Biodiversity research and conservation: careers
- Authors: Rosenberg, Eureta
- Date: 2010
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/391079 , vital:68615 , xlink:href="https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC89811"
- Description: It is the International Year of Biodiversity, and if you are interested in a career in biodiversity, there are many options from which to choose. This article introduces the dynamic and growing field of biodiversity management, research and conservation. It gives a taste of the varied careers that would suit different interests and talents and invites you to look with fresh eyes at the field and its possibilities.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2010
- Authors: Rosenberg, Eureta
- Date: 2010
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/391079 , vital:68615 , xlink:href="https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC89811"
- Description: It is the International Year of Biodiversity, and if you are interested in a career in biodiversity, there are many options from which to choose. This article introduces the dynamic and growing field of biodiversity management, research and conservation. It gives a taste of the varied careers that would suit different interests and talents and invites you to look with fresh eyes at the field and its possibilities.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2010
Editorial
- Authors: Rosenberg, Eureta
- Date: 2021
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/389759 , vital:68481 , xlink:href="https://www.ajol.info/index.php/sajee/article/view/216901"
- Description: This issue of the Southern African Journal of Environmental Education coincides with the start of the 26th United Nations Conference on Climate Change. COP26 in Glasgow is, like its predecessors, a Conference of Parties who will deliberate how to lower global greenhouse emissions and build adaptive capacity so as to reduce the risk and impacts of climate change.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021
- Authors: Rosenberg, Eureta
- Date: 2021
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/389759 , vital:68481 , xlink:href="https://www.ajol.info/index.php/sajee/article/view/216901"
- Description: This issue of the Southern African Journal of Environmental Education coincides with the start of the 26th United Nations Conference on Climate Change. COP26 in Glasgow is, like its predecessors, a Conference of Parties who will deliberate how to lower global greenhouse emissions and build adaptive capacity so as to reduce the risk and impacts of climate change.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021
Editorial for Special Issue: Education for Sustainability in a Time of Crises
- Authors: Rosenberg, Eureta
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/370533 , vital:66352 , xlink:href="10.4314/sajee.v36i1.1"
- Description: There is an old and still popular saying that a crisis is an opportunity for change. The Chinese symbol for crisis is translated in Wikipedia as “danger at a point of juncture”. In the year 2020, first China and then the rest of humanity have been presented with a monumental crisis: a new and lethal virus that spread fast and far, causing actions and reactions, with dramatic consequences for social and economic life around the globe. Rebecca Solnit wrote of another crisis in her book Hope in the Dark: The Untold Story of People Power. In Grounds for Hope, a foreword to the 2015 edition (p.2), she stated: “This is an extraordinary time full of vital, transformative movements, that could not be foreseen. It’s also a nightmarish time. Full engagement requires the ability to perceive both.”.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Rosenberg, Eureta
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/370533 , vital:66352 , xlink:href="10.4314/sajee.v36i1.1"
- Description: There is an old and still popular saying that a crisis is an opportunity for change. The Chinese symbol for crisis is translated in Wikipedia as “danger at a point of juncture”. In the year 2020, first China and then the rest of humanity have been presented with a monumental crisis: a new and lethal virus that spread fast and far, causing actions and reactions, with dramatic consequences for social and economic life around the globe. Rebecca Solnit wrote of another crisis in her book Hope in the Dark: The Untold Story of People Power. In Grounds for Hope, a foreword to the 2015 edition (p.2), she stated: “This is an extraordinary time full of vital, transformative movements, that could not be foreseen. It’s also a nightmarish time. Full engagement requires the ability to perceive both.”.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
Eco-schools as education for sustainable development in rural South Africa
- Authors: Rosenberg, Eureta
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book chapter
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/436854 , vital:73310 , ISBN 978-3-030-46820-0 , https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-46820-0_16
- Description: This chapter takes the reader into the context of rural South Africa with a sketch of developmental and educational chal-lenges from the point of view of a young person born here. It goes on to ask whether Eco-Schools has a role in this chal-lenging context, as a vehicle for or form of Education for Sus-tainable Development (ESD). Past Eco-Schools evaluations are reviewed against current educational needs and livelihood opportunities. The findings suggest that Eco-Schools gives teachers greater environmental awareness and motivates pedagogical practices such as active learning in relation to lo-cally relevant issues. Learners develop environmental com-mitment and a sense of agency, and may become more com-mitted to academic learning – all of which is necessary to pre-pare them for thriving in and also improving their socio-ecological contexts. Eco-Schools further supports schools sys-temically through meaningful partnerships with external agen-cies. The conclusion is that attempts should be made to scale up and scale out this impact. In the process, key features of the programme should be preserved. These include a focus on sustainable solutions.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Rosenberg, Eureta
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book chapter
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/436854 , vital:73310 , ISBN 978-3-030-46820-0 , https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-46820-0_16
- Description: This chapter takes the reader into the context of rural South Africa with a sketch of developmental and educational chal-lenges from the point of view of a young person born here. It goes on to ask whether Eco-Schools has a role in this chal-lenging context, as a vehicle for or form of Education for Sus-tainable Development (ESD). Past Eco-Schools evaluations are reviewed against current educational needs and livelihood opportunities. The findings suggest that Eco-Schools gives teachers greater environmental awareness and motivates pedagogical practices such as active learning in relation to lo-cally relevant issues. Learners develop environmental com-mitment and a sense of agency, and may become more com-mitted to academic learning – all of which is necessary to pre-pare them for thriving in and also improving their socio-ecological contexts. Eco-Schools further supports schools sys-temically through meaningful partnerships with external agen-cies. The conclusion is that attempts should be made to scale up and scale out this impact. In the process, key features of the programme should be preserved. These include a focus on sustainable solutions.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
Leadership for biodiversity in South Africa transformation and capacity development in the GreenMatter programme
- Authors: Rosenberg, Eureta
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book chapter
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/437190 , vital:73351 , ISBN 978-9086862528 , https://doi.org/10.3920/978-90-8686-802-5_18
- Description: As we begin to write this chapter, it is only a few hours since the news broke about the passing of Nelson Mandela, the founding president of a democratic South Africa. As we de-scribe our work in supporting intergenerational learning and the development of transformational leadership, it seems appro-priate to make this reference as a tribute to him. This work would not have been possible without the contribution of Man-dela and all who fought for justice and an egalitarian society in South Africa. We are able to write about the so-called ‘born frees’ because of Mandela’s role in dismantling apartheid, a system that sought to condemn black people to perpetual ser-vitude, ignorance and poverty. Indeed, our efforts in building skills for biodiversity, under the auspices of GreenMatter, are inspired by his courageous leadership, his selflessness, com-mitment to education and love of people, knowledge and na-ture. While philosophies, contexts and methods will vary, the quest of all intergenerational learning is to build a bridge that enables young people to learn from the experiences and wisdom of previous generations.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
- Authors: Rosenberg, Eureta
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book chapter
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/437190 , vital:73351 , ISBN 978-9086862528 , https://doi.org/10.3920/978-90-8686-802-5_18
- Description: As we begin to write this chapter, it is only a few hours since the news broke about the passing of Nelson Mandela, the founding president of a democratic South Africa. As we de-scribe our work in supporting intergenerational learning and the development of transformational leadership, it seems appro-priate to make this reference as a tribute to him. This work would not have been possible without the contribution of Man-dela and all who fought for justice and an egalitarian society in South Africa. We are able to write about the so-called ‘born frees’ because of Mandela’s role in dismantling apartheid, a system that sought to condemn black people to perpetual ser-vitude, ignorance and poverty. Indeed, our efforts in building skills for biodiversity, under the auspices of GreenMatter, are inspired by his courageous leadership, his selflessness, com-mitment to education and love of people, knowledge and na-ture. While philosophies, contexts and methods will vary, the quest of all intergenerational learning is to build a bridge that enables young people to learn from the experiences and wisdom of previous generations.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
Green skills for agriculture A method for focusing demand analysis and prioritisation
- Authors: Rosenberg, Eureta
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book chapter
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/436026 , vital:73221 , ISBN 9780429279362 , https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780429279362-13/synthesis-elaboration-critical-realist-methodology-green-skills-research-eureta-rosenberg
- Description: This chapter is the second of the occupational demand studies that share insights about a methodology for determining green skills demand with a laminated approach and value chain anal-ysis. Based on research into skills for Climate Smart Agriculture (Cobban and Visser, 2017), it provides insight into the history and features of agriculture in South Africa that shape current skills needs. Drawing on one component of Cobban and Visser’s study, and employing a critical revision of the ‘climate smart’ framing, it shares findings about what green skills are needed for more sustainable poultry farming in which occupations to contextualise the discussion on methodology. This chapter contrasts the layered, in-depth green skills studies with approaches aiming for broader coverage and representivity, and illustrates the use of multi-criterion ‘hotspotting’ to prioritise among skills needs at strategic leverage points for social-ecological trans-formation. The case of the agricultural study illustrates the val-ue of smaller scale, in-depth studies that provide the occupa-tion level insights to inform skills planning and investment that is needed if agriculture is to sustain itself and all those it could – and should – benefit.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Rosenberg, Eureta
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book chapter
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/436026 , vital:73221 , ISBN 9780429279362 , https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780429279362-13/synthesis-elaboration-critical-realist-methodology-green-skills-research-eureta-rosenberg
- Description: This chapter is the second of the occupational demand studies that share insights about a methodology for determining green skills demand with a laminated approach and value chain anal-ysis. Based on research into skills for Climate Smart Agriculture (Cobban and Visser, 2017), it provides insight into the history and features of agriculture in South Africa that shape current skills needs. Drawing on one component of Cobban and Visser’s study, and employing a critical revision of the ‘climate smart’ framing, it shares findings about what green skills are needed for more sustainable poultry farming in which occupations to contextualise the discussion on methodology. This chapter contrasts the layered, in-depth green skills studies with approaches aiming for broader coverage and representivity, and illustrates the use of multi-criterion ‘hotspotting’ to prioritise among skills needs at strategic leverage points for social-ecological trans-formation. The case of the agricultural study illustrates the val-ue of smaller scale, in-depth studies that provide the occupa-tion level insights to inform skills planning and investment that is needed if agriculture is to sustain itself and all those it could – and should – benefit.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Framing learning needs assessments for sustainability policy practices
- Authors: Rosenberg, Eureta
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book chapter
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/436016 , vital:73220 , ISBN 9780429279362 , https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780429279362-13/synthesis-elaboration-critical-realist-methodology-green-skills-research-eureta-rosenberg
- Description: A common (green) skills planning objective is to identify the learning needs of workers in particular sectors, programmes or organisations, in order to provide them with appropriate learn-ing opportunities. This chapter describes a design and concep-tual framing for learning needs assessments focused on sus-tainability or green economy policy practitioners. Measures for achieving credible results include design features for building consensus around the findings, but also a sound conceptual framing of learning needs. The chapter provides pointers for working critically with the notion of competencies, exploring both the value and the limitations of the concept, and framing it as relational transformational agency entailing technical, rela-tional and ethical affordances among collectives involved in sustainability policy-practice. The chapter draws on the Green Economy Learning Assessment for South Africa, which exlored the learning needs of sustainability practitioners in pol-icy contexts related to sustainable transport, renewable energy procurement and water resource management, among others. The chapter shares examples of competencies identified in these contexts, and concludes with a few curriculum pointers, in anticipation of the next chapter’s focus on the educational provider’s perspective. A common (green) skills planning objective is to identify the learning needs of workers in particular sectors, programmes or organisations, in order to provide them with appropriate learn-ing opportunities. This chapter describes a design and concep-tual framing for learning needs assessments focused on sus-tainability or green economy policy practitioners. Measures for achieving credible results include design features for building consensus around the findings, but also a sound conceptual framing of learning needs. The chapter provides pointers for working critically with the notion of competencies, exploring both the value and the limitations of the concept, and framing it as relational transformational agency entailing technical, rela-tional and ethical affordances among collectives involved in sustainability policy-practice. The chapter draws on the Green Economy Learning Assessment for South Africa, which exlored the learning needs of sustainability practitioners in pol-icy contexts related to sustainable transport, renewable energy procurement and water resource management, among others. The chapter shares examples of competencies identified in these contexts, and concludes with a few curriculum pointers, in anticipation of the next chapter’s focus on the educational provider’s perspective.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Rosenberg, Eureta
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book chapter
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/436016 , vital:73220 , ISBN 9780429279362 , https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780429279362-13/synthesis-elaboration-critical-realist-methodology-green-skills-research-eureta-rosenberg
- Description: A common (green) skills planning objective is to identify the learning needs of workers in particular sectors, programmes or organisations, in order to provide them with appropriate learn-ing opportunities. This chapter describes a design and concep-tual framing for learning needs assessments focused on sus-tainability or green economy policy practitioners. Measures for achieving credible results include design features for building consensus around the findings, but also a sound conceptual framing of learning needs. The chapter provides pointers for working critically with the notion of competencies, exploring both the value and the limitations of the concept, and framing it as relational transformational agency entailing technical, rela-tional and ethical affordances among collectives involved in sustainability policy-practice. The chapter draws on the Green Economy Learning Assessment for South Africa, which exlored the learning needs of sustainability practitioners in pol-icy contexts related to sustainable transport, renewable energy procurement and water resource management, among others. The chapter shares examples of competencies identified in these contexts, and concludes with a few curriculum pointers, in anticipation of the next chapter’s focus on the educational provider’s perspective. A common (green) skills planning objective is to identify the learning needs of workers in particular sectors, programmes or organisations, in order to provide them with appropriate learn-ing opportunities. This chapter describes a design and concep-tual framing for learning needs assessments focused on sus-tainability or green economy policy practitioners. Measures for achieving credible results include design features for building consensus around the findings, but also a sound conceptual framing of learning needs. The chapter provides pointers for working critically with the notion of competencies, exploring both the value and the limitations of the concept, and framing it as relational transformational agency entailing technical, rela-tional and ethical affordances among collectives involved in sustainability policy-practice. The chapter draws on the Green Economy Learning Assessment for South Africa, which exlored the learning needs of sustainability practitioners in pol-icy contexts related to sustainable transport, renewable energy procurement and water resource management, among others. The chapter shares examples of competencies identified in these contexts, and concludes with a few curriculum pointers, in anticipation of the next chapter’s focus on the educational provider’s perspective.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Mining: A laminated, dialectic methodology for identifying not-yet-obvious green skills demand
- Authors: Rosenberg, Eureta
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book chapter
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/436077 , vital:73225 , ISBN 9780429279362 , https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780429279362-13/synthesis-elaboration-critical-realist-methodology-green-skills-research-eureta-rosenberg
- Description: This chapter shares insights about green skills demand research in South Africa, based on a 2015 study in coal mining. One purpose of that study was to develop methodology for green skills demand determination, and the chapter shares selected features of the multi-layered and multi-method research process used, including an extended contextual driver analysis and a value chain analysis. Some findings about what green skills are needed in coal mining are shared to contextualise and illustrate methodological insights. This chapter highlights the fact that whether or not a skill is scarce can be contested, and demonstrates how a laminated methodology can guide credible conclusions in such cases. It also introduces the value of ‘absenting absences’, a dialectic process that surfaced skills needs that are not-yet-obvious, but essential if mining is to achieve transformation towards sustainability.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Rosenberg, Eureta
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book chapter
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/436077 , vital:73225 , ISBN 9780429279362 , https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780429279362-13/synthesis-elaboration-critical-realist-methodology-green-skills-research-eureta-rosenberg
- Description: This chapter shares insights about green skills demand research in South Africa, based on a 2015 study in coal mining. One purpose of that study was to develop methodology for green skills demand determination, and the chapter shares selected features of the multi-layered and multi-method research process used, including an extended contextual driver analysis and a value chain analysis. Some findings about what green skills are needed in coal mining are shared to contextualise and illustrate methodological insights. This chapter highlights the fact that whether or not a skill is scarce can be contested, and demonstrates how a laminated methodology can guide credible conclusions in such cases. It also introduces the value of ‘absenting absences’, a dialectic process that surfaced skills needs that are not-yet-obvious, but essential if mining is to achieve transformation towards sustainability.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Transitioning into work
- Authors: Rosenberg, Eureta
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book chapter
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/436132 , vital:73229 , ISBN 9780429279362 , https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780429279362-13/synthesis-elaboration-critical-realist-methodology-green-skills-research-eureta-rosenberg
- Description: Due to the relative newness and contemporary emergence of environmental concerns and sustainable development challenges, policies and forms of work, little is known about the transitioning patterns from education to work. As environmental occupations are found in multiple sectors, and at multiple levels, it is necessary to understand how diversity of disciplinary foundation, historical factors and the nature of the field-based occupation as it is emerging influence transitions into work, especially for highly specialised occupations that are in high demand, such as wildlife vets or wetland ecologists, and in critical occupations that shape sustainable development for whole communities, such as sustainable development employees in municipalities. This chapter utilises a complex notion of learning pathways as neither completely individualistic nor wholly structurally determined, and positions our interest in transitions research within a framing of critical vocationalism that seeks to address not only individual experiences of transitioning, or individual agentive factors, but also structural dynamics and structural processes that can help to ‘ease’ the transitioning process in these critical areas of green skills development.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Rosenberg, Eureta
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book chapter
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/436132 , vital:73229 , ISBN 9780429279362 , https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780429279362-13/synthesis-elaboration-critical-realist-methodology-green-skills-research-eureta-rosenberg
- Description: Due to the relative newness and contemporary emergence of environmental concerns and sustainable development challenges, policies and forms of work, little is known about the transitioning patterns from education to work. As environmental occupations are found in multiple sectors, and at multiple levels, it is necessary to understand how diversity of disciplinary foundation, historical factors and the nature of the field-based occupation as it is emerging influence transitions into work, especially for highly specialised occupations that are in high demand, such as wildlife vets or wetland ecologists, and in critical occupations that shape sustainable development for whole communities, such as sustainable development employees in municipalities. This chapter utilises a complex notion of learning pathways as neither completely individualistic nor wholly structurally determined, and positions our interest in transitions research within a framing of critical vocationalism that seeks to address not only individual experiences of transitioning, or individual agentive factors, but also structural dynamics and structural processes that can help to ‘ease’ the transitioning process in these critical areas of green skills development.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Synthesis and elaboration of critical realist methodology for green skills research
- Authors: Rosenberg, Eureta
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book chapter
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/436119 , vital:73228 , ISBN 9780429279362 , https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780429279362-13/synthesis-elaboration-critical-realist-methodology-green-skills-research-eureta-rosenberg
- Description: In the concluding section of the book, this penultimate chapter elaborates on the central quest for research design that approaches green skills questions as inextricably linked to complex economic, environmental and social justice contexts that are systemic and emergent in nature, therefore necessitating a depth ontology and a dialectic approach, given the transformative intent of researching towards a more just and sustainable society. The chapter highlights methodological insights from the studies reviewed in this book, and provides guidance for green skills research design. It does so in relation to four interacting domains that research and programme planners need to consider in relation to each other. These are: the political-institutional context; theory and conceptual considerations; researchers’ personal-professional commitments; and the aligned methodological considerations. The meta-theory underlabouring the work in this book is Bhaskar’s dialectical critical realism, and its practical implications are illustrated and elaborated here with reference to the most pertinent features including lamination, systems, emergence, absence and associated approaches to analysis. The result is not a blueprint for a single research design, but considerations that could give rise to a variety of different designs for green skills research.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Rosenberg, Eureta
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book chapter
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/436119 , vital:73228 , ISBN 9780429279362 , https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780429279362-13/synthesis-elaboration-critical-realist-methodology-green-skills-research-eureta-rosenberg
- Description: In the concluding section of the book, this penultimate chapter elaborates on the central quest for research design that approaches green skills questions as inextricably linked to complex economic, environmental and social justice contexts that are systemic and emergent in nature, therefore necessitating a depth ontology and a dialectic approach, given the transformative intent of researching towards a more just and sustainable society. The chapter highlights methodological insights from the studies reviewed in this book, and provides guidance for green skills research design. It does so in relation to four interacting domains that research and programme planners need to consider in relation to each other. These are: the political-institutional context; theory and conceptual considerations; researchers’ personal-professional commitments; and the aligned methodological considerations. The meta-theory underlabouring the work in this book is Bhaskar’s dialectical critical realism, and its practical implications are illustrated and elaborated here with reference to the most pertinent features including lamination, systems, emergence, absence and associated approaches to analysis. The result is not a blueprint for a single research design, but considerations that could give rise to a variety of different designs for green skills research.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Skills for just transitions to sustainability: An orientation
- Rosenberg, Eureta, Ramsarup, Presha
- Authors: Rosenberg, Eureta , Ramsarup, Presha
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book chapter
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/436106 , vital:73227 , ISBN 9780429279362 , https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780429279362-13/synthesis-elaboration-critical-realist-methodology-green-skills-research-eureta-rosenberg
- Description: This chapter argues that a transformative approach is necessary, involving radical economic change towards environmental sustainability and social justice – conceived of as two sides of the same coin, rather than opposing forces. It provides conceptual framings for the change processes required that are to be found in a relational philosophy and complex systems thinking applied to a broader vision of the economy, including a framing of environmental sustainability as a social justice issue, and viewing the changes needed through a transitioning systems lens. New industries must be developed in a socially inclusive manner and workers will need re-skilling for different jobs. A new development path requires concerted interventions including aligned skills development. In the face of dire socio-economic issues, environmental concerns have been deemed less important, and juxtaposed as being in competition with poverty eradication and employment creation. Humanity surely does have the creativity to design different social, cultural and economic systems over time, suitable for different contexts.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Rosenberg, Eureta , Ramsarup, Presha
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book chapter
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/436106 , vital:73227 , ISBN 9780429279362 , https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780429279362-13/synthesis-elaboration-critical-realist-methodology-green-skills-research-eureta-rosenberg
- Description: This chapter argues that a transformative approach is necessary, involving radical economic change towards environmental sustainability and social justice – conceived of as two sides of the same coin, rather than opposing forces. It provides conceptual framings for the change processes required that are to be found in a relational philosophy and complex systems thinking applied to a broader vision of the economy, including a framing of environmental sustainability as a social justice issue, and viewing the changes needed through a transitioning systems lens. New industries must be developed in a socially inclusive manner and workers will need re-skilling for different jobs. A new development path requires concerted interventions including aligned skills development. In the face of dire socio-economic issues, environmental concerns have been deemed less important, and juxtaposed as being in competition with poverty eradication and employment creation. Humanity surely does have the creativity to design different social, cultural and economic systems over time, suitable for different contexts.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Green skills Transformative niches for greening work
- Ramsarup, Preesha, Rosenberg, Eureta, Lotz-Sisitka, Heila, Jenkin, Nicola P
- Authors: Ramsarup, Preesha , Rosenberg, Eureta , Lotz-Sisitka, Heila , Jenkin, Nicola P
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book chapter
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/436882 , vital:73313 , ISBN 978-981-15-6370-6 , https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-6370-6_8
- Description: Supporting green skills development is integral in the transition to a green economy. Green skills can be difficult to define and measure at an aggregate level because they are a socially constructed concept, intangible and are often unobservable. Further, a demand-led approach to green skills has not worked because employers are unable to effectively articulate their needs to skills delivery bodies. This advances the need for a transformative methodology that is able to provide a more nu-anced view of skills planning to support green work. Drawing on transition theorists, this chapter demonstrates that greening work transitions occur in “niches” at local levels, where nexus concerns arise around the impetus to green work. Furthermore, it is from these transformative niches that wider social changes and regime shifts are driven or emerge. Using experiences from the chemicals sector in South Africa, the chapter illus-trates the need to develop non-reductionist conceptualisations that illustrate the “regime lock-ins” as well as green skills oppor-tunities at multiple levels.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
- Authors: Ramsarup, Preesha , Rosenberg, Eureta , Lotz-Sisitka, Heila , Jenkin, Nicola P
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book chapter
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/436882 , vital:73313 , ISBN 978-981-15-6370-6 , https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-6370-6_8
- Description: Supporting green skills development is integral in the transition to a green economy. Green skills can be difficult to define and measure at an aggregate level because they are a socially constructed concept, intangible and are often unobservable. Further, a demand-led approach to green skills has not worked because employers are unable to effectively articulate their needs to skills delivery bodies. This advances the need for a transformative methodology that is able to provide a more nu-anced view of skills planning to support green work. Drawing on transition theorists, this chapter demonstrates that greening work transitions occur in “niches” at local levels, where nexus concerns arise around the impetus to green work. Furthermore, it is from these transformative niches that wider social changes and regime shifts are driven or emerge. Using experiences from the chemicals sector in South Africa, the chapter illus-trates the need to develop non-reductionist conceptualisations that illustrate the “regime lock-ins” as well as green skills oppor-tunities at multiple levels.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
Enabling green skills: Pathways to sustainable development
- Ramsarup, Presha, Ward, Mike, Rosenberg, Eureta, Jenkin, Nicola P, Lotz-Sisitka, Heila
- Authors: Ramsarup, Presha , Ward, Mike , Rosenberg, Eureta , Jenkin, Nicola P , Lotz-Sisitka, Heila
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/436702 , vital:73294 , ISBN 978-0-620-79605-7 , https://www.vetafrica4-0.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Green-Skills-Sourcebook-Jul18.pdf
- Description: The purpose of this source book is to support skills planning entities to work with employers to identify and anticipate green skills needs and to build these needs into occupational de-scriptors and sector skills plans. Thus, the source book com-plements the existing Enabling Document (DEA, 2010b) and provides guidelines to support Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs) to embed environmental considerations, related occupations and green skills into their skills planning processes.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
- Authors: Ramsarup, Presha , Ward, Mike , Rosenberg, Eureta , Jenkin, Nicola P , Lotz-Sisitka, Heila
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/436702 , vital:73294 , ISBN 978-0-620-79605-7 , https://www.vetafrica4-0.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Green-Skills-Sourcebook-Jul18.pdf
- Description: The purpose of this source book is to support skills planning entities to work with employers to identify and anticipate green skills needs and to build these needs into occupational de-scriptors and sector skills plans. Thus, the source book com-plements the existing Enabling Document (DEA, 2010b) and provides guidelines to support Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs) to embed environmental considerations, related occupations and green skills into their skills planning processes.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
Eco-Schools and the quality of education in South Africa: Realising the potential
- Authors: Rosenberg, Eureta
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/370511 , vital:66349 , xlink:href="https://www.ajol.info/index.php/sajee/article/view/122759"
- Description: Eco-Schools South Africa is increasingly being used by external partners as a framework for supporting environmental education in schools. This paper shares the findings of a recent evaluation of the programme in relation to the quality of education in South African schools. Do Eco-Schools activities help to improve the conditions of teaching and learning? Or do they take teachers and students away from their core focus? Evaluation of learner and teacher work in Eco-Schools found signs of the quality problems that currently plague the schools system, and there is evidence that the programme can add to the complexity to which many teachers struggle to respond. The evaluation also found, however, that the programme has significant potential to improve conditions for teaching and learning. The paper is an opportunity to reflect on how environmental education support for schools, in general, and Eco-Schools South Africa, in particular, can detract from and strengthen teaching and learning.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
- Authors: Rosenberg, Eureta
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/370511 , vital:66349 , xlink:href="https://www.ajol.info/index.php/sajee/article/view/122759"
- Description: Eco-Schools South Africa is increasingly being used by external partners as a framework for supporting environmental education in schools. This paper shares the findings of a recent evaluation of the programme in relation to the quality of education in South African schools. Do Eco-Schools activities help to improve the conditions of teaching and learning? Or do they take teachers and students away from their core focus? Evaluation of learner and teacher work in Eco-Schools found signs of the quality problems that currently plague the schools system, and there is evidence that the programme can add to the complexity to which many teachers struggle to respond. The evaluation also found, however, that the programme has significant potential to improve conditions for teaching and learning. The paper is an opportunity to reflect on how environmental education support for schools, in general, and Eco-Schools South Africa, in particular, can detract from and strengthen teaching and learning.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
Understanding the context of multifaceted collaborations for social-ecological sustainability: A methodology for cross-case analysis
- Cockburn, Jessica J, Schoon, Michael, Cundill, Georgina, Robinson, Cathy, Aburto, Jamie A, Alexander, Steve M, Baggio, Jacopo A, Barnaud, Cecile, Chapman, Mollie, Llorente, Marina G, Garcia-Lopez, Gustavo A, Hill, Rosemary, Speranza, Chinwe I, Lee, Jean, Meek, Chanda L, Rosenberg, Eureta, Schultz, Lisen, Thondhlana, Gladman
- Authors: Cockburn, Jessica J , Schoon, Michael , Cundill, Georgina , Robinson, Cathy , Aburto, Jamie A , Alexander, Steve M , Baggio, Jacopo A , Barnaud, Cecile , Chapman, Mollie , Llorente, Marina G , Garcia-Lopez, Gustavo A , Hill, Rosemary , Speranza, Chinwe I , Lee, Jean , Meek, Chanda L , Rosenberg, Eureta , Schultz, Lisen , Thondhlana, Gladman
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/370725 , vital:66371 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-11527-250307"
- Description: There are limited approaches available that enable researchers and practitioners to conduct multiple case study comparisons of complex cases of collaboration in natural resource management and conservation. The absence of such tools is felt despite the fact that over the past several years a great deal of literature has reviewed the state of the science regarding collaboration. Much of this work is based on case studies of collaboration and highlights the importance of contextual variables, further complicating efforts to compare outcomes across case-study areas and the likely failure of approaches based on one size fits all generalizations. We expand on the standard overview of the field by identifying some of the challenges associated with managing complex systems with multiple resources, multiple stakeholder groups with diverse knowledges/understandings, and multiple objectives across multiple scales, i.e., multifaceted collaborative initiatives. We then elucidate how a realist methodology, within a critical realist framing, can support efforts to compare multiple case studies of such multifaceted initiatives. The methodology we propose considers the importance and impact of context for the origins, purpose, and success of multifaceted collaborative natural resource management and conservation initiatives in social-ecological systems.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Cockburn, Jessica J , Schoon, Michael , Cundill, Georgina , Robinson, Cathy , Aburto, Jamie A , Alexander, Steve M , Baggio, Jacopo A , Barnaud, Cecile , Chapman, Mollie , Llorente, Marina G , Garcia-Lopez, Gustavo A , Hill, Rosemary , Speranza, Chinwe I , Lee, Jean , Meek, Chanda L , Rosenberg, Eureta , Schultz, Lisen , Thondhlana, Gladman
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/370725 , vital:66371 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-11527-250307"
- Description: There are limited approaches available that enable researchers and practitioners to conduct multiple case study comparisons of complex cases of collaboration in natural resource management and conservation. The absence of such tools is felt despite the fact that over the past several years a great deal of literature has reviewed the state of the science regarding collaboration. Much of this work is based on case studies of collaboration and highlights the importance of contextual variables, further complicating efforts to compare outcomes across case-study areas and the likely failure of approaches based on one size fits all generalizations. We expand on the standard overview of the field by identifying some of the challenges associated with managing complex systems with multiple resources, multiple stakeholder groups with diverse knowledges/understandings, and multiple objectives across multiple scales, i.e., multifaceted collaborative initiatives. We then elucidate how a realist methodology, within a critical realist framing, can support efforts to compare multiple case studies of such multifaceted initiatives. The methodology we propose considers the importance and impact of context for the origins, purpose, and success of multifaceted collaborative natural resource management and conservation initiatives in social-ecological systems.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
The green economy learning assessment South Africa: Lessons for higher education, skills and work-based learning
- Rosenberg, Eureta, Lotz-Sisitka, Heila, Ramsarup, Presha
- Authors: Rosenberg, Eureta , Lotz-Sisitka, Heila , Ramsarup, Presha
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/182765 , vital:43872 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1108/HESWBL-03-2018-0041"
- Description: The purpose of this paper is to share and analyse the methodology and findings of the 2016 Green Economy Learning Assessment South Africa, including learning needs identified with reference to the competency framings of Scharmer (2009) and Wiek et al. (2011); and implications for university and work-based sustainability education, broadly conceptualised in a just transitions framework. The assessment was conducted using desktop policy reviews and an audit of sustainability education providers, online questionnaires to sector experts, focus groups and interviews with practitioners driving green economy initiatives. Policy monitoring and evaluation, and education for sustainable development, emerged as key change levers across nine priority areas including agriculture, energy, natural resources, water, transport and infrastructure. The competencies required to drive sustainability in these areas were clustered as technical, relational and transformational competencies for: making the case; integrated sustainable development planning; strategic adaptive management and expansive learning; working across organisational units; working across knowledge fields; capacity and organisational development; and principle-based leadership. Practitioners develop such competencies through formal higher education and short courses plus course-activated networks and “on the job” learning. The paper adds to the literature on sustainability competencies and raises questions regarding forms of hybrid learning suitable for developing technical, relational and transformative competencies. A national learning needs assessment methodology and tools for customised organisational learning needs assessments are shared. The assessment methodology is novel in this context and the workplace-based tools, original.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
- Authors: Rosenberg, Eureta , Lotz-Sisitka, Heila , Ramsarup, Presha
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/182765 , vital:43872 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1108/HESWBL-03-2018-0041"
- Description: The purpose of this paper is to share and analyse the methodology and findings of the 2016 Green Economy Learning Assessment South Africa, including learning needs identified with reference to the competency framings of Scharmer (2009) and Wiek et al. (2011); and implications for university and work-based sustainability education, broadly conceptualised in a just transitions framework. The assessment was conducted using desktop policy reviews and an audit of sustainability education providers, online questionnaires to sector experts, focus groups and interviews with practitioners driving green economy initiatives. Policy monitoring and evaluation, and education for sustainable development, emerged as key change levers across nine priority areas including agriculture, energy, natural resources, water, transport and infrastructure. The competencies required to drive sustainability in these areas were clustered as technical, relational and transformational competencies for: making the case; integrated sustainable development planning; strategic adaptive management and expansive learning; working across organisational units; working across knowledge fields; capacity and organisational development; and principle-based leadership. Practitioners develop such competencies through formal higher education and short courses plus course-activated networks and “on the job” learning. The paper adds to the literature on sustainability competencies and raises questions regarding forms of hybrid learning suitable for developing technical, relational and transformative competencies. A national learning needs assessment methodology and tools for customised organisational learning needs assessments are shared. The assessment methodology is novel in this context and the workplace-based tools, original.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
Journal development, scholar development and quality
- Rosenberg, Eureta, Togo, Muchaiteyi
- Authors: Rosenberg, Eureta , Togo, Muchaiteyi
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/67314 , vital:29072 , https://doi.org/10.4314/SAJEE.V.33I1.1
- Description: publisher version , In reflecting on the contributions to Volume 33, it is evident that a variety of theories about learning and social change inform the scholars in environmental education, ranging from behaviourist, to social behavioural, constructivist and social constructivist learning theories, social and critical realism, and more. What unites these papers is a shared concern about learning in relation to the future well-being of the planet and its people. New scholars entering the field of environmental and sustainability education have the task of mastering not only the social– ecological subject matter of the field, but also their chosen learning theories. In this regard, drawing on the back copies of the SAJEE can be of great value. Much research and writing has already been done on curriculum, education and learning inside and outside of formal institutions, yet many more questions remain. The field is best advanced by noting and building on, challenging and advancing past studies and existing scholarship. The fact that all 33 Volumes of the SAJEE are available online, just a ‘few clicks away’ from any student or supervisor with Internet access, is therefore an enormous boon. We encourage readers and future authors to draw on the work in this and other environmental education journals as they conceptualise, design and reflect on their own studies.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
- Authors: Rosenberg, Eureta , Togo, Muchaiteyi
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/67314 , vital:29072 , https://doi.org/10.4314/SAJEE.V.33I1.1
- Description: publisher version , In reflecting on the contributions to Volume 33, it is evident that a variety of theories about learning and social change inform the scholars in environmental education, ranging from behaviourist, to social behavioural, constructivist and social constructivist learning theories, social and critical realism, and more. What unites these papers is a shared concern about learning in relation to the future well-being of the planet and its people. New scholars entering the field of environmental and sustainability education have the task of mastering not only the social– ecological subject matter of the field, but also their chosen learning theories. In this regard, drawing on the back copies of the SAJEE can be of great value. Much research and writing has already been done on curriculum, education and learning inside and outside of formal institutions, yet many more questions remain. The field is best advanced by noting and building on, challenging and advancing past studies and existing scholarship. The fact that all 33 Volumes of the SAJEE are available online, just a ‘few clicks away’ from any student or supervisor with Internet access, is therefore an enormous boon. We encourage readers and future authors to draw on the work in this and other environmental education journals as they conceptualise, design and reflect on their own studies.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
Monitoring and evaluation in a changing world: A Southern African perspective on the skills needed for a new approach
- Rosenberg, Eureta, Kotschy, Karen
- Authors: Rosenberg, Eureta , Kotschy, Karen
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/370711 , vital:66369 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/ 10.4102/aej.v8i1.472"
- Description: Background: As science and modern technology have brought many advances, we have also come to overshoot planetary boundaries, while still falling short of development goals to eradicate poverty and inequality. A growing recognition of the complexity of development problems and contexts calls for new framings, including a new approach to monitoring and evaluation (M and E) as one of the mechanisms by which modern societies aim to steer towards a more sustainable future. New approaches to M and E mean new skills for the M and E practitioner. Objectives: This article proposed a framing for M and E skills, comprising of technical, relational and transformational (T-R-T) competences. Method: Adapted from the literature, this competence framework was tested in a broader learning needs assessment and then applied retrospectively to author’s experience in developmental evaluations in complex social–ecological contexts in southern Africa. Results: The emerging insights were that not only technical competence is needed, but also relational competence that goes beyond interpersonal skills, to enable the production and uptake of evaluation findings. In addition, the limitations of mainstream M and E methods in the face of complexity seemed to create a need for ‘transformational’ competence, which included evaluators’ ability to develop credible M and E alternatives. Conclusion: The T-R-T framework helped to advance the notions of ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ skills and expanded on existing M and E competence frameworks. Recommendations included a call for innovative educational and professional development approaches to develop relational and transformational competencies, in addition to training for technical competence.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Rosenberg, Eureta , Kotschy, Karen
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/370711 , vital:66369 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/ 10.4102/aej.v8i1.472"
- Description: Background: As science and modern technology have brought many advances, we have also come to overshoot planetary boundaries, while still falling short of development goals to eradicate poverty and inequality. A growing recognition of the complexity of development problems and contexts calls for new framings, including a new approach to monitoring and evaluation (M and E) as one of the mechanisms by which modern societies aim to steer towards a more sustainable future. New approaches to M and E mean new skills for the M and E practitioner. Objectives: This article proposed a framing for M and E skills, comprising of technical, relational and transformational (T-R-T) competences. Method: Adapted from the literature, this competence framework was tested in a broader learning needs assessment and then applied retrospectively to author’s experience in developmental evaluations in complex social–ecological contexts in southern Africa. Results: The emerging insights were that not only technical competence is needed, but also relational competence that goes beyond interpersonal skills, to enable the production and uptake of evaluation findings. In addition, the limitations of mainstream M and E methods in the face of complexity seemed to create a need for ‘transformational’ competence, which included evaluators’ ability to develop credible M and E alternatives. Conclusion: The T-R-T framework helped to advance the notions of ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ skills and expanded on existing M and E competence frameworks. Recommendations included a call for innovative educational and professional development approaches to develop relational and transformational competencies, in addition to training for technical competence.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
Environment and sustainability education research as policy engagement: (re-) invigorating ‘politics as potentia’ in South Africa
- Lotz-Sisitka, Heila, Rosenberg, Eureta, Ramsarup, Presha
- Authors: Lotz-Sisitka, Heila , Rosenberg, Eureta , Ramsarup, Presha
- Date: 2020
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/158230 , vital:40164 , https://0-doi.org.wam.seals.ac.za/10.1080/13504622.2020.1759511
- Description: Using a meta-review approach organized historically in relation to critical policy incidents, this paper critically reviews the process of developing and (re) invigorating Environment and Sustainability Education (ESE) (policy) research as ESE policy engagement over a 30+ year period in a rapidly transforming society, South Africa. It offers an example of long term policy-research meta-review in a context of policy flux. It adds to a body of international ESE policy studies that are seeking to understand and develop the ESE research/policy interface as this relation emerges under more complex conditions. In particular, we respond to the finding in the systematic review of ESE policy research undertaken by Aikens, McKenzie and Vaughter (2016) which reports a geographic under-representation of Africa (amongst other places) in ESE policy studies, and González-Gaudiano (2016, 118)’s insight that ESE policy research in current neo-liberally dominated political conditions and as political process, is essentially an “open, unsteady, incomplete, and relational process”.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Lotz-Sisitka, Heila , Rosenberg, Eureta , Ramsarup, Presha
- Date: 2020
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/158230 , vital:40164 , https://0-doi.org.wam.seals.ac.za/10.1080/13504622.2020.1759511
- Description: Using a meta-review approach organized historically in relation to critical policy incidents, this paper critically reviews the process of developing and (re) invigorating Environment and Sustainability Education (ESE) (policy) research as ESE policy engagement over a 30+ year period in a rapidly transforming society, South Africa. It offers an example of long term policy-research meta-review in a context of policy flux. It adds to a body of international ESE policy studies that are seeking to understand and develop the ESE research/policy interface as this relation emerges under more complex conditions. In particular, we respond to the finding in the systematic review of ESE policy research undertaken by Aikens, McKenzie and Vaughter (2016) which reports a geographic under-representation of Africa (amongst other places) in ESE policy studies, and González-Gaudiano (2016, 118)’s insight that ESE policy research in current neo-liberally dominated political conditions and as political process, is essentially an “open, unsteady, incomplete, and relational process”.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
Attitudinal difference surveys perpetuate harmful tropes: A comment on Nattrass
- Rosenberg, Eureta, Le Grange, Lesley
- Authors: Rosenberg, Eureta , Le Grange, Lesley
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/370129 , vital:66300 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.17159/sajs.2020/8469"
- Description: We reply to the article, ‘Why are black South African students less likely to consider studying biological sciences?’, authored by University of Cape Town (UCT) researcher Nicoli Nattrass1 and published in the South African Journal of Science on 27 May 2020. At the time of writing our reply the article had already received sharp criticism from the Black Academic Caucus at UCT and in a statement released on 5 June 2020, the UCT executive distanced itself from the content of the paper, inviting rigorous, respectful review of the published research. Nattrass’ article1 follows two papers published in 2019 by scholars associated with South African universities, both of which were widely denounced for the racist undertones of their content. The first article was authored by Stellenbosch University researchers who reported on low cognitive functioning of coloured women linked to education levels and lifestyles2 ; see comment by Le Grange3 . The second article was co-authored by an adjunct professor at UCT and examined the role of cognitive ability or intelligence on slave exports from Africa4 . These publications gave rise to a broader debate on enduring racism in science and the re-ascendency of race science internationally. In this reply, we focus on the methodology of attitudinal survey used for the study reported by Nattrass (and by many other scientists). There are two lines of argument that we weave together: the quality of the research as reported, and problems inherent to comparative attitudinal survey research (regardless of how well it is executed). It should be noted that the Black Academic Caucus at UCT has also critiqued the research design, identifying many of the points we make here, and they have additionally included a discourse analysis of the paper (circulated via e-mail). To demonstrate how problematic a survey design can be, particularly when it is not rigorously executed, we share data and observations that counter the apparent findings of Nattrass’ study. We then argue that the publication of this research, in this manner, is detrimental to the biodiversity sector in which the tropes being perpetuated, can cause enormous harm. In the process we hope to encourage scientists to be more reflexive about their methodology, and we encourage the South African Journal of Science to publish works that are worthy of the young people of this country - research in which they can recognise themselves, rather than being forced to look at reductionist portrayals, legitimised under the banner of science.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Rosenberg, Eureta , Le Grange, Lesley
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/370129 , vital:66300 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.17159/sajs.2020/8469"
- Description: We reply to the article, ‘Why are black South African students less likely to consider studying biological sciences?’, authored by University of Cape Town (UCT) researcher Nicoli Nattrass1 and published in the South African Journal of Science on 27 May 2020. At the time of writing our reply the article had already received sharp criticism from the Black Academic Caucus at UCT and in a statement released on 5 June 2020, the UCT executive distanced itself from the content of the paper, inviting rigorous, respectful review of the published research. Nattrass’ article1 follows two papers published in 2019 by scholars associated with South African universities, both of which were widely denounced for the racist undertones of their content. The first article was authored by Stellenbosch University researchers who reported on low cognitive functioning of coloured women linked to education levels and lifestyles2 ; see comment by Le Grange3 . The second article was co-authored by an adjunct professor at UCT and examined the role of cognitive ability or intelligence on slave exports from Africa4 . These publications gave rise to a broader debate on enduring racism in science and the re-ascendency of race science internationally. In this reply, we focus on the methodology of attitudinal survey used for the study reported by Nattrass (and by many other scientists). There are two lines of argument that we weave together: the quality of the research as reported, and problems inherent to comparative attitudinal survey research (regardless of how well it is executed). It should be noted that the Black Academic Caucus at UCT has also critiqued the research design, identifying many of the points we make here, and they have additionally included a discourse analysis of the paper (circulated via e-mail). To demonstrate how problematic a survey design can be, particularly when it is not rigorously executed, we share data and observations that counter the apparent findings of Nattrass’ study. We then argue that the publication of this research, in this manner, is detrimental to the biodiversity sector in which the tropes being perpetuated, can cause enormous harm. In the process we hope to encourage scientists to be more reflexive about their methodology, and we encourage the South African Journal of Science to publish works that are worthy of the young people of this country - research in which they can recognise themselves, rather than being forced to look at reductionist portrayals, legitimised under the banner of science.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020