An interpretive inquiry into girls' educational choices and aspirations: a case study of Murang'a district, Kenya
- Authors: Mwingi, Mweru P
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Education -- Kenya -- Case studies Education -- Economic aspects -- Kenya -- Case studies Student aspirations -- Kenya -- Case studies Women -- Vocational guidance -- Kenya -- Case studies Sex discrimination in education -- Kenya -- Case studies Sex discrimination against women -- Kenya -- Case studies Sexism in education -- Kenya -- Case studies Women -- Education -- Kenya -- Case studies Educational equalization -- Kenya
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:1583 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003465
- Description: Global consensus on the importance of gender equity in education is perhaps one of the greatest agreements reached in the twentieth century. However, for countries in the sub Saharan African region where disparities of gender are wide and primary education takes priority, secondary education continues to remain in the periphery. As countries make progress towards the attainment of Universal Primary Education (UPE), the concerns for gender equity and equality have become associated with school access and pupil retention. Yet, patterns and trends in school enrollment suggest that disparities of gender are more complex. As lessons are learned from the achievements and challenges of attaining UPE, it is increasingly apparent that gender disparities within education occur in, within and beyond access to schooling. In other words, the challenge of making education gender equal goes beyond school access and school enrollment. Kenya is a signatory to the 1990 Jomtein Declaration on Education For All (EFA). It is also among the few countries in the sub Saharan Africa region with a significantly reduced gender gap in primary and secondary education. This is in tandem with the third of the eight Millennium Development Goals whose aims bear a broad social and economic development agenda. While education equity is important in Kenya and tremendous progress has been made in primary education, beyond the attainment of Universal Primary Education (UPE) there is an even more significant target; gender equity in education both in primary and secondary education by 2015. The attainment of this target requires more than access to schooling and for this reason it poses great challenges to governments and schools. In light of the progress made in Kenya and the need for more equitable education beyond primary education, this study conceives a need for an incisive examination of education equity priority areas in Kenya. The study argues on the need for a shift of concern and debate from primary education to secondary education because the gains of UPE only become meaningful when education equity is secured in secondary education. The study underscores that beyond school access and retention, education output and outcomes need to become prominent variables because they gauge trends and patterns and the quality of gains made where education is claimed to be both accessible and equitable. Using case study method, the study makes a critical interpretation of the schooling experiences, educational choices, preferences and aspirations of girls taking secondary education in single-sex schools in Murang’a district, Kenya. The study shows that girls schooling experiences are not homogenous and that there are contradictions in the ways that girls experience their schooling and make educational choices. It also shows that girls do not necessarily stand good chances with their education simply because they are enrolled in single-sex schools. The study reveals individual subjectivities and schooling culture to be at the centre of the differences between schools and the schooling experiences that girls have. The two have impact on how girls perceive themselves and their abilities, the preferences they nurture and the educational choices they make. The study draws attention to nuances in access and equity within girls’ education. It draws out issues and nuances linked to gender access, equity and equality with respect to school, teacher and subject access. Though the study is not generaliseable, it shows that in contexts where female access and survival is secured, there is need for attention to be paid to the environments that nurture educational choices and preferences so that the high rates in school access become translated into equally high educational output and outcomes.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
- Authors: Mwingi, Mweru P
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Education -- Kenya -- Case studies Education -- Economic aspects -- Kenya -- Case studies Student aspirations -- Kenya -- Case studies Women -- Vocational guidance -- Kenya -- Case studies Sex discrimination in education -- Kenya -- Case studies Sex discrimination against women -- Kenya -- Case studies Sexism in education -- Kenya -- Case studies Women -- Education -- Kenya -- Case studies Educational equalization -- Kenya
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:1583 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003465
- Description: Global consensus on the importance of gender equity in education is perhaps one of the greatest agreements reached in the twentieth century. However, for countries in the sub Saharan African region where disparities of gender are wide and primary education takes priority, secondary education continues to remain in the periphery. As countries make progress towards the attainment of Universal Primary Education (UPE), the concerns for gender equity and equality have become associated with school access and pupil retention. Yet, patterns and trends in school enrollment suggest that disparities of gender are more complex. As lessons are learned from the achievements and challenges of attaining UPE, it is increasingly apparent that gender disparities within education occur in, within and beyond access to schooling. In other words, the challenge of making education gender equal goes beyond school access and school enrollment. Kenya is a signatory to the 1990 Jomtein Declaration on Education For All (EFA). It is also among the few countries in the sub Saharan Africa region with a significantly reduced gender gap in primary and secondary education. This is in tandem with the third of the eight Millennium Development Goals whose aims bear a broad social and economic development agenda. While education equity is important in Kenya and tremendous progress has been made in primary education, beyond the attainment of Universal Primary Education (UPE) there is an even more significant target; gender equity in education both in primary and secondary education by 2015. The attainment of this target requires more than access to schooling and for this reason it poses great challenges to governments and schools. In light of the progress made in Kenya and the need for more equitable education beyond primary education, this study conceives a need for an incisive examination of education equity priority areas in Kenya. The study argues on the need for a shift of concern and debate from primary education to secondary education because the gains of UPE only become meaningful when education equity is secured in secondary education. The study underscores that beyond school access and retention, education output and outcomes need to become prominent variables because they gauge trends and patterns and the quality of gains made where education is claimed to be both accessible and equitable. Using case study method, the study makes a critical interpretation of the schooling experiences, educational choices, preferences and aspirations of girls taking secondary education in single-sex schools in Murang’a district, Kenya. The study shows that girls schooling experiences are not homogenous and that there are contradictions in the ways that girls experience their schooling and make educational choices. It also shows that girls do not necessarily stand good chances with their education simply because they are enrolled in single-sex schools. The study reveals individual subjectivities and schooling culture to be at the centre of the differences between schools and the schooling experiences that girls have. The two have impact on how girls perceive themselves and their abilities, the preferences they nurture and the educational choices they make. The study draws attention to nuances in access and equity within girls’ education. It draws out issues and nuances linked to gender access, equity and equality with respect to school, teacher and subject access. Though the study is not generaliseable, it shows that in contexts where female access and survival is secured, there is need for attention to be paid to the environments that nurture educational choices and preferences so that the high rates in school access become translated into equally high educational output and outcomes.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
Changing words and worlds?: a phenomenological study of the acquisition of an academic literacy
- Authors: Thomson, Carol Irene
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Education -- Study and teaching (Higher) -- South Africa Universities and colleges -- South Africa College student development programs -- South Africa Literacy -- South Africa Education, Higher -- Philosophy Educational change -- South Africa Phenomenology
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:1446 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003327
- Description: This study is contextualised within the field of post-graduate, continuing teacher education, and the vibrant and demanding policy context that has characterised higher education in post-apartheid South Africa. Situated within a module specifically designed to address what is commonly understood to be the academic literacy development needs of students in the Bachelor of Education Honours programme at the former University of Natal, it aims to unveil the lived experiences of students taking this module. The module, Reading and Writing Academic Texts (RWAT), was developed in direct response to academics’ call that something be done about the ‘problem’ of students’ reading and writing proficiency. As a core, compulsory module, RWAT was informed by Systemic Functional Linguistics and drew on Genre Theory for its conceptual and theoretical framework. It foregrounded the genre of the academic argument as the key academic literacy that was taught. The motivation for this study came from my own increasing concern that the theoretical and conceptual framework we had adopted for the module was emerging as an inherently limiting and formulaic model of literacy, and was resulting in students exiting the module with little or no ‘critical’ perspective on any aspect of literacy as social practice. I was also keen, in a climate of increasing de-personalisation and the massification of education, to reinstate the personal. Thus, I chose to focus on individual lives, and through an exploration of a small group of participants’ ‘lived’ experiences of the RWAT module, ascertain what it is like to acquire an academic literacy. The key research question is, therefore: What is it like to acquire an academic literacy? The secondary research question is: How is this experience influenced by the mode of delivery in which it occurs? For its conceptual and theoretical framing, this study draws on social literacy theory and phenomenology, the latter as both a philosophy and a methodology. However, although the study has drawn significantly on the phenomenological tradition for inspiration and direction, it has not done so uncritically. Thus, the study engages with phenomenology-as-philosophy in great depth before turning to phenomenology-as-methodology, in order to arrive at a point where the methods and procedures applied in it, are justified. The main findings of the study suggest that, despite the RWAT module espousing an ideological model (Street, 1984) of literacy in its learning materials and readings, participants came very much closer to experiencing an autonomous model of literacy (Street, 1984). The data shows that the RWAT module was largely inadequate to the task of inducting participants into the ‘situated practices’ and ‘situated meanings’ of the Discourse of Genre Theory and/or the academy, hence the many ‘lived’ difficulties participants experienced. The data also highlights the ease with which an autonomous model of literacy can come to govern practice and student experience even when curriculum intention is underpinned by an ideological position on literacy as social practice. Finally, the study suggests that the research community in South Africa, characterised as it is by such diversity, would be enriched by more studies derived from phenomenology, and a continuing engagement with phenomenology-as-a-movement in order to both challenge and expand its existing framework.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
- Authors: Thomson, Carol Irene
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Education -- Study and teaching (Higher) -- South Africa Universities and colleges -- South Africa College student development programs -- South Africa Literacy -- South Africa Education, Higher -- Philosophy Educational change -- South Africa Phenomenology
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:1446 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003327
- Description: This study is contextualised within the field of post-graduate, continuing teacher education, and the vibrant and demanding policy context that has characterised higher education in post-apartheid South Africa. Situated within a module specifically designed to address what is commonly understood to be the academic literacy development needs of students in the Bachelor of Education Honours programme at the former University of Natal, it aims to unveil the lived experiences of students taking this module. The module, Reading and Writing Academic Texts (RWAT), was developed in direct response to academics’ call that something be done about the ‘problem’ of students’ reading and writing proficiency. As a core, compulsory module, RWAT was informed by Systemic Functional Linguistics and drew on Genre Theory for its conceptual and theoretical framework. It foregrounded the genre of the academic argument as the key academic literacy that was taught. The motivation for this study came from my own increasing concern that the theoretical and conceptual framework we had adopted for the module was emerging as an inherently limiting and formulaic model of literacy, and was resulting in students exiting the module with little or no ‘critical’ perspective on any aspect of literacy as social practice. I was also keen, in a climate of increasing de-personalisation and the massification of education, to reinstate the personal. Thus, I chose to focus on individual lives, and through an exploration of a small group of participants’ ‘lived’ experiences of the RWAT module, ascertain what it is like to acquire an academic literacy. The key research question is, therefore: What is it like to acquire an academic literacy? The secondary research question is: How is this experience influenced by the mode of delivery in which it occurs? For its conceptual and theoretical framing, this study draws on social literacy theory and phenomenology, the latter as both a philosophy and a methodology. However, although the study has drawn significantly on the phenomenological tradition for inspiration and direction, it has not done so uncritically. Thus, the study engages with phenomenology-as-philosophy in great depth before turning to phenomenology-as-methodology, in order to arrive at a point where the methods and procedures applied in it, are justified. The main findings of the study suggest that, despite the RWAT module espousing an ideological model (Street, 1984) of literacy in its learning materials and readings, participants came very much closer to experiencing an autonomous model of literacy (Street, 1984). The data shows that the RWAT module was largely inadequate to the task of inducting participants into the ‘situated practices’ and ‘situated meanings’ of the Discourse of Genre Theory and/or the academy, hence the many ‘lived’ difficulties participants experienced. The data also highlights the ease with which an autonomous model of literacy can come to govern practice and student experience even when curriculum intention is underpinned by an ideological position on literacy as social practice. Finally, the study suggests that the research community in South Africa, characterised as it is by such diversity, would be enriched by more studies derived from phenomenology, and a continuing engagement with phenomenology-as-a-movement in order to both challenge and expand its existing framework.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
Science teachers' transformative and continuous professional development : a journey towards capacity-building and reflexive practice
- Authors: Ngcoza, Kenneth Mlungisi
- Date: 2013-07-16
- Subjects: Curriculum change -- South Africa Science -- Study and teaching (Secondary) -- South Africa -- Grahamstown Science teachers -- In-service training -- South Africa -- Grahamstown Educational change -- South Africa -- Grahamstown Education -- South Africa -- Grahamstown
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:1953 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1008258
- Description: This study was conducted in Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape, South Mrica. Triggered by the demands of South Mrican post-apartheid curriculum transformation, the study focused on establishing a sustainable science teachers' trans formative and continuous professional development (TTCPD) network with the view to improving their practice. It is premised on the assumption that teachers are capable of taking responsibility for their own professional development. It is a case study carried over a period offour years with a group of eight teachers. Rooted in the socially critical-emancipatory orientation in conjunction with the participatory action research approach, and located in the qualitative and interpretive research paradigms, it focuses on doing research in democratic and egalitarian ways through working with teachers rather than on them. Such a stance supposes a collaborative partnership and a dialogic relationship viewed as being both reciprocal and mutually enriching for the teachers who were seen as co-learners and co-researchers in this study. Two main goals of the study may be identified. For the first goal, the actors in this study established a sustainable and participative approach to professional development. This was explored through the formation of a TTCPD network which was informed by the actor-network theory framework. Our focus was on co-construction of scientific knowledge utilising the development and adaptation of learning and teaching support materials (LTSMs) as a catalyst to drive the process. The second goal was to examine how the TTCPD network enhanced the teachers' subject-content knowledge, pedagogical-content knowledge as well as individual and collaborative reflections. The research process evolved into three mam phases: The initial phase involved adapting and modifying LTSMs which were initially used in conjunction with microscale science kits and pilot tested with a group of Grade 10 students. This led to the second phase of the research project, which was aimed at gaining insights into the science teachers' capabilities in developing teaching and learning units of work. ii \ The second phase focused on the development of a collaborative orientation to the development of LTSMs and culminated in the formation of sub-networks responsible for certain tasks within the broader network. AB common ground, we focused on developing teaching and learning units of work on the following science topics: electrostatics, electricity, and electrochemistry, to illuminate and foster integration within science. The third phase was concerned with gaining insights into the science teachers' practice in their classrooms. This phase focused on putting theory into practice through the collaborative implementation of teaching and learning units of work. Feedback on the lessons was discussed during our workshops as an attempt to further enhance collaborative reflections. Data was generated usmg workshop discussions with reflective notes; active interviews; focus group discussions; co-teaching, participant observation and videotaped lessons with reflective notes; and a research journal. A variety of data generation techniques were employed to enhance validity and quality of the research. Techniques for validation and trustworthiness of data included triangulation; member checks orface validity; prolonged engagement; catalytic validity and peer validation. The study exposed the underlying historical, ideological and epistemological contradictions of the teachers' past educational backgrounds. It emerged that the ways in which they were taught were at times an inhibitor to innovativeness, perpetuating transmissive approaches to teaching and learning. Lack of professional development and support, and the tensions between policy formulation and implementation exacerbated this. Reflections from the teachers' experiences further revealed that, for teachers to be effective agents of change in the reform process, empowerment opportunities are vital. AB a result, exposure to the TTCPD network was useful in capacitating the teachers with the development of LTSMs, which led to the enhancement of their pedagogical, and science content knowledge conceptual development as well as collaborative reflections.The main findings of this study is that, science teachers' transformative and continuous professional development based on participative approaches and mutual collegial support are indispensable, and that teachers' socio-cultural contexts and experiences should be taken into consideration during this process. Teachers should be regarded as central in the process, and mutual respect and dialogical relationships are pivotal. A further recommendation of this study is that capacity-building is critical for quality teaching and learning, and there is a need to move beyond the rhetoric of complacency to pro-activism, supporting ongoing development of teachers in professional transformative networks. , KMBT_363 , Adobe Acrobat 9.54 Paper Capture Plug-in
- Full Text:
- Authors: Ngcoza, Kenneth Mlungisi
- Date: 2013-07-16
- Subjects: Curriculum change -- South Africa Science -- Study and teaching (Secondary) -- South Africa -- Grahamstown Science teachers -- In-service training -- South Africa -- Grahamstown Educational change -- South Africa -- Grahamstown Education -- South Africa -- Grahamstown
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:1953 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1008258
- Description: This study was conducted in Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape, South Mrica. Triggered by the demands of South Mrican post-apartheid curriculum transformation, the study focused on establishing a sustainable science teachers' trans formative and continuous professional development (TTCPD) network with the view to improving their practice. It is premised on the assumption that teachers are capable of taking responsibility for their own professional development. It is a case study carried over a period offour years with a group of eight teachers. Rooted in the socially critical-emancipatory orientation in conjunction with the participatory action research approach, and located in the qualitative and interpretive research paradigms, it focuses on doing research in democratic and egalitarian ways through working with teachers rather than on them. Such a stance supposes a collaborative partnership and a dialogic relationship viewed as being both reciprocal and mutually enriching for the teachers who were seen as co-learners and co-researchers in this study. Two main goals of the study may be identified. For the first goal, the actors in this study established a sustainable and participative approach to professional development. This was explored through the formation of a TTCPD network which was informed by the actor-network theory framework. Our focus was on co-construction of scientific knowledge utilising the development and adaptation of learning and teaching support materials (LTSMs) as a catalyst to drive the process. The second goal was to examine how the TTCPD network enhanced the teachers' subject-content knowledge, pedagogical-content knowledge as well as individual and collaborative reflections. The research process evolved into three mam phases: The initial phase involved adapting and modifying LTSMs which were initially used in conjunction with microscale science kits and pilot tested with a group of Grade 10 students. This led to the second phase of the research project, which was aimed at gaining insights into the science teachers' capabilities in developing teaching and learning units of work. ii \ The second phase focused on the development of a collaborative orientation to the development of LTSMs and culminated in the formation of sub-networks responsible for certain tasks within the broader network. AB common ground, we focused on developing teaching and learning units of work on the following science topics: electrostatics, electricity, and electrochemistry, to illuminate and foster integration within science. The third phase was concerned with gaining insights into the science teachers' practice in their classrooms. This phase focused on putting theory into practice through the collaborative implementation of teaching and learning units of work. Feedback on the lessons was discussed during our workshops as an attempt to further enhance collaborative reflections. Data was generated usmg workshop discussions with reflective notes; active interviews; focus group discussions; co-teaching, participant observation and videotaped lessons with reflective notes; and a research journal. A variety of data generation techniques were employed to enhance validity and quality of the research. Techniques for validation and trustworthiness of data included triangulation; member checks orface validity; prolonged engagement; catalytic validity and peer validation. The study exposed the underlying historical, ideological and epistemological contradictions of the teachers' past educational backgrounds. It emerged that the ways in which they were taught were at times an inhibitor to innovativeness, perpetuating transmissive approaches to teaching and learning. Lack of professional development and support, and the tensions between policy formulation and implementation exacerbated this. Reflections from the teachers' experiences further revealed that, for teachers to be effective agents of change in the reform process, empowerment opportunities are vital. AB a result, exposure to the TTCPD network was useful in capacitating the teachers with the development of LTSMs, which led to the enhancement of their pedagogical, and science content knowledge conceptual development as well as collaborative reflections.The main findings of this study is that, science teachers' transformative and continuous professional development based on participative approaches and mutual collegial support are indispensable, and that teachers' socio-cultural contexts and experiences should be taken into consideration during this process. Teachers should be regarded as central in the process, and mutual respect and dialogical relationships are pivotal. A further recommendation of this study is that capacity-building is critical for quality teaching and learning, and there is a need to move beyond the rhetoric of complacency to pro-activism, supporting ongoing development of teachers in professional transformative networks. , KMBT_363 , Adobe Acrobat 9.54 Paper Capture Plug-in
- Full Text:
- «
- ‹
- 1
- ›
- »