This study investigated the seemingly conflicting and incompatible ideological positions that post-apartheid South Africa appears to straddle. On the one hand, South Africa is an aspiring liberal democracy courtesy of its constitution of 1996, which is liberal in that it enshrines a wide range of rights and freedoms for the individual. On the other hand, the same constitution recognises the institution of traditional leadership, whose claim to power is hereditary and not by popular vote. Thus the study established that South Africa is an aspiring liberal democracy that is also heavily steeped in African traditions and cultures. It offered a rebuttal of the view that existence and recognition of traditional institutions of politics and governance in a liberal democracy is a fundamental contradiction. Drawing on the literature the study showed that liberal democracies such as Japan, the United Kingdom (UK), Belgium, The Netherlands and Spain, have had monarchies from time immemorial. But their monarchies are not a hindrance to either liberalism or liberal democracy. The study underscored the importance of Ubuntu as a socio-cultural discourse in South Africa, more so given that South Africa is an African country whose population is 80 per cent African. Concomitantly the study proposed a philosophy of education that amalgamates some aspects of liberal education with some aspects of African traditional education. Aspects of liberal education that were found to pertain to the amalgamation are ‘cultivating humanity’ and ‘narrative imagination’, while aspects of African traditional education are the values and principles implicit in Ubuntu, the latter understood as a humane normative concept. At a practical classroom level the study proposed that such an amalgamated philosophy of education would be attained through storytelling and the teaching of history through chronology and causation. As a form of ‘narrative’, storytelling reveals the finite in its fragile uniqueness and illustrates how the past influences and shapes the present, and how the present determines aspects of the past that are useful and meaningful today. Similarly the teaching of history through chronology and causation enables the students to organise their historical thought processes and construct their own probable historical narratives. The teaching of history through chronology and causation therefore offers the students multiple opportunities to gain a better understanding of historical events, and lessons that can be learn from such events. / Psychology of Education / D. Ed. (Philosophy of Education)

Moral degeneration is a universal phenomenon which negatively affects many societies, also the South African society. The South African society, with specific reference to family life and school life is experiencing a serious moral breakdown. The media is constantly reporting this breakdown, which is evident in social ills such as a general lack of discipline and self-discipline, violence, poverty, unemployment, a high crime rate, promiscuity, school vandalism and corruption. The literature study indicates that these moral ills have negative implications for society and for education, and that they are mainly the result of a lack of a positive value system in society as a whole. This study aims at determining the role of “values education” in addressing the problem of moral degeneration. The conceptual framework upon which the study is based is known as social reconstructivism. It is a philosophical theory which proposes that society should be transformed by addressing the social problems which it experiences. An ethnographic research design and grounded theory were employed. Questionnaires were distributed to 200 learners from four public schools in order to determine their value systems. Trends that were found after the analysis of the questionnaires were further explored by means of in-depth interviews with some of these learners. The main data collecting instrument was the semi-structured interview (individual and focus group interviews). The participants were parents, principals, teachers, community leaders and learners, who are all important stakeholders in education. Data were collected in the Eastern Cape Province over a period of five months. The empirical research findings were compared to literature findings. Both these findings revealed that, to an alarming extent, the moral code in South African society is on the decline. Currently education in the home, school and community does not convey a positive value system to learners - thus perpetuating the problem of a society in decline. In the light of the findings, guidelines have been developed in order to improve school practices and to suggest possible solutions to the social problems that endanger the future prosperity of the South African society. / Education / D. Ed. (Socio-Education)

Moral degeneration is a universal phenomenon which negatively affects many societies, also the South African society. The South African society, with specific reference to family life and school life is experiencing a serious moral breakdown. The media is constantly reporting this breakdown, which is evident in social ills such as a general lack of discipline and self-discipline, violence, poverty, unemployment, a high crime rate, promiscuity, school vandalism and corruption. The literature study indicates that these moral ills have negative implications for society and for education, and that they are mainly the result of a lack of a positive value system in society as a whole. This study aims at determining the role of “values education” in addressing the problem of moral degeneration. The conceptual framework upon which the study is based is known as social reconstructivism. It is a philosophical theory which proposes that society should be transformed by addressing the social problems which it experiences. An ethnographic research design and grounded theory were employed. Questionnaires were distributed to 200 learners from four public schools in order to determine their value systems. Trends that were found after the analysis of the questionnaires were further explored by means of in-depth interviews with some of these learners. The main data collecting instrument was the semi-structured interview (individual and focus group interviews). The participants were parents, principals, teachers, community leaders and learners, who are all important stakeholders in education. Data were collected in the Eastern Cape Province over a period of five months. The empirical research findings were compared to literature findings. Both these findings revealed that, to an alarming extent, the moral code in South African society is on the decline. Currently education in the home, school and community does not convey a positive value system to learners - thus perpetuating the problem of a society in decline. In the light of the findings, guidelines have been developed in order to improve school practices and to suggest possible solutions to the social problems that endanger the future prosperity of the South African society. / Education / D. Ed. (Socio-Education)