Word processed copy. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 127-131). / This research explores how the term 'lifelong learning' is understood at a higher education institution in South Africa. The study is built around a case study at the University of Cape Town (UCT). The research questions posed were: What are the different understandings of 'lifelong learning' at UCT? And secondly, what factors have shaped the development of these different understandings of 'lifelong learning'? The thesis approaches the research questions from two angles: What people working in the institution say about the topic and what can be read from the official University documentation on the topic. Continuing education work is used as a general proxy for lifelong learning as the term itself did not prove to be a useful identifier of specific educational activities at UCT. In analysing the data, two inter-related theoretical frameworks are employed - thematic analysis of the interviews and a critical discourse analysis of the texts. Some of the key pressures and issues facing institutions globally as well as specific local concerns are identified when setting the context. In the interviews, practitioners identified some of these contextual issues as factors influencing the development of continuing education: funding pressures, responding to socio-political demands for rapid student throughput while also widening access, and the particular character of the institution. The literature reveals some common approaches to lifelong learning - identified as economic, humanistic and social discourses - which were used to engage the perspectives of practitioners working on continuing education programmes. Based on an interpretation of the data, this thesis argues that in practice, the distinctions between the discourses tend to blend or transform. The economic and humanistic discourses begin to merge, as an individual's motivations cannot be neatly categorised as either learning for work or learning for personal development, pointing to the emergence of a new discourse. In the case of the social discourse, the more widely used definitions of social responsiveness embrace economic (and political) imperatives, while also maintaining a development and democracy agenda. Instead of seeing the data as only revealing what exists, the analysis argues that emerging discourses themselves help to create new realities.

This study aimed to explore whether the curriculum and pedagogy of an Early Childhood Development (ECD) Level 4 Learnership recognized the informal knowledge of experienced practitioners. It focused on whether the curriculum and pedagogy considered the experiences of adult learners and to what extent adult education principles were followed in its delivery. A review of the literature in South Africa showed that there is a very limited amount of research on the training of ECD practitioners. The study considered the experiences of adult students completing their Learnership at two TVET colleges in Cape Town and focused on practices that could potentially have followed principles of adult learning as well as the recognition of prior experiential learning. The research explored whether the ECD teachers who had gained entry to the Learnership felt that their prior experiential knowledge was considered in the delivery of the learnership. The research adopted a qualitative and exploratory approach, using a conceptual frame drawn from the theoretical literature on adult learning, and on the Recognition of Prior Learning. The research design adopted a mixed methods approach involving interviews with the ECD managers at two TVET colleges and eight ECD teachers drawn from four different ECD centres in Mitchells Plain. A purposive sampling technique was used to select the research participants and semi-structured interviews were conducted face-to-face with each participant. In addition, data was collected via classroom observations as well as relevant policy and course documents. The analysis of research findings revealed that although ECD teachers without formal training had considerable understanding of how to educate the young children in their classes, this rich experiential knowledge was not drawn on during the initial process of entry into the learnership, nor in the curriculum or teaching strategies within the ECD Level 4 Learnership. The thesis ends by noting that there are various ways in which ECD teachers could have been better assisted.

The record shows that evening classes for adults were started on a temporary basis in Dade County in 1932. With the return of the GIs after World War II, the adult education classes in Dade County took a sharp turn. From this period, the adult program took hold like a rolling snowball--until there are approximately 5,000 students enrolled. During the period following World War II until the present date, the curriculum had to be developed to meet this headlong rush of students. Just when the administration thought the major problems were being solved, the non-veteran adult became interested and started to enroll in the school in an ever-increasing number, causing the program to push ahead like the pseudopodia of the ameba, without any general direction. In 1955 the administration was recommending that a large sum of money be encumbered to operate a program that would be able to enroll and give instruction to approximately 7500 adults. Before requesting this budget, the administration felt they must develop a philosophy and know more about the adult who had been attending classes. With this in mind authority was given for a survey in Dade County. / Typescript. / "August, 1957." / "Submitted to the Graduate Council of Florida State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science." / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 17).

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 87-92). / In this research study I explore the role and value of formal and informal learning in leadership continuity in South Africa. In order to do this I look at the experiences and perceptions of 6 NGO leaders in South Africa whom I locate within three historical periods. Within this context, I also explore the shifts in leadership and modes of learning, which I argue and based on my data analysis, were accompanied by broader shifts in the power relations in South Africa post 1994. I highlight three informal modes of learning that were dominant in the first historical period namely, experiential learning, popular education and situated learning which became eroded in the second and third historical periods and substituted by more formal learning processes. My study found that in the latter part of the third historical period there was a resurgence of more informal learning processes in line with an emergent and developing social movement that questioned the continued power imbalances in society. In conducting this study my research methodology was informed by an interpretive and qualitative approach with semi-structured interviews with the 6 NGO leaders employed as the primary means of data collection. Based on my findings, I discovered that the NGO sector has experienced a leadership discontinuity further exacerbated by a disruption of learning processes with serious implications for transfer of knowledge, skills and experiences In answering my main research question I found that effective leadership continuity to enhance sustainable organizations can best be facilitated through informal learning processes where, within a community of practice, these processes are more respected and valorised. I also found that formal learning processes will best be effective if it can be complementary to but not a substitute for these informal learning processes. I also found that the conflation of training with learning and the dualism between formal and informal learning are not very helpful in understanding leadership development and continuity in the NGO sector. Another important finding that this research study highlights is the importance of appreciating the dynamic interrelationship between the macro power alignments represented by the state and the economy and the micro power relationships represented by leadership and learning within a community of practice.

Bibliography: leaves 104-112. / The requirements of social and educative justice are examined further in the light of John Rawls's conception of justice as 'fairness'. In particular, critical response to his notions of 'the original position', 'veil of ignorance' and 'overlapping consensus' misrepresents the critical and creative capacity that these concepts properly denote and preserve in the interests of participants' 'strong' democratic capacity. The ethical implications of a non-authoritarian relationship between learners and existing discursive formations are then discussed with reference to Philip Wexler's 'textualist' theory of social analysis and education. His advocacy of 'collective symbolic action' is found to be compatible with an uncoercive discourse ethic, oriented to mutual understanding and contextualised hypothesis formation by self-reflective agents. Inferences for education are proposed, in conclusion, emphasising the teachers' role as agent provocateur of the 'liminal imagination' (generating non-formulaic symbolic movement and self-formative struggle by the learners themselves), which qualifies the usual obligation to approved curricular content. Education for a postmodern democracy is sustained by, and sustains, both context-relative knowledge - publicly educed - and an ongoing 'desublimation' of discourse, in the interests of participatory self-critique and renewal.

Includes abstract. / Includes bibliographical references. / This thesis presents a multimodal social semiotic theoretical framework to explore jewellery design pedagogy. The role of the designer, meaning making and the semiotic functions of resources used within the practice of jewellery design are analysed.

Bibliography: leaves 97-102. / This study attempts to examine and answer the research question: "What is the feasibility of the integration of education and training through promotion of the GETC as envisaged within the NQF discourse?" Focusing on problematic educational policy implementation in South Africa, the study also attempts to examine causes for the disparity between intended policies and implemented policies.

Includes abstract. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 80-87). / This thesis explores the pedagogy of a single popular educator, Mike Abrams, currently practising in post-apartheid South Africa. The study aimed to describe his ideology, educational theory and practice and to explore the links between these and current social justice issues in South Africa. It also aimed to locate his practice within his personal background. Mike Abrams was chosen as the subject of the case study owing to his extensive work and commitment as a popular educator.

This study addresses the question of the transformative effect of a nonformal learning programme for Muslim education practitioners - the Islamic Teacher Education Programme (ITEP) in the Western Cape, within the context of lifelong learning. It investigates the effect on participants' personal teaching practice and whether it assisted adult learners with decisions for further formal study. ITEP can be treated as an example of a wide variety of nonformal programmes within different contexts. The programme serves to fill the gap where no accommodation is afforded to it in the broader formal education provision of this country. This dissertation argues that nonformal education has the ability to be a springboard to launch educators on a trajectory of personal transformation and development in their own field of practice, as well as to forge a path that provides access to formal education. A qualitative research design and a narrative research method was utilised to answer the research question, drawing on a range of data - personal learning narratives of adult learners; interviews with a sample of six learners as well as journal entries. This approach allowed the study to demonstrate how participants gauged the readiness for change in their own transformative perceptions from their personal learning experiences in a safe environment. The spaces created within the programme created the opportunity for participants to reflect critically, participate and collaborate in a range of learning experiences that served as a catalyst for perspective transformation. The six participants of this study revealed how disorienting dilemmas, frame of reference and context are important to consider in programmes such as the ITEP. The research has shown that the provision of competent educators to teach, motivate and inspire is possible by means of teacher training in faith-based, indigenous and other non-western, nonformal spaces with a group of nonformal practitioners that generally do not have any access to formal higher education. While such a programme is rarely considered by policy efforts, it certainly does not diminish the legitimate role the programme plays and the value placed on it by the society which it serves.

The South African economy, as with the rest of the world economy, has been influenced by the trends of globalisation and the knowledge economy (Castells, 2001). The South African plant (large scale) baking industry is an industry undergoing significant change with the introduction of cutting edge technology and automation. The aim of this study is to examine the shifts in organisation of work in the South African plant baking industry and, in doing so, identify the corresponding shifts in knowledge, skill and identity of production supervisors. By examining how the work organisation of the bakeries has changed, as well as the adaptations of knowledge, skill and identity, the aim is to draw implications for the development of production supervisors in the future. This, combined with an analysis of the current curricula, is then drawn on to consider the possible implications for a curriculum that addresses the needs of production supervisors in the changing plant baking industry. This qualitative research made use of a case study approach. The first phase of the study examined views on shifts in the organisation of work, and the relative importance of knowledge, skill and identity, via interviews with employees of a national plant baking company that has multiple bakeries at varying stages of automation. Changes in the organisation of work and knowledge, skill and identity were then analysed through the lens of Marx’ Labour Process Theory and Barnett and Coate (2005)’s model for professional curriculum, respectively. The second phase of this study made use of documentary evidence of two different curricula currently available for the development of production supervisors; one developed by the South African Qualifications Authority and the other by the South African Chamber of Baking. This phase sought to examine their ability to address the new organisation of work identified in the first phase of the study, drawing again on the Barnett and Coate (2005) model for professional curriculum. Findings from the first phase of the study point to changes to the organisation of work as seen in the decrease in the amount of labour required to operate an increasingly automated plant and a shift in the role of the production supervisor. These changes have resulted in shifts in the relative importance of knowledge, skill and identity, according to those interviewed. The most significant of these shifts was the perceived increase in the relative importance of identity as interviewees identified the need for a strengthened occupational identity for production supervisors, and a relative devaluing of skill within the bakeries as the role of operators has shifted more towards monitoring instead of operating the machines. These findings might be explained by the increase in automation that has led both to a weakening of occupational identity and a change in the knowledge base required by production supervisors. The need for multi-skilling has increased the need for context independent knowledge. At the same time the need for the situated, tactile, knowledge of the bread making process remains. It is argued that it is this situated knowledge held by the older, more experienced production supervisors that enables the ability to solve problems on the line and potentially strengthens their occupational identity. It was found that neither of the two curricula examined addressed the current and future needs of production supervisors. The findings of both the first and second phases of the study point to the need for a new form of curriculum that addresses the needs of production supervisors who are required to function within the new organisation of work. Conclusions are that it is not possible to confer an identity through formal curriculum alone and work experience remains central to the identity of a production supervisor. Yet there remains a need to provide production supervisors with the context independent knowledge base of, and skill in, the bread making process; elements that can be addressed within a formal curriculum framework. The development of a mixed disciplinary knowledge base that consists of both situated knowledge and context independent knowledge may provide a way for the changes in knowledge, skill and identity to be accommodated in a curriculum that caters more effectively for both workers and an industry whose drive towards automation continues.