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A South African Big Picture for Teaching and Learning The Politics of Learning and Teaching in SA

This study explores the evolution of learning and teaching in South Africa, from student protests to the development of education policies. It examines the challenges, tensions, and opportunities in bridging the gap between equity and development in the education system.

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A South African Big Picture for Teaching and Learning The Politics of Learning and Teaching in SA

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  1. A South African Big Picture for Teaching and LearningThe Politics of Learning and Teaching in SA Howard College, UKZN 25-27 September 2012

  2. From clinical psychology to student guidance to the UDF in three steps Framesby High School (1975) – Study Skills, Career Choice and bible studies (forms of superstition) Turfloop (1976) – from first year orientation to student incitement (and burning the library) • Cloete (1979) Guidance Needs of Black Students in a Developing Country, International Journal for the Advancement of Counselling. • Cloete and Le Roux (1981) A Brief Overview of Guidance in South Africa. In Shertzer and Stone. Fundamentals of Guidance. University of the Transkei (1980) – from study groups to naïve but very serious politics • Cloete (1984) Perspectives on Student Learning: Has the long awaited Paradigm Shift occurred? Perspectives in Education,8, 2 pp 63-79.

  3. Wits (1986) – from Student Counselling to Testing for Potential to General Secretary of UDUSA Admitting black students – Stan Kahn and hood- winking the bureaucrats Potential testing Wits 1986 – selecting blacks with potential, and then getting them to pass • Cloete and Sochet (1986) Alternatives to the behavioural technicist conception of study skills. Higher Education, 15, 247-258. A flood of expelled students – from state to university bureaucrats Two institutions had to change – state and university Moribund staff association – insurrection strategy • Cloete and Muller (1986). University science teaching, research and community needs: the view from below. SA Journal of Science, 82, 10, 529-530

  4. From Protest to Policy Start preparing to govern, write policy, you are useless protestors in any case (1989) EPU’s (Wits, Natal, UWC) • Muller and Cloete. 1987. The white hands: academic social scientists, engagement and struggle in South Africa'. Social Epistemology, 1,2, 141-154 National Policy Investigation (NEPI, 1991) – Post Secondary Group (Pandor, Nzimande, Moja, Badsha) UDUSA Policy Forum – Policy vs Salaries • Moja, Cloete and Muller. 1996. Towards New Forms of Regulation in Higher Education: Higher Education, 32, pp129-155 National Commission on Higher Education (1995) Did not want to discuss T&L, or Student Services – Student Services Council regard student services and academic faculties as mutually interdependent

  5. The Policy Big Picture: NCHE framework Deceptively simple: increased participation, greater responsiveness and increased co-operation Policy terms: equity, development and democratisation Tension between equity and development. It became internationally quite widely accepted that the way to bridge this tension was through a massified, but differentiated, system NCHE: accepted massification but not differentiation White Paper: Planned Growth and "Fluid Boundaries" CHET (1997): Unifinished Business of the NCHE - massification, knowledge production and differentiation (performance indicators)

  6. Economic Growth and Human Development A substantial body of academic and technical literature provides evidence of the relationship between informationalism, productivity and competitiveness for countries, regions and business firms. But, this relationship only operates under three conditions: information connectedness, organizational change in the form of networking; and enhancement of the quality of human labour, itself dependent on education and quality of life. (Castells and Cloete, 2011) The structural basis for the growing inequality, in spite of high GDP growth rates in many parts of the world, is the growth of a highly dynamic, knowledge-producing, technologically advanced sector that is connected to other similar sectors in a global network, but it excludes a significant segment of the economy and of the society in its own country. The “disconnect” prevents what Castellscalls the ‘virtuous cycle’ between dynamic growth and human development. (Castells and Cloete, 2011)

  7. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita versus Human Development Index (HDI)

  8. Participation rate and development indicators

  9. South Africa: high-level knowledge outputs andincentive changes Permanent academics Doctoral enrolments Research publications Doctoral graduates 9

  10. Percentage of doctoral enrolments in race groupings This graph shows how the % of doctoral enrolments by race group changed between 1996 to 2010. African doctoral students rose from 13% in 1996 to 33% in 2004, and 44% in 2010.

  11. Data Data analysis for CHET is done by: • Ian Bunting – retired planner DoE and Dean UCT • Charles Sheppard – NMMU Planner/DHET Consultant 2. Data from: • CHE undergraduate academic progression study • DHET doctoral through put study • Ford funded Strengthening Social Sciences Study • CHET: South African Higher Education Performance Data 2000-2010: http://www.chet.org.za/data • Also: South African FET College Data and African Higher Education Performance Data (under development) 3. Data Presentation: François van Schalkwyk (African Minds)

  12. Size and shape of SA post-school system

  13. Student and population demographics by province

  14. Composition of students by race 2010

  15. Undergraduate throughput: 2005 cohort NOTE: General and professional 3-year degrees (UNISA excluded)

  16. Throughput: 2005 cohort all qualification types * General and professional 3-year degrees (UNISA excluded)

  17. Differentiation indicators Academic staff inputs • FTE students/ staff ratio’s • Proportion of permanent staff with masters or PhD • Proportion of staff with PhD’s 2. Knowledge outputs to masters level • Average Undergrad success rate (cohort) • Ratio of Undergrad graduates to enrolments • Ratio of masters graduates to enrolments 3. High level knowledge outputs • Ratio of doctoral graduates to enrolments • Ratio of doctoral graduates to permanent staff • Ratio of accredited publications to permanent staff

  18. Differentiated clusters

  19. Implications (something has to give) Higher education almost had a “Marikina” moment at UJ during the mismanaged admissions process The reason we have not had a similar revolt over drop out is that the “affected” are disempowered by the experience, and like the staff, blame the school system The economic and personal/psychological cost is astronomical SALDRU National Household Income Survey – returns on post-matricqualification is THREE times in earnings and finding employment

  20. Implications: Pointers Incentives: Blame the school system and take the money • Knowledge production and PhD outputs (Herana) • Input / output funding balance 2. Degree structure: 4-year or 2-year diploma? 3. Institutional structure: Differentiation • Amongst “universities”’ • Between universities and FTE college sector • Within FTE college sector 4. Not only underprepared students, underqualifiedacademics 5. Alternative delivery (Cost and Moodies Rating Agency) 6. Teaching and Learning vs Research and Policy

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