{"id":85219,"date":"2017-01-11T06:47:40","date_gmt":"2017-01-11T04:47:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/south-african-universities-wont-change-unless-mindsets-start-to-shift-the-conversation\/"},"modified":"2017-01-11T06:47:40","modified_gmt":"2017-01-11T04:47:40","slug":"south-african-universities-wont-change-unless-mindsets-start-to-shift-the-conversation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/south-african-universities-wont-change-unless-mindsets-start-to-shift-the-conversation\/","title":{"rendered":"South African universities won’t change unless mindsets start to shift | The Conversation"},"content":{"rendered":"

South African universities won’t change unless mindsets start to shift<\/a>: <\/p>\n

Students want things to change at South Africa's universities.<\/span> Nic Bothma\/EPA<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The start of the academic year is looming in South Africa. The student protests that rocked most public universities\u2019 campuses in 2016 \u2013 the second consecutive year of protests \u2013 died down long enough for most institutions\u2019 exams to go ahead as usual. But the fundamental conditions that led to the protests are still largely unresolved. <\/p>\n

The ongoing debates around reform in higher education \u2013 specifically the call for \u201cdecolonisation\u201d of the curriculum and space \u2013 are a piece of a much wider historical, political, and cultural set of issues and contexts. Some of these issues are decades old and are not unique to South Africa.<\/p>\n

This means that while there have been a few small, encouraging moments for higher education in the past 12 months, there\u2019s still much to do in addressing the deeper, often more hidden issues.<\/p>\n

For higher education to progress, especially in the context of the country\u2019s wider historical, political and cultural realities, three significant mindset changes are required: focusing on what\u2019s possible in education; viewing real learning as a product of creative and constructive engagement from multiple viewpoints; and, related to the other two points, understanding that any good educational system will inherently always be developing and a work in progress. <\/p>\n

If these shifts are achieved, the debate can move into more productive territory.<\/p>\n

Focus on possibilities<\/h2>\n

Students have repeatedly called for a decolonised curriculum, but this push could ironically end up trapping universities in a colonised curriculum. This is because describing a vision or mission statement in terms of anti-, dis-, or de- inherently ties the process to the very idea a group is trying to avoid.<\/p>\n

It forces you to take your cues solely from that framework \u2013 either to change them or reject them. It leaves the thing after the \u201canti-, dis-, de-\u201d driving the conversation, limiting the scope to replace it with something else. If the goal is to transform the curriculum, then it\u2019s important to imagine and pursue possibilities rather than simply condemning what some people feel doesn\u2019t work currently.<\/p>\n

And once the sector has agreed that it must not simply reject, but also seek to redefine and re-imagine, then everyone involved in the university system must understand that actual curriculum and educational systems do not exist on paper, but in practice. These systems include teaching methods, support, training for educators and many factors beyond the actual curriculum.<\/p>\n

Space for constructive engagement<\/h2>\n

Extensive research reveals that there are many types of curricula. The most relevant in this debate appear to be the written curriculum \u2013 syllabi, handbooks and websites \u2013 and the \u201chidden\u201d curriculum. This refers to what is actually taught and learned due to assumptions, norms, teaching practices and experiences in and outside of the classroom.<\/p>\n

The written curriculum is important, of course. But it pales by comparison with what is experienced in the shared teaching and learning process. It is here where ideas are exchanged, evaluated, critiqued and modified, accepted or rejected. Quality teachers know that the best, most meaningful learning happens through engagement with students since everyone has things to learn. <\/p>\n

These are not new thoughts. \u201cSynergogy\u201d (learners not just at the centre of learning, but actually driving it) has long been mooted as a powerful way of enhancing learning.<\/p>\n

In other words, the curriculum becomes nothing more than words on a page if students don\u2019t have the opportunity to actually engage with it. <\/p>\n

If South Africa is to transform education, people must have space to grapple with \u2013 and actively challenge \u2013 different viewpoints. The \u201chidden\u201d curriculum can only be addressed when it is brought into the light of the teaching and learning process. If classrooms are closed down, which some in the #FeesMustFall movement believe is the best way to force decolonisation, society will lose one of the most powerful ways it has to actually create transformational education. <\/p>\n

Education is a work in progress<\/h2>\n

Another issue is how one measures when education is finally decolonised and transformed. Educational reform is certainly possible \u2013 but education generally, and curricula specifically, are constantly emerging.<\/p>\n

Other demands under the student protesters\u2019 banner can have discrete, achievable indicators \u2013 no fee increases, no fees at all, changing workers\u2019 contractual rights, etc. But education is an inherently evolving and developing process. It is never going to change from \u201cuntransformed\u201d to \u201ctransformed\u201d, from \u201ccolonised\u201d to \u201cdecolonised\u201d. These make for powerful slogans but, as is so often the case, the devil is in the details.<\/p>\n

There will literally never be a point in time when an educational system is definitively any one thing. The way in which each group of students engages with the material, each other and the teacher is significantly different each time \u2013 even if the material was identical. This is the joy of the educational process: it is always a work in progress. <\/p>\n

That notion keeps teachers young at heart, but it also flies in the face of arguments made to keep classrooms closed until a set point is reached. <\/p>\n

It is essential that universities work to make better education a reality; this is only possible with open classrooms. These are not spaces where facts are memorised, but where an engaged, interactive and constantly transformational learning process can be experienced by all \u2013 not just students.<\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

Timothy London does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond the academic appointment above.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Source:<\/strong> The Conversation \u2013 Articles (AFRICA)<\/a><\/small>
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Read more on The Conversation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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South African universities won’t change unless mindsets start to shift: Students want things to change at South Africa's universities. Nic Bothma\/EPA The start of the academic year is looming in South Africa. The student protests that rocked most public universities\u2019 campuses in 2016 \u2013 the second consecutive year of protests \u2013 died down long enough […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4584],"tags":[3050,2325,8890,23318,11377,3576,2366,7763,12391,4802],"class_list":{"0":"post-85219","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-africa-news-2","7":"tag-african","8":"tag-change","9":"tag-conversation","10":"tag-mindsets","11":"tag-shift","12":"tag-south","13":"tag-start","14":"tag-universities","15":"tag-unless","16":"tag-wont","17":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85219"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85219\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}