Social justice implications of South African school assessment practices

2011 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 302-317 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Beets ◽  
T. van Louw
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
South African ◽  
Assessment Practices ◽  
School Assessment ◽  
South African School

scholarly journals Embracing equitable learning in managing the physical and financial resources in South-African-schools: A social justice perspective

2020 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Edmore Mutekwe
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
South African ◽  
Research Question ◽  
School Funding ◽  
Financial Resources ◽  
Data Generation ◽  
Public School Funding ◽  
South African School ◽  
The Face ◽  
Complex Relationships

In this article I report on the findings of an empirical study conducted to show the merits of integrating equitable learning by members of the South African School Governing bodies (SGBs) in managing the physical and financial resources. Within the interpretivist paradigm and utilising a qualitative descriptive phenomenological design, the data generation followed the use of an unstructured questionnaire administered to a sample of 30 participants purposefully sampled. Adopting a social justice perspective as the lens, we unpack the necessity of learning equity in the SGB’s dealing of school resources. The study was guided by the following key research question; How can South African schools embrace the learning equity agenda in managing their physical and financial resources? The findings show that adopting such principles of equity in learning as integrating diversity in the equitable deployment of the physical and financial resources goes a long way towards entrenching social justice in managing the resources. The key conclusion was that unless members of the SGBs adopt an equitable mechanism for allocating these resources in the face of competing priorities, real equitable learning remains elusive. The recommendations include the need for adopting policies designed to deal with the complex relationships between concerned stakeholders in the provision of guidelines for public-school funding – most of which come from public budgets.

scholarly journals Critical agency in the post-apartheid education system

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nazir Carrim
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Critical Thinking ◽  
South African ◽  
Educational System ◽  
Education System ◽  
The South ◽  
African Education ◽  
South African Education

This paper looks at critical agency in the South African education system. There has been a consistent linking of critical thinking with critical agency under apartheid, and that this was constructed by a ‘critical struggle’ (Touraine, 1985) against apartheid domination. However, this changed significantly in the post-apartheid moment, where compliance with the newly elected government is emphasised, and could be viewed in terms of ‘positive struggles’ (Touraine, 1986). These, however, limit critical agency in the post-apartheid formation. There is, nonetheless, evidence of critical agency being enacted in the post-apartheid education system. The importance of highlighting those forms of critical agency is crucial in order to enhance social justice in the post-apartheid educational system and society. This paper also links critical agency in the post-apartheid situation with the postcolonial and postmodern conditions because such conditions affect the possibilities of critical agency not only in South Africa but more generally.

scholarly journals The realities of educator support in a South African school district

2018 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gugulethu Nkambule ◽  
◽  
Christina Amsterdam
Keyword(s):  
School District ◽  
South African ◽  
South African School

scholarly journals The right to be Freepeople: Relational voluntary-assisted-advocacy as a psychological and ethical resource for decolonizing intellectual disability

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 556-574 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlotte Capri ◽  
Leslie Swartz
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Intellectual Disability ◽  
South African ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Social Activism ◽  
Relational Ethics ◽  
Thematic Content Analysis ◽  
Political Conditions ◽  
The Right ◽  
Empirical Material

Participating in social activism implies responsibility for its exchange and creation. We focus on Intellectual Disability (ID) as an advocacy site for individuals who are dependent on assistance with activities of daily life, and attend to the process of taking care during social justice projects. Our paper responds to current South African social justice controversies perpetrated against people who may be unable to independently mobilize against increasingly othering – even deadly – socio-political conditions. Underpinned by relational Ethics of Care, voluntary-assisted-advocacy can be a psychologically relational, intersubjective, and societal project that strives for ID citizenship-making and social justice. This paper draws on numerous interviews and a number of ethnographic observations in exploration of ID care. Empirical material was subjected to thematic content analysis, and participant quotes bring our argument to life. Relationships among people with Intellectual Disability (PWID) and non-ID assistant-advocates are asymmetrical. We can either uphold dominant non-ID voices, or transform socio-political ruling relations that maintain dependence on conditions of power and inequality. Our contributions to the advocacy we co-create today will shape the activism we will depend on in the future. We consider relational voluntary-assisted-advocacy as a psychological and ethical resource for sustainable, mutually satisfying social change.

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