This article aims to accentuate the value of reflective practices in the lived experiences and pr... more This article aims to accentuate the value of reflective practices in the lived experiences and professional development of a teacher educator and a nursing educator at a higher education institution in South Africa. Reflective practice promotes the continuous (re)creation of local knowledge through a critical reflection on beliefs, assumptions, experiences and practices in order to identify successful strategies for teaching practice, reflect upon challenges, adapt, and evolve their practice. Reflective practice encapsulates a process of continuous learning and growth that not only resonates with pedagogical and methodological viewpoints and also ontological and epistemological situatedness and is at the same time aligned with national and institutional aims and requirements. In this self-study project based on LaBoskey’s five characteristics of self-study, educators in higher education become both the researcher and the researched and the emphasis of the research is on the self as a theorist, researcher and practitioner. The authors explore and elucidate their journey of discovery towards the various dimensions of their reflective practice through a critical evaluation of their teaching and learning theory and of their teaching and assessment strategies. Both authors have been awarded institutional teaching excellence awards. This article contributes to their joint discourse on higher education as well as their conceptualization of their respective scholarships of teaching and learning.
This article reflects on the experiences of 100 South African beginner teachers and contextualise... more This article reflects on the experiences of 100 South African beginner teachers and contextualises their experiences of reality shock by applying the 'ready, willing and able' model of Shulman and Shulman (2004). A discourse analysis of critical reflection on experiences during their first year(s) of teaching provided insight into the challenges they faced and indicated a correlation between the results of this study and the aims of the 'ready, willing and able' model. In this qualitative study the question is asked as to whether tertiary institutions might have an extended responsibility to better equip beginner teachers for handling the academic and emotional realities they will face. This article contributes to the growing body of knowledge on beginner teachers and reality shock through advocating an attitude of critical analysis and self-reflection that can empower beginner teachers to handle unpredictable situations, adapt and learn from experience and manage their experience of reality shock and stress during their first year(s) of teaching. The solution might be a shared responsibility that is guided by a commitment towards interdependence and inter-activeness within the system and all the role-players.
This article explores the contribution that a teaching strategy, such as metaphoric body-mapping,... more This article explores the contribution that a teaching strategy, such as metaphoric body-mapping, can make towards the discourse on the development of professional teacher identity. Second-year students in a Life Orientation methodology module in a B.Ed programme were offered the opportunity to validate their local knowledge and make new meaning together, through bringing their lived experiences into the classroom. In a contact session, groups were tasked with using body-mapping to conceptualise metaphoric superhero and villain characters of both effective and ineffective teachers. In a subsequent discourse, the characteristics of these metaphoric characters were explored to set the stage for inter-and intrapersonal reflection on students' own social construction of their developing professional identities. This student experience clearly indicates that metaphors can be a rich and stimulating way for prospective teachers to talk about their perceptions, experiences and expectations of teaching, and the method accentuates the importance of tertiary institutions that contribute to the emerging conversation about the development of professional identity in pre-service teachers. This article pioneers the use of body-mapping as a group-based technique, where a group of people works together on the same body-map, rather than the traditional individual approach to this method.
The sixth annual South African Education Research Association (SAERA) conference in 2018 provided... more The sixth annual South African Education Research Association (SAERA) conference in 2018 provided a shared space for collective discourse about experiences, research, and theorising in various research practices and contexts. Drawing on the computer metaphor of Odora-Hoppers and Richards (2011), the conference theme contemplated the need to develop a completely new operating system for education-a call for a total rethinking of schooling, higher education, research, and community-based learning. Education 01? In Search of a New Operating System: Making Education More Relevant, Responsive, and Authentic proved to be a very provocative theme, which encouraged papers and panel discussions that postulated that a mere changing of the operating system and algorithm of education would not have much positive effect. It was hypothesised that changes to both the hardware (schools, universities, funding programmes, etc.) and software (programmes, curricula, textbooks, etc.) were also needed to advance the whole enterprise of research and education-approaches, traditions, assumptions, and theories. This would ensure that, for the sake of knowledge democracy and cognitive justice, education would retain its practical relevance. Discourses throughout the conference accentuated the idea that educational programmes should be multidisciplinary in nature, offering modules from various disciplines and paradigms to enable students to be exposed to an ecology of, and plurality of, knowledges. Former themes in SAERA have been along this line, calling for a reimagining and a decolonisation of education. The pertinent question during and after the 2018 conference remains: "How do we make education more relevant, responsive, and authentic?" The articles in this special issue share a number of papers presented at that conference. Following the process of double-blind review, 10 papers that unpacked the theme of the restructuring and redesign of education praxis, teacher education, and the field of education scholarship were accepted.
Our aim in this lead article is to establish the framework of the special issue consisting of sel... more Our aim in this lead article is to establish the framework of the special issue consisting of selected papers presented at the 2018 South African Education Research Association (SAERA) Annual Conference that had as its theme "Education 01? In search of a new operating system: Making education more relevant, responsive and authentic." We begin with an overview of the societal changes defining the early 21st century. We suggest that, in light of these changes, education praxis, education scholarship, and teacher education need to be redesigned with relevance, responsiveness, and authenticity if it is to meet the critical changes required.
This participatory action research journey with teachers from old model C high schools in South A... more This participatory action research journey with teachers from old model C high schools in South Africa investigates the possibility that teaching might be a practical theological engagement that sanctions teachers towards becoming agents of hope for themselves and their colleagues. This qualitative study is built upon an epistemology of a postmodern, postfoundationalist approach to practical theology embodied within a narrative, feminist and social constructionist feminist framework.
Such a multi-authored approach to research also creates space for the individual voices of silenced, marginalized and often burnt out teachers to be heard. Through a constant migration between theory and praxis within the habitus of practical theology, the academic discourses about teachers, factors causing stress in their lives and their personal relationship with God are explored. This specific context creates a moment of praxis where teachers can feel empowered and in a position to facilitate social transformation. This research journey thus concerns itself with a critical reflection on the secular and religious aspects as it is understood in the specific context of a teacher. The postfoundationalist approach to practical theology forces a researcher to firstly listen to the stories of people in real life situations and does not merely aim to describe a general context, but confronts the participants with a specific and concrete situation, in this case the state of education in South Africa.
Two groups of participants took part in this study. Through conversations the first group conceptualized the factors causing stress in their lives and explored the traditional understanding of having a calling. The question is asked whether the traditional concept of calling is still relevant in the lives of modern day teachers. Concepts like stewardship and servant leadership are offered as alternatives. It is then postulated that the awareness of the presence of God in a teacher’s professional life can change the way that this person perceives a calling, will cope with stress and anxiety, as well as reduce the possibility of them experiencing severe burnout.
The second group attended a weekend retreat where these teachers could share hope and encourage each other to take part in healing conversations. They were offered the opportunity to re-author their stories and deconstruct the discourses that shapes their lives and identities as teachers. Subsequently, their preferred identities as teachers with a calling to be stewards for the Kingdom of God were strengthened through conceptualizing the influence that living according to such an identity can have on their relationship with the Department of Education, their colleagues, themselves and their relationship with God. The teachers attending the retreat also defined and conceptualized a school driven by a calling. They further committed to transform their school to becoming such a school driven by a calling. Seeing themselves as practical theologians does not eliminate the factors that cause stress in teachers’ lives, but it becomes the driving force that keeps them coping in times of duress. The participants in this research journey learned that having a calling to teach requires a daily commitment to being in the service of God, to viewing the children and the situation in education in South Africa through the eyes of God. Being a practical theologian creates a different kind of responsibility in the Christian teacher, because they are now accountable to an alternative source than only the Department of Education, they answer to God. Thus they become the hands and feet of God in their classrooms and in turn, serve as guardians and agents of hope for each other.
Key words: Practical theology, high school teachers, old model C schools, agents of hope, calling, stewardship, servant leadership, stress, burnout, retreat.
This article aims to accentuate the value of reflective practices in the lived experiences and pr... more This article aims to accentuate the value of reflective practices in the lived experiences and professional development of a teacher educator and a nursing educator at a higher education institution in South Africa. Reflective practice promotes the continuous (re)creation of local knowledge through a critical reflection on beliefs, assumptions, experiences and practices in order to identify successful strategies for teaching practice, reflect upon challenges, adapt, and evolve their practice. Reflective practice encapsulates a process of continuous learning and growth that not only resonates with pedagogical and methodological viewpoints and also ontological and epistemological situatedness and is at the same time aligned with national and institutional aims and requirements. In this self-study project based on LaBoskey’s five characteristics of self-study, educators in higher education become both the researcher and the researched and the emphasis of the research is on the self as a theorist, researcher and practitioner. The authors explore and elucidate their journey of discovery towards the various dimensions of their reflective practice through a critical evaluation of their teaching and learning theory and of their teaching and assessment strategies. Both authors have been awarded institutional teaching excellence awards. This article contributes to their joint discourse on higher education as well as their conceptualization of their respective scholarships of teaching and learning.
This article reflects on the experiences of 100 South African beginner teachers and contextualise... more This article reflects on the experiences of 100 South African beginner teachers and contextualises their experiences of reality shock by applying the 'ready, willing and able' model of Shulman and Shulman (2004). A discourse analysis of critical reflection on experiences during their first year(s) of teaching provided insight into the challenges they faced and indicated a correlation between the results of this study and the aims of the 'ready, willing and able' model. In this qualitative study the question is asked as to whether tertiary institutions might have an extended responsibility to better equip beginner teachers for handling the academic and emotional realities they will face. This article contributes to the growing body of knowledge on beginner teachers and reality shock through advocating an attitude of critical analysis and self-reflection that can empower beginner teachers to handle unpredictable situations, adapt and learn from experience and manage their experience of reality shock and stress during their first year(s) of teaching. The solution might be a shared responsibility that is guided by a commitment towards interdependence and inter-activeness within the system and all the role-players.
This article explores the contribution that a teaching strategy, such as metaphoric body-mapping,... more This article explores the contribution that a teaching strategy, such as metaphoric body-mapping, can make towards the discourse on the development of professional teacher identity. Second-year students in a Life Orientation methodology module in a B.Ed programme were offered the opportunity to validate their local knowledge and make new meaning together, through bringing their lived experiences into the classroom. In a contact session, groups were tasked with using body-mapping to conceptualise metaphoric superhero and villain characters of both effective and ineffective teachers. In a subsequent discourse, the characteristics of these metaphoric characters were explored to set the stage for inter-and intrapersonal reflection on students' own social construction of their developing professional identities. This student experience clearly indicates that metaphors can be a rich and stimulating way for prospective teachers to talk about their perceptions, experiences and expectations of teaching, and the method accentuates the importance of tertiary institutions that contribute to the emerging conversation about the development of professional identity in pre-service teachers. This article pioneers the use of body-mapping as a group-based technique, where a group of people works together on the same body-map, rather than the traditional individual approach to this method.
The sixth annual South African Education Research Association (SAERA) conference in 2018 provided... more The sixth annual South African Education Research Association (SAERA) conference in 2018 provided a shared space for collective discourse about experiences, research, and theorising in various research practices and contexts. Drawing on the computer metaphor of Odora-Hoppers and Richards (2011), the conference theme contemplated the need to develop a completely new operating system for education-a call for a total rethinking of schooling, higher education, research, and community-based learning. Education 01? In Search of a New Operating System: Making Education More Relevant, Responsive, and Authentic proved to be a very provocative theme, which encouraged papers and panel discussions that postulated that a mere changing of the operating system and algorithm of education would not have much positive effect. It was hypothesised that changes to both the hardware (schools, universities, funding programmes, etc.) and software (programmes, curricula, textbooks, etc.) were also needed to advance the whole enterprise of research and education-approaches, traditions, assumptions, and theories. This would ensure that, for the sake of knowledge democracy and cognitive justice, education would retain its practical relevance. Discourses throughout the conference accentuated the idea that educational programmes should be multidisciplinary in nature, offering modules from various disciplines and paradigms to enable students to be exposed to an ecology of, and plurality of, knowledges. Former themes in SAERA have been along this line, calling for a reimagining and a decolonisation of education. The pertinent question during and after the 2018 conference remains: "How do we make education more relevant, responsive, and authentic?" The articles in this special issue share a number of papers presented at that conference. Following the process of double-blind review, 10 papers that unpacked the theme of the restructuring and redesign of education praxis, teacher education, and the field of education scholarship were accepted.
Our aim in this lead article is to establish the framework of the special issue consisting of sel... more Our aim in this lead article is to establish the framework of the special issue consisting of selected papers presented at the 2018 South African Education Research Association (SAERA) Annual Conference that had as its theme "Education 01? In search of a new operating system: Making education more relevant, responsive and authentic." We begin with an overview of the societal changes defining the early 21st century. We suggest that, in light of these changes, education praxis, education scholarship, and teacher education need to be redesigned with relevance, responsiveness, and authenticity if it is to meet the critical changes required.
This participatory action research journey with teachers from old model C high schools in South A... more This participatory action research journey with teachers from old model C high schools in South Africa investigates the possibility that teaching might be a practical theological engagement that sanctions teachers towards becoming agents of hope for themselves and their colleagues. This qualitative study is built upon an epistemology of a postmodern, postfoundationalist approach to practical theology embodied within a narrative, feminist and social constructionist feminist framework.
Such a multi-authored approach to research also creates space for the individual voices of silenced, marginalized and often burnt out teachers to be heard. Through a constant migration between theory and praxis within the habitus of practical theology, the academic discourses about teachers, factors causing stress in their lives and their personal relationship with God are explored. This specific context creates a moment of praxis where teachers can feel empowered and in a position to facilitate social transformation. This research journey thus concerns itself with a critical reflection on the secular and religious aspects as it is understood in the specific context of a teacher. The postfoundationalist approach to practical theology forces a researcher to firstly listen to the stories of people in real life situations and does not merely aim to describe a general context, but confronts the participants with a specific and concrete situation, in this case the state of education in South Africa.
Two groups of participants took part in this study. Through conversations the first group conceptualized the factors causing stress in their lives and explored the traditional understanding of having a calling. The question is asked whether the traditional concept of calling is still relevant in the lives of modern day teachers. Concepts like stewardship and servant leadership are offered as alternatives. It is then postulated that the awareness of the presence of God in a teacher’s professional life can change the way that this person perceives a calling, will cope with stress and anxiety, as well as reduce the possibility of them experiencing severe burnout.
The second group attended a weekend retreat where these teachers could share hope and encourage each other to take part in healing conversations. They were offered the opportunity to re-author their stories and deconstruct the discourses that shapes their lives and identities as teachers. Subsequently, their preferred identities as teachers with a calling to be stewards for the Kingdom of God were strengthened through conceptualizing the influence that living according to such an identity can have on their relationship with the Department of Education, their colleagues, themselves and their relationship with God. The teachers attending the retreat also defined and conceptualized a school driven by a calling. They further committed to transform their school to becoming such a school driven by a calling. Seeing themselves as practical theologians does not eliminate the factors that cause stress in teachers’ lives, but it becomes the driving force that keeps them coping in times of duress. The participants in this research journey learned that having a calling to teach requires a daily commitment to being in the service of God, to viewing the children and the situation in education in South Africa through the eyes of God. Being a practical theologian creates a different kind of responsibility in the Christian teacher, because they are now accountable to an alternative source than only the Department of Education, they answer to God. Thus they become the hands and feet of God in their classrooms and in turn, serve as guardians and agents of hope for each other.
Key words: Practical theology, high school teachers, old model C schools, agents of hope, calling, stewardship, servant leadership, stress, burnout, retreat.
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Papers by Carolina Botha
Such a multi-authored approach to research also creates space for the individual voices of silenced, marginalized and often burnt out teachers to be heard. Through a constant migration between theory and praxis within the habitus of practical theology, the academic discourses about teachers, factors causing stress in their lives and their personal relationship with God are explored. This specific context creates a moment of praxis where teachers can feel empowered and in a position to facilitate social transformation. This research journey thus concerns itself with a critical reflection on the secular and religious aspects as it is understood in the specific context of a teacher. The postfoundationalist approach to practical theology forces a researcher to firstly listen to the stories of people in real life situations and does not merely aim to describe a general context, but confronts the participants with a specific and concrete situation, in this case the state of education in South Africa.
Two groups of participants took part in this study. Through conversations the first group conceptualized the factors causing stress in their lives and explored the traditional understanding of having a calling. The question is asked whether the traditional concept of calling is still relevant in the lives of modern day teachers. Concepts like stewardship and servant leadership are offered as alternatives. It is then postulated that the awareness of the presence of God in a teacher’s professional life can change the way that this person perceives a calling, will cope with stress and anxiety, as well as reduce the possibility of them experiencing severe burnout.
The second group attended a weekend retreat where these teachers could share hope and encourage each other to take part in healing conversations. They were offered the opportunity to re-author their stories and deconstruct the discourses that shapes their lives and identities as teachers. Subsequently, their preferred identities as teachers with a calling to be stewards for the Kingdom of God were strengthened through conceptualizing the influence that living according to such an identity can have on their relationship with the Department of Education, their colleagues, themselves and their relationship with God. The teachers attending the retreat also defined and conceptualized a school driven by a calling. They further committed to transform their school to becoming such a school driven by a calling.
Seeing themselves as practical theologians does not eliminate the factors that cause stress in teachers’ lives, but it becomes the driving force that keeps them coping in times of duress. The participants in this research journey learned that having a calling to teach requires a daily commitment to being in the service of God, to viewing the children and the situation in education in South Africa through the eyes of God. Being a practical theologian creates a different kind of responsibility in the Christian teacher, because they are now accountable to an alternative source than only the Department of Education, they answer to God. Thus they become the hands and feet of God in their classrooms and in turn, serve as guardians and agents of hope for each other.
Key words:
Practical theology, high school teachers, old model C schools, agents of hope, calling, stewardship, servant leadership, stress, burnout, retreat.
Such a multi-authored approach to research also creates space for the individual voices of silenced, marginalized and often burnt out teachers to be heard. Through a constant migration between theory and praxis within the habitus of practical theology, the academic discourses about teachers, factors causing stress in their lives and their personal relationship with God are explored. This specific context creates a moment of praxis where teachers can feel empowered and in a position to facilitate social transformation. This research journey thus concerns itself with a critical reflection on the secular and religious aspects as it is understood in the specific context of a teacher. The postfoundationalist approach to practical theology forces a researcher to firstly listen to the stories of people in real life situations and does not merely aim to describe a general context, but confronts the participants with a specific and concrete situation, in this case the state of education in South Africa.
Two groups of participants took part in this study. Through conversations the first group conceptualized the factors causing stress in their lives and explored the traditional understanding of having a calling. The question is asked whether the traditional concept of calling is still relevant in the lives of modern day teachers. Concepts like stewardship and servant leadership are offered as alternatives. It is then postulated that the awareness of the presence of God in a teacher’s professional life can change the way that this person perceives a calling, will cope with stress and anxiety, as well as reduce the possibility of them experiencing severe burnout.
The second group attended a weekend retreat where these teachers could share hope and encourage each other to take part in healing conversations. They were offered the opportunity to re-author their stories and deconstruct the discourses that shapes their lives and identities as teachers. Subsequently, their preferred identities as teachers with a calling to be stewards for the Kingdom of God were strengthened through conceptualizing the influence that living according to such an identity can have on their relationship with the Department of Education, their colleagues, themselves and their relationship with God. The teachers attending the retreat also defined and conceptualized a school driven by a calling. They further committed to transform their school to becoming such a school driven by a calling.
Seeing themselves as practical theologians does not eliminate the factors that cause stress in teachers’ lives, but it becomes the driving force that keeps them coping in times of duress. The participants in this research journey learned that having a calling to teach requires a daily commitment to being in the service of God, to viewing the children and the situation in education in South Africa through the eyes of God. Being a practical theologian creates a different kind of responsibility in the Christian teacher, because they are now accountable to an alternative source than only the Department of Education, they answer to God. Thus they become the hands and feet of God in their classrooms and in turn, serve as guardians and agents of hope for each other.
Key words:
Practical theology, high school teachers, old model C schools, agents of hope, calling, stewardship, servant leadership, stress, burnout, retreat.