable deployment of the physical and financial resources goes a long way towards entrenching social justice in managing the resources. The key conclusion was that unless members of the SGBs adopt an equitable mechanism for allocating these resources in the face of competing priorities, real equitable learning remains elusive. The recommendations include the need for adopting policies designed to deal with the complex relationships between concerned stakeholders in the provision of guidelines for public-school funding – most of which come from public budgets. Keywords: Education Laws Amendment Act; equitable learning; financial resources; physical resources; school governing bodies; South African Schools Act; steward

Unpacking Student Feedback as a Basis for Metacognition and Mediated Learning Experiences: a Socio-cultural Perspective

The study examines the effects of the feedback given to students by lecturers as learning support. It was conducted with undergraduates in an educational theory course in a South African university. The thesis was that although some of the feedback messages transmitted to students regarding strengths and weaknesses in learning get easily decoded and turned into action to improve performance, some messages are misconstrued by the students making the process of giving feedback complex. Data was collected through a cross-sectional feedback survey utilizing focus group interviews with 50 Bachelor of Education pre-service students conveniently sampled. The data analysis followed a thematic approach with superordinate themes used to structure the discussion of findings. The study found that student feedback needs to be culturally responsive for it to foster metacognition in them. The conclusion was that unless lecturers provide feedback that is simple, meaningful and clearly focused, students are unlikely to take much heed of it as there is a general tendency to focus more on the marks obtained than on the role of the feedback provided. This makes some students leave university under-prepared or half-baked in terms of providing student feedback on performance

Interrogating the Discourse of Educational Policy Analysis: Insights from the South African Outcomes Based Education (OBE)

This conceptual paper proffered critical examination of the subject of educational policy analysis and the factors, theories and methods that shape the process. The paper thus begins with an overview of major debates in policy sociology including the conceptualizations of policy as process, text anddiscourse before delving into the discussion of the models of policy-analysis often articulated in social and political science disciplines. The factors influencing policy-making are highlighted and so are the shifts in education policy with examples drawn from the South African context of education. In doing so, the paper also explores the various conceptions, methodsand theories of educational policy and policy analysis. This implies that the paper alsooutlines what constitutes educational policy and methods of policy analysis in a country. In this regard, the views of Steven Ball on policy as discourse and astext are employed to demonstrate how the social agentive nature of people as actors helps them make sense of texts through interpretations, contestations, constructing responses and dealing with contradictions and attempting representations through educational policy analysis. Jonathan Jansen’s perspective of how curriculum policyreform sometimes reflects thestruggle for the achievement of a broader political symbolism are also explored in the paper with examples drawn from the South African experiences of how the post-apartheid curriculum policy reforms were used to mark a paradigm shift or transition from apartheid education policy to the post-apartheid educational curriculum. In this sense the emphasis will be on how the conditions of social transition from apartheid to democracy in South Africa made politicians of the new democratic South Africato analyse and useeducational policy reformto herald this educational policy transformation in a sense that made educational policy reforms to function as a form of political symbolism.Trevor Gale’s criticalsociological perspective on policy analysis is also used as one of the lensto show how the workings of society particularly the relations of what Wright Mills would call personal troubles and public issues influence policy analysis and reform. Keywords: Curriculum, discourse, organizational politics, text, political symbolis

Manifestations of Differential Cultural Capital in a University Classroom: Views From Classroom Observations and Focus Group Discussions in a South African University

Based predominantly on Pierre Bourdieu's social and cultural reproduction theory, particularly his notions of cultural capital and symbolic violence, this paper explores how first year post graduate Diploma in Higher Education (PGDHE) university students from diverse socio-linguistic backgrounds differ in the levels at which they understand and express themselves in classroom activities. The paper's thesis is that the diverse nature of South African classrooms presents a number of challenges not only for students but also for educators in terms of the use of English as a medium of instruction or the language for learning and teaching (LOLT). Owing to the fact that the South African Language in Education Policy (LiEP) of 1997 empowers both learners and educators in schools to use any of the eleven South African official languages as a LOLT wherever that is reasonably possible, students whose English backgrounds were deficient in enculturating them in the use of English as a learning tool often encounter challenges in expressing their ideas in the classroom, whether in writing or in oral presentations. The discussion is anchored in the data elicited through two data collection methods, lesson observations in a Diploma in Higher Education, Research class composed of students from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds and through focus group discussion sessions with 40 multi-ethnic Diploma in Higher Education students from the same classroom. The data management and analysis for this study was done thematically, with views emerging from the observations and focus group discussions being clustered into superordinate themes for convenience of the discussion of the findings. The findings of this study were that students from affluent socio-economic backgrounds who enter university with a rich and relevant English linguistic capital, values and attitudes enjoy an enormous advantage compared to their counterparts whose social class and linguistic backgrounds lack the cultural capital cherished in university as conducive for educational success. The study thus recommends that the South African LiEP policy needs to be repealed so that it spells out unequivocally the LOLT especially in institutions of higher learning

Girls’ career choices as a product of a gendered school curriculum: the Zimbabwean example.

The unequal distribution of boys and girls in certain subjects studied at school and its consequent unequal distribution of men and women in the occupational structure suggest some failure by schools and teachers to institute adequate measures to ensure learning equity. In this study we sought to unmask factors in the Zimbabwean school curriculum that orient girls into not only pursuing different subjects at school, but also following careers in fields traditionally stereotyped as feminine. The study was qualitative and utilized an exploratory case study as the design genre. Data were collected through classroom and extra-curricular observations and focus group discussion sessions (FGDS) with girl pupils. A sample size of 40 participants comprising 20 sixth form school girls and 20 teachers was used. These were purposively sampled from four schools. To analyse data we used simple discourse analyses. The main findings of this study were that gender role stereotypes and the patriarchal ideology communicated through the hidden curriculum reflected teachers’ attitudes and influence that contributed to girls’ career aspirations and choices

Examining the manifestations and ramifications of the patriarchal ideology in female-led schools in the North West Province of South Africa

The study sought to explore the manifestations and effects of patriarchy in female-led secondary schools in South Africa. The thesis advanced was that despite government initiatives towards gender parity in the employment social structure, the prevalence of patriarchal tendencies continues unabated. Located in the pragmatic paradigm and adopting a convergent parallel mixed method as the specific strategy of inquiry, the study used a sample size of 20 respondents, purposefully and systematically sampled from secondary schools in the North West province. The data were collected through structured and unstructured questionnaires with the analysis following thematic and descriptive approaches. The major findings included that gender roles are so deeply ingrained in society that they have become part and parcel of the cultural traditions in which they engender patriarchy. The conclusion arrived at was that social structures such as schools, religious, political and economic organisations are the villains in advancing the patriarchal hegemonic ideology. The recommendations made included the need for the South African government to step up efforts to address gender disparities, whose ramifications continue to haunt women especially in leadership positions where men believe they are “naturally the ideal candidates”