scholarly journals Hierarchies of knowledge, incommensurabilities and silences in South African ECD policy: Whose knowledge counts?

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
Norma Rudolph
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
National Curriculum ◽  
Government Support ◽  
Child Rearing ◽  
Curriculum Framework ◽  
Local Contexts ◽  
Uncritical Acceptance ◽  
High Level ◽  
Level Government

Abstract Policy for young children in South Africa is now receiving high-level government support through the ANC’s renewed commitment to redress poverty and inequity and creating ‘a better life for all’ as promised before the 1994 election. In this article, I explore the power relations, knowledge hierarchies and discourses of childhood, family and society in National Curriculum Framework (NCF) as it relates to children’s everyday contexts. I throw light on how the curriculum’s discourses relate to the diverse South African settings, child rearing practices and world-views, and how they interact with normative discourses of South African policy and global early childhood frameworks. The NCF acknowledges indigenous and local knowledges and suggests that the content should be adapted to local contexts. I argue that the good intentions of these documents to address inequities are undermined by the uncritical acceptance of global taken-for-granted discourses, such as narrow notions of evidence, western child development, understanding of the child as a return of investment and referencing urban middle class community contexts and values. These global discourses make the poorest children and their families invisible, and silence other visions of childhood and good society, including the notion of ‘convivial society’ set out in the 1955 Freedom Charter.

Reimagining Intersectionality and Social Exclusion in South Africa

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Khosi Kubeka ◽  
Sharmla Rama
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Social Exclusion ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
South African Context ◽  
Social Division ◽  
Common Reference ◽  
Local Contexts ◽  
African Context

Combining the theories of intersectionality and social exclusion holds the potential for structural and nuanced interpretations of the workings of power, taking systemic issues seriously but interpreting them though social relations that appear in local contexts. An intersectional analysis of social exclusion demonstrates to what extent multiple axes of social division—be they race, age, gender, class, disability or citizenship—intersect to result in unequal and disparate experiences for groups of youth spatially located in particular communities and neighborhoods. A common reference point is therefore power and how it manifests at the intersection of the local and global. A South African case study is used to explore the subjective measures and qualitative experiences of intersectionality and social exclusion further. The unique ways that language intersects with space, neighborhood, and race in the South African context, enables opportunities in education and the labor market, with profound implications for forms of social exclusion.

The Development and Establishment of Technology in South Africa

1998 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-31
Author(s):  
N.P. du Preez ◽  
P. van Eldik ◽  
M. Möhr ◽  
H.H. van der Watt
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Developing Economies ◽  
Literature Survey ◽  
Manufacturing Efficiency ◽  
Perceived Importance ◽  
High Level ◽  
Detailed Questionnaire

In a two-part analysis (see pp 17–26 for Part 1), the authors discuss the key results of a South African project conducted during 1996 which focused on the factors relating to the development and establishment of technology in a country. The study investigated through a detailed questionnaire survey and a literature survey the various factors that promote the development and establishment of technology by comparing their perceived importance with the actual role they currently play in South Africa. This paper, Part 2, concentrates on the role of industry. The study showed that the availability of high-level technological people dominated the top (at 90%) of the list of factors relating to individual organizations and the role they play in the development of technology. Other prominent factors were the existence of a corporate technology strategy (88.4%), the need to improve manufacturing efficiency and processes (88.4%), the ability of top management to understand new technologies (87.9%), and the availability of funds for research and development (86.2%). The survey clearly indicated that South African organizations were not performing well with respect to these and other factors evaluated. All of them have been rated below 50%, indicating the seriousness of the problem. The corresponding recommendations made are of importance to younger countries with developing economies.

scholarly journals The image of training and development consultancy in South Africa

1985 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 161-170
Author(s):  
F. E. Botha ◽  
J. H. Owens
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Service Sector ◽  
Training And Development ◽  
Correct Identification ◽  
Manufacturing Companies ◽  
Skill Levels ◽  
Grid Technique ◽  
Training Programmes ◽  
High Level

The objective of this research was to establish the current image of training and development consultancy in South Africa in relation to the ideal as perceived by their clients. In view of the critical shortage of high-level manpower it was considered important to establish whether this service sector is effectively assisting organizations in developing their management to the required skill levels. Based on a survey of the literature on previous image studies, the research methodology combined the measurement of image by using a structured questionnaire with unstructured, subjective comment to arrive at a conclusion. The Repertory Grid technique was used to generate constructs for the semantic differential scale used in the questionnaire. This questionnaire was administered to training/personnel officials of a sample of manufacturing companies in the PWV area The responses to the questionnaire were analysed by means of basic descriptive statistics, factor analysis and t tests. Certain image dimensions were highlighted, and the results showed that numerous discrepancies existed between the image of training and development consultants and the perceived ideal. It was concluded that in order to effectively assist in alleviating the shortage of high-level manpower, training and development consultants should strive towards improving their analysis of problems, the correct identification of training needs and the customization of the training programmes to match specific South African corporate and cultural needs.

The Development and Establishment of Technology in South Africa

1998 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-26
Author(s):  
N.P. du Preez ◽  
P. van Eldik ◽  
M. Möhr ◽  
H.H. van der Watt
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Importance Rating ◽  
Higher Education System ◽  
Diffusion Of Technology ◽  
African Higher Education ◽  
High Level ◽  
South African Higher Education

In a two-part analysis (Part 2 follows on pp 27–31), the authors discuss the key results of a South African project conducted during 1996 which focused on the factors relating to the development and establishment of technology in a country. The study investigated through a detailed questionnaire survey and a literature survey the various factors that promote the development and establishment of technology by comparing their perceived importance with the actual role they currently play in South Africa. This paper, Part 1, concentrates on the role of higher education. The importance of academic institutions in supplying high-level human resources was rated very highly (90.47%) but the role it is currently playing in reality was rated at 52.8%. Closely connected with this, the availability of high-level skilled technological people was given an importance of 89% while the current reality was rated at only 43%. This clearly shows that the South African higher education system is performing poorly in addressing these vital needs. The availability of entrepreneurs with innovative and creative skills to participate in the development and diffusion of technology was given an importance rating of 84.3% against a current situation of 42.2%, again indicating South Africa's weak performance. The results of the survey and the consequent recommendations are important to all developing countries with newly industrial economies.

Further Validation of a Subtle Racism Scale in South Africa

1993 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 116-119 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Duckitt
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Internal Consistency ◽  
White Students ◽  
Strong Correlation ◽  
Subtle Racism ◽  
Preliminary Validation ◽  
Self Reports ◽  
High Level ◽  
The University

Obvious and transparent measures of traditional racism no longer appear to adequately assess anti-black prejudice in more sophisticated samples. This, together with a growing tendency for traditional measures to elicit antagonistic responses from subjects, led in an earlier study to the development and preliminary validation of a South African subtle racism (SR) scale. The current research used a new sample, in which the use of traditional measures of anti-black racism would have been very difficult, to cross-validate the SR scale. It also extended the validation of the SR scale by investigating its association with self-reports of actual interracial behaviour. The findings from 303 white students at the University of the Witwatersrand showed a high level of internal consistency on the SR scale, and a strong correlation with an interracial behavioural intention scale. These findings as well as significant correlations with self-reported interracial behaviour support the validity of the SR scale. Contrary to earlier thinking, the findings also indicate a very powerful relationship between anti-black prejudice and authoritarianism.

scholarly journals Morpho-agronomic and genetic variation among Phaseolus vulgaris landraces from selected provinces of South Africa

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valencia Vuyisile Ndlangamandla ◽  
Nontuthuko Rosemary Ntuli
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Population Structure ◽  
Phaseolus Vulgaris ◽  
South African ◽  
Agronomic Traits ◽  
Block Design ◽  
Reproductive Traits ◽  
High Level ◽  
Clustering Pattern ◽  
Or Genes

Abstract Key message The morpho-agronomic and genetic studies recorded variations in vegetative and reproductive traits, and in molecular information through population structure and clustering approaches among South African Phaseolus vulgaris landraces. Abstract Phaseolus vulgaris L., commonly known as common beans, is widely used for its edible leaves, immature pods, and dry seeds. Studies on variation in morphology and genetics among P. vulgaris landraces are limited in South Africa. Therefore, the current study aimed to determine the morpho-agronomic and genetic variations among P. vulgaris landraces. Thirty-eight landraces from different agro-ecological origins, planted in a randomized complete block design, had their variation in vegetative and reproductive traits determined. These landraces were studied for their genetic diversity using simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. The landraces were clustered in a biplot and dendrogram based on their seed coats, shape, similar morpho-agronomic traits, and their areas of origin. A total of 57 alleles were produced with a mean of 3.64 per SSR locus. The polymorphism information content ranged from 0.00 to 0.58. The population structure had the highest delta value K = 2, thus the 38 landraces were divided into two subpopulations based on the Bayesian approach. The population structure showed an overlap among the landraces as several from the Mesoamerican carried some seed traits or genes from the Andean gene pool, and showed a high level of admixtures. The principal coordinate analysis and the dendrogram had a similar clustering pattern as the population structure. This study revealed the potential markers with high diversity that can be used to determine genetically homogenous/heterogeneous landraces. Therefore, the use of PV-ctt001, PV-ag001, and PV-at003 could be beneficial in future breeding, conservation, and marker-assisted selection studies.

scholarly journals Using the Drama of DNA approach to community engagement in genomic research in South Africa: experiences and lessons learnt

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Marlyn C. Faure ◽  
Ambroise Wonkam ◽  
Jantina De Vries
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Community Engagement ◽  
South African ◽  
Genetic Research ◽  
Genomic Research ◽  
Ethical Challenges ◽  
Social Challenges ◽  
The Public ◽  
Genomics Research ◽  
Local Contexts

In the context of African genomics research, community engagement has emerged as a powerful means to enhance genomic education of the public and anticipate ethical challenges in relation to increasing genomic research on the African continent. We report our experiences of using narrative genomics, a drama-based community engagement method, to engage scientific and lay communities about ethical and social challenges related to the return of individual genetic research results in genomic research. The method uses set scripts, which audience members act out and thereafter engage in a series of ethical dilemmas presented in the script. In this paper, we describe the steps we took to change the original scripts to make them more suitable for a South African audience. We found the method to be relatively effective at engaging audiences in South Africa. While the changes in the South African versions appear minor, through our experience in trying to change the scripts to make them relatable to a South African audience, we observed that were limits to how much of the script we could change if the narrative was still to be effective as a community engagement method. While this method and the original scripts are incredibly helpful, new scripts must be developed for African audiences, and these could potentially be more impactful as a community engagement tool in different local contexts.

Women in Namibia

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heike Becker
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
South African ◽  
Full Range ◽  
Social Engineering ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Colonial Rule ◽  
Northern Regions ◽  
South West Africa ◽  
High Level

Women have had a significant role throughout Namibian history. Prior to colonization men were generally dominant, but certain women of high rank attained powerful positions. Namibian societies and politics became thoroughly gendered during the German and South African colonial periods. After independence the postcolonial Namibian state drew on the intensive involvement of women in the liberation struggle and adopted a legal framework and policies that emphasized gender equality. Nonetheless, little real improvement has been achieved for the majority of women in postcolonial Namibia. The country’s high level of social inequality continues to be profoundly gendered. Namibia’s independence in 1990 followed prolonged colonial rule by South Africa, which ruled the country, named “South West Africa,” as a de facto fifth province. Post–World War II South Africa retained the full range of apartheid legislation and policy in Namibia until about 1980, when the apartheid state’s colony became a laboratory for social engineering geared toward limited change. Namibia was divided into two distinct zones in 1907 and throughout the South African colonial period. Southern and central Namibia were governed similar to South Africa and the northern regions experienced colonial rule more akin to the British doctrine of indirect rule. Both colonial projects were profoundly gendered. Thus anticolonial resistance was both varied and gendered, including its defiance of apartheid.

CHILDREN AND YOUTH AS AGENTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACT IN SOUTH AFRICA

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-91
Author(s):  
Mankolo Lethoko
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
South African ◽  
National Curriculum ◽  
Children And Youth ◽  
Intergovernmental Panel ◽  
Ipcc Report ◽  
Change Impact ◽  
African Youth

When the democratic government came into power in 1994 in South Africa, it faced formidable problems stemming from the structural and historical inequalities and imbalances created by apartheid. Among the challenges included climate change. The release of the 2013 Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) report indicates that climate change is a reality and its effects globally are getting worse daily. However, South African youth have not been adequately educated about climate change through formal basic schooling so that they can act as change agents.This article argues that the curriculum has to include relevant and the most recent content on climate change so that children can become agents of climate change in their homes and communities. The article uses content analysis of the National Curriculum Statement (2012) to determine the relevance and currency of climate change content in the present basic schooling curriculum. The article also makes recommendations on how the present content can be revised and made relevant to South African schools.

scholarly journals Children’s development, capability approaches and postdevelopmental child: The birth to four curriculum in South Africa

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 56-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karin Murris
Keyword(s):  
Child Development ◽  
South African ◽  
National Curriculum ◽  
Children's Rights ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Children’S Rights ◽  
Curriculum Framework ◽  
Fourth Theme ◽  
Development Capability

This article explores how three well-known conceptual frameworks view child development and how they assume particular figurations of the child in the context of the South African National Curriculum Framework for Children from Birth to Four. This new curriculum is based on a children’s rights framework. The capability approaches offer important insights for children’s rights advocates, but, like psychosocial theories of child development, assumes a ‘becoming-adult view of child’, which poses a serious threat to children’s right to genuine participation. They also share the exclusive focus on understanding development as located ontologically in the individualised human. In contrast, critical posthumanism queers humanist understandings of child development and reconfigures subjectivity through a radical philosophical decentring of the human. The relevance of this shift for postdevelopmental child in the context of the new South African early years curriculum is threaded throughout the article. A posthuman reconfiguration of child subjectivity moves theory and practice from a focus on assessing the capabilities of individual children in sociocultural contexts to the tracing of material and discursive entanglements that render children capable. This onto-epistemic shift leads to the conclusion that the National Curriculum Framework for Children from Birth to Four requires a fourth theme (with guiding principles), which would express a multispecies relationality and an ethics of care for the human as well as the nonhuman.

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