scholarly journals Levels of well-being and involvement of young children in centre-based provision in

2011 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bart Declercq
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Experiential Education ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Department Of Education ◽  
Free State ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
The Core ◽  
Children’S Wellbeing ◽  
Observation Tools ◽  
The University

This article reports on a study that examined the levels of young children’s wellbeing and involvement in centre-based provision (birth to five years) at child, group and setting level1 in Free State, South Africa. The study was funded by the FlemishDepartment of Education and was executed in collaboration with the Free State Department of Education and the University of Free State. Nineteen settings were included in the study. The average setting was registered for 121 children (with ratio’svarying from 30 to 326 children registered). Foundation Phase students from the 2nd and 3rd year of study at the University of Free State collected data through observation tools designed by the Centre for Experiential Education at Leuven University, Belgium. The core instrument uses the Leuven scales for well-being and involvement. Results of the study indicate that overall scores for well-being and involvement are low, but also that there are huge differences between different groups and settings. Thus, indicating that early childhood education in centre-based provision makes a difference.

scholarly journals Afrikanerdom, Archives, and Change: The Archive for Contemporary Affairs at the University of the Free State, South Africa

Itinerario ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 19-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kate Law ◽  
Huibré Lombard
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Political Party ◽  
Regional Level ◽  
Free State ◽  
The Political ◽  
National Party ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
The Core ◽  
History Of ◽  
The University

This article examines some of the core holdings within the Archive for Contemporary Affairs at the University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa. Prominent amongst this material are the papers of the National Party (NP), the political party that formalised the structures of apartheid. Paying particular attention to the papers of what Hermann Giliomee has termed ‘The Last Afrikaner Leaders’ alongside recently acquired material concerning post-colonial politics, we argue for the importance of this archive for scholars studying Afrikaner nationalism, at both national and regional level, the rationales and discourses of apartheid and the history of the country more broadly.

Dante’s Journey Through Our Lives: Reading La Commedia in Post-Apartheid South Africa

2021 ◽  
pp. 105-115
Author(s):  
Giovanna Trento
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
The Core ◽  
The University

By appropriating the notions of journey and exile—that are at the core of Dante’s life and work—the texts we are examining in this publication are able to refer to/relate to the conditions of exile, exclusion, and segregation that were proper to Apartheid and still affect post-Apartheid South Africa. The works of Erich Auerbach and Franco Fortini (who unexpectedly in the 1980s accepted an invitation of the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg) help us to read these texts within the wider frame of 20th and early 21st interpretations and rereading of Dante’s Commedia.

scholarly journals Pedagogy Is a Messy Affair: A Performative Narrative of Being New

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-98
Author(s):  
Marguerite Müller ◽  
Frans Kruger ◽  
Nthabiseng Lekoala ◽  
Nthabiseng Mokoena
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Free State ◽  
Performative Writing ◽  
Narrative Space ◽  
The Real ◽  
The World ◽  
Human World ◽  
The University

This article uses performative writing to explore the pedagogical entanglement of staff, students, and matter at the University of the Free State, South Africa. It is a collaborative narrative in which different voices share the textual stage. Each author contributes to one of the voices to create a performative narrative of how our experiences occur and emerge in this messy, complex, and volatile context. Our story sketches the backgrounds, in-between spaces, and “negative spaces” that pedagogy produces as relational encounters between human and the more-than-human world. We abandon the world of the real and move into a creative collaborative performative narrative space to explore the entanglements that pedagogies produce.

scholarly journals Investigating health factors as predictor of early drop-out of rst year accounting students at the University of the Free State, South Africa

Afrika Focus ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christa Beyers ◽  
Hanli Joubert
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Academic Success ◽  
South African ◽  
Hiv And Aids ◽  
Drop Out ◽  
Free State ◽  
Accounting Students ◽  
Health Factors ◽  
Group Interviews ◽  
The University

Introduction: The future of the South African workforce looks bleak given the challenges posed, not only by health factors, including HIV and AIDS, but also the success and throughput rate of rst year university students. Methodology: The research in this study was conducted in 2013 using a post-positivist approach and applying an interpretive stance using a mixed method approach, which included a quantita- tive non-experimental predictive multivariate design as well as focus group interviews to triangu- late the ndings. Results: We present ndings that psychosocial background factors, physical health and emotion- al health in uence success and non-completion rates among rst year students at the University of the Free State, South Africa. Conclusion: We argue that early identi cation of poor psychosocial background, including health factors, can assist in empowering youths helping them to make healthy decisions and deal with stressful situations in a way that will not compromise their academic success. 

scholarly journals Space and Approach in "The Virtuous City" - A Tale of Two Universities: Re-imagining and reconstruction of the westernised South African university

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Quraysha Ismail Sooliman ◽  
Iram Yousuf
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Knowledge Production ◽  
Physical Space ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Similar Process ◽  
City Space ◽  
The University ◽  
Physical Spaces ◽  
Mental Well Being

In order to know how to change one must be able to acknowledge what one does not know. Central to knowledge production of relevance is humility and an understanding of the realities of one’s own environment. From a decolonial perspective, knowledge production is affected by the development and creation of the actual physical spaces of the university and its pedagogy. The Covid_19 pandemic has tested the functionality of the physical space of the university as well as the organization of the city space. This paper considers these issues, their impact and effect on the mental well-being of both academics and students by exploring the idea of the university as a virtuous city. We draw on Al-Farabi’s treatise of the Virtuous City because physical and conceptual architectures reflect a way in which the world is structured. In South Africa, the violent design of the fragmented spaces has been planned according to the colonial, cartographic imagination which destroys and distorts memory and ruptures tradition. The architecture of the cities and universities, it can be argued, effect a similar process, and serve as an affirmation of the pre-dominance of the white-supremacist power structure in South Africa. Cities are created by people and each city is a creation of the interaction of social, economic, cultural, and political imperatives. The university is a micro-manifestation of the cosmopolitan city that adopts different approaches to knowledge, decolonisation and transformation. In re-imaging and reconstituting the westernised South African university an appropriate approach to reaching the ideals of well-being and harmony would require the shedding of the ego and the Cartesian “I”. The process of decolonising the university should occur by deconstructing and recognising colonial methods, theories and practise in our pedagogy and spaces in order to begin the process of reconstruction.

scholarly journals Contributions of Catholic Universities in Yogyakarta to the Development of Community Transformative Dialogue

MELINTAS ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 248
Author(s):  
Carolus Borromeus Mulyatno
Keyword(s):  
Community Service ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Student Activities ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Catholic Universities ◽  
Living Together ◽  
Learning Research ◽  
Cultural Dialogue ◽  
The University

The main tasks of the university are implementing learning, research, and community service. In a multicultural and multireligious Asia, the actualization of these tasks requires a dialogue with cultures, religions, and the poor. Today, the university must consider radical movements and fundamentalism that threaten harmony in the society. This paper is focused on opportunities that can be explored to realise the task of the Catholic universities in Yogyakarta in developing dialogue and harmony in Yogyakarta. This task might need a new and effective model of dialogue for a better living together in harmony. By applying a method of documental study and interviews, this study is focused on the exploration of challenges encountered by the Catholic universities in Yogyakarta in developing a community transformative dialogue. There are three main points. First, a description of the meaning of the community transformative dialogue. Second, an exploration of cultural potentials in Yogyakarta for developing community transformative dialogue. Third, a proposal for developing community transformative dialogue. These are three important results of this study. This transformative dialogue is a contextual and cultural dialogue that could be effective and appropriate for the multicultural and multireligious societies. In Yogyakarta, unity and harmony (<em>keselarasan</em>) are the core of the community that is necessary for the development of dialogue towards the well-being of the society. Catholic universities should encourage student activities in the campus and in the society as a praxis of continuous dialogue for a harmonious living together.

scholarly journals Investigating health factors as predictor of early drop-out of first year accounting students at the University of the Free State, South Africa

Afrika Focus ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 9-20
Author(s):  
Christa Beyers ◽  
Hanli Joubert
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Academic Success ◽  
Emotional Health ◽  
Hiv And Aids ◽  
Drop Out ◽  
Free State ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Health Factors ◽  
The University

Introduction: The future of the South African workforce looks bleak given the challenges posed, not only by health factors, including HIV and AIDS, but also the success and throughput rate of first year university students. Methodology: The research in this study was conducted in 2013 using a post-positivist approach and applying an interpretive stance using a mixed method approach, which included a quantitative non-experimental predictive multivariate design as well as focus group interviews to triangulate the findings. Results: We present findings that psychosocial background factors, physical health and emotional health influence success and non-completion rates among first year students at the University of the Free State, South Africa. Conclusion: We argue that early identification of poor psychosocial background, including health factors, can assist in empowering youths helping them to make healthy decisions and deal with stressful situations in a way that will not compromise their academic success.

Delivering equitable distance library services to off-campus users at the University of the Free State in South Africa

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lianda Coetzer ◽  
Patrick Mapulanga
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Academic Library ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Free State ◽  
Library Services ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Perceived Satisfaction ◽  
Online Library ◽  
The University

Purpose The purpose of this study is to assess the perceived satisfaction of Advanced Certificate in Teaching students and facilitators regarding online library services offered by the University of the Free State (UFS) in South Africa. Design/methodology/approach The study adopted a quantitative approach with open-ended questions that generated some qualitative data. Data has been presented using descriptive statistics in the form of tables, graphs and charts and thematic content analysis for some qualitative data. Findings All learners in this study were adults between 45 and 55 years of age. Of the respondents, 13% lacked online experience, while about 85% had never used online library services and 35% indicated that Google was their primary source of information. The majority of respondents indicated information literacy as a core function of the academic library. High data cost in South Africa came out as one of the major issues affecting distance learners as well as login and password frustrations. The study confirmed computer anxiety, physical discomfort, information overflow and prompt response as some of the perceived challenges and levels of satisfaction respectively of Advanced Certificate in Teaching students and facilitators regarding online library services offered by the University of the Free State (UFS) in South Africa. Practical implications The study revealed that a distance learning library policy is of the essence because it helps to put in place rules and regulations that guide the delivery of distance library services. Originality/value The offering of online and distance library services is a fairly new concept to the UFS library. This study bridges the gap between theory and practice regarding the perceived satisfaction of distance users on online library services and how to improve the current practice.

#FeesMustFall: An Internet-Age Student Movement in South Africa and the Case of the University of the Free State

Politikon ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 231-245 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thierry Luescher ◽  
Lacea Loader ◽  
Taabo Mugume
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Student Movement ◽  
Free State ◽  
Internet Age ◽  
The University
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