Editorial

During a meeting of the South African Parliament’s portfolio committee on Higher Education, Science and Technology, held on 1 December 2021, Professor Ahmed Bawa, in his position of Chief Executive Officer of Universities South Africa (USAf), identified eight challenges facing South African universities: the continued impact of COVID-19 on higher education; the sustainability of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme funding (NSFAS); the so-called ‘missing middle’ students, i.e. students who do not qualify for financial aid, but cannot afford fees outright; unpaid student debt; insufficient affordable student accommodation; electrical power instability and loadshedding; social unrest and gender-based violence; and lastly the impact of the faltering South African economy on higher education. In this edition of Perspectives in Education (PiE), the first nine articles focus on challenges faced by students and academic in higher education in South Africa

Misdaad in die Suid-Afrikaanse onderw ys soos weerspieël in die gedrukte media

No Abstract. South African Journal of Education Vol. 23 (2) 2003: pp.113-12

’n Analise van geselekteerde mediaberigte se uitbeelding van rassisme in Suid- Afrikaanse skole

An analysis of the portrayal of racism in South African schools in selected media reports The influence of the printed media on the establishment of perceptions and as a source of information must not be underestimated. Although it is generally accepted that no editor will publish a report containing false information, there are many journalistic tricks of the trade that can be used in support of a specific political and/or economic view. In this article an attempt was made to find out how and with what purpose in mind the printed media, accused of perpetuating racism in the South African society, report on racial conflict and tension in education, a social relationship that also seems to be interlarded with racism

'n Ondersoek na 'n aantal opvoeders se sieninge oor onderwysverwante bronne van rassisme

An investigation of a number of educators' viewpoints on education-related sources of racism. In spite of the prohibition placed on discrimination on the basis of race by the South African Constitution, the Schools Act and the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act, the report of the South African Human Rights Commission shows that the second highest percentage of the complaints received by the legal division of this Commission, concern educational matters. A prohibition of racism and the removal of institutionalised racism therefore do not guarantee the removal of racism from the South African society in general and schools in particular. The aim of this article is to offer a brief literature and press review on the role played by education-related resources in either the establishment or the cultivation or the counteracting of racism at individual, institutional and cultural levels. In addition an attempt was made to determine, by means of an empirical investigation, a group of educators' views on what should be regarded as the most important sources of racism in South African schools. Educators' views on the role played by educators, school organisations and groupings as well as the curriculum in the establishment of healthy race relations in multiracial schools in South Africa are also discussed. (South African Journal of Education: 2001 21(4): 247-255

Educators’ understanding of workplace bullying

This article looks at educators’ understanding of workplace bullying through the lens of a twodimensional model of bullying. Educators, who were furthering their studies at the University of the Free State, were invited to take part in a study on different types of bullying. Deductive, directed content analysis was used to analyse 59 participants’ descriptions of workplace bullying. The study found that the theoretical model provided a valuable framework for studying bullying in this context. The analysis of the educators’ descriptions provided the following insights about the relational and organisational foundations of workplace bullying: (1) The relational powerless victims are subjected to public humiliation, disregard, isolation and  discrimination. The bullying of educators results in escalating apathy and disempowerment, to the detriment of their professional and private wellbeing. (2) Bullying is likely to occur in schools where organisational chaos reigns. Such schools are characterised by incompetent, unprincipled, abusive leadership, lack of accountability, fairness and transparency. (3) There is interplay between relational powerlessness and organisational chaos, i.e. the absence of principled leadership, accountability and transparency gives rise to workplace bullying.Keywords: content analysis; educators; school principals; workplace bullyin

Victims of educator-targeted bullying: a qualitative study

I report on findings emanating from in-depth personal interviews with victims of educator-targeted bullying (ETB). Qualitative content analysis was used to analyse the narratives. The findings indicate that the victims of ETB were exposed repeatedly over time to verbal, non-verbal, psychological, and physical abuse during and after school hours. ETB had a negative influence on the victims’ private lives, as well as on teaching and on learning. Lastly, I found that ETB may lead to a breakdown of relations between victims and the bullies’ parents and the members of the community in which schools are situated.Keywords: bullying; content analysis; ecological theory; educators; South Afric

The voices of victims and witnesses of school bullying

There has never been a stronger demand from the South African public to reduce school violence than at present. The demand for safe schools cannot be achieved unless the issue of bullying is adequately addressed. However, it appears from newspaper reports that some of the role players are not willing to listen to the victims of bullying. The aim of this article is to give a voice to some of the victims, as well as those witnessing school bullying. This article reports on findings from an investigation of the experiences of a group of Free State learners who were witnesses and victims of bullying. The research instrument was the Delaware Bullying Questionnaire. The first important conclusion from this study was that bullying was a serious problem in some Free State schools. Secondly, it was found that the respondents were more often the victims of male than of female bullies. Thirdly, the quantitative data indicated that the majority of victims were bullied by learners who were in the same grade as they were. The qualitative data, however, revealed that the bullying of Grade 8 learners by Grade 12 learners seems to be a fairly common occurrence. Finally, some comments and recommendations are made

Nuclear Fragmentation Cross Section Modeling for Space Radiation Applications

One of the most significant challenges to overcome on the journey to Mars is understanding the biological risk associated with the space radiation environment. Radiation transport codes are one of the tools necessary to quantify this risk. Due to the nature of the space radiation environment, it is of great importance that these transport codes are able to describe the breakup of heavy ions into smaller fragments|light ions in particular. For this, event generators within radiation transport codes rely on nuclear fragmentation codes to predict the products of high energy nuclear collisions. This manuscript documents the development of a nuclear fragmentation code: the Relativistic Abrasion-Ablation and Deexcitation Fragmentation Model (RAADFRG). RAADFRG is the product of a collaboration between the University of Tennessee and NASA\u27s Langley Research Center (LaRC), and is being developed for space radiation applications. Currently, total isotopic yield is of primary concern; however, future versions of the model must predict double differential isotopic yields. The collision model is a framework of smaller physics packages, each meant to describe a specific physical phenomenon within the abrasion-ablation heavy ion collision theory. The coalescence model, along with the collision framework architecture and development, are my primary original contributions

From ‘borrowing’ to ‘learning’ in international comparative study: a critical reflection

The state of public education debate, which to a great ex ten t on ly ref lects policies and practices ab road, is exam ined. Th e process of lea rning from others should replace the process of borrowing (of usually inappropriate policies/practices) from others. Two examples of the issues involved in the debate on pub lic education, namely, Outcomes-Based Education and Medium of Instruction, were analysed through reference to media reports and discussions and through applying the time-honoure d, seasoned and responsible principle of ‘learning’ rather than ‘borrowing’ from others, as prescribed by the science of Comparative Ed uc atio n. It was found that journalists and guest authors summarily employed policies and practices from abroad to m otivate the ir own p oin ts of view and even used these as points of departure for political discourses. There was no sign of a scie ntific factoring-in of contextual similarities and differences between South African education system s and tho se abroad. This is a highly questionable and dangerous practice. In this regard Comparative Education ists have an important role to play in supplying a superstructure of relevant knowledge to inform eduacation policy formulation

A transitiological study of some South African educational issues

In this study enrolment numbers and levels, as well as language-in-education, were viewed from a linear, comparative perspective. In the era prior to 1994, black and white learners not only attended separate schools but the segregated schools had different policies regarding medium of instruction. Resistance to the language policy regarding black education culminated in the 1976 uprisings. This led to the scrapping of both Afrikaans and black home languages as language of instruction in black schools. After the uprisings, black schools followed a policy of decreasing bilingualism. After 1994, in the spirit of democracy, official and educational status were granted to eleven languages. Deep-seateddistrust and fear, that home-language education would lead to  impoverishment, social and political isolation, and disempowerment, caused the majority of South African learners to prefer English rather than their home language as language of instruction. From a linear comparison, it transpires that the language-in-education situation in the classroom has changed very little since 1994. Enrolment numbers and levels, particularly the disparities between white and black, were other points of criticism regarding the education system before 1994. Prior to 1994, compulsory education had only been fully implemented with regard to thewhite and, to a lesser extent, Indian and coloured sections of the population. The vision that the ANC had in 1955, that “the doors of learning shall be open”, was only reflected in policy documents and laws. Both primary-school and secondary-school enrolment numbers showed an increase after the ANC government came to power. The net enrolment numbers (1995–2004) for primary education showed a decrease from 95.0% to 87.4%,but the enrolment numbers for secondary education showed an increase from 56.0% to 67.2%. Despite the latter positive statistics, it would appear that the objective of universal educationhas still not been realised in South Africa