Gatekeeping: an obstacle to criminological research with Indian youth drug users in Chatsworth, KwaZulu-Natal.

Every research study has a story and this article tells the story of the researchers’ challenges in accessing participants for a study. Thus this article draws on the researchers’ experiences with gatekeeping dilemmas while attempting to research drug addiction among a select sample of youth in a historically Indian township in Kwa Zulu Natal. The article highlights the challenges in gaining access to an Indian sample of drug users. Some of the reasons depart from the premise that perhaps the most challenging factor is that most of the populations relevant to the study of drug addiction, such as under age youth, traffickers, suppliers and or drug lords, constitute so-called hidden populations. Heckathorn (1997), argues that “A hidden population is a group of individuals, whose membership in hidden populations often involves stigmatized or illegal behaviour, leading individuals to refuse to co-operate, or give unreliable answers to protect their privacy.” Consequently for this empirical study attempting to ‘research’ a ‘hidden population’ resulted in challenges not necessarily observed with other research topics. This research argues through a theoretical framework how gatekeeping challenges may impact ‘important’ research agendas. This research article further highlights principal gatekeeping challenges associated with research in the field of illicit drug use which is the focus of this research article. This is done through reflections on the researchers’ methodological journey namely gaining access to a relevant sample. The article concludes with suggestions for researchers attempting research with ‘hidden populations’ in future criminological research. This article explores some of the issues that researchers should consider when carrying out research with Gypsy-Travellers

‘They call us Makwerekweres’ : foreign learners speak out against xenophobia.

While a number of studies on xenophobia have been conducted in South Africa, very little has been done to establish the effects of xenophobia on foreigners in schools. To help remedy the dearth of studies in this area, this article aimed to provide emic perspective on xenophobia from a select sample of Grade 12 foreign learners. Through the use of interviews, the study explored how these learners experience their host country, South Africa, five years after the widely publicized xenophobic violence. Thematic analysis of responses indicated, profoundly, learners’ thoughts and feelings on xenophobia. Participants described their emotional and physical exposure to various forms of xenophobia perpetrated either at the level of the community and/or the school. Participants felt that South Africans who do not take responsibility for their behavior shift blame to foreigners, hence fuelling xenophobia. Although learners perceive South Africa as a beautiful country with much to offer, they prefer migrating to countries with better opportunities. This research provided a baseline for further research into this phenomenon

Interrogating maritime security : a discourse from below.

The expanding volume of sea trade between South Africa and other parts of the global world places pressure on increased maritime security particularly because maritime security affects both communities living close to the sea as well as bi- and multilateral relations on the larger international scale. While most research studies focus on threats of piracy and the economic impacts of maritime security on international trade this paper seeks to critically explore maritime challenges at a more local level namely the voices of actors directly with first hand experiences of maritime matters. Using in depth semi structured face to face interviews with six participants within a qualitative framework the study concluded that maritime challenges are indeed larger than the traditional security challenges. Challenges included seafarers’ working conditions, stowaways, human and drug trafficking and piracy. The study makes recommendations for future large scale research on maritime challenges

Exploring alternative assessment strategies in science classrooms.

The knowledge children bring to the classroom or construct in the classroom may find expression in a variety of activities and is often not measurable with the traditional assessment instruments used in science classrooms. Different approaches to assessment are required to accommodate the various ways in which learners construct knowledge in social settings. In our research we attempted to determine the types of outcomes achieved in a Grade 6 classroom where alternative strategies such as interactive assessments were implemented. Analyses of these outcomes show that the learners learned much more than the tests indicate, although what they learnt was not necessarily science. The implications for assessment are clear: strategies that assess knowledge of science concepts, as well as assessment of outcomes other than science outcomes, are required if we wish to gain a holistic understanding of the learning that occurs in science classrooms

What mathematics learners say about the new South African curriculum reform.

In this article we report on what Grade 8 learners say about the new curriculum reforms in South Africa – Outcomes-based Education (OBE) and Curriculum 2005 (C2005) – that were introduced into their mathematics classrooms. The article begins by addressing what is argued to be a gap in reform research in mathematics education. It draws primarily on focus group interviews conducted with learners after having observed a series of consecutive lessons in three different previously racially segregated schools in the Durban region from the international study on mathematics learners' perspectives. The analysis is organised in five broad themes that emerged from the data, some of which resonate with the design features of the curriculum reforms: a strong focus on group work; the attempt to forge relations between mathematics and context; changes in the use of learning-teaching materials such as worksheets; issues of assessment; and learners' take-up of the discourse of the new curriculum approach. Learners' views seem to be linked to their teachers' explicit (non)engagement with the new curriculum, and they appear to be aware of the tensions and trade-offs for themselves in the enactment of the new curriculum

A quantitative understanding of gender differentiated delinquent trends among school going adolescents in Chatsworth, Durban.

According to the World Health Organisation countries in transition have witnessed a dramatic rise in delinquency rates. Given that juvenile offending is a pervasive social problem and many theories about its aetiology have been advanced it is not unusual for researchers to understand delinquent behaviour over periods of time. Against this backdrop this study seeks to understand gendered patterns of offending or delinquent behaviour among seven hundred and fifty (750) school going adolescents in a historically Indian township in Chatsworth, KwaZulu-Natal. Using a non-probability, random, sampling method respondents were chosen from two secondary schools in Chatsworth. Results from the study showed significant correlations between gender (male and female) and modes of punishment; norm violations; regulation violations; and malicious damage to property. For instance gender and norm violations results indicated that sleeping out of home without parental permission is not gendered. Both males and females slept out of home without parental permission; gender and regulation violations such as driving a motor vehicle without a driver’s licence indicated that respondents violate regulations regardless of gender and gender and regulation violations such as entering a bar or bottle store being under the prescribed age of 18 years old indicates that respondents irrespective of gender enter a bar or bottle store

Psychosocial influences on substance abuse in a sample of South African youth: a qualitative analysis.

This study investigated the lived experience of substance abusers in the South African context. Participants were 10 individuals attending a drug treatment centre in Durban, South Africa. Data were collected using open-ended interviews with data being analysed using thematic analysis. Findings suggest that normative social influences and levels of social support play an important role in shaping, maintaining, and determining the trajectory of drug usage

Interrogating inclusionary and exclusionary practices : learners of war and flight.

There has been a significant increase in the number of undocumented people entering South Africa. A number of them include refugees. Many refugees are destitute and often denied basic needs such as health and education. Besides intentional exclusion by citizens and authorities, some immigrant children are precluded from education because they cannot gain access to schooling. This article captures the possibilities and constraints that are experienced by a selected group of refugee learners, in a school in which these children find themselves.The methodology derives from powerful narratives which are used as tools to analyse exclusionary and inclusionary practices, the relationship between which is presented as bi-directional. It is argued that the notion of exclusion and inclusion is multilayered. Different constructs of inclusion are developed around the thought, practices and experiences of refugee learners within the hosting school community. It is argued that what is offered by the school is a strikingly conservative discourse of perceived inclusion in the ways in which refugee learner practices get constructed. A theory of enforced humanitarianism emerges on the part of the school. It is only when we change this perspective on vulnerability that we are able to accept a more creative and effective way of including refugee learners who constantly believe that they are present in one place, but belong somewhere else

Exploring the public parameter of police integrity.

This paper explores the contribution of the public component of Klockars’ and Kutnjak-Ivkovic’s (2004) organizational theory of police integrity to the understanding of police integrity. Design/methodology/approach: The study employs a modified survey derived from “The Measurement of Police Integrity,” instrument developed by Klockars, et al. ( 2000). Participants are constituted by a convenience sample of first year social studies students at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (n = 186) and 160 South African Police Service non-commissioned officers throughout Gauteng Province, Republic of South Africa. Findings: Overall, the data present a mixed picture of integrity in the SAPS. The current study is certainly suggestive that the SAPS faces serious challenges to establishing and sustaining integrity and that based on either absolutist or normative criteria the organization falls below desired levels of professional integrity. However, there are also indications that a significant proportion of officers will support efforts of the organization to establish and maintain professional standards of integrity. Practical Implications: The findings, focused on non-commissioned officers, contributes to a growing body of research across all levels of the South African Police Service. In addition, the research compares results from a non-police sample helping to contextualize the concept of integrity as it exists within the SAPS. More immediate implications relate to the potential for the development of a broad-based integrity plan for the South African Police Service as a whole. Originality/value: Previous research employing police only samples has concluded that the South African Police Service is an integrity challenged organization. While the present study agrees that the SAPS faces significant integrity challenges, the use of a comparative non-policing sample also suggests that the Service is having some success in establishing integrity standards, at least in regard to lower level violations of organizational ethical standards

Erratum to: Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy (3rd edition) (Autophagy, 12, 1, 1-222, 10.1080/15548627.2015.1100356

non present