15 minute read
Faculty of Education
FACULTY OF EDUCATION DEAN’S REPORT
Dr Christa Thornhill
During 2020, the faculty’s research focus and activities changed significantly as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic’s impact on all academic endeavours. Due to its field of research in education, the faculty was favourably positioned to study the impact of the pandemic on education in South Africa, as all teaching and learning moved to online and digital platforms, with various consequences arising in the lives of teachers and learners alike.
As a result, some journal articles and book chapters published this year were about the effect of the pandemic on education. Examples of such publications include: a) Evidence and education policymaking in South Africa during Covid-19: Promises, researchers and policymakers in an age of unpredictability, in Southern African Review of Education: A Journal of Comparative Education, and b) Towards cultivating a critical pedagogy of space: A response to teaching practices in Higher Education amidst COVID-19, in Re-thinking the Humanities Curriculum in the Time of Covid-19.
Research webinars were also presented by the Centre for Initial Teacher Education (CITE) in the faculty on the impact of the pandemic on education, including: a) Curriculum in times of crises, at The Annual World Community for Christian Meditation (WCCM) Colloquium Webinar: Curriculum implementation in Covid and 21st century, and b) Disruptions: Professional and policy responses to Covid-19, at The Future of the Teaching Profession in Africa seminar series: Teacher professionalism in the context of pandemics and other crises. The Literacy Development Research Unit ran seven seminars for master’s and doctoral students and supervisors throughout the year.
International research was somewhat curtailed due to travel restrictions, although some conferences could be attended with virtual paper presentations, and long-term projects could continue with online projects, inter alia with Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, the USA and Ethiopia. Despite Covid-19 restrictions, the faculty is able to boast the largest number of NRF funded research grants secured across all faculties at CPUT, namely R4 442 617, as well as the largest number of NRF grantholder-linked student bursaries across the faculties, namely R873 340.
Three staff members attained NRF rating: Dr Zayd Waghid (Y2), Prof Liesel Hibbert (C2) and Dr Pieter Boer (Y2). A fourth staff member, Dr Andre van der Bijl, also attained an NRF rating (C2), but sadly passed away before receiving news of this.
FOCUS AREAS
5 Human, Health & Social Dynamics
Research Chairs: Centre of International Teacher Education (CITE) (NRF SARChI Chair Literacy Development and Poverty (CPUT Research Chair) Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) (ETDP SETA Chair) p 159 p 160 p 167
More information about this faculty’s 2020 research activities can be found in the Focus Areas section of this Research Report
The faculty has three research units, each lead by a research chair.
This centre has been chaired by Prof Yusuf Sayed since its inception in 2014. The centre is invested in the development of research capacity among emerging and established researchers in the faculty, as well as postgraduate students, postdoctoral fellows and research fellows. The centre is focused on generating knowledge about initial teacher education, continuous professional development, public–private partnerships, and teaching and learning during crises and disruptions. The centre comprises the Chair and staff in the faculty who are involved with research in the centre and the supervision of postgraduate students. The centre further boasts four postdoctoral fellows and one research fellow, the latter being one of its doctoral alumni. These staff members published seven articles, two books and four book chapters, and delivered 16 keynotes and papers in conference proceedings and policy reports during 2020. Please see page 159 of this Research Report to find out more about this chair’s research activities.
LITERACY DEVELOPMENT UNIT (CPUT RESEARCH CHAIR)
Prof Janet Condy was appointed as the incoming Chair in 2019. During 2020, Prof Condy hosted two postdoctoral fellows and supervised eleven master’s students and two doctoral students. She also published three articles and has nine more papers that are in review for future publication with two chapters in books. Prof Condy has developed a collaborative community research project called Reading for Meaning (R4M) where teachers and researchers collaborate in a multi-disciplinary manner across faculties and the teacher unions NAPTOSA and SADTU. The goal of this collaboration is to present in-service teacher training for teachers to develop more critical learners and improve the national and international literacy rates in South Africa. Please see page 160 of this Research Report to find out more about this chair’s research activities.
WORK-INTEGRATED LEARNING (WIL) (ETDP SETA CHAIR)
The ETDP SETA WIL Chair is Prof Nothemba Joyce Nduna. Prof Nduna’s 2020/21 study is focused on the practice of workplace learning at South African TVET colleges and workplaces, and explores working relationships between the TVET sector and the world of work. Particular attention is being paid to the ways in which TVET college students are prepared, placed, monitored and assessed for their 18-month workplace learning. The purpose is to determine appropriate WIL elements or areas for capacity-building interventions of education and training practitioners. It is envisaged that such capacity-building interventions will enable TVET college staff to implement appropriate forms of WIL that could strengthen skills development and enhance student employability and entrepreneurial capabilities. Please see page167 of this Research Report to find out more about this chair’s research activities.
Postdoctoral fellows were appointed to Prof Lungi Sosibo, Prof Agnes Chigona and Dr Cina Mosito.
Faculty staff members produced various research outputs.
The faculty hosted a national symposium titled ‘Towards a transformative pedagogy for early childhood care and education’. This included presentations by national universities, as well as an international symposium titled ‘Language across the curriculum: A disciplinary literacy approach to meeting the language and literacy needs of a diverse student population’. This included presentations from universities in Belgium and CPUT.
Five students graduated with their master’s degrees and four with doctoral qualifications.
EDUCATION SCHOLAR CONTINUES TEACHING AFTER RETIREMENT
Former Faculty of Education Dean, Prof Thobeka Mda will not let retirement extinguish her lifelong passion for teaching. Prof Mda, who retired at the end of June, plans to render services in educational environments and projects when normal life resumes in the country after lockdown.
“I had informed some NGO people before retirement that, after I retire, I would gladly join them in the projects they are doing,” she said. “My passion has always been teaching, and so, if an opportunity to teach becomes available, that is what I’ll be doing.”
Prof Mda joined CPUT as Dean of the Faculty of Education in the middle of 2012, after five years at the HSRC. She spent the previous 13 years at Unisa, where she started as a senior lecturer in 1994 and rose to the position of Dean of the Faculty of Education between the years 2000 and 2004. Before this, she was a high school teacher. All in all, she has spent 33 years in the education sector.
During her time as Dean, CPUT’s Faculty of Education enjoyed several highlights and achievements: • In 2012, only 18 staff members had doctoral degrees; by 2019, 47 staff members had doctorates • In terms of NRF research outputs, the faculty earned 10.2 units in 2012, which grew to 37.98 in 2019 • The launch of the Centre for International Teacher Education (CITE), linked to the appointment of the NRF’s first SARChI Chair for Teacher Education, Prof Yusuf Sayed • For the first time, two honorary doctorates were awarded in the faculty, to Dr Brigalia Bam and Dr Marlene le Roux • The faculty hosted four research chairs, the highest number hosted in a single faculty at
CPUT, namely: - Prof Yusuf Sayed was appointed the NRF SARChI Research Chair in Teacher Education (2014-2018 and 2019-2024) - Prof Rajendra Chetty was appointed the CPUT Research Chair in Literacy Development (2016-2021); Prof Chetty resigned in 2018 and was replaced by Prof Janet Condy, to complete the term up to 2021 - Prof Chris Winberg was appointed to the NRF Chair in Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) (2016-2021) - Prof Joyce Nduna was appointed SETA Research Chair in WIL in TVET Colleges (20152018 and 2020)
Prof Mda said she would miss graduation ceremonies, especially those at which she officiated. “Graduation ceremonies are joyous occasions for everyone... All these stakeholders celebrate the culmination of all the hard work that has led to this moment.”
Retired Dean, Prof Thobeka Mda, provides teaching services to NGOs
LITERACY NEEDS OF DIVERSE STUDENTS DISCUSSED
CPUT’s Faculty of Education, in collaboration with Belgian universities Ghent, Howest and Odisee, hosted an international symposium in Stellenbosch in March 2020 to discuss the role of language in teaching. The theme of the two-day symposium was ‘Language across the Curriculum: A disciplinary literacy approach to meeting the language and literacy needs of a diverse student population’. The event was part of a bigger international collaboration between the Standing: Prof Annelies Verdoolaege, Dr Zakhile Somlata, Prof An de Moor, Dr Candice Livingston, Prof Cecilia Jacobs, Dr Nomakhaya Mashiyi faculty and the Flemish Inter-University Seated: Prof Piet van Avermaet, Prof Mbulungeni Madiba, Prof Thobeka Mda, Council, titled ‘Training the teachers of Prof Petrusa du Toit the future: Language policy and literacy at CPUT’, which has been running since 2018. “This project also supports three masters’ students and one PhD student,” said Dr Candice Livingston, CPUT lecturer and project leader for the South African team. Dr Livingston, together with the organising committee, put together a programme with a variety of sub-themes that included ‘Disciplinary literacy’; ‘Translanguaging in the curriculum’; ‘Teaching language across the curriculum with the use of technology’ and ‘Language integration in the curriculum’. Prof Piet van Avermaet, Flemish project leader from the University of Ghent, presented the opening address, and Prof Thobeka Mda opened the proceedings. The keynote speakers, both from Stellenbosch University, were Dean of the Faculty of Education Prof Mbulungeni Madiba, and Prof Cecilia Jacobs of the Centre for Health Professions Education. The plenary speakers were Prof An De Moor, from the Odisee University of Applied Sciences, and Prof Muhammad Nakhooda of CPUT.
The South African team: Dr Candice Livingston (South African Team Leader), Dr Hanlie Dippenaar, Mr Chris Dumas, Prof Johan Anker, Dr Faiq Waghid (CIET), Dr Zaid Waghid (Mowbray Project Co-ordinator), Dr Zakhile Somlata, Dr Sibongile Shinga, Ms Linda Manashe (CIET), Mrs Elma Fleischmann, Mr Henry Oliver, Dr Amanda Swart, Dr Pieter Boer, Dr Dorothy Esau, Mrs Nomalizo Mapasa and Mrs Joanne Arendse (CPUT Libraries)
The Flemish Team: Prof Piet van Avermaet (Belgium Team Leader) (UGhent), Prof Ellen Simon (UGhent), Prof An de Moor (Odisee), Prof Annelies Verdoolaege (UGhent) Ann Van Kerckhove (Odisee), Ilse Mestdagh (Howest) and Gerti Wouters (Howest)The international symposium committee
ADVOCATING TEACHING FOR ALL
A senior academic in the Faculty of Education Dr Cina Mosito, HOD: Intermediate Phase Department, was the lead researcher for a national project on inclusive education titled ‘Teaching for All’, funded by the European Union. Dr Mosito said that the project was premised on the belief that all children have the ability to learn and have the right to quality education, and that each child matters, and matters equally.
She was selected as one of three women at CPUT who would be taking part in the Higher Education Leadership and Management programme. The programme aims to create and sustain a pipeline and pool of women leaders and managers for South African higher education, and promote their advancement. She wants young women to know that women are highly capable of achieving anything, and should learn to silence internal noises that often cast doubt on their capabilities.
Dr Mosito added that over the last 15 years at CPUT, she has grown as an academic from the research she did with her students and has been motivated by how this has shaped their futures. She praised her dedicated and hardworking colleagues saying, “Their passion and dedication fuel me to face each day of work with renewed energy.”
Dr Cina Mosito
The faculty wishes to acknowledge and express its appreciation towards the following CPUT units for supporting its continued growth: • DVC: Research, Technology Innovation & Partnerships • Research Directorate • Strategic Initiatives & Partnerships • Technology Transfer & Industrial Linkages
FUNDING
SOURCE
National Research Foundation (NRF): Grant-Holder linked Postdoctoral Postgraduate Internal Bursaries Publication 2018 Faculty Contribution Publication 2018 Chapter in Book Contribution Publication 2018 Conference Contribution Publication 2018 Journal Article Contribution Research Technology and Innovation (RTI): CPUT Chairs University Research Fund (UCDG)
TOTAL AMOUNT
672 536 1 364 165 320 000 645 299 89 024 209 123 613 038 500 000 125 000 5 538 185
RESEARCH OUTPUT
2020 PUBLICATIONS (SUBMITTED TO THE DHET IN MAY 2021) UNITS
Books (submitted) Book chapters (submitted) Conference proceedings (submitted) Journal articles (audited) 1.00 1.50 1.50 16.17
TOTAL 20.17
UNIVERSITIES TO OFFER ECD TEACHING QUALIFICATIONS
Prof Hasina Ebrahim, Professor of Early Childhood Care and Education at Unisa, said that South African universities would offer diplomas and degrees in early childhood development (ECD) from 2021. This announcement was made at the Faculty of Education’s Early Childhood Development Symposium, held in February. The symposium’s theme was ‘Towards a transformative pedagogy for early childhood education’.Prof Jonathan Jansen of Stellenbosch University Delivering her keynote speech, Prof Ebrahim said recent developments in this field of education revealed knowledge and practice standards with implications for pedagogy. She added that pedagogy was an act and discourse of teaching, the application of professional judgments or any conscious activity by one person designed to enhance learning in another. Transforming the study involved shifting pedagogy from technical to democratic and ethical pedagogical practice. Another keynote speaker, Prof Jonathan Jansen, Distinguished Professor of Education at Stellenbosch University, said the structure of inequality in pre-school education can be seen when one discovers that it is children from affluent families who often get admitted to early childhood centres. Jansen argued that black classism emanates from middle class parents not wanting many black teachers at former white schools. Dr Naseema Shaik, Foundation Phase senior lecturer, said CPUT recently took part in a national collaborative research project on developing a transformative pedagogy for children up to the age of four. She said the findings of the first study revealed that listening is multi-dimensional as it is relational, responsive, an activator of agency, and provides a sense of belonging.
POSTGRADUATE DEGREES OBTAINED BY STAFF
Master of Arts in Afrikaans and Dutch Stellenbosch University De Waal MI ’n Taakgebaseerde benadering tot die aanleer van Afrikaans vir gehoorgestremde student
Master of Arts in IsiXhosa Nelson Mandela University Tshingilane NP Uphicotho – Nzulu ngonxulumano phakathi kwenkolo yemveli nobuKrestu njengesixhobo sokuphuhlisa intlalontle kwiincwadi ezichongiweyo zesiXhosa
EXPLORING RELATIONS BETWEEN RACE AND ELITE SCHOOLS
Faculty of Education lecturer Ms Samantha Kriger, in collaboration with her co-author and PhD supervisor Prof Jonathan Jansen, launched her first book, Who Gets in and Why? in August. The book investigates how schools in Cape Town’s southern suburbs administer their admissions policies. It explores such topics as what keeps some of the Western Cape’s elite schools predominantly white in a country that is overwhelmingly black, and why a post-apartheid government allows such schools to exist.
Ms Kriger, who is pursuing her PhD in Education: Curriculum Studies at Stellenbosch University, said this was a study of patterns of racial segregation in the elite primary schools of one of the ‘whitest’ and wealthiest areas of South Africa, the southern suburbs of Cape Town.
She added that this is the first available study on the micro-politics of primary school admissions that addresses the question of “Who gets in, and why?” against the backdrop of South Africa’s transition from apartheid to democracy. “For this reason, among others, the book holds significance for international scholarship on education policy and politics, while at the same time offering practical value for South African parents who struggle to get their children admitted to these elite schools,” she remarked.
CPUT lecturer Ms Samantha Kriger has launched her first book This researcher is a mother of two boys and married to an SANDF naval captain. She says her interaction with Prof Jansen through her studies resulted in their collaboration on the book. “I have learnt so much!” she said. “To co-author with someone who has written so many books is certainly a highlight for me. What is surreal is to coauthor with someone who has received awards for his books.”
CPUT FOSTERS RAPPORT WITH NIGERIAN INSTITUTION
International scholar Dr Itunu Awosika visited CPUT in January, and helped strengthen ties between CPUT and the Adeyemi College of Education (ACE) in Nigeria. Dr Awosika spent time at the Faculty of Education on an international scholar exchange programme. Prof Sosibo, HOD for the Senior Phase and FET Department, opened the three-day event by saying: “This visit is a realisation of the partnership that I initiated when I visited ACE in September and October 2019, through the Research Exchange Programme funded by the CPUT Research Directorate.”
During her visit, Dr Awosika presented seminars on teacher education in Nigeria. “The idea was to benchmark standards and practices at the two institutions, and to determine bestpractices that could be adopted,” Prof Sosibo added.
Dr Awosika, on her first visit in South Africa, said, “Prior to my visit, people had tried to discourage me because of the ugly xenophobic occurrences of the past, and despite me being liberal [I had] mixed feelings regarding my acceptance and safety in Cape Town, but my experience has been pleasant and heart-warming, and worthy of the journey made down here.” She added that her interaction with people in CPUT gave her the opportunity to assess the environment and people. “l must place it on record,” she said, “that I am very pleased with the people and their very pleasant and peaceful environment… CPUT would be welcome to ACE, Nigeria anytime for us to establish a lasting partnership by signing a MoU that would boost our relationship to mutual benefit.”
Ms Melanie Sadeck, Prof Thobeka Mda, Dr Itunu Awosika, Prof Lungi Sosibo, Ms Moira Bladergroen and Dr Melanie Luckay
