Browsing by Author "Soudien, Crain"

Now showing 1 - 20 of 47
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Open Access
    A study of learning, knowledge and processes of reflection within the worker education project
    (2010) Abrahams_N, Nazli; Soudien, Crain
    There are over a million women domestic workers in South Africa who are largely overworked, underpaid, unprotected, and undervalued and who are entrenched in a system that denies and reduces the value of their work and their skills. Such conditions are invariably tied to contexts that are historically located. Domestic work is both necessary and valuable; however, in a context dominated by the structured social inequalities of race, class and gender, both their roles in society and their various skills and capacities are too often overlooked. Domestic workers have had to acquire a range of skills to effectively carry out the work they do and the learning involved is more often than not informal and tacit and the learning outcomes (skills, competencies, and knowledge) are not accredited or formally validated by society and institutions of education. The Worker Education Project, hosted by the South African Domestic Services and Allied Workers Union, which formed the context of the present study, was designed as an educational process in support of steps taken by domestic workers to organise themselves and develop and give expression to their own capacities to improve their living conditions. This study explores and tells the stories of women's lives as domestic workers and speaks of their experiences as women, as black women, and as domestic workers. To ground my analysis and my discussion, I provide an overview of the broad theoretical approaches that bear out the women's stories that turned on five sub-plots: learning, knowledge, alienation, their needs and desires, and the various relations of power that mediate their lives. In analyzing the said and done of the women, the very point is to attempt to understand how the women attach meaning to their lives. The research findings were drawn from semi-structured interviews, workshop facilitation and participation, and observations in situ. The results showed that the women learned from their experiences and through social participation in union activities, and that learning did not comprise only of hard skills, but that the women learned about themselves through processes of reflection. The research also revealed power as a prevailing condition (both complex and at times contradictory) central to all of the women's stories, operating in all spheres of their lives. This study attempts to open a political space for change and would like to suggest that learning is no less learning when the actors are domestic workers.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    Affirmative action and admissions in higher education
    (2010) Soudien, Crain
    This set of articles is offered in an attempt to share with a wider reading public the kinds of issues that arose in the course of a review at the University of Cape Town (UCT) that was undertaken into its admissions policies. They encapsulate the major elements on the debate within the review and are presented here in an attempt to open up the discussion of how the higher education community in South Africa might seek to take forward the challenges that relate to the development of equitable admissions policies for the country.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    An analysis of parents' reasons for participating in school governance
    (2001) Janari, Spencer; Soudien, Crain
    Bibliography: leaves 89-93.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    An analysis of the factors shaping teachers' understanding of HIV/AIDS
    (2006) Baxen, Mary Jean; Soudien, Crain
    This study examined factors shaping teachers' understanding, experience, and teaching about sexuality and HIV/AIDS in some schools in the Western Cape and Mpumalanga, South Africa. Through the use of in-depth, semi-structured interviews with teachers and participant classroom observations in a select number of primary and secondary schools in the Western Cape and Mpumalanga, the study addressed two pertinent questions relating to (a) the content and form of HIV/AIDS and sexuality discourses in school and, (b) what actually happens in the act of teaching when HIV/ AIDS and sexuality is the focus. It began by asking questions about who the teachers are and what it is about themselves that they bring into the classroom. Questions were raised too, about what happens in classrooms when teachers invoke the body in its physical and sexual form, a body usually absent in the public arena of the classroom. The study worked from the premise that what teachers do in the classroom is not neutral.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    The applicability of the school effectiveness and school improvement approaches to school reform in Africa
    (2005) Homadzi, Joseph Atsu; Soudien, Crain
    Includes bibliographical references (leaves 87-91).
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    An appraisal of the Teacher Inservice Project(TIP) approach to education management and leadership training and development
    (1998) Scholtz, Desireé Leonora; Soudien, Crain
    Following the events of South Africa's democratisation in 1994, the country is undergoing transformation processes in virtually all spheres of life. Education is widely accepted as the one field where transformation is most needed. However at school level so many' complexities exist, that the management of the process of change and transformation requires a new approach to the effective training and development of education managers. It is precisely in this regard, that this research report seeks to offer an insight into the existing situation and understand the difficulties involved in attempts to address this need, with specific focus on the need for training and development of middle and senior management. One notable attempt to address the need for formal training and development programs for education managers and leaders in order to meet the demands of transformation, is the organisation development (OD) approach of the Teacher lnservice Project (TIP). Embodied in the OD approach of TIP, is the philosophy and methodology of Action Research, which encourages self-reflective enquiry and allows participants to be active in their own transformation process. In an attempt to locate TIP within the existing literature, the study shows how much it breaks new ground in the field. This new ground is reflected in the role assigned to action research within OD. TIP's approach to educational management and leadership, has value to both historically disadvantaged as well as advantaged schools, because its understanding of transformation is not solely based on the acquisition of material resources. The present educational crisis has to do with the provision of adequate resources to especially disadvantaged schools. The Western Cape Education Department (WECD) has taken cognisance of the transformational role of education management, in that it has called on Western Cape Business to advise on school administration. School governance and management would have full responsibility for monetary allocations and thus schools would be trained to run like small businesses. As stated by the Executive Director of the WCED, 'being a principal will change radically and require thinking like a company MD', (Cape Times, 13 March 1998). However this begs the question of how justified the implementation of corporate world practices in education is. One should bear in mind that fiscal expertise is but one of the plethora of skills which current education managers require. OD through action research could seemingly effect transformation of the entire system within which that school operates. Conclusions drawn from this research report clearly point to the interdependence of educational transformation as espoused by TIP - to restructure and redefine school management and the national attempt to consolidate democracy within education. TIP helps to focus attention on the need to implement School Based Management (SBM) as an exercise of empowering the teaching profession, because in essence, a critical and constructive disposition is developed in educators through Action Research.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    An assessment of Botswana teacher in-service
    (1999) Malambane, Mokgweetsi; Soudien, Crain
    The importance of In-service training in Botswana's education system cannot be overemphasised. The formulation of an in-service policy and deployment of resources in the support of the policy, is testimony of the government's commitment to the in-service work. In-service is highly regarded in the education system because, it is hoped that it will transform the practice of serving teachers. The implementation of policy, however, is always a complex matter. The purpose behind this research study was to investigate how the policy on in-service was understood and represented by trainers in the field of practice. This study arises from the fact that policy analysis is an area that has been overlooked in the study of in-service work. The literature on in-service, in the developing world, has ably dealt with mechanics of policy implementation, with a strong bias towards the acquisition of resources and the procedures necessary for the successful implementation of in-service policy. Investigating the way policy is understood by in-service providers has not, however, been given the attention it deserves in the field of research. The interest in this area of study was, further, given impetus by the argument that intentions of policy texts are likely to be represented differently in practice. A group of in-service trainers in a particular regional in-service area were selected for the purpose of information gathering. The selection was done on the basis that trainers were key interpreters of in-service policy. As the study depended on their subjective information, semi structured interview questions were designed as they provided trainers with some degree of freedom, to express their understanding of policy unhindered. The research study, established that policy is understood in keeping with trainers' backgrounds. This means that policy is not necessarily represented according to the intentions of the texts. Two groups of trainers are identified, viz, the poorly grounded and well grounded trainers. Trainers classified as well grounded, demonstrated a higher knowledge of policy and correctly interpreted the policy texts. This is in contrast with poorly grounded trainers who had not well read the policy texts and as a result incorrectly interpreted policy texts. The study concludes that policy representation is complex and informed by everyday understandings.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    Caste, Class and Race: Continuities and Discontinuities across Indian and South African Schools
    (2007) Soudien, Crain
    This essay is based on a study conducted from 2002 to 2004, Inclusion and Exclusion in Indian and South African Schools (Inexsa), which sought to explore processes of inclusion/exclusion at community and school levels in selected schools in India and South Africa. This examination entailed a focus on race in the South African context and on caste in the Indian setting.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    The choreography of display : experiential exhibitions in the context of museum practice and theory
    (2003) Thorne, Jessica Louise; Skotnes, Pippa; Soudien, Crain
    In this project I examine curatorial processes and the experience of constructing and viewing museum exhibitions. Specifically I have been interested in the way in which certain exhibits facilitate powerful emotional responses from their viewers. I suggest that the curators of these kinds of exhibitions employ strategies which not only choreograph the displays but the viewers' bodies themselves as they move through them. As a case study of an experiential exhibition I focus on the District Six Museum where I have been part of its curatorial team since 1999. The work of curatorship that I have done at the Museum during the period of my registration for this degree constitutes part of this submission.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    A comparative analysis of parental participation in schools with regard to the South African Schools Act of 1996
    (2001) Du Toit, Asa; Soudien, Crain
    The South African Schools Act (SASA), 1996 (Act No. 84 of 1996) seeks parents educators, learners and the broader community to become more actively involved in the school as an organisation in two ways: 1.) by serving on the school governing body (SGB); and, 2.) by providing the SGB with support through participation in the everyday activities of the school. The focus of this study is an examination of the extent to which the SASA (1996) has bee realized in two schools in the Athlone area, with particular respect to parental participation. This is done through an analysis of the two schools studied, using Ball (1994) as its main text. The form of comparison used in this study is essentially that of comparing the performance of the two schools across common activities relating to parental participation in school governance. The theoretical framework provided by Ball (1994) argues that there is non-linearity in the process of policy-making and that the three contexts of policy-making are the context of influence; the context of policy text production; and, the context of practice. This study centers around the latter as it researchers policy implementation, the practice of policy and the micro-politics involved in its recontextualization.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    A comparative study on the educational debate in central Europe, with specific reference to Hungary, Poland and Czechoslovakia 1989-1991
    (1994) Oosthuizen, Henning; Soudien, Crain
    This dissertation seeks to determine how the socio-economic and political changes, following the 1989 revolutions in Central Europe, have found reflection and led to the emergence of interest groups in the education debate. It looks at the reforms initiated by the new ruling .power-elite in Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia. This reform process, embodying the value system of the new governments, has led, the dissertation seeks to show, directly to new and vibrant interest groups on the educational landscape. This study identifies the seven prominent interest groups - seeking to satisfy their own interests - which engage the government in the education policy making arena. This policy making arena, which I refer to as the "arena of power", is analysed through focussing on the relationship of power between the seven interest groups and the state. The Halasz (1986: 123) classification of interest groups in communist Hungary in 1986, forms the point of departure for my examination of post-1989 interest groups. Each chapter highlights the circumstances that influenced the development of interest groups and the extent of their participation in reforms. The dissertation concludes with a reclassification of post-1989 interest groups in Central Europe, in order to facilitate a better understanding of the dynamics of interest groups in the "arena of power".
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    The contradictions and contestations in policy production and elaboration of policy for the training of tourist guides in South Africa
    (2002) Gavron, Michele; Soudien, Crain
    Includes bibliographical references Bibliography: leaves 79-87.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    Determining factors in the awarding of bursaries by the Higher Education Loans Board : a descriptive case study of Kenyatta University : a research report
    (1999) Muthuri, Lenity HKN; Soudien, Crain
    The dramatic increase in university enrolments amidst a deteriorating macroeconomic situation in Kenya has led the government to resort to a system of cost-sharing offset by a loan scheme. The Kenyan Government acknowledges that in order to enhance equity (in the form of access to higher education for the less wealthy), repayable loans must be accompanied by non-repayable bursaries and scholarships. This study is motivated by a concern that bursaries are being awarded unfairly. Its objectives are three-fold: to give an overview of the university bursary programme; to review literature related to university bursary programmes (including main problems and challenges surrounding the provision and repayment of loans) in developing countries; and to explore through descriptive analysis the role (if any) of students personal and family demographic, social, regional and economic characteristics on HELB decisions to award bursaries or not using a sample of 107 Kenyatta University students. The sample consisted of 31 bursary recipients and 76 non-recipients. The applicants: from the Rift Valley and the Coast provinces; aged 25 years old and below; who are male; with one parent living or orphaned; who are single; whose parents are either single, divorced, widowed, or separated parents; whose parents or guardians have other dependants; whose parents or guardians has either no education, adult literacy, or primary education; whose parents or guardians are either unemployed or full-time home-makers; whose personal income is less than or equal to Ksh. 5000; whose parents or guardians earn a annual income of less than Ksh. 20000; whose family assets are worth between Ksh. 1 and 1,5 million; and who got bursaries during their secondary education worth more than Ksh. 10000 appear to be favoured by HELB in its awarding of university bursaries. Although the evidence is not conclusive, it supports the claim that poor students, for whom bursaries are intended, do no appear to benefit in all cases. We have argued that this inequity arises from the apparent lack of clear criteria used by HELB in its award of bursaries. This suggests that HELB’s practice is unfair in not distinguishing between those who need and those who merely want bursaries. in conclusion, there is an urgent need for rigorous inferential (causal-effect relationship) studies geared at establishing the key indicators of need for university bursaries.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    Education for All Week 1 - Why social inclusion matters
    (2018-06-01) Soudien, Crain
    In this video, Professor Crain Soudien discusses how the terms social inclusion and social cohesion are used. He suggests these concepts are the basis of key ethical approaches. While these are concepts and ideas, they form the basis for framing policies and implementing practices for inclusive education - we will be covering these practices in this course. Inclusive education can be seen as one way of making society more inclusive and building social inclusion.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    The empathy imperative : primary narratives in South African history teaching
    (2008) Geschier, Sofie M M A; Field, Sean; Soudien, Crain
    National and international literature on intergenerational dialogue presents the sharing of primary narratives as necessary to prevent an atrocity from happening again. International literature on history education and memory studies questions this ‘never again’ imperative, pointing out that remembrance does not necessarily lead to redemption. The aim of this research is to conduct a similar exercise by investigating the following paradox within South African history education. On the one hand, public spaces such as the District Six Museum and the Cape Town Holocaust Centre acknowledge and involve primary witnesses in the education of the younger generations. On the other hand, South African history teachers are expected to know how to bring about change, while their multiple positionings, being both teachers and primary witnesses to the Apartheid regime, are neglected. The thesis sets out to address this paradox through a case study of means by which Grade Nine history teachers and museum facilitators use and construct primary narratives about the Holocaust and Apartheid Forced Removals in classroom and museum interactions with learners. A dialogue with the interrelated fields of oral history, trauma research and memory and narrative studies, as well as positioning theory and pedagogical theories on history education and the mediation of knowledge forms the theoretical basis for the study.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    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 Giddens’ critical theory, with emphasis on social structure and agency, the philosophy of Ubuntu, Engeström’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 ‘boundary workers’, 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.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    Group and interpersonal conflict at Rocklands Secondary School : an organisational analysis to ascertain the implications for policy making
    (1994) Gasant, Mogamad Waheeb; Lungu, Gatian; Soudien, Crain
    Change, whether organisational or societal, presents a fertile environment for the development of conflict. The probability of organisational conflict occurring in schools in South Africa is heightened by the fact that the country is in the throes of national political change. The main force influencing political events in the country, democratisation, maintains its prominence when one looks at the causes of organisational conflict in schools in the disadvantaged sectors of the South African society. Rocklands Secondary School, the area of the research, epitomises the South African situation With regard to the occurrence of organisational conflict in the context of the wider conflict taking place at all levels of society in the country. Although the traditional views of organisational conflict - as an occurrence that is evil and needs to be avoided - are evident at the school, a large percentage of the staff regard conflict as necessary but feel that it needs to be resolved.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    Hope and academic performance in a higher education residence context
    (2019) Abrahams, Sean Paul; Soudien, Crain
    The study sought to explore the relationship between trait hope, environmental hope, academic performance and demographics (language, gender, year of study & race) in university residence students in a South African Higher Education Residence setting. Using four scales including: (1) the Trait Hope Scale (2) the Environmental Hope Scale (3) the Australian modification of the Hope Scale; (4) and the Residence Environmental Hope Scale, the research aimed to broadly investigate two correlative relationships. The relationships included: (i) The relationship between levels of trait hope and academic performance, (ii) the relationship between environmental levels of hope and academic performance. In addition to a quantitative approach a qualitative approach was added. Cultural Historical Activity Theory was applied to an analysis of the residence system at the University of Cape Town. A combination of quantitative and qualitative results suggested that there were minimal links between hope and academic performance at both a dispositional and environmental hope level. Third generation activity theory was used as a methodological approach to obtain a greater understanding of residence students’ experience. The analysis provided an interpretation as to why residences minimally facilitated students’ hope towards the pursuit of their university degree. The purpose of the residence system came into question. Several qualitative themes emerged on ways to cultivate hope, agency and pathways in a residence higher education context in the future. This interfaced with a Cultural Historical Activity Theory analysis which revealed several fundamental contradictions and tensions. The conclusion of the thesis pointed towards (ii) hope theory being critiqued for having limited application in a higher education context and (ii) an identified need (revealed through several systemic contradictions) to re-clarify, reconfigure and increase a shared understanding of the purpose of the residence system
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    An identification and analysis of the socio-economic challenges children from rural areas face in the pré-university cycle in the Mocuba District, Zambézia Province, Mozambique
    (2011) Ter Horst, Aukje; Soudien, Crain
    The weak performing Mozambican education system has gone through significant changes since independence in 1975. The Government’s main focus has been on increasing access and equity to overcome the high dropout rates, high grade repetition, high pupil-teacher ratios and the low number of qualified teachers. Despite this focus, access remains a large problem for the people of Mozambique. It is particularly so, as this interpretive case study research revealed, for learners from rural areas. The primary purpose of this research, therefore, was to outline the challenges learners from rural areas face in accessing what has been described as the ESG2 (Escola Secundária geral do Segunda Grãu) cycle. This research focussed on a specific school within the Zambézia province.