Charl Wolhuter

South Africa: Recklessly Incapacitated by a Fifth Column – The Academic Profession Facing Institutional Governance

The South African academic profession currently has to negotiate a battery of changes foisted down upon them. These changes relate to the education reform project of government, the societal reconstruction which also assigns a big role for universities, and the neo-liberal economic revolution. The sum total of all these changes is a serious erosion of the autonomy of the academic profession. Academic freedom is being drastically curtailed as academics have to put up with prescriptions and control from both government and institutional managers and bureaucrats. The CAP survey shows the extent of this control and the pernicious influence it is having on the academic profession. If it is accepted that academics can fulfill their mission optimally only in an atmosphere of academic freedom and when they are satisfied with their jobs, then this issue of managerialism needs to be addressed urgently.

The divine dreams of a sample of South African children: the gateway to their spirituality

As part of a research project on religion, spirituality and education, the authors attended to the role that childrens divine dreams could play in religious education (RE). They contend that such dreams can indeed be used by RE teachers as the gateway to understanding the spirituality of their learners. They defend their claim by firstly developing a conceptual‐theoretical framework with respect to religion, spirituality and childrens divine dreams, and then presenting the results of an explorative quantitative‐qualitative investigation in three schools. They find their claim to have been vindicated, and suggest that although RE teachers should not necessarily teach divine dreams per se, they should, nevertheless, explore the possibility that (at least some of) the contents of childrens divine dreams may be useful for the purpose of teaching them RE from religion itself, rather than teaching them only about religion.

Empowering academics the Viskerian way

Abstract Academics and/or scholars increasingly feel that their academic voice (combined or individual) has been squelched by the demands of performativity in its various guises, and resultantly, that they have been caught up in a process of steady disempowerment. Rather, it should be their right to be free to use their positions in the pursuit of scholarship as their conscience and their expert knowledge of their subject dictate. Academics should be free to question for themselves the boundaries of their limitations, and not have these imposed on them by the state or government bureaucracy. In order to help empower academics to regain their academic voice and identity, this article transposes six of the philosophical ideas of Belgian philosopher Rudi Visker to the world of academia. It explores the possibilities of using these ideas as instruments for the promotion and maintenance of academic freedom.

Progress in the desegregation of schools in South Africa : experiences of school principals

The desegregation of schools, which followed the 1954 Brown v Topeka court ruling, was not a reform movement limited to the United States of America, but a worldwide trend. This was also the case in post-1994 South Africa, where it became a cornerstone of governmental education policy and a sine qua non for the provision of equal education opportunities. In an attempt to gather information on a grossly under-researched area of South African education, this paper investigates how principals of schools in KwaZulu-Natal have experienced the course of desegregation in recent years. On the basis of these data, an overall assessment is ventured, problematic areas are identified, and recommendations are made to address these problems. In conclusion, follow-up research is suggested, especially with regard to the problems identified and with regard to deficiencies of the instrument used in this research.

From Teachers to Perfect Humboldtian Persons to Academic Superpersons: The Teaching and Research Activities of the South African Academic Profession

For the largest part of its history, until as recently as the early 1980s, South African universities were regarded as basically teaching institutions, their main function to provide highly educated human resources for the economy of a developing country. Accordingly, the main assignment of the academic profession was teaching. As the South African university sector became part of the international academic world, the requirement to conduct research came to the fore since the middle 1980s, more so after South Africa reintegrated with the international academic world after the repeal of the international academic boycott which had been waged against the country from c. 1960 to c. 1990. At the same time, the democratization of universities, and the allocation of more power to students, as well as the new conceptualization of students as clients in a consumer-driven economy, changed the nature of the teaching assignment of the academic profession. This was not the only factor which made teaching at universities all the more demanding. New pedagogies and new technology and the rise in the number of distance education students contributed to this trend too, as did the rising managerialism and the influx of students poorly prepared for university study. This chapter presents the experience of the South African academic profession of these changes, using CAP data.

The South African Academic Profession: Job Satisfaction for a Besieged Profession?

This chapter investigates the job satisfaction of the South African academics using data procured by means of the international CAP (Changing Academic Profession) survey of the academic profession. While on aggregate they are mildly satisfied with their profession, they do feel that working conditions in higher education are deteriorating. It is also disturbing that one-third indicated that they would not enter the profession if they could have it all over again. Academics feel the stranglehold of managerialism. The differences in male–female job satisfaction and between teacher-oriented and research-oriented academics point to the persistence of the historical organisational set-up and cultures of South African universities.

THE PROMISE OF THE COMMUNITY COLLEGE MODEL IN SOUTH AFRICA

South African higher education is beset by the following problems: inequality in access to and survival in higher education, aligning education and work, and the problem of the university appearing as a Western institution, isolated from the exigencies and realities of society. One institution that does have an international track record in successfully addressing these issues is the Community College. This chapter reconstructs that track record, and juxtaposes it next to an analysis of South African higher education and the South African context, and in conclusion assesses the promise of inserting the Community College model into the South African higher education landscape.

First Language as medium of instruction in higher education: An international perspective

First Language as Medium of Instruction in Higher Education: An International Perspective The purpose of this article is to illuminate the issue of home language as a language of learning and teaching (LOLT) at university level in South Africa, in view of international historical and comparative perspectives. According to widely accepted hypotheses, formal educational institutions evolved because of political and economic considerations. Although such views are reductionistic in that they do not paint the full picture, they contain a modicum of truth and provide some insight into the issue of LOLT in educational settings. Central governments have always showed a tendency to use education as an instrument for legitimising their own existence and for maintaining the integrity of the state (in the 18th century, for example). Very few minority languages have so far succeeded in acquiring LOLT status with the approval and support of national governments, despite rhetoric about the importance of multiculturalism and adherence to human rights manifestos. French in Canada (both within and outside of Quebec) and Afrikaans in South Africa are being considered as exceptions to this rule.

The Need for and Possibility of a Christian Forgiveness Education in Schools.

ABSTRACT Individuals and communities occasionally need asking and giving forgiveness. Because the process of forgiving is not always well understood, it has become necessary to consider including forgiveness education in school pedagogy and in formal school programs such as Citizenship Education. This possibility is illustrated with examples from South Africa and The Netherlands. To date, forgiveness education has mostly taken the form of brief research interventions. It is recommended that forgiveness education, also from a Christian viewpoint, be given a more prominent place in school curriculums as well as in teacher education programs.

The Science of Pedagogy in Soviet Estonia (1944-1991): Resilience in the Face of Adversity.

ABSTRACT This article examines how education unfolded as a science in Estonia in the period 1944–1991, i.e. from the second Soviet occupation to the fall of the USSR. Historical analysis of the way prominent scholars and institutions succeeded in overcoming the adverse conditions of that period is conducted by viewing their respective contributions through two theoretical lenses: cultural trauma theory to explore the adversities they had to contend with, and resilience theory to explain how those challenges were overcome. Through these means an account is constructed of how individuals and institutions succeeded in preserving the national Estonian and inter-war European legacy of educational philosophy, in the process confronting and countering adverse socio-cultural-political conditions.