Reconsidering the role of power, punishment and discipline in South African schools

This article examines the role of discipline and punishment in South African schools and seeks to interrogate the underlying power relations that guide teaching and learning in South Africa. It deconstructs the pre-occupation with discipline, power and punishment in South African schools in terms of the theoretical framework provided by Michel Foucault in his work entitled “Surveiller et punir: naissance de la prison” (1975) which was translated as “Discipline and punish: the birth of the prison”(1977). It was Foucault who reminded us that the modern school is based on Prussian military ideals of punctuality, discipline, neatness and submissiveness to authority. Foucault tends to see schooling as one side of “corriger”, which is to punish or to teach. Education as “correction” is therefore regarded as the antipode of authoritarian punishment. Foucault draws attention to the subtle tactics and constraints beneath the surface of proclaimed bourgeois freedom. It was found that in South African schools the problem of authoritarian punishment is still rife. From the readings of Foucault’s works suggestions are made for changes to the system and to teachers’ mental attitude in order to move to a more constructive way of maintaining power and discipline

Prescribing infant formula to allergic babies

Exclusive breastfeeding and postponement of complementary foods to four to six months of age are recommended for the prevention of food allergies. However, many infants receive formula milk for a number of reasons. Various types of formula are indicated to prevent or treat allergy and food intolerance

The University of the Free State Faculty of Law/Write Site intervention – Supporting broader access with the skills for success

Heeding the call for broader access to tertiary studies for previously disadvantaged students, the University of the Free State (UFS) is one of only a few institutions in the country that offer an extended, five-year Bachelor of Laws (LLB) programme. Its more lenient admission requirements and more manageable distribution of course work across five study years have put access to professional legal studies within reach of students who would not have otherwise qualified for admission. Beyond broader access, however, still lies the challenge of student success. It is a well-documented fact that modern-day students enter higher education ill-prepared for the demands of tertiary studies, and those entering the extended LLB are no exception. The gaps in their skills sets include a lack of academic writing skills, which are among the core competencies required of a law graduate. In an effort to address this challenge, the UFS Faculty of Law has established an innovative collaboration with the Write Site, a writing centre staffed by language specialists who offer students personalised assistance with their writing assignments. This is done as part of the module Legal Skills, one of the foundational modules presented exclusively for students in the extended LLB programme. This article provides the details of the intervention, including its results to date. It concludes that the Faculty of Law/ Write Site collaboration is a model worthy of emulation, teaching students not only to write well, but also to do well in their academic field. Recommendations for fine-tuning the intervention are proposed, including a call for this type of skills assistance to be offered across the curriculum, instead of in a once-off module only. Whilst the current climate of acute human resources and funding shortfalls in higher education may make this hard to achieve, the academic success of our students and the professional success of our future lawyers and other professionals are on the line

Mechanisms to strengthen accountability and oversight within municipalities, with specific reference to the Municipal Public Accounts Committee and the Audit Committee of Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality

Published ArticlePublic accountability is, to an increasing extent, becoming one of the main requirements of good governance in all spheres of government. Ijeoma and Sambumbu (2013:282) maintain that effective accountability and oversight result in improved good corporate governance, effective management of public finances and effective service delivery. Thornhill (2015:79) states that accountability refers to “a statutory obligation to provide for independent and impartial observers holding the right of reporting their findings at the highest levels of state, any available information about financial administration which they may request”. On the other hand, oversight entails the proactive control mechanisms initiated by the legislature for the executive and administrative organs of state to encourage compliance with the statutory and legislative frameworks, in order to ensure effective delivery on agreed objectives for the achievement of government priorities (South African Legislative Sector, 2008:4). This article seeks to determine what oversight and accountability mechanisms are currently applied within municipalities. For the purpose of this article the mechanisms to promote accountability and oversight within municipalities, with specific reference to the Municipal Public Accounts Committee (MPAC) and Audit Committee of Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality, will be discussed, followed by a discussion of the current challenges of accountability and oversight within municipalities. The article further aims to make specific recommendations to strengthen accountability and oversight within municipalities in the Free State Province

PERCEIVED EFFECTIVENESS OF THE LEADERSHIP STYLES OF DEANS IN ETHIOPIAN GOVERNMENTAL TECHNICAL AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING (TVET) COLLEGES

The Industrial Development Strategy of 2003 has shown that considerable human resource deficits in Ethiopia are the major reason for the low rate of industrial development. This strategy confirms in its statement: “...education and a training system that is capable of producing the manpower that is both professionally and ethically capable of carrying and sustaining the responsibility of seeing to it that our industrial development program will have achieved its goals” (MOFED, 2003). Therefore, it called for efforts towards quality improvement of the workforce, to reverse the marginalisation of the industrial professions in the TVET system, and to build a culture of entrepreneurship and self-employment (MOFED, 2010). In 2009, the Southern Nations, Nationalities People’s Region (SNNPR) Centre of Competence (COC) conducted standard exams for those who graduated from TVETs. The results were disappointing, as only 12.2% of the TVET graduates and 34.9% of the TVET instructors passed the examinations (SNNPR TVET, 2010). Hence, to solve this chronic problem, high calibre deans should be appointed. In line with this idea, in the year 2003, the World Bank designed a training project to produce and assign skilled leaders in higher education in Ethiopia (World Bank, 2003). Although it failed, it was also the plan of the Ethiopian government that the percentage of TVET leaders trained in leadership would reach 100% in the year 2014 (MOFED, 2010). The TVET sector has particular significance for the reduction of poverty and for the promotion of gender equity because it stresses certain dimensions such as opportunities, skills, human resources development and empowerment. However, in Ethiopia, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development (MOFED) has introduced an emphasis on developing TVET skills only since the turn of the 21st century. As a result, the MOE has required TVET practitioners not only to link up their knowledge and skills with the past in order to understand the present situation, but also to prompt them to look beyond the present to cope with this dynamic world (MOFED, 2006). The present study assumes importance in finding out perceived effectiveness of the leadership styles of deans in Ethiopian governmental technical and vocational education and training (TVET) colleges.  Article visualizations

LEADERSHIP STYLES OF THE DEANS IN ETHIOPIAN GOVERNMENTAL TECHNICAL AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING (TVET) COLLEGES

Technological advancements have driven the development of dynamic work environments leading to a need for dynamic and visionary leaders who possess leadership skills and are capable of meeting the challenges and opportunities that exist in the modern workplace that is intent on promoting the change necessary for developing and maintaining the competitive edge (Burke, Stagl, Klein, Goodwin, Salas, Halpin & Winer, 2006). Again, it is even more critical that leaders of the highest calibre are identified, developed, and sharpened within educational institutions. Avolio and Bass (1991) who in their research identified three leadership styles, namely: transformational, transactional, and laissez-faire. They state that these three leadership styles can be used to identify the predictive roles of this range of leader attributes as well as the three outcomes of leadership, namely: extra effort, effectiveness and satisfaction. The FRL is regarded as a contemporary model that has the potential to explain leadership and its multidimensional nature and to measure behaviours empirically that can be used to predict leadership outcomes (Antonakis, Avolio & Sivasubramaniam, 2003; Avolio, 2010). According to Dew (1995) and Northouse (2012), leaders make an attempt to lift up motivation and morale when a transformational leadership style is put into effect. Similarly, Curtin (2004) and Conger and Kanungo (1990) propose that organisations require leadership that stimulates leaders and followers as a result of which observable change can come to the fore. For Avolio (2010), college deans should use the transformational leadership style to be the most successful. The findings of Morgenson, DeRue and Karam (2009), and Ross and Offerman (1991) have suggested that it is advantageous for organisations if they are led by lenient, more nurturing leaders. In his work, Nahavandi (2003) has tried to describe the characteristics of transformational leaders as follows: they work hard to promote self-reliance and optimism about goals and followers' ability, provide a vivid vision, initiate innovation through empowerment and rewards for followers, inspire high expectations by creating a conducive environment and, finally, form and strengthen personal relationships with followers. For Nahavandi (2003), these five characteristics of a transformational leader are of vital importance and the absence of one of these characteristics would make such a leader either ineffective or less effective in terms of his/her leadership. The present study assumes importance in finding out to what extent do the leadership styles adopted by deans have an effect on the government TVET Colleges’ perceived effectiveness as evaluated by deans, teachers, and students.  Article visualizations

The knowledge, attitudes and perceptions of healthcare students and professionals regarding the interdisciplinary health worker team at Stellenbosch University and Tygerberg Academic Hospital

Objective: To determine the knowledge, attitudes and perceptions of healthcare students and qualified health professionals regarding theinterdisciplinary health worker team.Design: A cross-sectional descriptive study.Setting: Stellenbosch University (Tygerberg Campus) and Tygerberg Academic Hospital, Western Cape.Subjects: The sample (n = 529) consisted of first-year students, final-year students and working professionals in the fields of medicine,dietetics, physiotherapy, occupational therapy and speech-language and hearing therapy.Outcome measures: Self-administered, face-validated questionnaire.Results: There was an increase in knowledge in the final-year students when compared to the first-year students of their understanding ofeach profession. However, this improvement was not apparent when the working professionals’ understanding was compared to the finalyearstudents. The results indicated an increase in understanding of the scope of practice of allied health sciences (p-value = 0.001), andagreement that the patient would always benefit from an interdisciplinary approach. It was found that better patient prognosis was stronglyassociated with the care provided by an interdisciplinary team. This association increased from first-year students to final-year students(p-value = 0.019). Doctors were considered to be most valuable in the interdisciplinary team. The allied health sciences received comparablevalue ratings. The more advanced the years of experience, the less comfortable participants were to assume some of the roles of anotherdiscipline. Knowledge of the role of the dietitian increased from first-year students to final-year students (p-value = 0.001), but it remainedthe same for the professionals.Conclusion: There was an increase in knowledge and a positive change in the attitudes and perceptions of healthcare students and professionals in accordance with years of experience

An automated exact solution framework towards solving the logistic regression best subset selection problem

An automated logistic regression solution framework (ALRSF) is proposed to solve a mixed integer programming (MIP) formulation of the well known logistic regression best subset selection problem. The solution framework firstly determines the optimal number of independent variables that should be included in the model using an automated cardinality parameter selection procedure. The cardinality parameter dictates the size of the subset of variables and can be problem-specific. A novel regression parameter fixing heuristic that utilises a Benders decomposition algorithm is applied to prune the solution search space such that the optimal regression parameter values are found faster. An optimality gap is subsequently calculated to quantify the quality of the final regression model by considering the distance between the best possible log-likelihood value and a log-likelihood value that is calculated using the current parameter values. Attempts are then made to reduce the optimality gap by adjusting regression parameter values. The ALRSF serves as a holistic variable selection framework that enables the user to consider larger datasets when solving the best subset selection logistic regression problem by significantly reducing the memory requirements associated with its mixed integer programming formulation. Furthermore, the automated framework requires minimal user intervention during model training and hyperparameter tuning. Improvements in quality of the final model (when considering both the optimality gap and computing resources required to achieve a result) are observed when the ALRSF is applied to well-known real-world UCI machine learning datasets

The use of exogenous microbial species to enhance the performance of a hybrid fixed-film bioreactor treating coal gasification wastewater to meet discharge requirements

The objective of this study was to determine whether inoculating a hybrid fixed-film bioreactor with exogenous bacterial and diatoma species would increase the removal of chemical oxygen demand, nitrogenous compounds and suspended solids from a real-time coal gasification wastewater to meet environmental discharge requirements specified for petrochemical refineries. The COD removal increased by 25% (45% to 70%) at a relatively high inoculum dosage (370 g∙m−3) and unit treatment cost (12.21 €∙m−3). The molar ratio of monovalent cations to divalent cations (M/D >2) affected nitrification, settling of solids and dewatering of the sludge. The use of a low-charge cationic flocculant decreased the suspended solids in the effluent by 70% (180 mg∙L−1 to 54 mg∙L−1) and increased the sludge dewatering rate by 88% (61 s∙L∙g−1 to 154 s∙L∙g−1) at a unit treatment cost of 2.5 €∙t−1 dry solids. Organic compounds not removed by the indigenous and exogenous microbial species included benzoic acids (aromatic carboxylic acids), 2-butenoic acid (short-chain unsaturated carboxylic acid), I(2H)-isoquinolinone (heterocyclic amine), hydantoins (highly polar heterocyclic compounds), long-chain hydrocarbon length (carbon length > C15) and squalene. These organic compounds can thus be classified as poorly degradable or nonbiodegradable which contributed to the 30% COD not removed by the H-FFBR. The use of exogenous microbial species improved the quality of CGWW; however, not sufficiently to meet discharge requirements. The cost of such treatment to meet discharge requirements would be unsustainable. Alternative technologies need to be investigated for reusing or recycling the CGWW rather than discharging.Keywords: ammonia, catalytic reactor technology, COD, fixed-film bioreactor, hydantoins, thiocyanate