Successful students’ negotiation of township schooling in contemporary South Africa

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dc.contributor.authorKapp, Rochelle
dc.contributor.authorBadenhorst, Elmi
dc.contributor.authorBangeni, Bongi
dc.contributor.authorCraig, Tracy S
dc.contributor.authorJanse van Rensburg, Vicki
dc.contributor.authorle Roux, Kate
dc.contributor.authorPrince, Robert
dc.contributor.authorPym, June
dc.contributor.authorvan Pletzen, Ermien
dc.coverage.spatialSouth Africaen_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2015-05-20T09:25:13Z
dc.date.available2015-05-20T09:25:13Z
dc.date.issued2014-09
dc.description.abstractThis article draws on data from a larger longitudinal qualitative case study which is tracking the progress of students over the course of their undergraduate degrees at a South African university. For this paper, we used background questionnaires and semi-structured interviews with 62 first-year students from working-class, township schools who were first registered for Extended Degree Programmes in 2009. The article draws on post-structuralist theory on learning and identity to describe and analyse the participants’ perspectives on how they negotiated their high school contexts. We analyse the subject positions in which participants invested, as well as how they negotiated their way through social networks and used resources. Our data illustrate the ways in which students had to carry the burden of negotiating their way through home, school and neighbourhood spaces that were generally not conducive to learning. Nevertheless, participants consciously positioned themselves as agents. They were resilient, motivated and took highly strategic adult decisions about their learning. We argue that a focus on how successful students negotiate their environments challenges the pathologising paradigm of “disadvantage” that characterises research and debates in higher education. It also offers an additional lens for admissions processes and for providing appropriate intervention strategies in the tertiary setting.en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitationKapp, R., Badenhorst, E., Bangeni, B., Craig, T. S., Janse van Rensburg, V., le Roux, K., ... van Pletzen, E. (2014). Successful students’ negotiation of township schooling in contemporary South Africa. <i>Perspectives in Education</i>, http://hdl.handle.net/11427/12832en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationKapp, Rochelle, Elmi Badenhorst, Bongi Bangeni, Tracy S Craig, Vicki Janse van Rensburg, Kate le Roux, Robert Prince, June Pym, and Ermien van Pletzen "Successful students’ negotiation of township schooling in contemporary South Africa." <i>Perspectives in Education</i> (2014) http://hdl.handle.net/11427/12832en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationKapp, R., et al. (2014). ‘Out of order’: Successful students’ negotiation of working-class schooling in post-Apartheid South Africa. Perspectives in Education, 32(3): 50-61en_ZA
dc.identifier.issn0258-2236en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Journal Article AU - Kapp, Rochelle AU - Badenhorst, Elmi AU - Bangeni, Bongi AU - Craig, Tracy S AU - Janse van Rensburg, Vicki AU - le Roux, Kate AU - Prince, Robert AU - Pym, June AU - van Pletzen, Ermien AB - This article draws on data from a larger longitudinal qualitative case study which is tracking the progress of students over the course of their undergraduate degrees at a South African university. For this paper, we used background questionnaires and semi-structured interviews with 62 first-year students from working-class, township schools who were first registered for Extended Degree Programmes in 2009. The article draws on post-structuralist theory on learning and identity to describe and analyse the participants’ perspectives on how they negotiated their high school contexts. We analyse the subject positions in which participants invested, as well as how they negotiated their way through social networks and used resources. Our data illustrate the ways in which students had to carry the burden of negotiating their way through home, school and neighbourhood spaces that were generally not conducive to learning. Nevertheless, participants consciously positioned themselves as agents. They were resilient, motivated and took highly strategic adult decisions about their learning. We argue that a focus on how successful students negotiate their environments challenges the pathologising paradigm of “disadvantage” that characterises research and debates in higher education. It also offers an additional lens for admissions processes and for providing appropriate intervention strategies in the tertiary setting. DA - 2014-09 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town J1 - Perspectives in Education LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2014 SM - 0258-2236 T1 - Successful students’ negotiation of township schooling in contemporary South Africa TI - Successful students’ negotiation of township schooling in contemporary South Africa UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/12832 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/12832
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationKapp R, Badenhorst E, Bangeni B, Craig TS, Janse van Rensburg V, le Roux K, et al. Successful students’ negotiation of township schooling in contemporary South Africa. Perspectives in Education. 2014; http://hdl.handle.net/11427/12832.en_ZA
dc.languageengen_ZA
dc.publisherUniversity of the Free Stateen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.rights(c) 2014 Perspectives in Education. Permission granted to reproduce the article in the Repository.
dc.sourcePerspectives in Educationen_ZA
dc.source.urihttp://www.perspectives-in-education.com/
dc.titleSuccessful students’ negotiation of township schooling in contemporary South Africaen_ZA
dc.typeJournal Articleen_ZA
uct.subject.keywordsworking-class township schoolingen_ZA
uct.subject.keywordsdisadvantageen_ZA
uct.subject.keywordsagencyen_ZA
uct.subject.keywordsidentityen_ZA
uct.subject.keywordsschool-university transitionen_ZA
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceArticleen_ZA
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