A critical exploration of seven peer-reviewed published papers supports the author’s contention that learning in Higher Education is a fragile system of conscious and unconscious transactions that serve to weaken a process that is already precarious. Over the course of this essay and the accompanying papers, the submission is that learning is brittle, and easily broken. The Fragile Learner is described as someone close to conceding defeat to circumstances that threaten his education. The Fragile Learner might be a student of a Higher Education Institution, but also might be an appointed educator. Alongside notions of barriers to learning, this submission explores identities and tensions. Although some of the ideas that make up my picture of Fragile Learning have been researched by other contributors (notably Meyer and Land; Britzman), my own contribution sees the complexities through various psychoanalytic lenses. Fundamentally, it is the addition of psychoanalysis that makes Fragile Learning original. It is argued that anxiety is an important part of adult learning. Fragile Learners might experience anxieties that are internal and complex but which appear to be attacks from other people. Alternatively, Fragile Learning might be a consequence of learners having suffered illness or indisposition. It is important that something can be blamed. The themes of fragility and anxiety – not to mention the difficulties that arise from distance learning – are present throughout.

M.Ed. / After conducting a workshop for class assistants at my school for learners with intellectual impairments, I identified that class assistants need to develop such life skills as self-awareness, communication and problem-solving. Life skills enable one to translate knowledge, attitudes and values into action as actual abilities, but life skills are not in themselves forms of behaviour, they are abilities to behave in certain ways, given the motivation and the scope to do so within the prevailing social and cultural constraints (Van der Merwe, 1996). Currently, no program exists within the Gauteng Education system for life skills training of Class Assistants. I argue that life skills enable one to translate knowledge, attitudes and values into action as actual abilities. “However, life skills are not in themselves forms of behaviour rather they are abilities to behave in certain ways, given the motivation and the scope to do so within the prevailing social and cultural constraints” (Van der Merwe, 1996:289). During life skills training, the facilitator is able to gain a sense of self-worth by evaluating the strengths, skills and capabilities of the individual participants. Through this experience, class assistants will be able to accept and appreciate that they are individuals with different strengths and weaknesses, and that they have something to offer. As part of human resource development, education support personnel and class assistants should be provided with the appropriate training and support to participate fully in the school system (Department of Education, 1997:130). The development of people is essential to health promotion and whole-school development (Donald et al, 2002). / Mrs. H. Krige

Adult educators talk frequently about learning which occurs during daily living; however, relatively few explore the breadth and depth of such learning. I contend that shopping, as it is commonly understood and practiced in Western societies, is a site of everyday learning. Among people concerned about globalisation, this learning connects shopping to the politics of consumption, identity and resistance. Central to this inquiry are Antonio Gramsci's (1971) concepts of hegemony, ideology, common sense and dialectic. These are useful in understanding the irresolvable tensions between the political, economic and cultural arenas of social life. Informed by critical, feminist and critical race scholarship, I proceed to conceptualize adult learning as “incidental” (Foley, 1999, 2001) and holistic. I then conceptualize “consumer-citizenship.” Social relations of gender, race and class are central in the construction of identity which influences experiences and understandings of consumption and citizenship in the context of Canadian society and global development. My over-arching methodology, which I call “case study bricolage,” incorporates qualitative case study methods of interviews, focus groups and participant observation with 32 self-identified “radical shoppers” in Vancouver, British Columbia. As well, I employ cultural studies' intertextuality, and include an analysis of popular fiction to further expose discourses of shopping, consumption and consumerism. Drawing on Laurel Richardson's (2000) “crystallization,” I use various analytical “facets” to respond to three questions about shopping-as-learning: What do participants learn to do? Who do participants learn to be? How do participants learn to make change? Critical media literacy theory illuminates the function of popular culture in constructing a discursive web which shoppers navigate. Through shopping, participants learn how to learn and to conduct research, and how to develop a shopping-related values system, literacy and geography. Benedict Anderson's (1991) concept of “imagined community” helps explicate how participants' affiliations with shopping-related movements provide a sense of purpose and belonging. Finally, Jo Littler's (2005) notions of “narcissistic” and “relational” reflexivity clarify that different processes of reflexivity lead to different perspectives on societal change. This inquiry has implications for research and theorizing in adult learning, and the practice of critical adult education. / Education, Faculty of / Educational Studies (EDST), Department of / Graduate

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Educational Leadership / W. Franklin Spikes / The purpose of this study was to identify the informational resources used by small manufacturing owners who were in the NAICS 336 sector of manufacturers in Sedgwick County, Kansas, and determine which are most helpful to the owner in managing their business. Prior studies have utilized all small businesses and have not examined industry specific information gathering. A qualitative method was used in the study using a semi-structured interview process to provide in-depth information from the perspective of the small manufacturing owner. The semi-structured interview identified the information resources used by small manufacturing owners in managing their business and the level of helpfulness those resources had for them. Ten small manufacturers whose owner was on site and employed from 20-100 employees were used in the study. Informal resources were most often used by this group of manufacturers. The Internet was identified by the manufacturers as the most important and useful resource to managing their businesses. The small manufacturers used multiple resources to manage their business and rarely relied on only one resource of information whether it was for financial, management, marketing/sales or benchmarking information. Formal sources of information such as colleges, trade schools and seminars were less frequently used. Nonformal resources which were mostly governmental and included the Small Business Association, Small Business Development Center, Manufacturing Extension Partnerships, SCORE, local and federal government resources were rarely used by this group of manufacturers.

Magister Educationis - MEd / In this research study I investigate the nature and dynamics of learning amongst learners in a National Certificate Training Programme for community health workers who are caregivers in a home-based care prgoramme. The study analyses the relationship between experience, participation and learning and seeks to establish how the experience of adult learners can be mobilised through active participation and how situational conditions can either facilitate or inhibit participation and learning amongst the learners. Another dimension of the study seeks to establish what caregivers learn and the processes through which they learn and how such learning contributes to changes in behaviour and relationships. In this study, the nature and dynamics of learning amongst adult learners in the NCTP programme at community level is explored as an example of socio-cultural theory and situated learning which hold that learning results from participation in various socio-cultural situations – the act of participation is seen as crucial in the learning. The study focused on a group of 10 learners in the National Certificate Training Programme for community health workers who are also caregivers in the Nokuthembeka Home-based Care Programme in New Crossroads in the Cape Town metropole and used a qualitative research design and interpretive approach to understand the situations in which they learn. An interpretive approach allowed for deeper insight into the socio-cultural contexts that influence the social interactions of caregivers with peers as well as their learning. In the study I argue that the experience of caregivers forms a critical resource and the foundational basis for learning. The research study confirmed that the training programme in which caregivers interact and engage with peers and facilitators creates a learning context and that active participation in the situation facilitates learning. The study further confirmed that the informal settings of the home and community are important sites for learning and gaining experience and that situational conditions such as language, personal attributes and culture of learning/teaching can influence participation and learning.

Magister Curationis - MCur / The main benefit of simulation in nursing education is the ability to teach clinical skills in a non-threatening, safe environment where mistakes can be rectified without harm to any patient. Therefore, it is clinical facilitators who must display the knowledge and skills to impart to the student nurses during their 4-year programme of study. It is unclear how student nurses at a local nursing college view teaching and learning processes in the simulation laboratory. The purpose of this study is to explore student nurses‟ views of teaching and learning in a simulation laboratory with the purpose of describing guidelines for clinical facilitators to support student nurses in a simulation laboratory at a local College of Nursing in the Western Cape. A qualitative, exploratory, descriptive and contextual design was used in order to explore and describe the views of student nurses about teaching and learning in the simulation laboratory. The ECP (Extended Curriculum Programme), 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th year students (N = 880), who were registered in the R425 programme at the College of Nursing in the Western Cape, had been identified as the accessible student population of this study. A purposive opportunistic sampling population was applied. Two focus groups (20 participants) per year of study were conducted. The size of each focus group was at least 10 participants. The focus group interviews lasted around 60 minutes per group. Data gathering was conducted by the researcher who initiated, prompted, and facilitated these focus groups. For the purpose of data triangulation, voice recordings of the interviews were supported by the taking of field notes. Open coding had been used for data analysis. The credibility of the coding was checked and confirmed by an independent coder. Trustworthiness was maintained, since credibility was ensured by means of prolonged engagement in the field until data saturation occurred, referential adequacy, and member checks that followed. Dependability was ensured by establishing an audit trail. Ethical considerations were ensured by obtaining written, informed consent from participants of the study, as well as for the voice recording of the discussions. Participants could withdraw at any stage of the study. Confidentiality was explained and the researcher requested that participants do not share the information after the group discussions. In this study, student nurses experienced both opportunities and challenges with the teaching and learning in the simulation laboratory. Furthermore, the contextual demands between the first and subsequent years of study seemed to play an essential part in their experience.

Magister Educationis (Adult Learning and Global Change) - MEd(AL) / The purpose of this research paper is to explore and examine the nature of learning within the context of and situated within a social movement. Based on an exploratory qualitative study of learning within the Jyoti Jivanam Movement of South Africa, this research explores the nature and purpose/s of learning within a social movement. Accordingly, this study is guided by the research questions: How and why do adults learn as they collectively participate in social movements; and what factors facilitate, contribute, hinder and influence learning within social movement? This study confirms that social movements are important sites for. Collective learning and knowledge construction. For this reason, social movements need to be acknowledged as pedagogical sites that afford adults worthwhile learning opportunities. Furthermore, social movements, as pedagogical sites, not only contribute to conceptions of what constitute legitimate knowledge(s), social movements also contribute to the creation of transformative knowledge(s).

Magister Educationis (Adult Learning and Global Change) - MEd(AL) / The purpose of this research paper is to explore and examine the nature of learning within the context of and situated within a social movement. Based on an exploratory qualitative study of learning within the Jyoti Jivanam Movement of South Africa, this research explores the nature and purpose/s of learning within a social movement. Accordingly, this study is guided by the research questions: How and why do adults learn as they collectively participate in social movements; and what factors facilitate, contribute, hinder and influence learning within social movement? This study confirms that social movements are important sites for collective learning and knowledge construction. For this reason, social movements need to be acknowledged as pedagogical sites that afford adults worthwhile learning opportunities. Furthermore, social movements, as pedagogical sites, not only contribute to conceptions of what constitute legitimate knowledge(s), social movements also contribute to the creation of transformative knowledge(s).

The objectives of this study were to assess the perceptions of educational value of group learning held by students and compare it with the intentions of lecturers involved in the MBA programme. Eighty-two MBA students enrolled at the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) of the University of Pretoria completed an online questionnaire, the results of which reflected an overall positive perception of educational value of group learning. However, negative perceptions of group dynamics, fairness and administrative processes also surfaced. There appears to be some evidence of racial undertones to the negative perceptions. These perceptions were significantly different between junior and senior students. Semi-structured interviews with lecturers and administrative staff revealed markedly different intentions and approaches to group learning. An awareness of the difficulties faced by students in group activities could be demonstrated, but different opinions were held on appropriate interventions. The study concludes with suggestions to improve identified weaknesses through a more focused educational approach. Such an approach would place greater emphasis on personal reflection and addressing of dysfunctional behaviour in groups, as part of a posited central skill in management.Copyright / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

Thesis (M. Ed. (Community and Continuing Education)) -- University of Limpopo, 2017. / This study drew attention to the strategic necessity of the Adult Basic Education and Training (ABET) programme in equipping historically disadvantaged communities with basic numeracy, reading and writing skills. The Department of Basic Education regards the ABET programme as the vehicle on which individuals historically excluded from formal schooling life access basic education and skills that help them to be active agents of socio-economic change in their communities. Whilst the ABET programme’s broad objectives have been properly conceptualised and institutionalised, the central concern of this study is that little effort may have been invested by the Department of Basic Education to qualitatively assess the state of ABET programmes in rural-based Public Adult Learning Centres (PALCs) like Laaste Hoop. In order to ensure the Department of Basic Education recoup best returns from every effort invested in the ABET programme at Laaste Hoop PALC such an assessment is imperative. This study employed the qualitative method and a case study design to examine the state of the ABET programme offered at Laaste Hoop PALC. Using the purposive sampling method, ten participants comprising one member of the centre’s Governing Body, six learners, the centre manager and two facilitators were selected to participate in the study. The main finding of this study is that the Laaste Hoop PALC is struggling to effectively fulfil its broad mandate due to poor budgetary support from the v Department of Basic Education. The study found that the Laaste Hoop PALC is generally in a state of neglect as the infrastructure is in an advanced state of dilapidation. The main recommendation of the study is that the Department of Basic Education needs to launch a targeted fundraising campaign in order to improve the operating and financial leverage of the centre. Key words: ABET programme; adult literacy; numeracy; functional literacy.