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.

Changing perspectives in the face of the decolonisation of knowledge at South African public universities

Kybernetes ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 46 (9) ◽  
pp. 1564-1577 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Baron
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Family Therapy ◽  
South African ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Public Universities ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
Social Tension ◽  
The Face ◽  
African Context

Purpose The legacy of colonisation and apartheid in South Africa has resulted in a radical challenge to the public universities. The successful #FeesMustFall campaign that took place in 2015 accentuated several aspects of post-apartheid transformation that have not been adequately attended to. The public universities are now faced with meeting the needs of students and interested parties who would like to see transformation at various levels, in particular, the decolonisation of knowledge. This paper aims to present an approach to address the decolonisation of knowledge. Design/methodology/approach Shifting universities’ approach to teaching and learning is a challenging endeavour, especially as it entails an embrace of previously ignored worldviews. Taking a metaphoric approach, an analysis of this problem is presented in systemic terms from a family therapy approach adhering to second-order cybernetics. A solution to bridging the disconnect between the participants in the decolonisation of knowledge in a South African context is presented. Findings Early successes were attained on the back of a therapeutic approach to meeting the needs of students who took part in curriculum and policy changes. The findings suggest that for a transformation to take place, all the participants in the university should acknowledge that the problem (which may have different forms) is a shared one and that decolonisation requires the participants to learn about other participants in the system. Reflecting on historical narratives and its present status quo from the epistemology of the directly affected parties is suggested as an indispensable step that should occur prior to the implementation of any solutions. Without the reflection process, the other members of the system may not understand the context and reasoning for the decolonisation, resulting in friction and fear, in turn mitigating the decolonisation process. Research limitations/implications Methods of empathetically engaging people who have been discriminated against is important in the goal of restoring equality and social justice. Family therapy is presented as a vehicle for communal dialogue in a therapeutic empathetic context. This approach has value in many settings other than in the education arena. Social implications Legacies of apartheid are still in effect in the South African public university system. Decolonising knowledge is one topic that may address social justice which helps to diffuse social tension and subsequent protest action. Originality/value Family therapy as an approach to decolonisation of knowledge and as an approach to appeasing social tension in the educational context is unique.

The role of governing bodies in the management of financial resources in South African no-fee public schools

2016 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 385-400 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raj Mestry
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
South African ◽  
Quantitative Research ◽  
School Funding ◽  
Great Difficulty ◽  
The State ◽  
Financial Resources ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Funding Policy ◽  
The Government

The National Norms and Standards for School Funding policy was adopted by the government to address equity in South African public schools. This pro-poor funding policy compels the state to progressively fund schools based on a quintile ranking system. Schools lacking in infrastructure, physical and financial resources and usually located within poor socio-economic environments are ranked quintiles 1 and 2. These schools are referred to as no-fee schools and are provided with far more state funding than well-resourced schools, ranked quintiles 4 and 5. More recently, quintile 3 schools, serving middle-of-the-range communities, have also been declared no-fee schools. Most of the school governing bodies and principals serving no-fee schools experience numerous challenges in effectively managing their schools’ funds. Using a quantitative research approach, the study aimed to determine the views of teachers and school management team members of how no-fee schools manage the funds received from the state and other fundraising initiatives. The findings revealed that governing bodies of no-fee schools lacked the necessary financial and entrepreneurial skills and, therefore, experienced great difficulty in preparing budgets and cash flow projection statements that could enable them to effectively manage the schools’ funds.

scholarly journals School governance and funding policy in South Africa: Towards social justice and equity in education policy

2020 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Yusuf Sayed ◽  
Shireen Motala ◽  
David Carel ◽  
Rashid Ahmed
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
South African ◽  
School Funding ◽  
Black Population ◽  
School Governance ◽  
Funding Policy ◽  
The South ◽  
African Education ◽  
South African Education ◽  
Operational Failures

Equity and redress, in and through education, are fundamental commitments of the new South African democratic government that ensued in 1994 after a brutal and protracted history of colonial and apartheid segregation and oppression denied the majority black population the fundamental right to equitable and quality education. A raft of ambitious and far-reaching policies were put in place to achieve these laudable goals. Yet more than 26 years after the ending of colonial and apartheid rule, the South African education system, and society in general, remain, far from equal – made apparent by the current COVID-19 pandemic. In this paper we take a critical (re)look at South African education governance and funding policies, considering why the South African Schools Acts (SASA) and the National Norms and Standards for School Funding (NNSSF), first promulgated in 1997 and 1998 and subsequently amended, have not delivered as expected on the promises of equity, redistribution and redress. The paper advances conceptual flaws, operational failures and implementation naivety as to why these promises have not been realised, advocating for an alternative social justice model for school governance and funding.

scholarly journals Funding inclusive education for equity and social justice in South African schools

2020 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Tsediso Michael Makoelle ◽  
Valeriya Burmistrova
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
South African ◽  
Inclusive Education ◽  
School Funding ◽  
Study Data ◽  
Funding Policy ◽  
Special Educational Needs ◽  
Policy Document ◽  
Generic Qualitative ◽  
School Financing

The implementation of inclusive education in South African schools has resulted in more demands being placed on them to make provision for the inclusion of learners with special educational needs in mainstream classrooms. This has brought about substantial changes regarding school financing in order to cater for a diverse learner population. This generic qualitative study conducted through interviews with 9 secondary school principals from formerly disadvantaged and advantaged schools, as well as policy document analysis, investigated the current school financing practices for inclusive education in schools aimed at attaining equity and social justice. During this study data were analysed using inductive content analysis. The findings of the study suggest that although provision has been made in terms of the National Norms and Standards for School Funding policy, schools, especially those in previously disadvantaged communities, are not adequately and suitably resourced to implement inclusive education fully.

Supporting the Use of Rudimentary Vocalizations

2014 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 132-139 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren Zubow ◽  
Richard Hurtig
Keyword(s):  
Rett Syndrome ◽  
Visual Cues ◽  
Acoustic Analysis ◽  
Eye Gaze ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Primary Research ◽  
Multiple Modalities ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Perceptual Judgments ◽  
The Face

Children with Rett Syndrome (RS) are reported to use multiple modalities to communicate although their intentionality is often questioned (Bartolotta, Zipp, Simpkins, & Glazewski, 2011; Hetzroni & Rubin, 2006; Sigafoos et al., 2000; Sigafoos, Woodyatt, Tuckeer, Roberts-Pennell, & Pittendreigh, 2000). This paper will present results of a study analyzing the unconventional vocalizations of a child with RS. The primary research question addresses the ability of familiar and unfamiliar listeners to interpret unconventional vocalizations as “yes” or “no” responses. This paper will also address the acoustic analysis and perceptual judgments of these vocalizations. Pre-recorded isolated vocalizations of “yes” and “no” were presented to 5 listeners (mother, father, 1 unfamiliar, and 2 familiar clinicians) and the listeners were asked to rate the vocalizations as either “yes” or “no.” The ratings were compared to the original identification made by the child's mother during the face-to-face interaction from which the samples were drawn. Findings of this study suggest, in this case, the child's vocalizations were intentional and could be interpreted by familiar and unfamiliar listeners as either “yes” or “no” without contextual or visual cues. The results suggest that communication partners should be trained to attend to eye-gaze and vocalizations to ensure the child's intended choice is accurately understood.

scholarly journals On monotonicity and search strategies in face-based copositivity detection algorithms

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. G.-Tóth ◽  
E. M. T. Hendrix ◽  
L. G. Casado
Keyword(s):  
Research Question ◽  
Quadratic Function ◽  
Mixed Integer ◽  
Quadratic Program ◽  
Matrix Methods ◽  
Detection Algorithms ◽  
Standard Simplex ◽  
Mathematical Properties ◽  
The Face ◽  
Spatial Branch And Bound

AbstractOver the last decades, algorithms have been developed for checking copositivity of a matrix. Methods are based on several principles, such as spatial branch and bound, transformation to Mixed Integer Programming, implicit enumeration of KKT points or face-based search. Our research question focuses on exploiting the mathematical properties of the relative interior minima of the standard quadratic program (StQP) and monotonicity. We derive several theoretical properties related to convexity and monotonicity of the standard quadratic function over faces of the standard simplex. We illustrate with numerical instances up to 28 dimensions the use of monotonicity in face-based algorithms. The question is what traversal through the face graph of the standard simplex is more appropriate for which matrix instance; top down or bottom up approaches. This depends on the level of the face graph where the minimum of StQP can be found, which is related to the density of the so-called convexity graph.

Toward Jerusalem: A journey of the eternal now (A Sermon)

2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (1) ◽  
pp. 102-107
Author(s):  
Richard Francis Wilson
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Martin Luther ◽  
The United States ◽  
Paul Tillich ◽  
Dietrich Bonhoeffer ◽  
As I Lay Dying ◽  
The World ◽  
The Face ◽  
Martin Luther King

This article is a theological-ethical Lenten sermon that attempts to discern the transcendent themes in the narrative of Luke 9-19 with an especial focus upon “setting the face toward Jerusalem” and the subsequent weeping over Jerusalem. The sermon moves from a passage from William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying through a series of hermeneutical turns that rely upon insights from Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Martin Luther King, Jr., Will Campbell, Augustine, and Paul Tillich with the hope of illuminating what setting of the face on Jerusalem might mean. Tillich’s “eternal now” theme elaborates Augustine’s insight that memory and time reduce the present as, to paraphrase the Saint, that all we have is a present: a present remembered, a present experienced, and a present anticipated. The Gospel is a timeless message applicable to every moment in time and history. The sermon seeks to connect with recent events in the United States and the world that focus upon challenges to the ideals of social justice and political tyranny.

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