This research looks at the dynamics of identity formation in a higher education organisation during a strategic branding project, the arrival of a newcomer and my role as the dean of a school of art and design. Most branding literature focuses on the key stages of how a brand proposition is formed and assumes the straightforward roll out of the identity for the organisation. In this research I focus on what goes on around me as ideas are formed and presented back to the organisation, rather than on the idealised process of what should go on. The method takes a “withness” approach to the narrative rather than a synoptic case study approach, focusing on my experience and practice. This highlights the social context of organisational life – the context of human power relationships in which people enable and constrain each other on the basis of human attributes such as identities, anxieties, values, emotions, fear, expectations, motives and interests. The research shows that intention is only a part of the narratives about strategy and identity in organisations. I argue that notions of certainty that are inherent in intentional brand strategies are often based on arbitrary inferences and that by nature brand propositions are abstractions and therefore only representative of a partial reality. To present them in a rigid sense and develop vigilant strategies for identity preservation seems artificially limiting and devoid of context. Branding has played an important role in the world of objects and transactions. It has indicated a sense of ownership, a promise of quality and performance, and more recently an indication of self-image and identity. Yet when branding is applied to organisations it is problematic. Taking principles from a context of objects and applying them to social life has led to branding often being about the preservation of a specific concept of identity and not about the ongoing dynamic process of identity formation in organisations. It is frequently seen as manipulative and controlling, yet is also seen as an important indicator of personality, differentiation, togetherness and is linked to notions of loyalty and trust. Paralleling Mead’s notion of the “I-me” dialectic, an organization can also be seen to be emerging in the context in terms of its presentation in everyday life. The notion of certainty in this sense of organizational identity denies the dynamics of the situation and one could argue that vagueness is present in all aspects of social life and essential for creative action as it allows space for newness. Any articulation of identity is a simplification of an identity that is constantly evolving. But at what level are these simplifications and abstractions useful and not debilitating? This is not to argue that intention and strategy are not essential parts of joint action. The process of negotiating is an essential part of working together towards joint action. It is a process in which we reveal our intent and discover important aspects about each other and ourselves as we emerge in the social; it is about intention and attention. However we cannot really know how people will respond to our gestures and actions, and it is in the actions that we reveal the sincerity of our intent. Managers and strategies do not solely determine organisational identity, and neither are employees free to choose their identities, attitudes, expectations and actions. We are both enabled and constrained by our own pasts and social relationships. We inform the organisational identity as well as being informed by it in an on going process of relating. This way of thinking has implications for the way that we think about brand strategy in organisations – it is not a deterministic process of control, and neither is it a process of anarchic behavior, of open resistance to management intention. Branding is a social act and is performed by human agents who are inherently complex, individual and collective at the same time. The role of the practitioner is to make sense of what is going on between us and pay attention to what emerges – after all, it is not what a brand is but what a brand does.

This thesis explores how the discourse of complexity thinking can be used to foster emergence in curriculum and practice-based research. The curriculum-related exploration focused specifically on games of chase as one facet of early childhood curriculum. It investigated using complexity thinking firstly, to occasion emergence (that is, create a new phenomenon) in children’s games of chase at an early childhood centre and secondly, to describe this emergence. The research-related exploration focused on creating an emergent methodology which is underpinned by complexity thinking. In this thesis report, I present a series of emergent curriculum-related phenomena that arose during the explorations, that is, an emergent game, a local curriculum theory for games of chase, the concepts of local curriculum theory, curriculum design and curriculum dynamics, and a curriculum vision. I also present an understanding of emergent methodology and two methodological innovations in the form of the Research Data Management System and the Visual Summary. This research involved taking the role of a volunteer teacher-researcher-curriculum designer at an early childhood centre to play games of chase with children. This role was informed by and contributed to a curriculum design that focused on designing the teaching and learning environment to occasion emergence in learning and curriculum. The games of chase curriculum contributed to children’s learning, my own learning and the general rhythm of life at the centre. The children learnt to distinguish between children who were playing and those who were not. They also learnt different ways to tag people in a game. In addition, the children and I developed a game playing routine before playing each game. This routine involved putting on tag belts, discussing what game we were playing and how we were going to play it. We played three different games of chase, starting with tag, followed by What is the time Mr(s) Wolf?, and finally the emergent game Big A, Little A. The stories of emergence are described in visual, descriptive and narrative texts organised into curriculum stories, teaching stories and children’s learning stories. Curriculum stories describe the activities that unfolded. Teaching stories present stories of teaching while learning stories are stories of children’s learning. These stories represent views of the enacted curriculum as activity, teaching and learning respectively. Taken together, the stories present a description of the curriculum dynamics that unfolded at the centre in relation to games of chase. This thesis shows that a local curriculum theory for games of chase at the centre emerged from the complex interactions of curriculum design and curriculum dynamics that unfolded at the centre. It also articulates the emergent concepts of local curriculum theory, curriculum design and curriculum dynamics using the language of complexity. This thesis also presents the local curriculum theory as a curriculum vision. This vision involves a shift in thinking about curriculum as either a set “course to be run” or the “path created in the running” (currere) to embracing curriculum as both “the space for running” and currere. It is a vision that values both children’s and teachers’ interests, focuses on teachers and children exploring depth and breadth of a curriculum domain together, enables teachers to follow, generate and sustain children’s interest in the explorations, and is generative, flexible and future-focused. This thesis conceptualises an emergent methodology as a methodology for emergence which (1) involves the researcher actively striving to foster emergence in research, (2) is brought forth in the interactions between the designed and enacted facets of methodology, (3) is local to a particular research project, and (4) emerges from the interactions of several related strategies. This thesis can be seen as an attempt to change the language game of curriculum by using the language of complexity throughout the thesis. In so doing, it not only enables the reader to talk about the discourse of complexity thinking, it also enables the reader to experience the discourse and the emergence of the curriculum-related phenomena and the methodological innovations that are the focus of this thesis. Finally, this thesis argues that using the discourse of complexity thinking in teaching and research can be enabling. It can enable the teacher and/or researcher to be creative, flexible and ethical within the constraints of his/her professional and personal life.

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2014. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The dehumanising of human beings which often underpins western medicine lead to this study. Moreover a predominant mechanistic and reductionist view of a human being necessitated a philosophical investigation to revisit the stance. It is argued that western medicine is based upon uncritical assumptions about humans as a result of the dualism and mechanistic views of Descartes. The philosophy of Merleau-Ponty transcended dualism by his emphasis on the bodylines of a human being situated in his life world. Complexity thinking concurs with the above-mentioned view, however, takes the argument further by focusing on the importance of continuous interactions and relations between the whole and the parts. Interdependent aspects of our being in the world constitute our humanness, such as our human relations between family members, friends, that which we experience, ponder, feel, and believe. Our unique experience of disease often goes hand in hand with a deep-seated sub-conscious longing for meaning. According to complexity theory being ill is not a static condition, but rather an imbalance as a result of various dynamic interactions between many spheres of human life. Multiple causality due to various dynamic interactions and self-organisation should replace simplistic views of mechanical cause and effect in this regard. Medical training models should not employ reductionism as if humans are machines comprising of separate body parts. An organic view of the uniqueness of each evolving human being should replace obsolete reductionist and mechanistic views of healing.The essence of being human is embedded in a tapestry of dynamic relations. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die dehumanisering van die mens in hedendaagse westerse geneeskunde het aanleiding gegee tot hierdie studie. Verder het die meganistiese, reduksionistiese mensbeeld ‘n filosofiese herbesinning genoodsaak. Daar word geargumenteer dat westerse geneeskunde gebaseer is op onkritiese aannames afkomstig van onder andere Descartes se dualistiese antropologie en die meganistiese siening van die mens. Merleau-Ponty se wysgerige antropologie het die dualisme getransendeer deur sy filosofie van die mens as liggaamlikheid gesitueerd in sy leefwêreld. Kompleksiteitsdenke stem hiermee ooreen, maar voer die argument verder in die opsig dat dit die belangrikheid van relasies en voortdurende wisselwerking tussen die geheel en dele beklemtoon. Interafhanklike aspekte van dit wat ons mens maak, ontstaan as gevolg van relasies tussen ons leefwêreld, ons familie, vriende, tussen dit waaraan ons dink, wat ons voel, ervaar en glo. Ons siekte ervaring gaan meestal gepaard met ‘n diepgewortelde voorbewustelike soeke na sin en betekenis. Die kompleksiteitsperspektief beskou siekwees nie as ‘n statiese toestand wat teenoor gesondwees staan nie, maar eerder ‘n wanbalans in dinamiese interaksies van verskeie sfere van menswees. Enkelvoudige kousaal-meganiese oorsaak en gevolg moet plek maak vir veelvuldige kousaliteit wat geleë is in talle dinamiese interaksies en selforganisering. Mediese opleidingsmodelle behoort die mens nie te objektiveer tot aparte organe, soos die van ‘n masjien nie. Die verontmensliking van die masjien gedrewe model van genesing behoort plek te maak vir ‘n meer organiese siening van die mens wat rekening hou met die unieke menslikheid van die mens. Menslikheid impliseer ‘n tapisserie van relasies.

In response to reductionist neoliberal approaches to organizational change that have been prevalent in American education since the 1980s, some educators have begun to employ a whole-systems approach to improving student learning. These approaches, based in complexity sciences, recognize the nonlinear, unpredictable nature of learning and the interconnected relationships among myriad factors that influence the teaching/learning that occurs in schools. In the summer preceding the 2011-2012 school year, a cohort of educators from California Unified School District participated in a 10-day training regarding human systems dynamics (HSD) and complexity thinking. Their goal was to build adaptive capacity throughout the district in the pursuit of improving student learning. Through analysis of the interviews from seven target participants from this training, this study investigates what target participants report regarding their use of HSD methods and models in their work in schools across the 2011-2012 school year. Findings indicate that target participants displayed distinct arcs of use of HSD methods/models. In addition, findings suggest that target participants’ need for support in learning and implementing HSD methods/models, the influence of systemic and individual history, and the role of agency affected their “arcs of use.” This study illuminates the ways in which HSD methods/models support both organizational change efforts and the ways in which teaching/learning occur in the classroom, including the applicability of HSD methods/models in building collaborative cultures and in helping students develop the kinds of thinking required in the use of 21st-century literacies.

A junior high teacher and artist altered the curriculum of his Art Foundations II course and his own artistic practice in response to complexity thinking. This teacher-artist-researcher uses the arts-based methodology a/r/tography to make meaning of the relationship between his art and pedagogy. The a/r/tographer explains the impact of complexity on the philosophy of education, a/r/tography as a methodology, and the meaning making that occurred are included. Evolution was used as a methodology for art making and as constraint for developing artworks in the classroom and in the author's own art. The teacher-artist-researcher conceptualizes art as an emergent complex cultural practice that evolves over time. He argues that artists, teachers, consumers, and students are implicated in the evolution of art.

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While the challenge of improving young North Americans’ civic engagement seems to lie in the hands of schools, studying alternative ways of teaching citizenship education could benefit the current educational system. In this context, free schools (i.e., schools run democratically by students and teachers), guided by a philosophy that aims at engaging students civically through the democratic activities that they support, offer a relatively unexplored ground for research. The present inquiry is a case study using tools of ethnography and drawing upon some principles of complexity thinking. It aims at understanding students’ citizenship education experiences during democratic activities in a Canadian free school. It describes many experiences that can arise from these activities. They occurred within a school that operated democratically based on a consensus-model. More precisely, they took place during two kinds of democratic activities: class meetings, which regulated the social life of the school, and judicial committees, whose function was to solve conflicts at the school. During these activities, students mostly experienced a combination of feelings of appreciation, concernment and empowerment. While experiencing these feelings, they predominantly engaged in decision-making and conflict resolution processes. During these processes, students modified their conflict resolutions skills, various conceptions, and their participation in democratic activities and in the school. Based on these findings, the study concludes that students can develop certain skills and attitude associated to citizenship education during these activities and become active from a citizenship perspective. Hence, these democratic activities represent alternative strategies that can assist educators in teaching about citizenship.

While the challenge of improving young North Americans’ civic engagement seems to lie in the hands of schools, studying alternative ways of teaching citizenship education could benefit the current educational system. In this context, free schools (i.e., schools run democratically by students and teachers), guided by a philosophy that aims at engaging students civically through the democratic activities that they support, offer a relatively unexplored ground for research. The present inquiry is a case study using tools of ethnography and drawing upon some principles of complexity thinking. It aims at understanding students’ citizenship education experiences during democratic activities in a Canadian free school. It describes many experiences that can arise from these activities. They occurred within a school that operated democratically based on a consensus-model. More precisely, they took place during two kinds of democratic activities: class meetings, which regulated the social life of the school, and judicial committees, whose function was to solve conflicts at the school. During these activities, students mostly experienced a combination of feelings of appreciation, concernment and empowerment. While experiencing these feelings, they predominantly engaged in decision-making and conflict resolution processes. During these processes, students modified their conflict resolutions skills, various conceptions, and their participation in democratic activities and in the school. Based on these findings, the study concludes that students can develop certain skills and attitude associated to citizenship education during these activities and become active from a citizenship perspective. Hence, these democratic activities represent alternative strategies that can assist educators in teaching about citizenship.

While the challenge of improving young North Americans’ civic engagement seems to lie in the hands of schools, studying alternative ways of teaching citizenship education could benefit the current educational system. In this context, free schools (i.e., schools run democratically by students and teachers), guided by a philosophy that aims at engaging students civically through the democratic activities that they support, offer a relatively unexplored ground for research. The present inquiry is a case study using tools of ethnography and drawing upon some principles of complexity thinking. It aims at understanding students’ citizenship education experiences during democratic activities in a Canadian free school. It describes many experiences that can arise from these activities. They occurred within a school that operated democratically based on a consensus-model. More precisely, they took place during two kinds of democratic activities: class meetings, which regulated the social life of the school, and judicial committees, whose function was to solve conflicts at the school. During these activities, students mostly experienced a combination of feelings of appreciation, concernment and empowerment. While experiencing these feelings, they predominantly engaged in decision-making and conflict resolution processes. During these processes, students modified their conflict resolutions skills, various conceptions, and their participation in democratic activities and in the school. Based on these findings, the study concludes that students can develop certain skills and attitude associated to citizenship education during these activities and become active from a citizenship perspective. Hence, these democratic activities represent alternative strategies that can assist educators in teaching about citizenship.

In this workshop we present an innovative teaching, learning and research setting that engages beginning teachers in mathematical inquiry as they investigate, represent and connect mathematical ideas through mathematical conversation, reasoning and argument. This workshop connects to the themes of teacher preparation and teaching through problem solving. Drawing on new paradigms to think about teaching and learning, we orient our work within complexity theory (Davis & Sumara, 2006; Holland, 1998; Johnson, 2001; Maturana & Varela, 1987; Varela, Thompson & Rosch, 1991) to understand teaching|learning as a complex iterative process through which opportunities for learning arise out of dynamic interactions. Varela, Thompson and Rosch, (1991) use the term co-emergence to understand how the individual and the environment inform each other and are “bound together in reciprocal specification and selection” (p.174). In particular we are interested in the conditions that enable the co-emergence of teaching|learning collectives that support the generation of new mathematical and pedagogical ideas and understandings. The setting is a one-week summer math program designed for prospective elementary teachers to deepen particular mathematical concepts taught in elementary school. The program is facilitated by recently graduated secondary mathematics teachers to provide them an opportunity to experience mathematics teaching|learning through rich problems. The data collected include questionnaires, interviews, and video recordings. Our analyses show that many a-ha moments of mathematical and pedagogical insight are experienced by both groups as they work together throughout the week. In this workshop we will actively engage the audience in an exploration of the mathematics problems that we pose in this unique teaching|learning environment. We will present our data on the participants’ mathematical and pedagogical responses and open a discussion of the implications of our work.