The aim of this dissertation is to ‘problematize’ the ‘flexible generalist’ - the form of subjectivity allegedly produced by the basic education system of South Africa. According to the South African Qualifications Authority, ‘flexible generalists’ are individuals who possess the necessary skills, knowledge and flexibility to successfully participate in new working environments, thereby sustaining an adaptable workforce and contributing to the national economy. The dissertation will illustrate that this economic viability comes at the cost of critical and relative autonomous thinking, and is therefore not as ‘beneficent’ as the South African Qualifications Authority suggests. Initially, Louis Althusser’s theory regarding the repressive state apparatus and ideological state apparatuses will be employed in order to indicate how the education institution is underpinned by consumer-capitalist ideology. Subsequently, in order to ensure docility, efficiency and obedience within the workforce, the formal education system subjects the learner to various disciplinary discursive practices. By applying Michel Foucault’s theory regarding disciplinary power, this dissertation will illustrate that, through the regimentation of the subject’s time and space, docility is, for the most part, ensured. However, the flexible generalist is not solely produced through disciplinary power, but also through Foucault’s conception of bio-power, which is disseminated through the deployment of sexuality. Disciplinary power and bio-power are both appropriations of pastoral power, since the learner is led to believe that the well-being and care of the ‘self’ is always in the hands of another: specialists in numerous fields who ‘guide’ the individual regarding the ‘correct’ and ‘normal’ conduct in relation to the self and society, thereby stripping the subject of critical and relative autonomous thinking. The dissertation will conclude by suggesting a possible offset to the discursive practices that produce the flexible generalist in the form of ‘philosophy as a way of life’, or philosophia – the love of wisdom. Unlike the current educational discursive practices in South Africa that are underpinned by an ‘ethos of skills’ (resulting in mere economic empowerment), philosophia is based on an ‘ethos of wisdom’ - a comprehension of oneself, others and existence, based on the mastery of the self, and resulting in the ability to apply perceptions, judgements and actions on a contextual basis.

MEd (Educational Management) / Department of Educational Management / The aim of this study was to investigate the merger of schools’ programmes in the Department of Basic Education (DBE) in Vhembe District for the academic years 2010 to 2016. When small schools are not merged, it is difficult for the Department of Basic Education to adequately allocate resources for effective and efficient teaching and learning. The study adopted Eisner’s Connoisseur Model of Enquiry as its theoretical framework. Besides the theoretical framework, the study also adopted a legal framework: SASA, Act No. 84 of 1996. This study was conceptualised within the interpretive paradigm, subsumed under a qualitative research design. Data was collected through interviews and document analysis. The population of the study was eighty-five (85) schools identified for merger in the Vhembe District. Purposive sampling was used to select nine (09) principals from the merging schools, three (03) Deputy Manager Governance officials from the identified circuits and one (01) district governance official in Vhembe District. Hence the sample of the study was thirteen (13) participants. Data was analysed thematically. The study revealed that most schools identified for merger were merged prematurely; that is, schools were merged before the provision of relevant infrastructure and resources in the merging centres and this caused the communities to reject mergers. The study recommends that proper consultation with relevant local structures like traditional leaders in particular is crucial to ensure that the merging of schools is implemented with minimal challenges. Correct interpretation, implementation of policies and effective monitoring of programmes should be ensured to advocate for school merging. / NRF

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)

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)