Relebohile Moletsane

Education and the global rural: Feminist perspectives

Educational research has primarily been concerned with the urban. It is telling, for example, that so many studies of education in the rural begin by noting the lack of literature on the subject (Howley, Theobald, and Howley 2005; Hargreaves, Kvalsund, and Galton 2009; Schafft and Youngblood Jackson 2010). Even when the rural is invoked in educational research it is ‘as mere setting’ (Howley 2004, 258) or ‘context’ (Moletsane and Ntombela 2010, 5). This may go some way to explaining the limited feminist attention to rural education, but we wonder if there are also other factors at play which are worth exploring in this editorial introduction if we are to address this lacuna. One factor that may explain the neglect of the rural by feminist educators is that we have been influenced by stereotypes of rural women and girls as traditional, insular and reactionary, and thus not productive or constructive subjects for feminist inquiry. Just as disability and old age may have been written out of feminist scripts as they sit uneasily with narratives celebrating female power, competence and strength (Fine and Asch 1988; Thomas 2006), rurality may also have been sidelined as denoting conservatism and conformism rather than feminist notions of change and freedom. Of course representations of rural women and girls as apolitical denies the long history of rural women’s activism (Pini, Panelli, and Sawer 2008), but such a view remains prevalent and may (even inadvertently) shape our academic dispositions. It is not just because of the negative assumptions we may hold of women and girls which may explain the omission of rurality as a topic of analysis in feminist educational research, but more broadly assumptions about the rural. It may be that the rural itself is considered largely irrelevant, little more than a pre-modern backwater increasingly peripheral and inconsequential to the urbanised cosmopolitan twenty-first century world. Furthermore, in the performative and entrepreneurial university, we may resist wanting to associate ourselves with a sphere that seems far from cutting-edge. In this regard, one of us (Barbara) has been counselled on a number of occasions that, as a discipline, rural studies is ‘dead’ and advised to ‘mainstream’ her research to render herself more ‘marketable’. These views have been echoed by referee reports on funding applications which have argued that a focus on the rural is not of national significance to contemporary Australia. Such perspectives are likely to be magnified internationally, now that for the first time in history, the global urban population has surpassed that of the global rural population (Woods 2011, 290). A related factor which may explain the lack of interest in the rural among feminist educators is that the difference that rurality makes may simply be impossible to see or comprehend from our typically urban perspective in the academy. Some of us may have grown up in rural locations, but that may be so far removed from our current life that it no longer resonates with who we are. Perhaps we are keen to leave this identity behind given its often negative connotations. Others may work in rural locales as feminist

Learning about Co-Flexivity in a Transdisciplinary Self-Study Research Supervision Community

In South Africa, every postgraduate (master’s or doctoral) student is usually assigned one academic advisor, known as a supervisor. “The traditional model is the apprenticeship model of individual mentoring. This model is usually supplemented by informal and ad hoc support programmes” (Academy of Science of South Africa [ASSAf], 2010, p. 64).

Leading schools in circumstances of multiple deprivation in South Africa Mapping some conceptual, contextual and research dimensions

The paper suggests that multiple deprivation is a concept as yet lacking in substantial theoretical analysis and that its application as a research framing tool in education is relatively recent. As a concept, multiple deprivation suggests a confluence of factors which depress learning and place unique challenges on leadership and which act in combination rather than in isolation. Given that more than three quarters of schools in South Africa are officially described as dysfunctional and that many of these schools serve communities facing multiple deprivation, the article calls for a new theoretical approach which focuses on how best schools in these circumstances can best be led. Based on extant evidence in the field, the paper identifies generative leadership practices upon which a new theory of leadership for these contexts could be constructed. Specifically, it suggests that a cocktail of leadership forms which include transformational, distributed, instructional, ethical and asset based leadership could offer the most promise for schools faced with multiple deprivation. The paper also provides an overview of the articles selected for this special edition.

Understanding Specific Contexts of Antiretroviral Therapy Adherence in Rural South Africa: A Thematic Analysis of Digital Stories from a Community with High HIV Prevalence

Near-perfect adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) is required to achieve the best possible prevention and treatment outcomes. Yet, there have been particular concerns about the challenges of adherence among patients living in resource-limited settings in sub-Saharan Africa. The primary objective of this study was to explore adherence in a low-resourced, rural community of high HIV prevalence in South Africa and to identify specific individual and structural factors that can either challenge or support adherence in this context. We applied digital stories as a qualitative research tool to gain insights into personal contexts of HIV and ART adherence. Through an inductive thematic analysis of twenty story texts, soundtracks and drawings, we explored experiences, understandings, and contexts of the participants and identified potential barriers and facilitators for those on lifelong treatment. We found that many of the stories reflected a growing confidence in the effectiveness of ART, which should be viewed as a key facilitator to successful adherence since this attitude can promote disclosure and boost access to social support. Nevertheless, stories also highlighted the complexity of the issues that individuals and households face as they deal with HIV and ART in this setting and it is clear that an overburdened local healthcare system has often struggled to meet the demands of a rapidly expanding epidemic and to provide the necessary medical and emotional support. Our analysis suggests several opportunities for further research and the design of novel health interventions to support optimal adherence. Firstly, future health promotion campaigns should encourage individuals to test together, or at least accompany each other for testing, to encourage social support from the outset. Additionally, home-based testing and ART club interventions might be recommended to make it easier for individuals to adhere to their treatment regimens and to provide a sense of support and solidarity.

Using transformative pedagogies for the prevention of gender-based violence: Reflections from a secondary school-based intervention

abstract This article describes an initiative aimed at addressing gender violence, and in particular sexual violence. Implemented in 2014 in a township secondary school in Durban, the initiative involved six peer educators from the Durban University of Technology and 10 from the secondary school. In its design, the initiative has drawn from what might be called ‘transformative pedagogies’. Moreover, located more broadly within feminist pedagogies, the project focused on work that emphasises the creation of safe spaces in education for young female learners. This was aimed at enabling participants’ deep reflection on the self, addressing both structure and agency. Our analysis suggests that through its pedagogy, the initiative created a platform for both male and female students to speak about their experiences of violence and forge new ways of talking about and addressing sexual abuse. Further, the process was successful in enabling an appreciation of difference and resourcefulness among the participants. This article highlights the potential value of transformative and feminist pedagogies in addressing gender-based violence, and particularly sexual violence among learners in secondary schools.

Girl-led strategies to address campus safety: Creating action briefs for dialogue with policy makers

In exploring gender activism with girls and young women in South Africa, we take up, in this visual essay, the activism practices and strategies of a group of 14 young women with whom we have been working in the Girls Leading Change project. This project is aimed at addressing sexual violence on campus, which in the context of gender-based violence in South Africa, requires urgent, but also continuous, attention. Although this is a project at a university in South Africa, sexual violence and rape culture on university and college campuses is a worldwide concern (Phipps and Smith, 2012).

Poetry in a Pocket

In this chapter we explore what we choose to call the everyday poetics1 of rural teachers as expressed through the production of cellphilms, or, as we refer to them here, pocket films, in recognition of the ever-present mobile phone that fits easily into a pocket.

Managing teacher leave and absence in South African rural schools Implications for supporting schools in contexts of multiple-deprivation

Research increasingly points to the negative impacts of teacher absence from school on access to schooling and success in learning in schools, in particular in schools in areas of multiple-deprivation (including rural schools). South African schools are no exception. In this regard, like any other employer, the South African Department of Basic Education has a set of policies that govern teachers’ conditions of service. Among others, these include policies that govern leave and absence from school. While the policies are meant to enhance teachers’ conditions of service, they are also aimed at safeguarding the rights of learners to quality education by ensuring that teachers remain on task, and that teaching and learning is not interrupted. Using Lipsky’s theory of discretion, this paper takes the view that as street-level bureaucrats, principals use their discretionary power to manage teacher leave and absence from school, and that the strategies they employ are informed by their understandings and conceptualisations of policy. The paper reports on a study undertaken to explore teacher leave in South African schools. In particular, it critically examines principals’ use of their discretionary powers to make decisions about teacher leave-taking, and the coping mechanisms they use to manage teacher absence and to safeguard the rights of learners to quality education.