Browsing by Author "Cafun, Wade Cesaree."

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Imagining success, experiencing social injustices and learner poor performance.
(2018) Cafun, Wade Cesaree.; Ramrathan, Prevanand.
The attainment of academic success is something to which most learners aspire. Sadly, many, and in particular learners from disadvantaged backgrounds tend to fall short of achieving such aspirations. This is especially the case when their achievements are measured against the academic rigour of their wealthier and certainly more advantaged counterparts. To ask marginalised learners to reflect on the attainment of academic success may therefore be unreasonable and impractical. It is for this reason, amongst others, that the notion of simply imagining success was pertinent in my study. My study takes place against the backdrop of increasing instances of inequality both locally and globally. The site in which my study was based was in a historically “coloured” community in which the adverse effects of social injustice are an everyday reality for many who live and school within this community. The effects of inequality are clearly reflected in the everyday experiences of learners within schools. For instance, having to learn in environments that are neither welcoming nor conducive to the attainment of academic success are but some of the experiences that were commonplace in the lives of the twelve learners who participated in my study. Positioned firmly within the discipline of social justice and employing a critical methodological approach, my study aimed to give voice to these twelve learners who have too often been silenced so as to serve the benefits of social groups who are already in positions of power. I thus attempted to answer questions which illuminate what the unique experiences of these learners were concerning instances of social injustice as well as how these experiences may or may not have influenced their imaginings of success, and ultimately their academic performance. From an axiological perspective, the realities of the twelve learners in my study were brought to the fore as I chose to dedicate a large portion of my study to both their spoken and written words surrounding their experiences of social injustices, their academic performance, and indeed their imaginings of success. With an immense focus on the phenomenon of learners’ imaginings, I relied heavily on the work of Gilles Deleuze to frame my study. However, remaining true to the critical theory paradigm and the discipline of social justice, I also turned to the writings of Paulo Freire. This enabled me to not merely research, but to also bring about change in the lives of the learners who participated in my study, albeit change which existed only in their minds. The use of photo elicitations, the writing of imaginative narratives, individual interviews as well as a focus group interview served as the means by which data was collected. Learners were thus given a diverse array of methods through which to communicate their experiences and imaginings. Upon analysing the data, some of the findings which emerged suggested that learners are constantly exposed to low expectations and the doctoring of results; learners learn in environments of fear where their paths to success are often blocked; learners learn in spaces which represent unequal power relations; learners do have imaginings of success but they are influenced by exposure to social injustices in their school, and finally; learners have the potential to transcend their circumstances through their imaginings of success. Ultimately these findings as well as the theories of both Deleuze and Freire resulted in my developing what I called “the elliptic theory of imagination.” True to its name, this theory demonstrated that while learners are able to eventually transcend their circumstances with the help of imagination, learners’ imaginings nevertheless followed an elliptical orbit around their material realities. At times learners’ imaginings were too close to their realities and were therefore limited by them. While at others, learners’ imaginings were too far afield from their realities and were thus unrealistic. Essentially, an implication of my study was that in order for imagination to operate as a vehicle for liberation, learners’ imaginings must exist within an area of orbit which I called “the lavender zone.” This zone is neither too close to, nor too far from one’s material reality. Therefore, in this zone imagination was neither limited by experiences nor so far removed from reality that it became unrealistic.
The relationship between teachers' conceptions of "globalisation" and professional learning.
(2012) Cafun, Wade Cesaree.; Amin, Nyna.
At present globalisation has engulfed the world in what has been described as a whirl wind effect, in that is has swirled around the globe and encapsulated it; almost to the extent that the effects of globalisation appear completely inescapable to most nations and citizens. One can assume thus that the influence of globalisation on education, and in particular teacher education, is inevitable. This study focuses on teachers' conceptions of globalisation and its relationship to teacher professional learning with an aim to understand how six teachers exposed to global discourses conceive globalisation and its effect on their professional learning. Given that an effect of globalisation is the merging of various ideas and the exertion of simultaneous influences on such ideas from a variety of sources, a single focus group discussion was used for the generation of dat in this study to produce an environment very similar to the one achieved by globalisation (i.e. an environment in which various ideas are generated simultaneously and are subjected to influences from a variety of sources). From this, rich data emerged highlighting that the teachers in this study have very similar and in some cases very different conceptions of globalisation, teacher professional learning, and the relationship between the two. Interestingly, what stands out is the teachers involved in this study conceive that context, plays an integral role in contemporary teacher learning. The analysis generated theses such as retrogression, inequity, contradictions as well as the experiences of these teachers in learning and not learning. In essence, globalisation and teacher professional learning are shown to be inseparable in this area in which teachers are currently forced to learn for specific contexts and in most cases have to relearn as their contexts change in accordance with the ever evolving nature of globalisation. Indeed teacher professional learning at present is placed under tremendous strain, and so an understanding of the links between globalisation and teacher professional learning is expressed in this study. In addition, what emerges as a plausible solution to the problem of how teacher professional learning may keep up with globalisation, appears to be a need for teachers to take charge of their professional learning and to move away from positions of dependency and passivity to a position of active agency.