Learning through experience : an analysis of student leaders' reflections on the 1985-6 revolt in Western Cape schools

Bibliography: pages 304-324.This thesis explores the inter-relationship between theory and practice in a number of ways. I shall mainly be concerned with analysing the effects of participation in the 1985-6 Western Cape struggles upon the political consciousness of former student leaders. A representative, random sample of the 1985 Student Representative Council members of a certain high school in Cape Town was taken and respondents were then interviewed individually during the last quarter of 1990. The subject of the thesis is closely tied to the particular method used to investigate it. I shall argue and present reasons why the ethnographic interviewing commonly used in cultural anthropology is theoretically appropriate as means to collect empirical material for use in the analysis of the topic. Arising from the methodology, a secondary focus of this study concerns the interaction between the biases (or "theory") which social scientists bring to their research and the actual, raw data collected. This variation of the theory-practice nexus is not examined in detail, only when it is directly relevant to the main analysis. How was all of the foregoing arrived at? I shall show that the interplay between action and thought was central to the events which occurred during the 1985-6 rebellion. It is this fact which justifies the study of the above topic and which led to conceptualizing of the research as outlined. In addition, this same feature of the uprising can be used to examine the political consciousness of the ex-students. In other words, their present-day perceptions in regard to past experiences in mass struggle can be analysed in terms of the boycott seen as action (practice) and the boycott seen as symbolising ideas (thought). The main conclusion reached is that there is both a unity and a disjunction of theory and practice in the political outlook of respondents. On the one hand, interviewees understand and evaluated those events in which they directly participated. This was done in contradictory ways and showed a general move away from militancy towards conservatism. On the other hand, the great majority of respondents are still struggling to make sense of the wider social issues produced during the uprising. These aspects of respondent thinking are viewed in relation to one another and I try to give explanations for them. Finally, I suggest what the contemporary significance of the above conclusions for the struggle for socialism could be

From policy to practice : education reform in Mozambique and Marrere Teachers’ Training College.

The Mozambican government has introduced reforms of basic education, notably the introduction of interdisciplinarity, learner-centredness and new teaching pedagogies. This is a case study of how these curriculum reforms have been implemented at Marrere Teachers’ Training College. We conducted interviews with lecturers, observed their teaching practices, and studied student results to assess teaching outcomes. The study is grounded in the literatures on educational change and globalization. The problems of policy and practice have focused attention on bottom-up and top-down research, and hybrid approaches. The study of globalization has highlighted the relationship between curriculum change and the world economy. There is a paucity of research on how these developments have affected underdeveloped countries. We found that practical issues influence implementation. Lecturers did not understand the meaning of interdisciplinarity. They could, however, articulate the meaning of learnercentredness. Lesson observations showed they did not implement it. Against the backdrop of these inter-related factors, final year students performed poorly in examinations. These analyses show the complexities of the moving from policy to practice, and the global to the local

Education decentralisation and school clustering in Namibia : the politics of implementation

In 2000 the Namibian Government introduced decentralisation reforms in education in the form of school clustering. This article analyses the role of local politics in the implementation process. The key role players are education inspectors, school principals and teachers. We found that these stakeholders have influenced the reform's limited outcomes by contesting and supporting it, by engaging in contested and consensual political relationships with one another, and through competition over resources. This is a qualitative, comparative study of three school clusters situated in two districts (also called circuits). The empirical material was collected in the education districts which have implemented the reforms for the longest periods. The clusters we researched are diverse in terms of geographical location, the resources at their disposal, and the communities their schools serve.http://www.krepublishers.com02-Journals/IJES/IJES-00-0-000-000-2009-Web/IJES-00-0-000-000-2009-1-Cover.htmam2016Education Management and Policy Studie

School desegregation trends in Gauteng Province

This study utilized 2003 to 2006 school enrollment data from the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) to examine school desegregation trends and interracial exposure among learners from different race groups. Descriptive analyses revealed findings consistent with the literature wherein a majority of schools served mainly homogeneous populations. African and White learners experienced limited or no opportunity for interracial contact at school level, whereas Coloured learners experienced moderate levels of interracial contact. The exception was the Indian learner group whose migration from schools formerly reserved for Indian learners into schools formerly reserved for White learners as well as independent schools contributed to increased diversity albeit in a relatively small group of schools. New schools are emerging as a preferred destination for African learners.http://www.informaworld.com/RAERgv201

Health relevance of the modification of low grade inflammation in ageing (inflammageing) and the role of nutrition

Ageing of the global population has become a public health concern with an important socio-economic dimension. Ageing is characterized by an increase in the concentration of inflammatory markers in the bloodstream, a phenomenon that has been termed "inflammageing". The inflammatory response is beneficial as an acute, transient reaction to harmful conditions, facilitating the defense, repair, turnover and adaptation of many tissues. However, chronic and low grade inflammation is likely to be detrimental for many tissues and for normal functions. We provide an overview of low grade inflammation (LGI) and determine the potential drivers and the effects of the "inflamed" phenotype observed in the elderly. We discuss the role of gut microbiota and immune system crosstalk and the gut-brain axis. Then, we focus on major health complications associated with LGI in the elderly, including mental health and wellbeing, metabolic abnormalities and infections. Finally, we discuss the possibility of manipulating LGI in the elderly by nutritional interventions. We provide an overview of the evidence that exists in the elderly for omega-3 fatty acid, probiotic, prebiotic, antioxidant and polyphenol interventions as a means to influence LGI. We conclude that slowing, controlling or reversing LGI is likely to be an important way to prevent, or reduce the severity of, age-related functional decline and the onset of conditions affecting health and well-being; that there is evidence to support specific dietary interventions as a strategy to control LGI; and that a continued research focus on this field is warranted

'Becoming like us' : global discourses, local knowledge, and social struggle in comparative African Higher Education

The article critically reviews global discourses in the academic writing on comparative education dealing with the crises in African higher education. Several analyses explain how the struggling education systems can overcome obstacles and join the modern world in accordance with Western developmental models. One of the most common methodologies used to analyse comparative higher education employs the nation state as the main analytic unit. We might learn about how government policies influence reform at tertiary institutions, or how the university structure of one country compares with another; but little about the problematic impact of globalisation on the patterns observed at the national levels. Informed by writing on postcolonialism, the article proposes alternatives to the current literature: it advocates the development of critical knowledge systems and independent institutions, rooted in local societies and social struggles

Globalization, “glocal” development, and teachers’ work : a research agenda

The author discusses the evolution of ideas about the relationship between national and international development and educational change since World War II. He critically reviews relevant literature in comparative and international education, focusing on the concept of teachers' work. The analyses draw on theories of postcolonialism. The author argues that virtually without exception, studies of, and theories about, teaching as work are based on the experiences of the northern hemisphere, particularly developed countries. He calls for qualitative methodologies and fieldwork to analyze teaching and teaching as work in modern South Africa and other subaltern countries. The research agenda seeks to revise existing notions of teachers' work emphasizing conditions in industrialized countries and to interrogate their utility given the profoundly different conditions in developing countries. It also seeks to make problematic conventional understandings of globalization and glocal development, arguing that these too should be revised given empirical data on teachers and teaching in poor countries

New controls and accountability for South African teachers and schools : the Integrated Quality Management System

This article analyses the Integrated Quality Management System (IQMS), an agreement reached in 2003 between the South African Education Department and the major teacher organisations in the country by using discourse analysis. The IQMS was scheduled to be implemented in public schools in 2004. Three discursive tensions are identified and discussed: the dialectic of the global and the local, the politics of accountability and the development of human resources, and contradictions between internal and external evaluation. Conclusions are drawn concerning the interrelationships between these major themes. Special attention is paid to the international context of education reform in South Africa

Sustaining peace through school and civil society : mortar, bricks and human agency

South Africa has been a high-conflict society for nearly 350 years. The first 300 years were characterised by colonial rule with all the attendant conflicts inherent in such polities where dominance over the subjects was achieved by coercive means. This was followed by a more virulent form of racial domination, called apartheid, which characterised the 50 years before the achievement of democracy in 1994. Thus, a legacy of racial inequality is deeply embedded in the institutional structures and psyche of South African society. The principal underlying assumption of this article is that schools are an indispensable part of a consortium of societal agencies that can help bridge the divisions created by apartheid in a systematic and systemic way. The argument is that the critical elements in South Africa that are responsible, thus far, for maintaining relative stability and offer the potential for sustaining human rights, democracy, social cohesion, and therefore, peace are: a progressive constitution; Chapter 9 institutions; derivative educational legislative and policy instruments; an active civil society and human agency informed by a democratic tradition that was bred and nurtured during the anti-apartheid struggle. These vital ingredients constitute the organic mosaic that can further advance peace and stability in the post-conflict South African society