OpenUCT :: Browsing by Author "Cooper, Linda"

Browsing by Author "Cooper, Linda"

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Open Access
A case study of the curriculum logic of a South African university degree programme in sports management and its appropriateness to the labour market
(2021) Landman, Megan; Cooper, Linda
Over the past 50 years, sport has undergone a process of commercialisation and professionalisation, and has become “big business”. It now requires adequately trained professionals to manage the daily operations of sport businesses. The question in which this research originated was: are universities able to provide the kind of education needed to equip managers with the knowledge and skills necessary to manage sport in South Africa? The specific aim of this study was to determine the curriculum logic of a selected South African university degree programme in sports management and its appropriateness to the labour market. There has been little research in the South African environment in terms of how sport management is taught. Several studies have, however, been done elsewhere, showing that there is a need for a systematic study of sport management in academia, that sport and business need to be studied congruently and that sport management curriculum should move away from the science of movement (Masteralexis et al., 2015; Skinner et al., 2015). Adopting a qualitative, case study approach, and after an initial stage of desk-top research, one South African university undergraduate programme in sport management was selected for indepth research. Data was collected by making use of the curriculum details found on-line in the university's yearbook, as well as by conducting one in-depth interview with a faculty staff member. Each of the modules across all three years of study, as well as the interview with the member of faculty were analysed, on two levels. In the first level analysis, the curriculum was analysed using international guidelines provided by sport management programme accreditation bodies in the United States which identify the core elements that should form part of a sport management curriculum. The second level of analysis draws on conceptual models from the field of curriculum studies to evaluate the curriculum logic of the chosen sport management curriculum. The work of Gamble (2006, 2009, 2016) was drawn on to identify the dominant knowledge type in the curriculum, Shay's conceptual model (2011, 2013, 2016) was used to describe the nature of the coherence of the curriculum, the work of Barnett (2006) was used to analyse the recontextualisation of the curriculum, and the work of Allais and Shalem (2018) was used to examine the relationship between the curriculum and the labour market. These analyses illuminated the overall nature of the programme in terms of its selection, sequencing, pacing, recontextualisation, curriculum coherence and directionality. The study found that this case of a sport management degree did not meet the curriculum requirements stipulated by the North American guidelines. The findings were that the curriculum is comprised mainly of principled knowledge and it is a conceptually (as opposed to contextually) coherent curriculum with the majority of its modules pedagogically recontextualised. Shay and Gamble's conceptual models yielded conflicting analyses regarding the type of curriculum: in terms of Shay's model, the University of Johannesburg's (UJ) curriculum is a professional qualification, whereas Gamble's model suggests that UJ's curriculum is a general formative undergraduate degree. The pacing of the curriculum showed evidence of trying to cover too many modules and insufficient time to cover key areas in sufficient depth. The overall conclusion was that the curriculum is attempting to cover too much in three years and that it should perhaps look at becoming more focused. This can be done by strictly following the guidelines given by the North American bodies, leading to the curriculum being an occupational one that is linked closely to the labour market, or it could focus on becoming a professional qualification where it focuses more on theory and applied knowledge but in a selective way so as to ensure that it allows for a more in-depth study of the modules. Or the curriculum could settle for being a general formative degree that specialises in the postgraduate programme.
Open Access
Activists within the academy: the role of prior experience in adult learners' acquisition of postgraduate literacies in a postapartheid South African university
(SAGE, 2011) Cooper, Linda
The article takes as a case study a group of disability rights activists who were given access to a master's program via Recognition of Prior Learning. The question explored is "Can adult learners' prior experiential knowledge act as a resource for the successful acquisition of postgraduate academic literacy practices?" The analysis is framed theoretically by Bourdieu's notions of habitus, capital, and field. It is argued that adult learners' acquisition of postgraduate literacies is an outcome of the interplay between three factors: (a) student habitus and dispositions, (b) pedagogic agency, and (c) the nature of the disciplinary field. Although the program under investigation made complex demands on students, lecturers' understanding of student habitus enabled students' prior experiential knowledge to be tapped as a resource. However, students also exercised agency in negotiating the forms of academic habitus acquired, and the trajectory of their agency involved a mix of accommodation, resistance, and challenge.
Open Access
An analysis of the experiences of learners who completed a university-based programme for trade union women what factors facilitated or hindered their 'plough back' of learning to build their trade union organization?
(2012) Pillay, Kanagie Vanessa; Cooper, Linda
This study set out to explore the effects of learning on a trade union organisation. The emphasis on learning in the South African trade union movement is often whether it results in building and strengthening union organisation. The trade union jargon used to describe this phenomenon is 'plough back'. The question that led to this research was whether the concept of 'plough back' was practically implemented in the case of a university course commissioned by the National Education Health and Allied Workers Union (NEHAWU).
Open Access
Cosatu's policy on worker education, 1985-1992 : changes and continuities
(2003) Andrew, Sally; Cooper, Linda; Grossman, Jonathan
The South African literature on worker education notes developments in Cosatu's approach to education from the 1980's to the 1990's. I critically explore the changes and continuities evident in Cosatu's policy on worker education from 1985 to 1992. I examined the national documentation produced by Cosatu during these years and conducted selected interviews with 11 people in the Western Cape who were active in Cosatu during this period. I qualitatively categorise and analyse the information on Cosatu's policy. Secondary data, together with the interviews provide both illustrative and contextual information on the policy, practice and politics of Cosatu at that time. The approach to worker education contained in the policy from 1985 to 1988 can be distinguished from that of the 1989-1992 period. Cosatu's policy on worker education in the 1985-1988 period contained a critique of capitalist education, an argument that education should contribute to socialist transformation, and the assertion of an 'alternative' education founded on progressive principles. In the 1989-1992 period some of the progressive principles evident in the 1985-1988 policy on worker education were still asserted. However there were stark changes from the earlier policy. The 1989-1992 policy asserted that education should assist with reconstructing the economy and developing individual careers. Cosatu was no longer promoting an alternative to the existing capitalist education, but was pushing for workers to have greater access to this system. I characterise the dominant approach to worker education of the 1985-1988 period as 'radical' or 'transformatory', whereas the 1989-1992 period increasingly manifested elements of a 'service' and 'instrumental' approach, which I characterise as 'reformist'.
Open Access
A critical analysis of magistrates' experiences of the peer learning initiative in the KwaZulu-Natal courts : transcending apartheid judicial education?
(2010) Sardien, Anthony William Patrick; Cooper, Linda
This dissertation investigates the peer learning activities initiated by the Joint Education and Training Committee (Jetcom) of the kwaZulu-Natal district court magistrates. A core aspect of the study considers how magistrates relate their understandings of peer learning to their professional development, particularly in view of the continued influence of the legacy of apartheid–era judicial education.A brief analysis of the history of the magistracy in the context of the development of South Africa from colonisation, industrialisation, and apartheid to democracy is the basis for a characterisation of judicial education before 1994. The study draws on literature inthe sociology of professions, professional development and peer learning in order to construct a conceptual framework to interpret the peer learning initiative.Data collection involved mainly semi-structured individual interviews and focus group discussions with magistrates. Field notes recorded observations of interactions with and between magistrates and reflections on the research process generally. A thematic data analysis informed the interpretive phase of the analysis. The conceptual framework developed in the literature review informed the critical analysis of the experiences and understandings of the peer learning initiative.Until 1993, the executive controlled and provided the content of the 'apartheid' judicial education of magistrates, compromising their judicial independence.The findings show that some magistrates have used peer learning to try to build equal, reciprocal peer learning relationships; others have used peer learning to retain existing distinctions and inequalities. The Jetcom has succeeded in embedding the peer learning initiative into the authority structures of the magistracy, thereby strengthening its sustainability.Magistrates have used peer learning to respond to various professional development needs. 'Race' and gender have influenced the conception and the implementation of the peer learning initiative.
Open Access
Early Childhood development Level 4 learnership: A qualitative study of the curriculum responsiveness to the needs of experienced ECD teachers
(2019) Erasmus, Janice; Cooper, Linda
This study aimed to explore whether the curriculum and pedagogy of an Early Childhood Development (ECD) Level 4 Learnership recognized the informal knowledge of experienced practitioners. It focused on whether the curriculum and pedagogy considered the experiences of adult learners and to what extent adult education principles were followed in its delivery. A review of the literature in South Africa showed that there is a very limited amount of research on the training of ECD practitioners. The study considered the experiences of adult students completing their Learnership at two TVET colleges in Cape Town and focused on practices that could potentially have followed principles of adult learning as well as the recognition of prior experiential learning. The research explored whether the ECD teachers who had gained entry to the Learnership felt that their prior experiential knowledge was considered in the delivery of the learnership. The research adopted a qualitative and exploratory approach, using a conceptual frame drawn from the theoretical literature on adult learning, and on the Recognition of Prior Learning. The research design adopted a mixed methods approach involving interviews with the ECD managers at two TVET colleges and eight ECD teachers drawn from four different ECD centres in Mitchells Plain. A purposive sampling technique was used to select the research participants and semi-structured interviews were conducted face-to-face with each participant. In addition, data was collected via classroom observations as well as relevant policy and course documents. The analysis of research findings revealed that although ECD teachers without formal training had considerable understanding of how to educate the young children in their classes, this rich experiential knowledge was not drawn on during the initial process of entry into the learnership, nor in the curriculum or teaching strategies within the ECD Level 4 Learnership. The thesis ends by noting that there are various ways in which ECD teachers could have been better assisted.
Open Access
An evaluation of a pilot community-based, interdisciplinary, primary health care teaching programme for health sciences students
(2001) Alperstein, Melanie; Cooper, Linda
The focus of this research is an evaluation of a pilot community-based interdisciplinary, primary health care teaching programme for health sciences students, at the University of Cape Town. The pilot programme was located in the Neighbourhood Old Age Homes project (NOAH) in Woodstock, Cape Town. The research took place in 1997, the year of implementation of the programme. The evaluation focused on the perceptions and experiences of the staff and students who participated in the programme. Dietetic, medical, occupational therapy and physiotherapy students participated in the programme. The staff who planned and implemented the programme were interdisciplinary, representing all the above professions, including nursing and social work. The research attempted to gain an understanding of the contextual, curriculum and organisational conditions necessary for effective interdisciplinary education, as experienced by students and staff. The study was contextualised within the changes taking place in higher education, the provision of health care services and health professional education in South Africa. The Woodstock Interdisciplinary Programme was contextualised within a review of interdisciplinary education internationally and locally. Discursive shifts within traditional and changing health professional education were analysed. This led to an exploration of discourse and role theory in relation to changing learner and educator roles and changing power relationships. The research was conducted within a qualitative research paradigm. The main methodology was case study research and the form of evaluation was illuminative evaluation. Four semi-structured focus group interviews with 15 students and semi-structured in-depth individual interviews with ail six participating staff were used to collect the core data. Since the researcher was a member of the planning and implementing staff, participant observation was also used as a method of gathering data. The data from the focus group interviews and individual interviews was coded, categorised and analysed. This constituted a rich core of information for the study. Course evaluation forms, comprising mostly closed-ended questions, completed by 38 of the 41 medical students, were used in the analysis phase as a form of triangulation to increase the reliability of the results. The research explored questions in relation to kinds of learnings gained; the students’ and staffs’ experiences of interdisciplinary learning; the conditions perceived as facilitating or hindering learning; the attitudes towards their own role and those of other health professionals and how students viewed the hierarchy within the health team. The ﬁndings supported the literature in that interdisciplinary education can be effective in a community-based setting using problem-based or orientated learning, but limitations may arise related to contextual, organisational and curricular factors. Students learnt about each other's roles and different approaches to health care. They all felt there was insufficient time to learn enough about each other and that they needed to learn and work together on a regular basis. The ﬁndings illuminated the need to pay more attention to the disjunction that results from shifting discourses and associated shifts in learner roles, new professional identities and changing power relationships. The thesis ends with recommendations for curriculum development and suggestions for further research.
Open Access
Exploring indigenous knowledge practices concerning health and well-being: a case study of isiXhosa-speaking women in the rural Eastern Cape
(2015) Hobongwana-Duley, Helen Yolisa; Cooper, Linda; Ismail, Salma; Soudien, Crain
This thesis explores, analyzes and conceptualizes the indigenous knowledge practices concerning health and well-being held by different generations of women and how they are reproduced cross-generationally in a rural isiXhosa-speaking community. It also explores how the relationship between concepts of self, personhood and Ubuntu informs women's agency. Additionally, this thesis explores how the indigenous knowledge practices might have the potential to augment inclusive and relevant tools for learning for young women, girls and youth. This study adopts a critical, holistic and interpretive approach through an ethnographic case study. Qualitative data was gathered over an 18-month period, through ethnographic observations, informal interactions, semi-structured interviews and one focus group. Observations provided insight into the social structure of the community, women's agency, and indigenous knowledge practices that support well-being. They also brought a greater awareness of the ways in which Ubuntu philosophy is embedded within indigenous practices that support individual and collective wellbeing. Interviews created a deeper understanding of women's agency and the choices women make regarding well-being, and how knowledge practices are reproduced. Evidence from this study is presented and findings are analyzed drawing from Giddensâ€™ critical theory, with emphasis on social structure and agency, the philosophy of Ubuntu, EngestrÃ¶mâ€™s Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT), literatures on indigenous knowledge practices and systems, and theories of informal and situated learning, in three chapters, each dealing with "the ecology of the homestead"; "health practices"; and "childbirth and childrearing" respectively. Central findings indicate that indigenous knowledge practices are usually reproduced informally through rituals, ceremonies, and everyday tasks and skills for living within the homestead and are often situated in communities of practice. Other findings indicate that women choose biomedicine for childbirth while also using indigenous practices for health and well-being; NGO outreach workers and mentors often act as â€˜boundary workersâ€™, helping to narrow the boundaries between activity and knowledge systems. However, knowledge that is reproduced in more formal settings such as school often results in gaps in knowledge reproduction, especially among youth. Due to multiple knowledges being harnessed and reproduced simultaneously, this thesis concludes that different knowledges are practised, are valued and are integral to the choices women make around well-being, which illuminates the value of indigenous knowledge practices in facilitating cultural identity and ontological security. This thesis contributes to theories of knowledge and how knowledge and knowledge reproduction may be viewed and understood, particularly with regard to informal learning. These insights can be applied to developing curricula that acknowledge and are inclusive of indigenous knowledge practices, processes of informal knowledge reproduction and multiple knowledge practices or ways of knowing.
Open Access
Exploring the current trends in curriculum design of entrepreneur education programmes through three case studies, in Cape Town, South Africa
(2017) Sexton, Emma; Cooper, Linda
This comparative case study aims to identify the pedagogic approaches embedded in the design of a selection of entrepreneur education programmes. Three non-profit organisations based in the Western Cape, South Africa, were selected as case studies. While each organisation offers an entrepreneur education programme for previously disadvantaged individuals who are in the early stages of running a business, each programme is unique in terms of its target market industry sector, learning objectives and business outcomes, as well as in its curriculum design intended to enable particular objectives and outcomes to be optimally achieved by the learners (entrepreneurs). Activity Theory and Bernstein's Models of Pedagogy provide analytical frameworks for the study. Data was gathered from three semi-structured interviews carried out with the principal curriculum designer within each organisation, as well as written documents and websites. Engeström's extension of Activity Theory provided the conceptual tools for the first level of analysis of the case data, which identified tensions within and between the activity system elements of each curriculum. Further analysis was conducted utilising Bernstein's models of pedagogy, in order to better understand the key assumptions about learning and knowledge underpinning each of the curricula. Within each Activity System, significant tensions were identified between the Subjects, the Rules and Object; the Subjects, the Tools and the Object; and the Subjects, the Division of Labour, and the Object. Two approaches to pedagogy were evident within the three curricula, which aligned to Bernstein's competence and performance models of pedagogy. By drawing on the tensions identified through mapping the curriculum using Activity Theory, the thesis proposes that the two pedagogic models should be seen as a continuum and can be used to identify key questions to consider in the design of entrepreneur education curriculum, in order to ensure a well-informed curriculum aligned to adult learning theory and to the programme's learning objectives and business outcomes, and which addresses the unique context in terms of target market. Further research is necessary to understand whether the programmes which combine elements from various models of pedagogy do indeed enjoy better outcomes.
Open Access
Historical shifts in knowledge, skill and identity in the South African plant baking industry : implications for curriculum
(2014) Tennison, Colette; Cooper, Linda; Gamble, Jeanne
The South African economy, as with the rest of the world economy, has been influenced by the trends of globalisation and the knowledge economy (Castells, 2001). The South African plant (large scale) baking industry is an industry undergoing significant change with the introduction of cutting edge technology and automation. The aim of this study is to examine the shifts in organisation of work in the South African plant baking industry and, in doing so, identify the corresponding shifts in knowledge, skill and identity of production supervisors. By examining how the work organisation of the bakeries has changed, as well as the adaptations of knowledge, skill and identity, the aim is to draw implications for the development of production supervisors in the future. This, combined with an analysis of the current curricula, is then drawn on to consider the possible implications for a curriculum that addresses the needs of production supervisors in the changing plant baking industry. This qualitative research made use of a case study approach. The first phase of the study examined views on shifts in the organisation of work, and the relative importance of knowledge, skill and identity, via interviews with employees of a national plant baking company that has multiple bakeries at varying stages of automation. Changes in the organisation of work and knowledge, skill and identity were then analysed through the lens of Marx’ Labour Process Theory and Barnett and Coate (2005)’s model for professional curriculum, respectively. The second phase of this study made use of documentary evidence of two different curricula currently available for the development of production supervisors; one developed by the South African Qualifications Authority and the other by the South African Chamber of Baking. This phase sought to examine their ability to address the new organisation of work identified in the first phase of the study, drawing again on the Barnett and Coate (2005) model for professional curriculum. Findings from the first phase of the study point to changes to the organisation of work as seen in the decrease in the amount of labour required to operate an increasingly automated plant and a shift in the role of the production supervisor. These changes have resulted in shifts in the relative importance of knowledge, skill and identity, according to those interviewed. The most significant of these shifts was the perceived increase in the relative importance of identity as interviewees identified the need for a strengthened occupational identity for production supervisors, and a relative devaluing of skill within the bakeries as the role of operators has shifted more towards monitoring instead of operating the machines. These findings might be explained by the increase in automation that has led both to a weakening of occupational identity and a change in the knowledge base required by production supervisors. The need for multi-skilling has increased the need for context independent knowledge. At the same time the need for the situated, tactile, knowledge of the bread making process remains. It is argued that it is this situated knowledge held by the older, more experienced production supervisors that enables the ability to solve problems on the line and potentially strengthens their occupational identity. It was found that neither of the two curricula examined addressed the current and future needs of production supervisors. The findings of both the first and second phases of the study point to the need for a new form of curriculum that addresses the needs of production supervisors who are required to function within the new organisation of work. Conclusions are that it is not possible to confer an identity through formal curriculum alone and work experience remains central to the identity of a production supervisor. Yet there remains a need to provide production supervisors with the context independent knowledge base of, and skill in, the bread making process; elements that can be addressed within a formal curriculum framework. The development of a mixed disciplinary knowledge base that consists of both situated knowledge and context independent knowledge may provide a way for the changes in knowledge, skill and identity to be accommodated in a curriculum that caters more effectively for both workers and an industry whose drive towards automation continues.
Open Access
An investigation into the implications of formally accrediting training offered by non-governmental organisations : a case study approach
(2002) Luyt, Linda Jean; Cooper, Linda
In this study, the implications of formalising previously non-formal NGO training were investigated. The literature suggested that there might be sociological, pedagogical and epistemological issues that would impact on the process. The sociological concerns centred on how formalisation might impact on the social purpose of education and training. The epistemological issues involved concerns about which knowledge gets privileged under formalisation and the question of the transferability of different types of knowledge. The pedagogical concerns focused on what impact formalisation might have on curriculum and methodology.
Open Access
Knowledge-based expertise as the hallmark of work of risk : an analysis of the curriculum and pedagogy of a National Diploma in Train-Driving
(2011) Coetzee, Gonda; Cooper, Linda; Gamble, Jeanne
This study examines the suitability of competency-based modular education and training as preparation for skilled vocational work. In particular, it explores the nature of the curriculum and pedagogy that leads to the transmission and acquisition of risk work; defined as work that involves inherent unpredictability which depends on the skilled performance of the worker-practitioner. A single qualitative case study of a national train driving diploma is examined.
Open Access
Making visible an invisible world - how do adult educators navigate moral dilemmas in HIV health and social literacy education?
(2019) Erasmus, Margaretha Jacoba; Cooper, Linda
Billions of rand are spent annually in HIV interventions in South Africa and most of these interventions have a component of training or adult education. The purpose of this research study is to understand better what potential moral dilemmas adult educators might face in the HIV health and social literacy field and what tools they use to navigate these dilemmas. I had a sense that adult educators might face moral dilemmas in this field with topics that include safe sex, prevention, sexually transmitted infections, abortion and relevant lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual and intersex (LGBTI) issues. In order to illuminate these dilemmas, the study asked adult educators from within the related field to identify the types of moral dilemmas they faced; what underpinned these dilemmas; and finally, how they navigated the issues. Data was collected using individual semi-structured interviews. The study also aims to make recommendations for current and future educators in the field on potential navigational tools. The theoretical framework used in the study focused on adult experiential learning, meaning-making and dialogical practices. Empirical research was gathered from the school-based sex education and the nursing field, highlighting the gap in literature on adult educators’ experiences with such phenomena. The study made use of an interpretative and thematic approach, allowing themes to emerge from the data. The analysis showed that adult educators faced moral dilemmas related to the topic and content covered, cultural barriers, funder-driven agendas, insufficient involvement from the church, and sexual advances from community facilitators. These were underpinned by the research participants’ inner histories, including their upbringings and their socialisation around gender roles and marital status. Participants identified personal values that included religious beliefs as a significant cause for discomfort. Navigational tools included one-on-one and group dialogical practices as well as being able to accept or train on a topic without having to agree or promote the content from a personal values perspective. The study highlights the lack of literature available on this phenomenon and makes recommendations to create platforms for discussion and reflection. Even though the study focusses on adult educators in the HIV Health and Social Literacy field, this could have relevance for school-based sexual education teachers as well as in the nursing or counselling field.
Open Access
Project African Dawn : a study of second-chance learners' perceptions of how an equine skills apprenticeship programme has impacted on their identity, their workplace practices and their desire for further learning programmes
(2009) Hodes, Margrete Lizbeth; Cooper, Linda; Rochford, Kevin
This research investigates "Project African Dawn" (PAD), a collaborative educational equine skills apprenticeship programme, funded by the International League for the Protection of Horses (ILPH) of Great Britain and hosted by the Cart Horse Protection Association in Cape Town (South Africa). The intention of the programme was to transfer expertise in farriery, saddlery and harness-making, and to create a sustainable development programme. The apprentices were 'second-chance learners' drawn from the local carting community. This research focuses on their perceptions of how the PAD equine skills courses impacted on their identity, their workplace practices and their desire for Adult Basic Education and Training (ABET) language, literacy and numeracy or small business development courses. An ethnographic, interpretive, qualitative methodology was employed; a ten-point questionnaire guided the semi-structured interviews with a diverse group of apprentices. These were chosen as being representative of the apprentice population in terms of age, education, cultural and language group. Background interviews were also conducted with course facilitators, programme leaders and members of the community. These data sources were complemented by observations and documentary sources. The conceptual framework drew on the Situated Learning and Communities of Practice model of Lave and Wenger (1993); Experiential Learning theories, Social Literacy theories and Work-Based Learning models. The findings indicate that the PAD programme had a significant impact on the identity of apprentices - enhancing not only their self-image but also their status in the community. The technological skills they acquired corrected and improved their workplace practices not only to their benefit, but also that of their horses and community, and contributed to economic advancement. Most apprentices were interested in further courses in small business development, but not in ABET language and literacy, and the implications of this are explored.
Open Access
Recognition of prior learning: exploring the 'knowledge question'
(Taylor & Francis, 2013) Cooper, Linda; Harris, Judy
This article addresses the 'knowledge question' in the Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) in relation to postgraduate programmes. In contrast to many traditional theorisations of RPL which draw largely on adult and experiential learning theory, the article starts from a position of knowledge differentiation and explores whether the nature of the discipline or knowledge domain offers affordances or barriers to RPL. In an interview survey, academics in a South African higher education institution were asked their views on the feasibility of RPL in relation to postgraduate study in their discipline. Data analysis draws primarily on concepts from Bernstein to identify different forms of knowledge and the ways in which that knowledge might be transformed and formulated as curricula. Findings suggest that the disciplinary context or knowledge domain into which an RPL candidate is seeking access does play a role in determining the feasibility of RPL. However, distinct organisational environments offer affordances and barriers to the implementation of RPL and there is also significant room for the exercise of pedagogic agency. It follows that RPL cannot be reducible to 'one size fits all', but needs to assume different forms in diverse institutional and disciplinary settings. RPL for access to postgraduate study in a university will vary according to the purpose and design of the programme to which the candidate is seeking access. This supports a position that RPL should be seen as a specialised pedagogical practice that provides tools for navigating access to new learning opportunities across diverse contexts.
Open Access
The recruitment of experience in a university adult education diploma : a curriculum analysis
(2005) Haupt, Judith Marina; Ensor, Paula; Cooper, Linda
This is a study of the recruitment of experience in an Adult Education Diploma. Through an analysis of the written curriculum, three aspects of recruiting experience are addressed: the different kinds of experience that are recruited on the course, the ways in which these kinds of experience are recruited, and the purpose of recruiting experience as evident in the assessment of the course.
Open Access
The role of the military in education in South Africa
(1983) Evans, Gavin; Cooper, Linda
While the question of the class nature of the State, and various aspects of its role has been the subject of intense and vitriolic debate, the area. of the 'repressive state apparatuses' in general and the military and police in particular has been relatively unchartered by Western Marxists. The 'classical' Marxist writers gave the subject its due importance, but more recently it has been virtually ignored. The library shelves are full of works on the military by bourgeois sociologists and political scientists, but generally Marxists have avoided the area, preferring more familiar pastures. South Africa is no exception in this regard. Hundreds of books, articles, papers, and theses have been written from within an historical materialist paradigm, providing a formidable and wide ranging volume of work. But for the most part questions relating to the military and militarisation have been skirted around. With a war raging in Namibia, the S.A.D.F.'s attempts to destabilise the Southern African region, the military dimension of the conflict in South Africa increasing in significance and with the military having assumed a place in many respects as dominant state apparatus, this gap is almost inexplicable. Over the last two years, however, a few articles, papers and dissertations have been written which have begun to redress this balance and have added to the empirical and theoretical understanding of the area. This dissertation deals with the question of the militarisation of education in South Africa.
Open Access
The transition of Public Adult Learning Centres (PALCs) to Community Education and Training Colleges (CETCs): Perspectives and experiences of a selection of management and lecturer staff in the greater Cape Town area
(2021) Mginywa, Nondumiso; Cooper, Linda
In 2013, the Department of Higher Education established a new institutional form for the provision of adult education, the Community Education and Training Colleges (CETCs). The growing number of unemployed youths that are not in learning institutions as well as the limited opportunities provided by the pre-existing Public Adult Learning Centres (PALCs), set the context for the transitioning of PALCs into CETCs. This transition marks one of the biggest changes to the adult education landscape historically in South Africa but has thus far been the subject of limited research. This study focuses on the experiences and perspectives of a selection of role players of this transition, in particular, those of managers and lecturers within the greater Cape Town area. The study was situated within an interpretive research paradigm with its emphasis on experience and interpretation and adopted a case study approach. A range of documents provided background data, while the main body of data was collected via semi-structured interviews. Adopting a thematic approach, the analysis focuses on how the policy changes have affected governance, experiences of the new institutional context and perspectives on lecturer qualifications. A further focus is on the views of key role players on the purposes of the CETCs and locating these within different theoretical traditions. The analysis also explored views on the professionalization of adult education and training, and how these compare with broader conceptual approaches to professionalisation in the literature. The study concludes that centralization of governance has had negative consequences for the management and lecturers represented in the sample and seems to be at odds with the ethos of institutional autonomy that usually characterises higher education. At the same time, the transition has presented opportunities for the CETCs to collaborate with different organisations to create skills development opportunities for their constituencies, especially for the increasing number of younger students in the CLCs. The evidence also suggests that while policies talk of CETCs continuing South Africa's historical traditions of transformative adult education, the respondents hold a more humanist view of their purpose, combined with some elements of a human capital approach. Respondents' views on professionalisation were largely instrumental, relating perhaps to continuing poor conditions of employment and scarcity of resources. However, the passion for and deep commitment of lecturers to their work is notable and seems to offer a basis not only for a future occupational identity, but also possibly for a more transformative education to take root in the CLCs.
Open Access
Towards a theory of pedagogy, learning and knowledge in an 'everyday' context : a case study of South African trade union
(2005) Cooper, Linda; Soudien, Crain; Grossman, Jonathan
This thesis aims to document and theorise processes of learning and forms of pedagogy and knowledge in the trade union organisational context. It seeks to establish how these vary across sites within the union and in the context of broader historical changes in trade unions' social and political role. The thesis also aims to contribute to the development of a conceptual approach that will allow processes and forms of learning, pedagogy and knowledge in informal or non-formal, collective, social-action contexts such as the trade union to be compared with those in specialised education domains. The study adopts a critical, interpretive, qualitative case study methodology, and is based on a single case of the Cape Town branch of the South African Municipal Workers' Union. Research was carried out in three organisational settings: the union's organised education programmes, sites of everyday organisational involvement, and the occasion of a national strike of the union.
Open Access
What has motivated previously disadvantaged workers to join ABET classes, and what barriers do they face in undertaking such learning?
(2008) Harris, John Matthew; Cooper, Linda
This thesis focuses on municipal workers from the City of Cape Town's (CCT) electricity department who attend courses at the department's training centre. The starting point of the thesis is a study, which I conducted in 2003, which investigated why workers were not joining Adult Basic Education and Training (ABET) classes. Subsequent to 2003, the number of participants rose substantially. This thesis therefore poses the question: what has motivated previously demotivated workers to join ABET classes? Furthermore, what barriers do they face in undertaking such learning?