This article reports on the perceptions of academic resilience of Grade 8 and Grade 9 learners an... more This article reports on the perceptions of academic resilience of Grade 8 and Grade 9 learners and their teachers in low socioeconomic township schools. Learners from township schools experience many risk factors that can impede their academic success and careers. A lack of resources is one of the risk factors experienced by the learners. During COVID-19, where an online or hybrid learning model was relied on for teaching and learning, most township schools relied on the rotational learning model instead. The study’s main aim is to evaluate and understand the learners’ perceptions of their academic strengths, future aspirations and motivation, and to compare their perceptions with those that emerged from their teachers’ blind evaluations. The participants were teachers (n = 8) and learners (n = 12) from two purposively sampled township secondary schools. Data-generation instruments included semi-structured interviews for learners and a self-constructed Likert-type-scale questionnair...
There has been much debate on access and social justice, and the role ofdistance education in red... more There has been much debate on access and social justice, and the role ofdistance education in redressing social injustices. However, little is knownabout these issues in relation to students with disabilities. The South AfricanDepartment of Higher Education and Training’s Strategic Policy Frameworkon Disability for the Post-School Education and Training System aims to improvepeople with disabilities' access to and success in post-school education andtraining. The document notes that despite the ground gained in transforming the the country's higher education landscape, systematic, institutional and personal challenges persist in relation to integrating such students into postschool education and training. This article highlights the challenges typically encountered by students with disabilities despite policy responses and why these have not worked. It proposes transformational leadership nestled within Ubuntu to transform the issue of disability ...
This study aims to explain how adolescents in a rural high school conceptualise school violence. ... more This study aims to explain how adolescents in a rural high school conceptualise school violence. Qualitative data was collected over two, two-day periods (24 hours) through child-centred tasks (drawings, open-ended sentences), informal conversations regarding the given activities, observations documented as visual data (photographs), a research journal, as well as a focus group discussions. In total 4 boys and 5 girls participated in the study. It emerged that the adolescents (aged 15-17 years), view school violence as both negative (causing harm), as well as positive (to ensure order and protection). From the adolescents ‟ perspective, conceptually violence interweaves constructs of power, discipline and aggression. Future adolescent-focused interventions on violence must include conversations about these nuanced understandings.
Handbook of Quality of Life in African Societies, 2019
This chapter aims to illuminate the various connotations about quality-of-life within successful ... more This chapter aims to illuminate the various connotations about quality-of-life within successful family life in black South African families. The exploration includes the African social divide, the historical antecedents that impacted on families and its implications for the black South African family in particular. Successful family life is a desired life asset for most individuals and widely viewed as an accomplishment. Human beings desire success broadly to attract prestige, status and recognition in society. The meaning of a successful life has, however, remained contentious, given that it continues to be defined in diverse ways. Ideas of a successful life and quality life appear to be interrelated and are frequently measured in terms of successful family life. Medical literature abounds with research on patients’ quality-of-life, most of which relates in some way to family life. The varied opinions on what black South Africans regard as successful family life will be explored i...
Southern African Review of Education with Education with Production, 2016
This article reports on the trajectory of educational support within the inclusive and special ed... more This article reports on the trajectory of educational support within the inclusive and special education system. Reviewed literature on the trajectory of inclusive education confirms that inclusive education is envisaged as a vehicle to achieve and access quality education for all. The 1994 World Conference in Salamanca, Spain, representing international governments from 92 countries and education ministries, endorsed inclusive education as a philosophy for implementing education for all and promulgated for inclusive primary education. Conversely, since the 1930s, with the adoption of the specialised education system in America, education for all was realised. South Africa implemented an inclusive education policy in 2001 and one of the objectives is to strengthen special school access for all children. The 2013 education statistics evaluating access to education indicate a significant milestone and increase (99,3%) in achieving EFA in primary school attendance (7-13 years). The pur...
The study investigated the perceptions that caregivers working at children’s homes have regarding... more The study investigated the perceptions that caregivers working at children’s homes have regarding their roles/responsibilities. The aim was to obtain insight into their subjective experiences and realities. This qualitative study was guided by the interpretive paradigm and included eleven caregivers. Focus group discussions, group collage and semi‐structured interviews served as data collection methods. The caregivers perceived their roles/responsibilities as including the provision of food, shelter and protective en‐ vironment; also catering to the children’s emotional and health requirements. Caregivers viewed their work environment as child‐focused and expressed the need to be acknowl‐ edged as professionals and to be empowered with more training.
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2020
Exposure to drought is on the increase, also in sub-Saharan Africa. Even so, little attention has... more Exposure to drought is on the increase, also in sub-Saharan Africa. Even so, little attention has been paid to what supports youth resilience to the stressors associated with drought. In response, this article reports a secondary analysis of qualitative data generated in a phenomenological study with 25 South African adolescents (average age 15.6; majority Sepedi-speaking) from a drought-impacted and structurally disadvantaged community. The thematic findings show the importance of personal, relational, and structural resources that fit with youths’ sociocultural context. Essentially, proactive collaboration between adolescents and their social ecologies is necessary to co-advance socially just responses to the challenges associated with drought.
In the absence of empirical and conceptual considerations of the negotiation of leadership in tea... more In the absence of empirical and conceptual considerations of the negotiation of leadership in teams doing community-based research, this article adds to the leadership literature by offering a critical reflection on positioning and collaborative teams in the context of one interdisciplinary, co-productive, cross-generational and international research project. The project focused on youth and community resilience to drought in South Africa. Fourteen co-researchers reflected on their experiences of leadership within the project, using a collectively developed questionnaire. Findings uniquely highlight wider ethical considerations when youth and novice researchers are included in research teams. A strong emphasis on cultural responsiveness was found; with local and culturally led leadership seen to positively influence both processes and outcomes. Reflections suggest collaboration may be approached as an “ethos” and aided by transformational leadership theories and methodologies. Find...
This article reports on the perceptions of academic resilience of Grade 8 and Grade 9 learners an... more This article reports on the perceptions of academic resilience of Grade 8 and Grade 9 learners and their teachers in low socioeconomic township schools. Learners from township schools experience many risk factors that can impede their academic success and careers. A lack of resources is one of the risk factors experienced by the learners. During COVID-19, where an online or hybrid learning model was relied on for teaching and learning, most township schools relied on the rotational learning model instead. The study’s main aim is to evaluate and understand the learners’ perceptions of their academic strengths, future aspirations and motivation, and to compare their perceptions with those that emerged from their teachers’ blind evaluations. The participants were teachers (n = 8) and learners (n = 12) from two purposively sampled township secondary schools. Data-generation instruments included semi-structured interviews for learners and a self-constructed Likert-type-scale questionnair...
There has been much debate on access and social justice, and the role ofdistance education in red... more There has been much debate on access and social justice, and the role ofdistance education in redressing social injustices. However, little is knownabout these issues in relation to students with disabilities. The South AfricanDepartment of Higher Education and Training’s Strategic Policy Frameworkon Disability for the Post-School Education and Training System aims to improvepeople with disabilities' access to and success in post-school education andtraining. The document notes that despite the ground gained in transforming the the country's higher education landscape, systematic, institutional and personal challenges persist in relation to integrating such students into postschool education and training. This article highlights the challenges typically encountered by students with disabilities despite policy responses and why these have not worked. It proposes transformational leadership nestled within Ubuntu to transform the issue of disability ...
This study aims to explain how adolescents in a rural high school conceptualise school violence. ... more This study aims to explain how adolescents in a rural high school conceptualise school violence. Qualitative data was collected over two, two-day periods (24 hours) through child-centred tasks (drawings, open-ended sentences), informal conversations regarding the given activities, observations documented as visual data (photographs), a research journal, as well as a focus group discussions. In total 4 boys and 5 girls participated in the study. It emerged that the adolescents (aged 15-17 years), view school violence as both negative (causing harm), as well as positive (to ensure order and protection). From the adolescents ‟ perspective, conceptually violence interweaves constructs of power, discipline and aggression. Future adolescent-focused interventions on violence must include conversations about these nuanced understandings.
Handbook of Quality of Life in African Societies, 2019
This chapter aims to illuminate the various connotations about quality-of-life within successful ... more This chapter aims to illuminate the various connotations about quality-of-life within successful family life in black South African families. The exploration includes the African social divide, the historical antecedents that impacted on families and its implications for the black South African family in particular. Successful family life is a desired life asset for most individuals and widely viewed as an accomplishment. Human beings desire success broadly to attract prestige, status and recognition in society. The meaning of a successful life has, however, remained contentious, given that it continues to be defined in diverse ways. Ideas of a successful life and quality life appear to be interrelated and are frequently measured in terms of successful family life. Medical literature abounds with research on patients’ quality-of-life, most of which relates in some way to family life. The varied opinions on what black South Africans regard as successful family life will be explored i...
Southern African Review of Education with Education with Production, 2016
This article reports on the trajectory of educational support within the inclusive and special ed... more This article reports on the trajectory of educational support within the inclusive and special education system. Reviewed literature on the trajectory of inclusive education confirms that inclusive education is envisaged as a vehicle to achieve and access quality education for all. The 1994 World Conference in Salamanca, Spain, representing international governments from 92 countries and education ministries, endorsed inclusive education as a philosophy for implementing education for all and promulgated for inclusive primary education. Conversely, since the 1930s, with the adoption of the specialised education system in America, education for all was realised. South Africa implemented an inclusive education policy in 2001 and one of the objectives is to strengthen special school access for all children. The 2013 education statistics evaluating access to education indicate a significant milestone and increase (99,3%) in achieving EFA in primary school attendance (7-13 years). The pur...
The study investigated the perceptions that caregivers working at children’s homes have regarding... more The study investigated the perceptions that caregivers working at children’s homes have regarding their roles/responsibilities. The aim was to obtain insight into their subjective experiences and realities. This qualitative study was guided by the interpretive paradigm and included eleven caregivers. Focus group discussions, group collage and semi‐structured interviews served as data collection methods. The caregivers perceived their roles/responsibilities as including the provision of food, shelter and protective en‐ vironment; also catering to the children’s emotional and health requirements. Caregivers viewed their work environment as child‐focused and expressed the need to be acknowl‐ edged as professionals and to be empowered with more training.
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2020
Exposure to drought is on the increase, also in sub-Saharan Africa. Even so, little attention has... more Exposure to drought is on the increase, also in sub-Saharan Africa. Even so, little attention has been paid to what supports youth resilience to the stressors associated with drought. In response, this article reports a secondary analysis of qualitative data generated in a phenomenological study with 25 South African adolescents (average age 15.6; majority Sepedi-speaking) from a drought-impacted and structurally disadvantaged community. The thematic findings show the importance of personal, relational, and structural resources that fit with youths’ sociocultural context. Essentially, proactive collaboration between adolescents and their social ecologies is necessary to co-advance socially just responses to the challenges associated with drought.
In the absence of empirical and conceptual considerations of the negotiation of leadership in tea... more In the absence of empirical and conceptual considerations of the negotiation of leadership in teams doing community-based research, this article adds to the leadership literature by offering a critical reflection on positioning and collaborative teams in the context of one interdisciplinary, co-productive, cross-generational and international research project. The project focused on youth and community resilience to drought in South Africa. Fourteen co-researchers reflected on their experiences of leadership within the project, using a collectively developed questionnaire. Findings uniquely highlight wider ethical considerations when youth and novice researchers are included in research teams. A strong emphasis on cultural responsiveness was found; with local and culturally led leadership seen to positively influence both processes and outcomes. Reflections suggest collaboration may be approached as an “ethos” and aided by transformational leadership theories and methodologies. Find...
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Papers by Ruth Mampane