- Article 1: Reimagining curricula for the Fourth Industrial Revolution
Kirti Menon, University of Johannesburg, South Africa
Gloria Castrillón, University of Johannesburg, South Africa
ABSTRACT
If higher education is to deliver education to students that prepares them for the demands and challenges of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), new flexible curricula and teaching approaches for diverse contexts and a move away from a teleological view of ‘skills’ are required. The 2009 establishment of a dedicated Ministry for Higher Education and Training led to a (then) new perspective in terms of the organisation of the post-school education and training landscape which has had as its aggregated effect a heightened government focus on the link between education, the economy, and skills development. New approaches to curricula specifically and to programme types essential for a more empowering pedagogy for the 4IR
are needed. Curricula to serve these ends are not supported by the current focus on predefined categories and types of learning. The changes in teaching technologies and tools have not been matched by flexibility in the processes and policies designed to ensure quality in higher education which increasingly frustrate attempts to respond effectively. The existing framework requires imaginative rethinking about curriculum to address the current and future needs of students.
- Article 2: Enhancing the use of a teaching portfolio in higher education as a critically reflexive practice
Rosaline Sebolao, Central University of Technology, South Africa
ABSTRACT
Teaching portfolios in higher education are used for the purpose of reflecting on the lecturer’s practice to improve student learning. Significant to academic development is the need to encourage staff to engage in scholarly writing about their teaching and student learning as a critically reflexive practice through the development of teaching portfolios. It was noted through the implementation of an academic development programme at a university of technology across faculties that not many lecturers were in possession of teaching portfolios and for the few who were, their main reason for developing them was for promotion or to participate in teaching awards. This paper is about exploring the use of teaching portfolios for critically reflecting on one’s teaching to enhance student learning, underpinned by Schon’s reflection
on- and in- action principle. The study used qualitative interpretive research design to determine the awareness of university teachers on the purpose and importance of teaching portfolios. It was found that 19 participants were aware of the reflective purpose of the portfolios while 11 compiled them out of compliance. This outcome implies that more lecturers need to be engaged in developing critically reflexive teaching portfolios for enhanced teaching and student learning, as well as for increased participation in the scholarship of teaching and learning.
- Article 3: Investigating the prevailing issues surrounding ICT graduate employability in South Africa: A case study of a South African university
Kenneth Nwanua Ohei, University of Johannesburg, South Africa
Roelien Brink, University of Johannesburg, South Africa
ABSTRACT
Graduate unemployment is perhaps one of the most predominant problems in South Africa, as in several other countries. The intensity of unemployment within the country’s economy is revealed in the constantly rising unemployment rate year after year. This has raised many unanswered questions about universities’ curricula, the quality of graduates and their ability to meet employers’ expectations and criteria for employment. This paper reports on the issues surrounding ICT unemployment. The study explored the problems that graduates encounter when entering the labour market and why they are not getting their desired job in their profession. A mixed methods approach was used. Findings suggest that graduate unemployment is caused by poor economic conditions. Consequently, people at all levels and
qualifications struggle to get jobs, irrespective of their qualifications. Other associated causes are lack of work experience, lack of hard and soft skills and the inability of graduates to apply knowledge acquired through university study. As a result, South African youth are still vulnerable in the labour market. Higher education institutions need to play definitive roles in producing academic graduates with the relevant skills and traits, coherent knowledge and application through using work-integrated learning as best practice for improvement.11
- Article 4: The information needs and informationseeking behaviour of commerce and management academics: A study of Saurashtra University − Rajkot
The information needs and informationseeking
behaviour of commerce and
management academics: A study of
Saurashtra University − Rajkot
ABSTRACT
The study reports the methods as well as sources for information seeking used by commerce and
management academicians of Saurashtra University, Rajkot, to fulfil their information needs. The study was conducted to understand the needs of the library professionals and how those needs can be fulfilled. This study is descriptive as well as cross-sectional in nature. A detailed, structured questionnaire was prepared to collect the required data from the academics of commerce and management fields of the university. The findings showed that most of the academicians preferred conferences and their proceedings as the basic source of information. The respondents prefer all the formats including printed and digital methods to seek information. Also, it was noted that the gender sensitiveness and age groups do not act as a barrier for any
language preference or specific formats for preparing the course material. Since this study was confined to the commerce and management academics of Saurashtra University, future studies could cover more departments in more universities. Libraries and information centres play a major role in the information transfer cycle. This study helps library professionals to understand the needs of the academicians and overcome the challenges faced by them.
- Article 5: Translanguaging as an instructional method in science and mathematics education in English second language classroom contexts
Raphael Nhongo, University of Fort Hare, South Africa
Baba Primrose Tshotsho, University of Fort Hare, South Africa
ABSTRACT
The teaching of science and mathematics in African languages has been debated at various academic platforms that include seminars, conferences and publications where the major concern that has recurred is how it could be possibly done. The questions raised are mainly about the inadequacies of these African languages ranging from orthographies, terminologies to reading materials. For the reading materials to be produced there has to be agreed upon terminologies and the thrust of this paper is to delve on how such terminologies can be produced and how the teaching and learning can be done in African languages.
Four secondary schools, two rural and two urban, were used as case studies, two in Bulawayo, and the other two in Matabeleland South province in Zimbabwe. The perceptions of science and mathematics teachers about translanguaging as a method of teaching science and mathematics were sought through interviews from eight teachers, that is, two from each of the four schools. The results showed that teachers have always been applying translanguaging as an instructional method in the teaching of science and mathematics although they were not aware that translanguaging is a concept that can be singled out amongst other strategies of instruction. The paper concludes that adopting translanguaging as a teaching method in bilingual classroom contexts aids learners’ cognition thereby enhancing comprehension of
concepts better than when only English language is used in teaching and learning.
- Article 6: The teaching and learning of trigonometry
Annatoria Zanele Ngcobo, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Sethembiso Promise Madonsela, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Deonarain Brijlall, Durban University of Technology, South Africa
ABSTRACT
A major desire of many African nations today is to be technologically developed. In South Africa there tends to be an acute shortage of skilled manpower in the field of science, engineering and technology. The fundamental importance of mathematics to humans could be explained in terms of the interrelationship between mathematics and the development of humans to advance the cause of humanity. Science and technology rely on the application of trigonometry in real life situations which affect the daily lives of people. In this paper, we report on a qualitative study which explored the mental constructions made by Grade 12 learners when solving for the unknown properties of triangles in trigonometry. The study was carried out at a school in KwaZulu-Natal (n=30) in South Africa. The data were collected from written responses of students to a structured activity sheet consisting of questions on 2-dimensional shapes, and subsequently analysed using Action, Process, Object and Schema (APOS) theory. Findings emanating from the data analysis informed a modification of the initial genetic decomposition, which raised some didactical implications for basic education, specifically for the learning and teaching of trigonometry.
- Article 7: Using video-stimulated recall interviews: teachers’ reflections on the teaching of algebraic functions in rural classrooms
Hlamulo Wiseman Mbhiza, University of Witwatersrand, South Africa
ABSTRACT
This paper has emerged from a qualitative study based on exploring Grade 10 rural mathematics teachers’ discourses and teaching approaches while teaching algebraic functions in Acornhoek, Mpumalanga Province in South Africa. The topic was explored through individual semi-structured interviews, unstructured classroom observations and Video-Stimulated Recall Interviews (VSRIs) with five teachers from five different school sites representing multiple cases. Both participating schools and teachers were purposively selected for the study. The current paper focuses primarily on the data from VSRIs, which allowed teachers to revisit and reflect on recorded lessons. Teachers’ reflections and comments made during the viewing of the video
footages were analysed using Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis in relation to Professional Learning and Change theoretical framework. The benefit of using VSRIs is that it enabled teachers to question their own teaching, in turn positioning them better to interrogate and problematise the taken-for-granted nature of their classroom work. This method did not only complement the data from the other two methods used in the study, but also allowed teachers to configure alternative courses of action and utterances during teaching in the classroom that challenge and modify their teaching practices.1
- Article 8: Support strategies to assist foundation phase teachers with implementation of inclusive education: A case of selected Johannesburg West schools
Ambeck Celyne Tebid, State Supported Living Center, Abilene, Texas, US
ABSTRACT
School-based support teams (SBSTs) have been established in full-service and mainstream public schools in South Africa to serve as one of the tools to deal with the challenges teachers faced in implementing inclusive education (IE) daily. Although the SBSTs are working very hard towards strengthening teacher capacity, it can be argued that their hard work does not seem to have any visible quality effect compared to the challenges that teachers have to deal with in schools. This paper focused on support strategies which the SBSTs can use, to assist with practical implementation of inclusive practices in mainstream schools in South Africa. Participants were purposefully drawn from two full-service schools and one mainstream school.
Six foundation phase teachers, three principals and three SBST members were interviewed to get different perspectives of the phenomenon under study. The instruments utilised were: semi-structured interviews, document analysis and observation. The data analysis involved scanning, sorting, synthesising, pattern searching and categorising. The findings revealed several support strategies as proposed by teachers including the following: (1) need for change in the way support is channelled; (2) teacher training on specific skills; (3) regulate the pull-out system; (4) SBST meetings and workshops should be properly coordinated; (5) time for teachers and SBST to sit and reflect on practices, and (6) inclusive education should focus on teachers and not on SBST coordinators and learning support educators. The paper concluded that if these support strategies are given attention, teachers rather than learners will be given support on how to address learning difficulties within their classrooms; SBSTs will work in collaboration with the classroom teachers. The overall effect would be that more learners will be supported in real
inclusive settings.1
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