A culturally responsive strategy for teaching sexual concepts in rural Xhosa secondary schools
- Authors: Simayi, Ayanda
- Date: 2021-11
- Subjects: Sex instruction for children , Sex instruction for youth , Rural schools -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Doctorate's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/58519 , vital:59660
- Description: While research shows that the recognition and integration of indigenous knowledge (IK) is an important issue for developing culturally responsive strategies when teaching and learning science to, and by, indigenous people, little has been said about cultural taboos of a sexual nature and their effects on teaching and learning. This study investigated issues of taboo language use when teaching topics of a sexual nature during high school Biology classes. It also investigated the effects of a teacher development intervention based on Ogunniyi’s Contiguity Argumentation Theory (CATPD) towards culturally responsive teaching strategies. Four phases in one cycle of a Critical Participatory Action Learning and Action Research (CPALAR) design were used in schools located in deep rural villages with a sample of Life Science Grade 12 teachers. Initially, 30 teachers answered a semi-structured questionnaire aimed at identifying cultural restrictions that could impede the teaching of sexual concepts (Stage 1). Stages 2-4 included seven participants of both gender. Data were generated from two sets of drawings with descriptions and audio recorded focus group discussions. The teaching of a collectively developed Indigenised Teaching Strategy lesson by a group-selected ‘modelteacher’ was video-recorded and analysed. Written participant evaluation is presented in a flow chart. Data analysis was done by manual thematic data analysis and by using Atlas ti. 8. The use of multiple data collection strategies contributed to the trustworthiness and credibility of the study. The few existing studies on cultural taboos report avoidance of using the vernacular for biological terminology and promote the exclusive use of standard, terms in English. In contrast, Xhosa IK-based sexual euphemisms derived from elderly, unlearned Xhosa women were successfully used for teaching sexual concepts. The teachers reported their findings through the cultural lens of Xhosa people. Cognitive change from the suppressed level in the CAT hierarchy to a more harmonious equipollent level of understanding was brought about using Bakhtin’s theory of heteroglossia and the indigenist cognitive perspective of Contiguity Argumentation Theory. This cognitive shift enabled verbalisation of the culturally avoided taboo sexual concepts. The transition in thinking symbolised transformation in terms of critical pedagogy. The claim is made that using Contiguity Argumentation Theory (CAT) and Bakhtin’s explanations of heteroglossia provides an effective professional intervention in a deeply culturally determined Xhosa community. While not generalisable, the effect of this strategy should be of value when considering teacher development in indigenous communities and disciplines. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Education, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-11
- Authors: Simayi, Ayanda
- Date: 2021-11
- Subjects: Sex instruction for children , Sex instruction for youth , Rural schools -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Doctorate's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/58519 , vital:59660
- Description: While research shows that the recognition and integration of indigenous knowledge (IK) is an important issue for developing culturally responsive strategies when teaching and learning science to, and by, indigenous people, little has been said about cultural taboos of a sexual nature and their effects on teaching and learning. This study investigated issues of taboo language use when teaching topics of a sexual nature during high school Biology classes. It also investigated the effects of a teacher development intervention based on Ogunniyi’s Contiguity Argumentation Theory (CATPD) towards culturally responsive teaching strategies. Four phases in one cycle of a Critical Participatory Action Learning and Action Research (CPALAR) design were used in schools located in deep rural villages with a sample of Life Science Grade 12 teachers. Initially, 30 teachers answered a semi-structured questionnaire aimed at identifying cultural restrictions that could impede the teaching of sexual concepts (Stage 1). Stages 2-4 included seven participants of both gender. Data were generated from two sets of drawings with descriptions and audio recorded focus group discussions. The teaching of a collectively developed Indigenised Teaching Strategy lesson by a group-selected ‘modelteacher’ was video-recorded and analysed. Written participant evaluation is presented in a flow chart. Data analysis was done by manual thematic data analysis and by using Atlas ti. 8. The use of multiple data collection strategies contributed to the trustworthiness and credibility of the study. The few existing studies on cultural taboos report avoidance of using the vernacular for biological terminology and promote the exclusive use of standard, terms in English. In contrast, Xhosa IK-based sexual euphemisms derived from elderly, unlearned Xhosa women were successfully used for teaching sexual concepts. The teachers reported their findings through the cultural lens of Xhosa people. Cognitive change from the suppressed level in the CAT hierarchy to a more harmonious equipollent level of understanding was brought about using Bakhtin’s theory of heteroglossia and the indigenist cognitive perspective of Contiguity Argumentation Theory. This cognitive shift enabled verbalisation of the culturally avoided taboo sexual concepts. The transition in thinking symbolised transformation in terms of critical pedagogy. The claim is made that using Contiguity Argumentation Theory (CAT) and Bakhtin’s explanations of heteroglossia provides an effective professional intervention in a deeply culturally determined Xhosa community. While not generalisable, the effect of this strategy should be of value when considering teacher development in indigenous communities and disciplines. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Education, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-11
Transformative ICT education practices in rural secondary schools for developmental needs and realities: the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa
- Authors: Simuja, Clement
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Education, Secondary -- South Africa -- Data processing , Information technology -- Study and teaching (Secondary) --South Africa , Educational technology -- Developing countries , Rural development -- Developing countries , Computer-assisted instruction -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Internet in education -- South Africa , Rural schools -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Community and school -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/150631 , vital:38991
- Description: The perceived social development significance of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has dramatically expanded the domains in which this cluster of ICTs is being discussed and acted upon. The action to promote community development in rural areas in South Africa has made its way into the introduction of ICT education in secondary schools. Since rural secondary schools form part of the framework for rural communities, they are being challenged to provide ICT education that makes a difference in learners’ lives. This requires engaging education practices that inspire learners to construct knowledge of ICT that does not only respond to examination purposes but rather, to the needs and development aspirations of the community. This research examines the experience of engaging learners and communities in socially informed ICT education in rural secondary schools. Specifically, it seeks to develop a critique of current practices involved in ICT education in rural secondary schools, and explores plausible alternatives to such practices that would make ICT education more transformative and structured towards the developmental concerns of communities. The main empirical focus for the research was five rural secondary schools in the Eastern Cape Province in South Africa. The research involved 53 participants that participated in a socially informed ICT training process. The training was designed to inspire participants to share their self-defined ICT education and ICT knowledge experiences. Critical Action Learning and Philosophical Inquiry provided the methodological framework, whilst the theoretical framework draws on Foucault’s philosophical ideas on power-knowledge relations. Through this theoretical analysis, the research examines the dynamic interplay of practices in ICT education with the values, ideals, and knowledge that form the core-life experiences of learners and rural communities. The research findings of this study indicate that current ICT education practices in rural secondary schools are endowed with ideologies that are affecting learners’ identity, social experiences, power, and ownership of the reflective meaning of using ICTs in community development. The contribution of this thesis lies in demonstrating ways that reframe ICT education transformatively, and more specifically its practices in the light of the way power, identity, ownership and social experience construct and offer learners a transformative view of self and the world. This could enable ICT education to fulfil the potential of contributing to social development in rural communities. The thesis culminates by presenting a theoretical framework that articulates the structural and authoritative components of ICT education practices – these relate to learners’ conscious understandings and represented thoughts, sensations and meanings embedded in the context, and actions and locations of using their knowledge of ICT.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Simuja, Clement
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Education, Secondary -- South Africa -- Data processing , Information technology -- Study and teaching (Secondary) --South Africa , Educational technology -- Developing countries , Rural development -- Developing countries , Computer-assisted instruction -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Internet in education -- South Africa , Rural schools -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Community and school -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/150631 , vital:38991
- Description: The perceived social development significance of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has dramatically expanded the domains in which this cluster of ICTs is being discussed and acted upon. The action to promote community development in rural areas in South Africa has made its way into the introduction of ICT education in secondary schools. Since rural secondary schools form part of the framework for rural communities, they are being challenged to provide ICT education that makes a difference in learners’ lives. This requires engaging education practices that inspire learners to construct knowledge of ICT that does not only respond to examination purposes but rather, to the needs and development aspirations of the community. This research examines the experience of engaging learners and communities in socially informed ICT education in rural secondary schools. Specifically, it seeks to develop a critique of current practices involved in ICT education in rural secondary schools, and explores plausible alternatives to such practices that would make ICT education more transformative and structured towards the developmental concerns of communities. The main empirical focus for the research was five rural secondary schools in the Eastern Cape Province in South Africa. The research involved 53 participants that participated in a socially informed ICT training process. The training was designed to inspire participants to share their self-defined ICT education and ICT knowledge experiences. Critical Action Learning and Philosophical Inquiry provided the methodological framework, whilst the theoretical framework draws on Foucault’s philosophical ideas on power-knowledge relations. Through this theoretical analysis, the research examines the dynamic interplay of practices in ICT education with the values, ideals, and knowledge that form the core-life experiences of learners and rural communities. The research findings of this study indicate that current ICT education practices in rural secondary schools are endowed with ideologies that are affecting learners’ identity, social experiences, power, and ownership of the reflective meaning of using ICTs in community development. The contribution of this thesis lies in demonstrating ways that reframe ICT education transformatively, and more specifically its practices in the light of the way power, identity, ownership and social experience construct and offer learners a transformative view of self and the world. This could enable ICT education to fulfil the potential of contributing to social development in rural communities. The thesis culminates by presenting a theoretical framework that articulates the structural and authoritative components of ICT education practices – these relate to learners’ conscious understandings and represented thoughts, sensations and meanings embedded in the context, and actions and locations of using their knowledge of ICT.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
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