How student teachers understand African philosophy

The question ‘What constitutes African philosophy?’ was first raised with the publication of Placide Tempels’s seminal work Bantu philosophy in 1959. Tempels’s book inevitably elicited considerable critical response from African philosophers, which culminated in a wide range of publications such as Wiredu’s (1980) Philosophy and an African culture, Hountondji’s (1983) African philosophy: Myth and reality, Oruka’s (1990) Sage philosophy: Indigenous thinkers and modern debate on African philosophy, Shutte’s (1993) Philosophy for Africa, Masolo’s (1994) African philosophy in search of identity and Gyekye’s (1995) An essay of African philosophical thought: The Akan conceptual scheme. It has been over 60 years since the publication of Temples’s book and there continues to be serious debate about African philosophy. This article sought to contribute to the debate on the various conceptions of African philosophy, but with a focus on the challenges of teaching African philosophy to Philosophy of Education students at an open distance learning institution in South Africa. This article discussed the tendency amongst undergraduate Philosophy of Education students to conflate and reduce African philosophy to African cultures and traditions, and to the notion of ubuntu, and sought to understand the reasons for students’ inclination to treat African philosophy in this way. It examined students’ background knowledge of African philosophy, their critical thinking skills and whether their official study materials are selected and packaged in a manner that, in fact, adds to the challenges they face. Finally, the article explored the ways in which Philosophy of Education lecturers can adapt their pedagogy to provide students with a better understanding of African philosophy

Challenges for meaningful interpersonal communication in a digital era

As digital tools and social networks became the main mode of interaction for many people, interpersonal communication has changed. Computer-mediated communication (CMC) has become more important than face-to-face communication in many contexts. Younger generations prefer CMC. Personal interaction normally consists of verbal and non-verbal communication. Computer-mediated communication lacks traditional non-verbal cues, which may cause misunderstandings, influencing meaningful interpersonal communication. Because of a lack of face-to-face communication, people often present an idealised version of themselves, thus becoming less inhibited involving more inappropriate self-disclosure on, for instance, social networks. The research question for this literature review was whether communicating with others mainly through digital means without adequate non-verbal cues would influence meaningful interaction between people. This study used the cues-filtered-out approach and the social presence theory with a literature review to get some clarity on the above question. The premise of the author was that because of the lack of non-verbal cues, CMC messages could influence the understanding of emotions and attitudes, thus compromising meaningful communication and personal understanding of the other. The outcome was that in today’s world people have to use CMC, but for meaningful interpersonal communication, they should try to combine it with face-to-face interaction

Bullying in schools ? The educator’s role

Worldwide there is a problem with violent incidents occurring amongst learners in schools. Bullying is one mode of violence that often occurs at school level. Bullying means repeatedly attacking a person psychologically, physically and/or emotionally in order to inflict harm. Bullying behaviour cannot be ignored, because the victims often report physical and mental health problems caused by the abuse they suffered. The future of the bully is also at stake, because such a person can turn into an abuser in his or her adult years. This research focused on the challenges for teachers in the school system to handle bullying behaviour. The specific aims of the study were to research the role of school policies and ethos, as well as the teacher’s role, in dealing with bullying. The researchers investigated the problem by using social identity theory as theoretical framework and Christianity as worldview. The researchers mainly used a qualitative research design. Data for this study were collected by means of a literature study and questionnaires with closed questions as well as open-ended questions about teachers’ experiences regarding bullying. The main emphasis was on the feedback on the open-ended questions. It became clear from the research that schools should adopt an anti-bullying policy. Teachers should give more attention to classroom rules and they should become skilled in dealing with bullying. Recommendations were made concerning the role of teachers as well as the place of school ethos and policies when the above-mentioned behavioural problem needs to be managed

Community Engagement newsletter, Faculty of Veterinary Science, Summer, February 2018

Community education on small scale chicken farming / Mareli Smalberger -- Hluvukani experience / Elza Hollenbach, Melyssa van Heerden, Ivan van Wyk and Anke Venter -- Community engagement in stormy Cape Town / Lindi Smit, Carrea Greeff, Samantha Domenico and Fladia Buongiorno -- World Rabies Day: Faculty partners with GDARD and community partners at Temba Animal Clinic / Lesego Teffu (Public Relations Coordinator) and Dr Eugene Machimana (Senior Lecturer) -- Say bye to rabies, Mmammundu Primary School / Kenja-Lee MillarNews articles with colour photos about the various community engagement projects of the Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria.ab201

Bridging the communication gap between Generation Y and the Baby Boomer generation

Interpersonal communication has changed since the inception of the internet. Face-to-face communication moved to computer-mediated communication (CMC). CMC users are mostly younger people such as Generation Y. They are comfortable with using digital interactive technologies for communication. The Baby Boomer generation, on the other hand, values face-to-face communication. The different ways of communication causes conflict between these two generations. The research question is: ‘How can the generational communication gap between the Baby Boomer generation and Generation Y be closed in order to allow them to have meaningful interpersonal communication?’ The research was done through a literature review within the cues-filtered-out approach, using the social presence theory. The conclusion is that the meaning of messages is often compromised in CMC because of the lack of nonverbal cues and social presence, however rather than not communicating, people should communicate via digital media to meet some of their relational needs

The effect of a latchkey situation on a child's educational success

Self care is one of the options for parents in need of after school care for their children. In certain studies self care is seen as detrimental to development and academic performance, but in other studies children do fairly well notwithstanding their latchkey situation - self care could teach young people a sense of personal responsibility and self reliance. In this article we emphasise the negative influence of self care, especially for primary school children. The after-school hours alone at home can be very risky for children living in low income, dangerous, or disadvantaged environments. Children being left alone for more than three hours often present with low self esteem, low academic efficacy and high levels of depression. They are often not well adjusted and sometimes present with behavioural problems. Educators have expressed concern about the academic adjustment and achievement of self-care children. In this study we looked at the influence of a latchkey situation on children's relationships with parents and educators in connection with educational success. A qualitative research design was used with three cases of latchkey children, where parents, children, and their educators were interviewed