Lenses from the margins: young schooling mothers' experiences in two high schools in Gauteng

A research report submitted to the School of Education, Faculty of Humanities in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education September 2014Listening to the voices of learners, also referred to as ‘student voice’, ‘pupil voice’ or ‘insider perspective’, is an aspect of inclusive education research that views learners as experts on their own lives, and provides insight into school subcultures that are relatively inaccessible to adults. This study listened to the voices of eleven young schooling mothers to find out the factors that help or hinder their successful completion of high school. A participatory methodology was used to listen to learners’ voices. The study’s model of inclusive research involved using a participatory approach in which the young schooling mothers assumed the role of co-researchers. The multiple data collection methods employed recognise the values of community, respect for diversity and belonging also enabled inclusive engagement by building on the participants' strengths and encouraged meaningful participation. I collected data using cellphone messaging, learners’ journals, interviews, focus group discussions and video interviews. The multiple opportunities provided to the learners to speak about their school experiences highlighted the efficacy of the methods and revealed the learners’ preferences. Data was analysed using phenomenography, an approach that identified the qualitatively different ways in which the experiences of the young schooling mothers could be understood. The study found that learner-managed methods (cell phone messaging, journaling and learners’ video interviews) provided unique and authentic perspectives into the young mothers’ private lives. The learners stated that they felt included in school by being involved in the research and by voicing their experiences of school as young schooling mothers. The young schooling mothers experienced school and schooling as rapidly changing experiences of inclusion, exclusion and marginalisation. The learners identified situations when they could be treated as both the same as, and different from other learners. Recommendations to ensure the learners successful completion of high school include a differentiated recognition of difference approach and a review of policy based on a non-judgmental construction of young motherhood

Using online discussion forums to promote student engagement in an academic literacies course

The advent of Covid-19 forced universities worldwide to find ways of presenting content online that would otherwise have been facilitated in a face-to-face environment. A first-year literacy course at a South African university servicing a large number of B.Ed. students had traditionally relied on class discussions and small group work for clarification of concepts as well as the development of student writing. Online learning, however, made these practices very challenging, and subsequently online discussion forums were identified as a “second prize” way of achieving course outcomes that had traditionally happened in person. To our surprise, the online forums had affordances for the development of academic literacies, promoting student engagement and providing feedback that we had not anticipated. To investigate the reasons for this, focus group discussions were held with students. The feedback received from these focus group interviews confirmed our suspicion that online discussion forums must remain an integral part of our academic literacy course, even after all Covid-19 restrictions are lifted

What matters in learning communities for inclusive education: a cross-case analysis

© 2019 International Professional Development Association (IPDA). Implementing inclusive education requires on-going commitment to teachers’ professional learning. One way of implementing professional learning is to develop learning communities based on Lave and Wenger’s ideas of situated learning and learning as social practice. Learning communities, drawing on models of Professional Learning Communities and communities of practice, were designed to build capacity for inclusive teaching in two rural schools in Australia and a peri-urban school in South Africa. This paper reports on a multi-case study that involves a cross-case analysis of these three learning communities. We demonstrate that across the three cases, responsiveness to contextual exigencies matters, expertise matters and supportive networks matter. These findings are further illuminated by complexity theory which draws attention to learning communities operating at the confluence of a number of interacting systems, as well as the possibility of change where teacher learning occurs through the recontextualisation of knowledge and learning across boundaries. Our findings support situated learning that values collaboration to develop social and inclusive cultures and practice in schools. The findings also have the potential to inform planning for professional learning for inclusive education

What matters in learning communities for inclusive education: a cross-case analysis

Implementing inclusive education requires on-going commitment to teachers’ professional learning. One way of implementing professional learning is to develop learning communities based on Lave and Wenger’s ideas of situated learning and learning as social practice. Learning communities, drawing on models of Professional Learning Communities and communities of practice, were designed to build capacity for inclusive teaching in two rural schools in Australia and a peri-urban school in South Africa. This paper reports on a multi-case study that involves a cross-case analysis of these three learning communities. We demonstrate that across the three cases, responsiveness to contextual exigencies matters, expertise matters and supportive networks matter. These findings are further illuminated by complexity theory which draws attention to learning communities operating at the confluence of a number of interacting systems, as well as the possibility of change where teacher learning occurs through the recontextualisation of knowledge and learning across boundaries. Our findings support situated learning that values collaboration to develop social and inclusive cultures and practice in schools. The findings also have the potential to inform planning for professional learning for inclusive education