This study explores pre-service student teachers’ experiences of lecturers’ approaches to dealing with diversity in university classrooms. It includes student insights into the strategies that lecturers employ as they manage the complexities of diversity in university classrooms. The research is located in the realm of diversity education and diversity pedagogy and is contextualized against the backdrop of the historical and socio-political climate in South Africa. The challenging consequences of the desegregation of educational institutions in a post-apartheid South Africa has resulted in the advent of diverse and heterogeneous student populations which both challenge and de-marginalise educational practices bringing into focus the need for a humanizing and culturally relevant pedagogy. This, to counter the hegemonic dangers of perpetuating the status quo by further entrenching deep-seated racism disguised as integration. Using qualitative data generated by pre-service student teachers, the results suggest that lecturers fail to embrace diversity to its fullest. The findings illuminate the disparity between policy and practice in a forward-thinking faculty and lecturers’ lack of pedagogical knowledge and skills, which inhibit them from embodying the principles of diversity education. The lecturers’ approaches to dealing with diversity in practice indicate that they are stuck in the quagmire of assimilationist, colour-blind, contributionist and business-as-usual strategies which militate against culturally responsive pedagogy thereby marginalizing learners.

Despite the feminisation of the workplace as one of the key developments of this domain, the meaning of work for women is little understood. A phenomenological approach was adopted in this study to gain in-depth understanding of the meaning ascribed to work by a sample of ten South African, women graduates. Literature was used to generate three models - a male-centred, stereotyped and contemporary conceptualisation. Unstructured interviews were conducted and the protocols analysed using the modified Stevick-Colaizzi-Keen method (Creswell, 1998; Stones, 1985; 1986). Themes illustrated that the meaning of work for women is multifaceted and comprises a number of components including sense of identity and self-worth, meeting instrumental needs, social relatedness, serving others, intrinsic satisfaction and the exercise of power and authority. Findings suggested that the meaning women ascribe to work changes when they experience autonomy. Recommendations were made for future research and organisational practices. / Indust & Org Psychology / MA(IND AND ORG PSYCHOLOGY)

Despite the feminisation of the workplace as one of the key developments of this domain, the meaning of work for women is little understood. A phenomenological approach was adopted in this study to gain in-depth understanding of the meaning ascribed to work by a sample of ten South African, women graduates. Literature was used to generate three models - a male-centred, stereotyped and contemporary conceptualisation. Unstructured interviews were conducted and the protocols analysed using the modified Stevick-Colaizzi-Keen method (Creswell, 1998; Stones, 1985; 1986). Themes illustrated that the meaning of work for women is multifaceted and comprises a number of components including sense of identity and self-worth, meeting instrumental needs, social relatedness, serving others, intrinsic satisfaction and the exercise of power and authority. Findings suggested that the meaning women ascribe to work changes when they experience autonomy. Recommendations were made for future research and organisational practices. / Indust and Org Psychology / MA(IND AND ORG PSYCHOLOGY)