Most black rural schools in South Africa are beset with discipline and relationship problems attributed to the way children interpret and exercise their rights. Children's misconceptions of rights impede the operation of educational institutions. A literature study investigated the implications of children's rights on their relationships and behaviour. A qualitative investigation of the socio-educative implications of children's rights was conducted in two rural secondary schools in Mpumalanga. Data gathering was done through participant observation, in-depth interviews with two principals and a tribal chief, and focus group interviews with two groups of teachers, parents and learners. Data were analysed, discussed and synthesised. The major findings emerged: limited understanding of rights and concomitant responsibilities and misconceptions of rights leading to the subversion of authority and morality. Recommendations include that rights-education be introduced in schools to improve children's understanding ofrights and to address negative social behaviour. Educators need to be empowered to handle human rights issues within socio-educational institutions. / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (Socio-Education)

The history of South African education should not be swept under the carpet when contemporary matters on education are discussed. Public education was brought to life in order to perpetuate the ideals of separate education and apartheid. the school manager was essentially an extension of the ruling party. He or she had to inform his or her subordinates what the authorities demanded to be done in educational circles. The 1996 Constitution (Act 108 of 1996) effectively assured a democratic order which would guarantee the removal of Acts which were discriminatory in nature. The 1996 Constitution lay the foundation for a democratic and open society which has high regard for human rights, childrens' rights and in particular the right of learners to education. The public school must implement the stipulations of the Constitution and of the South African Schools Act (Act 84 of 1996) which aspire to be in line with international human rights documents like the 1948 Declaration of Human Rights and the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child. This study is essentially about learner's right to education and the role of the public school in assisting learners to realise this right. All considerations are based on the democratic constitutional dispensation in South Africa after 1994. The study finally illuminates the level of preparedness of the parent community in forming a partnership with the public school so that learners can be assisted in realsing their rights to education. / Educational Studies / M.Ed. (Education Management)

Thesis (DTh)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: All children should be regarded and treated with dignity. Children’s rights have been established in the international community as well as in South African society to address any violations of children’s rights and any detrimental influence this can have on them. The responsibility of ensuring that the rights of children are implemented, respected and protected in civil society lies primarily with the national government. Nevertheless, the struggle to realise children’s rights extends across all sectors and levels of society. As part of the theological task of developing a publicly orientated ministry that will address the social circumstances of children in South Africa in a just way, this study took as its point of departure the contribution that Practical Theology can make towards a systematic and critical interpretation of the cause of children and their welfare and rights. At the time that the study was launched there was limited comprehensive analysis of the subject of children in Practical Theology that devoted attention to a theological response to the promotion of children’s welfare and rights in South African society. Two lacunae in the theorising on children were identified in South African academic studies in Practical Theology: (i) a lack of focus on children and their rights, and (ii) a general absence of strategic perspectives on how the theological community can deal with the contextual realities of children in South African society. The primary aim of this study was to develop a theoretical framework in terms of which the contribution of Practical Theology could be conceptualised as a discourse and practice that could promote the cause of children and their welfare and rights. David Tracy’s three publics of theological involvement (the academy, the church and civil society) and Richard Osmer’s conceptualisation of the four modes of practical theological interpretation (empiricaldescriptive, interpretive, normative and pragmatic) were harnessed in an interdisciplinary way to develop a deeper understanding of the welfare of children and the importance of a practical theological approach to advancement of children’s welfare and rights. On the basis of Tracy’s and Osmer’s conceptual frameworks, a number of conditions were identified to promote the cause of children, child welfare and children’s rights in the discipline of Practical Theology in Schools of Theology and Religion. These conditions include a third public mode of practical theological interpretation being adopted, a culture of adultism being confronted and transformed, and children’s acts of faith becoming an integral part of the field of Practical Theology. On the basis of an empirical investigation among registered members of the Society for Practical Theology in South Africa, the study comes to the conclusion that the academic field of Practical Theology, in its interaction with communities and civil society, can make a unique contribution to the advancement of children’s rights. The fundamental contribution of the academic field of Practical Theology to the advancement of children’s rights in South Africa recide in focussing on the inclusion of the cause of children in theological interpretation; by implication this will entail actively countering the exclusion of children in theological discourse and praxis in the field of Practical Theology. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Alle kinders verdien om ooreenkomstig hul menswaardigheid beskou en hanteer te word. Kinderregte is deur die internasionale sowel as die Suid-Afrikaanse gemeenskap as respons daargestel om sake wat kinders se menswaardigheid aantas en hulle nadelig beïnvloed teen te werk. Die verantwoordelikheid om seker te maak dat die regte van kinders in die burgerlike samelewing gerespekteer, beskerm en verwesenlik word, lê primêr by die nasionale regering. Nietemin strek die stryd om kinderregte te laat realiseer oor alle sektore en vlakke van die samelewing heen. As deel van die teologiese taak om ’n publiek georiënteerde bediening te ontwikkel wat reg sal laat geskied aan die sosiale omstandighede van kinders in Suid-Afrika, het hierdie studie die bydrae wat Praktiese Teologie tot ’n sistematiese en kritiese interpretasie van die saak van kinders en hul welsyn en regte kan maak as vertrekpunt geneem. Met die aanvang van die studie het beperkte omvattende akademiese analise oor die onderwerp van kinders in Praktiese Teologie en Teologie as sodanig bestaan waarin aandag gegee is aan ’n teologiese respons op die bevordering van kinders se welsyn en hul regte in die Suid-Afrikaanse samelewing. Twee gapings in die teoretisering oor kinders in die Suid- Afrikaanse akademie van Praktiese Teologie is geïdentifiseer: (i) ’n gebrek aan fokus op kinders en hul regte en (ii) grootlikse afwesigheid van strategiese perspektiewe oor hoe die teologiese gemeenskap die kontekstuele realiteite van kinders in die Suid-Afrikaanse samelewing kan hanteer. Die doel van hierdie studie was primêr om ’n teoretiese raamwerk te ontwikkel in terme waarvan die bydrae van Praktiese Teologie tot ’n diskoers en praktyk wat vir kinders en hul welsyn en regte bevorderlik is, gekonseptualiseer kon word. David Tracy se drie publieke van teologiese betrokkenheid (akademie, kerk en burgerlike samelewing) asook Richard Osmer se konseptualisering van die vier take waarvolgens prakties-teologiese interpretasie kan geskied (empiries-beskrywend, interpreterend, normatief en pragmaties) is ingespan om op ’n interdissiplinêre wyse verdiepte begrip vir die welsyn van kinders en die belang van ’n prakties-teologiese bydrae tot die promovering van kinders se welsyn en regte te ontwikkel. Daar is aan die hand van die konseptuele raamwerke van Tracy en Osmer bepaalde voorwaardes geïdentifiseer waaronder die saak van kinders, kinderwelsyn en kinderregte in die beoefening van Praktiese Teologie aan Skole van Teologie en Godsdiens bevorder kan word. Hierdie voorwaardes sluit in dat ’n derde publiek-modus van prakties-teologiese interpretasie aangeneem word, ’n kultuur van adultism gekonfronteer en getransformeer word en kinders se geloofshandelinge geïntegreerd deel van die studieveld van Praktiese Teologie uitmaak. Op grond van ’n empiriese ondersoek onder geregistreerde lede van die Werkgemeenskap vir Praktiese Teologie in Suid-Afrika het die studie tot die gevolgtrekking gekom dat die akademie van Praktiese Teologie in interaksie met gemeentes en die burgerlike samelewing ’n unieke bydrae tot die bevordering van kinderregte kan lewer. Die akademie van Praktiese Teologie se fundamentele bydrae tot die promovering van kinderregte in Suid-Afrika bestaan daarin om te fokus op die insluiting van die saak van kinders in teologiese interpretasie; by implikasie sal dit behels dat Praktiese Teologie kinders se uitsluiting in teologiese diskoers en praxis aktief teëwerk.

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2005. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Television is a powerful tool in the diffusion of information to the masses. It is therefore influential in the way society perceives and responds to children, and in so doing it has an influence on the provision and protection of children's rights. According to international and locally conducted studies children are not high on the media agenda, are seldom given a voice or status, and if they are, issues around them are mostly formulated by adults. This assignment sets out to determine whether the same conclusion can be drawn from South African free-to-air television station e-TV. In particular it seeks to establish whether e- News has been successful in placing children's rights in on the public agenda or whether it has reported on children in an ad hoc manner. Children's human rights issues have been defined in accordance with the United Nation's Children's Rights Charter and the South African Bill of Rights, which makes specific provision for the child/children. This assignment takes its lead from a Media Monitoring Project study. Like the MMP report this research is conducted within a human rights framework and concedes according to Section 28 (2) of the Constitution that "the child's best interests are of paramount importance in every matter concerning the child". The methodology employed in this assignment, while replicating a Media Monitoring Project study, also employs discourse analysis in the form of interviews and questionnaires conducted with e-News members of staff. The methodology was applied to a sample of 71 stories which included reference to a child or children and which were broadcast on e-News Live at 7 and e-News live at 10 between January and August 2004. In brief it was found that the rights to privacy, dignity and freedom of speech were satisfactorily upheld (as per the Bill of Rights), but that issues about children are mostly sourced by and commented on by adults. Furthermore it was found that children's rights do not form an implicit part of the e-News agenda. Given that a human rights framework is normative for e-News, it is recommended that children's rights be placed in context, that stories challenge stereotypes about children and that e- News should consider appointing 'children's correspondents'. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Televisie is n' kragtige medium vir die verspreiding van inligting na die samelewing. Om hierdie rede speel televisie n' invloedryke rol op die manier waarop mense met kinders omgaan en dus het dit ook n' groot invloed op die voorsiening en berskerming van kinderregte. Volgens internastionale en plaaslike studies is kinders nie hoog op die media se agenda nie. Hulle word selde status verleen en indien wel, word kwessies wat hulle raak, dikwels deur volwassenes geformuleer. Hierdie opdrag wil bepaal of hierdie gevolgtrekking ook spesifiek betrekking het op die televisiestasie, e-TV. Daar word spesifiek gefokus op e-News se agenda met betrekking tot kinderregte en of dit suksesvol genhandhaaf word of nie. Kindreregte-kwessies is gedefineer soos in die Verenigde Nasies se Handves van Kinderrregte en die Suid-Afrikaanse Hanves van Menseregte wat specifiek focus op voorsiening vir kinders. Hierdie opdrag is volg die voorbeeld van n' verslag van die Media Monitoring Project (MMP). Soos die MMP-verslag word hierdie narvorsing binne n' menseregte-raamwerk gedoen en neem ook artikel 28 (2) van die Suid-Afrikaanse Grondwet in ag, wat stipuleer dat die kind se belange van kardinale belang is asook elke aspek wat die kind betrek. Die metodologie wat in hierdie opdrag gebruik word, repliseer tegelykertyd die MMPstudie en maak gebruik van diskoersanalise in die vorm van onderhoude en vraelyste onder e- News personeellede. Hierdie metodologie maak gebruik van n' steekproefvan 71 nuusstories wat verwys na n' kind/kinders wat tussen Januarie en Augustus 2004 op e-News Live om 19hOO uitgesaai is. Ter opsomming is bevind dat privaatheidsregte, waardigheid en vryheid van spraak van kinders bevredigend benader is. Kwessies wat kinders aanraak word egter meer deur volwassenes aangespreek as deur kinders self. Daar is egter ook bevind dat kinderregte nie n' intergrale deel van e-News agenda vorm me. Gegewe dat n' menseregteraamwerk bye-News toegepas word, word dit aanbeveel dat kinderregte binne konteks geplaas word en dat berigte sal streef daarna om stereotypes oor kinders te verander en dat e-News oorweeg om kinderkorrespndente aan te stel.

The history of South African education should not be swept under the carpet when contemporary matters on education are discussed. Public education was brought to life in order to perpetuate the ideals of separate education and apartheid. the school manager was essentially an extension of the ruling party. He or she had to inform his or her subordinates what the authorities demanded to be done in educational circles. The 1996 Constitution (Act 108 of 1996) effectively assured a democratic order which would guarantee the removal of Acts which were discriminatory in nature. The 1996 Constitution lay the foundation for a democratic and open society which has high regard for human rights, childrens' rights and in particular the right of learners to education. The public school must implement the stipulations of the Constitution and of the South African Schools Act (Act 84 of 1996) which aspire to be in line with international human rights documents like the 1948 Declaration of Human Rights and the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child. This study is essentially about learner's right to education and the role of the public school in assisting learners to realise this right. All considerations are based on the democratic constitutional dispensation in South Africa after 1994. The study finally illuminates the level of preparedness of the parent community in forming a partnership with the public school so that learners can be assisted in realsing their rights to education. / Educational Studies / M.Ed. (Education Management)

This study aims at testing the applicability of the universal standard for protection of children, ―the best interests of the child principle‖, to children caught up in armed conflict situations. The study introduces the effects of armed conflict on children by discussing two case studies of conflicts situations, namely Somalia‘s situation under the Al Shabaab and the LRA as it formerly operated in Northern Uganda. Heart-breaking narrations of child victims are given prominence to show the invalidity of ―best interests‖ principle in conflict situations. It acknowledges that the ―best interests‖ principle is a good tool for enforcement of children rights. It analyses the theory of rights in general so as to explain the origin and importance of rights. Since children‘s rights are part and parcel of human rights, the study also looks at the international human rights and the regional and international enforcement mechanisms, though not in details. This study looks at the various theories justifying the existence of children‘s rights, and the dichotomy between rights and interests. It also addresses the protection of children rights and the various discourses advocating for or negating children‘s rights. It explores the age question with regard to enforcement of children‘s rights based on the fact that childhood is a dynamic period. It also critically analyses the ―best interests‖ principle and the various alternative standards that have been advanced. It concludes that despite the various criticisms, the ―best interests‖ principle still obtains the better standard for protection of children‘s rights in peace times subject to being complemented by other rules. The study also focuses on protection of children under the International Humanitarian Law with specific focus on civilian protection during armed conflict. It also focuses on the progress made in international efforts to protect children from the effects of armed conflict. Finally, reasons are advanced as to why the Best Interests Principle is not applicable in armed conflict situations, and an alternative standard proposed. / Public, Constitutional, & International Law / LL.D.

Au cours des dernières décennies du XXème siècle, dans le monde occidental, les politiques destinées à protéger l’enfance ont subi de profonds changements. D’abord, suite à la découverte de la maltraitance infantile dans les années 60 aux États-Unis, à sa constitution comme problème social durant les décennies suivantes et à son expansion bien au-delà des frontières nord-américaines. Ensuite, avec la ratification par la plupart des pays du monde d’un traité international qui reconnaît l’enfant comme un sujet de droits (1989). Cette thèse a cherché à comprendre d’une part, comment ces transformations globales se sont ancrées en Argentine et comment leur imbrication a donné lieu à la mise en place de la politique contemporaine de protection de l’enfant en danger. D’une autre, s’appuyant sur une ethnographie des services de protection de l’enfance situés dans les quartiers populaires de la Ville de Buenos Aires, cette recherche s’est interrogée sur la prise en charge quotidienne de la maltraitance infantile. À partir de l’analyse des discours et des pratiques des intervenants, elle cherche à comprendre les modalités et les implications du traitement politique et moral de l’enfant en danger dans le monde contemporain. / During the last few decades of the 20th century, state policies aimed at protecting children underwent profound changes across the Western world. These changes can be attributed, first and foremost, to the “discovery” of child abuse in the 1960s in the United States, its construction as a social problem and repercussions across the globe in the following decades. On the other hand, the ratification of the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the (1989) by most countries in the world contributed to this process of change.This thesis explores how these global transformations were translated in Argentina into a national policy for the protection of endangered children. Based on an ethnographic study on child protection services in poor neighborhoods in the city of Buenos Aires, the day-to-day management of child abuse is examined. An analysis of the local discourses and practices of state agents provides insight into the methods and implications of the political and moral treatment of endangered children in the world today.

My research takes a social work perspective to investigate the concept of the child with ‘additional needs'. This concept arose out of the Labour Government's programme ‘Every Child Matters' (HM Government, 2003) which proposed that children's needs for support should be picked up at an earlier point by an integrated Children's Services consisting of social care, health and education. This would stop them from ‘falling through the net' of services. A focus on ‘additional needs' should mean that children in distress are helped at an early stage before problems became critical, improving the ‘well-being' of children and their families. The research has traced the cases of twelve children with ‘additional needs' through their contacts with Children's Services, using an interactionist methodology to interrogate the meaning-making between respondents. Further, following Hacking (2004), a Foucauldian approach to discourse allowed me investigate the discourses which shape formal diagnosis and categorization. Focusing on the ways that the child is positioned and perceived has allowed me to address the question of whose ‘need' is prioritized when the child enters the professional gaze. In doing so it has examined the role of formal and informal labels in constructing the child, the emotional content that goes into creating the ‘meaning-labels' of the child, and the ways that failures in knowing about the child affect the ways that a child becomes pictured. It concludes that in the shifting practices that make up Children's Services, the child with additional needs can become lost in the complex interaction between adult needs and emotions. The informal ‘meaning-labels' which arise out of this complexity often identify the child as carrying a ‘spoiled identity'. This can be carried through into practice with the child, including the processes of formal diagnosis and categorization. Adult emotions need to be managed better if children are to get fitting and timely help to allow them to thrive.

Nigerian families are overrepresented in child protection interventions in Greater London, drawing attention to cultural differences in childrearing practices. This research investigates the experiences of first-generation Nigerian immigrant parents regarding their management of childrearing issues, which are contextualised within a British child welfare polity and normative cultural milieu. The tension between Nigerian parents' childrearing worldviews and those attributed as ‘British' constitutes the central theme of this thesis. The study employs Bhaskar's (1998) critical realism as an epistemological and methodological paradigm, complemented by the use of Honneth's (1995) recognition theory as the principal substantive framework from which the findings are discussed. Qualitative data were collected from Nigerian parents living in Greater London through an internet blog, semi-structured interviews with 25 individuals, and two focus groups with four participants each. Template analysis was used to code and identify themes within the data. The project gives rise to a series of findings. The first is that most participants in the study wished to uphold certain childrearing practices from their backgrounds. Biographical accounts of their own upbringing in Nigeria revealed a picture of caregiving for children occurring within communal and codependent family relationships, which emphasised expectations of obedience and respectful behaviour from children. Participants' accounts of the physical chastisement of children present this discipline measure as both reasonable and not-so-reasonable. The problematic status of the physical chastisement of children in a British context is the focus of the second key finding of the study. Participants communicated a collective view that Nigerian parents were commonly understood within British society as harsh and controlling, a view attributed to social workers in particular, and other child safeguarding professionals (teachers, child protection police, health professionals) and traditional media producers in general. The defence or disavowal of physical chastisement appears to have become the focus both of immigrant identity practices and the host country's conditions of belonging and inclusion. A third finding was that parents were fearful in their dealings with child safeguarding professionals. Such fears were identified as linked to prior immigration experiences, xenophobia/racism within public discourses and activities, as well as ineffectual social work practices. Participants communicated the view that their values, knowledge, and experiences were not given proper consideration during child safeguarding interactions/interventions and that the challenges posed to the parent-child relationship by immigration were not acknowledged. Social workers and associated professionals were perceived as practicing in ways that could be described as not ‘culturally competent' (Bernard and Gupta, 2008, p.476). Participants experienced social workers as overly prescriptive and threatening. They viewed contact with social services with intense suspicion. A fourth finding was the respect expressed by participants for the British government's efforts to uphold the rights of children. An invitation to participants to share their strategies for managing tensions between Nigerian and British parenting values provided insights to how active/passive influences contribute to everyday strategies of parenting in a context of immigration. Drawing on recognition theory, the thesis offers a way of understanding these findings that recognises and makes sense of the dignity, resilience, fears, and aspirations conveyed by the research participants. The thesis argues for an approach that capitalises on shared values and acknowledges the strengths of Nigerian immigrants' parenting styles while promoting acceptable alternatives to practices that might have attracted child intervention. Recognition theory is offered to social work practice as a starting point for a strengths based approach to integration and wellbeing, suggesting that socio-political participation in the British child welfare polity would lead to an improvement in the confidence and wellbeing of these parents and their children. This conclusion has implications for British social work professionals and other authorities involved in child welfare policy and practice.

This thesis is an exploration of the tomboy figure across a range of literary and cinematic texts from the nineteenth century to the present day. The tomboy may seem to be a familiar cultural archetype, but my study also examines lesser-known, often marginalised aspects of the figure, with the intention of bringing to light new dimensions of tomboys and what they signify. Reaching beyond well-known stories, I have looked at tomboy representations outside the Eurocentric and North American versions, bringing in examples from the Caribbean, South America, Asia, and from within the postcolonial diaspora. Exploring these various hidden tomboy histories has meant engaging with work on how the tomboy figure might ask us to rethink settled notions of childhood gender identity, of the queer child, and the very concept of childhood itself as a queer temporality. Moving from a study of Wuthering Heights and nineteenth century children's fiction, I consider more recent tomboys in a small number of international films (drawing here on concepts of embodiment, materiality and the sensuous experience of cinema) before investigating how tomboy figures relate to questions of ethnic subjectivity in novels by Jamaica Kincaid and Catherine Johnson. By covering such a wide range of historical periods, genres and texts, the aim is to trace the complexities of the tomboy, a child figure that has always had strong connotations of gender transformation and gender rebellion, and is often associated with a playful and empowering otherness while conversely carrying with it the suggestion of reaffirming patriarchal, binary gender identities.