Search

Generational experiences create unique contextualised meanings for society. This is the case with millennials in South Africa, many of whom use social media to organise their lives and engage with issues pertinent to them, such as South Africa being a rainbow nation. Some of these millennials are history teachers who, when at work, have to teach an official history which may contradict some of their social media engagements. This motivated this article of which the aim was to identify the dominant conversations when relating to the rainbow nation among a selected group of Black millennial history teachers. In this interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) we used a qualitative approach in which 10 participants were involved in photo elicitation, semi-structured interviews, and focus-group discussions. Data were thematically analysed. The findings reflect millennials mainly engaged with violence, coloniality, victory, unity, and identity. The findings further suggest that the discourses were both contending and overlapping. We argue that millennial history teachers in South Africa hold different views about the rainbow nation: even though they paint the notion with predominant negativity, there is evidence of underlying positivity about it.

Multi-grade teaching is a widely accepted phenomenon in both developing and developed countries. In this article I report on a phenomenological inquiry into written feedback practices of teachers in multi-grade classrooms and how they described and interpreted their feedback practices pertaining to learners' writing activities in English First Additional Language. Written feedback is widely believed to be central to learners' learning and achievement. Feedback is assumed to change learners' thinking or behaviour towards their work and is regarded as a tool to focus their attention on improving their learning. Despite the benefits of written feedback, however, there is a widespread belief that many learners are disengaged from the feedback they receive. The population in this study comprised 4 English First Additional Language teachers from 4 multi-grade primary schools. Content analysis was used to analyse the data collected from the participants through semistructured interviews. The findings indicate that participants differed in their understanding of what was involved in feedback, and that there was a shared view that feedback was a product and not viewed as a process that could be used towards developing learners' learning. It was also shown that feedback practices used by the teachers of multi-grade classes included providing correct answers and providing delayed feedback to learners. This study adds to the ongoing debates on multi-grade teaching and attempts to shed some light on the nature and the type of feedback that could motivate and enhance learners' learning in multi-grade classrooms.

Conducted against the backdrop of forced online learning imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, this study sought to explore the learning experiences of accounting student teachers with digitally mediated learning. Anchored in phenomenological research design, focus group interviews were used to generate qualitative data from purposefully selected accounting student teachers while member checking was used for validation. Content analysis of data revealed sufficient concurrence in the phenomenological voices of students that they experienced anxiety, stress, isolation, demotivation and lack of contact with their classmates. In mitigation of these experiences, the study recommends that lecturers need to develop learning material with which students can interact meaningfully, and create and maintain a live, interactive virtual learning environment in which student learning is monitored and evaluated continuously. The students appreciated the flexibility of digitally mediated learning and its provision for real opportunities for learning beyond the physical learning environment. The study found that digitally mediated learning creates a platform for a creative, innovative and non-contact learning environment in the new educational dispensation of the COVID-19 pandemic era. It therefore calls for a radical paradigm shift in the pedagogical assumptions and practices of lecturers towards a student-centred virtual learning environment which thrives on digital technology.

Inquiry-based science education has been advocated as a goal in the South African school science curriculum. Despite this goal, the implementation of inquiry in this country has been largely fragmented due to contextual factors that exert an influence on its traction in the classroom. This phenomenologically orientated study reports on the experiences of 9 South African science teachers of inquiry-based teaching at disadvantaged schools. The study draws on interview data to understand teachers' challenges and successes in inquiry-based teaching. The following 5 themes emerged from an analysis of interview transcripts: (a) equity and quality; (b) a double-edged sword; (c) wicked solutions to wicked problems; (d) learner motivation; and (e) school commitment to inquiry. Despite tremendous obstacles at disadvantaged schools, the teachers were able to demonstrate resilience in implementing an adaptive form of inquiry that enable their learners to have experiences that supported authentic and autonomous learning that addressed higher-order thinking. This finding invites future research on the classroom practices of teachers who are able to enact inquiry-based teaching in overcoming contextual factors.

This paper reports a phenomenographic study exploring diverse understandings and experiences of teacher leadership among 12 members of the International Study of Teacher Leadership research team comprised of 20 academics located in 10 countries. Mind mapping and semi-structured, online interviews were used to explore the ways that the participants related with the phenomenon of interest: 'teacher leadership'. Phenomenographic analysis of interview artefacts revealed nine qualitatively different conceptions of teacher leadership in the study's outcome space across three broad domains: A: The school, school community and formal education system; B: The teacher leader's professional self; C: The broader historical, socio-political and global contexts of teacher leadership. In addition to providing a 'touchstone' for the team's ongoing research, these findings serve as an experiential framework for thinking about teacher leadership, potentially encouraging more inclusive, more complete and richer understandings of the phenomenon.

In the field of education, globally, teachers are recognised as important contributors in shaping learners' interaction in a cooperative learning environment through effective lesson planning. There is a plethora of research conducted internally on lesson planning, as a critical instructional competency for good teaching and as a purposeful activity that precedes the delivery of instruction. This study aimed to explore Life Orientation teachers' lesson planning incorporating a cooperative teaching and learning approach in secondary schools in De Aar, South Africa. The researchers adopted a mixed-methods phenomenological research design. Seven Grade 10 Life Orientation teachers were purposely selected to collect semi-structured interviews data, nonparticipatory observation, and document analysis. Data were analysed using inductive thematic analysis and supported with the literature review and the theory underpinning this study. This paper suggests an enactment between teachers' subject and pedagogical content knowledge and instructional material. Lastly, it is also evident that many teachers lack knowledge, insufficient instructional resources, and an understanding of effective lesson planning to implement a cooperative teaching approach.

In this article we examine the nature of inter-semiotic and intermodal construction in the exposition of a solution for a geometry rider. In the tradition of hermeneutic phenomenology, this case study involved an exploration of the oral discourse and visual texts used in a mathematics lesson. This research was intended to contribute to the understanding of the difficulties in teaching and learning geometry at school level. Results indicate that relational markings, oral and visual modalities in conjunction with gesturing constitute the primary semiotic resources employed by the teacher. This leads to the conclusion that the semiotic perspective, in conjunction with other perspectives on geometry teaching in schools, may provide a mechanism by which to reflect on the complexity of geometry teaching and learning in schools.

Are the ways of engaging with the world that students develop through higher education particular to bodies of knowledge they study? In this article, we examine how students' accounts of the discipline of chemistry in England and South Africa changed over the three years of their undergraduate degrees. Based on a longitudinal phenomenographic analysis of 105 interviews with 33 chemistry students over the course of their undergraduate degrees in four institutions, we constituted five qualitatively different ways of describing chemistry. These ranged from chemistry as something that happens when things are mixed in a laboratory to a more inclusive account that described chemistry as being able to explain molecular interactions in unfamiliar environments. Most students expressed more inclusive accounts of chemistry by the end of their degrees and the level of change appeared to be related to their educational experiences. In contrast to approaches that emphasise the generic student outcomes from higher education, these findings highlight the importance of recognising the distinctive outcomes that students gain from their engagement with particular bodies of disciplinary knowledge. It further highlights the importance of students understanding their degrees as an educational experience that requires them to commit to engaging with these bodies of knowledge.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper was to explore the development of the professional identity of South African intern psychologists during the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper -- that presents a historical reflection borne from a significant moment in time -- aimed to capture what the authors can learn from this specific cohort of intern psychologists and their experiences of work-based learning. Design/methodology/approach: Through the lens of the interpretative phenomenological approach, the authors analysed seven semi-structured interviews. Data analysis involved a line-by-line analysis of each individual transcript, where after a thorough, in-depth analysis was conducted across all the cases. Findings: Against the background of the COVID-19 pandemic, the findings demonstrated the interns' initial uncertainties, severe exhaustion, perceived gaps in their training, and resilience despite unusual and difficult circumstances in their WBL internship. Research limitations: The study was limited to seven intern psychologists in South Africa. Practical implications: The findings suggest that support -- during and after the COVID-19 pandemic -- is crucial throughout the training of psychologists and means to facilitate and develop professional identity and resilience. This will provide the opportunity to safeguard emerging healthcare professionals from burnout while simultaneously advocating for supportive WBL and continual professional development spaces protecting healthcare professionals and the public. Originality/value: With this article, we explored the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the professional identity development of intern psychologists (psychologists in training). The authors expand on the aforementioned original contribution, since the authors situate their research within the Global South. More specifically, the authors explored how intern psychologists' developed their professional identities against the backdrop of a largely resource-scarce context of South Africa.

Background: Learning support in South Africa is a phenomenon where learners who experience barriers to learning are withdrawn from the mainstream class and receive support in their home language and mathematics. A need for learning support surfaced when emphasis was placed on inclusivity in mainstream schools. The efficacy of this withdrawal on self-esteem has however not been investigated. Aim: This study sought to investigate the learners' experiences of withdrawal for learning support and the relationship with their self-esteem. Setting: A primary school in the Western Cape. Methods: This qualitative design aimed to determine the perspective of the learners. Purposive sampling was used to identify five learners who received learning support. Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) was used to analyse data gleaned from the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES), which had been adapted into an informal interview schedule. Results: Participants in this study did not report negative experiences of learning support. Learners identified that issues of negative self-esteem were unrelated to learning support, but were attributed to school culture, mainstream teachers' attitudes, family relationships, peer comparisons and social competencies. Conclusion: Participants reported that learning support rarely caused negative self-esteem, but rather heightened confidence in their academic abilities regardless of their need for learning support, holding social factors responsible for their negative self-esteem. The implications of these findings allude to the fact that withdrawal for learning support continues regardless of popular beliefs reported to the contrary. Schools should however monitor these learners in order to determine individual differences and needs.

The quality of experiential learning in distance education is a dominant concern of all major stakeholders and the public at large. Institutions of higher learning which train school teachers at a distance are often blamed for the poor quality of teachers and teaching. The perception among some sections of the society is that teachers trained at a distance are of poor quality compared to those trained via the conventional face-to-face mode. While this perception can be disputed it gives distance education institutions food for thought. Debunking the wrong perception is to ensure quality in the training of teachers at a distance. Students of the University of South Africa (UNISA) are scattered all over the country and beyond and this makes effective and quality organization, managing, supervision, mentoring and evaluation of experiential learning quite daunting. Effective experiential learning cannot be organized and managed effectively without the involvement of key stakeholders. This paper used the qualitative research approach to explore the views of major stakeholders from two Provinces in South Africa on quality assurance of experiential learning for teacher trainees in distance education. The findings indicate that all the major stakeholders involved in providing experiential learning in the UNISA teacher training program support the idea of collaboration as the basis of quality teacher training.

During South Africa's apartheid era, the social and political ideology of Afrikaner nationalism Othered those who disrupted an idealised vision of white heteronormative Afrikaner masculinity. While protections from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation were enshrined in the post-apartheid constitution in 1996, anti-LGBTQ violence remains a reality. It is common for young LGBTQ individuals to exercise the personal freedoms associated with leaving home to attend university to express their sexual orientations and/or gender identities more readily. This paper applies interpretive phenomenology to interview data with members of the LGBTQ student community at a rural university town in an overwhelmingly white Afrikaans region. It explores the complex and ill-defined relationships between LGBTQ student experiences, local heteronormative values, and shifting institutional identities in an era of social transformation.

Background: A disability studies approach seeks to understand and address political and social issues that affect disabled individuals. Disability studies scholars employ various models of disability to address and oppose the oppression and discrimination of disabled individuals. A disability studies approach, however, has largely been absent in studies that have investigated the lived experiences of people who stutter. Aim: To examine the understandings young adult South African men who stutter hold of whether, and in what way, stuttering may be considered to be a disability. Methods & Procedures: A total of 15 men who stutter, aged 20-39 years, participated in the study. Semi-structured interviews and two focus groups discussions were conducted to collect data for the study. The data were analysed according to a phenomenological approach and the affective turn in social research. Outcomes & Results: The results indicated that some men in this study understood stuttering as a speech disorder that can be controlled, while other men constructed stuttering as a disability, subjectively positioning themselves either as disabled or non-disabled men. Conclusions & Implications: This article emphasizes the importance of adopting a disability studies approach when examining the lived experiences of people who stutter and enhancing intervention strategies to adequately address the disabled needs of such individuals.

When geometry teaching lacks elements of flexibility, inclusivity and accessibility, it is often difficult for learners to follow and understand what they are being taught. In line with this, this paper reports on the application of universal design for instruction (UDI) to guide flexible and accessible teaching of geometry to maximise learning. UDI is an approach to teaching that uses a variety of flexible, inclusive and accessible teaching methods to remove barriers to learning, in order to give all learners equal opportunity to succeed. Eight grade 9 mathematics teachers in one of the largest secondary schools in the Motheo district in South Africa were purposively selected to participate in this qualitative case study that was underpinned by sensemaking theory as a lens. These teachers have previously undergone training on the application of UDI in teaching mathematics. Focus group discussions and lesson observations were used to generate data, whilst content analysis was used to analyse the generated data. The findings of the study revealed the positive effects of UDI in terms of guiding flexible, inclusive and accessible teaching of geometry to maximise learning. Thus, this study suggests implications for teaching geometry using UDI to maximise learning.

The nature of the relationship between parents, teachers, and the school are continuously important because of teachers' changing social expectations. While formal education is traditionally viewed as the job of teachers, they cannot be expected to address all educational issues that are influenced by multifaceted social issues. We explore parents' and teachers' understanding and experiences of parental involvement, and the nature of parental involvement in rural schools. We used the phenomenological approach; semi-structured interviews were administered to comprehend teachers' and parents' experiences of parental involvement in school activities. Complex parental views of schooling shaped the manner of involvement in school activities, and the nature of partnerships that were imbalanced. Teachers' discourses of parental involvement were unsurprisingly influenced by associating classroom spaces with professional qualifications and curriculum pressure, resulting in the exclusion of parents from classroom activities. The dominant nature of parental involvement that teachers mentioned was that parents' participation was limited to helping outside the classroom to ensure the upkeep of the schools. The findings also revealed that parents' dominant experiences relate to viewing schools as inaccessible spaces without invitation or permission, as they view themselves as outsiders, and questioned the nature of communication channels.

The digital divide and the low socio-economic status of many South African school communities, including rural Limpopo, the site of this research study, created an immediate and urgent need to transform teaching and learning during the unprecedented COVID-19 global pandemic. Within this context, this study demonstrated the importance of technology and digitisation in building future-ready schools. The literature study clarified the requirements of a neuroleader as a future-fit leader and used the theoretical framework of neuroleadership to define and explain future-fit leadership. Insights for this article were derived from 10 school leaders in rural Limpopo primary schools. The data was collected using WhatsApp voice notes, which were converted into narratives for each of the principals. Digital stories of each school were also used. The phenomenological approach was adopted to better understand the lived experiences of these principals. Thereafter, the data was analysed using thematic analysis in order to identify themes or patterns in the narratives. The main findings emphasised the necessity of neuroleadership in a future-fit leader. Finally, more research is required to investigate the idea of creating entirely digital rural schools with a rotating schedule that alternates between days of in-person instruction and days of online instruction.

In the reconceptualisation era of curriculum studies, scholars drew on a range of theories such as existentialism, phenomenology, psychoanalysis, feminism, poststructuralism, and especially critical theory. They used critical theory as a lens to examine the influence of social and political forces on curriculum, in particular the role of dominant ideologies on schooling and higher education in capitalist societies. In this article we explore some of the limitations this has, especially with regard to the current posthuman condition, without repudiating all the benefits that it has offered. Then we re/think curriculum studies in the posthuman condition, drawing on insights from a particular strand of posthumanism, critical posthumanism. We experiment with the real, as well as with what a reconceptualised subject (one that is ecological) might mean for curriculum inquiry in South Africa. In our exploration, we re/think the curriculum concepts: curriculum-as-lived, curriculum as complicated conversation, and "currere."

Background: The use of digital technology in higher education is overwhelmingly positively assessed in most recent research literature. While some literature indicates certain challenges in this regard, in general, the emphasis is on an encouragement and promotion of digital technology in higher education. While we recognised the positive potential of the use of digital technology in higher education, we were cautious of an instrumentalist and disembodied understanding of (digital) technology and its potential impact on higher education -- as a sector of education and as a body of students. Aim: To re-conceptualise the way in which technology is understood for its use in the higher education sector, as is argued, would be of benefit for transformation in higher education. Setting: South African Higher Education sector. Methods: Phenomenology of embodiment. Results: An embodied understanding of technology through the embodied phenomenology of Merleau-Ponty and an explication of its potential for transformation in higher education via the working concept of the Embodied Screen leads to a full understanding of the student as embodied and socially-embedded individual. Conclusion: A more holistic and embodied understanding of digital technology serves to supplement transformation in higher education, especially if transformation is itself understood in concrete social and bodily terms as is the case in the South African context.

Teachers are a crucial part of young people's social ecologies. Considering that black South African adolescent girls remain the most marginalised group in South Africa, the purpose of this qualitative, phenomenological study has been to explore if and how teachers champion resilience among black adolescent girls living in rural contexts of structural adversity. Using Draw-and-Talk and Draw-and-Write methods, 28 Sesotho-speaking adolescent girls from the Free State Province of South Africa generated a total of 68 drawings. The drawings were analysed using inductive content analysis. The findings include teachers actively listen and provide guidance; teachers motivate girls towards positive futures; and teachers initiate teacher-girl partnerships. These findings prompt three strategies to support teachers' championship of resilience, namely preempt support; advocate for a changed education landscape; and communicate constructive messages.

This paper explores Economics student teachers' views on ePortfolios as an empowering tool to enhance self-directed learning in an online teacher education course. An interpretive phenomenological research approach was employed for data collection and a purposive convenient sampling technique was selected to collect data. Only Postgraduate Certificate of Education (PGCE) and Batchelor of Education (BEd) Senior Phase/Further Education and Training Economics Subject Methodology (SDEC00N) student teachers registered on myUnisa for the modules were targeted. Multiple sections from the ePortfolios that had been considered for the purpose of this study were taken from their creative writing assignments, a research projects, lesson plans, reflective journal entries, podcasts, blog postings. Data were collected and analysed on a weekly basis to create a plethora of information. Student teachers felt that they were empowered with different subject content knowledge, technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPCK) and other technologies, student-centred methods and techniques through the ePortfolio project.

This study sought to identify preservice teachers' perceptions of their student teaching abroad experience and its effectiveness in preparing them to be globally competent educators upon completion of their student teaching as well as two years after. Findings indicate that they perceive their experience to have been both advantageous and effective and that it enhanced their global-mindedness. More than two years after student teaching abroad the experience continues to have a personal and professional impact as they find themselves to be more global-minded and seeking opportunities to share their abroad experience.

This study was aimed at determining whether a specific research methodology was dominant within a cohort of master's level engineering management students and, if so, whether this preference was directed by their personal epistemology, rather than the dictates of their research questions. Secondary data were used to determine the dominant research approaches. Interviews with a selected sample of students were undertaken to obtain a more detailed understanding of how personal epistemology impacts on the students' methodological approaches to research. It was found that empirical-analytical approaches account for 72% of all studies within the student cohort, indicating a strong preference for such approaches. Furthermore, it was revealed in the interviews that the students tended to overlook methodological considerations, focussing only on research design. There was a general lack of self-reflection and awareness of personal epistemology, despite the latter being an important influence over the type and topic of the research, its purpose, research design, analytical techniques, and even the interpretation of results. The rather superficial approach could result in research designs biased by personal epistemologies and ill-suited to the research problems. This suggests possible changes to the teaching of research methodology in order to improve the research practice of students.

Substance use amongst learners in South Africa has become a significant problem, with relationships between educators and learners being seriously challenged. Educators are often in a position to notice changes in the behaviour of learners and are able to provide support and assistance. A phenomenological, explorative study was undertaken and in-depth interviews were conducted with 16 educators from a secondary school in a high-risk community in the Western Cape. In addition, a World Café group discussion was used in order to tap the participants' collective wisdom. The data was analysed thematically--using positive psychology as a conceptual framework. This focuses not only on what is wrong or pathological, but rather on what is positive, attempting to nurture resilience and strengths in individuals and communities. Two main themes emerged: challenges to the educator-learner relationships, and the educators' skills and strengths in nurturing positive relationships. It was found that educators' personal well-being is important in order for them to deal with these challenging interactions. Educators used a number of skills and strengths in order to overcome challenges and to foster positive educator-learner relationships. A recommendation for future research is to explore the experiences of learners who have used drugs, and sought support from educators, focusing in particular on what aspects hindered and/or facilitated the relationship between them.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine teaching approaches adopted by teachers in ex-Model C English medium secondary schools (former mono-ethnic White Schools) currently in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, after schools became desegregated in 1994 and changed from being mono-ethnic to multi-ethnic. Design/methodology/approach: This study was conducted through a qualitative research approach against the backdrop of a phenomenological design according to the interpretivist paradigm. Data were elicited through in-depth semi-structured interviews with 16 teachers from four ex-Model C English medium secondary schools (former White schools) who had experiences of teaching both pre-1994, when schools were mono-ethnic, and post-1994 when the schools were multi-ethnic. The interviews were transcribed, and the data were analysed and categorised into themes and sub-themes. Findings: The findings indicated that although the teachers were positive towards teaching in multi-ethnic contexts, the majority of them tended to adopt approaches that militated against multicultural education in their classes; such as assimilationist, colour blind and business-as-usual approaches, while a minority incorporated various aspects of multicultural education in their teaching to a limited degree. Originality/value: The study is original in the sense that it focused on the application of Castagno's framework of typologies to teachers' approaches to teaching in multi-ethnic classes. Research of this nature, which explored teachers' approaches to diversity within their multi-ethnic contexts according to Castagno's framework, has not been previously undertaken in South Africa.

A key indicator of the academic worth, value and development of a university is its research capacity and publications. The universities of technologies (UoTs) that merged from former technikons have been poorly ranked due to low research performance. Hands have been pointed at the academics, some school of thought blamed the institutions, others pointed at the government agencies in charge of higher education policies, regulation, and restructuring. The aim of this paper is to examine empirically from the institutional point of view, reasons for low research output in the UoTs. A qualitative research approach was adopted by conducting semi-structured interviews with 15 academic staff and a comprehensive focus group meeting among six academics from three faculties in the same UoT. Heavy workload, career ambiguity, poaching, staffing, sabbatical leave policy, large student numbers, unawareness of incentives, poor retention strategies, institutional history, understanding of research mandate, clarity of policies and procedures and poor time management emerged as the contributing factors to low research output in the UoT. According to the fourth dimension of systems archetype, the study contributes to knowledge by allowing a level of understanding into the problem under investigation. Strategic issues to be considered were suggested for the stakeholders as a way forward.

This phenomenographic case study attempted to determine the alternative and misconceptions of learners in selected concepts in Physics. The research adds another dimension to understanding alternative conception in kinematics by qualitatively determining how learners describe/define a distance of 0m, a displacement of 0m, a speed of 0m/s, a velocity of 0m/s as well as an acceleration of 0m/ss. Data were gathered by means of a free response test. Senior high school grade 12 learners were purposefully selected to complete the test. Data were analyzed by qualitatively interrogating the descriptions and related graphs and pictures to look for the ways in which learners described these concepts. The research revealed that some learners were not able to comprehend the meaning of a displacement of 0m, thus they experienced challenges in the understanding of the concepts such as a speed of 0m/s, a velocity 0m/s and an acceleration 0m/ss. The data seems to suggest that learners fail to formalise and contextualise "0" as a concept in kinematics.

This article reports on the nature of workplace bullying experienced by teachers in South African schools and the biopsychosocial health effects that may arise from such victimisation. Voluntary victimised teachers who wanted to share their experiences were sampled using a lifestyle magazine and online articles. Twenty-seven teachers participated in the study. Data was collected through telephonic semi-structured phenomenological interviews and personal documents. Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was further used to analyse and interpret qualitative data. Findings indicated that bullying is mostly perpetrated by principals, who often use colleagues as accomplices, and that the bullying mostly tends to be psychological in nature. Participants reported experiencing various physical, psychological and social health problems after being victimised. It was further recognised that health problems do not occur in isolation, but if contextualised, may form part of a list of psychiatric conditions, such as depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, and in isolated cases, panic attacks. Victimised teachers' health may have a significant impact on the teaching-learning process, acting as a barrier to learning, which may consequently have a negative impact on the organisational culture and the South African emerging economy.

In order to identify specific, shared sources of meaning and mechanisms with which individuals attempt to make meaning, the objectives of this study were to explore the way in which secondary school teachers perceive, conceptualise and attain meaning in their work. A qualitative design with a phenomenological strategy was used with a convenience sample (n = 20) of teachers. Semi-structured, one-to-one interviews with open-ended questions were used to gather data. Participants were asked to diarise related issues for five working days following the interview, in order to strengthen and validate the interviews' results. The results showed that the participants conceptualise meaning as purpose and significance, and that the main sources of meaning related to work include the transfer of knowledge, and making a positive difference in the learners' lives. Forming relationships based on trust and receiving feedback was also important. The main mechanisms identified were putting effort into preparations, while this group of participants reported that meaning leads to the experience of happiness and personal satisfaction. Although most of these findings support those in the broader literature, there are differences in the emphasis placed on some of the findings, due to the context of education in South Africa. From the results, recommendations were made to create opportunities for teachers to experience more meaning in their work.

Qualitative investigation can provide invaluable information towards understanding the influence of school nutrition education (NE). The study explored teachers' perceptions of the immediate impact of NE on learners' eating behaviours. Twenty-four primary school teachers in the Bronkhorstspruit district, Gauteng, South Africa, who taught nutrition topics to grades four to seven learners, participated in three focus group discussions. Transcript data obtained was analysed using the thematic approach of the framework method. Findings indicated that school support for NE was limited, which undermined the capacity of school NE to influence healthy eating behaviours of learners. The need to strengthen teachers' capacity to model positive eating behaviours was identified. Learners were perceived as being not completely ignorant of healthy eating, with limited capacity to effect changes within the resource-constrained environment. Negative influences like unhealthy choices of food from food vendors and peer influences were identified as needing to be discouraged. Positive influences like the National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP) and the school vegetable garden were to be encouraged. Understanding the prevailing school situation and environment and teachers' perceptions and roles in school NE is important in addressing issues that weaken the influence of NE on learners' eating behaviours.

The creation of online platforms that establish new learning environments has led to the proliferation of institutions offering online learning programmes. However, the use of technologies for teaching and learning requires sound content specialization, as well as grounding in pedagogy. While gains made by constructivism and observational learning are well documented, research addressing online practices that best encourage constructivist and observational learning in Open and Distance Learning (ODL) contexts is limited. Using a phenomenological methodological approach, this research explored the lived experiences of online learning programme facilitators at an Open and Distance Learning higher education institution. The findings of this research study revealed that facilitators did not use constructivist and observational learning pedagogies to a large extent in their interaction with students. It is concluded that during the curriculum planning phase, facilitators should decide on methods and media to arouse the students' attention and stimulating constructivist and observational learning amongst students during online courses. This also implies a more reasonable facilitator-student ratio because large numbers of students per facilitator proves not feasible in online learning. The paper concludes by providing guidelines for the facilitation of interactive online learning programmes.

Introduction: Nurses globally have strived to obtain a Doctor of Philosophy Degree (PhD) especially those in academia. Few publications have focused on lived experiences of nurses especially those reporting failed attempts. Thus, this paper presents how lessons learnt from a failed attempt of a PhD in Nursing was used to achieve an outstanding success of a second attempt. Process and strategies: Using a reflexive ethnographic approach, conclusions reached are that student's pre-entry skills, use of software, mentorship, effective management of family and work enhance the outcome of a PhD study. Other strategies were effective time management, social support, and creating learning and cognitive spaces. A disadvantaged background of a PhD student should not lead to failure. It was reinforced that PhD students require extensive reading and use of rigorous but systematic research processes. Conclusion: Adequate support is required to help PhD students in Nursing based on the individual's need to enhance a successful outcome. It is recommended that nurses should rise to the challenge of obtaining PhDs and contribute to the body of nursing knowledge.

In many societies violence, crime and intolerance have become an everyday reality. In this context teachers are responsible for facilitating values in education. The study aimed to investigate teachers' experiences of the implementation of values in education in classroom praxis. Constructivism was used as conceptual framework. Data were collected by means of interviews with 14 participants. The findings revealed that there was a gap between policy makers' intentions and teachers' perspectives. This gap related to the teachers' poor understanding of the concept "values in education", exacerbated by a lack of reflexivity about the issue; a failure to address the influence of teacher identity on values in education; a need for suitable training; a lack of knowledge on how to address practical challenges with values in education or how to consider the hidden curriculum, and how to use different strategies effectively to facilitate values in education. Our main conclusion is that education initiatives so far have had little impact on the implementation of values in education in selected schools. Recommendations for improvement are made.

The aim of this research was to explore and describe primary school learners' experiences of relational aggression at school. This was done within a qualitative research design with a phenomenological approach. In order to give a voice to primary school learners' lived experiences of relational aggression, 25 individual interviews were conducted with a purposeful sample of learners from two primary schools in the Dr Kenneth Kaunda District, North-West Province. Data analysis was done using Tesch's systematic open coding process. Social Learning Theory underscored the theoretical foundation that emphasises relational aggression as a socially learned phenomenon through observation. Although existing theory supports the findings, the reality, however, is that the effects of relational aggression impede negatively on learners' social and academic development and well-being. This jeopardises schools' endeavours to effectively socialise learners in order to establish and maintain effective personal and social relationships. Curtailing relational aggression has the possibility of reducing other forms of aggression in schools and will enhance the creation of effective teaching-learning environments that are conducive to teaching and learning that will support the task of schooling, which is the socialisation of learners to optimally achieve their potential in schools. The article provides some suggestions to assist teachers in endeavours to effectively curtail relational aggression.

We describe an exploratory, descriptive, and contextual study on the lived experiences of 17 male teachers' own aggression in the Gert Sibande district in Mpumalanga province. Individual phenomenological interviews were used to collect data from these volunteers for this qualitative research. The data were analysed by means of an open coding systematic process in order to establish the themes and categories that describe male teachers' experiences of own aggression. Results show that the participants in this sample experience their own aggression in a variety of ways. It appears they primarily experience a loss of power and control that gives rise to aggression. Significantly, participants are aware that they need guidelines to enable them to cope with their aggression. Although there are aggression theories that support and provide an understanding of aggressive behaviour, Transformative Learning Theory seems to offer the best way of bringing about transformative change in individual behaviour, as it raises consciousness and an understanding of the self through self-reflection.

Despite efforts worldwide to ensure quality education for all learners through inclusive education, indications are that many learners, especially those that experience barriers to learning, are still excluded from full access to quality and equitable education opportunities in mainstream primary schools. This article uses a qualitative approach and phenomenological strategy to focus on the ecological aspects influencing the implementation of inclusive education in mainstream primary schools in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Observation and semi-structured interviews were conducted with 28 participants from seven schools to gather data, whilst a process of framework analysis was used for the analysis of the data. The investigation revealed that the implementation of inclusive education is not only hampered by aspects within the school environment, but also by aspects across the entire ecological system of education.

I report on a phenomenological investigation into teacher experiences of generating and interpreting drawings during their participation in the Resilient Educators (REds) intervention. All 18 teacher participants came from rural communities challenged by HIV&AIDS. I reflect critically on the ambivalence in teacher experiences of drawings to highlight the complexity of employing drawings as visual method. Then, I interpret the teachers' methodological experiences through the lens of social-ecological understandings of resilience in order to address the question of how drawings, as form of visual participatory methodology, may make a positive difference and nurture participant resilience. What the teachers' experiences suggest is that drawings offer methodological opportunities for participants to make constructive meaning of adversity, to take action, to experience mastery, and to regulate emotion associated with adversity. All of the aforementioned are well documented pathways to resilience. I theorise, therefore, that researchers with a social conscience would be well advised to use drawings, albeit in competent and participatory ways, as this methodology potentiates participant resilience and positive change.

This study investigated the integrating possibilities within each creative arts subject. The objective was to optimize the limited teaching time, generally allocated to each art subject in schools, by developing a pedagogical strategy for its successful implementation. While the study was limited to South African schools, the results have global relevance and significance in the ongoing global trendsetting and discourse on arts education. In South Africa the previous National Curriculum Statement (NCS, 2002) integrated music, dance, drama and visual arts where possible, while the new Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS, 2011) offers two elective art subjects in the senior phase (Grades 7-9), each taught separately an hour per week during school hours and one hour per week after school, thereby attempting to extend the teaching time. This qualitative enquiry used documentary analyses, teacher interviews, and student group discussions for the collection of data. Pre-determined and emergent codes based on grounded theory showed that it is possible to integrate theory with practice within one art subject by teaching theoretical work in the context of practical work, thus optimizing the limited time allocated to arts and culture education in school timetables.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse an innovative teaching and learning practice in which pre-service student teachers at the CPUT used digital stories to reflect on their experiences of diversity in their classroom. Managing diverse classrooms is one of the main challenges for all teachers. Digital storytelling can help manage such classrooms. It facilitates the convergence of four student-centered learning strategies: student engagement, reflection for deep learning, project-based learning, and the effective integration of technology into teaching. A qualitative research approach was employed whereby twenty-nine written stories and a recording of a focus-group interview with purposively selected participants from the group was the data collection technique. The results indicate that the digital storytelling approach exposed the students to new media literacies which prepared them for the rich and diverse contexts which they will encounter in their teaching.

School governance in South Africa is about the single most important factor in education that appears to experience apparently insurmountable challenges. In this article I explore and analyse school governance challenges to find their possible cause. A qualitative study using interviews was conducted with principals, educators and parents as school governing body members. The results of the empirical investigation reveal numerous challenges in school governance, which challenges seem to be mainly related to school governors' ability or inability to execute functions prescribed by the South African Schools Act 84 of 1996 (hereafter referred to as the Schools Act). An analysis of the challenges strongly indicates that these challenges are possibly caused by the nature of the prescribed functions, which require specialised skills and knowledge to execute. This is manifested in the various reasons advanced by school governors, such as the apportionment of blame among themselves. It is therefore concluded that school governing bodies are not really succeeding in facing the challenges of their roles and responsibilities and that the possible cause for these challenges resides in the specialist nature of most prescribed functions themselves.

Moral issues and principles do not only emerge in cases of conflict among, for instance, religious communities or political parties; indeed they form the moral substructure of notions of social justice. During periods of conflict each opponent claims justice for his/her side and bases the claim on certain principles. In this article, reference is made to the differences among South Africans about the extent to which religion and religious differences in the population should be accommodated in public school education. Explorative hermeneutic phenomenology facilitates an investigation into the nexus between social justice and its moral substructure. This is followed by a discussion of the moral dilemma facing education policymakers regarding the accommodation of religion in public education, with the aid of two contrasting metaphors, namely, the "Strict Father" and the "Nurturant Parent."

There is an inextricable link between democracy, education and the law. After 15 years of constitutional democracy, the alarming percentage of dysfunctional schools raises questions about the efficacy of the system of local school governance. We report on the findings of quantitative and qualitative research on the democratisation of schools and the education system in North-West Province. Several undemocratic features are attributable to systemic weaknesses of traditional models of democracy as well as the misapplication of democratic and legal principles. The findings of the qualitative study confirmed that parents often misconceive participatory democracy for political democracy and misunderstand the role of the school governing body to be a political forum. Despite the shortcomings, the majority of the respondents agreed that parental participation improves school effectiveness and that the decentralised model of local school governance should continue. Recommendations to effect the inculcation of substantive democratic knowledge, values and attitudes into school governance are based on theory of deliberative democracy and principles of responsiveness, accountability and justification of decisions through rational discourse.

We have been investigating university student conceptions of mathematics over a number of years, with the goal of enhancing student learning and professional development. We developed an open-ended survey of three questions, on "What is mathematics" and two questions about the role of mathematics in the students' future. This questionnaire was completed by 1,200 undergraduate students of mathematics in Australia, the UK, Canada, South Africa, and Brunei. The sample included students ranging from those majoring in mathematics to those taking only one or two modules in mathematics. Responses were analysed starting from a previously-developed phenomenographic framework that required only minor modification, leading to an outcome space of four levels of conceptions about mathematics. We found that for many students modelling is fundamental to their conception of "What is mathematics?". In a small number of students, we identified a broader conception of mathematics, that we have labelled "Life". This describes a view of mathematics as a way of thinking about reality and as an integral part of life, and represents an ideal aim for university mathematics education. (Contains 1 table and 1 footnote.)

In this study I use the notion of "capabilities poverty", as theorised by Sen, to examine the experiences of learners attending informal settlement schools in North-West Province, South Africa. Sen distinguishes between functionings (what people do or their ability to do something) and capabilities (various combinations of what people do, their notions of freedom, what life opportunities they may have). The study was based on a sample of respondents from four schools in the Sarafina informal settlement in Ikageng Township in the municipal district of Tlokwe (Potchefstroom). It captured some complexities of schooling within South Africa's democratic educational framework and clearly exposed the manifestations of capabilities poverty. The precise location of capabilities poverty within the plethora of poverty approaches presents educational research with a reality check when looking at informal settlement schools. The study revealed a multiplicity of barriers for informal settlement learners that prevent them from choosing the educational experience they value and contributes to research into the nuanced nature of the interface between poverty and schooling.

This meta-synthesis is on research conducted by different researchers in a team research project on learners' experience of aggression in secondary schools in South Africa. The objective was to obtain a broader understanding of their experience of aggression in different contexts in South Africa, as well as possible ways to assist learners to address the experienced aggression. Eleven completed research projects were purposively sampled. Data were collected utilising the following headings: objectives, sampling, research design, research method, and research results, and guidelines. At the end of the meta-synthesis process the results are described, with supporting direct quotations from participants and a literature control. Guidelines for learners to cope with aggression are described.

School governance is a feature of school leadership in schools in South Africa. Currently, there is a dearth of research examining the dynamics in, and how parents navigate their way through, the process of school governance. Using a qualitative approach, we investigated these dynamics. The sample was parents in rural communities in secondary schools in the Eastern Cape. The parents responded to questions in semi-structured phenomenological interviews. Multiple factors linked to gender politics and African traditions shaped how parents participated in school governance. School governance practices were imbued with a tension between values inherent in African traditions/customs and values of modern school policies/legislations. While outlining the implications for school leadership, we argue that conflict and tension in school governance is likely to continue unless leadership practices and policy provisions reflect more of people's customs/traditions.

Due to the central role of textbooks in the teaching and learning of science, it is imperative that textbooks provide correct content and instructional support. We investigated how 16 South African Grade 7 natural science educators selected their textbooks and how they evaluated these textbooks. The results were analysed according to the constructivist paradigm, as implemented in the Revised National Curriculum Statement, as well as selection criteria found in the literature. The selection criteria that the educators listed in interviews were isolated ideas that were not embedded in a constructivist framework. The educators also lacked the necessary scientific and pedagogical content-knowledge to effectively evaluate the textbooks. Recommendations are made for improvements in educator training, departmental guidance, and textbook writing. Experience in textbook evaluation during their training courses could boost educators' competence in selecting the books and detecting and compensating for their deficiencies. This would contribute to filling South African educators' need of hands-on examples that can be applied immediately in their classrooms.