This thesis presents an argument for the use of dialogic halaqah to develop the personal autonomy of young Muslims in twenty-first century Britain. It begins by developing a theoretical grounding for Islamic conceptualisations of personal autonomy and dialogic pedagogy. In doing so, it aims to generate dialogue between Islamic and ‘western’ educational traditions, and to clarify the theoretical foundation of halaqah, a traditional Islamic oral pedagogy, that has been adapted to meet the educational needs of Muslim children in contemporary Britain. Dialogic halaqah is daily practice in two independent British Muslim faith-schools, providing a safe space for young Muslims to cumulatively explore challenging issues, in order to facilitate the development of selfhood, hybrid identity and personal autonomy, theorised as shakhsiyah Islamiyah. This thesis examines the relationship between thought, language, and the development of personal autonomy in neo-Ghazalian, Vygotskian and Bakhtinian traditions, and suggests the possibility of understanding shakhsiyah Islamiyah as a dialogical Muslim-self. This theoretical work underpins an empirical study of data generated through dialogic halaqah held with groups of schoolchildren and young people. Using established analytic schemes, data from these sessions are subjected to both thematic and dialogue analyses. Emergent themes relating to autonomy and choice, independent and critical thinking, navigating authority, peer pressure, and choosing to be Muslim are explored. Themes related to halaqah as dialogic pedagogy, whether and how it supports the development of agency, resilience and independent thinking, and teacher and learner roles in halaqah, are examined. Moreover, findings from dialogue analysis, which evaluates the quality of educational dialogue generated within halaqah, that is, participants’ capacity to engage in dialogue with each other, as well as with an imagined secular other, are presented. The quality of the dialogic interactions is evaluated, as is evidence of individual participant’s autonomy in their communicative actions.

African curricular reforms indicate major inherent structural defects because only the contents of the curriculum were changed. As a result, the Western cultural influences embedded in the curriculum foundations are transmitted to the students, causing the curricular material to be irrelevant and unrelated to their culture and philosophy. The focus of this study was on making the basic education curricula relevant to the socio-cultural and structural context of the Gamo ethnic group of Ethiopia. The main aim of the study was to critically analyse how the indigenization approach is conceptualized and reflected in the policies and curricula, and in the implementation of the curricula at basic education level since the adoption of the 1994 Education and Training Policy, and to produce a model suited to indigenizing the basic education curricula for the Gamo ethnic group. To this end, the study employed a critical perspective to investigate the problem. The approach and design consists of a qualitative multiple case study. The country‟s constitutions, policies and strategies were treated as one case, while two cases, one from the Gamo Gofa Zone and another from the Addis Ababa City Administration, were treated similarly, so as to study the basic education curriculum planning and implementation process. The findings of the field study disclosed that the indigenization from the ethnic group‟s perspective has some strength, but major deficiencies. In order to keep the strengths up and avoid the weaknesses, a stand-alone indigenization approach, which calls for rooting the curriculum on indigenous foundations, theories, principles and ideas derived from the culture, and a blending approach, which allows for intercultural dialogue, were suggested as feasible. The researcher believes that this approach is an alternative that could contribute towards ensuring the relevance of the basic education curriculum for the Gamo ethnic group. A model which will assist in materialising the curriculum indigenization from the Gamo ethnic group‟s perspective was suggested. The salient features of the constitutional, policy and strategy provisions were outdone by their favour for a standardization approach. They will have to be revisited, either in favour of indigenization, or the standardization thesis, since these paradigms are opposite poles. / Curriculum and Instructional Studies / D. Ed. (Curriculum Studies)

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<p dir="ltr">Student attitudes towards chemistry are a contributing factor to their success in chemistry courses and retention in STEMM in higher education. In the last decade, STEMM attrition rates have been an area of concern in the United States. Research in K12 classrooms has demonstrated that culturally relevant pedagogies (CRP) can improve student learning and attitudes toward STEMM. CRP consists of instructional practices and lessons that connect with students’ cultural backgrounds, experiences, and interests. However, few studies on these practices address long term improvements or treatments in a higher education setting. Integration of ethnoscience in course material is a CRP strategy that utilizes cultural systems of knowledge in relation to coursework. This strategy is now an area of interest in the field of chemistry education. This study uses an action research methodology to integrate ethnochemistry into a large, multicultural, first-year general chemistry course and evaluate the impact on student attitudes towards chemistry.</p>

This narrative inquiry study sought the voices of bilingual teachers through their lived experiences in relation to the success of Hispanic emergent bilinguals in schools. Two research questions guided the study: (1) What practices do bilingual educators consider important in helping Hispanic emergent bilingual students succeed in schools? and (2) How do bilingual teachers negotiate the curriculum and school structures to support Hispanic bilingual students' success in their classrooms? Two theoretical frameworks were used. Constructivism provided the structure for honoring the lived experiences of these teachers and culturally relevant pedagogy provided the lenses of culture, funds of knowledge, and deep sociolinguistic awareness. The use of narrative inquiry as a methodology affirmed the bilingual teachers' voices as important and authoritative sources of knowledge. Semi-structured interviews and classroom observations allowed the participants to engage as storytellers about their history and experiences that contributed to answering the questions. Three resonant reverberations emerged from the analysis: (a) the emerging rhythms of the classroom; (b) the realms of instructional and learning design; and (c) the orientation towards a culturally relevant pedagogy. These major findings revealed that teachers were student-oriented while also being content-oriented. They designed a positive learning environment by tapping into their students' funds of knowledge and being culturally responsive, which supported their students in becoming self-directed learners. The teachers had a deep sociolinguistic knowledge that determined the instructional strategies used in their classrooms and propelled them to collaborate with others and advocate for strong bilingual programs.

This dissertation reflects critically on the calls for the decolonisation of South Africa’s higher education sector by studying the historical development of legal pedagogy in South African law faculties. It focuses in particular on the intellectual property law curriculum broadly, and more specifically on the copyright law module. Africa’s colonisation by Western powers ravaged it in various ways. This is starkly illustrated in the areas of knowledge production and research. Against this background the dissertation teases out the prevailing extent, depth, and reach of colonialism in the copyright law curriculum with the aim of identifying possible ways to give practical effect to the calls for the curriculum to be decolonised. To achieve this, the dissertation examines leading South African intellectual property law textbooks through an African lens in an express attempt to assert the pluriversal, epistemicological traditions of the global South. In each chapter and with each theme the dissertation proposes how an envisaged decolonised copyright curriculum could look. The dissertation grapples with the various theories underpinning the decolonial discourse, laying groundwork for an academically sound basis on which to decolonise the copyright law curriculum. It provides an African critique of the Eurocentric intellectual property law ‘justifications debate’ and posits communal modes of property ownership in Africa to counter Western individualistic notions of property ownership which lend credence to the current justification debate. The dissertation analyses the nature of copyright in a work using the philosophy of Ubuntu as an alternative in teaching this theme within the curriculum. A decolonial analysis of the requirements for copyright is offered, and it is argued that the current sta-ndards and threshold used for the subsistence of copyright is colonial and furthers the onslaught on the Black Body, both in its practical application and in how it is taught. The dissertation concludes by studying copyright exceptions, critically urging the academy to apply a differentiated model of exceptions to different jurisdictions in light of their colonial history (and present). / Lomtlolo utjheja ihlangothi lokufuna bona kutjhugululwe iimfundo zemkhakheni wezefundo ephakamileko yangeSewula Afrika ngokufunda ngetuthuko yokufunda kanye nokufundisa ngemNyangweni wabajameli. Utjheja khulu umthetho wepahla wezefundo khudlwana kanye nomthetho welungelo lokukhuphela. Ukuthunjwa kweAfrika ngabamhlophe kone ngeendlela ezinengi. Lokhu kutjengiswa kumbi mikhakha ekhiqiza ilwazi kanye nerhubhululako. Ngalesi isendlalelo lomtlolo utjheja ngokudephileko ukobana ukuthunjwa kweAfrika ngabamhlophe kulethe muphi umuthelela ngehlangothini lomthetho welungelo lokukhuphela lezefundo ngomqopho wokufumana iindlela nofana iinzathu zokobana kutjhugululwe ifundo yangeemfundweni eziphakamileko. Ukuphumelelisa lokhu, lomtlolo uhlahluba iincwadi zobuhlakaniphi bomthetho wepahla ngokutjheja indlela yokwenza izinto ngeSewula. Isahluko esinye nesinye kanye nommongo omunye nomunye utjheja bona ifundo etjhugululweko ingaba njani. Lomtlolo utjheja amathiyori atlolweko kanye nekukhulunywa ngawo lawo akhe umkhanyo wokutjhugulula zefundo. Utjheja isiphoqo seAfrika ngobuhlakaniphi babamhlophe ngomthetho wepahla ‘ikulumopikiswano yesizathu sokwenza okuthileko’ begodu ibeka ngaphambili indlela yokwabelana ipahlo eAfrika ukulwisana nendlela yabamhlophe yokungabelani ipahlo ekubange ikulumopikiswano yesizathu sokwenza okuthileko. Lomtlolo uhlaziya isisusa sokukhuphela ngokutjheja ikolelo yegama elithi ‘Ubuntu’ njengegama elisetjenziswa lokha nakufundiswa lommongo eemfundweni. Indlela etjhugululweko yokuhlaziya iimfuneko sokukhuphela yindlela yabamhlophe begodu igandelela indlu enzima, ngendlela yokwenza kanye nangendlela efundiswa ngayo. Lomtlolo uphetha ngokufunda isiphambuki sokukhuphela, ngokubawa isikolo ukobana sisebenzise indlela ehlukileko kunaleyo ebegade isetjenziswa ngabamhlophe ekadeni kanye nesikhathini sanje. / Private Law / LL.M. (Intellectual Property Law)