OpenUCT :: Browsing by Author "Jacklin, Heather"

Browsing by Author "Jacklin, Heather"

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Open Access
Continuity of practice in two international schools: taking a distributed perspective of leadership
(2013) Van der Merwe, Alison; Jacklin, Heather
This study investigates the effect of transiency on leadership practices in two international schools experiencing different rates of student and faculty turnover. Specifically it looks at different ways in which continuity of practice is achieved in the leadership area of regulation of student behaviour. The study draws upon the literature related to distributed leadership in particular the work of Spillane and models his approach of taking a distributed perspective of leadership. This is used as a lens to examine the ways in which leadership becomes embedded in the everyday practices of the school. Using data generated from document analysis, observations, interviews and artefacts, a comparison is made between School A (experiencing relatively high rates of student and faculty turnover) and School B (which has a much more stable student and teaching population). The study focusses on the role of 'institutional memory' in processes of continuity and investigates whether or not schools with transient populations do things differently. Data is analysed in three categories: Values and Purposes, Arrangements and Tools, and Routines. Activities that contribute to processes of consistency and continuity in the schools are identified. The discussion draws conclusions regarding the effects of transiency on practice and the significance of context when considering leadership decision-making processes. In general, the study found that in School A, continuity of practice was achieved through the materialisation and routinisation of processes and systems, and relied on the communication of expectations to all stakeholders and the distribution or embedding of practice at multiple levels. In School B, continuity of practice was achieved through the institutional memory of the people in the school and relied on longevity of staff and a strong, longstanding commitment to the school community on the part of the faculty. Finally, the implications of the findings for future research are presented.
Open Access
Developing a framework for education policy analysis : the case of the Western Cape's textbook procurement policy
(1998) Czerniewicz, Laura; Jacklin, Heather
This study develops a conceptual framework for policy analysis and uses it as the basis for an analytical framework to describe the Western Cape's textbook procurement policy (WCTPP). The study starts by defining policy as a purposeful intervention with key attributes, these being: intention; action; practice; status; resources and capacity; and power. The conceptual framework attempts to answer the question, "Are there features which consistently characterise the policy-making process and do the factors which gave shape to policy consistently fall into particular categories?" The framework suggests factors which shape, locate and give rise to policy can be described in terms of contexts and frames which denote arenas within which policy can be constrained or enabled, politically and practically. The key contexts necessary for policy analysis are spatial and historical and the key frames are the frame of discourses of state, the resources/ capacity frame and the legislative/ regulatory frame. The key features characterising policy are that policy-making is characterised by fluidity and that policy is the expression of a balance or a compromise of interests. The framework is then used to develop an analytic framework for the WCTPP. The analysis attempts to answer the question, "What are the key features of this policy and what factors have shaped its emergence?" The analysis suggests that as the WCTPP was conceived, developed and translated into practice within the province, it has a coherence not always possible within an education system characterised by national/ provincial policy fragmentation. As a policy, it is shaped by the relatively well-resourced province from which it emerges. The analysis shows that resources and capacity are a factor at all the sites (department private sector suppliers and schools) involved in the state-private sector partnership that is exemplified in this policy. This policy is given form by the selective recruitment of divergent discourse of the state with two key discourses being manifest, these being that of a democratic, developmental state which sets parameters to and regulates the private sector, and a neo-liberal state, which supports free market forces. Through the legislative/regulatory frame the analysis also shows the inter-dependence of the WCTPP and other policies. The key features which characterise policy-making are portrayed as its on-going nature, and the fact that this policy represents a fragile balancing of competing interests. Educational interests harness commercial interests for educational ends. The analysis allows for a description of the policy that expresses both its functionality and its fragility. The study concludes that the framework developed provides for a dynamic iteration thus illustrating that policy analysis requires an understanding of how policy develops out of the interplay between the contexts, frames and features identified.
Open Access
Discourses of professionalism and the production of teachers' professional identity in the South African Council for Educators (SACE) Act of 2000 : a discourse analysis
(2002) Omar, Yunus; Jacklin, Heather
This study seeks to identify discourses of professionalism and the production of Teachers' professional identity in the South African Council for Educators (SACE) Act of 2000. These identiﬁes are located in the context of their social impact on, and in the actualisalion of the political roles of teachers in post-apartheid South Africa. Central to the study is the conceptualisation that discourses coiistruct identities. The research methodology is derived from Ian Parker's approach to discourse analysis, which is premised to an extent on post-structruralist thought. The author summarises Parker's 'steps' to effect a discourse analysis, and constructs a set of ﬁve analytic tools with which no analyse the SACE Act of2000. The study's main ﬁnding is that two discursive frames constitute the roles of the post-apartheid teacher in South Africa. The ﬁrst is a bureaucratic discourse of marketisation that deﬁnes a role for teachers in preparing students for participation in a global market economy. A second discourse which is identiﬁed in the study is a democratic professional discourse, which delineates a critical, independent professional role for teachers. The study suggests that the two teacher identities are in tension. The two identities are complex and are simultaneously constructed and actualised.
Open Access
Equity and efficiency in education textbook distribution policy and practice : a case study
(1998) Mochebelele, Amelia Mamohau; Jacklin, Heather
The primary aim of this study is to investigate the Lesotho Education Ministry textbook distribution policy in order to * understand the relationship between equity and efficiency in textbook distribution policy and practice * investigate whether there is differentiation between urban and rural schools in textbook distribution policy and practice. The study examined policy and practice at the level of the Ministry of education as implemented by the School Supply Unit, and at the level of the school. The study took the form of a case study. First, official documents were analysed to develop an account of the textbook provision scheme, its origins, objectives, form and content. Secondly, interviews and a questionnaire provided participants views, attitudes, perspectives, expectations and experiences in relation to the scheme. Finally, an inventory of books and an analysis of order and inventory forms supplied evidence of what books were actually available in the schools. This was sometimes but not always, motivated by the desire to effect equity. On the whole, the outcomes of the textbook distribution scheme were found to be fairly equitable. This can be explained with reference to * the fact that up to a point improved efficiency also brought improved equity * the ad hoc adaptations of policy in practice by officials and school staff and * the efforts of the rural based school parent community to take full advantage of the scheme.
Open Access
The experiences, support for, and coping strategies of beginner principals in secondary schools in the Cape Town Metropolitan area
(1996) Sassman, Nathan Edwin; Jacklin, Heather
The aim of this study is to describe and critically analyse the experiences and challenges facing first-year principals in secondary schools in the Cape Town Metropolitan Area. The study focuses on the impact of change and reform on beginner principals, the problems that arise as a result; coping strategies of beginner principals and the support available to them. While the emphasis is on analysing the issues and drawing out implications, the study begins to identify those solutions and training needs which beginner principals see as useful. Many of these principals are products of the rationalisation measures of 1992/3, and the restructuring of education. This process has included the emergence of elements of School-Based Management, which follows on the history of state-aided schools in South Africa, such as the Model C schools. These elements are reconfigured in the recommendations of the Hunter Commission and the policy of the White Paper on the Organisation, Governance and Funding of Schools (February 1996). This has led to an increase in the number of beginner principals in the Cape Town metropolitan area, especially in the former House of Representative schools.
Open Access
From novice to expert: assessment of the levels of expertise of South African Chartered Accountants and Auditors in an academic and professional programme using the Dreyfus's Five-Stage Model of Skills Acquisition
(2016) West, Sumaya; Jacklin, Heather; Lubbe, Ilse
Knowledge in professional and business related courses are grounded in real-world business contexts, which influence the theoretical aspects of an academic programme. Most students in South Africa lack prior business and auditing knowledge, which makes it difficult for them to transfer the theoretical business knowledge, skills and attributes acquired in an educational setting, to the workplace setting. The challenge for auditing educators is to facilitate the acquisition and transfer of theoretical auditing knowledge in preparation of and application for the workplace. Research studies suggest that there is a key dilemma within continuing professional education and development, which mainly relates to the tension between the academic knowledge, skills and attributes and the knowledge, skills and attributes required in professional auditing practice. The purpose of this qualitative study was to assess and compare the development of professional competencies and related expertise of different individuals at different stages in their professional auditing careers. The Dreyfus's five-stage model of skill acquisition (Dreyfus's model) offers a useful theoretical framework for understanding how individuals acquire knowledge and skills through formal instruction and experience. The five stages of the Dreyfus model are identified as novice, advanced beginner, competent, proficient and expert. In this study, the adapted Dreyfus's model was used to assess the knowledge and skills needed of auditors at various stages in an academic and professional training programme in South Africa. Using ten semi-structured interviews, this study highlights the differences in the levels of expertise between experienced auditors and auditors at the novice stage of proficiency. Participants in this study included audit graduates, audit trainees and audit managers. The study found that there were distinct stages in skills development, generally in line with those suggested by the Dreyfus's model, and that there were major shifts in individuals' practice with the development of professional expertise. Central to the movement from one stage to the next is the way in which meaningful connections are made between what is already known (theory) and its application (practice). In developing a framework for understanding what auditing knowledge, skills and experiences are required at various stages, this study informs further development plans for educational workplace settings that are specifically designed for individuals to progress from one developmental stage to another.
Open Access
Global policy discourse and local implementation dynamics : a case study of Lesotho's junior certificate religious and moral education syllabus
(2006) Molelle, Helena Khantse; Jacklin, Heather
Word processed copy. Includes bibliographical references.
Open Access
The imagined learner in neoliberal times :constructions of the South African learning subject in education policy discourse and school practice
(2012) Silbert, Patricia; Jacklin, Heather; Christie, Pam
The purpose of this study is to develop a systematic account of how the learner is imagined in current education policy discourse and to describe how key policy discourses are translated and interpreted in two case study schools. The thesis focuses on the analysis of discourse at three levels: policy, the school, and learner subjectivity. The study offers insight into how the learner has been imagined in key education policies, how this imaginary has infiltrated the discursive framework of the school, how schools are implicated in shaping learner subjectivities and the extent to which learners are able to draw on other discourses to resist interpolation. Using Foucauldian discourse analysis supplemented by aspects of Fairclough's critical discourse analysis, particular policy discourses regarding the imagined learner are examined. A description is presented of how these discourses are translated in two secondary schools in the Western Cape. Ways in which learners in their final year of schooling interpret these discourses and position themselves against dominant constructs are described. The policy texts that are analysed are the South African White Paper on Education and Training (DoE: 1995) and the Whole - school Evaluation Policy (DoE: 2001). The two schools in which the research was conducted were purposively selected for their differences in demographic profile and academic performance. The research found that the schools also differed with regard to how the policy discourses were taken up, how they shaped learner subjectivity and the extent to which learners were able to resist normative constructs. The study draws on Foucault's notion of governmentality to describe how policy shapes the internalisation of the values and culture of the school by the teachers and students as they actively engage in their own self - government. In both instances governmentality functions not only to control, discipline and normalise, but, simultaneously, to form subjects who are self - constituting in relation to available discourses. The thesis argues that dominant discourses within the school reflect those in the policies, even though there was no evidence to suggest direct movement from one discursive framework to another. The policy text analysis described the predominant purpose of education as relating to economic efficiency, quality and productivity, which was served by the efficiency, and productivity of the schooling system. At the level of policy, the imagined learner was framed as one who would take his/her place within that economic order. Within the school context discourses pertained largely to the development of young people for the world of work. However, this was differently translated in each school, suggesting that young people were prepared differently for the labour market through the assemblage of discourses that the school made available and desirable. This was illustrated through the themes of race and class, mimesis and emulation, and individualism versus collectivism. Developing an understanding of the imagined learner as projected through policy and practice can contribute to the de bate about the effects of market discourses in education with regard to the South African learning subject . More broadly, it can contribute to an understanding of how dominant discourses may be worked with and against in specific contexts of schooling.
Open Access
The implementation of moderation of assessment policy at a school and district : a case study
(2011) Parbhoo, Jaywant Ambaram; Jacklin, Heather
Moderation of assessment is a quality control mechanism that formed part of the traditional examinations system. With the compulsory introduction of school based assessment in grade 12 in South Africa, moderation of assessments other than examinations came into the forefront of policy discourse. The Western Cape Education Department (WCED) introduced a Moderation Policy which was developmental in its approach of quality assurance of assessment...This study aimed to describe how the policy was understood and implemented at a school and a district.
Open Access
Influence of school senior leaders on teacher professional development: a comparative case study of four schools in Cape Town
(University of Cape Town, 2020) Botes, Abir; Jacklin, Heather
As education reform initiatives around the world are becoming more focused on developing teacher professional development and school professional learning communities (PLCs), the role of school principal leadership in implementing reforms related to the government vision of teacher professional development and school PLC has come to be seen as important. This has also led to the establishment of leadership training programmes for school principals to assist these principals with their new role as leaders of school reform implementation. The purpose of this thesis is to examine the school principals' roles in leading teacher professional development in four public schools in similar socio-economic contexts, but with different levels of learner achievement, within the greater Cape Town area. Towards this end, the thesis relates professional development practices to the relevant policy - the Integrated Strategic Planning Framework for Teacher Professional Education and Development (the 'Framework'), to the Advanced Certificate of Education: School of Management and Leadership (ACE-SML) training curriculum and to the idea of a professional learning community, which is promoted by this policy and this training course. The research reported in this thesis draws on Pierre Bourdieu's concepts of field, habitus, capital, and doxa to conceptualise and describe the relationships between the various players and the ways in which these relationships affect teacher professional development practices and school PLC culture in the participating schools. Findings from this research reveal similarities and differences between the schools with regard to the roles of school senior leaders and the schools' approaches to teacher professional development practices. Ironically, government policy is taken less seriously in the three schools that achieve higher learning outcomes than in the school that achieves weaker outcomes. Instead of conforming to the policy, the approach in each of the three higher achieving schools is based on the history and values of the particular school, the preferences of the principals and whether or not the principal attended the school management and leadership training course.
Open Access
The influences of teachers regulative discourse, specifically teachers expectations of learner achievement on teachers' pedagogic practice in teaching Grade 6 Natural Science in the Western Cape : two case studies
(2015) Carder, Rebecca Jean; Jacklin, Heather
This study examines how two Grade 6 Natural Science teachers in two low SES schools in the Western Cape teach Natural Science, and what relation this has to the regulative discourse that informs their teaching. Data texts were derived from interviews and lesson observations. The study draws on research relating to teacher expectations and redescribes this in terms of Bernstein’s concept of the regulative discourse. The study concludes that the teachers’ regulative discourses and instructional discourses are not wholly developed individually; instead, these discourses, and specifically teachers’ expectations of learners are strongly influenced and developed by interactions between curriculum demands and the local school culture.
Open Access
An investigation into factors that are associated with low learners' performance in development studies (DS) as compared to geography performance at Cambridge Overseas School Certificate (COSC) in the Southern region of Lesotho
(2004) Tsoene, Litsabako Hilda; Jacklin, Heather
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 91- 95).
Open Access
An investigation into relationships between the academic performance of students and parental assistance in a Lesotho hight school
(2006) Tlale, Lerato; Jacklin, Heather
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 64-68).
Open Access
The leadership habitus of principals in elite contexts: an exploration of practice in four schools
(2014) MacMahon, Anna; Jacklin, Heather
The purpose of this study is to describe and compare leadership practices in four elite schools, in order to investigate the relationship between the practices of school leaders, their histories and the contexts in which they lead.
Open Access
Learner and school : the interplay of school choice : a comparative case study of two Western Cape schools : what is the interplay between learner choice and school selection of learners?
(1999) Davids, Nuraan; Jacklin, Heather
The purpose of this study is to examine the interplay between learner choice and the school selection of learners. This interplay has two points of departure. The one is whether the logic of school choice is different depending on the choice-maker (parent or learner). The other is the process of school selection processes at each school, and how this impacts on, or constrains the choice of the choice-maker. The study is based on two comparative micro- case studies at two high schools - one a former HOR, and the other a former HOA school - in the Western Cape. Data was collected at the two schools by means of interviews with selected staff and questionnaires were issued to 410 grade eight learners at each school. The conceptual framework, incorporating the literature review, has positioned this study on two levels. Firstly, through setting the scene for the international school choice debate, with a specific focus on what parents and learners want from the school of their choice. And secondly, in establishing the trends amongst schools in terms of selection processes. Linked to both these positions is whether school choice policies lead to the empowerment of the choice-maker.
Open Access
Legitimacy, traditional institutions and school governance : a case study of an eastern district
(2008) Sabata, Siyabulela; Jacklin, Heather
Following South Africa's democratization in 1994, the country has undergone significant transformation in virtually all spheres of life. In the rural local governance arena this transformation has been characterized by tensions and contradictions arising from uncertainties about structures of local governance. In post apartheid South Africa we have a situation which may be described as having two bulls in one kraal i.e. traditional authorities and newly elected democratic councillors sharing the responsibility of government. The presence of these two centres of power at the local level serves as basis for conflictual relationships and competing discourses and this impact badly on service delivery. While the current legislation on rural local governance is rich in issues pertaining to redress and equity, the reality on the ground is that rural-urban inequalities are perpetuated. This research seeks to offer insights into this situation.The study focuses on the role of traditional institutions in rural development and more specifically in school governance in rural communities. In the case of schools, traditional authorities and school governing bodies represent these competing discourses. During the apartheid period traditional authorities were directly involved in schooling and they were part of school governance, working hand in glove with school communities. This relationship was redefined in 1994 and consequently traditional authorities were excluded from schooling. The aim of this study is to investigate the consequences of the exclusion of this institution from school governance by comparing ways in which governing structures operated and impacted on education practices before and after 1994. The study is therefore trying to answer the question: What were the advantages and disadvantages of the involvement of the Qwebe-qwebe traditional authority in schools under its jurisdiction before 1994 and what was the significance of its exclusion after 1996? The study draws on Ray's concepts of shared and divided legitimacy to conceptualize shifts in the role of traditional authorities in relation to school governance before and after 1994. This is a qualitative case study. Most of the data were collected through interviews. The data was analyzed in order to foreground the relationship between the legitimacy of the modem state and that of traditional leaders in relation to school governance functions. The study concludes that traditional leaders fulfilled a number of functions that supported schools before 1994. New state structures have not been able to take on these functions effectively. As traditional leaders are competing with new government structures for legitimacy and support this competition further undermines the effectiveness of these structures.
Open Access
Looking at schools through a professional learning community lens : a comparison of leadership and management practices at two secondary schools
(2010) Muthama, Evelyn Loko; Jacklin, Heather
This study compares the association between leadership and management practices and teacher practices in two secondary schools. The schools are similar with regard to socioeconomic background but different with regard to learner achievement in grade twelve science examination results. I identify the extent to which leadership and management practices nurture the development of a Professional Learning Community (PLC). The data comprised transcripts of semi structured interviews, notes from observation of interactions between staff and documents pertaining to meetings. I chose a double case study approach in order to analyse and compare the practices in the two schools.
Open Access
Negotiating modern and traditional discourses of HIV/AIDS in a rural South African community: school impact and personal cost
(2011) Swift, Andrew; Jacklin, Heather
The study assessed two broad types of HIV/AIDS narrative, namely ‘traditional’ and ‘modern’. Traditional HIV/AIDS discourse refers to community responses to the disease that ‘resist dominant epidemiological narratives’, while the modern narrative refers to mainstream, scientific research that is supported by the majority of health professionals and the scientific community in South Africa.
Open Access
Own-made in the (post-)new South Africa : a study of theatre originating from selected townships in the vicinity of Cape Town
(2010) Morris, Gay; Jacklin, Heather
This thesis sets out to develop a framework for the analysis and description of theatre practices evident in selected Cape Town townships during the past six years. Building an account which is both aesthetic and sociological and informed by political intentions; which considers the whole - the gestalt - and which adopts a located orientation; the study sets out to elucidate the theatre's connections to its locality and local culture, its particular organizational and aesthetic character, its idiosyncrasies and performance strengths, its concerns, and its struggle for distinction within the field of theatre in Cape Town.
Open Access
Painting a picture of possibility: the transmission of symbolic violence in an urban township school
(2019) Visagie, Ashley; Jacklin, Heather
The purpose of this study is to explore the narratives and non-verbal communication of students and teachers in one low socioeconomic status school, with particular reference to the messages that are conveyed about student performance and student aspirations, and student responses to these messages. The validity of these messages is evaluated in relation to the contexts, conditions and interactions within the school. To this end, the study employs conceptual resources drawn from Bourdieu and Lefebvre, especially Bourdieu’s notions of symbolic violence and misrecognition. Data is derived primarily from interviews with teachers and students and from observations within the school. The study finds that students are confronted with several messages of promise and threat at school which link ‘success’ and performance to individual effort and choices. However, such messages ignore the ways in which the contexts and conditions in which schooling takes place impact on student performance and constrain their future opportunities. Even students who have great ambitions, who adopt a positive mind-set and who work hard have to reckon with the realities and narrow possibilities that come from being in an under-resourced school in a poor community. The study suggests that managerialist and meritocratic explanations of student performance, that are currently dominant in South African policy discourse, present too narrow a view of the realities that produce underperformance and that such explanations imply that students and teachers are to blame for disadvantages that are produced by systemic inequalities.