The cultural and linguistic appropriateness of the individual scale for Zulu-speaking pupils : a Bakhtinian analysis.

Master of Social Science in Educational Psychology. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 2016.The context of psychological practices in South Africa is changing, particularly the assessment practices. A change in ways of understanding intellectual functioning has transpired within culturally and linguistically diverse contexts, initiating an evaluation of intelligence measures. South African policies and laws relevant to the practice of psychologists have been passed with an aim to ensure equitable and fair assessment practices for all children. Evaluating psychological tests is of significant importance as psychologists are ethically bound to periodically examine the contextual relevance of the assessment tools they use. This study was undertaken to qualitatively evaluate the cultural and linguistic appropriateness of the Individual Scale for Zulu-Speaking Pupils (ISZSP). The study adopted a triangulated descriptive-interpretive qualitative research design within a social constructionist paradigm. Bakhtinian dialogism was employed as a theoretical and methodological framework for this study, focusing on the relational and dialogic nature of human existence. Twenty-two isiZulu-speaking participants were recruited within the province of KwaZulu-Natal. Ten participants were practicing psychologists who have used the ISZSP in their practice; and 12 participants were isiZulu-speaking learners within the age range of 9 years to 19 years, 11 months. The data were collected in the form of expert review reports written by psychologists and in the form of audio-visual recordings of learners being assessed using the ISZSP. Contextualized content analysis and conversation analysis were employed to analyse data, applying the principles of Bakhtinian dialogism. The findings reveal that psychological assessment is dialogic in nature, however, the conventional static approach to assessment prevents the process to take this form. The study argues the ISZSP needs to be revised in a manner that permits the social negotiation and co-construction of knowledge during the assessment process, as human existence and all human functioning is dialogical. The findings indicate that the ISZSP presents with numerous challenges because it does not accommodate social and regional variations of isiZulu. These challenges seem to stem mainly from the archaic nature of the language of the ISZSP. To remedy this, psychologists have resorted to dynamic assessment and bilingual administration of the ISZSP. The psychologists seem to shy away from their ethical obligation to evaluate the ISZSP and to document mechanisms that have been instrumental in addressing these challenges. These findings have implications for theory, policy and practice that call for a large-scale revision of the ISZSP, constructing it as a tool that would be culturally and linguistically appropriate for the population it was intended for

The educators' perceptions and experiences of inclusive education in selected Pietermaritzburg schools.

Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2008.After the first democratic elections in 1994 the South African government was faced with the enormous challenge of blending a sophisticated First World education system for the minority with an underdeveloped Third World education system for the majority. The government committed itself to the principles of an inclusive education approach in order to provide equal quality education for all learners. The focus of the inclusive education will be to provide education for all learners (not only for the disabled) who for one or more reasons were discriminated against under the previous education policy. The aim of this study was to investigate the educators’ perceptions and experiences of inclusive education in schools where it is being implemented in Pietermaritzburg. The study also looked at the nature of concerns and attitudes held by these educators. Both a literature and empirical study were executed. The quantitative and qualitative approaches were used and data were collected by semi-structures questionnaires administered to thirty educators from schools where inclusive education is being implemented. Quantitative data was analysed using the descriptive statistics. A thematic analysis technique was used to analyse qualitative data. The results were presented against the central themes that emerged and include: inclusive education is challenging by its very nature; negative attitude towards inclusive education and learners with barriers to learning; negative perception towards adapting the curriculum to learners with barriers to learning; availability / lack of resources and support needed in inclusive classrooms; areas of needs in working with learners with barriers to learning; and many learners’ needs are not being met, while educators’ workload and stress have increased. A general sense of negativity was found with regard to the educators’ perceptions and attitudes towards inclusive education. They indicated that they were not well prepared for inclusive education. Recommendations were made to facilitate improving the preparedness or readiness of the educators, for inclusive education in inclusive schools in the Pietermaritzburg area