scholarly journals Intersection of Ubuntu pedagogy and social justice: Transforming South African higher education

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nomalungelo I. Ngubane ◽  
Manyane J. Makua
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
South African ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Pedagogical Practices ◽  
African Higher Education ◽  
Philosophical Framework ◽  
Social Justice Theory ◽  
South African Higher Education

Background: Universities, globally, and in South Africa, continue to be confronted with demands for transformation, humanisation of pedagogical practices and to embrace social justice.Aim: In this article, we bring to the surface possibilities of Ubuntu pedagogy within a social justice framework. We intersect Collective Fingers Theory and Social Justice Theory to propose the notion of Ubuntu pedagogy, which draws from African philosophy of Ubuntu. We argue that Ubuntu pedagogy provides an alternation to the current pedagogies that draw from European theories for teaching and learning in the South African higher education context. We put forward that, Ubuntu pedagogy, when embraced with understanding and dignity it deserves, has the potential, firstly, of initiating students from other cultures other than African cultures to the values of Ubuntu and, secondly, of reconnecting students with their values and cultures, but it has a capacity to cultivate social justice values of equity, recognition and fair participation amongst students from diverse social backgrounds.Setting: South African Higher Education.Methodology: The authors draw from literature to position the article within Ubuntu philosophical framework and social justice lenses. Themes emerging from literature are as follows: Intersection of Ubuntu philosophy and social justice, Ubuntu pedagogy and transformation in higher education and guiding principles for possible implementation of Ubuntu pedagogy.Results: At the intersection of Ubuntu pedagogy and social justice, classroom practices are designed to respond to students’ cultural competencies and to embrace all linguistic repertoires that students bring to the classroom for learning. Students are treated equally and with dignity and respect regardless of their social backgrounds.Conclusion: We argue that higher education classrooms in post-apartheid South Africa should enable equal access, equity and inclusivity for all students. We therefore recommend Ubuntu pedagogy as a culturally and socially just pedagogy for transformative higher education classrooms. This article contributes to the continuing dialogues about transformative pedagogies, decolonisation and social justice in South African higher education.

scholarly journals Nancy Fraser and participatory parity: Reframing social justice in South African higher education, edited by Vivienne Bozalek, Dorothee Hölscher, and Michalinos Zembylas

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 144
Author(s):  
Sergio Celis
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
South African ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Scholarship Of Teaching ◽  
Creative Commons ◽  
African Higher Education ◽  
South African Higher Education ◽  
Nancy Fraser

In this review of Nancy Fraser and participatory parity: Reframing social justice in South African higher education, edited by Vivienne Bozalek, Dorothee Hölscher, and Michalinos Zembylas, book reviewer Sergio Celis discusses why this book is an invitation to reimagine our participation in the higher education field, as scholars, teachers, and citizens. Keywords: Nancy Fraser, Participatory parity, South Africa, Higher education, Book review How to cite ths article: Celis, S. 2021. Nancy Fraser and participatory parity: Reframing social justice in South African higher education, edited by Vivienne Bozalek, Dorothee Hölscher, and Michalinos Zembylas. Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in the South. 5(1): 144-148. DOI: 10.36615/sotls.v5i1.178. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

scholarly journals Higher education leadership responses applied in two South African comprehensive universities during the COVID-19 pandemic: A critical discourse analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kamvalethu Kele ◽  
Pedro Mzileni
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
South African ◽  
Narrative Analysis ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Comprehensive Universities ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Justice Theory

Background: This article explored the leadership responses that were used by two comprehensive universities in South Africa (Nelson Mandela University and University of Johannesburg) during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in continuing with the rolling out of their teaching and learning programmes safely and digitally under disruptive conditions.Aim: Whilst universities in the developing world such as South Africa were expected to face challenges during the pandemic, this article showed that the leadership executives and general staff in two of its large universities, instead, crafted equitable and flexible improvisations to overcome the social challenges that could have posed a threat to their academic project.Setting: The selection of these two specific universities provided a unique opportunity to engage with comprehensive, massified and post-merger former Technikon-university institutions that mainly cater for working-class students.Methods: The social justice theory was utilised to frame the study, whilst critical narrative analysis was the methodology.Results: This research reveals that South African comprehensive universities possess capacity to adapt and innovate in the middle of an institutional crisis using their flexible systems and agile personnel to drive the academy under such circumstances. The study also reveals that the process of social justice is full of contradictions. As the universities created equitable measures to assist underprivileged students, these measures also generated injustices for others.Conclusion: This generated admirable and productive systematic traits to observe about some of our universities, as the South African higher education sector continued to engage with difficult conversations such as transformation.

scholarly journals Pandemic Pedagogy: Assessing the Online Implementation of a Decolonial Curriculum

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shannon Morreira
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Social Space ◽  
Course Design ◽  
Pedagogical Practices ◽  
Student Protests ◽  
Online Implementation ◽  
South African Higher Education

The student protests in South Africa (2015–2017) triggered shifts in pedagogical practices, such that by 2020 many South African higher education institutions had begun to make some concrete moves towards more socially just pedagogies within teaching and learning (Quinn, 2019; Jansen, 2019). In March 2020, however, South Africa went into lockdown as a result of Covid-19, and all higher education teaching became remote and non-synchronous. This paper reports on the effects of the move to remote teaching on the implementation of a new decolonial ‘emplaced’ pedagogy at one South African university. The idea of emplacement draws on the careful incorporation of social space as a teaching tool within the social sciences, such that students can situate themselves as reflexive, embodied persons within concrete spaces and communities which carry particular social, economic and political histories. This paper draws on data from course evaluations and student assignments, as well as a description of course design, to argue that many of the benefits of careful emplacement in historical and contemporary context can happen even where students are never in the same physical spaces as one another or their lecturers.  This relies, however, on students’ having access to both the necessary technology and to an environment conducive to learning.

A CUSTOMISED FRAMEWORK FOR EFFECTIVE PODCAST INTEGRATION IN A SOUTH AFRICAN HIGHER EDUCATION ENVIRONMENT

2016 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 14-32
Author(s):  
Shane Pachagadu ◽  
Liezel Nel
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
South African ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Teaching And Learning Environment ◽  
Education Environment ◽  
University Of Technology ◽  
African Higher Education ◽  
South African Higher Education ◽  
Effective Integration

Numerous studies have explored the potential of podcast integration in teaching and learning environments. This paper first presents and organises perspectives from literature in a conceptual framework for the effective integration of podcasting in higher education. An empirical study is then discussed in which the guidelines presented in the framework were evaluated for applicability in a selected course at a South African University of Technology. Since the results of the study revealed a number of aspects not accounted for in the conceptual framework, the framework was customised to make it more applicable for the particular higher education environment. The customised framework identifies four principles and a series of related guidelines for the effective integration of podcasts in a South African higher education teaching and learning environment. This framework can become a valuable resource for effective podcast integration in similar environments.

Covid-19: Interdisciplinary Explorations of Impacts on Higher Education

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
South African ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Academic Disciplines ◽  
Research And Innovation ◽  
Innovation Activities ◽  
African Higher Education ◽  
Production Knowledge ◽  
South African Higher Education ◽  
The Impact

Premised on the disruption and lessons learnt from the Covid-19 pandemic, and in meticulous response to the impact of the pandemic on higher education – especially in South Africa – this collection of chapters spotlights the effects, consequences, and ramifications of an unprecedented pandemic in the areas of knowledge production, knowledge transfer and innovation. With the pandemic, the traditional way of teaching and learning was completely upended. It is within this context that this book presents interdisciplinary perspectives that focus on what the impact of Covid-19 implies for higher education institutions. Contributors have critically reflected from within their specific academic disciplines in their attempt to proffer solutions to the disruptions brought to the South African higher education space. Academics and education leaders have particularly responded to the objective of this book by focusing on how the academia could tackle the Covid-19 motivated disruption and resuscitate teaching, research, and innovation activities in South African higher education, and the whole of Africa by extension.

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.

scholarly journals Turnaround Learner Discipline Practices through Epistemic Social Justice in Schools

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rudzani Israel Lumadi
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Public Schools ◽  
South African ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Justice Theory ◽  
Discipline Practices ◽  
Social Justice Theory

Researchers claim that learner discipline has continued to be a problem in schools since corporal punishment was outlawed in public schools in South Africa. It is evident that teachers have a vital role to play in the improvement of learner discipline in schools. An interpretivist qualitative approach was adopted to investigate learner discipline practices as perceived by teachers in South African public schools. A sample of 10 (3 principals, 3 teachers, 3 parents and 1 learner) participants was used for the study. Social justice theory was used as a lens to consider the process of humanising learner discipline practices in terms of human rights. The article investigates how learner discipline practices can be turned around through epistemic social justice to influence the quality of teaching and learning in schools. The findings revealed that in South Africa there are no effective learner discipline practices. There is a need for education authorities to introduce compulsory training and development programmes for aspiring teachers to be equipped with new strategies to deal with learner discipline through a social justice approach. Social justice theory was used as a tool to address learner discipline practices in selected schools. It was recommended that there be more parent involvement in decision-making to consider a policy of transforming learner discipline practices to deal with the inequality and injustice in schools.

Transformation and Social Justice in South African Higher Education

2021 ◽  
pp. 1248-1262
Author(s):  
Sithabile Ntombela ◽  
Itumeleng I. Setlhodi
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
South African ◽  
Education System ◽  
Model Transformation ◽  
Higher Education Institutions ◽  
African Higher Education ◽  
E Learning ◽  
South African Education ◽  
South African Higher Education

There are inequalities at all levels of the South African education system, and these are more visible in higher education, which, until recently, was inaccessible to most people. Levelling the turf and bringing about true transformation in higher education institutions requires redress of past inequalities and catering for all students who seek admission. To increase participation levels by students from varied backgrounds and achieve justice, it is essential for higher education institutions, particularly those offering open distance e-learning, to devise plans towards tackling challenges confronting students and possible ways to overcome them. This chapter discusses the purpose of higher education in offering support to students in the context of massification. It also explores the manner in which higher education institutions model transformation, how they bring about equity and redress to overcome challenges and to pursue justice. Lastly, it concludes with possible considerations for these institutions to tackle inequalities and attain social justice for their students.

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