The independent journal of teaching and learning vol 12 (1) 2017

ISSN: 2519-5670

5.

20.

30.

Identity, ideology and discourse: classroom spaces for deconstructions and reconstructions JACQUELINE LÜCK AND SHARON RUDMAN

The classrooms as learning communities MNCEDISI CHRISTIAN MAPHALALA

Transforming primary school teachers’ perceptions of the ‘place’ of teaching reading: the role of Reading to Learn methodology EMMANUEL MFANAFUTHI MGQWASHU AND BHEKA MAKHATHINI

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63.

74.

The reading habits and practices of undergraduate students at a higher education institution in South Africa: a case study SHARITA BHARUTHRAM

Good teacher education – An exploratory study ELZA VENTER

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104. 114.

VOLUME 12 (1) / 2017

The value of pair programming in the IT classroom ROXANNE BAILEY AND ELSA MENTZ

Student-centred problem-based learning as a transformative approach to legal education RENÉ HILARY CHERYL-ANNE KORAAN

An evaluative study on the effect of entrepreneurial education curriculum on students at the University of Venda, South Africa TAKALANI RADSON MUSETSHO AND MANKOLO XAVERINE LETHOKO

Doctoral Corner

THE INDEPENDENT

Formerly The Journal of Independent Teaching and Learning

The Independent Journal of Teaching and Learning

The Independent Journal of Teaching and Learning (IJTL) is a peer-reviewed education-focused journal published by The Independent Institute of Education. The IJTL is accredited by the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) in South Africa and appears on the DHET List of Accredited Journals. In 2017 the journal shifted from its previous annual print publication format to follow international publication trends by becoming a fully online, open access [ISSN 2519-5670 (Online)] journal and has increased its publication frequency to bi-annual. The journal can be found at https://ijtl.iie.ac.za/ The aim of the journal is to make a difference to educators at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels. Providing a scholarly forum for academics and education practitioners to share research on teaching and learning. The journal’s focus is increasingly on applied teaching and learning from both the private and public sectors.

The following contributions will be considered for publication: • Research-based empirical, reflective or synoptic articles that would be of interest to the educational practitioner • Review articles that critically examine research carried out in a specific field • Doctoral abstracts in the field of education to appear in the Doctoral Corner • Book reviews that comprise a clear and concise evaluation of recently published books.

Editor-in-Chief Professor Dolina Dowling BA; Dip Ed; Dip Sp Ed; APhS; MA; PhD. Managing Editor Marla Koonin BA Comm; BA Hons Journ (cum laude); MA Journ (cum laude); CPRP. Editorial Advisory Board Professor Carmel McNaught BSc (Hons); Dip Ed; MEd; PhD. Professor Andile Mji BSc; HDE; BEd; MEd; DEd. Professor Michael Glencross BSc; PGCE; BEd; BSc(Hons); MPhil; DPhil.

Dr Felicity Coughlan B SocSc Hons (SW); B SocSc Hons (Psych); MSc; DPhil.

Publisher The Independent Journal of Teaching and Learning is published by The Independent Institute of Education (Pty) Ltd. ADvTech House Inanda Greens Business Park 54 Wierda Road West Wierda Valley, Sandton South Africa www.iie.ac.za

The Independent Journal of Teaching and Learning – Volume 12 (1) / 2017 Formerly The Journal of Independent Teaching and Learning

Disclaimer The publisher and the editor cannot be held responsible for any consequences arising from the use of information contained in this journal.

The views and opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the publisher or the editor.

Address for correspondence Professor Dolina Dowling Editor-in-Chief The Independent Journal of Teaching and Learning PO Box 2369 Randburg 2125 South Africa E-mail: editor@iie.ac.za

Contents Volume 12 (1)

2017

1.

63.

Notes on contributors

Good teacher education – An exploratory study

3.

Editorial Professor Dolina Dowling

5.

Identity, ideology and discourse: classroom spaces for deconstructions and reconstructions Dr Jacqueline Lück, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, South Africa Sharon Rudman, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, South Africa

20.

The classrooms as learning communities Professor Mncedisi Christian Maphalala, University of Zululand, South Africa

30.

Transforming primary school teachers’ perceptions of the ‘place’ of teaching reading: the role of Reading to Learn methodology Professor Emmanuel Mfanafuthi Mgqwashu, Rhodes University, South Africa Dr Bheka Makhathini, Department of Education, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

50.

The reading habits and practices of undergraduate students at a higher education institution in South Africa: a case study

Professor Elza Venter, University of South Africa, South Africa

74.

An evaluative study on the effect of entrepreneurial education curriculum on students at the University of Venda, South Africa Takalani Radson Musetsho, University of Venda, South Africa Professor Mankolo Xaverine Lethoko, University of Limpopo, South Africa

90.

The value of pair programming in the IT classroom Dr Roxanne Bailey, North-West University, South Africa Professor Elsa Mentz, North-West University, South Africa

104.

Student-centred problem-based learning as a transformative approach to legal education Advocate René Hilary Cheryl-Anne Koraan, North-West University, South Africa

114.

Doctoral Corner

121.

List of reviewers

Dr Sharita Bharuthram, University of the Western Cape, South Africa

The Independent Journal of Teaching and Learning - Volume 12 (1) / 2017 Formerly The Journal of Independent Teaching and Learning

1 Notes on contributors

Dr Roxanne Bailey is a senior lecturer in Computer Science Education (CSE) in the Faculty of Education Sciences at the North-West University (NWU) (Potchefstroom Campus), South Africa. Roxanne’s research mainly focuses on critical thinking, cooperative learning and self-directed learning and the empowerment of Information Technology teachers. As an emerging researcher, she has received several scholarships (national and international) for her research. (ORCiD: orcid.org/0000-0001-5326-274X) Dr Sharita Bharuthram is a senior lecturer in the Department of English at the University of the Western Cape, South Africa. She coordinates and lectures an Academic Development Module. Her research interest lies with researching and embedding the various academic literacy practices within the different disciplines. Her other areas of research include tutor training and mentoring and assessment practices in higher education. Some of her work has appeared in the South African Journal of Higher Education, Teaching in Higher Education and the British Journal of Educational Technology.

Advocate René Hilary Cheryl-Anne Koraan is a lecturer in the Faculty of Law at North-West University (Potchefstroom Campus). She lectures undergraduate Criminal Law Basic Principles and Specific Crimes. She also lectures the postgraduate Juvenile Justice module in the Child Law LLM. She founded the NWU-Juta Criminal Law Mock Trial competition which gives students in their second- and third- year of Law studies the platform to gain practical experience and enhance their learning experience.

Professor Mankolo Xaverine Lethoko holds the following qualifications: BA Ed (National University of Lesotho); BEd (Hons), MEd, and PhD, all from the University of Pretoria. She has been in the higher education and training sector for 15 years and her capacity ranges from being a lecturer at the University of Pretoria, Head of Research and Publications at Regenesys Management and Senior Lecturer at the University of Limpopo. She is currently Acting Director for the Turfloop Graduate School of Leadership.

Dr Jacqueline Lück is the Head of the Department of Applied Language Studies at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University. She lectures modules on Critical Discourse Analysis, Language Acquisition, Academic Literacies and Language, Ideology, Discourse and Identity. Her research interests are Language and Knowledge, Academic Literacies and Language and Identity.

Dr Bheka Makhathini is the KwaZulu-Natal Education Department Curriculum Director.

The Independent Journal of Teaching and Learning - Volume 12 (1) / 2017 Formerly The Journal of Independent Teaching and Learning

2 Professor Mncedisi Christian Maphalala is currently full Professor of Curriculum and Instructional Studies at the University of Zululand. He has previously worked as an institutional researcher and associate professor at the University of Witwatersrand and University of South Africa respectively. He has held the post of Visiting Professorship at University of North Dakota in the USA. Professor Elsa Mentz is a professor in Computer Science Education (CSE) and Research Director for the Self-Directed Learning Research Focus Area in the Faculty of Education Sciences at the North-West University (NWU) (Potchefstroom Campus), South Africa. In her endeavours, as an established researcher, she mainly focuses on cooperative learning in CSE as well as the fostering of SDL amongst individuals.

She has received national and international funding for her research projects. Elsa has also been actively involved in the training of IT teachers for the past 14 years. (ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-7267-080X) Professor Emmanuel Mfanafuthi Mgqwashu is an Associate Professor and Head of Education Department at Rhodes University’s Faculty of Education. His fields of expertise are: Higher Education, Applied Language Studies and Literary Studies.

Takalani Radson Musetsho is a lecturer at University of Venda, Department of Business management.

He has a BComm Accounting, Honours in Business Management and a Master of Business Administration (MBA). He has worked as Head of Department in a secondary school and in higher education for 14 years.

Sharon Rudman is a lecturer in the Department of Applied Language Studies at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University. She lectures modules on Language, Ideology, Discourse and Identity, Pragmatics, Language Acquisition and Professional Communication. She is a TESOL trainer. Her research interests are Language, ideology and society. She is a PhD student.

Professor Elza Venter is an educational psychologist and lecturer at Unisa, South Africa, in the Department of Psychology of Education. She has been in the academic environment since 1992, first in Philosophy of Education and now in both Philosophy of Education and Psychology of Education. She is involved in both undergraduate and postgraduate courses.

The Independent Journal of Teaching and Learning - Volume 12 (1) / 2017 Formerly The Journal of Independent Teaching and Learning

3 Editorial Dolina Dowling

In this 12th year of publication it is a pleasure to introduce our online journal. Due to the numerous papers submitted by authors, it was decided to expand so that from this edition, two volumes each year will be published. We are, of course, delighted with the journal’s success, which is due to the support of researchers in education in South Africa and beyond. It is our desire that the journal continues to play a part in contributing to the further development of education and thereby an enhanced learning experience for the youth in South Africa in particular.

In this volume, 12(1) of 2017, the journal appears to comprise an eclectic bunch of articles, for example, there are articles on the pedagogy of reading, entrepreneurship curriculum, teacher education, and language, discourse and power. However, when considered through the lens of learner performance in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), the quality of teaching and learning, low graduate throughput rates, students graduating to unemployment and issues of access and transformation, each of the articles in some way addresses these wider issues. For instance, unless children learn to read fluently and with comprehension, they do not have the opportunity to be successful in STEM subjects or to access higher education with success whether it be in STEM or any other disciplinary area.

The first article contributes to the debate about transformation in higher education, in particular inclusiveness. It is of special importance in the light of the #Feesmustfall protests of the last two years.

After ensuring that first-year language students at a higher education institution understand the role of ideology and discourses in society, the authors conducted a case study in which language and discourse are deconstructed. Their study show how racial assumptions can be explored in a non-threatening manner.

One finding is that issues of identities mostly remain reflective of the pre-1994 state. However, the authors also found that through using such discourses a more nuanced understanding of ‘the other’ can emerge.

This is a promising approach for the deconstruction of long-held beliefs and which could be used as a foundation for further work on ideologies and identities.

The notion of ‘classrooms as learning communities’ is discussed in the second article. The authors argue that to create such a learning environment, teachers need to be facilitators and so work alongside the learners to create knowledge together.

The next two articles deal with reading literacy, one at the learning to read stage and the other regarding the effects of poor reading literacy at the higher education level. In the former, the authors are concerned with underprivileged children in deep rural schools and how this underprivilege continues from the home

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4 to the school. In order to break this cycle the authors conducted research using Rose’s Reading to Learn methodology to determine the extent to which this enables children to become readers. The results of the case study show that this pedagogical approach to reading is successful and can ameliorate many of the inherent disadvantages faced by learners in underprivileged rural schools.

In the following article the author also engages with reading but this time from the perspective of first-year students in a higher education institution. She discusses the negative impact that poor reading literacy has on students’ achievement as they undertake higher education study. She recommends that lecturers need to acknowledge the challenges facing their students, develop and implement innovative mechanisms to encourage reading and thereby academic success.

Learner success as discussed in the articles thus far cannot be achieved without good teachers. Teacher education curriculum needs to be both robust and rigorous to ensure that teachers graduate with the knowledge, skills and attributes to be good teachers. In the next article the author considers the curriculum both in traditional teacher education and in that of an open distance learning (ODL) environment. She found that while both have similar components, interactive digital communication technologies are needed and used much more in the ODL environment. She concludes with a number of recommendations that would improve teacher education and which apply to both traditional teacher education and ODL environments.

The last three articles are concerned with the curricula and pedagogy in higher education. In the first in this cluster, the author through a case study investigates the value of the entrepreneurship curriculum offered by a university in preparing students to start their own businesses. The study yielded generally positive results but also provided a number of recommendations that could be introduced to improve entrepreneurial activity with success after graduation.

In her research into the use of pair programming in teaching IT, the author found that this pedagogy with its collaborative approach to learning strengthened learners’ skills, such as critical thinking, programming and social interaction. This should lead to enhanced success in a STEM subject not only at school but would also contribute to promoting access with success in higher education. This increases the likelihood of graduates having the necessary knowledge, skills and competence to be successful in their chosen profession.

In the final article, the thorny issue of the current LLB degree programme not producing graduates ready for legal practice is addressed. The author proposes that rather than extend the LLB programme a different pedagogical approach could be used to good effect; i.e. student-centred problem-based learning. This would be achieved through the introduction of Moot Courts in all LLB programmes. In this way students would apply their knowledge as well as the other skills necessary for legal practice. The author recognises that due to the high number of law students, this could only be implemented once per year in the degree programme but considers that this would be sufficient for students to graduate ready for professional legal practice.

A further innovation in the journal is the introduction of Doctoral Corner in which abstracts of recent doctoral graduates in education are presented. This is useful for a number of reasons. The most important of which are that it provides a forum for the showcasing of doctoral graduates’ research. This, in turn, provides researchers and practitioners with the opportunity to access cutting-edge research in their disciplinary field, which may be of benefit in their area of work.

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5 Identity, ideology and discourse: Classroom spaces for deconstructions and reconstructions1 Jacqueline Lück, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, South Africa Sharon Rudman, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, South Africa

ABSTRACT South African student identity, constructions of the other and experiences in higher education have been the subject of many studies and examine how students are making sense of their past, present and future.

Student-led actions have played a leading role in South Africa’s democratisation and their social movements continue to shake their elders out of inertia on issues of inclusion in higher education. In response to concerns of inclusion, this study examined the potential foregrounding of ideology through theory and practicals to uncover the workings of language and discourse. Using a qualitative methodological case study of first-year students, the workings of ideology and discourse are made explicit through lectures, tutorials, individual and multi-lingual group narratives. With this background students are prompted to make explicit, and start critically examining the validity of common assumptions of particular language groups. This study shows that when students are given opportunities to make their assumptions of identities explicit in a safe space, they largely remain reflective of apartheid ideological assumptions. The paper argues that such a first step, of foregrounding assumptions, then creates a basis for class work on ideologies and their workings, thus providing students with tools for critical deconstructions of assumptions.1 Keywords: discourse, ideology, identity, safe space, third space, common sense assumptions, language

INTRODUCTION Language is the medium in which one, as an individual and collectively as a society, tries to make sense of the world around one and one’s place therein. It follows then that the meaning created in language will, in application, manifest in a material manner in the way in which individuals live and in the social conventions recognised as accurate interpretations of truth and reality: in Foucauldian terms, a ‘discourse’.

Foucault (1981) argues that a discourse forms a framework within which a particular society or sector of society is compelled to function and that, as such, reflects relationships of power within that society.

Fairclough (2001: 64) concurs with Foucault, describing discourse as a ‘…practice not just of representing the world, but of signifying the world, constituting and constructing the world in meaning’. In consequence, a particular discourse or set of discourses reveals much about the particular society or context in which it occurs.

1 Date of submission: 30 November 2015 Date of acceptance: Initial - 10 August 2016

Final - 24 January 2017

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6 In South Africa, discourses reveal a society that remains fragmented and racialized. It is a society that continues to be characterised by structural and institutional inequalities. Badat (2015: 7) argues that it is ‘…time to learn, listen and to hear what causes the bitterness, pain and anger…’ in South African discourses. He stresses the need for empathy and the interrogation of transformative processes and institutions in South Africa. One way of responding to such a call is through the creation of spaces in higher education where students can interrogate how discourses operate and critically deconstruct and reconstruct persistent discourses and ideologies.

This study seeks to probe the role of language, discourse and embedded ideologies in the perception of identity among South African first-year students at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University enrolled in a language studies course. It examines the potential ideological contribution in the form of common sense assumptions in the construction of own identity as well as in the perception of identity regarding those from different language groups. It also poses the question whether possible shifts could occur with an awareness of such discourses. By means of formal lectures, reflection, group discussions and a group research task, first-year students interrogate language, discourse and the embedded ideologies in the construction of their own linguistic identities and those of other South Africans. Students are introduced to the concept of ideology through a lens of common sense assumptions, and thus as a specific interpretation of reality which forms a framework within which a particular society is compelled to function.

The language studies course foregrounds discourses as language in use which embodies ideologies which are unknowingly sustained and reproduced by users of those discourses (Fairclough, 2001). The paper presents preliminary findings of a longitudinal study on the potential of foregrounding ideologies and discourses in a language studies course in order to encourage critical analysis of own identities and construction of other language users.

BACKGROUND South African higher education students have shown with the #Feesmustfall movement that the ‘born-free’ narrative is not their story to tell. Essentially, the moniker of born-free has positioned South Africans born post-1994 as unburdened by the separatist policies of the South African past and thus able to live their lives freely and equally (Mattes, 2011). However, the narratives of students have been of structures and cultures that continue to constrain them. This has led to a national social movement of student protests for free decolonised education and university outsourced worker rights. Thus, reconciliatory and rainbow (a metaphor for an inclusive and united South Africa) discourses have been superseded by discourses of disenchantment with the enduring structural and cultural inequalities in higher education and society at large. Naidoo (2016: 2) argues that the student movement is ‘forcing an awareness of a time when things are not this way’. Racialized discourses also persist as could be seen in the description by students of a university vice chancellor as black but not understanding the plight of students during the #Feesmustfall protests. Alexander (2002) states that racialized descriptors persist because South Africans have not interrogated race and that the four nation thesis of racial descriptors of Black, Indian, White and Coloured persist in official discourse. This study’s findings will show that this is still evident today.

Students find themselves in higher educational settings that have widened access to all (DHET, 2001).

However, students are experiencing neither academic nor social universal inclusion in the academy (Badat, 2010). Of significance for this study are student encounters of environments that still ‘other’ students on the basis of indigenous languages. Ramphele’s (1995) argument that the hegemony of English in higher education acting as a gatekeeper to academic success, can be extended to the status quo in higher education, and this despite a national multilingual policy promulgated 14 years ago (DHET, 2002). The student movement has opened up dialogue about the slow pace of transformation in higher The Independent Journal of Teaching and Learning - Volume 12 (1) / 2017 Formerly The Journal of Independent Teaching and Learning

7 education and the country, the discourses of privilege surrounding different linguistic groups and the implementation of the language policy in higher education. Soudien et al. (2008) in what has come to be known as the Soudien Report, found that discrimination and exclusion were still unpalatable realities in higher education and spoke of the time being a critical moment to deal with discrimination. Despite the many lofty recommendations of the report, the disjuncture between policy and implementation in higher education remains (DHET, 2015). Higher education finds itself at such a Copernican moment again and for academics the question is how to teach through this moment (Soudien, 2015). This study is attempting to provide one response of teaching and talking back to discrimination and exclusion via classroom spaces.

Spaces (physical or metaphysical) have played a significant role in the higher education landscape. These spaces have been argued to be alienating and untransformed (Badat, 2010; Soudien Report, 2008). This study engages with spaces and seeks to provide safe spaces as well as third spaces to encourage critical deconstructions and reconstructions of the other.

The researchers of this study would argue that spaces that are safe, yet disrupt, in a South African higher education context are necessary precisely because of a past that endures into the present and is resistant to change. It is also necessary for articulation of the transformative issues at the heart of student protests.

An argument against safe space is that a space may not be safe if issues of de-privileging are at the heart of the discussion and can verge from a softly approach to a too combative one (Rinehart, Barbour & Pope, 2013). Barrett (2010) advocates a space that is characterised by civility for one another, and this may counter Rinehart et al.’s (2013) caveat, but we would go one step further and argue for a space that is humanising in its essence. This is one that recognises the humanity of others through self-reflection and seeing oneself as tied to others whilst empathising (Nussbaum, 1997), and therefore is marked by the shifts and agency needed for democratic and transformative processes.

This study used safe spaces in conjunction with the notion of third spaces as a way of reconstructing a space as one that encourages not only story telling of discomfort but also of reflection, shifts, agency and healing, reconstruction and redesign (Janks, 2010). Third space has its origins with Lefevre who spoke of an alternative way of seeing, making sense and agency (Soja, 1996). A third other evolves to disrupt and reconstruct binaries (Soja, 1996; Bhabha, 1994). Student reconstructions on language, identity and ideology can be conceptualised as a third space as they disrupt taken for granted assumptions to a new reconstituted other. The study data findings reported are students’ preliminary narratives and largely constitute the two binary opposites of essentialised descriptions. However, the data findings do begin to show the power of this space in the shifts towards a third other in the deconstruction of student own assumptions.

McKinney (2007), McKinney and Norton (2007) and Soudien (2012) show the discomfort students have with the interrogation of race or the South African past, and thus this research endeavoured to give firstyear students a safe space to do this interrogation. It does this by positioning their reflections on discourse and ideologies as related to linguistic identities. This is not to avoid an honest engagement with race as is necessary but rather to proceed from a space which allows both voices of disenfranchised and voices of privilege a forum on which to start their engagement. The focus is also on linguistic identities as this is a language studies module. The issue of race emerges naturally as race and linguistic identity are conflated in the discourses in South Africa. This is because language, along with gender, class, ethnicity and xenophobia, is intertwined with discrimination and used to justify and reproduce it (Soudien Report 2008: 8).

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8

THEORETICAL UNDERPINNINGS More than two decades have passed since South Africa turned its back on the institutionalised racism of the apartheid regime and embraced democracy, including a constitution explicitly opposed to racism and, indeed, discrimination of any kind. In spite of this, it appears that in many cases, apartheid ideologies regarding race still determine common sense assumptions about identity. This reality was reflected in a classroom discussion among English Language Studies first-year students during a module on the nature of language. The focus of the discussion was the perception of identity with regard to an individual’s language usage or language grouping in the context of South Africa. The ideas voiced by the students to a large extent reflected ideologies of race and culture reminiscent of apartheid South Africa, along with a parallel desire to ‘move on’ from the past and its racist connotations. These conflicting ideologies are reflective of the contradictions characteristic of the South African context as a whole. In (Post) Apartheid conditions, Hook (2013: 5) suggests that the chronological progress of South Africa from an apartheid state to post-apartheid democracy is not always reflected in the lived experience of everyday life but rather that ‘…everyday South African experience is characterized by historical dissonance, by the continuous juxtaposition of forward- and backward-looking temporalities’. Similarly, Forde (2011: 226) states that there is no longer one South Africa, but several, ‘…each one a product of various pasts and presents…’ and each of which is ‘…tangled up in the process of trying to forge an identity somewhere between the old and the new’.

It is not surprising that language within such a context would reflect the many paradoxes within our society, and yet the ideological inconsistencies inherent within the discourse of our students prompted much reflection on our part as lecturers. It appeared that much of the stereotypical thought on race, as promoted in apartheid times, had been uncritically taken on board by students whilst simultaneously seeing themselves as part of the ‘new’ generation of post-apartheid South Africans. The language module on language, identity and ideology was developed with the twin goals of developing critical thinking in students as well as gaining insight into the workings of ideology in the construction of identity among them.

Fairclough (2001) suggests that a study which attempts to analyse or examine discourses should recognise three dimensions of discourse, namely text, interaction and context. According to Fairclough (2001: 20), a text may be either written or spoken and is ‘…simply what is said in a piece of spoken discourse’.

Fairclough’s (1989) discourse model consists of three inter-related dimensions of discourse: object of analysis (including verbal, visual or verbal and visual texts); processes by means of which the object is produced and received (writing/ speaking/designing and reading/listening/viewing by human subjects) and socio-historical conditions which govern these processes. For the purposes of this longitudinal study, both written and spoken texts were used as data. However, although this is part of the present research as a case study, it does not comprise the only focus area. While drawing discursively and diachronically on perceived changes or modifications in the way that individuals ‘identify’, this will feed into the overall understanding of discourse as it relates to identity.

South African critical linguist Janks’ (2010) critical literacy synthesis model of power, diversity, access, design and redesign speaks to deconstructions and reconstructions of discourse. Power refers to the way language is used to maintain or disrupt existing forms of power; diversity to how others are included or excluded; access to knowledge, and design and redesign to the shaping and reshaping of meaningmaking texts (Janks, 2010).

The focus of the language studies module was to assist students to identify and foreground ideology and the common sense assumptions embedded in their discourse, hereby presenting an opportunity to assess critically that which they generally take for granted.

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9 Ideology, as an interpretive lens which an individual uses in making sense of the world, determines what is taken for granted as ‘truth’ or ‘normal’ (Belsey, 1980). Ideological assumptions underlie the production and the interpretation of language as discourse (Fairclough, 2001). In the process of producing language one references a particular interpretation of reality, assuming that the receiver will use the same set of perceptions to interpret the message accurately. Locke (2004: 5) speaks of this assumption as a ‘sensemaking story’, an understanding of reality and truth which acts as a backdrop to any interaction between individuals within a particular society or sector of society. These assumptions are presented in the guise of common sense, which Belsey (1980) describes as that which one takes for granted and perceives to be obvious or natural, not only to oneself but to also to those around one. In this way ideology - in the disguise of common sense - presents itself simply as truth.

It is the sinister manner in which ideology works which ensures not only its perpetuation but the loyal and unquestioning adherence of its subjects. In his explanation of the workings of ideology, Althusser compares ideology to the unconscious, saying that there is ‘…an organic link between the two propositions…’

(1971: 161). Indeed, there appear to be very salient similarities in the way that both concepts function. As ideology presents itself simply as reality, it remains hidden in the same way that matters in the unconscious remain hidden. Despite this, both the unconscious and ideology influence the actions and speech of the individual and it is in this material manifestation that both become tangible. Therefore, it is in the careful examination of language in use, or discourse, that we find the potential to expose ideologies.

This, however, is not as simple as it may seem. Ideology, as a particular interpretation of reality, is embedded in one’s use of language and it is for this reason that Foucault (1981) ascribes an existence to discourse itself, separate (independent) to that of its users. In the opening passages of his inaugural lecture, The Order of Discourse, Foucault (1981) completely reverses the idea of a speaker using language as an instrument, implying that it is in fact language as discourse which uses the speaker to perpetuate the inherent ideologies whilst he/she remains oblivious to the role they are fulfilling.

Bourdieu (1977: 72) states that ‘It is because subjects do not, strictly speaking, know what they are doing that what they do has more meaning than they know’. Ideology, embedded in discourse, generally remains invisible because we tend to think of language as a tool with which we can express our ideas, misguidedly overlooking the fact that ideas and ideologies are already inscribed into the very language we use. As Belsey (1980: 42) explains, ‘The differences it (language) constructs may seem to be natural, universal and unalterable when in reality they may be produced by a specific form of social organization’.

Fairclough (2001: 64) states that ‘…in discourse we routinely draw upon conventions which embody ideological assumptions which come to be taken as mere “common sense” and which contribute to sustaining existing power relations’. Of course, whilst the common sense assumptions which underlie our language remain unexamined, ideology is safe from critical considerations and thus the adage that ideology is ‘…most effective when its workings are least visible’ (Fairclough, 2001: 71).

The objective of the language studies module is to foreground ideologies embedded within language as regards identity in the South African context, and thus to initiate critical deconstructions among students.

In order for students to develop a consciousness about concepts which they have taken for granted, the relevant common sense ideas related to a particular ideology must be moved from the implicit to the explicit realm. This enables critical reflection and thus the opportunity for the individual to make a conscious assessment of their validity (Fairclough, 2001).

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY Methodology (as a justification of methods) is intricately interwoven with epistemology (theory of knowledge) and ontology (theory of being). Therefore, a methodology presupposes an understanding of

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10 the ‘objects’ of research – in this case, students as linguistic beings - and the means/way of knowing them – in this case, through their discourse.

Qualitative Case Study A qualitative methodological approach was used for this study as it is an approach whereby researchers enter a natural world (Locke, Spirduso & Silverman, 2007) to discover the nature of human interaction, as a way of explaining the world (Henning, 2004). Further, a case study approach was selected so that the phenomenon of ideologies as embedded within language of the specific case of first-year higher education students could be revealed in rich detail (Swanborn, 2010). As explained by both Yin (2003) and Baxter and Jack (2008), a case study is useful for examining a phenomenon which is closely related to, and difficult to separate from, its context. This study examined aspects of ideology and identity as reflected by the discourses of the group of students within the context of post-apartheid South Africa. The context of this study was therefore essentially part of the aspects to be studied.

The case of first-year South Africans students was chosen for this study as they experience the first year of higher education to be particularly challenging because of the articulation gap between schools and higher education; they are confronted with social inclusion issues in the academy for the first time and for some it is the first time they inhabit similar spaces with other linguistic groups (Scott, Ndebele, Badsha, Figaji, Geyers & Pityana, 2013). Many schools have remained linguistically homogenous largely owing to historical reasons of position and access to resources.

The research site was a higher education setting, the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, which is a comprehensive university established in 2005 from a merger of three institutions and offers both vocational diploma and conceptual degree programmes. The students surveyed were first-year degree students enrolled in an English language studies course. The core content of modules in this course is English grammar, multilingualism, language, identity and ideology, and emotive language forms. Student narratives were part of the language, identity and ideology module.

The Language Studies Module and Data Collection Data reported on in this study comes from one of three tasks done in the English Language Studies class module. The first-year language studies module had an enrolment of 500 first-year BA General, BA Psychology, B Education and B Administration students, but for this study a random sample of 100 tasks was analysed.

The module, entitled Language, Ideology and Identity, covered one term of seven weeks. The course content included lectures and tutorials. Lectures covered the theoretical aspects of language, ideology and identity using post-structural theoretical lenses and drawing on African scholars like Fanon, Janks and Banda as well as others such as Fairclough, Belsey and Locke. Students engaged in small group discussions in tutorials, applying the theoretical constructs to a variety of texts, plays and films. The lectures and tutorials were set with the goal of prompting reflection and discussion among the students, who were a diverse mix of students (predominantly isiXhosa and English mother tongue speakers with Afrikaans and other indigenous languages to a lesser extent), reflective of the broader Eastern Cape province.

The lectures specifically dealt with the concept and nature of language as discourse, enabling the students to understand the hidden ideologies within their use of language. This commenced with the Saussurean explanation of language as a system of signs, the nature of the sign being arbitrary, conventional, relational and differential (De Saussure, 1983). Structural linguist de Saussure’s theory on language as a signifying system was taken as starting point but as his theory may seem to view meaning as fixed (Baxter, 2016), lecturers moved on to a poststructuralist view of meaning and truth being temporary. The theme

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11 of language as a perception of reality was developed through the introduction of the concept of common sense assumptions which, although implicit, determine one’s understanding of the world and one’s actions (Fairclough, 2001).

Students were given time in class to reflect on common sense assumptions made about people in their own language group as well as those made about people in the various other language groups mentioned in class. Students then anonymously wrote their ideas on a piece of paper and handed these in at the end of class. This prompted the students to start considering the common sense assumptions made about their own and other identity/ies within the South African context. In addition, this formed part of the strategy to disturb common sense deliberately through an intervention – one of the strategies, suggested by Fairclough (2001) in which common sense can be foregrounded. In the subsequent sessions, the connection between common sense and perception of identity was developed. The identity one owns for oneself, as well as those which one ascribes to others, is determined to a large extent by the resources within the discourse of the society in which one finds oneself. This is in line with the Lacanian view as described by Lee (1990) that the individual’s entry into the realm of language constitutes an important element in the construction of identity. Identity as fluid, multiple and a social practice, constructed by relationships, negotiated and renegotiated (Norton, 2010), as imposed and assumed (Ferris, Peck & Banda, 2014) were discussed in the final lecture sessions.

In this light, students were asked to consider individually the identity they assumed for themselves through the use of language and to reflect on this and write down their thoughts. They were also asked to consider the manner in which they positioned themselves linguistically within the South African context in terms of the language groups with which they aligned themselves and those from which they felt alienated.

Students were then asked to reflect within the South African context on the common sense assumptions made about groups - their own and other groups – thus returning to the principle of a signifier being valueladen. They also reflected on the validity of addressing ideology and identity, from their point of view, of those assumptions.

Data reported on here were gathered from the anonymous class feedback on common sense assumptions as well as from the first of three tasks in this section. This task requires students to hand in a written narrative in which they identify a language group of which they see themselves as a member, and to comment on the validity of common sense assumptions made about this group. Thereafter, the student needs to identify a language group in which they do not feel comfortable, mention common sense assumptions about that group and then discuss the validity of those assumptions from their point of view. The ensuing task for this section comprised a summary of group discussions on aspects of the course whilst the third section, prompting critical thought on the core aspects of the course, was again done individually as a narrative. The assessment for all three tasks depended on participation and students were given a mark for submission and relevance only.

Validity and Reliability Validity and reliability considerations usually apply to quantitative data while trustworthiness and credibility apply to qualitative data. Validity refers to the ability of an instrument to measure what it set out to measure while reliability is when study findings and conclusions can be replicated (Gray, 2009). Concerns of trustworthiness and credibility, authenticity and richness of detail (Basit, 2010) were addressed through triangulation of multiple data collection methods in the longitudinal study. These include three student narratives and two focus group sessions. This particular report focuses only on the first two student narratives.

It was possible that the discussions in this module may have caused some discomfort and even communication breakdown and miscommunication. It was therefore vital to obtain ethical clearance that The Independent Journal of Teaching and Learning - Volume 12 (1) / 2017 Formerly The Journal of Independent Teaching and Learning

12 addressed concerns of participant anonymity, informed consent and provided guidance and information about counselling services available during the data collection period. The latter was to assist students who may have felt traumatised through the remembering of past events.

Data Analysis The discourse analysis approach of Janks (2010) framed the data analysis of this study. This approach was discussed in the literature review above. Data was coded according to Janks’ (2010) critical literacy synthesis model of power relations in discourse, assumptions about diversity, access in terms of exclusion and inclusion, deconstructions and reconstructions (redesign) frame the analysis of the data. Janks’s (2005) linguistic rubric was also used in the analysis of the data to consider linguistic features such as lexicalisation (word selection), relexicalisation (renaming) and pronouns to illustrate the linguistic choices and positioning of each other.

FINDINGS Whilst asked firstly to state assumptions made about a language group, students were also asked to provide input from their own perception regarding the validity of those assumptions. The following emerged as the strongest themes.

Power relations and diversity The conflation of race and linguistic groups Firstly, the conflation of race and linguistic groups emerged clearly in the data. In many cases, certain language groups were assumed to be of a particular racial group – even when, in reality, more than one racial identity could historically be attributed to that group. However, in the student narratives, a particular racial group was immediately linked to a particular language. For example:

All coloured people are Afrikaans [speakers]

All white South Africans can speak Afrikaans.

Also linking language and race, a student stated that there was the assumption that a Black person can’t speak English or can’t speak the language well, that all Black people living within the Eastern Cape can speak Xhosa.

In many additional similar statements, it became clear that – to a large extent – language and race were presumed to be closely related and, in many instances, inseparable and also determined power relations of not having proficiency in languages of power.

Persistence of common sense assumptions Common sense assumptions regarding diverse language /racial groups appeared to persist among young South Africans. These assumptions, as reflected in the narratives, essentialised diverse linguistic groups as displaying similar behaviour: ‘They behave differently’ in opposition to ‘us’. The discourse positioned groups as other ‘they’, a pronoun that suggests othering and exclusion. Foregrounding ideas as those held by society at large about the other, the narratives often seamlessly flowed into expressions of personal opinion based upon the foundation of those assumptions: Xhosa people are sometimes too sensitive and they love acting like victims. They see every little thing as racism. They often use Apartheid as an excuse for everything. The majority of black people are thugs and I am scared of them.

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13 In this case, black people had been relexicalised as ‘thugs’. In these types of statements one can clearly see evidence of Locke’s (2004: 5) notion of ‘sense-making stories’ – of the persistence of reference to an ideologically constructed background for interactions between people.

It was not only in constructing the identity of the ‘other’, but also in construction of their own identities that students appeared to take into account the common sense assumptions made about them as a member of a particular language group. Examining ideological assumptions held about themselves as a member of a language /racial group, a student wrote: Coloured and Afrikaans People of Afrikaans descent who attempt to speak English but have a strong accent are commonly seen as unintelligent…

Tensions and contradictions emerged in the questioning of students as to who they were, which stereotypes they held and who they should be: Assumptions are that Black people make up the most people in prison and are the highest abusers of welfare, of a lower intelligence yet in the highest positions, well known for patronage and corruption – these assumptions could be another myth or a misconception or factual, it is infuriating, depressing and demeaning all at once.

This student was here examining ideological assumptions held about themselves – an exercise which could potentially have moved them into a critical examination of those that they held unconsciously about others.

Of course, students responded in different ways to the ideologies which came to the fore in voicing common sense assumptions. There were those who, in constructing their own identity, appeared to embrace the marker of being tied to a particular group, rather than take on a less essentialised identity marked by primarily being ‘South African’:

I’m not a woman in South Africa but rather an Afrikaner Coloured woman in South Africa.

The persistence of the past Another clear theme which emerged was the tendency to link language groups to a racialized apartheid past: Afrikaans is associated with the period of Apartheid and therefore links to a time when Black people were oppressed by the ‘Afrikaans Boere’.

And The assumption is that it [Afrikaans] is a language of apartheid and that everyone that speaks it is racist.

Past socio-historic perceptions persisted, sometimes leading to the perception of an insurmountable barrier between different language/racial groups: The Afrikaans language group is a language group that I do not see myself as being part of. This is because I am Black and a sad reality in our society is that racism will never die.

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14

ost Afrikaans speaking people are so rude and racist I wouldn’t like to be one, just imagine hating M another race group because of their colour or language.

These perceptions are, as explained by Belsey (1980: 42), particularly resilient because of the assumption that they are based upon truth and not opinion, thus ‘natural, universal and unalterable’.

Persistence of common sense assumptions Power relations were evident in the perception of English mother tongue speakers and those who were similarly proficient in this language as higher status. Interestingly, English speakers were constructed more in terms of the language being of high status than tied to racialized descriptors and assumptions. This may be linked to perceptions of English as the language of economic empowerment. Assumptions were that English speakers were ‘highly educated’, ‘high up on the social ladder’, ‘more intelligent’ and even ‘exemplary to other races’ in contrast to a racist Afrikaner, or loud and uncompromising isiXhosa. The narratives also showed the tendency among students to ascribe differing linguistic identities to those who shared the same mother tongue (not English), but spoke English in a particular way: A guy from the location may be intimidated by a student who speaks English in a different way or in a different accent. Usually it may come across as though he/she is more educated or knowledgeable...

But also Xhosa speakers come across snobbish as they have an extra flair when they speak English with a British accent, they come across as pretentious and fake.

These comments clearly reflect the validity of Fairclough’s (2001) claim that ideological conventions hidden in language, serve to perpetuate existing power relations. Whilst these ideas remain implicit and taken-forgranted, it is unlikely that they would be interrogated. However, once these common sense assumptions are made explicit, the student is then able to assess critically the validity of such ideas.

Related to this theme of power and status were the assumptions students made between language groups and social class. A student stated that Afrikaans speaking people are …rich, they have cars at a very young age whereas we have to buy our own…. the majority of students with cars are the white students…

These comments again refer to the concept of ‘sense-making stories’ (Locke 2004: 5) and, in this sense, may speak to underlying tensions of inclusion based on class in higher education.

Access Exclusion and Inclusion Students, on the whole, expressed an awareness of their access to those from ‘other’ groups. Group social experiences on university campus were with own and not diverse linguistic groups: On campus we have different groups; these groups are clustered according to the language in which that particular group speaks. We consciously and unconsciously limit the social interactions …

And People tend to form friendship groups with those people that they share common identities, according to race, language and ethnicity. This is because each group has its assumptions about the other groups…

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15 when we are assigned a group work, Whites, Coloureds and Indians hardly take the opinions of the blacks. The assumption that Blacks are not creative thinkers and they are not good problem solvers than other racial group. On the other hand, Blacks assume that Whites …discriminate against others in terms of race. This causes fear within ourselves to get involved with other social groups, because in most cases assumptions kicks in our minds when we see other groups.

By simply acknowledging their limited exposure to those considered ‘different’, students were implicitly implying the unexamined nature of their assumptions about one another. This in itself should, if reflected on (as is prompted in the subsequent tasks in this module) provide reason to interrogate the validity of the ‘sense making stories’ (Locke 2004: 5) uncritically accepted as truth but are, as is shown here, based upon assumptions rather than experience.

DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS The students’ readiness to share their thoughts was an encouraging indication that the module and the feedback mediums had provided a space in which they were able to express themselves in a reasonably open and honest manner. This could be due to the fact that, instead of racial markers, language groups were used and so the instinctive, and often defensive, responses relating to discussions on race in South Africa were avoided. However, race does emerge due to the conflation of language and race. Additionally, the data used was taken from the individual written feedback, which was marked only for relevance to the topic, and this allowed the students to state their own personal perceptions without fear of recrimination or disapproval.

It is clear in the data that many students continue to see linguistic groups as strongly tied to racialized categories. In this sense, common sense assumptions regarding a particular linguistic group are largely determined by the perception of the racial identity of the speakers in that group. Ideologies inherent in the assumptions indicate that South African youth have inherited many of the practices of racial categorisation characteristic of the apartheid era.

Students were able to verbalise the assumptions made about their own language group as well as the groups to which they themselves do not relate. In many cases, it was clear that the binary nature of apartheid society is still reflected in the construction of ‘us’ and ‘them’. Discourses, as Gee (2014: 184) states, ‘…are ways of recognising and getting recognised’ and in the student discourses it was often clear that recognition depended upon racial identity.

In some cases, when considering the validity of the assumptions, students embraced a critical approach, rejecting the stereotypical identity imposed upon them or others as a consequence of their language/ racial grouping. This could be because of the input in the module concerning the ideological nature of language prompting students to reconsider the assumptions they had previously taken for granted. On the other hand, it could be an indication of a pre-existing critical approach which these students had already developed before the module. Either way, it is an indication that a sector of the students are indeed prepared to engage critically with the concept of racial stereotyping, reflecting a partial trend towards the transformation we desire for the South African population. Student movements in 2015 and 2016 have indicated that the higher education transformation project has failed in South Africa and this may indicate a willingness to engage critically and rigorously with issues of identity and ideology.

In many other instances, students affirmed allegiance to the ideologies inherent within the common sense assumptions, indicating that perception of identity in South Africa is still, to a large degree, tied to racial categories and that related ideas are uncritically taken on and owned by the youth. Not only does this imply that racist assumptions are still alive and well within South African discourse, but also that society

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16 itself will continue to reflect these ideologies. As mentioned in the introduction, discourse not only reflects reality but also creates reality and meaning (Fairclough, 2001). As language is the medium in which one make sense of the world around one, it is also the medium which imposes that meaning or understanding upon the world around one. If racist ideologies continue to be uncritically reflected in language, then one can be sure that those ideologies will continue to play out in the larger arena of all human interaction in our society, including the institutional culture of higher education institutions. No matter the rhetoric or policies or good intentions of those committed to transformation, the persistence of contrary ideologies under the cover of language as a neutral medium will ensure a continued resistance to change within large pockets of the population.

The data in this paper has been taken from individual papers, preceded by minimal input on the ideological nature of language. This exercise needs to be followed up by additional readings and reflections on the topic, as well as input on the deconstruction of ideologies. As a next step, we argue that lectures on common sense assumptions and how they arise, an accompanying analysis of discourses, particularly in South African contexts, in class and the multilingual group work assignment would give students opportunities to work together on their assumptions in an attempt to deconstruct these. A final narrative would require students to respond to the question of whether or not, over the period of the module and group discussions, they have had anything challenge/change how they think of the identities of their own linguistic groups and others; and if the content and their reflections influence the way they thought about language and the way it is used to speak about the identities of others. The researchers have only reported on the data findings of the first two tasks to show how students grapple with the complexities of language, ideology, common sense assumptions and identity. Such critical deconstruction of their own and other discourses could lead to a shifting of discourses and ideologies.

The researchers recognise though that discourses and ideologies are tied to enduring structural inequalities in a neoliberal society and that until there are social and economic reforms, shifts may not be to the full extent that is needed. The potential of our study, however, is in helping to provide students with tools to think through critically their attitudes towards race and identity and, in this way, to prompt them to consider their role in transforming our South African society.

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS This paper has examined the potential of using classroom spaces to deconstruct ideologies and identities, as constructed by common sense assumptions, about language users in South Africa. The study has dealt with the first step in addressing these common sense assumptions – namely, making the implicit explicit, bringing that which functions under the radar into the light of visibility. The study has shown that to a large extent, students still construct identity using common sense assumptions of apartheid ideologies based on race and language. Linguistic groups and race are conflated and power lies in being able, or not able, to speak a high prestige language like English. The study data findings are from students’ preliminary narratives and largely constitute undeconstructed essentialised descriptions. It shows where we are at.

However, through the use of theory and application tasks, these ideologies can be made explicit and brought into the realm of the visible – thus rendering them accessible to interrogation and discussion.

Students have shown in this paper that they are able to recognise common sense assumptions held about themselves, thus creating the potential to move them to deconstruct assumptions about others. Lastly, this study has shown that students engage more openly and find a space safe if discussion centred on linguistic groups rather than the highly charged marker of race. However, students naturally conflate language and race in their discussions.

At present, the mood and discourses of higher education spaces appear to be more alienating than ever.

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17 threaten an even more separatist context in the increased use of racialized discourses. These discourses were present particularly on social media during the student protests in 2015 and 2016. It is thus ever more important to create spaces in which students are able to understand and interrogate their own allegiances to ideologies underlying these matters. In light of the activity and related insights described in this paper, we recommend the following areas for pedagogical implementation and further research:

• In-course modules which, as a part of the curriculum, could enlighten students as to the nature and workings of ideology and the opportunity to apply such theory to the South African context.

• Tools for critical deconstructions, so that these can be used to address assumptions. For instance, those assumptions found in competing discourses within student movements, about an untransformed higher education system and strategies to achieve transformation, can be more meaningfully engaged with if students have the necessary tools.

• Self-reflective tasks, marked only for relevance, which allow students to unpack their own allegiance to ideologies of cultural/ racial/ language identity and interrogate the validity of these according to experience. Such tasks also allow students opportunity to explore their own discomforts within such discourses.

• Humanising spaces in which students from diverse groups are able to address their perceptions of one another in a manner allowing for discussion and empathy.

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Badat, S. (2015) Address at the Commerce Faculty graduation ceremony on the award of an honorary doctorate by Rhodes University. http://www.sahistory.org.za/archive/address-commerce-facultygraduationceremony-saleem-badat-10-april-2015-rhodes-university (Accessed 21 October 2015).

Barrett, B. (2010) ‘Is “safety” dangerous? A critical examination of the Classroom as Safe Space’ The Canadian Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning 1(1) pp.1-12.

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Baxter, P. & Jack, S. (2008) ‘Qualitative case study methodology: Study design and implementation for novice researchers’ The Qualitative Report 13(4) pp.544-559.

Baxter, J. (2016) ‘Positioning language and identity: Poststructuralist perspectives’ In S. Preece (Ed.) Routledge Handbook of Language and Identity pp.34-49. London: Routledge.

Belsey, C. (1980) Critical Practice. London: Routledge.

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18 Bhabha, H. (1994) The location of culture. London: Routledge.

Bourdieu, P. (1977) Outline of a theory of practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

De Saussure, F. (1983) Course in General Linguistics. Bloomsbury Academic: London.

DHET. (2001) National Plan for Higher Education. Pretoria. http://www.info.polity.org.za/polity/ govdocs/misc/higheredu1.htm (Accessed 12 September 2015).

DHET. (2002) Language Policy for Higher Education. November 2002. Ministry of Education. http:// www.info.gov.za/otherdocs/2002/langpolicy.pdf (Accessed 12 September 2015).

DHET. (2015) ‘Remarks in the portfolio committee for Higher Education and Training on Stellenbosch University’ Press Release 07 September 2015. http://www.gov.za/speeches/minister-bladenzimande%E2%80%99s-remarks-portfolio-committee-higher-education-and-training (Accessed 8 September 2015).

Fairclough, N. (1989) Language and power. London: Longman.

Fairclough, N. (2001) Language and power (2nd ed.). Harlow: Longman.

Ferris, F., Peck, A. & Banda, F. (2014) ‘Language and Identity’ In Z. Bock & M. Gift (Eds.) Language, Society and Communication pp.485-492. Cape Town: Van Schaik Publishers.

Forde, F. (2011) An inconvenient Youth: Julius Malema and the ‘New’ ANC. Johannesburg: Picador Africa.

Foucault, M. (1981) The Order of Discourse. Untying the text: a post-structuralist reader. Boston, London & Henley: Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd. Gee, J. (2014) How to do discourse analysis: a toolkit (2nd ed.). London & New York: Routledge.

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19 McKinney. C. (2007) ‘Caught between the “old” and the “new”? Talking about “race” in a post-apartheid university classroom’ Race, Ethnicity and Education 10(2) pp.215-231.

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20 The classrooms as learning communities1 Mnecidisi Christian Maphalala, University of Zululand, South Africa

ABSTRACT Classrooms are sites in which learning takes place through interactions with others and learners are given opportunities to construct knowledge, and to acquire skills, values and attitudes. Classrooms in which learners and teachers learn together and contribute to knowledge construction are called ‘learning communities’. Learning communities as an area of study have been under researched despite the fact that there is a body of research that indicates that learning is a collaborative activity rather than an individual exercise, which brings with it significant benefits. This paper argues that effective learning takes place in a collaborative learning environment in which both teachers and learners work together to construct knowledge, and proposes ways in which classrooms as learning communities can function.1 Keywords: learning community, collaborative learning, community of practice, instructional materials

INTRODUCTION A classroom is a melting pot in which a confluence of ideas is shared and assimilated through interactions with others. A learning community refers to a classroom in which learners and teachers pull together for individual and collective learning. According to Crawford, Krajcik and Marx (1999), the concept of a ‘learning community’ has gained popularity because it creates opportunities in the classroom for learners to collaborate with their peers in problem solving during learning activities. In a learning community, everyone contributes in different ways to the construction of knowledge.

A study conducted by Marzano (1998) cited by Watkins (2005a: 47), arrived at two conclusions about learning: ‘Metacognition is the engine of learning’ so that thinking and reflection are key processes for the classroom; and ‘the self-system appears to be the control center for human behavior’ so that how the classroom engages learners’ beliefs and control is crucial. Classrooms as learning communities aim to embrace both these conclusions.

Classrooms vary in the ways in which they operate, and their variation may be understood in terms of the approach to learning (Watkins, 2005a). A few of these approaches are considered in this discussion.

The first approach, known as the ‘responsive classroom’ approach incorporates the learners’ social and 1 Date of submission: 16 July 2015 Date of acceptance: Initial - 7 July 2016 Final - 4 January 2017

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21 emotional growth into their academic learning. This idea stems from the belief that learners learn best through social interaction. Therefore social and emotional skills should be overtly taught to the learners together with their academic lessons (Rimm-Kaufman, Fan, Chiu & You, 2007).

The second approach considered here is constructivism. According to Ganga and Maphalala (2016), constructivism is a notion that is based on the belief that during the teaching and learning process learners construct their own knowledge and meaning through active learning and mental processes of development. In such an environment, the learner plays an active role in the learning process, and the teacher provides guidance and opportunities for the learner to explore, experiment, discover, conclude, theorise, hypothesise, predict, investigate and invent.

The third approach to learning is Vygotsky’s concept of the zone of proximal development, based on the idea that development is defined both by what learners can do on their own and by what they can do when assisted by a teacher or by a more competent peer (Daniels, 1995; Wertsch, 1991). According to Vygotsky (1978) for the curriculum to be appropriate for the development of the learner, the teacher needs to plan learning activities that incorporate not only what learners can do or learn on their own, but also what they can learn with the help of others (Karpov & Haywood, 1998). As a result, the focus is on cooperative learning activities for groups of children at different levels who can help each other learn.

According to the Center for Mental Health in Schools (2008), effective classrooms are characterised by:

• Positive social climates that personalise contacts and supports, offer accommodation so that all learners have an equal opportunity to learn, adjust class size and groupings to optimise learning, engage learners through dialogue and decision making, incorporate parents in multiple ways, and address social-emotional development.

• Designing and implementing quality instructional experiences that involve learners in decision making; contextualise and make learning authentic, including use of real life situations and mentors; are appropriately cognitively complex and challenging; enhance language/literacy; foster joint student products; extend the time learners engage in learning through designing motivated practice; ensure learners learn how to learn and are prepared for lifelong learning; ensure use of pre-referral intervention strategies; and use advanced technology to enhance learning.

• Modified instruction to meet learners’ needs based on ongoing assessments using measures of multiple dimensions of impact, and learners’ input based on their self-evaluations.

• Teacher collaboration, supported by personalised in-service, consultation, mentoring, grade level teaming, and specialised assistants who provide additional support in the classroom to ensure that learners with special needs are accommodated appropriately.

It is highly likely that teachers adopt various approaches in their classroom practices according to their preferences, usefulness and the contexts in which they find themselves. This paper argues that whichever approach teachers may use in their classrooms, they should view learning as a collaborative rather than an individualistic exercise as advocated by Watkins (2005b), who argues that there has to be a paradigm shift from the notion that learning is individual sense-making toward a new thinking that embraces the view that learning is constructing knowledge through collaboration with others. This is how classrooms can be transformed into communities of learning.

Mindich and Lieberman (2012) argue that in a learning community, learners’ work interdependently, pushing themselves to think constructively about their work. This is in agreement with the earlier study by Scardamalia and Bereiter (1994) who argue that a learning community seeks to advance the collective

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22 acquisition of knowledge in order to support both individual and collective knowledge accumulation.

These assertions position learning as a negotiated process among the individuals in a learning community, and sees individual learning as rooted in the culture within which the individual learns. Prawat and Peterson (1999) cited by Watkins (2005a) believe that social relationships and knowledge creation form an integral part of the learning communities. Individual and collective knowledge are regarded as products of social interaction.

This paper argues that for effective teaching and learning to take place, classrooms must be treated as learning communities in which collaboration amongst and between the learners and their teachers is at the centre of the learning process.

COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE THEORY The community of practice (CoP) theory was proposed by cognitive anthropologists Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger-Treyner in 1998. This theory has its origin in social constructivism, which regards learning as a social process. Lave and Wenger-Treyner (1998) define community of practice as a group of individuals in a particular environment who share a common goal, and then regularly interact and collaborate to attain it together. A classroom, in this case, is a good example of a community of practice as it consists of the three key elements of a community: the domain, the community, and the practice:

• The domain:

Learning is a social activity in which individual learners come together in a classroom because learning requires them to communicate, share ideas and learn from one another. A classroom where learners come together to learn can be referred to as a domain because it is a specified sphere of activity for learning and sharing knowledge, skills and values.

• The community:

When learners come together in a classroom they should then become a community where all the learners collectively learn together and over time everyone should feel accepted as part of the community. In a learning community learners feel safe to learn and contribute to the learning environment.

• The practice:

The engagements amongst the learners and teachers taking place in the classroom therefore becomes a practice because their collaboration results in collective and meaningful learning. In this practice learners engage in various learning activities under the guidance of the teacher who also applies various strategies of teaching informed by different theories and experiences.

On the other hand, Rowlands and Avramenko (2013) provide a distinction between communities of practice and collaborative learning. They posit that a community of practice is easily distinguishable because of its emphasis on the process of learning and building knowledge for all members at both the individual and community level. In a community of practice individual members are allowed to develop and learn collectively, whilst their individual skills and growth are enhanced. When classrooms operate as learning communities, all the learners are engaged in building knowledge under the guidance of the teacher.

According to Watkins (2005a), a community consists of individual members who are active participants, have collective responsibility, a sense of belonging, frequently work together, and embrace divergent thinking. All these critical components of a classroom community will enable sharing of learning experiences The Independent Journal of Teaching and Learning - Volume 12 (1) / 2017 Formerly The Journal of Independent Teaching and Learning

23 amongst the learners, and ensure that they learn from one another in the process of collective construction of new knowledge in an inclusive environment.

Watkins (2005a) identifies four characteristics of a community: agency, belonging, cohesion and diversity.

He argues that these are necessary ingredients for a community to flourish and grow:

• Agency refers to the belief by all members of the community that they can achieve their common goals through working together. In the classroom, learners need to have a strong belief in their collective ability to contribute to the learning environment.

• Belonging refers to the extent to which members of the community or learners in the context of the classroom feel respected, accepted, included and supported.

• Cohesion is the ability of the group to work in unity and the extent to which members are loyal and committed to achieving mutual goals.

• Diversity deals with embracing individual differences such as their beliefs, religions, cultures, etc.

The central ideas in ensuring that classrooms become learning communities are collaboration and active participation of learners in the teaching and learning process. This thinking is informed by the constructivists’ views on learning. Crawford et al. (1999) citing Driver, Asoko, Leach, Mortimer and Scott (1994), observe that the constructivist view on teaching and learning encourages teachers to facilitate learning by actively involving learners in their quest to make meaning of the world around them. They argue that this approach of active construction puts learners at the centre of the learning process, and proposes that the learners should be actively engaged in constructing knowledge by building upon their previous understandings.

Social constructivists argue that engaging learners in meaningful conversations and interactions help learners construct new knowledge, and contributes to building classrooms as learning communities.

The driving principle behind the ‘classrooms as learning communities’ approach is to promote construction of knowledge as a collective community responsibility in which individual learners benefit. This is in direct contrast to the traditional approach to education in which learning was perceived as an individual activity where knowledge is transmitted by the teacher and through textbooks.

According to the social constructivist theory, learners learn best through a knowledge construction process which takes place through social interaction, and not only by assimilating what is taught by the teachers.

Bielaczyc and Collins (2013) argue that for individuals to learn how to construct knowledge, it is necessary that the process is modelled and supported in the surrounding community. This is what occurs in a learning community. For the spirit of a learning community to thrive in the classroom teachers need to create an environment that is physically and emotionally safe for learners to be willing to take risks to learn, and be willing to experiment and try new things.

The learning activities in the classroom should be designed in such a way that learners can support one another’s learning endeavours and encourage ways in which they can work together on their own to solve problems. In this step learners learn to work effectively with others and, one hopes, generalise those skills to situations outside the classroom. It is within the concept of constructivism that practitioners engage in problem solving, making requests for information, seeking the experiences of others, reusing assets, developing coordination and synergy, discussing developments, visiting other members, mapping knowledge and identifying gaps (Lave & Wenger-Treyner, 1998).

Teachers have to make a conscious decision to create learning communities out of their classrooms as they cannot just happen without any effort on their part and the schools. A learning community does not just

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24 happen; it is created intentionally at every level of a school and organisation. Various approaches can be adopted by the schools to create such an environment by establishing core values which will serve to foster and sustain the community practices and activities. These values should be consistently communicated to all the stakeholders in events, at meetings, at home and through newsletters.

The School as a Context for Classrooms The classroom environment is a microcosm of what is happening within the school community at large. The classroom environment is heavily reliant on the school culture. Kaplan and Owings (2013) view school culture as a school’s persona. They argue that school culture is characterised by unwritten rules, beliefs and assumptions that guide the roles of members within a group. The school culture directs interactions, expectations, and behaviours of all the stakeholders, including learners, teachers, parents and education administrators. All the stakeholders shape what happens in the community (the classroom) on a daily basis. Therefore all the activities in the classroom will be affected by the culture of the school community, and its particular forms and features.

Watkins (2005b) concurs that classrooms cannot operate as islands as they are mainly influenced by the culture of the school. He argues that schools as communities provide a context for us to focus on classrooms, and that some schools function more than others as communities. The more schools function as communities, the greater the improvement in the way both learners and teachers perform their respective tasks and responsibilities. If the school culture is collaborative, supportive, caring and accommodating, this is likely to filter down to the classroom. Watkins (2005b) argues that a community of practice should be characterised by cohesion, which is the ability of the group to work in unity, and the extent to which members are loyal and committed to achieving mutual goals.

Elements for building a learning community in a classroom Crawford, et al. (1999) identified six components that are essential in turning classrooms into learning communities:

• Instruction is situated in authentic tasks.

• Learners develop interdependency in small group work.

• Learners and teachers debate ideas and negotiate understanding.

• Learners and teachers publicly share ideas with members of the classroom community.

• Learners collaborate with experts outside the classroom.

• Responsibility for learning and teaching is shared.

There are various ways in which teachers can build a learning community in a classroom. Some of these are considered below.

Building a sense of community A sense of community can be established in a classroom environment that promotes collectivism rather than individualism. The sense of community is achieved through sharing a common goal, active participation, collaboration and constructive dialogue in the classroom. The sense of membership within a learning community is key in ensuring success, which is attained by linking membership to the wider community.

Watkins (2005b) identifies ‘belong’ as one of the characteristics of a community. Belonging refers to the extent to which members of the community, or learners in the context of the classroom, feel respected, accepted, included and supported.

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25 Hittie (2000) argues that learners need to understand that the classroom belongs to everyone, not just the teacher. When learners are encouraged to participate actively in classroom activities their sense of community is enhanced. She argues that this will not happen by accident, but teachers need to make a concerted effort to involve learners in classroom activities. Teachers are challenged to build a collaborative culture and discourage a competitive culture in their classrooms. The creation of a supportive and collaborative learning environment by the teachers in the classroom will improve learner satisfaction, increase a sense of belonging, and instil a spirit of camaraderie amongst the learners. This may include giving opportunities to learners to formulate rules that will guide their behaviour in the classroom.

Instilling a commitment to learning Learners need to put more effort into their learning, to stay focused and keep on working hard, even in the face of difficulties, until they master what they are supposed to learn. In order to achieve this, teachers need to motivate learners.

Giani and O’Guinn (2010) contend that motivation should look at the child holistically, focusing on the physical, emotional, cognitive and social aspects which propel an individual’s desire and commitment toward reaching a particular goal even in the face of adversity. Commitment and motivation to learn in the classroom community should not only come from the teacher, but learners themselves should be sensitised to motivate both themselves (this is intrinsic motivation) and one another. Learners are most likely to commit to learning when they appreciate the value of education, and their diverse needs are taken care of in the classroom community by both their teachers and fellow learners.

Sharing responsibility for knowledge building Quality interaction in the classroom amongst the learners and teachers is an integral part of the teaching and learning process. Learning is a collective responsibility in which members of the classroom community rally around a common goal and vision. If the classroom environment supports interaction and exchange of ideas, it results in a meaningful learning process.

Watkins (2005a) advises that when classrooms operate as learning communities, responsibility for and control of knowledge becomes shared. In this type of classroom, individual learners do not only take responsibility for themselves and others, but also take responsibility for knowing what needs to be known, and ensuring that others know it too (Scardamalia, 2002).

Embracing diversity in the classroom A classroom is a heterogeneous environment with learners from diverse backgrounds and with different abilities. Teachers are responsible for embracing and welcoming diversity into their classrooms. That diversity may involve culture, language, religion, race, tribe, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, etc.

While these differences among learners can sometimes create challenges in the classroom, they should be viewed as opportunities to create positive relationships based on respect for individual differences.

According to Watkins (2005a), a learning community is sensitive to diversity. The community should be able to embrace individual differences such as their beliefs, religions, cultures, ages and capabilities.

In a diverse learning environment learners learn from experiences, beliefs, and perspectives different from their own. This fosters mutual respect and collaboration amongst the learners, and helps to build the strong bonds essential for a learning community. Teachers have to make conscious, purposeful efforts to build healthy and diverse learning environments.

Teachers have the huge responsibility of embracing diversity in their classrooms by using various teaching strategies, resources and learning activities that develop various learners’ capabilities. Brualdi (1996) The Independent Journal of Teaching and Learning - Volume 12 (1) / 2017 Formerly The Journal of Independent Teaching and Learning

26 contends that all learners come into the classroom with different sets of developed intelligences, which means that each child has his or her own unique set of intellectual strengths and weaknesses. This is mainly due to the experiences that learners have been exposed to before coming to the classroom. These determine how easy (or difficult) it is for a learner to learn information when it is presented in a particular manner.

Using diverse learning strategies When a range of learning strategies is used, learners become actively engaged in their own learning.

Hence teachers should use problem-based learning, cooperative learning and discovery learning strategies to foster learners’ active participation. Cooperative learning, in particular, creates opportunities for learners to practise various skills such as communication, articulating and defending ideas and beliefs, interpersonal skills and respect for different points of view, whilst learning from one another. Cooperative learning is encouraged through the use of various teaching methods such as role playing, group discussion, pair work, debates, case studies, etc.

Discovery learning strategy, as the name implies, allows learners to learn through discovery. Bruner (1967), a key proponent of discovery learning theory, believed that learning is an active process in which learners construct knowledge based on prior experience. It shifts learning from the transmission of knowledge by the teacher to a learning process that is guided by exploring concepts and answering questions through experience. Teachers implementing discovery learning strategy will use teaching methods such as projects, experiments, case studies, role playing and simulations.

The problem-based approach engages learners in their learning process by solving real-life problems, and was developed in response to the realisation that traditional teaching and learning methods failed to prepare learners for real-life challenges after school. Problem-based learning strategies should be used in the classroom as a learning community to encourage critical thinking in order to solve authentic problems. In the process of solving real-life problems, learners construct content knowledge and develop problem-solving skills and self-directed learning skills. The use of various methods will ensure that teachers meet the individual needs of many kinds of learners in their teaching. All the learners will therefore feel accommodated in the classroom learning activities.

Timely and constructive feedback Feedback is an essential part of an effective learning environment. It helps learners understand how their learning is progressing, and provides them with alternative ways to improve their learning. The classroom should be the place in which feedback and exchange is frequent and non-threatening. Black and Wiliam (1998) observe that feedback that is specific, descriptive and immediate brings positive results to the learning environment as compared to feedback that is judgemental in nature. Chappuis and Stiggins (2002) point out that when the goal is to increase learner motivation and learning, productive feedback tells learners what they are doing right, pinpointing strengths and helping them to develop those strengths even further. When feedback is clear and constructive, it propels learners to perform even better throughout the learning process. Feedback in a classroom community is both collective and individual. The collective feedback is when the teacher debriefs the class about how they performed an activity, and learners also get an opportunity to reflect on their performance, focusing on the strengths and areas of development.

Learners take collective responsibility for their successes and failures in performing activities, and together take corrective measures to address any failure. On the other hand, individual feedback seeks to address issues that are peculiar to individual learners by guiding them on what to focus on and where to go next.

Family involvement Research suggests that there is a connection between the home and what happens at school, (Maluleke, 2014; Erlendsdottir, 2010; Berthelsen & Walker, 2008). Van Voorhis, Maier, Epstein and Lloyd (2013) The Independent Journal of Teaching and Learning - Volume 12 (1) / 2017 Formerly The Journal of Independent Teaching and Learning

27 concur that children benefit when parents and family members get involved in their learning and development. Researchers are in agreement that learning usually begins within the family environment.

Learners learn better when their parents and other family members are interested in, and involved with, the school and with their education. When the child learns better he or she therefore makes a positive contribution as a key member in the classroom community Onikama, Hammond and Koki (1998) observe that some schools are often disconnected from home and community. They argue that as learners enter school, their families may feel detached from the learning process. In such instances schools need to encourage family involvement through continuous communication (phone calls, letters, emails, notes, newsletters) and family classroom visits.

The positive attitude of a teacher Ultimately, the essential element in creating a sense of community in the classroom is the teacher’s attitude. It is not always the resources, the strategies or approaches that determine the effectiveness of the classroom.

It is a loving, compassionate attitude towards the learners that creates the feeling of community.

Urdan and Schoenfelder (2006) posit that learners care about their relationships with their teachers, and respond with greater engagement and effort when they believe that their teachers care about them and are supportive. One way that teachers convey these qualities is through their discourse with their students in the classroom. Classroom discourse structure concerns the manner in which teachers engage student participation in learning, promote intrinsic motivation, and balance appropriate challenges with skill levels.

Integrate instructional materials into learning Learning materials play an important role in enhancing the teaching and learning process. The use of these materials is an integral part of curriculum planning and delivery, and are known to enrich and enhance the learning process as they increase the enjoyment of the learners and stimulate learners to learn. Teachers can increase student motivation by incorporating instructional materials in the teaching and learning process.

CONCLUSION This paper demonstrates that a learning community built around a collaborative learning environment in which both teachers and learners work together to construct knowledge is essential for effective learning.

Elements for building a learning community in a classroom have been proposed to foster a sense of belonging such that learners learn how to participate actively in class, work collaboratively, negotiate and resolve disagreements, and embrace diversity. Such learning communities will promote positive social skills and academic achievement. However, creating a learning community in the classroom will require teachers to make conscious efforts to involve learners in their activity, and treat them equally.

When classrooms become learning communities, learners and teachers are accountable to one another to achieve the shared goals of the classroom, school and the education system as a whole.

REFERENCES Berthelsen, D. & Walker, S. (2008) ‘Parents’ involvement in their children’s education’ Family Matters 4(8) pp.205-236.

Bielaczyc, K. & Collins, A. (2013) ‘Learning communities in classrooms: A reconceptualization of educational practice’ In C.M. Reigeluth (Ed.) Instructional design theories and models II pp.501-517.

Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

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28 Black, P. & Wiliam, D. (1998) ‘Inside the black box: Raising standards through classroom assessment’ Phi Delta Kappa 80(2) pp.139-148.

Brualdi, A.C. (1996) Multiple intelligences: Gardner’s theory. Eric Digests: Washington DC. http://files. eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED410226.pdf (Accessed 23 October 2015).

Bruner, J.S. (1967) On knowing: Essays for the left hand. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.

Chappuis, S. & Stiggins, R.J. (2002) ‘Classroom assessment for learning’ Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (60)1 pp.40-43. http://hssdnewteachers.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/50394085/ Classroom.Assessment.for.Learning.Chappuis.pdf (Accessed 23 October 2015).

Center for Mental Health in Schools. (2008) Enhancing classroom approaches for addressing barriers to learning: Classroom-focused enabling (revised ed.). Los Angeles, CA: Adelman H and Taylor L. http:// smhp.psych.ucla.edu (Accessed 18 September 2015).

Crawford, B.A., Krajcik, J.S. & Marx, R.W. (1999) ‘Elements of a community of learners in a middle school science classroom’ Science Education 83 pp.701-723.

Daniels, H. (1995) ‘Pedagogic practices, tacit knowledge and discursive discrimination: Bernstein and post-Vygotskian research’ British Journal of Sociology of Education 16(4) pp.517-532.

Driver, R., Asoko, H., Leach, J., Mortimer, E. & Scott, P. (1994) ‘Constructing scientific knowledge in the classroom’ Educational Researcher 23(7) pp.5-12.

Erlendsdottir, G. (2010) Effects of parental involvement in education: a case study in Namibia. M.Ed. thesis in Educational Administration. University of Iceland: Reykjavík.

Ganga, E. & Maphalala, M.C. (2016) ‘Contributions of constructivism to teaching and learning’ In M.C. Maphalala (Ed.) Teaching and learning strategies in South Africa pp.43-54. London: Cengage Learning EMEA. Giani, M.S. & O’Guinn, C.M. (2010) Motivation to learn: Igniting a love of learning in all learners, Youth in the middle. http://gardnercenter.stanford.edu/resources/tools.html (Accessed 18 September 2015).

Grey, A. (1995) The road to knowledge is always under construction: A life history journey to constructivist teaching. Master’s thesis, University of Saskatchewan: Saskatoon.

Hittie, M. (2000) ‘Building community in the classroom’ A paper presented at the International Education Summit, Detroit, Michigan, June 26, 2000. http://www.wholeschooling.net/WS/WSPress/ CommBldgMH.pdf (Accessed 18 September 2015).

Kaplan, L.S. & Owings, W.A. (2013) Culture re-boot: Reinvigorating school culture to improve student outcomes. California: Sage Publishers.

Karpov, Y. & Haywood, H. (1998) ‘Two ways to elaborate Vygotsky’s concept of mediation’ American Psychologist 53(1) pp.27-36.

Lave, J. & Wenger-Treyner, E. (1998) Communities of practice: Learning, meaning, and identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. www.zietmysorelibrary.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/learning_theories. docx (Accessed 2 August 2016).

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29 Lave, J. & Wenger-Treyner, E. (2015) Communities of practice: A brief introduction. http://wenger-trayner. com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/07-Brief-introduction-to-communities-of-practice.pdf (Accessed 18 September 2015).

Maluleke, S.G. (2014) Parental Involvement in Their Children’s Education in the Vhembe District. Master’s Dissertation, University of South Africa.

Marzano, R.J. (1998) A theory-based meta-analysis of research on instruction. Aurora, CO: Mid-Continent Regional Educational Laboratory.

Mindich, D. & Lieberman, A. (2012) Building a Learning Community: A Tale of Two Schools. Stanford, CA: Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education. https://edpolicy.stanford.edu/sites/default/ files/publications/building-learningcommunitytaletwoschools.pdf (Accessed 20 December 2016).

Onikama, D.L., Hammond, O.W. & Koki, S. (1998) Family involvement in education: A synthesis of research for Pacific educators. US Department of Education: Washington DC. Prawat, R.S. & Peterson, P.L. (1999) ‘Social constructivist views of learning’ In J. Murphy & K.S. Louis (Eds.) Handbook of research on educational administration (2nd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Rimm-Kaufman, S.E., Fan, X., Chiu, Y. & You, W. (2007) ‘The contribution of the responsive classroom approach on children’s academic achievement: Results from a three-year longitudinal study’ Journal of School Psychology 45(4) pp.401-421.

Rowlands, K. & Avramenko, A. (2013) ‘Teaching HR professionals: The classroom as a community of practice’ Education Sciences 3 pp.147-157.

Scardamalia, M. (2002) ‘Collective cognitive responsibility for the advancement of knowledge’ In B. Smith (Eds.) Liberal education in a knowledge society pp.76-98. Chicago: Open Court.

Scardamalia, M. & Bereiter, C. (1994) ‘Text-based and knowledge-based questioning by children’ Cognition and Instruction 9(3) pp.177-199.

Urdan, T. & Schoenfelder, E. (2006) ‘Classroom effects on student motivation: Goal structures, social relationships, and competence beliefs’ Journal of School Psychology 44 pp.331-349.

Van Voorhis, F.L., Maier M.F., Epstein J.L. & Lloyd C.M. (2013) The Impact of Family Involvement on the Education of Children Ages 3 to 8: A Focus on Literacy and Math Achievement Outcomes and SocialEmotional Skills. New York: MDRC publications.

Vygotsky, L.S. (1978) Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Watkins, C. (2005a) ‘Classrooms as learning communities: A review of research’ London Review of Education 3(1) pp.47-64.

Watkins, C. (2005b). Classrooms as learning communities: What’s in it for schools? New York: Routledge, New York.

Wertsch J.V. (1991) Voices of the Mind: a sociocultural approach to mediated action. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press.

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30 Transforming primary school teachers’ perceptions of the ‘place’ of teaching reading: the role of Reading to Learn methodology1 Emmanuel Mfanafuthi Mgqwashu, Rhodes University, South Africa Bheka Makhathini, Department of Education, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

ABSTRACT This paper reports on the interventionist study on the role that Rose’s (2005) Reading to Learn methodology plays in transforming primary school teachers’ perceptions of the role of explicit teaching of reading for educational success. Located within the qualitative case study design, the study used semi-structured interviews and the reading literacy intervention called Reading to Learn methodology to generate data. The study was conducted in grades 3 and 6 classrooms in a rural primary school in KwaZulu-Natal province, South Africa, and the research site and study participants were selected purposively. Research findings reveal that the Reading to Learn methodology has the potential to undo classroom practices that favour the elite and marginalise the majority, and transform teachers’ perceptions of the ‘place’ of teaching reading explicitly within formal education. With sufficient exposure to this pedagogy, learners across class lines have the opportunity to experience education for all, epistemological access, and education for success.1 Keywords: Reading to Learn methodology, Systematic Functional Linguistics, Pedagogic Discourse, Social Learning, Subjective Epistemology, epistemological access

INTRODUCTION The teaching of reading is cited in many seminal studies as probably one of the most problematic areas in the educational arena, resulting in dismal statistics in Literacy and Numeracy both in South African schools and internationally (Saville-Troike, 1984; Wells, 1986; Pretorius, 2002; Ribbens, 2008). The trajectory of these results points to some serious deficiencies, necessitating the adoption of literacy interventions in schools in many education systems and calling for concerted efforts by researchers to diagnose these untenable trends. In Ribbens (2008: 106) words: Poor levels of academic literacy are a matter of concern and reading intervention campaigns have been put in place, not only locally, but also in America and the United Kingdom. The front page of The San Francisco Chronicle of 16 August 2006 reads: ‘Fewer than half of California’s learner can read or calculate at grade level nearly a decade after the state began its top-to-bottom overhaul of public education …’ In Britain, too, because of the poor performance of pupils, 2008 has been declared ‘National Year of Reading’. In South Africa decisions to tackle the problem afresh were taken before 1 Date of submission 13 July 2015 Date of acceptance: Initial - 7 July 2016

Final - 1 February 2017

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31 the announcement of the results in late November 2007 of the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS).

As reflected above, this quandary is indeed a worldwide dilemma, and one that causes raptures among the international community. That learners cannot ‘read and calculate at grade appropriate level’ speaks directly to these deficiencies in Literacy and Numeracy. Within the South Africa context, this state of affairs has resulted in the proliferation of research that interrogates the reciprocal causality of poor academic performance of South African learners in Literacy and Numeracy and their poor reading habits (Moloi & Strauss, 2005; Howie et al., 2007; Pretorius & Mampuru, 2007; Sailors, Hoffman & Matthee, 2007; Fleish, 2008). Several studies have also assisted in yielding data to illuminate these unflattering trajectories.

Firstly, there is South Africa’s participation in various international studies such as the Southern and Eastern African Consortium for Monitoring Education Quality, Progress in International Reading Literacy Study, and Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study. Secondly, there are other local studies, such as Systemic Evaluation and Annual National Assessments, which track learner-performance in Literacy and Numeracy. Most of these endeavours consistently implicate the learners’ poor reading literacy as ‘relation-able’ to poor academic achievement, thereby confirming this uncanny symbiosis between the two. Pretorius’ (2005) study on the relationship between reading abilities and examination performance reports: Between 1998 and 2001 quantitative assessment of the reading abilities of undergraduate learner was taken at the University of South Africa (Unisa), and the relationship between reading ability and academic performance examination. The findings consistently revealed a robust relationship between the ability to comprehend expository texts and academic performance (Pretorius, 2005: 790).

A number of studies (Lemmer & Manyike, 2012; Nassimbeni & Desmond, 2011; Van Staden, 2011; Hugo, 2010; Christie, 2005; Howie, 2008; Pretorius & Mampuru, 2007; Pretorius & Machet, 2004) have in fact corroborated the findings raised above as a system-wide problem – from primary school through to university. It is research findings such as in those studies that have encouraged us to investigate the phenomenon, particularly in a rural, underprivileged setting, and to use a curriculum intervention as a vehicle.

It is against this background that the goal of this paper is to report the research findings of an interventionist study of primary school teachers’ perceptions of the role of explicit teaching of reading for educational success. The paper hopes to reveal the extent to which Rose’s (2005) Reading to Learn (RtL) pedagogy, when used as an intervention, has the potential to:

• undo classroom practices that favour the elite and marginalise the majority

• transform teachers’ perceptions of the ‘place’ of teaching reading explicitly within formal education.

With sufficient exposure to this pedagogy, the paper argues, all learners can have equal opportunity to experience education for all, epistemological access, and education for success.

DEBATES ON READING DEVELOPMENT: A BRIEF SURVEY The challenge of poor reading within learning environments that are located in disadvantaged communities is a global phenomenon (Barley & Beesley, 2007; Sherwood, 2000; Elley & Mangubhai, 1997; Smith & Elley, 1997; Greaney, 1996; Stern, 1994; Crossley & Murby, 1994; Walker, Rattanavitch & Oller, 1992; Verspoor, 1989). Drawing from different theoretical orientations, many scholars have tackled this subject.

Steeped in the authority cultured by their positioning, such scholars make assumptions and generalisations

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32 about the teaching and learning process, including reading instruction. In the articulation of their various positions on reading emerge two strong voices – those who draw inspiration from the Immersion Theory (IT) and those who come from a Direct Instruction (DI) orientation. Therefore, the following brief literature is reviewed with an express agenda to distinguish between the two Schools of Thought, but importantly also to decipher what informs their orientation.

Elley (2000: 235), a fierce global proponent of the IT, observes that classrooms in developing contexts: still consists of an under-educated, underpaid teacher, in charge of 40-50 pupils in a bleak overcrowded room, with bare walls and tiny blackboard. The pupils are typically learning in a second or third language, by rote authoritarian methods, with the aid of a few textbooks, often of doubtful quality and marginal relevance to the children’s interests. There is no school or classroom library and virtually nothing of interest for the children to read. Few teachers are enthusiastic about their calling.

As evident in the above quotation, Elley (2000) identifies the problem of poor literacy levels in impoverished contexts as having to do with lacking meaningful and deliberate reading practices, lacking relevant reading materials and, lacking enthusiastic teachers. It is for this reason that Elley (2000) argues for a ‘back-to-basics’ approach, a revisiting of general conditions in developing contexts. He advocates for the channelling of energies and time towards the creation of enabling environments in these classrooms, but also to the reinvigoration of the teacher capacity and teacher morale as starting-points. Importantly, he acknowledges the pivotal role of the teaching of reading in that process of ‘resetting’ the classroom.

It is interesting to note, however, that Elley (2000) summarily equates classrooms in developing contexts with educational crisis because they are usually associated with poverty and disadvantage. It may be argued that not all developing world classrooms have this character and tendencies described above.

Furthermore, some countries in the developed world do exhibit semblances of developing world character in their classroom practices. The proliferation of research on poor learner attainment even in typically developed countries like the United States and United Kingdom accounts for this fact. Good, Simmons and Smith (1998), for example, in their ‘Effective academic interventions in the United States: evaluating and enhancing the acquisition of early reading skills’ and Barley and Beesley’s (2007) ‘Rural school success: what can we learn?’ both exemplify this notion.

Also in concurrence with Elley (2000), Ling (2012) supports the stance of Immersion Theory by advocating the ‘Whole-Language’ approach and championing its application to the teaching of reading in English.

He recounts the advantages of this theory: Firstly, with this theory, it becomes easier and more possible for the learner to understand the whole text. Secondly, it blends the practices of listening, speaking, reading and writing into an organic unity, avoiding developing the reading ability only in the teaching of… reading. Thirdly, it adopts informal assessment so that the learner can get a more objective score (Ling, 2012: 152).

These advantages are noted and welcome, but Ling (2012) barely touches on the disadvantages. The pitfalls of the ‘Whole-Language’ Theory are also well documented. Its failure to attend to systematisation of the teaching of grammar is a case in point. Its ‘ad hoc’ approach to the teaching of grammatical subtleties and rules, furthermore, ensures that only the aspects of grammar that appear in the text stand any chance of receiving attention in the reading lessons. At worst, this approach apportions the teacher an insignificant role of a ‘well-meaning bystander’ (Cope & Kalantzis, 1993) in the hope that learners will assimilate grammatical rules, a typical role for teachers associated with progressivist theories. Getting the overall sense of the text, although vital, does not supersede the experience of generating and learning new vocabulary whilst learning to read and reading to learn (Snow, 2002; Spear-Swerling, 2007).

The Independent Journal of Teaching and Learning - Volume 12 (1) / 2017 Formerly The Journal of Independent Teaching and Learning

33 A study was conducted in the rural districts of the United States to identify ways to help rural schools improve teachers’ pedagogical skills by examining changes in reading skills through the primary grades, after the implementation of a ‘highly structured and explicit reading curriculum’ (Stockard, 2011: 1).

Schools in such districts believe in explicit reading instruction which is part of the DI corpus of reading literacy methodology. ‘Examples of strategies used in such programmes include clear instructional targets, modelling, guided and independent practice with corrections, and assessments embedded within the instruction’ (Stockard, 2011: 2). In this approach, the teacher is at the centre of the action, guiding the learning process, and ensuring the teacher-learner interaction. Stockard (2011: 3) insists: The approach attempts to control all the major variables that impact student learning through the placement and grouping of learners into instructional groups, the rate and type of examples presented by the teacher, the wording that teachers use to teach specific concepts and skills, the frequency and type of review of material introduced, the assessment of students’ mastery of material covered, and the responses by teachers to students’ attempts to learn the material.

The results of the analysis showed that from ‘kindergarten’ to Grade 3 learners; cohorts with full exposure to the programme had significantly higher reading literacy scores than those in cohorts with less exposure.

Most importantly, the results illustrate how, through DI, rural school districts arguably can improve student achievement, despite the disadvantages accompanied by being in a context far removed from city life.

Results also showed that the programme was most likely to succeed when teachers fully understand the programme, and when learners are introduced to it at an early age. This methodology bears strong affinities with Rose’s (2005) Learning to Read: Reading to Learn methodology used in the research and reported in this paper. Many aspects of this programme – Reading Mastery – appear to have been considered in the Learning to Read: Reading to Learn methodology, and they depict an admissible degree of sensitivity to the unfortunate situation of rural schools and communities, the research context in this paper.

In his ‘Beating educational inequality with an integrated reading pedagogy’, Rose (Christie & Simpson, 2011) provides an account of how in the late 1980s he and his colleagues developed a pedagogy from the experience he had with the underprivileged Pitjantjatjara indigenous community in Australia. This community suffered a disaster of self-destruction, primarily because their inferior education could not pull them out of the quagmire of disadvantage. Rose (2010) relates how virtually every child of school-going age in this community was addicted to substance abuse and lived a life filled with despair. Fundamentally, he discovered that learners could not read at age appropriate levels, despite their teachers having been trained to similar degrees as their counterparts in other Australian state-funded schools. In Rose’s (Christie & Simpson, 2011: 14) words: ‘Whatever other problems were hampering the education of these children, their inability to read the school curriculum was clearly an overwhelming stumbling block’. He later asserts that this was to be discovered to be a worldwide phenomenon for all communities in distress.

Rose (2005) took the challenge on as a Social Justice project to try and reverse the social inequalities endured by this community through interventions in the classroom setting. He used a series of studies (Rose, 2004; Gibbons, 2002; Nassaji & Wells, 2000; Alexander, 2000; Malcolm, 1991; Folds, 1987) to devise a methodology that involved question-response-feedback pattern, backed it up with the ‘Scaffolding reading and writing for Indigenous Children in School’, a programme developed in collaboration with his colleagues in other initiatives targeted at disadvantaged communities (Rose 2008; Christie & Martin, 1997). He noted that non-exposure to early reading (parent – child reading) had a direct bearing on the learners’ performance, and that learners in primary schools were not ready to learn from reading as expected. Rose (Christie & Simpson, 2011: 19) notes: The Independent Journal of Teaching and Learning - Volume 12 (1) / 2017 Formerly The Journal of Independent Teaching and Learning

34 The key difference with the Pitjantjatjara children was not just that a non-English language was spoken in the home, since a high proportion of other Australian children also come from non-English speaking families, but that there was no parent-child reading in the home. International research has shown that children in literate families spend up to 1000 hours reading with their parents before they start school.

His pedagogic approach, Reading to Learn methodology, was then structured and used to breach these shortcomings. It is ‘… developed in response to current urgent needs, particularly of Indigenous and other marginalized learners, to rapidly improve reading and writing for educational access and success’ (Rose, 2005: 131). The focus is on the teaching of reading and writing to democratise the classroom, i.e., to enable learning for, and ensure meaningful classroom participation of, children who come from less advantaged backgrounds, and frequently experience a gap between home and school literacy practices.

To develop this methodology, Rose (2005) drew from the Vygotskyan, Hallidayan and Bernsteinian theories of Social Learning, Systemic Functional Linguistics and Pedagogic Devise theories, respectively.

The principles from Vygotsky’s (1981) idea of learning as a social process, Halliday’s (1993) conception of language as embedded in social context, and Bernstein’s (1999) notion of pedagogic discourse, are put together in the development of the Reading to Learn methodology to scaffold learners whose literacies do not necessarily match with those that schooling requires (Gee, 1991). While the former type of literacies is much more context dependent, verbal, and generally thrive in face-to-face familiar contexts, the latter is context independent, generally written, and is not at all dependent on physical proximity between the addresser and addressee (Bernstein, 2000).

To realise the goals of the Reading to Learn methodology, a ‘Scaffolding Interaction Cycle’ is implemented.

This cycle suggests that, in engaging with written texts, teachers need to ensure that learners are provided with prompts or cues they need to understand sequences of meanings at the level of the whole text, paragraph, sentence, wording, and sound/letter patterns. It insists that the pattern needs to be repeated through each activity in the sequence that makes up the scaffolding approach. When implemented in the classroom context, the Scaffolding Interaction Cycle underpins a series of activities in two carefully structured pedagogic routines, or ‘lesson sequences’: one for narrative texts, and one for factual texts (Rose, 1999).

In applying the Scaffolding Interaction Cycle, illustrated in Figure 1, each activity during the lesson sequence draws on the discourse pattern of the text to provide the degree of support learners require to understand and recognise patterns of meaning in the text at a number of levels: the genre of the text and the way meaning unfolds, the sentences and wording of the text, and the sound/letter or spelling patterns in the text.

Figure 1: The 6 stages of the Scaffolding Interaction Cycle

Stage 1

Stage 2

Stage 3

Prepare before reading

Detailed reading

Prepare before writing

Stage 4 Joint reconstruction

Stage 5 Individual reconstruction

Stage 6 Independent Writing

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35 In the Prepare before reading stage, the teacher reads the text out loud and summarises it. The learners listen and get the idea of the passage. They then read the passage, sentence-by-sentence, which is the Detailed reading stage. It is also in this stage that the teacher gives meanings of words in each sentence.

At this point, all the learners can read after the teacher and develop confidence in reading that passage.

During the Preparing before writing, the learners manipulate sentences on card board strips to practise spelling (Primary School), or make notes from the passage to practise spelling in that exercise of taking notes (High School). This sets the stage for Joint reconstruction. At this stage, the whole class writes a new story, passage on the chalkboard. Here the class uses the same words in the passage read, to create a new story, new events, new characters, new setting. In factual texts, the passage read is re-written via the notes that the learners wrote. However, the language used is that of the learner, not of the text. This is also a whole class activity or a group activity. Individual reconstruction, a crucial stage, sees the learner writing a new story, as an individual, using the same words to create his/her story. In factual texts, the passage is re-written via the notes, but this time the learner writes alone. It is the final stage, the Independent writing, where the learners are given a task. Here they write as individuals and the task is assessed.

As the word ‘Cycle’ implies, these teaching strategies are on-going, allowing learners to improve over time, and have been proven to enable weak readers within rural contexts to learn to read rapidly and write at grade appropriate levels. They have also advanced learners to develop language understanding well beyond their independent competence (Mgqwashu, 2011, McRae et al., 2000). They draw on principles of scaffolded learning (Wells, 1999), functional linguistics (Halliday, 1993) and genre approaches to writing (Martin, 1993, 1999, 2001), in a form that is accessible, practical and meets the needs of teachers and learners (Martin & Rose, 2005; Rose, 1999, 2005; Rose, Lui-Chivizhe, McKnight & Smith, 2004).

Research context, study objectives, and strategies to investigate the phenomenon According to the Human Science Research Council (HSRC) (2005) and the Education Policy Consortium, (2005), almost half of South African learners dwell in rural areas where educational underachievement is a major component of a cycle of disadvantage. The research context for this study is a primary school in a ‘deep-rural’ area that is remote and far-flung. ‘Deep rural’ in the South African context is associated with poverty, disadvantage and lack of economic and educational opportunities (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, 2015). As the HSRC report further indicates: ‘Rural learners frequently attend poorly resourced schools, located in isolated areas, with high levels of poverty, disease and unemployment’ (HSRC, 2005: 38). Given the centrality of the teaching of reading in formal education (Rose, 2005), the objectives of the study were to:

1. understand practitioners’ perceptions of the role the teaching of reading plays in learner academic performance in grades 3 and 6 at the school

2. the ways in which the intervention confirm or transform teachers’ perceptions of the role the teaching of reading plays in learner academic performance in grades 3 and 6 at the school.

The school under study was granted a Quintile 1 status, in keeping with the poverty index of the community the research site serves. Quintile 1 status is a South African classification for schools that are located in extremely impoverished communities. The community around the research context generally has modest facilities, with equally modest, ‘humble’ buildings. There is no library; no meaningful collection of reading material, no sporting facilities for children, and the school as recent as 2014 was supplied with electricity.

The implication in this context is that the research site services children from mostly poor backgrounds who, by virtue of their adverse circumstances, cannot afford to access better educational opportunities elsewhere.

The Independent Journal of Teaching and Learning - Volume 12 (1) / 2017 Formerly The Journal of Independent Teaching and Learning

36 The research site was chosen simply because it represents schools in deep rural areas that are typically disadvantaged schools in the South African context. Internationally, there is a large body of research on the relationship between contexts of poverty and the underperformance of schools (De Lisle, 2011; Ylimaki, Jacobson & Drysdale, 2007). It is a worldwide phenomenon for communities in distress. In South Africa, the learner-performance in schools such as my research site, as already pointed out above, is usually very poor (Department of Basic Education, 2010; 2011; 2012) despite the support that Department of Basic Education (DoBE) purports to be giving to these schools. The DoBE (2012) report on the Annual National Assessments (ANA) recounts some of these interventions:

Strategies range from the review of the curriculum, the launch of a comprehensive Literacy and Numeracy strategy, comprehensive feedback that was given to schools following the release of ANA 2011 results, learner support materials placed in the hands of teachers and learners, and support given to districts (DoBE, 2012: 6).

Specifically, these schools receive preferential treatment in the form of the National Schools Nutrition Programme (NSNP), a no-fee school status (where learners do not pay school fees at all) and a substantially higher per capita funding allocation for learners (Norms and Standards for Funding of Schools, 2009).

However, in spite of all these interventions by the DoBE, the 2013 ANA results could only manage an improvement of -1% (Grade 3 HL), 10% (Grade 6 FAL), 12% (Grade 3 Mathematics) and 12% (Grade 6 Mathematics) nationally, inclusive of all schools (privileged and not-so-privileged).

In order to select study participants, we used Stones’ (1988: 150) principles on the factors to be considered when sampling study participants. They must:

• have had experiences with the phenomenon being researched

• be verbally fluent and able to communicate their feelings, thoughts and perceptions

• show utmost dedication and commitment to the research by showing a willingness to see it through to its finality.

We thus used purposive sampling to select the study participants. Their circumstances resembled those in the Australian schools where Rose (2011) conducted his study that gave rise to the methodology we implemented as a curriculum intervention in this study. Secondly, as teachers, the participants could communicate in the language of the interview, English. Thus, in so far as expressing their ‘feelings, thoughts and perceptions’, they were unambiguously clear. Finally, right from the beginning these participants showed a high degree of commitment to the subject investigated in this study. As it will be shown in the data below, this is because they believed the experience would make them better teachers; and hoped that the experience would positively impact on the academic performance of their learners, and wanted to maximise on whatever other ‘benefits’ that would potentially arise as a result of their participation in the study. The table below illustrates study participants’ brief biographical details.

Table 1: Representation of Participants’ Educational Information Study Participants Anele

Gender

Grade

F

3

Qualification

Subjects Taught

JPTD

Numeracy, Literacy, Life Skills & First Additional language (FAL)

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37 Study Participants

Gender

Grade

Qualification

Subjects Taught

Bongani

M

6

B. Paed

Mathematics & Natural Sciences and Technology (NSTech)

Celani

M

6

NIL

English & Creative Arts

Dumisani

M

6

NIL

EMS & IsiZulu

As Table 1 indicates, among the study participants, one is female and teaches Literacy, Numeracy and Life Skills in Grade 3 (Foundation Phase). She has a Junior Primary Teachers’ Diploma (JPTD) from the college of education, while among her Grade 6 counterparts, one teacher (a Head of Department at the site) has a Bachelor of Pedagogics degree, and the two others are not yet qualified (although they are currently reading for Bachelor of Education degrees through distance education). The other three participants are male who teach all six Grade 6 (Intermediate Phase) subjects between them.

While it may be argued that the inclusion of teachers who are not yet qualified, but still furthering their studies, may render the study as invalid as by tacit definition a teacher is one who is qualified to teach, I argue this state of affairs is inevitable in contexts similar to the one under study. It is part and parcel of being defined as a ‘disadvantaged school’. It is in keeping with the HSRC (2005) report on ‘Education in South African Rural Communities’. This report engages with issues concerning inadequate teacherqualifications in schools such as the one selected as the research site in this study. It is due to unsatisfactory conditions that the research site has failed to attract a significant number of qualified teachers. Qualified teachers at the research site are constantly looking for schools where there are better working and living conditions. Incidentally, the research site has lost two qualified teachers in the past three years since the commencement of the study as a result of the phenomenon of ‘teacher-poaching’ that is unsparingly hardhitting to schools such as this one. These teachers were ‘poached’ by schools that are based in urban locations, and where conditions of living and employment by far surpass those of deep-rural areas where the research school is located. This is one of the major reasons learners in similar schools often struggle to produce the desired results (Lemmer & Manyike, 2012). A further argument may also arise concerning the use of the two still to be qualified as teachers participants’ responses to corroborate or refute the efficacy of the intervention. The reader may not consider their responses as valid. I argue that in fact it is a strength to have such individuals in the study for two reasons. Firstly, they are not yet part of the system, and so have no vested interests into any practices. Secondly, their responses to the intervention were objective as they were not immersed into any tradition whatsoever. In fact becoming part of the study became a useful contribution into their current studies.

After these study participants were purposively sampled, workshops on Rose’s methodology began.

These workshop sessions were conducted by Reading to Learn South Africa. This is a non-governmental organisation established by the South African community of scholars developing research using the Reading to Learn methodology. This community engages in research, holds colloquia, seminars, around the methodology across the developed and developing world. The purpose it served in this study was to provide support to the study participants at the research site. More specifically, the workshops involved the following: 1) screened videos for participants on the methodology-in-practice, 2) designed exemplar lesson plans for them on its use, and offered modelling lessons, and 3) conducted lesson observations during implementation and general monitoring of the whole process side by side with us as researchers.

Such workshops were necessary for four interrelated reasons. First, they facilitated access to the novelties of the methodology. Secondly and thirdly, they provided well-needed guidance and capacitation the study participants needed in employing the literacy intervention. Finally, they provided participants with practical tools to implement the methodology efficiently. Workshop sessions took place in the afternoons, The Independent Journal of Teaching and Learning - Volume 12 (1) / 2017 Formerly The Journal of Independent Teaching and Learning

38 over an 18 months period. They sometimes ran well into the early evenings. During these sessions, participants opened themselves up to interviews, especially before and after classroom visits both by the Reading to Learn South Africa and by ourselves. They were even willing to make available their entire lesson plans and worksheets, and were open to input. They were also prepared to declare and share their challenges during interviews. Overall, they were unflinching in their willingness to implement the curriculum intervention in their classes.

Kvale (1996: 14) perceives interviews as ‘an interchange of views between two or more people on a topic of mutual interest, sees the centrality of human interaction for knowledge production, and emphasises the social situatedness of data’. Cohen, Manion & Morrison (2000: 267) on the other hand, caution that ‘the interview is not simply concerned with collecting data about life: it is part of life itself, its human embeddedness is inescapable’. Therefore, this study employed semi-structured interviews as its data generation mechanism precisely because its ‘human embeddedness’ (Cohen, et al., 2000: 267) could only give substance to the objectives of the inquiry itself. It assumed that the interview, although it ‘has its own issues and complexities, and demands its own type of rigour’ (O’Leary, 2004: 162), nonetheless illuminated the teaching of reading as a phenomenon. These interviews were conducted both before and after the intervention was implemented. Conducting interviews at both these junctures enabled the study to reveal teachers’ readily available perceptions about the role the teaching of reading plays in formal education, and perceptions after the intervention. In both instances, questions asked succeeded in eliciting responses from study participants to ensure the ‘rigour’ to which O’Leary (2004) refers above.

This is because the interview questions in this study demonstrated ‘dual goals of motivating the [study participants] to give full and precise replies while avoiding biases stemming from social desirability, conformity, or other constructs of disinterest’. This is the nature of that rigour referred to here. To analyse data, Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) was used because it allows the study to engage with generic variations dictated by context of situation, both in the classroom and during interviews. In order to analyse spoken responses to semi-structured interviews, SFL proposes separate ‘tree nodes’ which get created for story genres and non-story genres, as shown in Figure 2 below: Figure 2: ‘Tree nodes’ used to code interviews for spoken genres (adapted from Jordens, 2002) Exposition

Story genres

Recount

Explanation

Narrative

Description

Anecdote

Non-story genres

Discussion

Exemplum

Procedure

Observation

Suggestion Policy

According to Jordens (2002: 110): The expositions are more characteristic of formal discourse than story genres. Their purpose is to defend an argument, and their structure has been described by Martin & Rothery (1981) as Thesis, Argument, and Conclusion. The arguments function as evidence in support of a Thesis, and in spoken The Independent Journal of Teaching and Learning - Volume 12 (1) / 2017 Formerly The Journal of Independent Teaching and Learning

39 discourse, the Conclusion is usually a simple reiteration of the Thesis. Recount and Narrative are the genres of choice, followed by a phase of Reflection, during which Exempla and Observations are the genres of choice.

The inclusion in the figure of non-story genres is a result of the fact that in some instances during the interviews, study participants may go beyond simple story genres. They may shift from story genres such as Narrative, Recount and Observation to one specific non-story genre: the Policy genre, when they explain government legislation on choice of subjects learners have to make from Grade 10, for example.

In such cases, SFL offers the language to speak about such data.

DISCUSSION OF RESEARCH FINDINGS The essence of the teachers’ understandings of the role the teaching of reading plays in learners’ academic performance is captured in their responses to interview questions. One of the interview questions was: ‘Do you think the Reading to Learn methodology had a role in your learners’ academic performance?’ Anele, from her Grade 3 (Foundation Phase) perspective, had the following to say in response to this question: Anele: As far as I’m concerned and in what I’ve seen in my class, it is very effective because my learners can read, they can write, they can even act or dramatise what they have been reading in the stories. They can do many things that enable them to express themselves (Interview 2, 2014).

In SFL terms, this is an Exposition, presenting thesis, an argument, and a conclusion. She is convinced that the intervention was effective, because her leaners can read (argument), write, and dramatise what they have been reading, and concludes that they can do anything. What she presents is atypical of a Foundation Phase class in a dysfunctional school. It typifies a functioning, properly managed, well-resourced school in urban contexts, not a school classified as Quantile 1 in South Africa. Within the context of the school under study, and the perennial challenges it faces, this response is remarkable. Most importantly, it is in sharp contrast to Anele’s responses to interview questions during the ‘pre-intervention’ phase. During this phase, the same questions asked after the classroom intervention were also asked during the preclassroom intervention period. In her earlier response, Anele expressed deep frustration with her learners’ performance as well as her own teaching practices. During the pre-classroom intervention phase of the study, her response to a question relating to her ability to teach reading was:

Anele: No, actually, the way I [teach] reading in my class, I’m not satisfied because I can see there is a problem with my learners; not all of them can read; most of them cannot read. There are few learners who can read properly (Interview 1, 2012).

In this instance, Anele’s response comes in a form of a Recount, followed by a Narrative, and closes with a Reflection. The way she has been teaching reading concerned her and dissatisfied her, this is compounded by the problems she sees with her leaners, as not all of them can read properly. This type of Reflection, Narrative and Reflection changes after the intervention commenced in January 2013. She seemed to have regained self-belief (earlier no confidence in the way she taught reading) and her learners appeared to be responding (earlier not all of them could read) to her new impetus. Commenting on the workshops conducted by Reading to Learn South Africa and her perceived impact on her, Anele this time exudes confidence, as revealed by this response: Anele: What I can say is that Reading to Learn has opened my eyes. I was teaching reading, but I can see now that I was doing nothing. I was just playing with children. Now I can see what I am doing.

And it is very exciting to see that your learners are doing what you need them to do at that particular time (Interview 2, 2014).

The Independent Journal of Teaching and Learning - Volume 12 (1) / 2017 Formerly The Journal of Independent Teaching and Learning

40 This is a bold statement, especially coming from a study participant whose initial perception of her role in the teaching of reading was not favourable. It is a clearest indication that she feels that the Reading to Learn methodology is working for her. The intervention has transformed an understanding of her role from an uncertain and ‘unsatisfied’ practitioner, into a bold and confident one. This transformation is critical in the context of the study because it reinforces the centrality of the role the teaching of reading plays in enhancing learners’ academic performance. Such a transformation, furthermore, reveals the extent to which the teaching of reading is a fundamental pedagogic resource that cannot be ignored in formal education. In Bernstein’s (1990: 53) terms, ‘beyond the book is the textbook, which is the crucial pedagogic medium and social relation’. Anele’s Grade 6 counterpart, Celani, corroborates her assessment of Reading to Learn and notes:

Celani: I think yes, it is effective. It gives more chances to children to know how to read and write as well’ (Celani, Interview 2, 2014).

Dumisani’s understanding of Reading to Learn, however, as much as it is in harmony with those of his colleagues, adds a dimension that reveals his deep-seated ambivalences about the methodology:

Dumisani: My take is that it can be effective if you put in the right time because if you apply it, basically, you need to have a lot of time. You can’t just say you are doing this now then you break and come back and do that. After you have mastered it, it can be effective. The first point you have to do you have to master it, after you have mastered it you can try to implement it. And it will depend on the type of learners that you have in order for it to be effective (Dumisani, Interview 2, 2014).

Dumisani’s response is constructed as a Recount, Narrative, both of which are followed by a phase of Reflection. His take that it can be effective arises out of his experience with implementing it, hence an indirect Recount of his experience. But he moves on to a Narrative, and implies that one cannot simply do it once and believe positive results will emerge. His Reflection reveals some degree of understanding the intervention since he now believes that once one masters it, it can be effective, but also that it depends on who the learners are. His Reflection genre reveals something critical. It mirrors the general attitudes prevailing in education circles the world over, and which methodologies such as Reading to Learn are designed to counter. That the intervention’s success depends on the applicable complexities of the context, such as ‘the type of learners that you have in order for it to be effective’, to use Dumisani’s words, is being challenged by Rose (2004).

To critique Dumisani’s notions, it may be argued that he does not think beyond the realms of sequencing and pacing of the curriculum. The ‘prepare’, ‘task’ and ‘elaborate’ format (a foundation for the Reading to Learn pedagogy), particularly in Detailed Reading, as described in the Scaffolding Interaction Cycle, initially takes up too much time for someone who is concerned about ‘finishing the syllabus’ at a specific point during the year, as implied in Dumisani’s understanding above. The irony with obsession about completing the syllabus at the expense of developing a learner’s reading ability is that, even if such a syllabus is completed, it is debatable whether learning would have taken place. The fact that the Reading to Learn stages build a solid basis, initially albeit slowly, in order to accelerate learning later is not clear to Dumisani during this phase of implementation. His second issue: ‘it will depend on the type of learners that you have in order for [Reading to Learn methodology] to be effective’, reveals that Dumisani has deep reservations about learners who are ‘too disadvantaged’ to cope with the demands of the methodology in his subject. While Dumisani’s concern has merit, it is ignorant of the methodology’s core principle and the reason for its development. In Rose’s (2005: 131) words, the methodology ‘has been developed in response to current urgent needs particularly of Indigenous and other marginalised learners, to rapidly improve reading and writing for educational access and success’. Thus, the context of Dumisani’s learners The Independent Journal of Teaching and Learning - Volume 12 (1) / 2017 Formerly The Journal of Independent Teaching and Learning

41 should not be a make-or-break factor. In fact, the methodology is intended to alleviate the effects of the context of learners he teaches by reshaping the classroom discourse and challenging the distributive rules.

Even the usually ‘rebellious’ Bongani surprisingly expresses approval regarding the methodology:

Bongani: If we talk about the effectiveness of Reading to Learn, yeah it is very effective because it’s more learner-centred, but also the teacher has a lot to do. I mean, it involves all the parties that are involved in teaching and learning. So it’s a good method of teaching, and it also improves the reading skills of our learners, which is the most important thing (Interview 2, 2014).

This is a crucial understanding of the Reading to Learn methodology, considering the ideological struggle between progressivist and traditional pedagogies. Bongani places Rose’s methodology where it belongs: between the progressivist theories that promote ‘immersion’ and the more traditional approaches where the teacher was believed to be the ‘fountain of knowledge’. In this position, it provides a ‘third way’ and takes advantage of the strongpoints of the two orientations, in line with one of its founding theories: Vygotsky’s (1978) Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), a zone between what learners can do independently and what they can do with the help of teacher. Importantly too, Bongani identifies the improvement of the learners he teaches as evidenced in his statement, ‘reading skills of our learners’ as the cornerstone of Rose’s methodology. This is important because it underpins the entire Reading to Learn methodology, that what we learn, we learn from reading and that what we write is an application of what we have learned from reading (Bernstein, 1990; Rose, 2004). So strong was the belief in Rose’s methodology that Bongani, like most content subjects teachers, formerly a fervent opponent of the teaching of reading before the Reading to Learn methodology intervention, had gone full circle. Prior to the Reading to Learn methodology intervention, Bongani gave a response that could be considered the most daring conception of whose responsibility it is to teach reading. As a Mathematics and Natural Sciences & Technology (NS & Tech) teacher at Grade 6, when asked if he thought Mathematics teachers should be teaching reading, Bongani boldly retorted:

Bogani: No, not at all. I really don’t think they need to teach reading because there’s not much of reading in Mathematics. Actually there is not. I mean Maths is numbers. I really do not believe that we must focus on reading because there are language teachers who are doing reading with learners (Interview 1, 2012).

Even when probed regarding the word sums, which effectively are written statements or problems, Bongani was adamant that word sums are merely ‘guiding words’ and that the thrust is on mathematical concepts that those words are meant to introduce to learners. He was convinced that the teaching of reading is a linguistic function that only a language teacher should exercise. Not only did he transform from this view about the teaching of reading being the responsibility for language teachers, he also became a strong advocate for the centrality of the teaching of reading in formal education. After a lengthy interview late in 2013, he was asked if there was anything he would like to add regarding the Reading to Learn intervention as it played out at his school. He simply replied:

Bongani: … if this programme can be introduced to other schools as well, it works for us and I think it will work for other people as well. Otherwise no, there is nothing else that I want to add (Interview 2, 2013).

This shows how the intervention has been able to transform the understanding of this particular practitioner’s views on the teaching of reading within the schooling context. Bongani, however, was not alone in calling for the extension of the Reading to Learn programme to other schools. Dumisani made a similar plea:

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42

Dumisani: I would ask the Department to make sure that this programme, this methodology, if they could make sure that all schools use it and educators. If we can get support on that because I do understand that there are some things that do have to be tried and tested but trying this methodology now and seeing how it is helping me and my learners, I’d say I’d put a stamp on the Department and say let us try this. I am not shying away from other methodologies that the Department was using, but let’s try connecting them with this one, with Reading to Learn and see how we move forward, especially in our disadvantaged schools, because the medium of instruction, through Reading to Learn, it is made easier. That’s how I will add (Dumisani, Interview 2).

Like Bongani, Dumisani is confident that the Reading to Learn methodology can help other schools in the same way it assisted Dumisani’s learners as reflected in his statement, ‘helping me and my learners’, a resounding vote of confidence for the methodology, by all accounts. Of even more importance in Dumisani’s response, is the recognition that Reading to Learn has something special to offer, ‘especially in our disadvantaged schools’. The point of Rose’s methodology is to galvanise an educational ‘revolution’ informed by the stark reality of poor academic performance in schools located in underprivileged communities, and Dumisani seems to acknowledge its impact here. Bernstein (1990) remarks that the underprivileged children are being doubly disadvantaged by the current structure of the educational edifice that privileges the wealthy. Dumisani confirms that the Reading to Learn methodology represents another ‘pedagogic device’, this time to correct the untenable discrimination against the underprivileged by disallowing them access to the knowledge that would make them succeed within formal schooling.

To reinforce the notion of poverty and disadvantage, none of the participants could claim the active involvement of the community, especially the parents, in the education of their children, a consequence of this social structure. Even the support for Reading to Learn is, for these parents, largely irrelevant.

Celani: Actually I can say, the community that we are working in, they are very poor and I think they are not involved at all. They don’t do follow-ups even after school hours with their children. Sometimes they don’t come even to our meetings. I don’t think they are involved at all (Interview 2, 2014).

Celani’s observation is prevalent in extremely disadvantaged communities, where it is unrealistic to expect impoverished communities to provide a meaningful second ‘site of acquisition’ (Bernstein, 1990: 78) at home. It is for this reason that, in such communities, the school remains the only site available for upliftment. It thus remains doubtful that the children of the poor must learn to read from the home environment and Celani’s statement is a subtle reference to this phenomenon. Reading to Learn, therefore, seems to be committed to bridging the divide between the learners from disadvantaged backgrounds and the schooling context.

In these learners’ homes, providing tuition at home is almost impossible. Thus, the Reading to Learn methodology is designed to provide hope for these learners. The intervention discussed in this paper is seen as having contributed to learners’ improvement by Anele, and so too do her colleagues. Bongani was asked if his learners thought they were improving their skills.

Bongani: For them, they cannot tell you that they are improving their skills but for me, as an educator, I can see that slowly they are getting there, they are improving. I once spoke to my principal and he also discovered that there is a slight improvement in these learners (Bongani, Interview 2, 2013).

This participant, who initially did not support the Reading to Learn initiative, believed from what he had observed that Reading to Learn improved learners’ skills, albeit slightly. Of significance, however, is Bongani’s observation that the improvement was happening slowly: ‘it’s a slight improvement’. This is true because the way that Reading to Learn is structured is such that progress is slow at the beginning,

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43 as pointed out earlier. This is important for later development as acceleration begins to take effect and the gaps are eliminated because the basis has been established. Celani also hints at ‘slow improvement’ when responding to the interview question on whether or not learners evince any academic improvement:

Celani: Yes, some of them. Not all of them that are improving. But some of them you can see that they are coming slowly but surely.

Bam: How do you know this? What’s the evidence?

Celani: Their results. What I can say, when it comes to their tasks and assessment, you can see there and then if you’re taking the style of Reading to Learn of doing these assessments that they are improving here and there (Celani, Interview 2, 2013).

The observations of Bongani and Celani become even more important when considering Dumisani’s earlier assertion that it takes time for the teacher to master this methodology, and that it becomes effective only when the teacher has mastered it. It is interesting that the three Grade 6 teachers hold the view that improvements as a result of the Reading to Learn methodology are ‘slow’ for learners. Dumisani concurred with his two colleagues, but provided a different slant:

Bam: Have learners’ reading outcomes improved since the school started implementing Reading to Learn methodology?

Dumisani: Some. Some not. Some have improved. Some have not improved.

Bam: Their reading outcomes?

Dumisani: Yes, their reading outcomes, but to those that have not improved I’d say basically it is not up to them to improve. I would say, their problems are more deeper (sic) than the education system itself or Reading to Learn itself (Interview 2, 2014).

In his reference to learners with learning difficulties, Dumisani’s conviction that for learners who have not improved their skills, ‘their problems are more deeper (sic) than the education system itself or Reading to Learn itself’ can be interpreted in two ways. First, it may be seen as praise for the impact of the Reading to Learn methodology. That is to say: it has the capacity to improve any learner’s skills; so, for those learners who do not show any immediate improvement, they will improve with time (i.e. the methodology can work for them too). However, it also may be seen as a resurgence of a deep-seated belief (understanding) held even before the intervention regarding learners with weak reading abilities who are ‘just looking at letters. It’s like they are seeing ghosts of words’ (Dumisani, Interview 1, 2012) and to which his counterpart, Celani, suggested that they were ‘mentally challenged’ (Celani, Interview 1, 2012). The ‘more deeper’ problems may very well be a reference to a common tendency by some teachers to label learners as having learning barriers, much too soon. The fact is that during the intervention, the teachers are attempting to both master and apply the methodology simultaneously. Even though they claim seeing some results, with the exception of Anele, they do not claim full mastery of the methodology. It may well be that the learners who have not shown any improvement are unable to do so because they are still in the process of coming to grips with the new way of reading or that their teachers are themselves still in the learning phase of the implementation; perhaps when they have mastered it sufficiently, it will reflect in the learners’ abilities. This is a useful assumption because the Reading to Learn methodology has been used successfully even in contexts similar to the one reported on in this paper where learners have particular reading problems.

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44 Another understanding that is either transformed or confirmed by the intervention at the study site is the manner in which participants explain how their learners respond to the Reading to Learn methodology.

When Anele was asked if her learners enjoyed the programme, she responded:

Anele: They enjoy it a lot. This Reading to Learn has made me to understand all my learners in the class.

Bam: Do they feel like they are improving their skills?

Anele: Yes, they are improving and they are very proud. Those who can read are very proud, they even want to help those who are lacking (Interview 2, 2014).

Anele’s admission that she ‘understand[s] all [her] learners in the class’ and that ‘those who can read are proud’ are manifest as a result of the reconfiguration of the pedagogic discourse in her class. It is a tacit admission that before the intervention she did not necessarily understand all her learners, and that pride hardly formed part of the discourse semantics. Apart from this, the fact that her learners ‘even want to help those who are lacking’ is very important. It places emphasis on Vygotsky’s (1978) conception of ‘the More Knowledgeable Other’ in his Social Development Theory. This refers to instances where an adult, a teacher, or even a better-equipped peer, can provide assistance to a (struggling) learner, as exemplified in Anele’s response. On the same subject of the learners’ response to the methodology, Celani also described how his learners respond as a consequence of the Reading to Learn methodology in his classroom:

Bam: Do you think your learners enjoy the Reading to Learn programme?

Celani: Yes. A lot.

Bam: How do you know that?

Celani: The way they raise up their hands, the way they want to answer me back, to respond from the text. Yes, I can say, definitely that they do enjoy it.

Bam: Do you think they are improving their skills?

Celani: In a way, I can say that. The way they are doing, it is clear that this thing is helping them a lot to understand the words, especially the difficult words that they don’t understand, words of the similar meanings, all those things like adjectives, yes. That’s what I can say. They are improving a lot (Interview 2, 2014).

That learners ‘are very proud’ (Anele, Interview 2: 2014) and ‘they raise up their hands, the way they want to answer … back, to respond from the text’ (Celani, Interview 2: 2014) can be attributed to the intervention and attributable to Rose’s Scaffolding Interaction Cycle, a pedagogic approach he ‘borrowed’ from Vygotsky (1978). This is where learners who are ordinarily inept, or suffer from low selfesteem, suddenly regain their confidence when they realise that they are supported to answer the teacher’s questions.

CONCLUSION This paper places the Reading to Learn methodology at a strategic centre of the broader reading pedagogy.

It elucidates how this methodology seems to be drawing on the strengths of the dominant Schools of Thought in this area of study, namely the DI and IT. More specifically, the methodology is offered as a

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45 preferred intervention option on how best to teach reading in an explicit and, perhaps, comprehensive way in settings of extreme educational disadvantage. With participants drawn from a range of school subject teachers, the study also demonstrates how the teaching of reading has the potential to help learners to attain educational success across the curriculum despite their socio-economic conditions. It reveals that Rose’s Reading to Learn methodology, with its focus on the explicit teaching of reading, has the capacity to transform the understandings of teachers regarding the role the teaching of reading plays in assisting the learners to achieve better results. Critically, our study reveals the central role that the teaching of reading plays in improving the morale and confidence of both the learners and teachers, and, subsequently, as a result, in improving the learner-academic performance in a rural, educationally disadvantaged setting. It is evident from the data generated that this methodology offers learners from underprivileged backgrounds a rare opportunity: to assist them potentially to compete on an almost equal footing with their more privileged counterparts located in better-resourced environments. In this study, the methodology even transformed teachers’ perceptions of the ‘place’ of the explicit teaching reading.

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50 The reading habits and practices of undergraduate students at a higher education institution in South Africa: a case study1 Sharita Bharuthram, University of the Western Cape, South Africa

ABSTRACT Research conducted in South Africa has shown that the reading literacy level of students entering higher education is lower than is desirable. In an attempt to gain an understanding of students’ reading habits and practices, this study explored students’ goals in reading, the challenges they face while reading, and the reading behaviours experienced and modelled in their homes. The data were collected by means of a student questionnaire and interviews. The findings of this research have implications for all stakeholders, as they show that reading is marginalised at all levels, and that measures need to be implemented immediately to develop positive reading habits and practices in students. Amongst other things, it is suggested that in order to position students as producers of knowledge, it is imperative for lecturers in various disciplines to play a greater role in encouraging students to read and in helping them attain the reading conversancy required in these lecturers’ disciplines.1 Keywords: reading, reading habits and practices, higher education, disciplinary reading, academic literacies

INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND Reading is not only an essential life skill; it is also regarded as the cornerstone of learning. The acquisition of knowledge through reading is crucial for the learning process and is an important academic task in which students need to engage. Much of the research on reading, both in South Africa (Balfour, 2002; Ngwenya, 2010; Bharuthram, 2012) and in other parts of the world, such as in Australia (Rose, 2004) and Sweden (Pecorari, Shaw, Irvine, Malmstrom & Mezek, 2012) acknowledge a strong relationship between reading and academic performance. There are also many studies at a national and an international level that show that a growing percentage of students enter university with inadequate reading literacy – as a result, these students often struggle to meet the necessary academic requirements of their disciplines (for example, Chanock, Horton, Reedman & Stephenson, 2012; Divoll & Browning, 2013; Bharuthram & Clarence, 2015). These findings should raise concern because at the university level students are often expected to enhance the teaching and learning process by reading widely in their subject areas, either in preparation for lectures or to supplement their lecture notes. To this end, many modules have a list of prescribed and/or recommended readings, generally in the form of textbooks that students are expected 1 Date of submission: 25 November 2015 Date of acceptance: Initial - 30 June 2016

Final - 14 January 2017

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51 to engage with alongside their lectures and coursework. These reading materials are intended to provide greater exposure to the various academic disciplines the students are studying. However, many students do not heed even numerous requests by lecturers for them to read outside of the classroom (Berry, Cook, Hill & Stevens, 2010).

It is well known that increased reading has benefits that extend beyond the acquisition of content knowledge. Increased reading also has the potential to improve reading ability as well as the readers’ attitudes to reading (Lukhele, 2013). It also aids in the transfer of language-related skills (Pecorari et al., 2012). Furthermore, reading different texts may enhance students’ skills in text comprehension, as they begin to acquire a technical vocabulary, become familiar with different text types, as well as textual elements. However, to gain these benefits students have to form the habit of reading the prescribed or recommended texts.

The findings of prior studies on students’ reading habits and practices are not encouraging. For example, a study by Burchfield and Sappington (2000) over a 16-year period found that at two colleges along the Texas/Mexican border only 30% of students completed any given assignment. The results of Brost and Bradley (2006) differ slightly as they found that most of the students in their sample from a university in Missouri did some of the assignment reading – some students claimed that they had read everything as required, and a handful admitted that they did not do any of the assigned reading. It would seem that students do not always realise the potential benefits that they can obtain from additional reading and the fact that their lack of interaction with course reading(s) can have a negative impact on their overall learning and development as students (Pecorari et al., 2012). The above situation can ultimately pose a threat to the quality of university education, as students may graduate with limited and / or restricted knowledge in their respective fields. In this regard, Palani (2012: 93) describes reading as ‘…a tool of the acquisition mind; it is the vehicle for obtaining ideas that cannot be transmitted verbally’ and ‘…is a crucial factor affecting intellectual and emotional growth’. He argues that reading and the educational process are interrelated and that in order to achieve educational success, successful reading habits are essential.

Owusu-Acheaw (2014: 2) defines reading habits as a ‘well-planned and deliberate pattern of study which has attained a form of consistency on the part of the students toward understanding academic subjects and passing at examinations’. He argues along similar lines as Palani (2012: 92), stating that ‘reading habits determine the academic achievements of students to a great extent’ and that ‘both reading and academic achievements are interrelated and dependent on each other’. It is widely acknowledged that the inculcation of good reading habits and practices should begin in early childhood, and that good reading habits also need to be instilled in children of school-going age, when they are still at an impressionable stage. This should be reinforced throughout higher education.

In light of the fact that reading is integral to academic success, this case study explores students’ reading habits and reading practices2 at university, in an attempt to gain a better understanding of why students are not reading, as well as some of the challenges that they may face while reading. In addition, in an attempt to acquire and present a holistic view of students’ reading practices, this research also examines the reading habits and practices of the families from which students come, as well as students’ own reading habits and practices in their immediate family circle, from early childhood and throughout their schooling.

Although there is a body of literature on this topic internationally, there has thus far been little research in the South African context that focuses specifically on the reading habits and practices of university

2 This study forms part of a larger PhD study which examined students’ reading and writing attitudes and practices in higher education (Bharuthram, 2007).

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52 students. It is hoped that an understanding of some of the challenges students face with regard to reading may encourage academics to play a more substantial role in motivating students to read course material and raise lecturers’ awareness of the importance of embedding reading literacy into the curriculum.

Moreover, it is hoped that this research will also encourage discussions across different platforms in higher education on the importance of instilling positive reading habits and practices in students, thereby promoting a culture of reading since, as discussed earlier, reading is the essence of all formal education.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS In an attempt to acquire an understanding of students’ reading habits and practices, three research questions were asked: 1. What are the participants’ goals in reading?

2. What challenges do participants experience during reading?

3. What are the reading behaviours that typify the particular families from which participants come?

THE RESEARCH PROCESS Research context: This research was conducted at a university of technology in South Africa where the researcher worked as an academic development practitioner with students from the Faculty of Health Sciences. In particular, the researcher taught an academic literacy course to students registered for an extended first-year programme. It is in this capacity that the researcher had access to the research participants. Prior to the commencement of the research, ethical clearance was obtained from the academic institution’s research committee to conduct this study.

Participants: The participants in this study were 62 students (20 men and 42 women). All were first-year students registered for different diplomas across the Faculty of Health Sciences. Of the 62 participants, 12 were registered for the extended first-year programme and attended the academic literacy course that the researcher taught. Nine of the 12 literacy course participants were identified as English Additional Language (EAL) students. These 12 students also participated in interviews and were therefore regarded as the primary participants. The remaining 50 students were selected randomly, based on their willingness to participate. Students were assured that their responses would be treated as anonymous, and that they could withdraw from the research process at any point during the research.

Research methods: Both quantitative methods (a questionnaire) and qualitative methods (interviews) were used to obtain as full an understanding of participants’ reading habits and their reading practices as possible, as recommended by Cohen, Manion and Morrison (2007).

1. The questionnaire: All 62 students filled in the questionnaire, which was designed to get a sense of students’ reading habits and reading practices. The first section of the questionnaire contained two open-ended questions. These are:

(1) ‘Describe some specific reasons (goals) a person might have for reading.’

(2) ‘What are some of the things you can do if you have difficulty understanding something you are reading?’

The first question was worded in such a way as to encourage students to provide an indication of how much they knew about reading for different purposes. The second question examined instances in which

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53 students experienced difficulty in comprehension. The responses to both questions provided measures of the number and types of reading goals and strategies participants could generate through free recall.

The next set of questions (Questions 3, 4 and 5) which were closed-ended questions focused on reading for leisure, reading frequency and academic reading. These are the following:

(3) ‘Other than materials prescribed in your discipline, do you read anything else? If no, please state why? If yes, please tick whichever applies: newspapers, popular magazines, novels/literature, other (specify).’

(4) ‘How often do you read? – Daily, Once a week, Once a month, Other (specify).’

(5) ‘Do you read recommended material related to your discipline/course that you are studying? – Never, Occasionally (rarely), Sometimes (about 50% of the time), Often (specify).’

2. The interviews: Each of the 12 primary participants was interviewed twice. The interviews were conducted approximately two months after the completion of the questionnaire. In the first interview, for the purposes of triangulation, students were asked the same questions as in the questionnaire.

This enabled the researcher to compare the questionnaire responses of the 12 primary participants with their oral interview responses. Furthermore, since the interviews were conducted only after the analysis of the questionnaires, this approach offered an opportunity to probe responses that were not clear in the questionnaire, as well as to address new questions that arose from an analysis of the questionnaires. The second interview, which consisted mostly of semi-structured questions, focused primarily on the reading practices that occurred in the participants’ immediate family circle and in the school environment. The second interview was designed to increase understanding of the reading behaviours that typify the particular families from which the participants come, as well as the influence, if any, that the schooling system has had on their reading habits and practices. The aim was to obtain a holistic picture of the participants’ reading habits and practices. Each interview was tape-recorded and lasted approximately 45 to 60 minutes.

Data Analysis: 1. Questionnaire: The responses for most of the open-ended questions were thematically analysed. For each question, the participants’ responses were used to compile an initial list of words/phrases that described responses pertinent to the question. This method was adopted from Taraban, Rynaerson and Kerr (2000) and is in line with the views of other researchers, such as Arzipe (1994), who argue that in analysing data we search for patterns, and look for categories to work with, from which new perspectives may emerge as we begin to interpret the data. Where categories could not be formed for certain questions, the main comments for each participant were summarised and used depending on their significance to the research question. The responses to the closed-ended questions were counted and the percentages were calculated and recorded.

2. Interviews: The interviews were first transcribed, and then the responses to each question were highlighted and summarised, searching for patterns of thought and behaviour in order to get a sense of students’ reading habits and reading practices.

FINDINGS Question 1: Student goals for reading: Most participants listed two reading goals (range: one to five). The goals listed were categorised into the three broad categories as used by Taraban et al. (2000: 290-291), namely, educational goals, casual reading, and practical reasons for reading (see Table 1).

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54 Table 1: Students’ goals for reading Percentage (n=62)

Goals Educational Goals: - Increase general information/knowledge

56.45%

- Obtain better understanding of subject/topic

35.48%

- For educational purposes

22.58%

- Learn vocabulary

20.96%

- Improve reading speed

14.51%

- Improve language

08.05%

Casual Reading: - Relaxation/Pleasure

32.25%

- Countering boredom

03.23%

- Escape from world

01.61%

Practical Reasons: - To know what is happening in the world/current issues

20.97%

- To communicate effectively

01.61%

- To help other people

01.61%

As shown in Table 1 above, the highest number of goals recorded related to educational goals, followed by casual reading. The last category was practical reasons for reading. These findings are similar to those listed by the participants in the studies of Saumell, Hughes and Lopate (1999) and Taraban et al. (2000), which indicated that students tend to read more for learning purposes than for enjoyment or for escapism.

Of note is that in the interviews the majority of the participants indicated that although they read mostly for educational purposes, they did this only when they were forced to, for example, when they had to complete an assignment or prepare for a test. Other than this, because of the demands made on them by their disciplines they have very little time to devote to casual/practical reading.

Question 2: Strategies employed when experiencing difficulties in reading: The number of strategies listed per participant was two (range: one to four). See Table 2 below.

Table 2: Strategies employed when experiencing difficulties reading Reading strategies used

Percentage (n=62)

- Seek assistance from friends

75.08%

- Seek assistance from lecturers

09.67%

- Use a dictionary to understand unknown words

51.61%

- Read the text more than once

45.16%

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55 In addition to the responses shown in Table 2, many of the remaining responses were lower-order cognitive responses to comprehension difficulty (for example, ‘obtain a simpler source’, ‘read aloud’, ‘take a break’ or ‘stop reading’). A very small proportion of the participants reported using more sophisticated strategies (for example, ‘make points or summaries’ and ‘generate questions about the material’). While it is encouraging to note that the majority of students indicated enlisting assistance from a friend or using a dictionary to manage their reading difficulties, it is a matter of concern that only a very small percentage of students indicated willingness to seek assistance from a lecturer.

The interview data revealed similar findings. Only one participant said that if friends were not able to help her understand a text, then she would approach her lecturer. The inability or reluctance of students to approach academics for assistance could have a deleterious effect on their learning, as it means that the lecturers are often unaware of the students’ difficulties at a particular level.

Question 3: Reading for pleasure: Almost all participants (93.54%) indicated that they read material other than that required for their studies. Of all the reading materials listed, newspapers were most popular (64.51%), followed by magazines (61.29%) and novels (40.32%). Four participants indicated that they only read material required for their studies. Some reasons given were:

…once I start reading maybe a novel I won’t have time for my school work.

And

I don’t have the time to read other things beside the subject I’m doing.

Question 4: Reading frequency (all types of reading material): The figures presented below present a bleak picture of the reading habits and practices of the participants. It appears that just over half of the students are aware that reading increases one’s knowledge (see Table 1), but they still do not read extensively or even on a daily basis as shown in Table 3.

Table 3: Reading frequency (all materials) Percentage (n=62)

Reading frequency - Daily

35.48%

- Once a week

25.80%

- Two to three times a week

16.12%

- Once a month

11.29%

- Time permitting or when bored

09.67%

Question 5: Academic reading: Table 4: Academic reading Reading of academic material

Percentage (n=62)

- Sometimes

43.54%

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56 Reading of academic material

Percentage (n=62)

- Often

33.87%

- Occasionally

20.96%

- Never

01.61%

The above table suggests a limited commitment to the reading of academic material. This finding is in line with the findings of Pecorari et al. (2012) and Brost and Bradley (2006). Some participants who reported that they read occasionally also elaborated, saying that they read only in preparation for an assignment/ project or a test.

Only two of the interviewed participants indicated that they engaged in additional reading in order to improve their understanding of the subject content while the remainder of the 12 participants relied heavily on lecture notes and study guides. Participants also reported that they found their prescribed and recommended textbooks difficult to read and that they often experienced problems in understanding subjectspecific terminology. In addition, they reported that they received almost no or limited encouragement from their lecturers to read which is of great concern. Apart from the fact that reading is rarely mentioned, it seems that lecturers provide students with lecture notes, without creating situations where students are encouraged to consult reading materials to compile their own notes and in doing so to expand their disciplinary knowledge.

Family and childhood reading habits and practices: Most of the 12 primary participants come from lower socio-economic backgrounds, where reading was considered a luxury. All English Additional Language (EAL) participants reported that their parents neither read to them, nor encouraged them to read.

However, some of them did remember being told stories and poems by their parents and grandparents.

It therefore seems that many of the EAL learners come from an ‘oral cultural’ background, in other words, from a culture that does not place much value on reading.

School experiences of reading: Most of the EAL participants who were interviewed came from schools that were very poorly3 resourced and therefore had different schooling experiences from the English First Language (EL1) participants who attended better resourced schools. All the EAL participants started to read only when they entered primary school, some through the use of their home language readers. Of note is that a few of the EAL participants only began to learn English from Grade 3. On the other hand, all of the EL1 participants knew how to read some words before entering primary school. Both the EAL and EL1 participants reported that they learnt to read by decoding syllables or words, however, for most of them the formal teaching of reading stopped either in Grade 3 or in Grade 4.

Participants recalled that their reading in secondary was tested through prepared or unseen reading passages, reading comprehension tests, tests on prescribed set books and book reviews. These were done mostly to satisfy assessment requirements and it would therefore seem that reading was viewed as a ‘once-off activity’. Reading as a hobby was not encouraged, and participants had little or no exposure to the range of genres available.

3 For example, some of these schools did not have a library, and students were required to share reading material.

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57

DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS The findings of this research reveal that most of the primary participants of this study, especially the EAL participants, were severely disadvantaged in several ways with regard to their reading development.

Firstly, the participants lack a solid reading foundation, which should have been provided in their immediate family unit. Most of them come from a cultural background that values oral story-telling rather than the written word. According to Lukhele (2013), cultural beliefs play an important role in developing positive reading attitudes. If a student comes from a culture where reading is viewed in a negative light, then it is likely that the student will develop a less favourable attitude towards reading. This will inadvertently affect the student’s reading practices. Most participants also came from lower socio-economic backgrounds and/or from homes where their parents were not in a position to participate actively in their learning development. Hence, many of them entered school with very little exposure to books.

Some prior studies have shown evidence of a connection between socio-economic status and academic success (Sirin, 2005; Bornstein & Bradley, 2012). Other studies (Henderson & Berla, 1994; Shute, Hansen, Underwood & Razzouk, 2011) have shown that there is a strong correlation between parental involvement and increased academic achievement, and argue that a home environment that encourages learning is more important to student achievement than a family’s income, education level or cultural background (Henderson & Berla, 1994). Furthermore, learning to read prior to entering school is essential as a foundation for learning; many studies (for example, Clay, 1991; Ruddell & Ruddell, 1994) have shown that children who are read to before they enter school are more likely to be successful in learning to read, as they are more likely to ‘approach print with high expectations of its meaning and possess knowledge and familiarity with story structure and the language of the text’ (Ruddell & Ruddell, 1994: 93).

In recent years, literacy initiatives and programmes have been launched by governmental and nongovernmental organisations to promote a culture of reading and improve literacy levels among parents and caregivers. Nevertheless, the problem of low reading literacy levels is still of great concern. Hence, stronger and more controlled measures need to be put in place at governmental level to educate parents/ caregivers on the value of reading and reading extensively, as well as on the importance of playing an active role in their children’s education.

Secondly, learning to read in school and developing the ability to read for meaning is essential both in the Foundation and Intermediate phases of learning, as it lays the necessary foundation for the more sophisticated reading required in higher education. However, as noted earlier in the findings, and as Pretorius and Currin (2010) point out, although many educators in South African schools acknowledge that reading is important, little direct attention is paid to reading after the Foundation Phase. As a result, ‘for many children reading develops at a suboptimal level and they have problems accessing, understanding and integrating information from written texts’ (Pretorius, 2002: 34). Decoding skills are necessary, but Cummins (2001) states that they are insufficient for reading comprehension development, because acquiring decoding skills does not automatically imply proficiency in reading comprehension.

Therefore, it is important to continue with some structured teaching of reading after the decoding stage. In addition to this, educators need to take seriously the plea of ‘Back to books’ made by researchers (Baka, 2000; Lukhele, 2013) – they should become readers and teachers of reading (Lukhele, 2013) too, and in so doing be role models for the younger generation.

As a result of the two concerns raised above it is no wonder that many students enter higher education with a vast mismatch between the expectations of school and the expectations of higher education. Bridging this gap is a challenge and is immensely difficult for most of them. With regard to more specific concerns relating to students’ reading habits and practices in higher education, the following were noted. Firstly,

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58 the primary participants interviewed reported that they enjoyed reading, but explained that because of time constraints they read only for academic purposes, and read only when they had to complete an assessment task or were studying for a test or examination. This situation is of concern, as it seems that students are not engaging in reading for pleasure, and their academic reading is itself very limited. Given that research shows that reading for leisure improves vocabulary knowledge and reading proficiency (Roberts, 2008), this is problematic. Furthermore, reading extensively has a positive effect on academic performance (Collier, 1989).

It is worrying that very few students indicated using sophisticated reading strategies to assist them in overcoming their reading difficulties. This finding could be attributed to their lack of knowledge of reading strategies, resulting perhaps from inadequate/insufficient teaching of reading at school and a lack of extensive reading.

The fact that most of the participants reported that they only read when they were forced to do so suggests that they are extrinsically motivated. Therefore, the challenge for lecturers is thinking of ways to raise and build their students’ intrinsic levels of motivation for reading, as engagement in reading is strongly correlated with reading achievement to such an extent that it may enable students to overcome disadvantages due to socio-economic status or parents’ educational backgrounds. In addition, academics should create positive reading habits and attitudes in their students, but it is also important for them to create an environment that fosters the ‘intention to read’ and for students to ‘continue reading’. In this regard, Mathewson (2004) claims that positive reading attitudes alone do not necessarily lead to reading, unless the ‘intention to read or continue reading’ is present.

Secondly, most of the academic reading that students engage in is restricted to their lecture notes and study guide(s). Total reliance on lecture notes encourages rote learning and characterises students as reproducers of knowledge, instead of positioning students as producers of knowledge. Pecorari et al.

(2012: 245) argue that it may be possible that ‘by not regularly assigning reading, teachers signal that the textbook is peripheral and therefore unimportant’. To this end, lecturers can play a pivotal role in contributing to positive reading habits and practices among their students. A suggestion would be for lecturers to limit their lecture notes and instead create situations that ‘gently enforce’ students to read. For example, in order to encourage students to read in preparation for a lecture, the lecturer could begin the lesson with a mini quiz/test. These could be done occasionally and contribute towards a set number of unplanned tests/tasks that contribute to the continuous assessment mark. This is just one example that could be varied to include reading and testing after a lecture, or after the completion of a particular section/topic.

Thirdly, all the students interviewed reported that their textbooks are difficult to read, resulting in heavily reliance on the dictionary. Lecturers need to be cautious when choosing prescribed or recommended readings. Pretorius (2005) argues that when the reading of academic material requires too much effort, and students consistently fail in reading these texts, this may lead them to become reluctant to continue reading or even to apply new reading strategies. According to Perera (1984: 275), the chances of full comprehension are reduced if ‘unfamiliar subject matter expressed in technical vocabulary combines with intrinsically demanding sentence construction’, which may be the case with some of the textbooks encountered by the participants. Admittedly some of the difficulties that students experience in reading and writing in higher education can be attributed to their limited proficiency in the English language, but students’ reading ability is also an important contributory factor in their reading/writing difficulties.

Furthermore, as indicated above, many of these students not only enter higher education with home literacies that are not congruent to the literacy practices of the institution, but also have an inadequate schooling background. They have to overcome these challenges, and have to acquire the literacy practices

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59 of their individual disciplines. Students who are unable to make the required adjustments struggle to succeed academically (Greenbaum & Mbali, 2002; Ngwenya, 2010).

The fact that students experience texts as challenging to read stresses the need for continued reading instruction. The current trend is to rely on academic development initiatives to address students’ reading and writing difficulties. While such academic development initiatives do have benefits, these initiatives on their own are insufficient to cater for all students, and to address some of the more specific disciplinary reading norms and conventions and/or challenges that students may experience. This problem is best dealt with by lecturers in the relevant disciplines, who have insider knowledge of their disciplines, and are thus better equipped to assist their students to read in their disciplines. It is therefore suggested that reading awareness and the teaching of reading be institutionalised across the curriculum, together with writing activities.

Finally, in the current situation, higher education institutions are forced to implement measures to address the shortcomings of the schooling system at additional costs. In order to prevent the situation from escalating, it is imperative that sustained and monitored initiatives are put in place at governmental level to ensure that there is greater family involvement in childhood education and that the schooling system produces scholars that are better prepared for higher education.

CONCLUSION This article examined the reading habits and practices of first-entry students at a university in South Africa.

Data were collected by means of a questionnaire and individual interviews. The findings reveal that the reading habits and practices of students are of great concern and are deep-seated. For the majority of the participants, their lack of reading exposure begins at home, where many parents are not able to engage actively in their children’s learning process. Children from these backgrounds enter the schooling system with very little exposure to books. Some emphasis is placed on reading in the foundation phases of schooling, but this is not sufficient to develop these students as independent, critical readers. Hence, they enter higher education with the literacies of schooling, but not with a well-developed literacy repertoire for higher education.

The findings also indicate that students are not self-motivated to read. Instead, they read primarily when external pressure is applied and for educational reasons, and then only to a limited extent. Very few students read the relevant discipline-specific texts to supplement notes taken or given during lectures. The provision of handouts/notes by lecturers has a negative effect, and seems to create a sense that reading is not important. All 12 primary participants reported that they found their textbooks difficult to read. It should raise concern that very few students indicated using more sophisticated reading strategies to assist them in overcoming their difficulties, and this could be attributed to their lack of knowledge of reading strategies.

The above findings suggest that reading has been marginalised, and that in order to position students as producers of knowledge, it is imperative that all stakeholders begin to play an active role in developing and enhancing a culture of reading amongst learners. In the context of higher education, it is imperative that lecturers in the individual disciplines play a greater role in urging (even forcing) students to read and also in helping them to attain the reading conversancy required in their disciplines.

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62 Shute, V.J., Hansen, E.G., Underwood, J.S. & Razzouk, R. (2011) ‘A review of the relationship between parental involvement and secondary school students’ academic achievement’ Educational Research International 2011. http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2011/915326 Sirin, S.R. (2005) ‘Socioeconomic status and academic achievement: A meta-analytic review of research’ Review of Educational Research 75(3) pp.417-453.

Taraban, R., Rynaerson, K. & Kerr, M. (2000) ‘College students’ academic performance and self-reports of comprehension strategy use’ Reading Psychology 21 pp.283-308.

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63 Good teacher education – an exploratory study1 Elza Venter, University of South Africa, South Africa

ABSTRACT Good or effective education of prospective teachers in traditional higher education settings seemingly differ from educating them in Open Distance Learning (ODL). The literature was reviewed with reference to ‘good teacher education’ in traditional higher education and that in ODL contexts. Content analysis was done with the responses to two open-ended questions, e-mailed to staff members of the Department of Teacher Education in the College of Education at an ODL institution, namely ‘What is good teacher education?’ and ‘What is good teacher education in ODL?’ Since the researcher is part of the College of Education, she made use of convenience sampling. In comparing literature with the empirical findings it seems that good teacher education contains many of the same elements in ODL and traditional higher education settings. The context in ODL teacher education is different, but all student teachers need particular generic skills and competences. Interactive digital communication technologies are, however, more extensively used in ODL. Recommendations on how teacher education in both settings can be improved are made.1 Keywords: digital technologies, good teacher education, higher education, social media, teacher education

INTRODUCTION According to Perraton (2010) in a report on teacher education for the Commonwealth of Learning, the world needs more effective teachers in the classroom. There is a shortage of teachers worldwide; teaching methods are in some instances old fashioned; and teachers in practice are often unqualified for the job (Perraton, 2010). Although countries in Sub-Saharan Africa have a greater need for more well-trained teachers, there is also a shortage in many western countries such as Ireland, Spain, Sweden and the USA (Lindqvist, Nordanger & Carlsson, 2014). Teacher training institutions worldwide, thus, have a responsibility, not just to train more teachers, but to give good or excellent teacher education and training to prepare student teachers for practice.

Ball and Forzani (2009) quote Grossman et al. (2009) in discussing effective education in higher education institutions in general. They are all in agreement that good education does not merely imply learning through experience, but includes carefully designed learning with lecturers as facilitators and with the 1 Date of submission: 21 July 2015 Date of acceptance: Initial - 19 August 2016

Final - 14 January 2017

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64 integration of theory into practice. It is not about the training of skills alone, but education in a specific context with the global world and its innovations in mind.

Concurring with the above notion, teacher educators must teach subject content and pedagogy, but the academic part of teacher education must be linked to practice in a specific context. Student teachers need to experience practical teaching whilst in training. Mathewson Mitchell and Reid (2016) see practice as the source for professional development and the art of reflection. They believe that teaching is ‘embodied work’ that ‘may hold significant potential for ongoing development of an integrated theory of practice for teacher education’ (2016: 43). The notion of ‘practice theory’ is about application in everyday life. The carefully designed learning referred to above by Ball and Forzani (2009) should thus include emphasis on learning through practice.

In this study, the researcher studies literature to see what good teacher education entails and listens to viewpoints of lecturers in the field about what is important in teaching prospective teachers to become effective teachers. The answers to two open-ended questions from lecturers at an ODL institution about what good teacher education entails are interrogated. The research, thus, focuses on what effective teacher education in higher education and ODL institutions is and how it can be improved.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK The researcher worked from a constructivist, student-centred approach in this study. A studentcentred approach emphasises self-motivation, self-reflection and learning as a reflective and interactive process with the lecturer as facilitator. Dumford, Cogswell and Miller (2016) summarise constructivism as the integration of new knowledge and understanding into existing knowledge frameworks through the use of real-life scenarios for better understanding and the application of problem-solving skills.

Cheng, Chan, Tang and Cheng (2008) maintain that the preparation to engage in effective classroom practices in schools is critical in student teacher education. They believe that a constructivist approach should be taken where interaction between students or students and lecturers would create the necessary knowledge and skills in a specific context through practical application of theory. Carneiro (2007: 160) reiterates the above notion by indicating that constructivism ‘... sheds new light on the role of intersubjectivity vis-a-vis social learning: knowledge is elevated to the category of a personal and social construct, indivisible from cultural conditionalities and their forceful interplay’. In this research good teacher education inter alia involves education of prospective teachers in line with the newest developments globally, including the use of innovative technologies, but with acknowledgement of the specific context of the students being educated.

GOOD TEACHER EDUCATION IN HIGHER EDUCATION In this discussion the concepts ‘good’, ‘effective’ and ‘excellent’ education are used interchangeably, because different authors use different descriptions. Effective or good education at tertiary institutions is a ‘contested concept’ (Skelton, 2009; Trigwell, 2001) with ‘varying definitions’ (Devlin & Samarawickrema, 2010). Kreber (2002) clarifies excellence in education as educators teaching with a sound disciplinary knowledge; motivating their students, conveying concepts clearly and helping students with learning difficulties. Effective teaching in higher education is broadly defined by Devlin and Samarawickrema (2010: 112) as ‘teaching that is oriented to and focused on students and their learning’. Student-focused education with the inclusion of particular situations, as referred to in the previous discussion, is part of good teaching, which implies that lecturers recognise the importance of student context and adapt their teaching and real-life scenarios accordingly. Ball and Forzani (2009, 2011) contend that carefully designed learning and teaching are necessary for ‘good education’ with theory and practice combined to enable students to apply theory in their specific contexts to make it relevant.

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65 Two broadly accepted components of effective education according to Devlin and Samarawickrema (2010) are the teaching of particular skills and practices, with cognisance of the context of teaching.

Tertiary education is thus a scholarly activity, including extensive professional skills and practices, high levels of disciplinary knowledge and contextual expertise. Students should be educated with emphasis on the inclusion of critical thinking skills, problem solving skills and a problem-based approach to education and teaching.

All of the above also applies to good teacher education for prospective teachers. Dumford et al.

(2016) contend that learning strategies should be adapted to teach students new skills for classroom application, for instance problem-based learning to enhance metacognition. Self-regulating learning will make students more independent, whilst cooperative learning with peers also enhances learning without the direct input of the lecturer.

Hoban (2007 in Beauchamp & Thomas, 2009) sees good teacher education as a ‘multi-linked’ conceptual framework including ‘conceptual, socio cultural, theory-practice and identity’ aspects. Ball and Forzani (2009) explain a practice-focused curriculum in teacher education as a curriculum requiring specific content, in other words specific knowledge and skills that teachers need to learn to educate their learners in particular contexts. In addition, Reid (2011 in Mathewson Mitchell & Reid, 2016: 45) proposes a ‘practice turn’ specifically for teacher education with theory integrated into practice bringing together ‘…pedagogies of observation and pedagogies of reflection with pedagogies of enactment’ with specific contexts of particular students in mind. The more time students spend in an actual classroom, the easier theory will become applicable in practice. ‘The practical sense is what allows new teachers [and student teachers] to more consciously incorporate their “theoretical” knowledge (about learners, teaching and learning), into what they do and say’ (Mathewson Michell & Reid, 2016: 46).

Teaching in schools is very complex requiring many skills that cannot only be acquired through academic knowledge, nor acquired merely from practical experience, but a combination of the two. Classroom practice involves more than subject knowledge, because teachers are decision makers, reflective practitioners and relations experts in today’s classrooms. Teacher education for prospective teachers should thus move away from only being curriculum focused to a practice where knowledge, skills and professional identity are developed for actual teaching practice (Grossman et al., 2009; Ball & Forzani, 2009). Everyday practice in the classroom context should be taught in order for student teachers to stand in front of a class with confidence knowing that they have theoretical and practical knowledge. According to Ball and Forzani (2011) teaching is complex in the sense that it requires specialised knowledge as well as expertise and skills. It requires the ability to work successfully with many different learners from a variety of backgrounds and contexts. The focus in teacher education should thus become an integration of theory and practice – in other words a combination of knowing and doing.

Teacher educators have to develop programmes that will undo the separation of theory and practice.

Grossman et al. (2009: 277) suggest that the curriculum should be re-organised around a set of core practices to help novices to ‘...develop professional knowledge, and skill, as well as an emerging professional identity around these practices’. Practical application of teaching practice could include microteaching, mini courses, competency-based teacher education and computer simulations (Ball & Forzani, 2009). The use of, for instance, videos, DVDs, podcasts or vodcasts in the lecture room can explain practice with examples. Students can also play video recordings of their own practical teaching to peers for constructive critical reflection. All of the above examples indicate knowledge of digital technologies which is very important in knowledge production and transmission (see Schneckenberg, 2009).

Student teachers should, thus, be trained to use technology for educational purposes and not just for personal reasons, because good teachers need content knowledge, as well as knowledge about pedagogy The Independent Journal of Teaching and Learning - Volume 12 (1) / 2017 Formerly The Journal of Independent Teaching and Learning

66 and technology to keep up with the new generation of learners (Kim, Kim, Lee, Spector & DeMeester, 2013).

GOOD TEACHER EDUCATION IN ODL All of the above mentioned requirements for good teacher education also apply in ODL settings, but the use of ICTs is more important in ODL than in traditional settings. ‘The emergence of digital technologies and their penetration into all levels of education ... has challenged higher education institutions to redefine their teaching … and to redesign their organisational infrastructure’ (Guri-Rosenbilt, 2009: 105). The discussion that follows focuses on advantages for teacher educators to get to know how to use digital technologies when teaching prospective teachers. The main issue in ODL and teacher education is the transfer of practical skills and competences to enable students to become effective teachers without faceto-face contact.

Web 2.0 technologies such as blogs, wikis, social tagging, and clouds as well as MP3, instant messaging, MySpace, Flickr, Twitter, You Tube, Wikipedia and Facebook are used by students (Juwah, 2010) for personal reasons, but not for formal learning purposes. They need to learn the benefits of using these for educational purposes. Lecturers, in general, are not comfortable using electronic technologies and media for teaching - they need to learn how to apply these in learning environments (Chen & Bryer, 2012).

Formal and informal learning environments can be connected with social networks; it ‘enables innovative and collaborative interactions, connects textbook knowledge to real-world problems, and facilitates personalized constructive learning’ (Chen & Bryer, 2012: 6). Educators at higher education institutions need to take cognisance of the importance of including social networks as teaching tools in their curricula to motivate the younger generation towards learning in a new way.

Digital technologies and social media assist in the development of skills such as the selection of relevant information, the critical interpretation and analysis of socio-cultural contexts, to work collaboratively and for sharing information. It is important for students to learn to share their ideas and points of view, as well as to critique viewpoints of others in an academic environment (Arquero & Romero-Frias, 2013).

Bawane and Spector (2009: 383) explain that competencies required by lecturers in face-to-face - and online settings are not substantially different from one another. They refer to the ICT framework of UNESCO (2005: 12) for teacher education where four competency areas are highlighted: (1) Content and pedagogy – refer to instructional practices of teachers and their knowledge, that require them to apply ICT for teaching and learning

(2) Collaboration and networking – utilize the communicative potential of ICT to extend beyond the classroom for development of new skills.

(3) Social issues – understand legal and ethical codes, and use of ICT for the promotion of a healthy society.

(4) Technical issues – establish technical proficiency and support ICT integration.

Computer-based technologies are becoming more and more important in teacher education worldwide.

Perraton (2010) indicates four functions of ICTs in teacher education, namely, to distribute teaching materials without unnecessary costs; to allow for two-way communication between a lecturer and student teacher; for direct communication between a lecturer and student and to download and use open educational resources (OERs). Using advanced ICTs in ODL solve many problems in the field such as providing interaction between lecturer and students, as well as between students; providing access to libraries and information resources; and updating study material on a regular basis (Guri-Rosenbilt, 2009).

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67 The use of ICTs for good teacher education is the same in both online and traditional higher education environments. Lecturers and students must embrace the use of digital technologies to keep up with global innovations in teaching and learning. Social media such as blogs, wikis, media sharing tools (audio, photo, video and text), networking platforms like Facebook and virtual worlds should become part of effective student teacher training to enable them to use these media in the classroom as well.

In the empirical study that follows the researcher tried to deduce what lecturers at an ODL institution think good teacher education in general and more particularly in an ODL environment entails.

RESEARCH DESIGN, APPROACH AND METHODOLOGY Research design and approach A qualitative exploratory research approach was used in this study to explore the notion of good teacher education. According to McMillan and Schumacher (2001) qualitative research extends the understanding of a phenomenon. In this research the researcher tried to extract viewpoints from lecturers about what they think good teacher education entails to understand the phenomenon better and to contribute to educational practice.

Data collection – research instruments, participants and sampling Research instrument ‘Digital communication technologies … enable new interviewing strategies’ – e-mail, Skype and texting can be used for interviewing purposes, without face-to-face encounters. There is evidence that respondents often engage in ‘higher levels of personal disclosure’ when there is no direct communication (Pascoe, 2012: 78-79). Two open-ended questions were e-mailed to members of staff in the Department of Teacher Education in the College of Education at an open distance institution, namely, ‘What is good teacher education?’ and ‘What is good teacher education in ODL?’ Sampling and sampling method The above questions were e-mailed to 25 staff members of the Department of Teacher Education in the College of Education at an open distance institution. Fifteen lecturers responded to the open-ended questions on the e-mail and those were used as respondents in this study.

Since the researcher is part of the College of Education she made use of convenience sampling. Creswell (2002) maintains that convenience sampling is used when the researcher selects participants because they are willing, available and accessible.

Data analysis The researcher made use of content analysis by studying the answers of lecturers to two questions about good teacher education. The content of the responses on the collected written e-mail data was studied (Henning, Van Rensburg & Smit, 2009) to identify and describe units of meaning of how different lecturers see good teacher education. The researcher did the coding manually by using colours to indicate themes and categories (Henning, et al., 2009). Categories and themes were identified and discussed in narrative format. The researcher formed a good idea on how lecturers define good teacher education.

Credibility and Trustworthiness According to Henning et al. (2009) to validate collected data involves checking (for bias, for neglects, for lack of precision …), to question (all procedures and decisions – critically) to theorise (looking for and addressing theoretical questions that arise throughout the process – not just

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68 towards the end) and to discuss and share research actions with peers as critical in-process reviewers (2009: 148-149).

The researcher tried to interrogate the data collected, she presented the data at conferences to get feedback from peers and she did an extensive literature review to triangulate the data presented.

Ethical considerations The ethical considerations included gaining informed consent from lecturers to use the data from their responses in an anonymous way. The responses the researcher received were compared for similarities and differences of opinion, but the findings were presented without identification of any individual respondent.

The respondents were assured of confidentiality and voluntarily participation.

FINDINGS Lecturers responded in much the same way as what the literature indicates. The categories deduced from the question ‘What is good teacher education in higher education?’ result in the questions What? (content) and How? (lecturers’ role) of teacher education.

Themes resulted mostly in skills, values and content knowledge combined with practical teaching skills. The responses of the 15 lecturers will be indicated by R for respondent and a number.

Content (What needs to be taught?)

According to literature good lecturers know their students and interact with them; they know their subject content, as well as general pedagogical principles of good teaching (Trigwell, 2001). Saroyan et al.

(2004) also suggest a good grasp of content knowledge and presentation skills which includes good preparation and organisation of content/subject knowledge and the ability to apply knowledge practically and to stimulate student interest as very important for good teacher education. The empirical research focuses on the same skills, values and content knowledge.

Skills R15 indicates that the education programme followed should be holistic in the sense that it develops ‘knowledge, skills …and appropriate values’. Other respondents indicate that prospective teachers need to ‘master a range of skills and competences in addition to content knowledge’ (R5) and the necessary content knowledge should be combined with ‘reliable and convincing examples of HOW a good teacher should behave’ (R8). The findings of the empirical study concur with the notion of the importance of the integration of theory and practice in the literature review (Grossman et al., 2009; Ball & Forzani, 2009, 2011).

Respondents are of the contention that specific skills should be taught: ‘Lifelong learning should be encouraged’ by emphasising research skills (R8), as well as skills like ‘critical reflection’ (R10). Other specific skills mentioned are ‘didactic skills’ e.g. ‘to create relevant lessons’ (R7), and ‘to set assessment tasks’ (R3). The competences that student teachers should learn include knowledge of ‘different learning styles’ of learners (R9) and knowledge of the inclusion of learners with barriers to learning in classes (R4).

‘Knowing subject matter is not enough. The teacher must know how to convey the content effectively and efficiently’ (R8) when standing in his/her own classroom in future.

Values Responses of lecturers indicate that values in good teacher education should be to ‘enhance teaching and learning that works towards educational change and professionalism’ (R2). Lecturers need to give

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69 adequate feedback in various ways to prospective teachers so that their learning can be optimised (R2). ‘Good teacher education results in teaching that facilitates learning’ (R2). According to one of the respondents (R7), content is not the most important element in good teaching, but the person who transfers the knowledge. ‘To be able to demonstrate that to the student (future teacher), the lecturer has to be the perfect example (role model) of a good teacher’ (R5).

Role of the lecturer (How should content be taught?)

In recent times lecturers need to learn how to use technological changes to their advantage with a new learner generation. Content cannot merely be taught in the traditional way, but innovation is very important to keep students’ interest (Devlin & Samawickrema, 2010). The student educators thus need to become comfortable to teach with the use of digital technologies to motivate students towards learning. But the combination of theory and practice is also of great importance. Technology can be of assistance to show student teachers how to apply theory in practical day-to-day situations.

Content with practical examples According to respondents (R6 and R4) content should always be combined with practical examples.

Student teachers should be empowered by giving them the ‘newest and up to date contents (theory, methodology, etc.) based on sound research and experience’ (R6). Grossman et al. (2009) also emphasise the importance to teach student teachers about possible problematic situations in school and prepare them to handle issues in a practical way with theory as background knowledge. ‘Subject didactics’ knowledge should help with the actual practical teaching in the class (R7). The practical part of teaching should get special attention and prospective teachers need to be ‘prepared for the practical teaching situation’ (R7).

Students should not just ‘learn about theories, [but] the value of these theories for classroom implementation should be emphasised’ (R12). Good teaching is about ‘mentoring’. ‘Student teachers should be mentored by good teachers – not mediocre teachers’ (R15). Student teachers or novices need opportunities to try out knowledge, skills and competences with lecturer/mentor teacher support and examples to enable them to apply theory in practice (Ball & Forzani, 2009: 504). ‘Quality education prepares teachers for optimal performance in the classroom’ (R10). Content is not enough – the student teacher should be given ‘reliable and convincing examples of HOW a good teacher should behave’ (R3).

The question ‘What is good teacher education in an ODL context?’ seemed to be more difficult to answer, although all the lecturers partaking in the research were situated in an ODL setting. Many of the lecturers (R1, R6, R9, R14) indicated that there is little difference between a general higher education setting and ODL context in the content, values and skills being taught. Practical teaching can be an issue in an ODL context. This concurs with literature findings. The categories again seemed to be about what is being taught and how lecturers can do the teaching of prospective teachers in an ODL context in the best possible way. One of the respondents (R12) asks the question: ‘How does good teacher education occur under normal circumstances? Is it the practical component that makes the difference or is it the cognitive aspects?’ Another respondent (R14) explains that good teacher education is all about What? Why? How? and Where?, but in the ODL environment the emphasis will be on the How? whilst the What? and How? can never completely be separated from each other. Themes again resulted mostly in skills, values and content knowledge combined with practical teaching skills.

Content (What needs to be taught?)

Skills Skills mentioned by respondents are inter alia ‘technology for promoting … independent study through extended access and interactive communication’ (R5) as well as the ability to work in groups (R10).

Students need to create their own content, but then they need to share it with others (Arquero & RomeroFrias, 2013) through collaborative teaching or by means of digital technology. The younger generations The Independent Journal of Teaching and Learning - Volume 12 (1) / 2017 Formerly The Journal of Independent Teaching and Learning

70 prefer active, engaged learning in self-directed, independent as well as interactive environments (Barnes, Marateo & Ferris, 2007), therefore the importance of the use of ICTs. ‘A structure needs to be in place that provides structure and support for students – e.g. regular timetable of video conferencing, blogging – following up students who are not participating to encourage them’ (R3).

Another respondent (R4) reiterates the importance of communication in ODL between students and academic staff, as well as engagement with the subject matter. It is important for students to have computer and internet access in an ODL setting to communicate with each other and with their lecturers. ‘Although no direct contact, students benefit from the conversation contained in pre-produced courses and from interactive communication with their lecturers’ (R6). ‘The transactional balance is dependent on proper communication media, the design of courses, the selection and training of lecturers, and the learning styles of students’ (R10).

Values According to the respondents (R2, R7, R9 and R5), values important in ODL are, for instance, studentcentredness regarding student choice about ‘content, time, place, pace of learning, method of instruction and nature of assessment’. Lecturers need to do reflective thinking to improve student support in a creative way, because learning especially in ODL should be student-centred (R1). The context of the learners is an important factor in educating ODL students, because practical examples must talk to the real world of the student. Good teacher education in an ODL context emphasises teaching and learning at a distance whilst providing ‘support and supervision in order to enhance transformation’ (R1), especially in an age where digital technology is important.

Role of the lecturer (How should content be taught?)

Content and practice The content of study materials should not just include subject knowledge, but must be on ‘such as level that the student understands it and be able to apply it in practice’ (R11). Student teachers need to be exposed to good practice and must have the opportunity to practise it themselves (R2). ‘Good teacher education in ODL should be more practical than what it is currently’ (R5). Student teachers should get an opportunity to present lessons that are observed (R13). Students could videotape a lesson and then answer questions on their practical skills as self-assessment (R4).

Students need to learn to do research and how to use the library system (R1), but also how to use the internet to do searches. Ball and Forzani (2009: 497) define good teacher education as the integration of ‘broad cultural competence and relational sensitivity, communication skills, and the combination of rigor and imagination fundamental to effective practice ... This integration ... depends on opportunities to practice and to measure one’s performance against exemplars’.

RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION In response to both research questions, respondents have indicated that particular skills and values are important for good teacher education whether in higher education institutions in general or ODL institutions.

Findings from the literature review indicate the same, therefore recommendations will be made taking both settings into consideration. Kember and McNaught (2007 in Devlin & Samarawickrema, 2010) propose some principles of effective teaching mirroring what has been researched in literature and found in the empirical study. Ideas in Kember and McNaught for good teacher education are discussed below with reference to other sources as well: The most important aspect of good teacher education is the integration of theory and practice (Grossman et al., 2009; Ball & Forzani, 2009, 2011). The responses to both research questions also emphasise

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71 the notion of teaching being a practical profession with a need for a good theoretical basis. Theory and practice can only be interlinked when students know their subject properly, so subject knowledge is of utmost importance for practical application. Practical application can be either in real classroom situations or through real-life scenarios, taking the context of the students into consideration. Examples of good teaching should be given to students by either doing real teaching in a classroom setting, making recordings to show to other students for critical evaluation or by doing micro teaching in a studio, uploading it on the institutional platform in the case of ODL. Video conferencing or satellite recordings can be useful for ODL students in teaching constructive, evaluative and critical skills. Lecturers can also upload examples of good teaching through the campus portal by means of podcasts or vodcasts.

Good interactive communication skills are important in face-to-face contexts and in ODL contexts according to literature and respondents. Even if the interaction does not entail face-to-face contact, human elements must be present in some form. The feeling of belonging to a group is important for successful teaching and learning (see Tatkovic, Ruzic & Tatcovic, 2006). The World Wide Web, the use of ICTs and Web2.0 technologies provide opportunities for synchronous and asynchronous interaction between lecturers and students sharing resources and promoting collaborative learning (Panda & Mishra, 2007; Schneckenberg, 2009). According to Casey (2008) the development of podcasts, blogs, the webcam, and video blogs and Facebook pages enhance social presence in computer mediated communication especially in ODL contexts.

Effective teacher education should be student-centred. Students’ contexts, but also their knowledge base, should be taken into consideration in the development of learning and teaching materials. Students need to learn how to learn independently and work towards becoming good teachers with the guidance from lecturers. A variety of teaching methods and approaches should be used to accommodate different students’ needs.

In conclusion: the ability to combine practice and theory, to use digital technologies and to develop skills and competences like critical reflection and problem-based thinking with real-life scenarios in mind, is very important to educate student teachers towards becoming effective teachers.

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Tatkovic, N., Ruzic, M. & Tatkovic, S. (2006) Open distant learning: Pedagogical terms of reference and dilemmas. http://eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019b/80/27/ f5/.pdf (Accessed 12 April 2010).

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74 An evaluative study on the effect of entrepreneurial education curriculum on students at the University of Venda, South Africa1 Takalani Radson Musetsho, University of Venda, South Africa Mankolo Xaverine Lethoko, University of Limpopo, South Africa

ABSTRACT This study was conducted amid wider recognition and adoption of the idea of entrepreneurship education within the broader school curriculum. Policymakers, economists and academics’ agendas across the globe emphasise entrepreneurial culture and foster entrepreneurial intentions and attributes as mechanisms that provide self-employment which helps re-educate unemployment particularly for vulnerable youth graduates. A survey was conducted amongst 46 out of 69 final year entrepreneurship students from the University of Venda whose data were captured through self-administered questionnaires and interviews.

Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and content analysis. Findings thereof revealed that the majority of the respondents had a significantly high entrepreneurial intention and attributes to start their own business within two years from their graduation. In addition, the majority of the students indicated that the course delivery should be practical and be learnt through business activities or application of practical cases instead of learning ‘about’ business. In order to strengthen the delivery of the curriculum, it is recommended that the content, teaching approaches, assessment, etc., be better adjusted to the original intention of entrepreneurship education. Furthermore, a tracing system is recommended in order to follow students’ progress over two successive years from their graduation.1 Keywords: entrepreneurship entrepreneurial learning

education,

entrepreneurial

intention,

entrepreneurial

attributes,

INTRODUCTION Low economic growth is according to Du Toit, Erasmus and Strydom (2010) a result of an inadequate number of people involved in small businesses or entrepreneurship. There is a high unemployment level in South Africa which in 2013 stood at 24.10% (Statistics South Africa, Quarterly Labour Force Survey 04, 2013). As articulated by Kabongo and Okpara (2010), entrepreneurship could be a panacea for declining economic activity and rising youth and adult employment. The phenomenon is a means through which new ventures are created (Fatoki, 2010) to support everyone in day-to-day life at home and in society (Gibcus, De Kok, Snijder, Smit & Van der Linden, 2012).

1 Date of submission: 4 June 2015 Date of acceptance: Initial - 7 July 2016

Final - 28 January 2017

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75 In support of entrepreneurship education, an increasing number of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in many countries, including the University of Venda in South Africa, continue to use resources and expertise in developing the increasing number of graduates to become entrepreneurs (Ndedi, 2009). The demand for entrepreneurial learning has been and is still steadily increasing (Gibcus et al., 2012).

In addition, the South African government has provided and continues to provide a great commitment to promoting entrepreneurship education in anticipation that it will increase entrepreneurial intentions for learners in the country (Solesvik, 2013). The introduction of entrepreneurship education is underpinned by the fundamental premise that intentions translate to action in terms of actually starting a business the same way as nursing schools produce nurses (Fatoki, 2010).

Karimi, Biemans, Lans, Mulder and Chizari (2012) found that there are few empirical studies regarding the effects of entrepreneurial education curriculum on entrepreneurial intentions, and attributes on students to set up businesses is poorly understood at present and remained untested. It is in the light of the above that the objective of this study is to evaluate the effect of the entrepreneurship education curriculum on the entrepreneurial intentions and attributes of the students at the University of Venda.

PROBLEM STATEMENT Despite all the institutional and other conducive developments, South Africa’s total entrepreneurial activity (TEA), as revealed in the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) 2013 report that South Africa is at the lowest percentage level when compared with other Sub-Saharan African Countries (Amoros & Bosma, 2013). Zambia topped the group at 39.9% followed by Nigeria at the average 26.6%, Ghana at 25.8%; Angola at 22.2% and Botswana at 20.9% whilst South Africa lies low at 10.6% in the group.

Many firms in the formal and the public sector today fail to absorb the growing number of job seekers particularly the graduate students (Fatoki, 2010). The low TEA level causes graduate entrepreneurship students, who are supposed to be creating jobs, to hunt for employment in the job market. This is a contradiction of intent because employment is not the aim of graduate entrepreneurs (Shepherd, 2008).

Entrepreneurship education should raise the entrepreneurial intentions which then capture the motivational factors that influence the behaviour for prospective students to start a business (Collet, 2013). The current economic situation is desperately in need of skilled labour and does not need to have this high unemployment rate particularly amongst graduates (Fatoki, 2010).

Currently there is a lack of research specifically on entrepreneurial intentions and development experiences in the country (Ghulam & Holden, 2008). Studies on graduates’ entrepreneurial intention have focused on the developed countries (Fatoki, 2010). However, there is a need that they be conducted in South Africa especially because of the persistent high unemployment rate suffocating the country’s graduates. Therefore as noted above, this article investigates the effect of entrepreneurship education on students to determine if they have developed entrepreneurial intentions and attributes as a result of the training.

LITERATURE REVIEW According to Fuchs, Wallau and Werner (2008), the three main objectives of entrepreneurship education are to develop students’ personal enterprise ability, their propensity towards self-employment as an occupational option, and conveying knowledge about how to start and run a business. The following section discusses in detail entrepreneurship education, entrepreneurial attributes and entrepreneurial intention as important aspects of this study.

Entrepreneurship education Dugassa (2012) identifies two types of entrepreneurship education including education about entrepreneurship, and education for entrepreneurship. According to this author, education about

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76 entrepreneurship aims at studying theories and is referred to as entrepreneurship whilst education for entrepreneurship aims at developing and stimulating entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurship education at the University of Venda is for entrepreneurship, i.e. students are taught and expected to start their businesses even before graduating.

Entrepreneurship education according to Isaacs, Visser, Friedrich and Brijlal (2007) is delivered in five stages including; general business knowledge, competency awareness, creative applications, start-up and growth. Five modules are offered at the University of Venda, which include general entrepreneurial knowledge (Entrepreneurship & Intrapreneurship); competency awareness (the entrepreneur), creative applications (Entrepreneurial process), start-up (Routes to entrepreneurship) and growth (Post-start-up challenges). Through the teaching process, students are taught insight, self-esteem and knowledge in order to promote entrepreneurial self-efficacy or entrepreneurial abilities (Syed: 2013). The next section discusses entrepreneurial attributes and skills, which can be acquired through entrepreneurial education.

Entrepreneurial Attributes Research shows that entrepreneurial skills can be learnt and the attributes of students towards entrepreneurship can be influenced through entrepreneurship education (Panagiotis: 2012). The study

by Farrington, Neethling and Venter (2012) revealed that there is a sound relationship between the entrepreneurial intention to start a business and entrepreneurial attributes, control behaviour (Panagiotis: 2012), i.e. these attributes can be developed through educational programmes where students are formally evaluated on the tasks they are required to accomplish including the following:

• observe and report on a successful entrepreneurial role model

• undertake business simulation games

• set up business plans for actual businesses

• take part in national road shows and workshops on entrepreneurial issues.

According to Farrington, Neethling and Venter (2012), a person who possesses these attributes is more likely to embark on a successful entrepreneurial career than one who does not. They further argue that it is the responsibility of HEIs to foster an enabling environment where entrepreneurial attributes of students are developed so that they are more likely to perceive themselves as capable, able and competent entrepreneurs.

The following section focuses on entrepreneurial intention as another aspect that can be discovered and enhanced through entrepreneurship education.

Entrepreneurial Intention Farrington, Neethling and Venter (2012) hold that entrepreneurial intentions provide the ‘fertile ground’ from which the seeds of entrepreneurial activities can sprout. This study assumes the same sentiment which stresses a strong relationship between entrepreneurial intention and starting a business. Through initiative, willingness to take risks, resourcefulness, imagination (Urban, 2006) and strong belief for being in control, an entrepreneur makes things happen by fulfilling the intended goals and objectives (Ndedi, 2009).

Graduate Unemployment in South Africa Sub-Saharan is probably one of the worst poverty-stricken regions worldwide (Abubakar, Mitra & Sagagi, 2011). One way of fighting the scourge of poverty is by stimulating economic growth through new venture creation. Venture creation creates wealth and a significant number of jobs (Syed, 2013). Moreover, South The Independent Journal of Teaching and Learning - Volume 12 (1) / 2017 Formerly The Journal of Independent Teaching and Learning

77 African graduates are not easily employable or do not necessarily consider self-employment as their first choice, and have to wait for many years after graduation to secure jobs (Akinbami, Obisanya & Fayomi, 2010). It is on this note that the current study wants to investigate the expectation that entrepreneurship education results in a proportionate number and quality of entrepreneurs entering the economy (Matlay, 2006).

In order to achieve this proportionate growth, it is imperative that the abilities and skills of entrepreneurs are developed (Chimucheka, 2014). For the sake of many benefits associated with a growing national economy, entrepreneurship education is one of the interesting and challenging areas of research in HEIs. Findings of this study will assist stakeholders in strengthening discussions on course offerings for the betterment of the entrepreneurship education curricula designs.

As noted above, the purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of the entrepreneurship curriculum on the entrepreneurial intentions and attributes on students at the University of Venda. Its dominant theme is based on the hypothesis that more and better entrepreneurship education positively affects the development of entrepreneurial intentions and attributes of students to start-up new business ventures in order to negate graduate unemployment (Panagiotis, 2012).

In addition, the study is building on the assumption by Greenbaum and Rycroft (2014) and Urban (2006) that entrepreneurship skills, concepts and mentality, i.e. intention and attributes, are linked to an entrepreneurship education curriculum. With the introduction of entrepreneurship education curricula in many HEIs, it is timely to assess the extent to which it stimulated the intentions and attributes of students (Zhang & Zhang (2013).

Entrepreneurship education in HEIs is discussed in the following section.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP EDUCATION IN HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS According to Kabongo and Okpara (2010), commitment to entrepreneurship education programme offerings is increasing within HEIs. The increase since 1988 is attributable to the obligation of HEIs to be entrepreneurial and secondly, to redefine their role in instilling a greater entrepreneurial character amongst students throughout the country (Nicolaides, 2011).

The previous economic structure of South Africa provided the human resources for big businesses as small, medium and micro enterprises contributed to a lesser proportion to the economic activities (Department of Trade and Industry, 2005). Castillo, Jorge-Moreno and Triguero (2012) further argued that HEIs should redefine their roles and serve as knowledge producers that provide the required research and skilled workforce. However, millions of young South Africans remain entrenched in cycles of poverty, unemployed and economically excluded from wealth creation opportunities, there is then an urgent need for them to be better educated and entrepreneurship education can play a big role in achieving this goal (Lebusa, 2011).

The models referred to by Ndedi (2009) who identified the four stages of entrepreneurship education, and the five stages model identified by Isaacs, Visser, Friedrich and Brijlal (2007) is worth considering for teaching and learning purposes. It is however, important for HEIs to make the right decision as to whether to teach for entrepreneurship or teach about entrepreneurship.

The pressure is with the HEIs to deliver what will make students think ‘out of the box’, that is, for students to be able to manage complexity, start and successfully run their business ventures (Cheung, 2012; Collet, 2013). This challenge concerns a need to embrace entrepreneurship education in such a way that it is radically different from the current traditional offerings. Many entrepreneurship centres or departments or schools offer entrepreneurship as an elective, resulting in only a few students who show interest in the

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78 module and as such fails to be relevant to the needs of the changing business environment (Castillo, JorgeMoreno & Triguero, 2012).

It is clear there is still substantial confusion and debate in most of the HEIs including the University of Venda, around what should be taught, how it should be taught, and who should do the teaching. Hence, investigative evaluations should be done in order to avoid the expectations of failing the entrepreneurship education agenda before it has a chance to really get started (Collet, 2013).

The success of delivering the entrepreneurship education programmes depends on the ability of the lecturers to reflect on:

(a) what actually should be taught

(b) creating the conducive or appropriate learning environment

(c) alignment between what should be taught and with the intended incomes and assessment processes (Collet, 2013).

In addition, the study by Urban (2006) outlines the impact which entrepreneurship education might have on prospective students. These include:

• starting more ventures

• growing larger ventures and also grow existing ventures larger

• accumulating more assets

• bringing impacts on the organisation they work through new job creation

• being a way of increasing entrepreneurial intention.

Many researchers including Panagiotis (2012) and Farrington, Neethling and Venter (2012) expressed a concern that entrepreneurship education is still in its infancy stage and a lot still has to be done in order to fill the huge gap existing in its literature. This is quite surprising given the considerable research that has been conducted, the increase in the number of institutions offering a course, the number of courses currently on offer, the various conferences and symposia conducted as well as the vast array of experiences shared and good practices identified (Collet, 2013). Nevertheless, a study is needed to evaluate the entrepreneurship education curriculum at HEIs especially in a rural set up as in the Limpopo Province.

Farrington, Neethling and Venter (2012) argued further that it is important for HEIs not only to foster an enabling environment for entrepreneurship to be taught but they must also be informed of the type of skills and competencies and to deliver on quality training programmes that will assist in producing future entrepreneurs with quality business and management skills as well. On this note, it is therefore imperative that during the education phase of the entrepreneurial process, HEIs, particularly the related centres/ institutes, identify entrepreneurial attributes related to entrepreneurial intention and their shortcomings in order to address them by means of didactic and programme improvements (Farrington, Neethling & Venter, 2012).

Below is an outline of the entrepreneurship programmes offered at various public universities in South Africa:

• North-West University: the university offers entrepreneurship programme as part of its Bachelor, Honours, Masters and PhD degree.

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79

• University of Pretoria: in addition to the short courses, the university offers entrepreneurship in its Bachelor of Commerce, Masters and PhD degree.

• University of Johannesburg: the institution offers entrepreneurship through short courses, a course both in Bachelor of Commerce Business Management and Master of Business Administration degree.

• University of Cape Town: the institution offers entrepreneurship in a post-graduate diploma and as part of its Master of Business Administration programme

• University of Stellenbosch: the institution offers an entrepreneurship degree in the Department of Business Management.

• University of Kwazulu-Natal: it offers entrepreneurship in two different Bachelor degrees (Business Science and Human Resource Management and Administration and Commerce) and in a postgraduate diploma.

• University of Western Cape: the university offers both undergraduate and postgraduate entrepreneurship programmes. It offers entrepreneurship education in certificated courses and a course as part of the Honours programme; a number of students have completed mini-theses with Entrepreneurship as a focus.

• University of Free State: the university offers entrepreneurship through the Business Management department as well as the Centre for Development Support Unit. The course is offered as part of the Bachelor of Commerce degree, an Honour’s and Master’s degree.

• University of Witwatersrand: the university offers a variety entrepreneurship courses through its Centre for Entrepreneurship, graduate degree (Master in Entrepreneurship) and a course in Master of Business Administration.

• University of Limpopo: the institution offers entrepreneurship as part of a course in both the Bachelor of Commerce in Business Management and Master of Business Administration (Fatoki, 2010).

As can be seen from the above, many of the entrepreneurship curricula offered in different South African public universities are not on their own or are not viewed as separate stand-alone degrees, but are mostly designed as part of a Business Management qualification or an interdisciplinary qualification.

The current study evaluates the effect the entrepreneurship education curriculum at the University of Venda has on the entrepreneurial intention and attributes of students. This forms part of a step towards addressing a challenge of a low entrepreneurship level amongst students in South Africa (Amoros & Bosma, 2013).

The objective of the study is to determine whether or not the curriculum achieves its intended output towards students. The curriculum is discussed in the next section.

ENTREPRENEURIAL EDUCATION CURRICULUM The review on the relevant literature demonstrated the expectations of what the HEIs are required to deliver continue to be raised and produces a long list of learning outcomes that go beyond what any single module in an academic setting could be realistically achieved (Collet, 2013). According to Dugassa (2012) and as noted above, there are two types of entrepreneurship education, namely, education about entrepreneurship and education for entrepreneurship. Education about entrepreneurship aims at studying theories and it is referred to as entrepreneurship. The second type is education for entrepreneurship.

Its aim is to develop and stimulate the potential entrepreneurs (students) to become real entrepreneurs.

According to Urban (2006), this type of education is concerned with the learning and facilitating of

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80 entrepreneurship and less with studying theories about it. Following recommendations of Farrington, Neethling and Venter (2012), learning experiences, games, role models and any other influential variable should be incorporated and integrated in the curriculum that would be developed into attributes.

Holden and Nabi (2008) define entrepreneurship education curriculum as made up of four phases that follow each other swiftly. According to Holden and Nabi (2008), Ndedi (2009), and Farrington, Neethling and Venter (2012), the phases include:

• The education phase: This is the consolidation, designation of the contents of the programme including awareness of the education.

• The training phase: It involves teaching/lecturing the entrepreneurship education courses or contents and remains the easiest part of entrepreneurship education. Accordingly, this phase complements the early/first phase by providing the practical skills that entrepreneurs require when they are ready to set up their business.

• The intention phase: this is the phase where personal skills, attributes and behaviour are developed or capacitated through education.

• The actual career phase: this is the final phase and entails the behaviour of starting a business venture. Owing to limited understanding of the attributes and the decision processes that lead a person to become an entrepreneur, this phase remains the most complex of the phases outlined above.

A well-designed entrepreneurship education curriculum discusses the value of embedding the education within the existing course provision, i.e. the pathways of students graduating into self-employment (Castillo, Jorge-Moreno & Triguero, 2012). The curriculum should be, in other words, designed in order to attain appropriate and achievable objectives, to cater for futuristic content development and value attributes (Urban, 2006). Such curriculum designation calls for text and programmes to be structured to allow for the introduction of the entrepreneurship concept and the provision of hands-on experience and working models for students to develop skills (Ndedi, 2009). In addition, Castillo, Jorge-Moreno and Triguero (2012) further suggest that a quality entrepreneurship education curriculum focuses on specific factors that potentially influence students’ readiness for start-up activities. These according to Urban (2006) include the identification of the theory-based competencies to be mastered, motivational value and a mind-set that stresses action-learning.

Many of the entrepreneurship centres across the globe design the course with contents which include the following attributes or sub-topics (Ndedi, 2009; Panagiotis, 2012):

• The basics of Entrepreneurship

• Entrepreneurship and small business management

• Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development

• Innovation and creativity

• Opportunity recognition and business planning

• Entrepreneurship and new venture creation

• Small business consulting

• Small business financing

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• Technology and innovation

• New product development

• Venture capitalist

• Franchising.

In order to implement entrepreneurship programmes that equip students with self-confidence, self-efficacy and leadership attributes required to help them in the context of setting up their new business ventures, Collet (2013) and Urban (2006) suggest the parallel-integrated methods of teaching to be implemented as a mixture of the following:

• Lecturing

• Project assignments

• Presentations

• The use of case studies

• Guest-speakers invited to class lessons

• Multiple contacts with local industries and entrepreneurs or role models

• Internships

• Innovation hubs

• Broader SMME support networks.

Entrepreneurship education has many challenges which should be given further considerations (Collet, 2013). The next section focuses on the University of Venda as the case study for this paper.

University of Venda’s Entrepreneurship Curriculum Content The University of Venda offers entrepreneurship education as part of its Bachelor of Business Management degree (Univen, 2003). The courses are Entrepreneurship (BMA 3543) and Business Planning (3643) and are offered to the third-year level Commerce students during the first and second semester respectively.

The contents of Entrepreneurship training is made up of five modules which cover the introduction to entrepreneurship, the entrepreneur, entrepreneurial process, the alternative routes to entrepreneurship and post-start-up challenges (Univen, 2003). Business Planning includes four modules covering legal aspects when starting and operating a business, getting started activities, business plan and networking, support, harvesting as well as e-commerce (Univen, 2003). The next section discusses the choice and rationale for the research design of the study.

CHOICE AND RATIONALE OF RESEARCH DESIGN According to Atkins and Wallace (2012), a case study approach investigates phenomena within their real-life context in order to capture the real world of participants under study. In addition, according to Algozzine and Hancock (2006) and Atkins and Wallace (2012), through the case study approach, researchers study individuals, programmes, events, processes, social groups, institutions in depth for a defined period of time. The population of the study is students who were registered in 2014 for the entrepreneurship course, BMA 3543 at the third year at the University of Venda. Interviews, using a structured questionnaire are used to collect the necessary data.

There is no sampling because all the students are involved in the study. The sample size of the study therefore is comprised of the total population of students studying the Entrepreneurship course at the University, i.e.

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82 60 students. The procedure fits this study because participants are readily available on campus. Faceto-face interviews are optimal for collecting data from participants’ perspectives and responses that are meaningful to each participant (Matlay, 2006). Leedy and Ormrod (2010) also add that face-to-face interviews enable the researcher to gain participants’ co-operation by establishing a relationship with them, which facilitates the production of high response rates.

The sample for the study included all the 60 students who are studying the two modules as mentioned in the previous section. Fifty questionnaires were distributed to 50 students whilst the remaining 10 students were involved in face-to-face interviews. The same questionnaire was used both for self-administered questionnaires and face-to-face interviews with the students. On a four-point Likert scale, the respondents were required to indicate their opinion on whether they strongly disagree, disagree, agree or strongly agree with the given statements in the questions.

Reliability and validity of the instruments The criteria for measuring instruments that are used for data collection is reliability and validity. The validity of the research instrument entails the extent to which an empirical measure reflects the real understanding of a concept in question (Babbie, 2007). In addition, Gravetter and Forzano (2009) assert that for an instrument to be reliable, it does not fluctuate even if the same variables are measured. For this study, the questionnaire was piloted to 10 students before data was collected. The students were interviewed and they gave their inputs to the questionnaire before its final roll-out. The student inputs were factored in the final questions, which were used to collect data.

Ethical considerations Participants need to know that their privacy, and sensitivity will be protected, and what is going to happen with their information after recording (Henning, Van Rensburg & Smith, 2004). These basic ethical principles and standards of practice of research were observed in this study. Firstly, the researchers sought permission to conduct the study from the UNIVEN executive management and ethical clearance procedures were followed before the study was conducted. Thereafter the researchers were allowed to contact the students, explain the purpose of the study, how data will be collected and for what the data will be used. Secondly, the students were also advised that they could terminate their involvement in the study for any reason at any time. Thirdly, their anonymity was guaranteed by asking them not to write their names on the questionnaires. And even during the interviews, their names were not recorded, their identities were not revealed and no harm was done to them. In this way the participants in the study were afforded an opportunity to give their informed consent freely to participate in the study.

EMPIRICAL RESULTS The first objective of the study was to evaluate how the entrepreneurial education curriculum stimulates students’ entrepreneurial intention and attributes. These were the two variables used to investigate the first objective of this study. The two focused on the probability that respondents will start their new businesses at some time in the future. Out of 60 students, 46 (77%) participated in the study. After analysis of students’ responses on questions prepared to capture their entrepreneurial intentions and attributes, it was found that both were higher than before the students were taught the entrepreneurship course. The respondents were required to indicate their opinion on whether they strongly disagree, disagree, agree or strongly agree with the given statements: a) Question 1: Participants were asked to respond to the statement: ‘I have already prepared everything for starting a business’.

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83 Figure 1: Participants’ Preparedness Strongly Agree to preparedness, 13%

Agree to preparedness, 33%

Strongly Disagree to preparedness, 21%

Disagree to preparedness, 33%

Strongly disagree to preparedness

Disagree to preparedness

Agree to preparedness

Strongly agree to preparedness

Figure 1 shows participants’ readiness for starting a business, whereby (10) 21% strongly disagree; (06) 13% strongly agree, (15) 33% agree and (15) 33% disagree that they have prepared everything for starting a business. In total, 54% (which is the addition of 33% and 21%) of the respondents were reportedly not yet ready at the end of the course to start their own businesses. However, it can be seen below, the respondents were confident that within two years after graduation, they will be able to be selfemployed and start their own businesses.

Question 2: Participants were asked to respond to the statement: ‘Self-employment within two years of my graduation is attractive to me’.

Figure 2, shows the participants’ response on self-employment within two years of their graduation: Figure 2: Self-employment within 2 years of graduation Strongly disagree, 15% Disagree, 11% Strongly agree, 50% Agree, 24%

Strongly disagree

Disagree

Agree

Strongly agree

As can be seen the figure shows the percentages of participants’ response as follows, (07) 15% strongly disagree, (05) 11% disagree, (11) 24% agree whilst (23) 50% strongly agree to be in self-employment within two years of their graduation. In total, 74% agreed to be that within two years of their graduation,

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84 they would be self-employed. The students’ responses on starting with entrepreneurship within two years was undoubtedly an indication that they were widely exhibiting higher entrepreneurial intentions.

Question 3: Participants were asked to respond to the statement: ‘I am ready to do everything to become an entrepreneur’.

Figure 3: Participants’ response to their readiness to do everything to become an entrepreneur Strongly disagree, 4%

Disagree, 11%

Agree, 20% Strongly agree, 65%

Strongly disagree

Disagree

Agree

Strongly agree

Figure 3 shows the percentages of participants’ response on their readiness to doing everything to become an entrepreneur. The results of the question shows that, (02) 4% strongly disagree, (05) 11% disagree, (09) 20% agree whilst (30) 65% strongly agree that they will do everything to become an entrepreneur.

The students were hopeful to achieve their goal (for being entrepreneurs) as 85% of them responded to be ready to do everything to become an entrepreneur. This is an indication of positive, entrepreneurial intentions from the students.

Question 4: Participants were asked to respond to the statement: ‘I will continue to create my own business until I succeed’.

Figure 4: Participants’ response to their continuous attempts in creating their own businesses Strongly disagree, 3%

Disagree, 21% Strongly agree, 52%

Agree, 24%

Strongly disagree

Disagree

Agree

Strongly agree

Figure 4 above shows the percentages of participants’ response on their continuous attempt to create their own businesses until they succeed. Amongst others, (01) 3% strongly disagree, (10) 21% disagree, (11) The Independent Journal of Teaching and Learning - Volume 12 (1) / 2017 Formerly The Journal of Independent Teaching and Learning

85 24% agree whilst (24) 52% strongly agree with continuous attempts in creating their own businesses until they succeed. 76% of the respondents agreed to become committed and to continue creating their own business until they succeed. This did not come as a surprise because through the training that they had received from the University of Venda, the students had acquired enough skills to believe that they can achieve success in business.

Question 5: Participants were asked to respond to the statement: ‘I know the necessary practical details to start a business’.

Figure 5 shows the participants’ response on them knowing the necessary practical details to start a business.

Figure 5: Percentage knowing practical details to start a business Strongly disagree, 3% Disagree, 9%

Strongly agree, 58%

Agree, 30%

Strongly disagree

Disagree

Agree

Strongly agree

The above figure shows the percentages of participants’ response as follows, (01) 3% strongly disagree, (04) 9% disagree, (14) 30% agree whilst (27) 58% strongly agree to know the necessary practical details to start a business. In total, 88% of the students agreed that they know the practical details of how to start a business which is a positive sign that the courses offered have increased their skills and knowledge on how to start a business.

All of them indicated that the curriculum helped them acquire entrepreneurial intentions and attitudes including entrepreneurship knowledge, how to start a business, how to meet entrepreneurship challenges, acquisition of interested and motivation of entering into entrepreneurship. In addition, all of the students are of the view that the entrepreneurship course has increased their interest in starting their own businesses. As they acquired entrepreneurship knowledge, they now find it easy to draw business plans, now understand procedures for establishing a business, are now informed of the opportunities and resources required in forming a business and are now motivated to enter into entrepreneurship.

All the students responded that the content was not difficult and that the lecture sessions matched their expectations. They indicated that they never received any form of entrepreneurial training in any academic institution prior to starting with their university degree. This might have influenced them to suggest secondary schools as the appropriate level of introducing entrepreneurship education. 60% of them having rated the content structure as good, 58% rated teaching methods and approaches as good, practicality rated by 42% as good, assessment 66% as good, understandability by 50% as better and 52% rated the relevance The Independent Journal of Teaching and Learning - Volume 12 (1) / 2017 Formerly The Journal of Independent Teaching and Learning

86 of the course as good. These could be possibly the reasons why 83% of the sample indicated that the course prepares students well for an entrepreneurial career.

The last question was for the students to give recommendations for the improvement of the entrepreneurship courses offered at the university. Half of the respondents (23 students) suggested no changes whilst few cited changes such as practicality, research assignments and evaluation, a suggestion was made to meet successful fellow students who graduated from the course and now own their own businesses, more assessments and related feedback, introduction of the course in the secondary schools, learning materials to be made available, mentorship programme, workplace skills programme and field trips.

CONCLUSIONS FROM EMPIRICAL DATA The empirical data demonstrated that the entrepreneurial intention and attributes that students had acquired is as a result of the entrepreneurship education they were taught. They felt that they were equipped with the necessary skills and knowledge by preparing them to be prospective entrepreneurs. Furthermore, an analysis of students’ recommendations shows they wanted the curriculum content to be increased and include practical aspects such as field excursions and other immersive commitments in its teaching or delivery.

RECOMMENDATIONS According to the data collected, entrepreneurship curriculum has an effect on students’ entrepreneurial intentions and attributes. Furthermore, the educational systems need to be oriented to emphasise and value entrepreneurship in order to promote an enterprise culture. Methods to teach, assessment and a practicality component should all be incorporated during course or content delivery without hesitation.

For universities in particular, they can foster confidence in entrepreneurship by designing and enhancing the entrepreneurship course structure and to organise more entrepreneurial-related activities including for example, inviting guest speakers, affording students opportunities for visiting established entrepreneurship ventures, field trips and experiential learning.

CONCLUSION High youth unemployment is a pressing issue facing the world today. Along with the accumulation of evidence supporting the role of entrepreneurship, many governments have persisted in encouraging people to become entrepreneurs. In response, educational institutions have started implementing learning courses associated with entrepreneurship education including business concepts, business planning, and collaboration with practitioners and networking. It is believed when this is introduced in HEIs that the entrepreneurial education curriculum will stimulate the entrepreneurial intention and attributes to students to achieve self-reliance and self-employment.

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Akinbami, C.A.O., Obisanya, J.F. & Fayomi, A.O. (2010) ‘Entrepreneurship Education and Undergraduates’ Attitude to Self-employment: A Case study of a Nigerian University’ African Journals Online 18(02) pp.87107.

Algozzine, B. & Hancock, D.R. (2006) Doing Case Study Research: A Practical Guide for Beginning Researchers. Columbia University: Teachers College Press.

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87 Amoros, J.E. & Bosma, N. (2013) Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2013 Report. GEM: Geneva.

Atkins, S. & Wallace, S. (2012) Qualitative Research in Education: Case Study. London: Sage Publication Ltd. Babbie, E. (2007) The practice of social research. Belmont, California: Wadsworth Publishing.

Castillo, L.L., De Jorge-Moreno, J. & Triguero, M.S. (2012) ‘The effect of businesses and economics education programs on students’ entrepreneurial intention’ European Journal of Training and Development 36(4) pp.409-425.

Cheung, C.K. (2012) ‘Entrepreneurship education at the crossroad in Hong Kong’ Creative Education 3(5) pp.666-670.

Chimucheka, T. (2014) ‘Entrepreneurship education in South Africa’ Mediterranean Journal of Social Science 5(2) pp.403-416.

Collet, H. (2013) ‘Entrepreneurship education in Higher Education: are policy makers expecting too much?’ Education and Training 55(8) pp.836-848.

Department of Trade and Industry. (2005) Integrated Small Enterprise Development Strategy: Unlocking the potential of South African entrepreneurs. Pretoria: Government Press.

Dugassa, T.G. (2012) ‘The Context of Entrepreneurship Education in Ethiopian Universities’ Management Research Review Journal 25(3/4) pp.225-244.

Du Toit, G.S., Erasmus, B.J. & Strydom, J.W. (2010) Introduction to Business Management. Cape Town: Oxford University Press, Southern Africa.

Farrington, S.M., Neethling, A. & Venter, D.J.L. (2012) ‘Entrepreneurial attributes and intentions: perceptions of South African business science students’ Management Dynamics 21(3) pp.17-32.

Fatoki O.O. (2010) ‘Graduate Entrepreneurial Intention in South Africa: Motivations and Obstacles’ International Journal of Business and Management 5(9) pp.87-98.

Fuchs, K., Werner, A. & Wallau, F. (2008) ‘Entrepreneurship education in Germany and Sweden: What role do different school systems play?’ Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development 15(2) pp.365-381.

Ghulam, N. & Holden, R. (2008) ‘Graduate Entrepreneurship: intentions, Education and Training’ Education and Training 50(7) pp.545-551.

Gibcus, P., De Kok, J., Snijders, J., Smit, L. & Van der Linden, B. (2012) Effects and impact of entrepreneurship programmes in higher education. Juta: Pretoria.

Gravetter, F.J. & Forzano, L.B. (2009) Research methods for behavioural sciences (3rd ed.). Wadsworth: Cengage Learning.

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88 Henning, E., Van Rensburg, W. & Smit, B. (2004) Finding your way in qualitative research. Pretoria: Van Schaik Publishers.

Holden, R. & Nabi, G. (2008) ‘Graduate entrepreneurship: intentions, education and training’ Education and Training 50(7) pp.545-551.

Isaacs, E., Visser, E., Friedrich, C. & Brijlal, P. (2007) ‘Entrepreneurship education and training at the Further Education and Training (FET) level in South Africa’ South African Journal of Education 27(4) pp.613-629.

Kabongo J. & Okpara J.O. (2010) ‘Entrepreneurship Education in Sub-Saharan African Universities’ International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour and Research 16(4) pp.296-330.

Karimi, S., Biemans, H., Lans, T., Mulder, M. & Chizari, M. (2012) ‘The impact of entrepreneurship education on students’ entrepreneurial intentions and opportunity identification, perceptions’ Proceedings of 26th Annual RENT Conference, 21-23 November 2012, pp.1-8 Lyon, France.

Lebusa, J.M. (2011) ‘Does Entrepreneurial education enhance undergraduate students’ entrepreneurial self-efficacy? A case at one University of Technology in South Africa’ China-USA Business Review 10(1) pp.53-64.

Leedy, P.D. & Ormrod, J.E. (2010) Practical Research (9th ed.). New Jersey: Pearson Education Incorporation.

Matlay, H. (2006) ‘The Impact of entrepreneurship education on entrepreneurial outcomes’ Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development 15(2) pp.382-396.

Ndedi, A.A. (2009) ‘Entrepreneurship training and job creation in South Africa: are the tertiary institutions filling the gap’ Journal of Contemporary Management 6(2) pp.463-470.

Nicolaides, A. (2011) ‘Entrepreneurship: the role of higher education in South Africa’ Educational Research 2(4) pp.1043-1050.

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89 Urban, B. (2006) ‘Entrepreneurial education and entrepreneurial intentions: a prospect for higher education?’ Education as Change 10(1) pp.85-103.

University of Venda. (2003) Redefining the role of Institute of Entrepreneurship. Univen: Venda.

Zhang, H. & Zhang, Y. (2013) ‘Psychological characteristics of entrepreneurship of College students in China’ Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities 4(3) pp.159-164.

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90 The value of pair programming in the IT classroom1 2 Roxanne Bailey, North-West University, South Africa Elsa Mentz, North-West University, South Africa

ABSTRACT In the South African curriculum, Information Technology (IT) is one of the elective subjects in high school.

In IT, 60% of the subject focuses on software development, an aspect that has proved to be challenging.

In this article, we present a case for implementation of pair programming in the IT class. IT learners and teachers (from the North West and Eastern Cape Provinces in South Africa) were asked to implement pair programming in their classes, and to report on their experiences afterwards. From the results, it became evident that both IT teachers and learners appreciated the use of pair programming, as it improved their critical thinking skills, fostered social skills and assisted in their acquisition of programming skills. In a society where IT learners are required to keep up to date with changes in the field, pair programming holds great advantages to share resources and acquire a variety of skills.12 Keywords: pair programming, Information Technology education, teaching-learning strategies, cooperative learning

INTRODUCTION In South Africa, Information Technology (IT) learners are learners who have elected IT as a subject in their Grade 10 year (or later) (Department of Basic Education [DoBE], 2012). The subject is divided into five core areas of which solution development makes up 60% of the curriculum (DoBE, 2012). Solution development in the case of this subject includes algorithms, web development, introduction to solution development, application development and software engineering principles (DoBE, 2012). The South African curriculum for IT also includes four other core areas: communications technologies, systems technologies, internet technologies, data and information management, and social implications – none of which make up more than 10% of the curriculum. For learners not to be adequately equipped with the necessary skills to be successful in these five core areas, but especially in solution development (programming), is a great disadvantage. In an era where there are more changes in technology than ever before and where we are constantly aiming to empower learners to keep up with these changes themselves (Guglielmino, 2013), it is of vital importance to create self-directed learners. One aspect of self-directed learning (SDL) that 1 Date of submission: 1 December 2015 Date of acceptance: Initial - 5 September 2016

Final - 11 January 2017 2 This study was financially supported by the National Research Foundation (NRF) of South Africa [Grant numbers: 90387 and 84369]. Any views and findings expressed in this article are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the foundation.

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91 coincides strongly with computer programming is critical thinking. If learners have the ability to be critical thinkers they will also be able to discern between right and wrong information, good or bad written code, and appropriate and inappropriate practices.

Critical thinking has been regarded as one of the most important life skills needed to be successful in life, and subsequently it has gained great emphasis in educational discourses (Hyslop-Margison, 2003).

Critical thinking is associated with all levels of education (Tiwari, Lai, So & Yuen, 2006) and is a prime objective of education worldwide (Fahy, 2005) in order to assist learners with becoming lifelong learners (Paul & Elder, 2005). If we refer to the wider context, the TIMSS report indicates that learners in general in South Africa compare unfavourably with learners in other countries in terms of Mathematics (a subject field influenced largely by critical thinking skills) (TIMSS & PIRLS, 2011). Critical thinking also plays a role in the success of IT as a school subject.

In South Africa, a new curriculum has been implemented (DoBE, 2012). The IT field and the programming language has changed from a procedural to object-oriented programming language: with Grade 10 IT learners starting with a visual programming language (like Scratch) before moving onto an object-oriented programming language (like Delphi). Researchers such as KlimovienĂŠ, Urboneine and Barzdziukiene (2006) emphasise that the correct implementation of cooperative learning (CL) could increase critical thinking skills. We, therefore, report on the implementation and value of pair programming as a cooperative learning strategy in the Grade 10 IT classroom.

In this article, pair programming and the IT class is theoretically underpinned, followed by a discussion on scholarly work previously done in this regard. The research process followed to investigate pair programming in this context is discussed, ending with the data gathering methods and instruments used.

Finally, the results are discussed ending with concluding remarks and the limitations of the research.

BRIEF THEORETICAL BACKGROUND The theoretical framework upon which this research is based is a combination of the socio-cognitive and the constructivist learning theory. The socio-cognitive learning theory implies that individuals bring their own set of mental models, cognitive dispositions and life experiences while interacting within a social environment (Ringberg & Reihlen, 2008). Learning is therefore seen as a social and collaborative activity (James, 2006). Within the constructivist theory, individuals construct their own knowledge (Vygotsky, 1978). When combining these two theories of learning, it is evident that prior knowledge and experience are important aspects when working together actively in constructing new knowledge (in terms of understanding and problem solving) in the social environment. In South African schools, learners’ backgrounds and experience levels regarding computer access differ vastly as inferred from the community survey results that only 24.5% of households had access to a computer in 2016 (Statistics South Africa, 2016). By having the opportunity to engage in cooperative endeavours, learners could share knowledge and amalgamate their own lived experiences with this new-found knowledge within a social environment. For learning to occur effectively, learners need to take responsibility for their own learning (albeit in a social environment) and therefore be self-directed in their learning. The aim of this research is to investigate whether the use of pair programming in the IT class (emphasising the social aspect) could equip learners to cope with the challenges of computer programming (emphasising the cognitive aspect) and empower them to be critical thinkers, and to take responsibility for their own learning (emphasising SDL). The research question that guided this investigation was: To which extent, if any, pair programming supports critical thinking and SDL in the IT classroom?

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK Pair programming has its origins in the computer software industry; however, it has been emphasised as having educational advantages by several educationalists from various fields (Mentz, Van der Walt &

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92 Goosen, 2008; Williams & Kessler, 2002). Pair programming involves having two individuals working on the same task at one computer – one individual fulfilling the role of the driver (working with the mouse, keyboard, pen, etc.) and the other individual fulfilling the role of the navigator (gathering resources and asking critical questions to help guide the driver) (Williams & Kessler, 2002).

Pair programming has not only been proved successful in the South African context but in a global context too. Williams and Kessler (2002) state that through pair programming, computer programmers have the opportunity to engage in several skills that increase their likelihood of reaching success in programming endeavours. Although originally viewed from a collaborative learning stance, pair programming has been positioned in CL by Mentz et al. (2008). They (2008) emphasise the incorporation of the five basic elements of CL into pair programming, namely: positive interdependence, individual accountability, social skills, face-to-face promotive interaction, and group processing, all of which contribute to the success of pair programming. Mentz et al. (2008) found that the move to CL as a basis for pair programming improved the likelihood of success in their classes. Pair programming with a CL basis has been used in other studies in the South African context. Hahn (2010) investigated assessment during pair programming in a second-year pre-service teaching class. Breed (2010) focused specifically on metacognition during pair programming and implemented pair programming in Grade 10 IT classes – also noting success with pair programming. Liebenberg (2010) found that pair programming in Grade 10 IT classes significantly increases learners’ enjoyment of the subject. Although these studies emphasised the success of pair programming, pair programming is still not commonly used in South African IT classes.

In pair programming, IT learners have the opportunity to engage in several social and academic endeavours (Williams & Kessler, 2002). Engaging and promoting critical thinking through questioning during pair programming is also probable. Critical thinking is most widely defined as a ‘purposeful, self-regulatory judgement that results in interpretation, analysis, evaluation, and inference, as well as the explanation of the evidential, conceptual, methodological, criteriological, or contextual considerations upon which that judgement is based’ (Facione, 1990: 2). From the definition of critical thinking, already it is evident that the socio-cognitive/constructivist theory is prevalent, as critical thinking in itself includes both the cognitive aspects (interpretation, analysis, evaluation and inference) as well as the possibility that the social aspects can play a role in the cognitive process (evidential, conceptual, methodological, criteriological, or contextual considerations). Critical thinking as defined here also makes mention of the self-regulatory aspect, underpinned by SDL. SDL is defined by Knowles (1975) as a five-step process where an individual takes initiative in:

• diagnosing learning needs

• formulating learning needs

• identifying human material resources for learning

• choosing and implementing appropriate learning strategies

• evaluating learning outcomes.

These five steps are not only evident in critical thinking, but can possibly also be achieved through pair programming if implemented appropriately.

RESEARCH PARADIGM AND DESIGN In this section, the research paradigm that informed the research process as well as the research design is discussed. The discussion on the research design includes the research process and methodology implemented in this investigation.

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93 Research Paradigm Creswell (2009) describes pragmatism as a paradigm concerned with establishing what works. The pragmatist researcher therefore focuses on the research problem rather than on the research process.

Creswell (2009) continues by noting that pragmatism is not committed to any specific research methods (accommodating the mixed methods research), but gives researchers the freedom to choose what they feel would work as the truth is seen as ‘what works at the time’. In order to answer the research question the pragmatist research paradigm informed this research.

Research Design A mixed method (QUAN-qual sequential) research design was used. The quantitative investigation made use of a causal study design (Singh, 2007), as an intervention (pair programming) was implemented in an attempt to verify the effect of the intervention on the set variables (critical thinking and SDL). The qualitative investigation made use of an interpretivist research design, as it set out to understand learners’ and teachers’ views of the proposed pair programming intervention.

Sampling At the time of the research, seven out of the nine provinces in South Africa implemented Delphi as a prescribed programming language and two provinces implemented Java. From the provinces that implemented Delphi, the two provinces selected were purposefully selected based on a similar number of schools hosting IT at Grade 10 level. These two provinces were the North West Province and Eastern Cape Province (it should be clear that the purpose of selecting these provinces were not to compare them, but rather to get a broader representation, within a limited budget, of IT classes in South Africa). In order to decrease bias, five schools (out of a possible 20) from each of these two provinces were randomly selected (from rural and urban backgrounds) to implement pair programming. All these schools were asked whether they would be willing to participate in the research and implement the proposed strategy (pair programming). In the North West Province, three schools opted to participate and two schools from the Eastern Cape chose to participate. In total five schools (five Grade 10 IT teachers and 71 Grade 10 IT learners) participated in the research.

Research Method – Measuring Instruments, Data Collection and Analysis To measure the effectiveness of pair programming in Grade 10 IT learners (quantitative investigation), the Cornell Critical Thinking Test – Level X and the Cheng, Kuo, Lin and Hsieh (2010) SDL instrument were used. Both instruments had been used in high schools previously and proved reliable within other contexts (Lombard & Grosser, 2008). These two questionnaires were used to conduct a pre-test and after six weeks of pair programming, the same questionnaires were completed as post-tests. Additionally, a qualitative section consisting of two open-ended questions on critical thinking and pair programming was added to the post-tests (in the form of a paper-based narrative) to explain any changes in the learners’ critical thinking and SDL skills further. The questions asked learners to comment, firstly, on whether they felt that their IT class had developed their critical thinking (in line with a given definition of critical thinking) and secondly, how they experienced the pair programming in their IT class. One of the researchers conducted the pre-tests and post-tests with the IT learners in order to have questionnaires completed in a controlled setting.

IT teachers participated in two semi-structured interviews: one before the intervention and one after the intervention. A semi-structured interview schedule was used to guide the interviews in both provinces and all teachers involved in the study were interviewed by the same researcher.

The Statistical Consultation Services of the North-West University (NWU), Potchefstroom Campus analysed the data using Hierarchical Linear Models (Garson, 2012). The qualitative data gathered from teachers The Independent Journal of Teaching and Learning - Volume 12 (1) / 2017 Formerly The Journal of Independent Teaching and Learning

94 and learners were transcribed verbatim. Once transcripts had been double-checked, they were analysed by making use of emerging codes, which in turn were put into categories, which then formed themes. In a later section, the results from learners and teachers are discussed.

Ethical clearance for the research was obtained from NWU. Permission to conduct research in the provinces was obtained from the departments of education in the respective provinces. Furthermore, permission from the heads of schools as well as the IT teachers was obtained. As learners were all minors, informed consent forms were signed by parents in order to have learners participate in the research.

Intervention IT teachers participating in this research were not familiar with pair programming at the onset of the research. All teachers in the research received a once-off face-to-face individual professional development session after school hours (presented by one of the researchers). During this session the researcher engaged in an informal discussion with the teachers regarding pair programming and how it could be implemented in the IT classroom. Teachers were also given a manual explaining the theory of pair programming and providing practical examples as to how pair programming can be implemented. Apart from the manual, teachers received key rings with characteristics of good pair programming printed on it (to hand out to their learners) as well as an animation video (explaining pair programming) to be shown to learners.

Once the professional development session had been conducted, teachers were asked to implement pair programming in their Grade 10 IT classes for approximately six weeks (the longest possible timeframe between two school holidays). Although the researchers had no control over the assignments and activities used in the class, all teachers were asked to implement pair programming in the same way (as discussed in the conceptual framework of this article). No classroom observations were done, and therefore teachers had to be trusted to implement the strategies correctly.

RESULTS Learners’ Questionnaire Results Before results are discussed, Table 1, illustrates the biographical background of the IT learners.

Table 1: Biographical Information of IT Learners in this Research Biographical item

Options

Frequency (f)

Age

15 years

28

16 years

28

17 years

5

18 years

6

Older than 18

3

Total Non response Grand total

70 1 71

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95 Biographical item

Options

Frequency (f)

Gender

Male

44

Female

27

Total

71

Afrikaans

18

English

28

Home language

isiNdebele

0

isiXhosa

5

isiZulu

0

Sesotho sa Leboa

0

Sesotho

2

Setswana siSwati

0

Tshivenda

0

Xitsonga

0

Other

1

Total

70

Non response

Rural/Urban

Province

16

1

Grand total

71

Rural

17

Urban

54

Total

71

North West

42

Eastern Cape

29

Total

71

The IT learners in this research all ranged between the ages of 15 and 18 years of age (the majority being 15/16 years old). The most prevalent home language was English. As expected, few female students (only a third of the sample) and few learners from rural areas were represented although the sample was drawn randomly from the two provinces.

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96 In order to establish whether there had been any significant increase/decrease in the Grade 10 IT learners’ critical thinking skills after the implementation of pair programming, the effect sizes as calculated by comparing the pre- and post-tests are reported in Table 2.

Table 2: IT Learners’ Total Critical Thinking Scores School code

Total for critical thinking

1

2

3

4

5

N 4

17

10

19

21

Pre/Post

Mean

SD

p

Pre Post

d

17.3750

14.30253

0.043

***0.87

29.7500

8.87412

Pre

0.9412

5.32354

0.035

***0.81

Post

5.2647

10.16292

Pre

32.9000

12.10785

0.284

*0.21

Post

35.4500

13.43596

Pre

28.0526

12.11621

0.131

*0.29

Post

31.6053

10.42643

Pre

30.0714

12.25182

0.019

*0.33

Post

34.1429

9.91103

* small effect ** medium effect *** large effect From Table 2, it is evident that the critical thinking skills of the IT learners in all the schools increased after the pair programming intervention. For two schools (school 1 and school 2), there was a large practical significant difference between the pre-test and the post-test, and for the other three schools (school 3, school 4 and school 5), only a small practical significant difference was reported. Possible reasons for these differences between schools are elaborated on in the discussion section. In Table 2, it is also evident that the critical thinking scores of schools differed vastly. The critical thinking total score had a maximum value of 71; thus, it was also clear that learners performed relatively low in critical thinking as measured by this instrument. School 2’s learners scored the lowest in their initial critical thinking test illustrating that critical thinking was not really evident in these learners.

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97 In Table 3, each school’s mean score for SDL (from a maximum score of 100 for each learner) for the pre-test and post-test as well as the statistical and practical significance between the pre- and the post-test are reported.

Table 3: IT Learners’ Total SDL Scores

Total for self-directed learning

School code 1

2

3

4

5

N 4

17

10

19

21

Pre/Post

Mean

SD

Pre

80.4000

9.85089

Post

83.0000

11.48913

Pre

80.4118

9.06958

Post

80.8588

8.21455

Pre

74.9800

9.71388

Post

76.6000

10.18932

Pre

70.7193

7.96153

Post

73.4140

10.57660

Pre

82.0190

8.24667

Post

81.9238

8.89617

p

d

0.413

*0.26

0.792

0.05

0.066

0.17

0.238

*0.34

0.942

0.01

* small effect ** medium effect *** large effect From Table 3, it is evident that in the majority of schools, IT learners’ SDL increased after the pair programming intervention. For two schools, there was a small practical significant difference between the pre-test and the post-test, and for the other three schools, no practical significant difference was reported.

In School 5 there was a slight decrease but not significant. Clarification as to why this is the case is given in the discussion section. IT learners’ SDL did not differ greatly between schools, as is evident from Table 3.

Learners’ Narrative and Teachers’ Interviews Results In learners’ narratives, they were given a definition of a critical thinker and asked firstly, to say whether and how the IT class had developed them as critical thinkers and secondly, to describe their experiences of pair programming in the IT class. IT teachers were asked an open-ended question on how they experienced pair programming in their IT classes. From learners’ narratives and teachers’ interviews, aspects relating to critical thinking and SDL were extrapolated. The following codes, categories and themes emerged from the narratives of the learners and the interviews of the teachers (in the discussion later, codes are indicated in bold).

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98 Table 4: Codes, Categories and Themes identified from IT Learners’ Narratives and IT Teachers’ Interviews IT learners’ codes

IT teachers’ codes

Categories

Problem solving

Problem solving

IT focuses on problem solving

Themes

Analysis Decision-making Evaluation IT class encourages cognition/metacognition

Logic Planning Reasoning

Reasoning

Thinking

Thinking

Critical Thinking aspects

Creativity IT class encourages positive dispositions

Inquisitiveness Questioning

Questioning

Use of different perspectives

Use of different perspectives

Confidence

Confidence

Introspection

Responsibility

IT increases sense of self

Academic achievement

IT class creates platform for cognition/ metacognition

Use of different perspectives

Open-mindedness Academic achievement Understanding Knowledge of the field

Knowledge of the field

Life skills

Active learning Use of resources

Sharing of knowledge

Sharing of knowledge

Independent learning

Independent learning

Learning with the help of others

Learning with the help of others

IT addresses knowledge of field and application thereof Self-Directed Learning aspects IT class stimulates learning agility

Life skills Communication

Communication

Listening skills

IT class promotes life skills

Respect Social skills

Social skills

From Table 4, it is evident that two major themes were identified: Critical Thinking aspects and SelfDirected Learning aspects.

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99 Critical Thinking Aspects Learners and teachers mentioned several aspects that can be themed under critical thinking, which will be discussed next.

Information Technology class focuses on problem solving IT learners in this research commented on the fact that the IT class had improved their problem-solving skills.

We are always finding solutions for problems that don’t even exist yet’ (Learner from School 3).

Furthermore, one learner clearly stated that they saw pair programming as a tool for developing problem solving skills: I enjoy pair programming as it is a combination of brain that work together to solve a problem. It helps to learn and understand the work better (Learner from School 4).

Half of the teachers noted that problem solving had been addressed while the learners were doing pair programming and that the learners solved some problems with much less effort when working in pairs than when working alone.

Information Technology class encourages cognition/metacognition Several cognitive and metacognitive abilities were identified from IT learners’ narratives and teachers’ interviews. IT learners did however illustrate more of these abilities than their teachers did. Cognitive abilities such as decision-making, logic, reasoning and thinking were all identified from the majority of IT learners’ narratives, whereas only thinking and reasoning were identified from teachers’ interviews. IT teachers did not illustrate any use of metacognitive abilities in their IT learners, whereas the IT learners mentioned that planning was important, that they evaluated their solutions and analysed the problems constantly (all of which are metacognitive abilities), for instance:

This challenged me to think more about something before I act or program (Learner from School 5).

Information Technology class encourages positive dispositions Positive dispositions to promote critical thinking were also identified from both IT learners and teachers.

The disposition that was most evident was that of questioning. One IT teacher and several IT learners emphasised how the IT class had encouraged them to practise questioning, not only in the IT class, but also in everyday situations, e.g.

I’m able to ask questions if I don’t understand the teacher (Learner from School 2).

And The channel was open for all of them to ask any question and give answers, so I think they’re feeling that they are so free to say anything’ (Teacher from School 2).

A number of IT learners also commented on the fact that they felt the class made them more creative and that they were more inquisitive after pair programming than before pair programming.

Information Technology class illustrates use of different perspectives By implementing pair programming and allowing learners to experience other learners’ opinions, IT learners in this class had the opportunity to use different perspectives. The majority of learners and teachers commented on the fact that learners acquired different perspectives: The Independent Journal of Teaching and Learning - Volume 12 (1) / 2017 Formerly The Journal of Independent Teaching and Learning

100

… the other group definitely learned some other ways of thinking (Teacher from School 3).

I learnt to solve a problem in more than one way (Learner from School 1).

I have learnt not to just think in one way but have tried to develop different ways of thinking to have an idea of how the other people’s brains works (Learner from School 3).

It was evident in this research that, although no deliberate critical thinking instruction was implemented, critical thinking development still occurred. Apart from the critical thinking theme emerging from the data, an SDL theme also emerged and will subsequently be discussed.

Self-Directed Learning Aspects From teachers’ interviews and learners’ narratives, the following SDL aspects were identified.

Information Technology class increases sense of self IT learners commented on how their confidence had increased, e.g.

It also helped me to improve my self-esteem when I am communicating with other[s] (Learner from School 2).

Learners also illustrated that introspection and becoming more open-minded were evident in the IT classes. The majority of IT teachers also noted that their learners’ confidence had increased. Furthermore, one IT teacher also noted that the learners in her class had learnt to take more responsibility for their work as they were held accountable for each other’s work.

Information Technology class creates platform for cognition/metacognition Cognitive and metacognitive abilities were evident from IT teachers and learners. A shared cognitive aspect was academic achievement, where both IT teachers and learners noted that learners more easily grasped concepts and therefore had a greater likelihood to achieve academically after the implementation of pair programming, e.g.

I could see when they were doing the tests, the ones that used to be clueless in the first and second term knew more now (Teacher from School 4).

IT learners also commented on the fact that their understanding in the subject had increased greatly as a result of the pair programming.

Information Technology class addresses knowledge of the field and application thereof Although learners would have gained knowledge of the field of computers and software development in any case, it was evident (from what learners and teachers reported) that learners’ knowledge of the field had increased due to the implementation of pair programming, e.g.

I can see that they code much better and what they write makes more sense (Teacher from School 4).

Furthermore, teachers also noted that learners were more actively involved (active learning) in the learning process, which gave learners an opportunity to apply the knowledge they had acquired.

Information Technology class stimulates learning agility SDL requires learning agility. Although teachers in this research stated that learners had the opportunity to learn to work together and to gain knowledge and experience from their peers, it was also evident that The Independent Journal of Teaching and Learning - Volume 12 (1) / 2017 Formerly The Journal of Independent Teaching and Learning

101 learners still acquired the skills to work independently (independent learning), e.g. ‘there’s help where I need help to and also to do things or programs on my own’.

Information Technology class promotes life skills Learners from the IT classes noted that the class had developed their life skills as well as social skills.

Social skills that were specifically identified were listening skills, respect and communication skills.

IT teachers had a similar notion where they emphasised aspects like social skills and communication.

These skills can largely be attributed to the fact that this [pair programming] is better than being alone because communication and questions are helpful resources (Learner from School 4).

DISCUSSION In this research, we found that CL in the form of pair programming underpinned by the socio-cognitive theory can increase not only critical thinking in IT learners, but there is also evidence that it could improve their SDL. IT learners in all schools in this research showed an increase in critical thinking. It is therefore possible to deduce that, in accordance with Klimoviené, Urboneine and Barzdziukiene (2006), CL (in this research, pair programming) increases critical thinking. When referring to the quantitative data, learners’ mean scores for critical thinking increased after the pair programming intervention. When looking at the analyses of the qualitative data, categories pointing to critical thinking development were evident.

The learners see pair programming as a tool for problem solving which made them more creative and inquisitive - emphasising only some of the advantages of pair programming in accordance with Williams and Kessler (2002). Working together as a team also provided them with new perspectives as working together allows them to solve problems in more than one way. According to the learners, pair programming increases their questioning abilities. They can not only immediately rely on the support of their partner when they do not understand, but also engage in critical questioning, in-depth discussions and reasoning to solve a specific problem together. Teachers confirmed the advantages of pair programming for critical thinking development by noting that learners’ thinking and reasoning had been stimulated through pair programming. Interestingly, thinking and reasoning were also emerging categories from the learners’ data. It is thus clear that pair programming gives learners the opportunity to engage actively in problem solving through reasoning, questioning and reflection which improves their critical thinking development.

Although not as prominent as the critical thinking development, IT learners’ mean scores for SDL also increased after the intervention (with the exception of one school). As evident from a teacher’s interview, learners in her class had learnt to take more responsibility for their own work as well as their peer’s work after the implementation of pair programming. Positive interdependence and individual accountability - two of the key elements of cooperative learning that need to be addressed during pair programming (Mentz et al., 2008) - may have resulted in this increase in the learners’ sense of responsibility; these elements emphasise that each learner needs to take responsibility for their contribution and the success of the group. SDL is a necessity and any indication of an increase in self-directedness is positive.

This research has shown that implementing pair programming with the CL elements influenced learners’ development of critical thinking and SDL development. The researchers were not able to implement pair programming in the classes themselves and therefore some variability in the way teachers implemented it in their classes may have been possible as evident from their responses in the interviews. Regardless of this

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102 variability, implementing pair programming proved advantageous when aiming to develop IT learners’ critical thinking or SDL.

CONCLUSION In this research, it was evident from the body of scholarship that IT learners need critical thinking and SDL in order to increase their likelihood of succeeding in this subject, which is constantly changing and requires problem solving, abstract thinking and creativity. This research shows that IT teachers and learners realised the value of pair programming for SDL development and especially for critical thinking development; however statistically based, an overall increase was not evident in SDL development. It is recommended that IT teachers implement pair programming more frequently as it not only serves to develop IT learners’ critical thinking but also equips them with the necessary skills to cope with the challenges the subject poses.

The research comprised a small sample, which limited the generalisation of the results; however, generalisation was not the aim, as we attempted to set the stage for future studies. This research indicated positive evidence of increased critical thinking and self-directedness among learners after the implementation of pair programming, which could also hold advantages for the implementation of CL in other school subjects. In any school subject where learners need to solve authentic problems, CL will give learners an opportunity to reason, question and reflect together, which may increase their critical thinking and SDL. It is recommended that further research on the implementation of CL on a larger scale, including other school subjects, should be conducted in the future.

REFERENCES Breed, E.A. (2010) ’n Metakognitiewe onderrigleerstrategie vir paarprogrammering ter verbetering van kennisproduktiwiteit (A metacognitive teaching-learning strategy for pair programming to improve knowledge production.) (Unpublished doctoral thesis). North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa.

Cheng, S.F., Kuo, C.L., Lin, K.C. & Hsieh, J. L. (2010) ‘Development and preliminary testing of self-rating instrument to measure self-directed learning ability of nursing students’ International Journal of Nursing Studies 47 pp.1152–1158 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2010.02.002 Creswell, J.W. (2009) Research design: Qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods approaches. London: Sage.

Department of Basic Education. (2012) Curriculum and assessment policy statement. Pretoria: Government Printers.

Facione, P.A. (1990) Critical thinking: A statement of expert consensus for purposes of educational assessment and instruction. California, CA: California Academic Press.

Fahy, R. (2005) ‘Two methods for assessing critical thinking in computer-mediated communications (CMC) transcripts’ International Journal of Instructional Technology and Distance Learning 2(3) p.13-28.

Garson, G.D. (2012) Hierarchical linear modeling: Guide and applications. Thousand Oaks: Sage.

Guglielmino, L.M. (2013) ‘The case for promoting self-directed learning in formal educational institutions’ SA-eDUC Journal 10(2) pp.1-18. http://www-nwu-ac-za.web.nwu.ac.za/sites/www.nwu.ac.za/files/ files/psaeduc/sdl%20issue/Guglielmino,%20L.M.%20The%20case%20for%20promoting%20selfdirected%20lear.pdf (Accessed 19 September 2015).

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103 Hahn, J.H. (2008) Paarassessering teenoor individuele assessering. (Pair assessment versus individual assessment.) (Master’s Thesis). http://dspace.nwu.ac.za/handle/10394/764 (Accessed 19 September 2015).

Hyslop-Margison, E.J. (2003) ‘The failure of critical thinking: Considering virtue epistemology as a pedagogical adventure’ In K. Alston (Ed.) Philosophy of education society yearbook pp.319-326. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press.

James, M. (2006) ‘Assessment, teaching and theories of learning’ In J. Gardner (Ed.) Assessment and learning pp.47-60. London: Sage.

Klimoviené, G., Urboneine, J. & Barzdziukiene, R. (2006) ‘Developing critical thinking through cooperative learning’ Journal of Studies about Languages 9 pp.77-85.

Knowles, M.S. (1975) Self-directed learning: A guide for learners and teachers. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Lombard, K. & Grosser, M. (2008) ‘Critical thinking: are the ideals of OBE failing us or are we failing the ideals of OBE?’ South African Journal of Education 28 pp.561-579.

Mentz, E., Van der Walt, J.L. & Goosen, L. (2008) ‘The effect of incorporating cooperative learning principles in pair programming for student teachers’ Computer Science Education 18(4) pp.247-260.

Paul, R. & Elder, L. (2005) Critical thinking competency standards. www.criticalthinking.org (Accessed 10 September 2015).

Ringberg, T. & Reihlen, M. (2008) ‘Towards a socio-cognitive approach to knowledge transfer’ Journal of Management Studies 45(5) pp.912-935. doi:10.1111/j.1467-6486.2007.00757.x Singh, K. (2007) Quantitative social research methods. London: Sage.

Statistics South Africa. (2016) Community survey 2016. http://cs2016.statssa.gov.za/wp-content/ uploads/2016/07/NT-30-06-2016-RELEASE-for-CS-2016-_Statistical-releas_1-July-2016.pdf (Accessed 9 December 2016).

TIMSS and PIRLS. (2011) TIMSS and PIRLS report. http://timssandpirls.bc.edu/timss2011/downloads/ T11_IR_M_Chapter1.pdf (Accessed 5 October 2015).

Tiwari, A., Lai, P., So, M. & Yuen, K. (2006) ‘A comparison of the effects of problem-based learning and lecturing on the development of students’ critical thinking’ Medical Education 40 pp.547-554. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2929.2006.02481.x Vygotsky, L. (1978) ‘Interaction between learning and development’ In M. Cole, V. John-Steiner, S. Scribner & E. Souberman (Eds.) Mind and society: The development of higher psychological processes pp.79-91.

Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Williams, L. & Kessler, R. (2002). Pair programming illuminated. New York, NY: Addison Wesley.

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104 Student-centred problem-based learning as a transformative approach to legal education1 René Hilary Cheryl-Anne Koraan - North-West University, South Africa

ABSTRACT The quality of LLB graduates is causing an outcry among members of the legal profession. Concerns that law graduates are poorly prepared to meet the demands of practice and do not possess the legal skills expected of them have surfaced throughout the legal profession. Problem-based learning (PBL) is an instructional method that provides students with the knowledge and skills suitable for problem solving. Student-centred problem-based learning (SPBL) is a combination of problem-based and reiterative problem-based learning.

In this paradigm students aim to understand and resolve a problem with which they are faced. Confronting students with practical scenarios and placing them in an appropriate environment (like a mock trial) may result in the students remembering and applying in practice what they have learnt in theory. This could arguably make for a law graduate with the skills required for practice. This paper discusses the LLB dilemma and the impact thereof on the legal profession. It describes the relevant pedagogical approach, which entails that the students continue to learn throughout the rest of their personal and professional lives.

It also explores the use of mock trials (as a SPBL method) as a transformative approach to enhancing the development of the skills needed for practice.1 Keywords: student-centred problem-based learning, problem-based learning, LLB dilemma, mock trials

INTRODUCTION In 1998 the four-year undergraduate Baccalaurues Legum (LLB) degree was introduced by the Qualification of Legal Practitioners Amendment Act 78 of 1997 (Van Niekerk, 2013). The degree was introduced as the minimum academic requirement for admission to practise as an advocate or an attorney under the then relevant legislative frameworks. The new LLB degree was designed to provide equal legal education for all and to remedy the problem of under-representivity in the profession by cutting a year’s time and a year’s fees off the programme of study qualifying one as a lawyer (Manyathi-Jele, 2014). Although the intentions were laudable, there has been consistent criticism of the quality of LLB graduates in recent years. Concerns that graduates are poorly prepared to meet the demands of practice and do not possess the legal skills expected of them have surfaced throughout the legal profession. Boseilo made the following remark at the LLB summit held in 2013:

1 Date of submission: 17 December 2015 Date of acceptance: Initial - 2 June 2016

Final - 11 January 2017

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105

. ..the recent chorus of complaints on the quality of LLB, which claimed that the graduates lacked broad skills, including writing, reading, ethics and an understanding of the Constitution, cannot be brushed aside (Sedutla, 2013: 8).

At the same summit Greenbaum indicated that only 22% of students complete the degree in four years (Sedutla, 2013: 8). Contributing to this is the inadequacy of primary and secondary education which leaves students unprepared for university (Sedutla, 2013: 8). Greenbaum refers to this as the ‘articulation gap’ between the two phases of education (Greenbaum, 2014: 11). The ‘articulation gap’ refers to ‘... the discrepancy between the standards and levels of reading, writing and critical engagement’ taught at schools, and the demands of university education’ (Greenbaum, 2014: 11).

It is evident that there is a need to revisit the structure of the LLB degree. The question now is whether or not there is a need to change the duration of the degree again. There is, however, another option. Instead of altering the duration of the degree programme, the structure thereof should be reconsidered, and the way the content is being taught should be adjusted. It is assumed that the way information is acquired may assist a student to remember and apply that information in practice (Schmidt, 1983).

Problem-based learning (PBL) is an instructional method that provides students with knowledge suitable for problem solving. It was developed at the Faculty of Health Sciences of McMaster University in approximately 1965 (Schmidt, 1993). Student-centred problem-based learning (SPBL), not to be confused with PBL, is a term coined by Kurtz, Wylie and Gold (1990) and refers to a combination of problem-based and reiterative problem-based learning. In this learning process students aim to understand or resolve a problem with which they are faced. Confronting students with practical scenarios, and placing them in an environment that is conducive to their learning (such as a mock trial) may result in their remembering and applying in practice what they have learned in theory. Although both instructional methods aim to provide students with knowledge suitable for problem solving, SPBL is particularly aimed at providing additional development of inquiry-, research- and communication skills. This could arguably inculcate law students with essentials such as the ability to read and write cogently, an understanding of the Constitution (Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 2006), and a sense of the ethical standards, required for practice.

This paper discusses the LLB dilemma (pertaining to poorly equipped graduates) and its impact on the legal profession. It also explores the use of mock trials (as a student-centred problem-based method) as a transformative approach to enhancing the development and acquirement of the skills needed for legal practice. Quinot considers transformative legal education as what ‘law teachers can and must do in order to achieve the aims of transformative constitutionalism’ (Quinot, 2012: 412).

These insights call for a fundamental shift from formalistic legal reasoning to substantive reasoning under a transformative constitution, for a shift towards a constructivist student-centred teaching model and for the recognition of a paradigm shift in knowledge from linear to non-linear, relational or complex (Quinot, 2012: 412).

The term ‘transformative constitutionalism’ was introduced by Karl Klare as a:

...long-term project of constitutional enactment, interpretation, and enforcement committed (not in isolation, of course, but in a historical context of conducive political developments) to transforming a country’s political and social institutions and power relationships in a democratic, participatory, and egalitarian direction. Transformative constitutionalism connotes an enterprise of inducing large-scale social change through nonviolent political processes grounded in law (Klare, 1998: 150).

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106 In his address entitled ‘Transformative Constitutionalism’ Langa simplified this notion as simply ‘that we must change’ (Langa, 2006: 352). For the purpose of this study the transformative approach resonates with Quinot’s approach to transformative legal education.

The aim of this paper is not to shift the blame from the content and structure of the LLB curriculum to the law lecturer. Instead it concerns itself with describing an alternative teaching method which may remedy the present situation, and may even be the only change required in order to do so.

THE LLB DILEMMA The LLB Summit was held on 29 May, 2013. The summit was initiated by the South African Law Deans’ Association (SALDA), the General Council of the Bar (GCB) and the Law Society of South Africa (LSSA) to discuss the challenges and future of the LLB degree (Sedutla, 2013). In a panel discussion Greenbaum said that though the four-year LLB degree had been introduced to reduce costs and increase access to the law profession, only 22% of the registered students completed the LLB degree in four years (Sedutla, 2013).

From the comments made at the summit it would seem that the new LLB course is not delivering the desired outcome in that even among the successful 22% there is a lamentable lack of the qualities needed in the profession. The shortage of skills includes, but is not limited to, reading, writing, ethics, communication, problem solving and counting (Van Niekerk, 2013; Sedutla, 2013; Quinot & Van Tonder, 2014). It can be argued that the shortening of the degree is perhaps the biggest challenge to the current LLB degree.

The LLB Summit concluded with two suggestions. The first was for an extended LLB degree and the second for a return to the old post-graduate LLB degree (Van Niekerk, 2013). Montjane stated that ‘law schools have to graduate individuals who not only know what the law is, but who have the skills to know what it ought to be’ (Montjane, 2003: 89). This means that students should be confronted with issues outside the black letter law. According to Van Marle and Modiri (2012), at present the four-year LLB does not provide opportunities for critical thinking or the acquisition of skills. Though the debate concerning the length of the LLB degree remains at the forefront of attention in the profession, it is also possible that the time is ripe for law teachers to look at their own methods of teaching. According to Bezuidenhout and Karels, ‘what we teach is often a measure of the way we teach’ (2014: 41). They further state that ‘the substance of our teaching has a profound effect on the formation of law graduates’ (2014: 41).

Law teachers often work in silos and rarely collaborate with colleagues in other departments. According to Modiri, as a result: They are unable to think globally about the legal education being offered as a whole and that is also the reason why law courses and course material are often so formulaic, outdated and stale. These excessive conceits are partly the result of a lack of humility on the part of the law teachers and they constitute a large part of how and why legal education came to be in such crisis (Modiri, 2014: 16).

PROBLEM-BASED LEARNING (PBL) The concept of PBL, originally developed at the Faculty of Health Sciences of McMaster University around 1965, was influenced by the case-study method developed at Harvard Law School in the 1920s (Schmidt, 1993). The case-study method was developed by Christopher Columbus Langdell at Harvard Law School in 1870 (Weaver, 1991). The idea of PBL is for students, working in groups, to address a set of events (a case) under the supervision of a facilitator (Schmidt, 1993). The main purpose is to equip students with the knowledge suitable for problem solving. In this system, students are confronted with problems from life The Independent Journal of Teaching and Learning - Volume 12 (1) / 2017 Formerly The Journal of Independent Teaching and Learning

107 which they have to explain or analyse in terms of underlying legal principles. As a group, they then have to solve the problems first by discussing them among themselves and then by studying relevant sources (Schmidt, 1993). PBL is ordered into stages of learning (the PBL cycle). Hmelo-Silver (2004) sets out the following stages.

Firstly, students are faced with a problem that relates to knowledge they have already obtained. This is when they identify the problem. Secondly, they generate ideas or hypotheses. They now understand the problem better and are generating possible solutions to it. Thirdly, they identify their knowledge deficiencies relative to the problem. They are now engaged in self-directed learning (SDL) through performing research.

At this stage the contribution of group discussions can have an ‘independent facilitating effect on prior knowledge activation’ as students can learn from each other even before new information is acquired (Schmidt, 1993: 427). Fourthly, they apply their (new) knowledge and evaluate their hypotheses. Finally, they reflect on the knowledge gained (Hmelo-Silver, 2004).

The PBL cycle can be explained alternatively by making use of a diagram designed by Hmelo-Silver (2004) (see Figure 1). He writes: ‘Because students are self-directed, managing their learning goals and strategies to solve PBL’s ill-structured problems (those without a single correct solution), they also acquire the skills needed for lifelong learning’ (2004: 237).

During PBL teachers take on a different role, that of facilitators. The facilitators model behaviour they want the students to follow by thinking out aloud. They will ask questions such as: ‘What’s going on here? What do we need to know more about? What did we do during the problem that was effective?’ (Stepien & Gallagher, 1993: 26). The facilitators will then coax their students to use these questions and take on responsibility for addressing the problem. In time, the students become self-directed learners (Stepien & Gallagher, 1993).

Figure 1: Problem-based learning cycle

Problem

ID Problem

Formulate and analyse problem

Generate Hypothesis ID knowledge deficiencies

Self-directed learning (SDL)

Apply new knowledge

Abstraction Evaluation

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108 PBL can, however, limit certain skills development of students. As Kurtz et al. point out However, since students are provided with a complete written problem in the problem method, they do not have an opportunity to develop their skills of inquiry and communication. Further students are often given research references, and so do not need to practise their research skills (Kurtz et al., 1990: 802).

STUDENT-CENTRED PROBLEM-BASED LEARNING (SPBL) SPBL is a term coined by Kurtz et al. (1990) which refers to a combination of problem-based learning and reiterative problem-based learning. Reiterative problem-based learning is an extension of the problembased method (Kurtz et al, 1990). During this learning process students reflect on their new learning, their prior knowledge, their reasoning and their problem solving skills (Kurtz et al., 1990). During this learning process students aim to understand or resolve a problem they are faced with ‘by reviewing and evaluating the resources and process through which they analyzed the problem’ (Kurtz et al., 1990: 799).

‘An important component of actual learning is that the topic studied is understood’ (Schmidt, 1993: 423).

Before students can start to analyse the problem they first have to understand it. This having been said, as with any legal subject, terminology is important and the understanding of certain concepts can be crucial to the problem-solving process.

SPBL students need their prior knowledge and experience only as preparation. It is assumed that the way information is acquired assists the student in remembering and applying that information in practice (Schmidt, 1983). It can be argued that the evolving nature of the law can make what was taught irrelevant, however SPBL is about instilling certain skills and not time-restricted scenarios. When students are confronted with a real-life problem or scenario during their (undergraduate) studies, they are likely to remember how to solve it when in practice. SPBL also provides greater motivation than the lecture method where an instructor presents the information in lecture form and uses a case or two to illustrate the information given (Kurtz et al., 1990). Not only will students be motivated because of the relevant learning, but the method will encourage student independence and responsibility in the learning process (Kurtz et al., 1990). SPBL will also help them to develop the required skills such as communication skills, skills useful in group practice, and problem-solving skills, to name a few. Although PBL aims to provide a similar learning method it can limit the development of inquiry-, communication- and research skills as previously mentioned (Kurtz et al., 1990).

SPBL gives students a complete experience that includes the inquiry and research stages, unlike the limited experience provided by PBL. As in the case of PBL there are stages in SPBL and, quoting Barrows and Tamblyn, Kurtz et al. (1990) describe the stages as follows:

(a) Identification of the objectives of the session; (b) Interaction with the problem; (c) Identification of self-directed study questions raised by working with the problem; (d) Self-directed study; (e) Application of acquired information to the problem; (f) Review and synthesis of what has been learned, and (g) Evaluation (1990: 809-810).

These stages are explained next in a mock trial scenario. See Figure 2 for an illustrative diagram.

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109 Figure 2: Student-centred problem-based learning process

Identification of the objectives of the session

Interaction with the problem ID of self-directed study questions raised by working with the problem Self-directed study Application of acquired information to the problem Review and synthesis of what has been learned

Reflection

Evaluation (of student)

MOCK TRIALS AS A SPBL METHOD The use of real-life problems as case studies for students during the SPBL is important, since this motivates students to solve the problems and leads to lifelong learning. Mock (criminal) trials are used to give students a glimpse of what awaits them in practice and ‘has been identified as supporting higher order learning by moving beyond memorization to comprehension and application’ (Kutnjak Ivković & Reichel, 2016: 2; Shepelak, 1996). The students are (usually) divided into groups (state and defence) and given a set of facts (a docket). They are given the necessary statements and other documents for perusal, as in a real case. These documents will be their first encounter with the facts of the case. They are then given the opportunity to consult with their witnesses or client before the trial. At this stage the students would have completed stages (a) to (b). They would have identified their position (as state or defence), read through the docket and heard the version of their witnesses.

After consultation with the witness or client, the students now have to identify the learning questions (c).

At this stage they will identify their problem areas or lack of knowledge concerning the problem itself.

With the version of their witnesses and the content of the docket in mind, they will identify the learning questions. This can be questions like: ‘What are the elements of the crime?’; ‘What are the possible defences and their requirements?’; ‘Are there any applicable case-laws?’

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110 The next stage (d) will be for the students to do research to answer the learning questions identified in (c). This is called self-directed study. It is at this stage that the collaboration between group members and the consultation of resources are important. If the learning questions are clearly identified, then this stage should be a focused one. After the research has been completed they apply the acquired information to the problem at hand (e). This stage requires a more detailed application of the research performed (case law, legislation and or policies). Once again this will be done in the group, where each of the identified learning questions is addressed. They will have to decide what the information obtained means for their client or case (Kurtz et al., 1990). After the analysis and solutions to the problem have been developed the students are ready to consult with their witnesses or client, hopefully with possible solutions. In the next stage (f) they reflect on how they approached the problem and what they have learned during this problem-solving exercise. They now have to ‘integrate their knowledge acquired, and skills developed, into their existing bank of knowledge and skills’ (Kurtz et al., 1990: 813).

The final stage (g) entails the evaluation of the students and is a significant part of the learning process.

It should be determined if students have met the objectives of the course. To determine this, the lecturer should not only test the knowledge of the students but also the other skills expected to be obtained during the process (Kurtz et al., 1990). These can include communication skills, reasoning skills, research skills, problem-solving skills and writing skills (if written documents like a plea or heads of argument are required). Not all law lecturers necessarily have the practical experience to assess these skills themselves.

To make sure that all the skills are adequately assessed academia should extend a hand to the courts and legal practitioners to assess these courses as opposed to relying on template marking rubrics which are based on non-practical components.

Mock trials as a SPBL method in law courses have proved to be very conducive to learning. SPBL could be used in all law courses, but it must be admitted that this could be a time-consuming exercise. The other challenge is the size of our law classes. SPBL works best if the number of students in the SPBL groups does not exceed 10-12 (Kurtz et al., 1990). Keeping in mind our class sizes, it may be advisable to implement SPBL in smaller classes only. It is not necessary to implement mock trials as a SPBL method in every module.

This could be done in selected modules only. As a starting point SPBL could be introduced in a specific module in each year group. Collaboration between modules in the same year-group could also work well, ensuring the integration of law modules. Students would thus still enjoy the lecture method but would also be exposed to SPBL, giving them a glimpse of future practice.

American legal education has been the forerunner of clinical legal education (Greenbaum, 2012) and mock trials are found to be ‘an exciting way to teach students trial court procedure and to develop a wide range of skills’ (Bell, 2002: 42). Moot courts started in 1820 at Harvard and have been part of the curriculum of Boston University since the 1870s (Dickerson, 1999). After dissatisfaction with the traditional Law curriculum was expressed, the Report and Recommendations of the Task Force on Lawyer Competency: The Role of the Law Schools (Cramton Report) was released in 1979 (Shreve, 1981). The Cramton Report advocated for a curriculum that allows students to ‘explore and develop a greater number of skills relevant to practicing law’ (Shreve, 1981: 793). In 1992 the MacCrate Report, Legal Education and Professional Development, advised on ‘narrowing the gap’ between legal education and the legal profession (Greenbaum, 2012). Moot courts have been criticised by some legal academics and judges in the United States (Kozinski, 1997) but in a case made for moot court it was held that Moot court is a valuable activity. It helps students to strengthen their writing abilities, their oral abilities, and their analytical abilities. Accordingly, it can help to improve their overall performance in law school and to make them more attractive to potential employers (Dickerson, 1999: 1227).

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111 The Carnegie Report, Educating Lawyers: Preparation for the Profession of Law, has been the most recent review of legal education written by a group of legal educators (Greenbaum, 2012). The Carnegie Report called for an integration of ‘the cognitive (knowledge), the practical (skills) and the ethical-social (values, ontology)’ (Greenbaum 2012: 21). The above mentioned can be achieved by employing simulation (mock/moot court) as part of the law curriculum. A study was undertaken by Kutnjak Ivković and Reichel (2016) to explore if the inclusion of a mock trial exercise enhances students’ learning. This was done in a criminal justice class. Students identified mock trials as the most useful method for teaching about the difference between civil law and common law trials (Kutnjak Ivković & Reichel, 2016). Students also indicated that active participation allowed them to apply their knowledge and also led to a greater understanding of the different type of trials (Kutnjak Ivković & Reichel, 2016).

CONCLUSION It is clear from the research that the revision of the LLB degree is inevitable. It is expected from law graduates that they have certain necessary skills if they are to cope in practice. If graduates do not possess these skills it will lead to a chain-reaction of doubt and concern not only from the legal profession but also from the public in general (as it does at present). It is expected from law graduates to have the necessary writing-, reading-, research-, communication- and reasoning skills, to name but a few, and it seems that our recent graduates do not have them.

The uproar over ill-equipped and under-skilled graduates leads one to wonder if the four-year degree was a good idea. A review of scholarly research suggests that the problem is being imputed to the brevity of the degree programme. Students still graduate, though their skills are poor. But is this not indicative of the structure of the degree, rather than the duration? I am of the view that more focus should be given to the actual structure of the degree as well as to the way the content is taught. I suggest this would be a far less exhausting exercise (exhausting nevertheless, but less so) than extending or changing the degree itself.

The notion of transformative legal education has been expressed by various academic scholars and legal practitioners (Langa, 2006; Quinot, 2012; Greenbaum, 2014). The way legal education is being taught is in drastic need of a paradigm shift. Transformation is of paramount importance for legal education.

As Schmidt (1983) pointed out, the way students are taught assists them to remember and apply that information in practice. SPBL could play a major role in a student-driven learning environment. The use of mock trials as a SPBL method would help students to understand the problems set as well as to solve them themselves. Students would get practical exposure as well as remember how they dealt with the problem at university when confronted with a similar problem in practice. During mock trials students would more likely acquire the skills necessary to cope with practice. The lecturer would have to identify the skills to build on and formulate the scenario or case study accordingly. In the United States of America mock trials and moot courts have been successfully used to enhance students’ learning (Kutnjak Ivković & Reichel, 2016).

The use of mock trials as a SPBL method could be time-consuming to the lecturer and I therefore suggest that only one module in each year group is identified to accommodate these mock trials. A more holistic approach to different fields of law is also advised (Modiri, 2014). This would ensure that students gain practical exposure and the full learning experience provided by SPBL in each year of study. The difficulty of the problems students encounter in the mock trials should increase each year to enhance their learning and build their skills. It stands to reason that law graduates who are exposed to mock trials year after year will find practice less intimidating. At the end of the day, law lecturers help prepare students for practice, and how they do it can have a vital impact on the students’ ability to cope with practice. Though there

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112 is no quick-fix to the LLB dilemma, however, the student-centred problem-based learning method is worth exploring as a transformative approach to legal education.

REFERENCES Bell, K. (2002) ‘Using moot courts in the classroom (Cases, controversy, and the court)’ Social Education 66(1) pp.42-46.

Bezuidenhout, I. & Karels, M. (2014) ‘Legal educators-the peddler of precedent, the skill builder and the socially conscious knowledge generator’ Acta Academica 46(3) pp.40-51.

Dickerson, D. (1999) ‘In moot court’ Stetson Law Review 29 pp.1217-1227.

Hmelo-Silver, C.E. (2004 Collet (2013),) ‘Problem-Based Learning: What and How Do Students Learn?’

Educational Psychology Review 16(3) pp.235-266.

Greenbaum, L. (2012) ‘Current issues in legal education: a comparative review’ Stellenbosch Law Review 23 pp.16-39.

Greenbaum, L.A. (2014) ‘Re-visioning Legal Education in South Africa: Harmonising the Aspirations of Transformative Constitutionalism with the Challenges of our Educational Legacy’ SSRN 2575289.

Klare, K.E. (1998) ‘Legal culture and transformative constitutionalism’ South African Journal on Human Rights 14 pp.146-188.

Kozinski, A. (1997) ‘In Praise of Moot Court--Not!’ Columbia Law Review 97(1) pp.178-197.

Kurtz, S., Wylie, M. & Gold, N. (1990) ‘Problem-based learning: an alternative approach to legalEducation’ Dalhousie Law Journal 13 pp.797-816.

Kutnjak Ivković, S. & Reichel, P. (2016) ‘Enhancing Student Learning By Using Mock Trials in Criminal Justice Courses’ Journal of Criminal Justice Education 27 pp.1-24.

Langa, P. (2006) ‘Transformative constitutionalism’ Stellenbosch Law Review 17 pp.351-360.

Manyathi-Jele, N. (2014) ‘National LLB task team on access and quality legal education’ De Rebus July, pp.8.

Modiri, J.M. (2014) ‘The crises in legal education’ Acta Academica 46(3) pp.1-24.

Montjane, L. (2003) ‘Toward a Discursive Legal Education’ Education as Change 7(2) pp.88-102.

Quinot, G. (2012) ‘Transformative legal education’ South African Law Journal 129 pp.411-433.

Quinot, G. & Van Tonder S.P. (2014) ‘The potential of capstone learning experiences in addressing perceived shortcomings in the LLB training in South Africa’ Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal 17(4) pp.1350-1390.

Schmidt, H.G. (1983) ‘Problem-based learning: rationale and description’ Medical Education 17 pp.11-16.

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113 Schmidt, H.G. (1993) ‘Foundations of problem-based learning: some explanatory notes’ Medical Education 27 pp.422-432.

Sedutla, M. (2013) ‘LLB summit: Legal education in crisis?’ De Rebus 532 pp.8-10.

Shepelak, N.J. (1996) ‘Employing a mock trial in a criminology course: An applied learning experience’ Teaching Sociology 24(4) pp.395-400.

Shreve, G.R. (1981) ‘Bringing the Educational Reforms of the Cramton Report into the Case Method Classroom--Two Models’ Washington University Quarterly 59 pp.793-807.

Stepien, W. & Gallagher, S. (1993) ‘Problem-based learning: As authentic as it gets’ Educational Leadership 50(7) pp.25-28.

Van Marle, K. & Modiri, J. (2012) ‘What does changing the world entail? Law critique and legal education in the time of post-apartheid’ South African Law Journal 129 pp.209-219.

Van Niekerk, C. (2013) ‘The four-year undergraduate LLB: Where to from here?’ OBITER pp.533-544.

Weaver, R.L. (1991) ‘Langdell’s Legacy: Living with the Case Method’ Villanova Law Review 36 pp.517596.

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Doctoral Corner

114

RESEARCH TITLE

An analysis of Zimbabwean teachers’ interpretation of the advanced level physics curriculum: Implications for practice Name: Dr S. Munikwa Supervisor: Professor J.G. Ferreira Institution: University of South Africa, South Africa Year of Award: 2017 Qualification: DEd

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to explore the Zimbabwean physics teachers’ interpretation of the Advanced Level Physics curriculum. The study was motivated by the dissonance between teachers’ understanding and practice and that envisaged by developers. Having an idea of physics teachers’ perceptions, experiences and current practices with regard to the revised Advanced Level Physics curriculum may be fertile ground for intervention measures and policy decisions. To obtain a more holistic picture of the physics teachers’ practices, a mixed methods research approach using the convergent parallel research design was adopted for the study using a closed survey questionnaire and face-to-face in-depth structured interviews. Document analysis of schemes of work and past practical examination papers were also undertaken. This assisted to collectively construct a holistic understanding of the physics teachers’ experiences and practices and to establish how these may be changed. Quantitative data was analysed using descriptive statistics and chi-square, whereas qualitative data was collated into themes for discussion purposes. The findings of the study reveal that the physics teachers have embraced the ideals of the physics curriculum and adapted it to their operating context through the reiterative interpretation process to construct personal meaning.

However, the teachers are mainly utilising teacher-centred approaches to impart knowledge to the learners which is not consistent with the physics curriculum anticipations of using learner-centred approaches. The teaching of physics as described by this study is that of surface learning and mainly a product of microcurriculum implementation.

The full thesis can be found at https://hdl.handle.net/10500/22155

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115 RESEARCH TITLE

The potential of dance education to promote social cohesion in a postconflict society: perspectives of South African pre-service student teachers Name: Dr Margaretha (Marelize) Marx Supervisor: Professor Aletta Delport Institution: Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, South Africa Year of Award: 2015 Qualification: PhD (Education)

ABSTRACT This study constitutes a theoretical and qualitative investigation into the meanings and locations of social cohesion in dance education. Theoretical connections between culture, dance education and social cohesion are explored. The empirical investigation is designed as a qualitative case study interrogating pre-service student teachers’ experiences and perceptions of a particular dance education course in a culturally and politically diverse university classroom in post-apartheid South Africa. Open-ended questionnaires, reflective journals and focus group interviews were employed to generate data. Findings indicate that involvement in creative movement and ethno-cultural dances raised awareness of the Self and the Other, engendering perspective and personal transformation, important requisites for social transformation and subsequently social cohesion in a formerly divided society, such as South Africa.

In addition, these dance education experiences provided participants with unique encounters with the Other’s culture. These occurred through embodied experiences of the culture of the Other, as well as through bodily negotiations with the Other. These findings lead me to argue that dance education, as pertaining to this particular course, can facilitate spaces conducive to cohesion amongst culturally and politically diverse participants in post-apartheid South Africa.

The full thesis can be found at http://hdl.handle.net/10948/4474

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116 RESEARCH TITLE

The knowledge-knower structures used in the assessment of graphic design practical work in a multicampus context Name: Supervisors:

Dr Susan Giloi Professor Lynn Quinn Dr Dina Belluigi Institution: Rhodes University, South Africa Date of Award: 2016 Qualification: PhD

ABSTRACT This case study explicates the knowledge-knower structures that are valued in the assessment of Graphic Design (GD) practical work in a multi-campus Private Higher Education (PHE) context. Assessment, which provides the measure for student success and progression, plays a significant role in Higher Education (HE). It is acknowledged that, in addition to increased pressure on educators to deliver high pass and throughput rates, there is often scrutiny of their assessment practice to ensure that it is fair, reliable, valid and transparent. The aspects of reliability and validity are particularly significant in for-profit private higher education institutions, where a strong focus on efficiency may result in added scrutiny of assessment practices. Although the assessment of GD practical work exemplifies these pressures and objectives, its characteristics and practices set it apart from many of the more standard forms of assessment found in HE. Not only is GD practical work predominantly visual rather than text-based, but complex achievements and tacit knowledge are assessed. This form of assessment traditionally relies on panel or group marking by connoisseurs who consider what is commonly termed ‘person’, ‘process’ and ‘product’ when making value judgements. Therefore, in GD assessment knowledge, the design product, the graphic designer and what the graphic designer does may all be valued. GD assessment, where outcomes are not easily stated, relies on the tacit expertise of assessors and can often be perceived to be subjective and unreliable. It therefore sits uncomfortably with results-driven HE and institutional priorities.

In light of this context and the complex and social nature of GD assessment, a critical realist approach provided the guiding metatheory for this case study. Critical realism considers the unseen but real mechanisms that exist and interact within a context to create a phenomenon such as an assessment practice. In this case study the knowledge-structuring theories of Basil Bernstein and Karl Maton were used to uncover these mechanisms. Bernstein and Maton propose that new knowledge, the curriculum and pedagogy, which includes assessment, communicate the valued disciplinary knowledge and who controls these communications.

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117 For this study the institutional documents and voices of assessors provided insight into the GD assessment practice; data was generated through a lecturer survey, the study guides and assessor conversations at both the formative and summative assessment stages. Given the significance of both knowledge and expertise in GD, Specialisation, one of the Legitimation Code Theory (LCT) dimensions, provided the conceptual tool whereby the generated data were analysed and categorised, and the underlying valued knowledge-knower structures, or specialisation codes, were identified.

The full thesis can be found at http://www.ru.ac.za/teachingandlearning/highereducationstudies/ doctoralprogramme/phdgraduates/

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118 RESEARCH TITLE

Ensuring the Quality of Pedagogy through games in Dental Technology at a selected University of Technology

Name: Dr Anisa Vahed Supervisors: Professor Shalini Singh

Professor Sioux McKenna Institution: Durban University of Technology, South Africa Date of Award: 2014 Qualification: DTech

ABSTRACT The need for alternative teaching practices in the face of poor retention and student throughput rates has changed the context of higher education in South Africa. This study interrogates one alternative teaching practice: the use of a board game and a multimedia game. Arguments for the potential benefits of games in higher education have generated a growing body of literature, but the general focus of these studies has been empirical with little theorisation about the associated pedagogy. Using mixed methods sequential explanatory research design, this thesis aimed to determine the quality of pedagogy through games in providing epistemological access to the subjects Tooth Morphology and Oral Anatomy in a Dental Technology Diploma at a selected University of Technology. The thesis also developed a framework for the design of games to enable quality teaching and learning of vocational subjects.

Preliminary and pilot studies were conducted. The preliminary study was conducted over a five-year period from 2003 to 2006. The total sample size for the Tooth Morphology board game was n=128 and for Oral Anatomy multimedia game was n=30. Academic experts validated the study by reviewing the contents of the game. The findings suggested that games assisted students to actively learn.

The pilot study was conducted in 2007 and 2008. The total sample size for the Tooth Morphology board game was n=62 and for the Oral Anatomy multimedia game was n=22. Dental technology experts validated the contents of the game. Cronbach’s alpha index was used to assess the reliability of the study and was α=0.45 and α=0.757 for the Tooth Morphology board game and the Oral Anatomy multimedia game, respectively. The low alpha score obtained for the Tooth Morphology board game prompted improvements to be made to the survey for the main study. https://tinyurl.com/m9bojyp

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119 RESEARCH TITLE

Conditions enabling or constraining the exercise of agency among new academics in higher education, conducive to the social inclusion of students Name: Supervisors:

Institution: Date of Award: Qualification:

Dr Kasturi Behari-Leak Professor Chrissie Boughey Dr Cecilia Jacobs Rhodes University, South Africa 2015 PhD

ABSTRACT This study, which is part of a National Research Foundation project on Social Inclusion in Higher Education (HE), focuses on the exercise of agency among new academics, conducive to the social inclusion of students. Transitioning from varied entry points into higher education, new academics face numerous challenges as they embed themselves in disciplinary and institutional contexts. Given the complexity and contested nature of the current higher education landscape, new academics are especially vulnerable.

Using Roy Bhaskar’s critical realism as meta-theoretical framing and Margaret Archer’s social realist theory, with its methodological focus on analytical dualism and morphogenesis, this study offers a social realist account of how new academics engage with enabling and constraining conditions at institutional, faculty, departmental and classroom levels. Through an analysis of six individual narratives of mediation, this study explicates and exemplifies the range of agential choices exercised by new academics to mediate their contested spaces. A nuanced social and critical account of the material, ideational and agential conditions in HE shows that the courses of action taken by these new academics are driven through their concerns, commitments and projects in higher education. Yet, despite the university’s espousal of embracing change, the current induction and transition of new academics is inadequate to the task of transformation in higher education. Systemic conditions in HE, conducive to critical agency and social justice, are not enabling.

Bhaskar’s Seven Scalar Being, used as an analytical frame and heuristic, guides the crosscase analysis of the six narratives across seven levels of ontology. The findings highlight that, despite difficult contextual influences, the positive exercise of agency is a marked feature of new participants in HE in this study. This has immediate implications for ways in which professional and academic development, and disciplinary and departmental programmes, could create and sustain conducive conditions for the professionalisation of new academics through more sensitised practices.

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120 Using alternative research methods such as photovoice to generate its data, this doctoral study proposes that new research methodologies, located in the third space, are needed now more than ever in HE sociological research, to recognise the researcher and the research participants as independent, autonomous and causally efficacious beings. To this end, this study includes a Chapter Zero, which captures the narrative of the doctoral scholar as researcher, who, shaped and influenced by established doctoral practices and traditions in the field, exercises her own doctoral agency in particular ways.

The full thesis can be found at http://www.ru.ac.za/teachingandlearning/highereducationstudies/ doctoralprogramme/phdgraduates/

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121 List of reviewers

The editors wish to express their gratitude to the following experts who offered their knowledge and insights in the double-blind peer review process: • Dr K. Al Baker, Education and Training Quality Authority (BQA), Kingdom of Bahrain • Dr L. Dreyer, University of Stellenbosch, South Africa • Dr W. Engelbrecht, The Independent Institute of Education, South Africa • Dr D. Gachago, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, South Africa • Dr T. Gennrich, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa • Dr J. Hardman, University of Cape Town, South Africa • E. Isaacs, University of the Western Cape, South Africa • Dr O. Esau, University of Stellenbosch, South Africa • Dr M. Karels, University of South Africa, South Africa • N. Marimandi, The Independent Institute of Education, South Africa • Professor A. Mji, Tshwane University of Technology, South Africa • Dr M. Mitchley, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa • Dr T. Moodley, University of the Western Cape, South Africa • Dr J. Mtsweni, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, South Africa • Dr P. Myende, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa • Dr I. Noomé, University of Pretoria, South Africa

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122 • K. Pather, University of Witwatersrand, South Africa • Dr E. Pretorius, University of Johannesburg, South Africa • Professor S. Schoeman, University of South Africa, South Africa • Dr A. van den Berg, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, South Africa • Dr A. van den Hoek, Independent Educational Consultant, South Africa and United Kingdom • Dr B. van Wyk, The Independent Institute of Education, South Africa

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Notes for contributors

Manuscripts should be submitted online. They should be typed in one and a half spacing New Roman font size 12, in A4 format, in MS Word and should generally not exceed 6000 words in length, excluding tables, figures and references. The overall style for abstract, title, headings, figures and references should be in line with the American Psychological Association (APA 2004, 5th ed. Style Manual). Tables and Figures should be numbered by Arabic numerals. Each manuscript should be accompanied by a title page and an Abstract of 150-200 words on a separate sheet. Manuscripts not conforming to these requirements will not be considered for publication.

The e-mail address of the author should be included on the title page. Proofs will be sent to authors if there is sufficient time to do so. They should be corrected and returned within 48 hours of receipt. The editor reserves the right to publish without proofs having been signed-off by the author.

The journal will be published open access online at the following URL https//ijtl.iie.ac.za

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The Independent Institute of Education (Pty) Ltd

The Independent Institute of Education (The IIE) is South Africa’s leading private higher education institute, registered with the Department of Higher Education and Training and offering more than 70 qualifications accredited by the HEQC. The IIE is also accredited by the British Accreditation Council.

With qualifications registered and accredited from Higher Certificate to Masters level, The IIE operates across 20 campuses nationally through four key brands namely: Varsity College, Vega, Rosebank College, and the Design School Southern Africa. The IIE also offers a range of Short Learning Programmes. The IIE works collaboratively with several other higher education institutions in the public and private higher education space. This is coupled with various partnership and endorsement agreements with leading organisations and professional bodies, which adds to the status of The IIE as the largest, most accredited registered private provider of higher education in South Africa.

The IIE brands have campuses across the country; qualifications which are offered on the campuses are directly linked to their mission and target student market. This means that students on each campus will be able to study with other students with similar interests and ambitions. Over the last five years The IIE has also offered distance education qualifications. The flagship programme is a Postgraduate Diploma in Higher Education.

The IIE has a strong central national academic and quality assurance team based in Sandton that provides academic leadership for the sites and qualifications across the country. The team is also responsible for the registration, curriculum, quality of delivery, and assessment and certification (graduation) of all the qualifications, meaning that students on a campus in one city receive an educational experience that is guaranteed to match that which is offered in any other city; this experience includes the same access to key academic resources and facilities. Each campus adds to this academic base with its own specific group of well-qualified lecturers who are subject-matter and discipline experts, and collectively have a wealth of knowledge and industry-based experience in the areas in which they teach, as well as the individualised student support that the campuses give. An IIE student is, therefore, rounded both academically and socially, thus maximising student success.

The IIE is a founding member of the South African Private Higher Education Association (SAPHE). This

is an

association of private higher education institutions, which share a commitment to developing and protecting the reputation and quality of private higher education in South Africa. The Independent Journal of Teaching and Learning, as a peer-reviewed journal that appears on the DHET’s approved list of South African accredited journals, is one of the many ways in which The IIE is ensuring academic leadership within the higher education landscape of South Africa and, in particular, in private higher education.

For more information about The IIE, its academic opportunities, qualifications offered and campuses, or the SAPHE, please go to www.iie.ac.za or email contact@iie.ac.za

DIGI-LITHO  011 914 5192 (N002919)