Historically, educator post provisioning in South African public schools has been a / Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of Kwazulu-Natal, 2005.

This thesis reports on a phenomenological study, exploring contesting spaces in the / Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009.

In the past, non formal education in South Africa was committed to supporting the Mass Democratic Movement (MDM) in opposition to apartheid. Such non-formal political education was concerned with education for democracy, that is, preparing people for democracy. Post 1994, adult education policy has focused on vocational training, which has shifted the focus away from education for social purpose. My concern was that democracy is a process and a system that constantly needs to be nurtured. This requires citizens that know their constitutional rights and responsibilities, and how to put them into action. In view of this, I decided to enquire what kind of education exists that aims to build civil society by promoting social justice and social reconstruction in the new democracy. My research critically investigated and analysed the political education programmes in three organisations in Cape Town, Western Cape: an NGO, a trade union congress and a social movement registered as an NGO. They focused on supporting the efforts of people who are unemployed (Alternative Information and Development Centre), shop stewards (Congress of South African Trade Unions) and HIV positive people (Treatment Action Campaign). These programmes aimed to develop an „active. and „critical thinking. new layer of „leadership.. This thesis explores how participants in three organisations understand their roles and identities as participants, activists and as citizens; the spaces and dynamics through which they engage and participate to express their interests, the learning that happens in these spaces through education and collective action, and the participants. relationship to issues of democracy, participation, rights and accountability. This qualitative study employed a case study methodology. It used observation, document review and semi-structured interviews to gather data. The study used concepts drawn from citizenship education and popular education to analyse data. The education offered by these three organisations was popular education in theory, but not always popular education in practice. The participants started: acquiring knowledge and skills for campaigning: learning about the constitution; seeing that the personal is political; becoming more active; showing signs of critical thinking; evidencing active emancipation; and evidencing signs of critical emancipation. Due to a compromised facilitation process, my recommendations are that the facilitators start: putting process in focus; avoiding banking education; making follow-ups of report backs a priority; putting a sexist free education environment in focus; eradicating intimidating facilitator behaviour; and developing practical material. My study has shown that critical citizenship education, which raises participants. awareness about injustice and oppression, can help them voice their most immediate felt needs through solidarity and action. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2010.

Enduring levels of illiteracy point to a long-term failure to address one of society's more solvable problems. The conditions giving rise to illiteracy are systemic and complex, but also deeply personal. Such conditions are invariably linked to histories of neglect, domination and injustice. Lying in a small, marginal space between limited, ongoing provision of adult basic education and training (ABET) from the South African state and industry, on the one hand, and state-led mass literacy campaigns, on the other, is the ABET work of non-governmental organizations (NGOs). This thesis examines a case of ABET within this alternative NGO sector at a time of heightened attention to the challenges of illiteracy in the global arena and a time of major transition in South Africa. It focuses on the Human Rights, Democracy and Development (HRDD) project in rural KwaZulu-Natal as a case of NGO-Ied ABET provision in community settings. The HRDD project attempted to combine ABET with livelihood and citizenship education. Its vision was to foster communities of learning and action. Using case study methodology within a critical paradigm, this study set out to critically document, narrate, analyse and theorise the practices, learning, and identity development within the HRDD project. The entire HRDD project serves as the unit of analysis for the case study. Data collection included 28 in-depth interviews with learners, educators and project partners and analysis of more than 100 project documents. The HRDD project provides opportunities to study adult learning and to examine a range of different types and purposes for learning. In this regard, the theories of Paulo Freire (1970; 1994), Jack Mezirow (1975; 1991), and Lave and Wenger (1999) are explored in setting up theoretical frames through which to understand and theorise learning in the project. The HRDD project provides an excellent opportunity to examine the processes of educator development within a community-based project and to examine the early stages of a community of practice (Wenger, 1998; Lave & Wenger, 1999; Lave, 1993) in which educators could learn the practice of "adult basic education" and find a network of support. A further theoretical frame which emerged during the process of the study and which showed relevance and promise for theorizing the relational and social network aspects of the study is Social Capital theory (Bourdieu, 1986; Putnam 2000; Coleman, 1990). This frame suggested the notions of depleted social capital and fracture as significant characteristics of the post-conflict status of the HRDD context. This thesis highlights the importance of paying close attention to the lives of learners and educators in educational projects and for viewing the project within the lives of learners and educators rather than viewing learners and educators in the life of the project. The thesis illuminates and contrasts such multiple perspectives and also highlights the importance of context and history as primary shapers of learning and action. This thesis ends with discussion of an emergent conceptual model of the HRDD project. The model contains four project dimensions, namely, learning, identity, personal transformation and social change. In addition, it includes four pedagogical devices, which are, reflection, dialogue, action and relationships. Finally, the model also reflects four major contextual factors, namely, poverty, patriarchy, power struggles and a post-conflict status. The concepts integrated in the model emerge from analyses and discussions throughout the thesis. The model is discussed as a summative device, as a heuristic and as a dialectic to outline several purposes which it serves in this study and could serve in future studies. The levels of struggle and fear which emerge through this case study present a portrait of life circumstances and learning contexts which are distinctly antidialogical and oppressive. The portrait also depicts several tenacious women who continue to struggle and learn in hope! 11 / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009.

Learning thrives in conducive and supportive environments, and where a culture of learning is cultivated. There are many factors that distract learners from devoting themselves wholeheartedly to learning. This study takes a critical look at such factors, and the involvement of high school learners in the infonnal sector of the economy is identified as the focus for an in-depth interrogation. More specifically, the focus is on the reasons for learners' involvement in infonnal work, the type of work they do, as well as the impact of such involvement on their academic perfonnance. I have chosen to use the case study method in order to understand this phenomenon in one township high school, with a focus on Grade 11 learners as the study participants. Data was collected through a multi-method approach. This entailed a survey questionnaire, letters written by learners, and group and individual interviews. The life histories of learners were developed drawing from the data, and my own autobiography. Five learners, two boys and three girls, were selected to represent the voices of working learners through life histories. The findings of this study reveal that the kind of work activity engaged by learners is gendered, poorly paid, and makes them vulnerable to abuse and exploitation, and that poverty, education needs, culture, family structure, and size are the main reasons for children's involvement in the economic activities of the infonnal sector. Noting the magnitude of the problem, the study concludes with some recommendations whilst conceding that there are no quick-fix solutions to challenges of this nature.

The challenge that confronts South Africa 's emerging democracy is that an increasing percentage of its population is being infected with HIV/AIDS daily . The socio-political impact of the disease has resulted in the development of a variety of macro-level interventions. Despite these initiatives, there has been no decline in the spread of the epidemic. The increasing prevalence of HIV infection among young South Africans in particular, has necessitated an exploration into their risky sexual behaviour. A closer study of the social fields of practice, where knowledge is not only produced, but is constantly contested, negotiated, reproduced and embedded, is suggested. This study uses the principles of feminist theory to focus on gender roles and the related issues of power and risky behaviour. The central argument of this work is that the traditional construction of sexuality, which encourages sexual aggression and promiscuity among young men, alongside female sexual passivity and ignorance, are gendered factors which fuel the spread of HIV/AIDS . In order to examine young peoples' perceptions of the role of gender and risky behaviour, I engaged young people, who were already in the field, to conduct the research. An exploration into the processes of enabling young people to conduct research, while linking the production of meaning to the possibility of human agency and transformative social action, formed an evolving methodology in this work. The research was designed to provide young people with a space for active engagement, participation, immersion and reflection, en route to becoming researchers. Young researchers who conducted research in their youth communities served as deep insider researchers, who possessed an awareness of the slogan systems and semiotics which operated within the cultural norms of the community. The young researchers conducted the inquiry by using a multiplicity of methods, which included visual methodologies, individual interviews and questionnaires. They solicited most of the data from a wider group of 15 to 19 year old African and Indian learners . These learners, who were mainly from a lower socio-economic background, attended the co-educational school, in the province ofKwaZulu Natal in South Africa. The findings of this study reveal how young researchers become empowered by acquiring increased competence in doing research and achieving a greater understanding of the influences of gender and power on risky behaviour. The research report offers methodological insights into the training and enablement of young people as researchers. It reveals how catalytic validity enables a transformation in the young researchers, who, having achieved a heightened understanding of the purpose of the research , actively participated in the research process. The study is significant because it reveals the gradual effacement of the main researcher from the research process, as a natural consequence of engaging young researchers to solicit, generate and interpret data. These new insights evolved as a result of taking the risk of allowing oneself, as a main researcher, to "get off track" and to enter uneven social spaces by doing research differently. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2006.

Gender-based violence is a violation of human rights and includes acts that result in / Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2006.

This research, An Exploration of Women's Transformation through Distance Learning in Kenya, applied Mezirow's theory of transformative learning to investigate how distance learning impacted on women's views about themselves and their position in society. This was done by examining whether distance learning enables women to acquire new self-perceptions about themselves and leads them to challenge the status quo and take action in order to improve their status in society. Three distance learning programmes were studied: the B.Ed. programme at the Faculty of External Studies at the University of Nairobi, Theological Education by Extension, and the Co-operative College of Kenya. This research was motivated through my own biography, with the purpose of identifying and encouraging distance learning practices that promote women's transformation. The research also hoped to draw attention to the study of women's issues in distance learning, as an area that has not attracted much attention in Kenya and to generate information which can be used to inform the use of distance learning methods in a way that favours women. Biographical methods of research were used. This involved listening to women's learning stories, noting their reasons for coming back to study, the barriers that they encountered as they studied and the coping strategies that they used to overcome the barriers. In addition, other methods were used to supplement the biographical data collected from the women. These included focus group discussions, observation and documentary evidence. The approach to data analysis was based on the use of hermeneutics methods of data interpretation. The themes and concepts that emerged from this process were compared with themes and concepts generated through other methods of data collection. The main findings were that distance learning, though based on alternative forms of provision, does lead to transformation, however, women from the three programmes experienced diverse levels of transformation. The B.Ed.programme with its face-to-face component and women with higher education had greater impact on women's transformation than other programmes. Although the TEE programme had face-to-face interaction, their curriculum, which reinforced the negative gender stereotypes in society and does not lead to recognised certificates, could not allow them to achieve this experience. The Coop programme, without the face-to-face arrangement had the lowest transformative effects on women. On the basis of these findings, it was recommended that more distance learning programmes be designed, with increased use of face-to-face components in order to help women achieve transformation. The findings and the discussions thereof also show that prior level of education had far reaching effects on the levels of transformation that women achieved. This led to the recommendation that women's education should be encouraged and the society should be sensitised about the value of educating women. Distance learning also enabled women to achieve economic empowerment, in terms of promotions, new jobs and increased salaries; however this was only noted in the B.Ed. and Coop programmes. The TEE programme, being a church programme had no economic benefits for its women learners. The women in the TEE programme were not happy with the present arrangement and were, therefore, calling for a review of the programme. The findings also showed that women's transformation is not being fully achieved because of non- supportive facilities and the use of learning materials, which reinforce the negative gender stereotypes in society. Therefore, to make distance learning more accessible to women learners and more transformational, the research recommended changes geared towards the creation of women-friendly facilities and learning materials. / Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2004.

On attaining independence in 1980, Zimbabwe invested heavily in its education system in order to redress the colonial inequalities and to 'grow it's own timber' in terms of the knowledge and skills desperately needed by the new nation. However, 10 years later, the heavy government expenditure on education was no longer sustainable or defensible. The rapid expansion of the education system gave rise to grave concern for economic efficiency. Critics noted the tumbling pass rates and evident decline in the quality of education, with the concomitant high unemployment rates for the school graduates. Furthermore, the highly centralised, top-down system of education governance made it difficult, if not impossible for stakeholders at the various levels of the system to participate effectively in decision-making. In response to these and other pressures, Zimbabwe adopted a decentralised system of school governance. While decentralisation of school governance and school clustering have become internationally acclaimed reforms targeted at improving the quality of educational provision, and are consistent with the notion of good governance, there remain outstanding questions regarding, among other things, how those tasked to implement such reforms understand, experience and respond to them, and the impact this has on the success or failure of these innovations. This inquiry investigates teachers', school heads' and parents' understandings and experiences of, and responses to decentralised school governance in one cluster of five primary schools in the Gutu District of Masvingo Province in Zimbabwe. Through a multi-site case study research design, involving each of the five schools in the cluster as a site, this study utilised triangulation of a questionnaire, interviews, observations and document analyses to investigate three issues: stakeholders' understanding and experiences of, and responses to decentralised school governance; their views regarding their capacity to function effectively in a decentralised school governance system; and their experiences and views of the factors that hinder and/or enable decentralised school governance in the cluster. Informed by three theoretical frameworks, namely the locus of decentralised decision-making power, policy implementation, and educational change, the findings show that decentralised school governance has developed a sense of ownership of schools on the part of stakeholders. However, a number of factors hamper the decentralisation process. These include the rigid national educational regulatory framework, the uneven distribution of power within schools, and the school and community contexts that are not conducive to decentralisation. Findings also suggest that stakeholders feel incapable of functioning effectively in a decentralised school governance system. These findings imply that there is need for capacity building on the part of all stakeholders, as well as research into how clusters can be made more effective. / Theses (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2006.

The high incidence of divorce and marital breakdown in South Africa warrants attention and organised prevention. There is no correlation between this high divorce rate and existing facilities or utilisation of these facilities. For the past fifteen years the writer has been involved in training of Marriage Guidance Counsellors and treatment of marital couples in distress. During this time limited facilities, the inability of some couples to utilise existing facilities and the resultant family disruption has become evident. In an effort to assess the most important needs of couples in distress and the ability of consultants in the helping professions to assist these couples this research was initiated. Previous findings that sexual dissatisfaction is one of the main reasons of marital breakdown has been confirmed as well as the fact that it is often a mere symptom of various difficulties and poor marital communication. It was also found that different needs regarding sex education and sex therapy exist in our multicultural society and that thorough recognition of these specific needs is required to offer meaningful assistance. Following this multicultural evaluative investigation which included a multi-disciplinary enquiry, data was summarised and a tentative training programme suggested. Final conclusions are not provided. Qualitative data to assist the practitioner has been summarised and a continuous feedback loop of evaluation and improved programme planning initiated in accordance with the requirements of illuminative action research. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Durban-Westville, 1984.