Learning from south-south comparison: the education systems of South Africa and Madagascar

The purpose of this investigation was to compare two education systems in the southern hemisphere and particularly from the SADEC countries, namely, Madagascar and South Africa. Research was done by means of field observation as well as through discussions and interviews with role players at regional education offices and schools. Both education systems are not sufficiently adapted to their real educational needs, and learners are not really provided the relevant opportunities to equip themselves with the required competences to function effectively according to their real educational needs. It is concluded that one of the most basic problems of developing education systems in the southern hemisphere could be the tendency of developing education systems to borrow from developed education systems without the localisation thereof. (South African Journal of Education: 2003 23 (1): 29-35

Valdymas ir administravimas aukštajame moksle: Pietų Afrikos universitetų apgultis

The recent spate of changes in university management worldwide should be carefully considered, interrogated and assessed against its impact on the capacity of the university fulfilling its unique role in society. For various justifiable reasons, South African higher education has been finding itself under the spotlight of the international community since 1994. The article surveys the South African academic profession vis à vis the changes that have been taking place regarding university governance and management. It is concluded that the South African academic profession, as far as (de jure and de facto) governance and management are concerned, find themselves sandwiched between two forces: from national and institutional governance on top, and the student corps from the bottom. This threatens the very survival of the university. A new exercise surveying the South African academic profession, as provided for by the Academic Profession in Knowledge Society (APIKS) international survey of the academic profession currently taking place, appears both timous and promising.Neseniai įvykę universitetų valdymo pokyčiai visame pasaulyje turėtų būti kruopščiai apsvarstyti, išnagrinėti ir įvertinti pagal tai, kiek jie padeda universitetams atlikti unikalų vaidmenį visuomenėje. Dėl svarių priežasčių Pietų Afrikos aukštasis mokslas nuo 1994 m. atsidūrė tarptautinės bendruomenės dėmesio centre. Straipsnyje apžvelgiama Pietų Afrikos akademinė profesija pokyčių universitetų valdymo ir administravimo srityse kontekste. Daroma išvada, kad Pietų Afrikos dėstytojai ir mokslininkai de jure ir de facto valdydami ir administruodami universitetus atsiduria tarp dviejų jėgų: nacionalinio ir institucinio valdymo bei studentijos. Tai kelia universitetų išlikimo grėsmę. Todėl labai laiku ir daug žadanti nauja iniciatyva yra tarptautinė Akademinės profesijos žinių visuomenėje (angl. APIKS) apklausa, kurioje dalyvavo Pietų Afrikos akademinės profesijos atstovai

Geografsko porijeklo autora odgojno-obrazovnih istraživanja

The first aim of this study was to build a theoretical framework considering the relevance of the author’s provenance with respect to research on Education, and then to investigate the current patterns of the above-mentioned provenance. The author’s provenance was found to have a bearing on a number of the research process components, including the following: collection, processing and interpretation of data, ethics of research, content of research, construction of theory, and improvement of practice. There was investigated the location of 18 523 authors of the articles published in 2012 in 219 Thomson Reuters indexed journals in the field of Education. An extremely uneven pattern emerged. Almost half of all the countries did not register a single author in this pool. Close to ninety per cent of the authors resided in the North American and Western European primary hub, and the Asian-Pacific weaker secondary hub of the international network of Education scholars. Smaller-order nodes occurred in Turkey, South Africa and Brazil. In conclusion, some recommendations for further research, and for rectifying this uneven pattern of scholarly activity, are made.Cilj je ovog istraživanja najprije izgraditi teorijski okvir o relevantnosti porijekla autora koji provode odgojno-obrazovna istraživanja, a zatim istražiti trenutne obrasce s obzirom na porijeklo tih istih autora. Utvrđeno je da se porijeklo autora povezuje s brojnim komponentama istraživačkog procesa, što obuhvaća: prikupljanje podataka, njihovu obradu i tumačenje, istraživačku etiku, sadržaj istraživanja, konstrukciju teorije i unapređenje prakse. Istražena je lokacija 18 523 autora čiji su radovi 2012. godine objavljeni u 219 indeksiranih časopisa za odgoj i obrazovanje (Thomson Reuters). Pojavljuje se vrlo neujednačen obrazac. Gotovo polovina svih zemalja ne bilježi nijednog autora u ovoj analizi. Blizu 90 % autora živi u dvama središtima međunarodne mreže za odgojno-obrazovna istraživanja, u Sjevernoj Americi – Zapadnoj Europi i slabijoj Istočnoj Aziji-Pacifiku. Središta nižeg ranga su Turska, Južna Afrika i Brazil. U zaključku su navedene određene preporuke za daljnja istraživanja, kao i za korigiranje tako neujednačenog obrasca znanstvene aktivnosti

Indiscipline in South African Schools: the Parental / Community Perspective

South Africa is struggling with the problem of indiscipline in schools.  The issue of indiscipline in South African schools has been subjected to research for almost two decades.  This research has revealed that learner (in)discipline in a school is related to six sets of factors, namely learner-related factors, teacher-related factors, school-related factors, education system-related factors, parent-related factors, and society-related factors. All of these factors have now been researched in respect to the situation in South Africa, with the exception of the parent / community factor.  The aim of this article is to report on research that was done regarding this outstanding factor with regard to learner (in)discipline in South African schools.  The constructivist-interpretivist approach was employed, in order to recast information gleaned from available international literature into a theoretical framework.  The South African context was then analysed by using the theoretical framework.  It was found that within the parental-community factor in determining the state of learner-discipline in schools four sub-factors can be distinguished, namely parental style, parental model, for example, family stress and parent-school relations.  These have definite life-philosophical underpinnings, which are also outlined in analysing and interpreting the South African situation.    https://doi.org/10.19108/KOERS.85.1.243

Die stand van interreligieuse toleransie by ‘n groep Suid-Afrikaanse onderwysstudente

Religious tolerance has become one of the most important issues of the current century in view of the many atrocities perpetrated in the name of religion by extremist groups. Of great concern to teacher educators is whether current final year students display the degree of religious tolerance that would be required from them when they have to deal with religious differences among their future students and in the communities in which they will practise their profession. A questionnaire, of which a copy is attached to this article and which may be used by interested parties after having acquired permission to do so, was constructed, based on a conceptual and theoretical framework in which the issue of religious tolerance is examined in detail. The questionnaire was administered to a sample of 300 teacher education students (drawn from a population of around 3000). The results show that while there are certain points of concern, such as that the respondents tend to withdraw from others with different belief systems and tend not to trust them, there are no great concerns about the state of religious tolerance in this particular group of students. Key concepts: Religion, Faith, Belief, Tolerance, Religious tolerance, Teacher education  Abstrak: Godsdienstige verdraagsaamheid het een van die belangrikste vraagstukke van die huidige eeu geword, juis vanweë die gewelddadige optredes en dade wat ekstremiste in die naam van godsdiens pleeg. Die vraag by baie onderwysersopleiers is of huidige finalejaar onderwysstudente die nodige godsdienstige verdraagsaamheid aan die dag lê om die godsdienstige verskille in die skole en in die gemeenskappe waarin hulle hulle beroep gaan beoefen, te kan hanteer. ’n Vraelys (waarvan ’n afskrif as bylaag tot die artikel verskyn, en wat ander belangstellendes mag gebruik na verkryging van toestemming daartoe) is opgestel en gefundeer in ’n konseptuele en teoretiese raamwerk waarin die vraagstuk van religieuse verdraagsaamheid in besonderhede ondersoek is. Die vraelys is deur ’n steekproef van 300 studente (uit ’n populasie van nagenoeg 3000) ingevul. Dit blyk uit die resultate dat hoewel daar enkele kommerenswaardige aspekte is soos dat die respondente geneig is om hulle afsydig te hou van diegene met ander godsdienstige oortuigings as hulleself, en ook neig om andersdenkendes te wantrou, daar nie groot kommer oor die mate van religieuse verdraagsaamheid by hierdie groep studente hoef te wees nie.Kernbegrippe: Godsdiens, Religie, Verdraagsaamheid, Toleransie, Religieuse toleransie, Onderwysstudentehttps://doi.org/10.19108/KOERS.80.2.222

Life- and worldview: development and transformation – the case of the Lamba of the Masaiti region in Zambia

This article reports on a case study regarding the development and educational transformation of a subgroup of the Lamba living in the Masaiti region of the Copper Belt Province of Zambia, where the Foundation for Cross-Cultural Education in Zambia (FCE) has been serving for the past thirteen years. It was concluded that the current life- and worldview of a community such as the one living in the Masaiti region can be transformed to a truly Christ-centred life- and worldview by firstly taking cognisance of how the community currently expresses itself in terms of each of the universals or components of a lifeand worldview, and secondly by subjecting each of those universals or components to a process of life- and worldview transformation. It was furthermore found that life- and worldview transformation should be seen as a prerequisite for the developmental transformation of such communities

Learners’ perceptions as to what contributes to their school success: a case study

Some historically black schools manage to do quite well despite their circumstances, such as dire poverty. We aim at explicating some of the causal factors regarding the effectiveness of three schools in deep rural  Mpumalanga, South Africa by tapping the perceptions of their learners. Data were collected from learner samples (four girls and four boys from each school, all of them black) by means of semi-structured focus group interviews. The results lead to the conclusion that the perceptions of disadvantaged black learners in this area, with respect to what contributes to their educational effectiveness, may also be understood in terms of hierarchical insights and awarenesses, the ontological basis of which seems to be successful pedagogical dialogue, with mutual acceptance as its fountainhead.Keywords: educational effectiveness; learner perceptions; pedagogicaldialogue; rural South Africa; school succes

'n Histories-opvoedkundige rekonstruksie van die geletterdheid van die Suid-Afrikaanse bevolking : 'n eerste kartering

Historico-educational reconstruction of the literacy of the South African population: a first mapping. The aim in this paper was to map the outlines of the history of the literacy of the South African population, from census material and from the few existing studies, as a basis for further research on the history of literacy in South Africa. The problem of defining and measuring literacy is discussed. Areas of main emphases in international history of education research on literacy are identified, and the research apparatus available for the reconstruction of the literacy history of South Africa is surveyed. This is followed by mapping the outlines of the history of the literacy of South Africa's population. In conclusion, and in the light of the foci in international history of education research on literacy, the following recommendations are made for further research on the theme, using the identified available research apparatus. There is a need for research that will complete the picture on progress in the history of literacy of the South African population; for investigations into the causes/determinants/correlates of literacy in South Africa and for research on the relationship between literacy in South Africa and industrialisation, economic growth, modernisation, cognitive development, and the development of political consciousness. Out of these studies, guidelines for combatting the illiteracy that still exists in South Africa could then be ed. (South African Journal of Education: 2002 22(2): 125-131

The envisaged dual system of vocational education and training in South A frica: assessing the potential thereof from a comparative perspective

The aim of this research was to assess the potential of the envisaged dual system of vocational education and training in South Africa from a comparative perspective, namely, the German prototype and the many attempts to transplant this to other countries. The dual system in Germany is outlined and assessed, followed by an evaluation of attempts to export it to other countries. Subsequently, the motivation for and details of the envisaged dual system in South Africa are discussed, before extrapolating, in the concluding section, the implications of the experience abroad for South Africa. The population dynamics, economy, the mobile employment market and low prestige accorded to vocational education do not bode well for a dual system in South Africa. On the other hand, building the qualifications attained in the dual system into the National Qualifications Framework, and empowering would-be learners from designated groups by means of the Equal Employment Act, could create a dual system that could be exemplary for other developing countries, and even for Germany. (South African Journal of Education: 2003 23 (2): 145-151

Godsdiens in onderwys in Suid–Afrika: beligting vanuit internasionaal-vergelykende perspektiewe

The aim of this article is to present a comparative-international perspective on South African policy on religion in education, based on a capita selecta of ten national/regional education systems worldwide. The relation between religion and education in the following ten countries/regions are surveyed: the United States of America, Western Europe, Armenia, Israel, Iran, Malaysia, Japan, Tanzania, South Africa and Brazil. The conclusion is that the widely proclaimed credo of secular public education is a chimera; a practical impossibility which is even further thwarted by a number of disadvantages. The total usurpation of national education by a mono-perspectivistic religion, especially in the context of a theocratic state or a religiously intolerant state, also results in a number of (intended and unintended) undesired consequences. A positive accommodation of religion and religious diversity in public education is recommended. the powers vested in school governing bodies by the South African Schools Act (1996) indeed makes such an accommodation within the South African context possiblehttp://reference.sabinet.co.za/webx/access/electronic_journals/tcwet/tcwet_v48_n1_2_a8.pd