Browsing by Author "Hemson, Crispin Michael Cole."
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Item Experiences of Lesotho students studying at the University of Natal (Durban) (Edgewood Campus) : their perceptions in relation to oppression in the form of racism, xenophobia and sexism.(2004) Pae, Maletebele Eliza.; Hemson, Crispin Michael Cole.; Francis, Dennis Anthony.This study explores the experiences of oppression Lesotho students studying at the University of Natal (Durban). The study explored the experiences in relation to oppression in relation to racism, xenophobia and sexism. Interviews and observation were the research tools used in this study. The results reveal that most of these students experience a vertical racism in the same way black South Africans experience it and they also experience xenophobia from black South African students.Item Exploring the schooling experience of migrant children from the Democratic Republic of Congo in South Africa.(2010) Nnadozie, Jude Ifeanyichukwu.; Hemson, Crispin Michael Cole.This study explores the schooling experiences in South Africa of migrant children from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Migration has been an area of interest within political, social and academic circles. In recent times, studies have been and are being conducted on issues on migration especially with the aim of exploring migrants’ experiences and challenges. This study addresses the experiences of migrant children from the Democratic Republic of Congo in schools in South Africa and their social identity as migrants. It aims to bring these issues into focus and to encourage further research and debate with the aim of finding ways of ensuring better schooling experiences for these migrant children. As its objective, and in line with the aspirations of inclusion and diversity of the present system of education in South Africa, this study: enables an insight into the Congolese migrant children’s school experiences and the resulting challenges for schooling in South Africa, provides an avenue to explore these challenges and experiences in the light of educational policies in place in South Africa and how these challenges affect the children’s education, raises critical issues regarding inclusion and diversity in the South African educational context, and contributes to ongoing debate, awareness and research interest in the area of study. The study addresses the extent to which the inclusive schooling system in South Africa does in reality include these migrant children. This study is situated within the critical paradigm and engages Social Identity Theory as its theoretical framework. It employs a case study methodology to explore the schooling experiences of migrant children from the Democratic Republic of Congo. The theoretical framework as well as the methodology used in this study makes provision for a critical engagement in the analyses of these experiences.Item From the roots to the fruit : a qualitative case study of internship.(1996) Hemson, Crispin Michael Cole.The dissertation describes a project to employ two young African trainees in the Centre for Adult Education at the University of Natal in Durban. The intention was to develop them as possible community adult educators, and a list of objectives relevant to such a role was developed. The trainees worked for ten months part-time, employed mainly on administrative and clerical tasks, as opportunities for directly educational work in fact proved to be limited. The project did not achieve the objectives for the most part, at least to the desired extent, and the trainees progressed not to further community involvement but to tertiary education. It nonetheless assisted the trainees in clarifying their career goals and acting on them with considerable success. The particular frustrations and difficulties of trainees from a radically different social environment are recorded, as well as their growing confidence and changed perspectives as they began to form their own understandings of a tertiary context, and to reevaluate their own role as employees and later students. The nature of the learning that did take place is described in some detail, and the reasons are explored for the partial success and noteworthy failures of the project. The study points to the need for understanding clearly the distinction between learning in formal education and informal and incidental learning in the workplace. It explores the differences between the two kinds of learning, and points to the need for further work to describe and analyse adequately learning that takes place outside formal education. The project demonstrated the specific difficulties of the university as a site of workplace learning. It exposed the issue of content in adult education as an area which demands far greater consideration, especially in the training of adult educators, and the study underlines the need for learning of content to parallel learning of teaching method. The major adult education needs of South Africa call for flexibility in developing adult educators, and the study aims to inform ways in which internship can be used to help meet those needs.Item Growing social justice educators : how do we improve our practice as social justice educators?(2006) Quin, Jane Wilhelmina.; Christiansen, Iben Maj.; Hemson, Crispin Michael Cole.In this study I am aiming to improve my practice as a Social Justice Educator of educator-students, basing my methodology primarily on Jean McNiff's (2002) approach to self-reflective action-research. The self-reflective action-research requirements mean that the study is necessarily an iterative process. I construct tools from within my praxis that has informed my work as a social justice educator. I apply these tools to the work of students (that has been informed by my praxis) to evaluate how well this same praxis lives up to its purpose. Through the same process I seek to improve the tools with which to better frame and name the praxis, for its improvement. From my own and collective writing, working, learning and reading experiences I have aimed to do this by constructing a Trajectory Model describing an understanding of social justice education to apply to the Self-Reflective Action-Research (SR-AR) Reports of our Advanced Certificate in Education (ACE) students. I use this process to draw conclusions about the Trajectory Model and indications of social justice educator practice. The Trajectory Model - containing the Critical Elements for indicating social justice education-praxis - is the model I construct for and in this research - for use in our ongoing developmental praxis as social justice educators. The Trajectory Model, for social justice education, is constructed - and hence understood through - a series of layered models of informing concepts and theories. The Trajectory Model is my attempt to describe the standing; yearning-imagining-dreaming; gazing; seeing; thinking-naming and framing; and doing subjective being for social justice - in a way that is communicable and usable to articulate indicators of what I - in this contextual space, time and community of practice - understand to be critical in being a social justice educator 1. The trajectory Model discussion focuses particularly on three Critical Elements: Position and Stance; Indigenous Knowledge Construction; and Agency and Praxis. They are to be 'read' as being embedded within 'imagination and yearning' for a socially just, non-oppressive society - and they all imply self-reflexivity as an integral aspect of their existence. Thus while there are six numbered elements or aspects in the Trajectory Model, it is the three 'intersecting circles' (of the model diagram) that I name to be the central or Critical Elements - the other three being contextualising or 'embedding' 'aspects' rather than 'elements'. Through this process I came to the following primary conclusions: The method of researching the reports was inadequate for the purpose of drawing any but the most tentative conclusions about growth of social justice practice from the work contained in the reports. However, they proved of some value in students' self-reflections on their own social justice praxis. Through the process of engagement and analysis, indications emerged that the constructed tools have value for the purpose of facilitating analysis and articulation of social justice educator praxis through the provision of a conceptual structure to name and frame the work. This has beneficial implications for social justice educator pedagogical development with regard to both praxis and research possibilities for our community of practice as social justice educators at UKZN in the future. The self-reflexivity and collective engagement of the research process in this study has helped to strengthen my practice as an educator of social justice educators, primarily through improving definition and mapping of critical elements in educating for social justice, as I understand it, in relation to current understandings and practiecs in the literature. 1. The discussion in the Introduction to this study, on the reason for using an alternative set of words to the "dreaming, seeing, being" terminology, pertains.Item An investigation into the perceptions and practices of teachers with regard to classroom discipline.(2012) Venkataramani, Anuradha.; Hemson, Crispin Michael Cole.The purpose of this study is to understand the dynamics of power experienced by teachers with multiple stakeholders namely the learners, parents, the school management team and the Department of Education in the management of learner discipline. The study also investigated teachers’ knowledge of legislation and policy regarding discipline and the perceptions of their authority and power in relationship to learner discipline. The study on teachers’ experience and perceptions of learner (in)discipline was conducted in an hitherto overlooked setting, namely the primary school. Media reports and international surveys on discipline, violence and school safety pinpoint the need for further research on this burning issue that is affecting our society. In this study, all ten senior primary teachers participated. A qualitative approach was used. Data was collected through classroom observation, interviews, written accounts and document analysis. The participants were chosen by purposive sampling. The collection, presentation and analysis of data were guided by the research questions, and by the following concepts: French and Raven’s five bases of power (legitimate, coercive, expert, reward and referent), structural power and the concepts of power over, power with, power to and power from within, all through the lens of education for social justice. The process of social justice requires an outlook of power with rather than power over. Power with is a jointly developed power, that is, the power we achieve by working cooperatively with all concerned. The findings indicate that teachers’ knowledge of legislation on discipline covers the banning of corporal punishment but is vague and divided about the corrective measures and the alternatives to corporal punishment. Teachers’ perceptions of their power to control misbehaviour is one of powerlessness. This is caused by, among other factors, the demands of macro structural forces and external factors beyond their control. Teachers resort to negotiation and bargaining with learners to engage them in learning. In this struggle to manage indiscipline, teachers stand alone deprived of support from parents, school administration and the Department of Education. Hence the dynamics of power experienced by teachers with other stakeholders in the management of discipline is not a transformational form of power or a social justice version of power with.Item Relating experiences of non-Christian educators in predominantly Christian schools in Kwa-Zulu [sic] Natal from a social justice perspective.(2006) Harms, Yasmin.; Hemson, Crispin Michael Cole.This research study deals with educators' experiences and daily encounters within two diverse school settings. Educators from both schools are from diverse religious, racial and cultural backgrounds. The study focuses on issues of social groups based on religious affiliations and was guided by theories of oppression and social justice. The following questions were the focus of the study: 1. What have been the experiences of non-Christian educators in a predominantly Christian school around religion? 2. What caused these experiences to be constructed in a way they did? 3. To what extent have the experiences of non-Christians at the school been similar to earlier experiences in relationship to religion in their lives? 4. To what extent are the experiences of non-Christians evidence for describing their situation as one of 'religious oppression'? A qualitative approach was used. Semi-structured interviews were conducted at one school and questionnaires were completed at the second school, as the researcher was unable to interview educators because of time constraints. The results of the research indicated that educator experiences differed from one school to the next. Although it is not possible to make a judgement about religious oppression based on such limited contexts, there is significant evidence of social exclusion based on religion at the one school. At times these issues are caught up in racial and gender issues, or issues between non-Christian religions. However, at the second school educators experienced a high degree of inclusion. The research raises questions about the ways in which schools in South Africa are addressing the constitutional and policy requirements concerning the acceptance of religious diversity.Item Social identity development among students doing diversity and learning module at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.(2006) Khanyile, Ntombifuthi Iorah.; Hemson, Crispin Michael Cole.The casting of the votes for the first time for all South Africans irrespective of race, gender, social class and language brought hope of a better life for all in South Africa. There were fears and uncertainty but many were optimistic about the future in our country. The new democratic South Africa had challenges that needed drastic transformation. That included understanding each other in terms of social identities and power relations since these challenges involved the end of discrimination of any kind, living together, losing some privileges to those who had them, and sharing some powers. Before 1994 when South Africa was under the spell of apartheid, South Africans were divided into social groups that forbade people to know each other. Some people for example White people, men and upper class people who had privileges enjoyed their privileges in the expense of others who had no privileges like Indians, Coloureds, Africans, women and lower class people. These groups that were powerless were oppressed and discriminated against. That resulted into anger, hatred and dissatisfaction among people. They became far apart from each other. Therefore all South Africans (privileged and non privileged) had to renegotiate their social identities and change their understanding of who they are. That could not be done automatically, strategies had to be implemented so as to influence these kind of changes in people. This research was done in order to find if students on the Diversity and Learning (DaL) module of Social Justice Education have developed in their understanding of social identities. Interviews were done at the University of KwaZulu Natal Edgewood Campus. Literature concerning social identities was examined. A qualitative research design was used. A non - probability sampling method was used with reliance on available subjects. The snowball method was used to find 8 students, comprising of 2 Whites, 2 Blacks, 2 Coloureds and 2 Indians where both sexes were involved. Data was collected through an in-depth interview to enable self - reports from the samples. The finding of the research shows that students on the DaL module do seem to have gone through some changes, and these changes are in the areas which DaL module addresses, that is, race and gender.Item Young, gifted and black : oral histories of young activists in Cape Town and Durban in the early 1970s.(2007) Chetty, Carmel Therese Mary.; Hemson, Crispin Michael Cole.; Francis, Dennis Anthony.This study highlights the contribution of activists from Durban and Cape Town in the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa in the early nineteen seventies. Historians tend to generally disregard this period, that followed the state crackdown on black political organisations and leaders, especially when writing on the 1960s Defiance Campaign and the 1976 uprising. The respondents in this study developed their political consciousness during the period when internationally there was growing popular resistance to the Vietnam War, coupled with the emergence of the militant Black Power Movement in the USA. This was also the period of the development of the Black Consciousness Movement among 'black' university students in South Africa. The emergence of the dynamic Black Consciousness Movement gave young individuals the ammunition to explore a new identity that could help them discard the shackles of the oppressive consciousness drummed through apartheid schooling. The thesis of this study is about the significant impact the deconstruction of racial identities had on the lives of young activists who resisted racial and class oppression, during the period incorrectly described as The Fifteen Year Night After Sharpeville2 '. It contends that revolutionary zeal evoked spontaneous learning. Powerful learning occurred when it was linked to the struggle against oppression. Under such conditions groups and individuals took responsibility for their own learning and developed skills and strategies that has largely stayed with them for the rest of their lives. This study presents the oral stories of some activists from the Durban and Cape Town areas and explores the activities of these two groups, hundreds of miles away from one another who pursued activities that were largely similar. The focus is on the learning that emerged through the consciousness raising and the conscientisation processes that helped activists psychologically liberate themselves from racial indoctrination. It traces the 2 Jaffe, 1994: 182 development of their consciousness during their youth and examines how that consciousness impacted on their lives as well as their understanding of their social identities in the present. The Black Consciousness philosophy drew individuals away from the preconceived notions rooted in the oppressive ideology of apartheid and created a new identity that promoted 'black' pride and solidarity. Although the groups operated almost 1700 kilometres apart, this study found that those activists who were exposed to philosophies like Freire's 'Education for Liberation' converged towards a common goal for revolutionary social change.