Humanising higher education in South Africa through dialogue as praxis

Roux, Cornelia; Becker, Anne

doi:10.17159/2221-4070/2016/v5i1a8

Cited by 22 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…The need to recognise the emerging identities and voices of students in the learning process connects with Freire's writing on pedagogy, which assumed humanness as a necessary condition for transforming a "dehumanising system" into education as freedom (Roux & Becker, 2016). It also supports Venter's (2004) statement that in an African philosophy of education, a person gains knowledge "by listening to your fellow human beings" (p. 156).…”

Section: Learning To Listen To Multiple Voicesmentioning

confidence: 83%

Positioning a practice of hope in South African teacher education programmes

Cherrington

2017

Educ. res. soc. change.

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Schools are described as ideal settings for nurturing and fostering children's hopes, and the teaching profession as rooted in hopefulness. However, there is a paucity of research linking hope theory and teacher education in the South African context. Using evidence from my own transformative, visual participatory research with rural South African children on hope and well-being, I argue in this position paper that hope theory, in particular an African perspective of hope, should be positioned alongside discussions on practising an engaged pedagogy to enable teaching practices that are more congruent with an Afrocentric worldview. This article argues a need to infuse relational hope in teacher education practices by encouraging collaborative, participatory learning engagements that create safe and creative spaces for critical dialogue, allowing for multiple voices and experiences to be heard. Such practices could in turn foster a sense of collective hope-characterised by the values of connectedness, caring, and collective agency-thereby equipping student teachers with the tools to build communities of hope in their classrooms and schools. The article concludes with implications of mobilising such a practice of hope through an engaged pedagogy in student teacher education in the South African context.

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Section: Learning To Listen To Multiple Voicesmentioning

confidence: 83%

Positioning a practice of hope in South African teacher education programmes

Cherrington

2017

Educ. res. soc. change.

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“…What triggered the reassessment of the captured data of the project was firstly that concepts related to human rights that acknowledge respect and/or tolerance (Survey2013; Survey2015; FGD2013) made way for intolerance, mistrust and anger (Carter 2013, 197;Nussbaum 2012, 100). Secondly, it became clear that these concepts were linked to the different layers of reasons related to students' histories (Wilson 2014;Roux and Becker 2016). The reasons to support the eradication of social injustices, listening to economically deprived and socially excluded students, linking actions to the philosophies of decolonization, could undoubtedly develop into actions of inconsistency which started to differ from what one is supposed to do (Nussbaum 2012).…”

Section: Example Twomentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The first six important concepts students associated with human rights were the following: Students related to human rights as (i) freedom (ii) equity (iii) respect (iv) protection (v) social justice and (vi) dignity. Taking the histories of South African students into consideration, 72 students should have been more aware of discrimination, disrespect and intolerance behaviours and experiences imbedded in racism and sexism (Wilson 2014;Roux and Becker 2016). It was interesting to note that respect as concept was not prioritised in relation to concepts such as freedom.…”

Section: Question 13: Please Select Any 10 Of the Following Words Or mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This is different from Survey 2013 (Survey2013) where 'freedom' was indicated. This shift might be linked to many South Africans and students' reflections on racist remarks (since January 2015) on social media on social justice issues and reflecting their experiences and voices against marginalisation in higher education (Roux and Becker 2016). Students from India identified 'social justice' as important and could be linked to social, religious and cultural structures challenged in society.…”

Section: Question 13: Please Select Any 10 Of the Following Words Or mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Human rights literacies and students' paradoxical understandings of tolerance and respect

Roux

2017

SAJHE

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Ivanhoe (2009, 312) states that the 'majority of contemporary Western philosophers who accept the fact of ethical pluralism and take this as a cause for concern, tend to argue for tolerance in the face of such differences'. He further argues that tolerance is mostly understood as the 'uncritical acceptance of a range of competing and mutually irreconcilable values or forms of life'. During the past two years, students at South African public Higher Education Institutions (HEI) were raising more distinct voices about the underlying social issues and economic disparities experienced at these institutions. Many of the students' #MustFall protests, starting in 2015, have played out on campuses of South Africa's universities. Protesters have been critical of HEI's involvement (especially management) and argue that they did not go far enough to respond to the concerns of students' grievances and demands. Management did not reflect or indicate the urgency to meet or improve their needs on social issues prevalent to higher education communities. Two incidents portrayed in the visual media during the #FeesMustFall protests, (September and October 2016) at two different universities, showed the complexities of being tolerated or respected. These incidents triggered to review captured data of a funded research project (2012-2015:2018) on human rights literacies. The data collected in this project derived from South African (2013) and both South Africa and international (2015) students' understanding of human rights literacies. The survey and interviews also focussed, inter alia on students' understanding of respect and tolerance as a human right. This article reflects on the complexities underlying these two concepts and thereafter responds to the paradoxes identified in local and international students' understanding of tolerance and respect.

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“…The contesting of humanist white, Western and European frames of reason, excluding the Other and constructing meanings and understandings of humanity and reality, is central to the #mustfall protests. The movement between past, present and future spaces of meanings and understandings remains evident in continuous othering and alienation in HE in South Africa (Roux & Becker 2016). Keet (2014:26), with reference to Jensen, defines othering as the consequence of racism, sexism, classism and their intersections, which result in symbolic degradation and in turn influence processes of identity formation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rage, loss and other footpaths: Subjectification, decolonisation and transformation in higher education

Becker

2017

THE

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The need to transform higher education in South Africa is indisputable. This article explores how the recent #mustfall protests, as an Event, could inform transformation. An Event follows three phases: reframing (shattering the frame through which we understand reality), the fall (the loss of a primordial unity which is a retroactive illusion) and enlightenment (subjectivity itself as an eventuality). In conclusion, I pose that a shift towards who comes into presence in higher education and not (a pre-determined) what comes into presence, could provide possible footpaths to decolonialisation and transformation. Through processes of subjectification, the subject(s) of higher education could reframe historic ontological othering and actively take part in the process(es) of becoming and being human in higher education in (post)colonial South Africa.

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Humanising higher education in South Africa through dialogue as praxis

Cited by 22 publications

References 7 publications

Positioning a practice of hope in South African teacher education programmes

Positioning a practice of hope in South African teacher education programmes

Human rights literacies and students' paradoxical understandings of tolerance and respect

Rage, loss and other footpaths: Subjectification, decolonisation and transformation in higher education

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