Search

This paper responds to a question posed by [Shay, Suellen. 2012. "Educational Development as a Field: Are We There Yet?" "Higher Education Research and Development" 31 (3): 311-323. doii:10.1080/07294360.2011.631520] about the status of knowledge building in the field of Educational Development. In her paper, Shay critiques knowledge produced in the field arguing that it is 'codified practice' [Gamble, Jeanne. 2001. "Modelling the Invisible: The Pedagogy of Craft Apprenticeship." "Studies in Continuing Education" 23 (2): 185-200. doii:10.1080/01580370120101957; Gamble, Jeanne. 2004. "Retrieving the General from the Particular: The Structure of Craft Knowledge." In "Reading Bernstein, Researching Bernstein," edited by J. Muller, B. Davies, and A. Morais, 189-203. Abingdon: Routledge; Gamble, Jeanne. 2006. "Theory and Practice in the Vocational Curriculum." In "Knowledge, Curriculum and Qualifications in South African Further Education," edited by M. Young and J. Gamble, 87-103. Pretoria: HSRC Press] rather than applied theory which could succeed in reconceptualising problems rather than simply trying to address them. This paper draws on a review of research produced in the field in recent years in South Africa to argue that, although some work does result in the reconceptualision of problems the higher education, it is limited in that (1) it has been produced by a relatively small group of practitioners located at a few universities and (2) draws on theory developed in the Global North. The paper then proceeds to offer some tentative suggestions for the way future work aimed at knowledge building could proceed.

This article draws on a long term ethnographic study which explored the way the home based practices experienced by children in a marginalised community in a large South African city, Port Elizabeth, prepared them for, and supported them in, schooling. The study was informed by the field known as 'New Literacy Studies' and which draws extensively on the likes of Heath (1983) and Street (1984). It acknowledges that individuals have the power to exercise agency in the context of structural and cultural constraints but shows how, in this particular community, poverty and geography and the educational backgrounds of caregivers impacted on their best efforts to contribute to their children's development.

This paper reports on the use of a framework developed from Bhaskar's critical realism and Archer's social realism to analyse teaching- and learning-related data produced as a result of the first cycle of institutional audits in the South African higher education system. The use of the framework allows us to see what this cycle of audits did achieve, namely some change in structural systems related to teaching and learning alongside the appointment of key agents. It also allows us to see how the stagnation of sets of ideas about teaching and learning in the domain of culture may mean that an assurance of the quality of learning experiences for all students remained elusive.

Research-intensive universities, such as the Russell Group in the UK, the Ivy League Colleges in the USA and the Sandstone Universities in Australia, enjoy particular status in the higher education landscape. They are, however, also often associated with social elitism and selectivity, and this has led to critique as higher education systems seek to widen access. This article looks at how academic staff are discursively constructed in five such institutions in South Africa through an analysis of documentation submitted as part of a national review. Three interrelated discourses are identified: a discourse of "staff as scholars" whereby research is privileged over teaching, a discourse of "academic argumentation" whereby a critical disposition is valued and is called upon by academics to resist development initiatives and a discourse of "trust" whereby it is assumed that academics share a value system and should thus be trusted to undertake quality teaching without interference.

In this article, the author discusses how universities and the academics who work in them understand the relationship between teaching and research. In several countries, acknowledgement of the need to link teaching and research has led to the development of institutional strategies to achieve this goal. In South Africa, the linking of teaching and research has become significant because of debates about differentiation in a system which continues to be structured by its apartheid past. About 5 of the 23 public universities produce the bulk of research and postgraduate outputs whilst the rest focus mainly on undergraduate teaching. Funding favours research, however, and many universities are seeking to increase research outputs although the need for quality teaching at undergraduate level remains paramount given low participation and success rates amongst black students. Recent research examining the first round of reviews of South African universities conducted by the national quality assurance agency identified a number of accounts of the relationship between teaching and research. Explanations varied across the self evaluation reports produced by the universities as part of review processes but generally related to (1) the infusion of research findings into the curriculum; (2) the possibility of students being taught by "research-active" staff members; and (3) the use of research on teaching and learning to improve teaching and learning.

This paper uses an analytical framework developed from the work of philosopher Roy Bhaskar and sociologist Margaret Archer to explore the emergence of a body of research on teaching and learning in South African higher education. This research, generated in a field known as "Academic Development" in South Africa and as "Educational Development" in other countries, was produced during 30 years of political, social, cultural and economic upheaval in the country. The analytical framework allows for an exploration of the way structural and cultural conditions and the exercise of individual and corporate agency led to three main shifts in the practice of Academic Development and the emergence of characteristic bodies of research associated with those shifts, often closely reflecting the broader societal changes. The paper, thus, allows for an identification of the sets of conditions that enabled and constrained research production at particular periods and in some locations. In spite of the specificity of its geo-historical context, the paper describes and applies a theoretical frame that could be useful in similar analyses elsewhere. It contributes generally to our understanding of conditions that promote research production in this field and, by implication, in others. (Contains 1 note and 1 table.)

Across the world, university teachers are increasingly being required to engage with diversity in the classes they teach. Using the data from a large Economics 1 class at a South African university, this attempts to understand the effects of diversity on chances of success and how assessment can impact on this. By demonstrating how theory can be used to understand results, the paper aims to encourage university teachers to adopt proactive strategies in managing diversity, rather than simply explaining it using student characteristics. (Contains 3 tables and 2 figures.)

Since 1994, the South African higher education system, fragmented and divided along racial lines during the years of apartheid, has been subject to a wide range of initiatives directed at bringing about the "transformation" necessary for a more equitable dispensation and, ultimately, a new social order. One of the "levers" being used in transformation processes is quality assurance. The paper uses a case study of an institutional audit at one historically white, lite South African university to provide a social realist account of an audit process and to analyse the likelihood of the audit contributing to institutional transformation. A conclusion is that the South African audit methodology "per se" is unlikely to bring about the change necessary because of its tendency to focus on the mechanistic implementation of recommendations. (Contains 1 table, 2 figures and 4 notes.)

This article uses "close-up" ethnographic research to provide an account of students' engagement with learning in a South African university. Broadly based on Halliday's [Halliday, M. A. K. (1973). "Explorations in the functions of language". London: Edward Arnold; Halliday, M. A. K. (1978). "Language as social semiotic". London: Edward Arnold; Halliday, M. A. K. (1994). "Introduction to functional grammar". London: Edward Arnold] understanding of texts resulting from contexts, the account challenges dominant constructions of the problems students encounter as stemming from the use of inappropriate "approaches" to learning, the lack of "study" and other skills or problems with proficiency in areas such as writing or language and shows how students' unfamiliarity with the context of the university leads them to draw on "other" contexts in order to engage with the texts they must read, write and listen to in the course of their studies. This drawing on "other" contexts then results in the texts produced by students, and the practices which give rise to those texts, being inappropriate to the context of the university. Although the research on which the article is based took place in South Africa, it is argued that the theoretical perspective it provides has relevance across other contexts given the increasingly diverse student bodies which characterize higher education across the globe.

Drawing on an analysis of the history of the area of endeavour known, in South Africa, as Academic Development and, internationally, as Educational Development, this article argues the need for a Third Generation model of Academic Development Practice in South Africa. The Third Generation model links Academic Development with quality management and promotion and requires a reconceptualisation of Academic Development practices, the theories which underpin those practices, and the structures in which Academic Development practitioners work and the processes they engage in.

At an international level, the peaceful transition to democracy in South Africa has often been lauded as miraculous. While political transformation might have been highly successful, changes in other spheres have proved to be much more problematic. This paper examines the change in higher education in South Africa and, more particularly, the role played by the field of Academic or, as it tends to be known elsewhere, Educational Development in that change. In order to do so, it uses Dale's understanding of mutual contradiction of the state's need to foster the conditions for capitalist expansion while, at the same time, guaranteeing the conditions for social reproduction as providing a space for policy activity. The role played by the South African Educational Development movement from the early 1980s onwards is then analysed within the context of this policy activity.

Examines a number of language-related discourses about students'"problems" engaging higher education at a historically black South African university. These dominant discourses are then linked to Street's "autonomous" model of literacy and Rampton's "autonomous" model of applied linguistics in order to interrogate their ideological biases. Discusses how a "literacy across the curriculum" approach could provide an alternative to remedial programs. (EV)

Discusses the relationship of writing to learning as a means of motivating lecturers to develop language-related skills. Describes a writing process aimed at overcoming the problem of large classes by getting students of English as a Second Language to write in groups. (nine references) (Author/CK)

The push for global rankings and the possibility of attaining funding mean that participation in international projects is prized. Although international projects can bring enormous benefits, they can also exhibit 'social dynamics' (Bradley, 2008) that impact equality of participation. In the case of Global North-Global South partnerships, these social dynamics are often shaped by legacies of colonialism. For South African partners, they can also be shaped by history and the way it continues to impact on the institutional landscape. This paper draws on one project, involving six South African and six European universities, to explore the way these dynamics played out. Archer's (1995, 1996, 2000) social realism is used to analyse the dynamics of the project and, more specifically, the way different project partners' ability to exercise their agency was shaped by the social and cultural conditions in the global and national arena as well as within the project itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on the use of a framework developed from Bhaskar's critical realism and Archer's social realism to analyse teaching- and learning-related data produced as a result of the first cycle of institutional audits in the South African higher education system. The use of the framework allows us to see what this cycle of audits did achieve, namely some change in structural systems related to teaching and learning alongside the appointment of key agents. It also allows us to see how the stagnation of sets of ideas about teaching and learning in the domain of culture may mean that an assurance of the quality of learning experiences for all students remained elusive. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article reviews demographic shifts in access to higher education in South Africa from the late 1980s onwards before going on to look at the extent to which black South Africans have benefitted from those shifts. In the context of analyses which show that black South Africans experience less success in the higher education system than their white peers, the paper argues that dominant understandings of what is needed to succeed are inadequate in explaining the data. In opposition to dominant understandings, the paper goes on to propose that only 'social' accounts of learning allow us to make sense of black students' experiences. At the same time, however, resilience of dominant accounts is acknowledged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]