Browsing by Subject "lived experiences"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    An exploratory study of the experiences of student support officers offering counselling services to students at TVET Colleges in the Western Cape
    (2025) Naidoo, Sashen; Ward, Catherine; Titi, Neziswa
    This study explored the experiences of student support officers (SSOs) who offer counselling services to students at Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges in the Western Cape province, South Africa. Methodologically, the study employs a phenomenological approach as its focus is on experience-generated knowledge. It is thus located within the qualitative paradigm to give voice and the perspectives of the SSOs. Previous literature demonstrates that students historically sought counselling primarily for academic and career purposes. However, over time, the nature and type of counselling students required became increasingly complex with greater expectations of counsellors at higher education institutions. Therefore, further research is necessary to better understand this consequential phenomenon from the perspective of the SSOs through their meaning-making. This study found that SSOs experienced their role to be ill-defined, fluid and riddled with challenges of language and culture thus affecting the quality of meaningful counselling. This study offers recommendations emanating from interviews with SSOs. This study is germane to governance in TVET colleges in the Western Cape but may offer insights to other institutions of higher learning.
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    Open Access
    Caught in between policies: the intertwined challenges of access to land and housing in Gaborone, Botswana
    (2021) Montsho, Oduetse; Brown-Luthango, Mercy
    A thorough examination of policies and guidelines tailored towards enabling access to land and housing in Gaborone suggests incongruences' inherent in these strategies. Besides, planners and policymakers' continuous oversight to recognise the complexities of the urban everyday survival strategies and the lived experiences of the populace needs to be investigated. Numerous interventions have been introduced to facilitate land and housing access for low-income households in Gaborone. Even so, restricted access to these assets remains an enormous task, proven complex and problematic to resolve. The empirical evidence specifies the predominant situation articulated by a clash of rationalities between policies and everyday socio-economic practices of access to land and housing by low income households in Gaborone. The investigation of these tensions between policies promoting access to land and housing and the advocacy of the Self-Help Housing Agency as the primary rationale for home building and ownership by low-income households in Gaborone was articulated through policy assessment and analysis. Furthermore, in-depth interviews to appreciate the affected populace's lived experiences in response to the practicality of these policies was conducted. In terms of findings, this research has established that urban environments are persistently transformed with new configurations relating to access to land and housing frequently surfacing. Moreover, urban land and housing management policies fail to get in touch with the complexities of grassroots experience with access to land and housing in Gaborone. There is also the entrenchment of low-income households in a vicious circle of poverty and living precariously at the urban fringes with no security of tenure and affordable housing opportunities. All these experiences and practices resonate with the current endeavours to evaluate the realities of accessing land and housing resources in cities, as well as their correlation with promoting livelihood strategies for low-income households.
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    Intersectionality in corporate South Africa: the experiences of African black female leaders
    (2025) Mbatha, Siphiwe Wendy; April, Kurt
    Research on gender inequality focuses on the two main biases against women: (1) agentic deficiency (perceptions that women have minimal leadership potential); and (2) agentic penalty (a backlash against counter-stereotypical behaviour from certain women). There has generally been an assumption that the stereotypes upon which these biases are based are comparable for women across racial groups. South Africa, despite having significant racial and ethnic diversity, suffers from a lack of research that targets respondents by race and gender. This naïve gender-biased approach does not fully consider the critical intersectional differences that exist for women. In studies specific to South Africa, the lenses of both race and gender are often used to examine the perceptions of women as leaders. These views, which are limited to only gender and race, do not completely represent Black women, however, because gender intersections introduce simultaneous processes for identity and interdependent systems of disadvantage. These theories also do not elaborate on the lived experiences of South African Black women in corporate leadership roles. The researcher conducted a qualitative research study and interviewed 25 Black females who held various senior leadership positions in different industries in South Africa. The researcher applied a hermeneutic phenomenological approach to uncover the lived experiences of the group of respondents. The aim was to document their lived experiences and establish how those experiences related to constructs from existing literature on the leadership dynamics of race, gender, class, and intersectionality. The research findings capture the essence of the lived experiences of professional Black females and provide context as to why there continues to be a gap in the representation of this group in senior leadership positions, despite the efforts of affirmative action policies from the government. The findings highlight and demonstrate how this group is challenged and sometimes held back by the dynamics of intersectionality, class, race, gender, and other processes of identity. The research goes on to describe further research opportunities on how identity and interdependent systems of disadvantage impact Black female leadership performance over time. There is an opportunity to further explore how human resource policies and educational frameworks can contribute towards harnessing and developing this group, to increase their capacity and greater participation in senior- and executive-level roles.
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    Mindsets: lived experiences of black actuarial science students
    (2025) Ntombana, Sixolile; Peters, Simone; Zungu, Thomzonke
    This qualitative study employed semi-structured interviews and an intersectionality lens to explore the experiences of six black actuarial science students at the University of Cape Town (UCT). With the underrepresentation of black African students in South Africa's actuarial science exacerbating societal imbalances, the research aims to unveil their experiences and factors shaping these students' mindsets. Mindsets are influenced by parental feedback, socioeconomic status, background, and socialisation, among other factors. At historically white UCT, challenges faced by black African actuarial science students stem from a clash between their diverse mindsets and the prevailing white-oriented academic environment. The study reveals that academic excellence and the desire to uplift families' socioeconomic status motivate students amid challenges tied to socioeconomic factors, language barriers, and disparate educational backgrounds. The mindset analysis reveals that prevalent discouragement, external expectations, and self-doubt rooted in predetermined negative beliefs foster a fixed mindset among these students. Conversely, factors fostering a growth mindset include resilience, determination, and socioeconomic motivations. Positive role models, supportive lecturers, and optimistic career prospects contribute to a growth-oriented perspective, emphasising individual agency, positive influences, and socioeconomic considerations. The findings underscore the urgent need for universities and actuarial science programmes to implement targeted support mechanisms addressing the unique challenges black actuarial science students face. The study advocates for increased racial representation, linguistic inclusivity, and socioeconomic equity within actuarial science, highlighting the importance of fostering a supportive, inclusive learning environment. Furthermore, it urges academic institutions to invest in mental health services to alleviate the emotional toll associated with actuarial science studies.