The professional experiences of early career counselling psychologists in South Africa: a mixed method study
- Authors: Haine, Phillipa Claire
- Date: 2023-10-13
- Subjects: Uncatalogued
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/432321 , vital:72861 , DOI 10.21504/10962/432322
- Description: Counselling psychologists represent a considerable proportion of psychologists in South Africa (SA), yet knowledge on the discipline’s workforce is limited. In addition, professional lifespan issues have received inadequate attention, inclusive of the early career stage, identified as an exceptionally vulnerable segment of the professional lifespan. Undergirded by an interpretative phenomenology research paradigm, this mixed method sequential explanatory study, consisting of two distinct phases, aimed to explore the professional experiences of early career counselling psychologists (counselling ECPs) in SA, inclusive of employment trends, challenges and support needs. The quantitative phase (‘First Phase’) comprised of an online survey questionnaire (n = 512) to investigate the employment trends of counselling ECPs in SA. A qualitative phase (‘Second Phase’) followed, comprising of online semi-structured interviews with ten counselling ECPs. The rationale for this was that the preliminary quantitative data provided a broad understanding of the research problem, whereas the qualitative data sought to expand on the quantitative data by exploring the participants’ experiences in depth. Moreover, the collection of quantitative data provided a strong justification and phenomenological orientation for the second, qualitative, phase. The data from the two research phases were combined within a joint discussion to ensure a level of methodological complementarity and a more holistic understanding of the data captured. Trends from the first, quantitative, phase demonstrated that counselling ECPs differed across various domains from more senior generations. In the second, qualitative, phase, Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of the data revealed three Group Experiential Themes: i) Complexity of finding and securing work, ii) Navigating an array of personal, professional and systemic challenges, and iii) Support as self-acquired. Overall, the findings suggest that counselling ECPs in SA face a variety of challenges upon entering the workforce, enhanced support is thus needed for this new, more diverse cohort of practitioners. Actionable recommendations are offered at various levels. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, Psychology, 2023
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- Date Issued: 2023-10-13
The relevance of career counselling in higher education: a study following students at a South African university
- Authors: Lewis, Christine
- Date: 2023-10-13
- Subjects: Uncatalogued
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/432347 , vital:72863 , DOI 10.21504/10962/432348
- Description: Very few students in South Africa (SA) receive adequate career counselling at school and often arrive at institutions of higher learning without a clear sense of what their prospective careers will entail. The limited access to career counselling and assessment is further compounded by criticisms of popular career assessment instruments used in SA, where the primary goal of career counselling and assessment is to match clients to careers for job placement. This approach no longer serves the needs of a diverse SA population and disregards contextual influences on careers. Therefore, a need exists to understand and inform career counselling interventions and to guard against the provision of de-contextualised and contextually insensitive approaches. Moreover, changes in the workplace, where career change has become the norm as the world of work has moved away from stability and permanency to fluidity, calls for a contemporary response from career counselling theories, practitioners as well as researchers, to equip clients with the necessary skills to respond to these changes. Thus, SA institutions of higher learning need to innovate their practices to more inclusively, effectively, and justly serve the needs of a diverse student population for work success in a developing nation and a complex world. This study aimed to evaluate the relevance and effectiveness of a university’s career counselling services from the students’ perspectives. It focuses on gaining an indication of the perceived effectiveness of assessment measures used, and to ascertain the influences that impact on individual students’ career decision-making over the course of undergraduate studies. Due to the increasing recognition for the need to develop a contextualised approach to career development interventions, this study included the SACII, a locally developed interest inventory as part of a career assessment battery, with a group of university students. A pragmatic approach using mixed-methods was used. Multiple case studies of the career trajectories of a cohort of undergraduate students who had undertaken career assessments at the university career centre, were tracked longitudinally over the course of undergraduate studies. Data were generated through vignettes that included the 13 participants' career assessment reports, a service evaluation questionnaire and two successive follow-up interviews. Each participant's first follow-up interview occurred six months after their career assessment feedback session; and the second follow-up was in the final year of undergraduate studies, after eighteen months. Descriptive statistical analysis summarised the basic features of the quantitative data from the evaluation questionnaire. Thematic analysis was used for organisation and analysis of the follow-up interview data. Findings were that the career counselling and assessment facilitated greater self-knowledge in relation to career decision-making, assisted with selecting degree major subjects and enhanced career planning abilities. Using locally developed assessment measures in career counselling proved to be useful. Exploring career development from an overarching developmental contextual framework that is applicable and well-suited to the SA context provided a deeper understanding of contextual influences that impact on students' career decision-making processes. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, Psychology, 2023
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- Date Issued: 2023-10-13
The Role of the courts in the interpretation and implementation of the Right to Basic Education in Section 29(1)(a) of the South African Constitution
- Authors: Ngubane, Kwanele Nhlanhla
- Date: 2023-10-13
- Subjects: Uncatalogued
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/424141 , vital:72127
- Description: The right to education in section 29(1)(a) of the Constitution was meant to signal a break between an education system divided along racial lines, and a new democratic education system based on equity, equality, and opportunity for all learners. In reality, the South African education system still remains deeply divided along racial lines, with poor, mostly black learners, being under-resourced by the state, while their richer, mostly white, counterparts are being taught in schools that have access to all the resources necessary to realise the right to basic education. As a result, the right to education in section 29(1)(a) of the Constitution has been heavily debated, and between 2010 and 2022, the South African courts have often been called on to interpret the right. In the process, a rich jurisprudence has developed on the core content of the right to basic education, with findings by the courts that the right includes an entitlement to a number of educational resources. These include access to school infrastructure, learner-teacher support materials, desks and chairs, scholar transport, teaching and non-teaching staff, and nutrition. This study examines the way South African courts, between 2010 and 2022, have interpreted and implemented the right to basic education to give effect to section 29(1)(a) of the Constitution. While South African courts have historically shied away from interpreting socio-economic rights to contain a minimum core content and have rather opted for a reasonableness approach, the same is not entirely true for section 29(1)(a). As stated above, courts have been willing to find that the right entails a minimum basket of goods and services without which the right cannot be realised. By examining some of the most important education rights cases during this period, the study proposes that there are five factors that have guided the courts’ interpretation of the right and has assisted in the courts finding that the right contains a minimum core content. These factors are the historical context of the right to basic education; the textual formulation of the right to basic education in section 29(1)(a) of the Constitution; the interrelatedness of the right to basic education and other rights within the Bill of Rights; subsidiary education policies, legislation, and regulations, and lastly, the role of international law. This study seeks to consider the extent to which each of these factors have played a role in courts’ interpretation of section 29(1)(a). The study also considers the implementation of these judgments and the role that the courts have played in realising the right to education for learners on ground-level. , Thesis (LLM) -- Faculty of Law, Law, 2023
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- Date Issued: 2023-10-13
The use of dynamic software to potentially enhance conceptual understanding and a productive disposition in the visual learning of algebra: an interventionist case study
- Authors: Junius, Daniel Franscius
- Date: 2023-10-13
- Subjects: Uncatalogued
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/431542 , vital:72784 , DOI 10.21504/10962/431542
- Description: Over the decades, the didactics and practice of teaching mathematics has offered many unique challenges and opportunities for exploration and understanding. The introduction and development of technology into mathematics is one of the occurrences which has also contributed to a new discourse in teaching mathematics – in this case the teaching of algebra. Algebra is still seen as a gatekeeper and remains as one of the key reasons for a negative disposition amongst learners towards learning the subject. Across the globe psychologists, philosophers and educators continue to engage in debates and research projects in search of answers and solutions for the improvement of algebra teaching and an improvement in dispositions towards learning algebra. This thesis reports on a research project that focused on the use of dynamic software to enhance the conceptual understanding and productive dispositions of selected learners through the visual learning of abstract algebraic concepts. The research was executed as an interventionist case study. A case study methodological strategy was adopted with two groups of 30 Grade 9 learners. One group was a Grade 9 mathematics class of a school in Windhoek who scored above average in algebra but showed a very low disposition score, while the other group was made up of learners from a community project who scored high on the disposition scale but achieved below average results in algebra. The analytical framework of the case study is structured around a combination of complementary algebraic topics presented through visual learning, with GeoGebra as a medium of instruction. With the focus on visualisation and the use of technology the study investigated and attempted to understand how participants processed and internalised algebraic concepts to make sense of abstract algebraic concepts and eventually gain sustained conceptual understanding. The study was framed by the theoretical theories of constructivism and the Dual Coding Theory. For the collection of data, a mixed methods approach was adopted following three cycles. Three algebraic topics were taught with GeoGebra applets yielding both qualitative and quantitative data, through the observation of participants, screen captures and reflective interviews, using instruments designed specifically for the study and collecting quantitative achievement test results. The study, a journey that both the participants and the researcher embarked upon, revealed that the use of technology enhanced conceptual understanding for both groups and both groups showed a positive change in disposition towards learning algebra. The intervention with GeoGebra consistently and progressively improved in terms of conceptual understanding and dispositions towards learning algebra significant improvements in results were achieved. The findings showed that this approach to teaching algebra yielded positive results and gave new insights into visual teaching with technology. New opportunities for further research were created. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Education, Secondary and Post-School Education, 2023
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- Date Issued: 2023-10-13
The views and opinions of Rhodes University lecturers towards isiXhosa as a language of learning and teaching (LOLT) in higher education
- Authors: Nkunzi, Zintle
- Date: 2023-10-13
- Subjects: Uncatalogued
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/424963 , vital:72197
- Description: This research sought to investigate how African languages function as a communicative tool in a university where English is the medium of instruction. The study's purpose is to provide a systematic review of research that has been carried out on language attitudes towards isiXhosa as a language of learning and teaching (LoLT) in higher education. The study reveals that South African higher education institutions such as Rhodes University mostly use English as the LoLT- a language which for most lecturers is not their first/home language but helps ease communication in a multilingual community. Rhodes University is characterised by multilingualism because the university community is made up of diversity in culture, language, and educational background of the people. Previously explored language attitude studies are based on students’ views and this study investigated RU lecturer views and opinions towards isiXhosa as a LoLT. The study focused on the importance and the need (if any) of isiXhosa in a multilingual higher education institution. The study reveal that language barriers are one of the difficulties, but academic cultural differences seem to play a crucial role that can impact on the learning and teaching outcomes. This can lead to negative experiences and the forming of stereotypical views. These views include how lecturers are and should be trained to teach mathematics, science, and academic studies in African languages. The SA higher education practices and language use (i.e., monolingual language policy) are one of the reasons that the implementation of indigenous languages in education policies in SA is fraught with difficulties due to several factors. Amongst the factors is the fact that indigenous languages are not yet fully developed as academic languages. The study further reveals that lecturers find it difficult to teach mathematical studies in isiXhosa because of lack of terminology in the language for academic purposes particularly at a tertiary level. Furthermore, existing literature highlights the importance of the use of code-switching which is a beneficial practice for lecturers in assisting their students who struggle with English as a LoLT at RU. The lecturer views towards isiXhosa as a LoLT at RU is not only on language barrier but also about the lack of development in the language use in spaces where only English is believed to be the best such as language for academics. The study also reveals an integration of Information Communication Technology in education and how language appears as a barrier. , Thesis (MA) -- Faculty of Humanities, School of Languages and Literatures, 2023
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- Date Issued: 2023-10-13
Thermal physiology of juvenile red roman seabream, Chrysoblephus laticeps after long-term exposure to low pH conditions
- Authors: Allison, Caitlin
- Date: 2023-10-13
- Subjects: Uncatalogued
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/424323 , vital:72143
- Description: Climate change has caused a combination of effects on the physiology of fishes. Of particular concern are the effects of thermal variability and ocean acidification. Organismal energy budgets change throughout ontogeny and research into the metabolic scope during early life stages is particularly useful in identifying potential bottlenecks. The first part of this thesis aimed to assess the absolute aerobic scope (AAS, described as the difference between the maximum and standard metabolic rates) of individual juveniles from a protected population of the endemic, commercially important seabream, Chrysoblephus laticeps, across a range of ecologically relevant temperatures (T = 11, 14, 18, 22˚C) under present-day conditions (pH = 8.03, pCO2 ≈ 420 μatm) using intermittent flow respirometry. The second component sought to investigate how long-term exposure (from fertilisation to juvenile, ~100 days exposure) to high-pCO2/hypercapnic conditions (pH = 7.63, pCO2 ≈ 1400 μatm), would affect the AAS of juvenile C. laticeps over a range of temperatures. Lower pH conditions were predicted to cause a decrease in the AAS of treatment animals due to additional energetic costs of acid-base regulation. The findings of the first data chapter demonstrated that juvenile C. laticeps reared under current CO2 conditions are tolerant to a wide range of thermal conditions, and individuals with a broad aerobic scope will be the best suited to coping with enhanced thermal variability. In contrast to the expected outcomes of the second data chapter, juvenile C. laticeps reared under high pCO2 conditions displayed greater AAS at high and low temperatures when compared with specimens from high pH conditions. Whilst a high degree of individual phenotypic variation was observed in the metabolic response of both groups, this was reduced at the lower and upper extreme temperatures for high pH and low pH animals respectively. Notably, the variation in treatment animal’s SMR was significantly diminished across all temperatures tested, compared to only a localised reduction in the SMR of high pH animals at cold temperatures. This may be indicative of compensatory pathways affecting energy restructuring and thermally-governed physiological trade-offs under hypercapnia. Given these results, juvenile C. laticeps appear to be more resilient to ocean acidification than anticipated, potentially owing to intrapopulation metabolic phenotypic diversity. This is likely attributed to the parental lineage originating in the Tsitsikamma MPA, which is thought to boast greater phenotypic diversity as a consequence of the refuge that these conservation areas offer from exploitation. Owing to the restriction imposed by the availability of surviving, captive-reared juveniles, the sample size used in this study was relatively low. However, owing to the repeated-measures nature of this research the sample size was sufficient to offer suitable statistical power for the polynomial mixed model used in the analysis. Future research should incorporate both physiological and behavioural responses to multiple environmental stressors to better understand covariation between these two traits, and to detect any behavioural trade-offs that might arise through compensation. In addition, these trials should be repeated using offspring from outside of the MPA to compare whether the same level of resilience and metabolic phenotypic diversity would be present in an exploited population. , Thesis (MSc) -- Faculty of Science, Ichthyology and Fisheries Science, 2023
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- Date Issued: 2023-10-13
Towards a better understanding of small-scale fishing decisions and their consequences in Northern Mozambique
- Authors: Heckendorn, Katrina Ann
- Date: 2023-10-13
- Subjects: Uncatalogued
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/431797 , vital:72805 , DOI 10.21504/10962/431797
- Description: This study investigates the relationship between the interacting social and ecological systems within the Pemba Bay fishery, in Northern Mozambique, as mediated by fishing decisions. All ecosystems in the world are affected by human behaviours in some way. In many cases, human effects on ecosystems are detrimental to many other species and can cause shifts in the entire system. In fisheries, the connections between human behaviours and ecosystems are obvious, as fishers extract wild populations of marine species. Human behavioural plasticity and sometimes rapid cultural evolution allow human behaviours to change and adapt faster than many other species can respond which often allows fishers to overexploit marine ecosystems. Many fisheries in the world are fully, or over exploited. Managing these fisheries often focuses on changing those highly adaptable human behaviours. Fishers’ motivations for making different fishing decisions as well as attitudes towards the fishery can be used to understand human interactions with ecosystems when the dependence between the two is direct, as well as allowing managers to tailor interventions that account for fishers’ motivations and attitudes. Most fisheries’ management projects assume that behaviours are motivated by profit maximization. This study investigates this assumption by comparing the compatibility of interview responses and fishing behaviours with rational actor theory, which assumes profit maximization is the only goal. Responses are also compared with prospect theory, which emphasizes reliability of outcomes; descriptive norms, which focuses on social interactions; habitual behaviour, which assumes most decision are automatic based on habit; and theory of planned behaviour, which allows attitudes to be shaped by economic or non-economic motivations, as well as peer opinion and incorporates perceived behavioural control in making decisions. These behavioural theories span a variety of potential fisher motivations which could affect fishing decisions. The study then investigates the state of the social and ecological systems which have resulted, at least in part, from those fishing decisions, and makes recommendations on possible interventions to improve the system based on better understanding of fishers’ attitudes and motivations. The study tests the hypothesis that fishers are motivated primarily by profit maximization and, therefore, rational actor theory is most compatible with fishers’ stated motivations for fishing, or alternatively, that one of the other behavioural theories better explains fisher responses. This section used categorized interview responses based on their agreement, or not, with assumed responses if a particular behavioural theory were compatible. The results indicate that four of the five theories are most compatible with responses for at least one fisher, but that the theory of planned behaviour is the most consistent with the data overall, not rational actor theory. Specifically, fishers seem concerned with behavioural control as well as some non-catch related characteristics of the fishery, such as collective action and sustainability. The second hypothesis is that prospect theory is more compatible with current fishing behaviours than rational actor theory. Prospect theory states that people prefer more reliable outcomes, even if slightly less profitable, than outcomes which are more profitable on average, but also more variable. This section used catch data, and changes in relative use of different fishing methods to address this hypothesis. This hypothesis is confirmed for some aspects of fishery data, but not all. Fishers prefer methods which are more reliable and these methods are increasing in relative use. However, neither catch value nor reliability increases fishers’ opinions of their fishing method, but fisher characteristics which increase options do. This again indicates that behavioural control is important in determining fishers’ attitudes towards fishing. The third question addresses the social system within the fishery. It investigates whether fishing in Pemba Bay is a chosen profession or a livelihood of desperation from the poorest individuals. The study hypothesizes that fishers are as well-off as their non-fishing neighbours, and fishers who use more reliable or profitable methods are better off than those using less reliable/profitable methods and, as such, are more committed to fishing as a way of life. This section used fisher interview responses and household surveys to compare subjective and material wellbeing of fishers and non-fishers around Pemba Bay. The first part of the hypothesis is partly supported. Fishers using most methods have material standards of living comparable to non-fishers. However, they report lower subjective well-beings. Most measures of wellbeing are not affected by the reliability or profitability of the fishing method used, which does not support the second part of the hypothesis. Additionally, fishers using more profitable or reliable methods do not indicate more commitment to fishing as a way of life. The fourth and final section investigates the marine ecosystem. Based on conversations with fishers and local researchers, it is assumed that the Pemba fishery is overexploited. As such, the study hypothesizes that marine biomass, individual size of marine species, and functional diversity are lower in Pemba Bay than in other sites around Northern Mozambique, Vamizi Island, Situ Island, and Nuarro, due to high fishing pressure, and that direct removal of species by fishing has a dominant effect. This final section used baited remote underwater videos (BRUVs) to compare species composition and indices of abundance from the different locations. Again, there is support for part of this hypothesis. Marine species biomass and sizes are lower in Pemba Bay than other sites in Northern Mozambique; however, functional diversity is not different. In these data, changes in biomass and size are not correlated with amount of catch, so direct removal by fishing may not be the dominant source of change in the Pemba fishery. Together, these data indicate that the Pemba fishery may be unsustainable based on social and ecological indications. The importance of behavioural control in understanding fishing decisions indicates that any interventions to mitigate problems in the fishery will need to work with fishers to increase empowerment and allow experimentation to find locally relevant solutions to problems. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Science, Ichthyology and Fisheries Science, 2023
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- Date Issued: 2023-10-13
Towards interrogating the notion of a Black aesthetic in multi-cultural Africa
- Authors: Maina, Muhunyo
- Date: 2023-10-13
- Subjects: Uncatalogued
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/425231 , vital:72221
- Description: Enbargoed. Expected release date 2025. , Thesis (MA) -- Faculty of Humanities, Fine Art, 2023
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- Date Issued: 2023-10-13
TPACK Development: technology integration with teacher educators in foundation phase teacher training programme
- Authors: Theodorio, Adedayo Olayinka
- Date: 2023-10-13
- Subjects: Uncatalogued
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/431601 , vital:72789
- Description: Access restricted. Expected release date in 2025 , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Education, Secondary and Post-School Education, 2023
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- Date Issued: 2023-10-13
Understanding critical concepts in engaged research to promote health resilience: the case of a systems analysis and epistemically just rural health development project in South Africa
- Authors: Duxbury, Theodore Orlando
- Date: 2023-10-13
- Subjects: Uncatalogued
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/431509 , vital:72781
- Description: Access restricted. Expected release date 2025. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Pharmacy, Pharmacy, 2023
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- Date Issued: 2023-10-13
Vernacular sound technologies: experimenting with reverb in isiXhosa choral recordings
- Authors: Ncanywa, Sibusiso
- Date: 2023-10-13
- Subjects: Uncatalogued
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/432147 , vital:72846
- Description: Access restricted. Expected release date 2025. , Thesis (MMus) -- Faculty of Humanities, Music and Musicology, 2023
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- Date Issued: 2023-10-13
Visual representations of linear algebraic expressions: a case study in a Grade 9 after-school mathematics club
- Authors: Herbert, Sindisiwe
- Date: 2023-10-13
- Subjects: Uncatalogued
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/424019 , vital:72116
- Description: Visualisation is commonly used as a tool in introducing algebra through visual or kinaesthetic sequences designed to prompt learners' development of a general rule for moving from a term's position to its output value. Fluency in both the concepts and the conventions of elementary algebra are essential to learners, as algebra forms the language in which many advanced mathematical ideas are encoded. Moreover, algebraic fluency is often associated with an ability to think abstractly about arithmetic processes. In many classrooms, however, research has shown that learners often focus on fluency in algebraic conventions rather than concepts, learning how to manipulate expressions without understanding the algorithms they are taught to follow. This trend can be linked to several causes, including teacher-centred mathematics classrooms in which learners are – whether implicitly or explicitly – encouraged to copy formulae and methods in order to ‘get it right in a test’ without necessarily grasping the underlying logical relationships. This case study, therefore, aimed to determine whether there was value in using visual, kinaesthetic models to broaden and deepen learners' use of algebra. To that end, in the context of an extra-curricular mathematics club that aimed to decentre the teachers and demand innovative ideas of the participants, six pairs of Grade 9 learners were tasked with creating visual representations of a linear algebraic expression using coloured building cubes. The responses to this task over the course of five assignments were many and varied and almost universally displayed a sustained internal logic that the learners were able to explain and develop. Most pairs began with a visual list of terms arranged in sets of towers, pyramids or, in one case, a spiral. At the end of the study, all but one of the pairs had settled on a Visual Expression, in which various colours were used to represent elements of the algebra such as the values of the coefficient, the variable and the constant term. The participants' representations grew in complexity over the course of the study and the conformity of the final responses showed that the club was a collaborative space in which learners shared ideas. However, the structure of the Visual Expressions and their own confessions of nerves about ‘getting it wrong’ in the interviews suggest that the participants were stuck in a mindset that led them to seek out and idealise the representation closest to the original algebra, even though that representation revealed little about the structural relationship underlying the expression. , Thesis (MEd) -- Faculty of Education, Secondary and Post-School Education, 2023
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- Date Issued: 2023-10-13
Wildlife-vehicle collisions mitigation measures using road ecological data and deep learning
- Authors: Nandutu, Irene
- Date: 2023-10-13
- Subjects: Uncatalogued
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/431907 , vital:72814
- Description: Access restricted. Expected release in 2025. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Science, Mathematics, 2023
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- Date Issued: 2023-10-13
Year-end oversight in Local Government: a case study of water and sanitation service delivery at Amathole District Municipality
- Authors: Seoke, Duncan
- Date: 2023-10-13
- Subjects: Uncatalogued
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/425206 , vital:72219
- Description: Poor service delivery is a challenge that has continued to plague the constitutional democracy of South Africa. Legislation has, in response, been passed to ensure efficient service delivery. Despite this legislation, municipal service delivery has been alarmingly poor, and reports on municipal performance and newspaper articles have corroborated this. On the causes of poor service delivery, the existing literature appears to have focused on financial mismanagement, corruption, and the incapacity of officials. Absent from existing literature are discussions on how municipal service delivery is affected by the lack of interrelatedness between municipal public resource management processes (such as revenue collection, expenditure management and oversight). This dissertation addresses this gap by examining the municipal public resource management processes from an oversight perspective. The study sought to analyse the effectiveness of year-end oversight at Amathole District Municipality (ADM) over water and sanitation services. This research aimed to study the year-end oversight over service delivery with reference to the Municipal Public Resource Management (MPRM) model. According to the model, effective service delivery includes inter alia effective oversight, as oversight forms part of the entire system of the municipal resource management cycle. Thus, for the MPRM model, oversight should be exercised on all these processes. The research was a desktop analysis that used both a qualitative and quantitative research methodology. The primary document analysed was the ADM Oversight Report (OR). This report is produced by the Municipal Public Accounts Committee (MPAC) and reflects the year-end oversight conducted by the MPAC on the municipality's activities. In the analysis of the OR, it was concluded that the ADM MPAC had failed to conduct effective year-end oversight of W&S services. The efficacy of the ADM MPAC's year-end oversight was measured against guidelines for effective year-end oversight from the National Treasury and the MPRM model. The findings suggested that there were inefficiencies in the manner that the ADM MPAC exercised its year-end oversight. , Thesis (MA) -- Faculty of Humanities, Sociology, 2023
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- Date Issued: 2023-10-13
“How do you feel about the abortion?”: pre-termination of pregnancy counselling in the public health sector in the Eastern Cape
- Authors: Du Toit, Ryan Rudolph
- Date: 2023-10-13
- Subjects: Uncatalogued
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/437238 , vital:73355 , DOI 10.21504/10962/437239
- Description: Pre-abortion counselling, as an aspect of abortion provision, has received growing research interest in various contexts. Much of the research has primarily focused on whether abortion counselling takes place, the experiences of women and/or counsellors (usually through retrospective interviews and surveys), and the content discussed during the counselling session (often policy regulated). Such research has proven vital to addressing the various reproductive issues facing women seeking an abortion worldwide. However, little research has focused on how pre-abortion counselling as an everyday institutional practice is conducted at a conversational level in the medical setting. By drawing on both conversation analysis and discursive psychology, this study explored how pre-abortion counselling was conducted in the public health sector in South Africa. The study involved recording the conversation during pre-abortion counselling and analysing it in terms of its content, in particular, the discourses drawn on by all parties involved, and its structure and delivery. The data were collected from three public hospitals in the Eastern Cape of South Africa and involved the audio recording of pre-abortion counselling sessions as part of abortion services. In total, 28 counselling sessions were recorded: 21 were individual sessions, and 7 were group counselling sessions. At two of the sites, counselling was conducted by registered midwives who worked at the hospital. At one site, an external Christian organisation volunteered trained counsellors to counsel women at the hospital free of charge. Using conversation analysis, counselling sessions were analysed in terms of the main projects. Seven key projects were identified: (1) Context setting, (2) History taking, (3) Establishing reason for abortion, (4) Presenting options, (5) Providing procedural information, (6) Obtaining verbal informed consent, and (7) Discussion of family planning. Each project is explored in terms of what discourses and subject positions featured when speakers were orienting to a specific project. This process highlighted how the conversational projects and their respective goals enable the deployment of certain problematic discourses and interactive/reflexive positionings. Discourse analysis revealed a clustering of discourses around two central themes. In the first clustering, the discourses were primarily used to discuss the (1) medically related issues underpinning the abortion procedure [medical discourse, responsibilization discourse, risk discourse, and discourse of support]. Talk using these discourses positioned women as patients needing medical intervention, responsibilised women for conceiving, playing an active role in their termination, and navigating all the psychological and physical risks “associated” with abortion. The discourse of support illustrates how support was spoken about in the interaction whereby patients were constructed as subjects who required support and nurses/counsellors as the ones who offered the support. In the second clustering, the discourses (2) focused on women and the foetus. These discourses [reproductive choice, religious, pronatalist, and foetal personhood discourses] positioned women as being responsible for making a choice regarding their pregnancy and the consequences that may result. In addition, a religious discourse coupled with a pronatalist discourse was used to construct the pregnancy and motherhood as desirable and part of “God’s plan”, whereas the foetus was spoken about as a “gift from God”. The foetal personhood discourse was used to construct the foetus as a living and functional human. This research provides evidence of how abortion counselling is problematic at various levels. At a practical level, there is a lack of standardisation in the delivery of abortion counselling (e.g., variation in key projects, where the counselling is mandated, time taken, nurse/counsellor training, content and format – group vs. individual counselling). At a discursive level, the use of certain discourses works to render the counselling directive through : (1) awfulizing abortion by providing misinformation about the abortion procedure, foetus and post-abortion psychological distress, (2) chastising and responsibilising women for conceiving, (3) constructing abortion as immoral, the ending of life and not in line with God’s plan, (4) constructing parenthood as the preferred choice, (5) delegitimising abortion as a resolution for pregnancy when compared to the other options (e.g., parenting or adoption), and finally (6) providing counselling that does not take into account the broader socio-political contexts. Recommendations for future research are put forward, and a call to move to a reparative justice framework is made by highlighting how it can be used to identify and understand reproductive injustices as they occur along four intersecting dimensions: (1) Individual material, (2) Collective material, (3) Individual symbolic, and (4) Collective symbolic. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, Psychology, 2023
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- Date Issued: 2023-10-13