Teachers' implicit mental models of learners' cognitive and moral development with reference to the inclusion of learners in the governing bodies of schools.

Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 1998.This study set out to investigate teachers' mental models of learners' cognitive and moral development, with reference to the inclusion of learners in the governing bodies of schools. Strauss' (1996), concept of implicit mental models is used as a basis for the investigation of teachers' beliefs about learners' cognitive and moral development. The study made use of Piaget's stages of concrete and formal operation thinking because learners in the governing bodies of schools fall within that part of the continuum, and Stages 5 and 6 of Kohlberg's theory of moral development. The research was in the form of a survey. Teachers were interviewed using a tape-recorder and the responses were later transcribed. The schools in which research was carried out were in Imbali in Pietermaritzburg, and the focus was on the learners in Grade 8 and higher. Teachers who were interviewed were either on the governing bodies of their schools, or who had experience with the learners in Grade 8 and higher. The findings of the research were of significance. Strauss (1996) found that teachers' beliefs about learners do not coincide with the explicit theories. This study coincided with Strauss' research findings in as far as Kohlberg's theory is concerned and the opposite occurs in as far as Piaget's theory is concerned. Most respondents (eleven out of fifteen) said higher grade learners question things that they do not understand. The researcher made use of the response to argue that learners can do well in the governing bodies of schools because they have the ability to question things that they do not understand despite the low regard that teachers have about learners' moral development

The role of the sandprawn, Callichirus kraussi, as an ecosystem engineer in a temporarily open/closed Eastern Cape estuary, South Africa

The role of the sandprawn, Callichirus (=Callianassa) kraussi (Stebbing), as an ecosystem engineer was assessed in the lower reach of the temporarily open/closed Kasouga Estuary situated along the Eastern Cape coastline of southern Africa over the period April 2010 to June 2011. The study comprised two distinct components, a field study and a caging experiment. The field study assessed the correlation between sand prawn densities and selected physico-chemical (organic content of the sediment and bioturbation) and biological (microphytobenthic algal concentrations and macrobenthic abundance and biomass) variables in 50 quadrants in the lower reach of the estuary. Densities of the sand prawn within the quadrants ranged from 0 to 156 ind m⁻² (mean = 37 ind m⁻²). There were no significant correlations between the densities of the sandprawn and the estimates of the organic content of the sediment and the abundance and biomass of the macrofauna (P > 0.05 in all cases). Numerical analyses failed to identify any effect of the sandprawn density on the macrofaunal community structure. The rate of bioturbation was, however, strongly correlated to the sand prawn density. Similarly, the microphytobenthic alga concentrations were significantly negatively correlated to the sand prawn densities ((P < 0.05). The absence of any distinct impact of the sandprawn on the macrobenthic community structure appeared to be related to their low densities in the lower reach of the estuary during the study. To better understand the role of the sandprawn as an ecosystem engineer, a caging experiment was conducted using inclusion and exclusion treatments (n= 5 for each treatment). Densities of the sandprawn in the inclusion treatments (80 ind m⁻²) were in the range of the natural densities within the estuary. The experiment was conducted over a period of 18 weeks in the lower reach of the estuary during summer. The presence of the sandprawn, C kraussi, contributed to a significant decrease in the microphytobenthic algal concentrations and the abundance and biomass of the macrofauna (P < 0.05 in all cases). The decrease in the microphytobenthic algal concentrations in the presence of the sandprawn appeared to be related to the res-suspension of the sediments (bioturbation) generated by the burrowing and feeding activities of the sandprawn. The observed decrease in macrofaunal abundances and biomass in the inclusion treatments appeared to be mediated by both the decreased food availability (mainly the microphytobenthic algae) and the burial of organisms within the sediments. Numerical analysis indicated that the sandprawn did, however, not contribute to a change in the species composition of the macrofauna. Results of the current study indicate that C.kraussi plays an important role in structuring the invertebrate community and energy flow within temporarily/open closed Kasouga Estuary

‘Mental models’ that students possess about Work Integrated Learning (WIL) with reference to the New Curriculum Framework

Certain principles, processes and procedures inform the design and delivery of student’s lessons in teacher education. In mentoring students, it was discovered that they exhibit ‘mental models’ during evaluation and monitoring of their lessons that are different from what they were taught. This has a negative impact on the effectiveness of the lessons they conduct. Furthermore, the discovery exhibits tension between ‘museum possession of knowledge” as opposed to “workshop possession of knowledge’’ (Lubisi, Wedekind &amp; Parker, 1998, 100). The paper explores the mental models that students possess in the design and delivery of their lessons against what policy requires them to do. The phenomenon is an indication of the ‘misfit’ between what the policy says and what is happening practically. It is believed that Work Integrated Learning is an important resource for students learning. Whilst this fact may be true, it needs constant monitoring, coaching reflection for it to achieve the desired outcome. For instance, students do not consider the importance of communicating outcomes to their learners. They think it is not important to unpack and discuss the journey that they embark on with their learners. This is an indication that the role of mediator of teaching and learning is strongly sacrificed yet learners take the blame for failure and lack of understanding. Key words: Knowledge management, designing a learning programme, reflective practice, learning strategies, fit between theory and practice, meaningful learning

Standing on the shoulders of birth intergenerational mobility, inequality, and pro-social preferences

Poor outcomes arising from natural and social circumstances to which individuals are born, over which they have no control, are widely seen as normatively objectionable and potential obstacles for economic growth. Understanding the persistence and effects of circumstances of birth is crucial to abating these adverse effects, particularly in the context of rising global inequality. The existing literature is limited in two respects. Firstly, it lacks a comprehensive description of the persistence of intergenerationally transmitted preferences that contribute to the deterministic nature of accidents of birth. Secondly, the effects of dyadic and multigenerational (im)mobility on voluntary pro-social behaviour to mitigate the consequences of birth are rarely studied. This thesis fills these gaps in the South African context – a country with high and strongly racialised (a “natural” circumstance of birth) inequality, and comparatively low intergenerational mobility. Using a nationally representative dataset, significant correlations are observed in interracial trust attitudes between mothers and children. However, this effect is substantially smaller and largely insignificant for non-coresident mothers and children. Disaggregating the trust attitudes shows strong intergenerational correlations amongst individuals who completely mistrust their race and other race groups, irrespective of mother-child co-residence. In trust and public goods games with identical treatment designs, inherited socioeconomic status is assigned in two treatments based on real-world self-reported parental or grandparental socio-economic status. The results show weak overall effects on trust orientated behaviour in the trust game with socio-economic status inherited from parents or grandparents. However, there is substantial heterogeneity in behaviour with inherited social status in the trust game with trust and trustworthiness tending to favour individuals who inherit a low socio-economic status. Introducing inherited advantages for relatively higher endowment attainment in a public goods game shows increased contributions with parentally inherited status, but not from grandparents. Heterogeneous treatment effects show weak evidence of inequality aversion yet substantial altruistic preferences with parentally inherited advantages

Building social cohesion in South Africa

This paper uses data collected across the five waves of the National Income Dynamics Study (NIDS), covering 2008-2017, to update a measure of social cohesion for South Africa. This updating exercise is important in validating the measure and establishing its credibility and potential use amongst policymakers. The index suggests that social cohesion has been improving over time in South Africa, albeit the gains have been small. These gains have been driven primarily by improvements in perceived trust, and more recently, as shown in the data for Wave 5, by reduced perceptions of inequality. Conversely, our results suggest that a sense of belonging has been eroded over time. Controlling for individual and time fixed effects, we examine the underlying individual and household characteristics that are correlated with these changes in dimensions of the social cohesion index. Our key results suggest that access to employment and earned income are positively associated with individual perceptions of trust, equality and a sense of belonging. Moreover, service delivery, particularly electrification, street lights, and refuse collection, has contributed positively towards building social cohesion. We also consider the use of national symbols and holidays to promote social cohesion. The results show that individuals interviewed soon after Freedom Day report significantly lower levels of trust but significantly higher levels of perceived equality than individuals interviewed later. Conversely, individuals interviewed soon after Heritage Day report significantly higher levels of trust than those interviewed later. Since public holidays are exogenously given, and interview date is, for the most part, also exogenous, these results certainly suggest that there may be short-term effects associated with the experience of a particular public holiday that undermine or promote social cohesion.Funding for this research from the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation is gratefully acknowledged

What Difference Does A Year Make? The Cumulative Effect of Missing Cash Transfers on Schooling Attainment

South Africa's largest poverty alleviation tool, the child support grant, has benefited more than 12 million children, with many positive outcomes. However the implementation was not perfect ‐ the means test threshold was left unadjusted for ten years, requiring a more than one hundred percent adjustment when the government finally saw fit to change the threshold in 2008. In the interim, very many children missed out on the benefits of the grant. Using exogenous changes to the age and income threshold values, this paper estimates the cumulative impact of missing grant receipt. We find that a South African child born in 1994 missed out on a year's worth of schooling compared to those born just one year later. The costs were not limited only to schooling attainment; increasing the means test threshold and rates of receipt appears to have improved maternal mental health.Katherine Eyal: School of Economics, University of Cape Town. Lindokuhle Njozela: School of Economics, University of Cape Town. All correspondence to [email protected]. Acknowledgements: Funding for this research from the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation is gratefully acknowledged

The Effects of Social Exclusion and Group Heterogeneity on the Provision of Public Goods

The multi-dimensional nature of social exclusion requires several perspectives in understanding its causes and consequences. Focus on the topic is largely centred around questions of material deprivation. However, as poverty and inequality are inextricably linked to questions of access and inclusion, a holistic approach is required. Consequently, we explore how imposed relational asymmetries which manifest as differences in the ability to exercise personal agency and in turn, engender wealth inequalities, affect social cooperation in future interactions. To do this, we generate wealth inequalities through two Prisoner&rsquo;s Dilemma games, where one party is excluded from participating in the determination of the outcomes of the game. The effects of this asymmetry in social participation on ex post cooperation is examined using a Public Goods game. We find that the presence of prior asymmetric influence in social decision-making subsequently reduces contributions to the public good, independent of endowment level. This reduction in social welfare is driven by the under-contribution from players who were excluded in prior social interactions. Simply put, the data shows that a history of social exclusion reduces subsequent public goods provision, independent of material inequality

From definition to measurement: constructing a social cohesion index for South Africa

Social cohesion has increasingly become a subject of interest for international organisations, governments, policy-makers and other practitioners. Whilst social cohesion is not a new concept, finding its origins in the work of Durkheim as early as 1893, it is the case that social cohesion has generated increasing interest from international governance institutions, states and policy-makers since the 1980s. This has often been in response to divisions and cleavages within societies, related to factors including economic downturn, tensions associated with migration, and ethnic or cultural conflict. Few would contest that in many ways, South Africa remains a deeply divided society. It thus perhaps comes as little surprise that, particularly given the declining focus on reconciliation within the national policy agenda, the South African government has increasingly focused on measures to deepen social cohesion through a range of different interventions and initiatives. However, while there is a widespread agreement that social cohesion influences economic and social development, and that nurturing a more cohesive society is an important policy goal in itself, little progress has been made in trying to measure it and track progress in this domain over time. One of the most severe limitations to this progress is the lack of definitional consensus on social cohesion. Yet, without clear definition of what is meant by social cohesion, it becomes difficult to assess whether social cohesion has improved or worsened. Without measurement, potential key determinants that are most important among a large number of factors that influence social cohesion (e.g., inequality, poverty, violence, gender conflicts, mistrust, and others) remain obscured, making it difficult to formulate policies that can be expected to materially improve social cohesion and achieve inclusive development.This paper was prepared by the Poverty and Inequality Initiative (PII) at the University of Cape Town, with the support of the Agence Française de Développement (AFD)

Towards measuring social cohesion in South Africa

This paper uses data collected across the four waves of the National Income Dynamics Study (NIDS) to construct a measure of social cohesion for South Africa. We compare our index to one derived using the Afrobarometer data and find a large degree of consistency in trends in the index and its constituent components over time across the two datasets. However, there is less consistency in the measures once one moves to lower levels of geographic disaggregation. We also find far less variability in the constructed index relying on NIDS panel data as opposed to the repeated cross‐sections from Afrobarometer. Having derived the index, we then correlate it with a variety of indicators of social and economic well‐being. We show that higher levels of education, per capita income and employment are positively associated with higher social cohesion while social cohesion is negatively associated with poverty, service delivery protest and perceptions of crime. In addition, municipal policy and competence are closely associated with higher social cohesion. While this work is exploratory, it is encouraging, and suggests new opportunities for future research to begin to take seriously the link between social cohesion and economic and social development.Lindokuhle Njozela: School of Economics, University of Cape Town. Ingrid Shaw: [email protected] Justine Burns: School of Economics, University of Cape Town, [email protected]. Acknowledgements: Funding for this research from the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation is gratefully acknowledged

Defining social cohesion

Promoting social cohesion is one of the most difficult, yet one of the most important, challenges facing South Africa. However, while there is a widespread agreement that social cohesion influences economic and social development, and that nurturing a more cohesive society is an important policy goal in itself, little progress has been made in trying to measure it and track progress in this domain over time. One of the most severe limitations to this progress is the lack of definitional consensus on social cohesion. It may seem intuitive to describe it as the glue that binds us together, or the forging of a common sense of identity and belonging. To others, it may speak to a willingness to extend trust to outsiders, to respect fellow citizens and uphold their dignity, and to be moved to action in the face of persistent inequality on behalf of those who are marginalised. Alternatively, specifically in the South African context, its very essence may be seen as common humanity embodied in the notion of ubuntu.This paper was prepared by the Poverty and Inequality Initiative (PII) at the University of Cape Town, with the support of the Agence Française de Développement (AFD)