A community school model to reconceptualise basic school functionality for quality education in low-income South African communities
- Authors: Malangeni, Silindile Portia
- Date: 2024-04
- Subjects: Education -- Economic aspects -- South Africa , Community and school , Educational sociology
- Language: English
- Type: Doctral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/64000 , vital:73636
- Description: Despite efforts to improve educational outcomes, systemic issues such as poverty, social inequality, and limited resources continue to hinder providing an equitable and inclusive learning environment (Taylor, 2018). It is, therefore, unsurprising that, in recent years, the discourse surrounding education in low-income South African communities has increasingly focused on the need for innovative models that not only redefine the functionality of schools but also prioritise the delivery of quality education (Janks and McKinney, 2021). Therefore, the aims of this study were twofold: The primary aim was to explore and understand, with multi-stakeholders in education, the reconceptualisation of basic school functionality for quality education in low-income South African communities. The study's second aim was to develop a conceptual framework that can serve as a guide for promoting basic functionality and quality education in community schools and other schools operating in similar contexts that wish to implement a community school model to enhance their basic functionality for improved quality education. Through a collaborative process, the participants in this study attempted to address a significant gap in the literature, namely how these aims could be achieved in a way that would benefit communities and schools. My interest in this topic was piqued while serving as a social work intern and Manyano Network schools’ project coordinator under the Centre for the Community School (CCS) at Nelson Mandela University; hence, the focus of this thesis on whether schools would benefit in terms functionality if they partnered with their communities and other external stakeholders in the vicinity. However, communities are seldom actively involved in schools and school activities on an ongoing daily basis. To address the country's current educational challenges, stakeholders within and outside schools must work together to redefine and reassess their roles and responsibilities within community schools. This involves exploring how they can best serve these communities and schools to create opportunities for an improved future for everyone. Using the critical participatory action research (CPAR) design and methodology in this study ensured that all participants' voices were heard. Two theoretical lenses, complementary learning systems framework (CLSF) and social constructionism theory in education, were employed in the study, providing insights into the multi-faceted nature of South African community schools. Furthermore, a critical transformative philosophical paradigm and its assumptions, epistemology, ontology, and axiology, were implemented as a lens to interpret and understand the data. The iterative design of the research process ensured that the participants also engaged in a critical discourse analysis of the data that emerged, of which the trustworthiness was enhanced using dialogic and process, catalytic, rhetoric, democratic and outcome validity. The emergence of the data through this collaborative engagement was underpinned by the ethical values of mutual respect, equality, inclusion, democratic participation, active learning, making a difference, collective action, and personal integrity. Data generation occurred with the action learning set through three data generation cycles, according to the CPAR, and comprised principals, teachers, school governing body, school volunteers, parents, afterschool programme member, and a member from the CCS, using dialogues, collage-making, drawings, personal reflective journals, personal communication, and document analysis. Thematic data analysis resulted in the following co-generated themes: the key requirements for basic school functioning, multi-stakeholders' conceptualisation of what constitutes a community school, the key role players and the contextual factors in community schools that affect the achievement of basic school functioning and quality education, the successes that can be achieved in a community school, and the benefits and key strategies required for this process. The participants’ voices allowed for rich, in-depth collaboration and engagement that led to critical reflection within the study. Furthermore, through iterative processes, collaborative engagement and participation, a proposition for a community school model to reconceptualise basic school functionality was co-constructed in response to the fourth sub-question of the study. The findings of this study further reveal the building blocks of the conceptual framework, including revisiting who constitutes the stakeholder community school, foregrounding relationship building, and assessing the complexity and values of a contextually relevant community school. Moreover, the findings reveal that this process model must have structure, principles, and an inclusive methodology. This study has made valuable theoretical and methodological contributions through the participants’ voices, with the research study embedded within CPAR principles.This study is unique; I am unaware of any similar study having been conducted in a community school in South Africa. Furthermore, the collaborative approach used in the study helped ensure that its methodology could be of value to principals and other school stakeholders in addressing various complex challenges confronting community schools in these contexts. Most notably, the findings add to the theoretical body of knowledge around basic community school functionality, especially those in low-income communities. , Thesis (DPhil) -- Faculty of Education, School of Postgraduate Education, 2024
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2024-04
- Authors: Malangeni, Silindile Portia
- Date: 2024-04
- Subjects: Education -- Economic aspects -- South Africa , Community and school , Educational sociology
- Language: English
- Type: Doctral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/64000 , vital:73636
- Description: Despite efforts to improve educational outcomes, systemic issues such as poverty, social inequality, and limited resources continue to hinder providing an equitable and inclusive learning environment (Taylor, 2018). It is, therefore, unsurprising that, in recent years, the discourse surrounding education in low-income South African communities has increasingly focused on the need for innovative models that not only redefine the functionality of schools but also prioritise the delivery of quality education (Janks and McKinney, 2021). Therefore, the aims of this study were twofold: The primary aim was to explore and understand, with multi-stakeholders in education, the reconceptualisation of basic school functionality for quality education in low-income South African communities. The study's second aim was to develop a conceptual framework that can serve as a guide for promoting basic functionality and quality education in community schools and other schools operating in similar contexts that wish to implement a community school model to enhance their basic functionality for improved quality education. Through a collaborative process, the participants in this study attempted to address a significant gap in the literature, namely how these aims could be achieved in a way that would benefit communities and schools. My interest in this topic was piqued while serving as a social work intern and Manyano Network schools’ project coordinator under the Centre for the Community School (CCS) at Nelson Mandela University; hence, the focus of this thesis on whether schools would benefit in terms functionality if they partnered with their communities and other external stakeholders in the vicinity. However, communities are seldom actively involved in schools and school activities on an ongoing daily basis. To address the country's current educational challenges, stakeholders within and outside schools must work together to redefine and reassess their roles and responsibilities within community schools. This involves exploring how they can best serve these communities and schools to create opportunities for an improved future for everyone. Using the critical participatory action research (CPAR) design and methodology in this study ensured that all participants' voices were heard. Two theoretical lenses, complementary learning systems framework (CLSF) and social constructionism theory in education, were employed in the study, providing insights into the multi-faceted nature of South African community schools. Furthermore, a critical transformative philosophical paradigm and its assumptions, epistemology, ontology, and axiology, were implemented as a lens to interpret and understand the data. The iterative design of the research process ensured that the participants also engaged in a critical discourse analysis of the data that emerged, of which the trustworthiness was enhanced using dialogic and process, catalytic, rhetoric, democratic and outcome validity. The emergence of the data through this collaborative engagement was underpinned by the ethical values of mutual respect, equality, inclusion, democratic participation, active learning, making a difference, collective action, and personal integrity. Data generation occurred with the action learning set through three data generation cycles, according to the CPAR, and comprised principals, teachers, school governing body, school volunteers, parents, afterschool programme member, and a member from the CCS, using dialogues, collage-making, drawings, personal reflective journals, personal communication, and document analysis. Thematic data analysis resulted in the following co-generated themes: the key requirements for basic school functioning, multi-stakeholders' conceptualisation of what constitutes a community school, the key role players and the contextual factors in community schools that affect the achievement of basic school functioning and quality education, the successes that can be achieved in a community school, and the benefits and key strategies required for this process. The participants’ voices allowed for rich, in-depth collaboration and engagement that led to critical reflection within the study. Furthermore, through iterative processes, collaborative engagement and participation, a proposition for a community school model to reconceptualise basic school functionality was co-constructed in response to the fourth sub-question of the study. The findings of this study further reveal the building blocks of the conceptual framework, including revisiting who constitutes the stakeholder community school, foregrounding relationship building, and assessing the complexity and values of a contextually relevant community school. Moreover, the findings reveal that this process model must have structure, principles, and an inclusive methodology. This study has made valuable theoretical and methodological contributions through the participants’ voices, with the research study embedded within CPAR principles.This study is unique; I am unaware of any similar study having been conducted in a community school in South Africa. Furthermore, the collaborative approach used in the study helped ensure that its methodology could be of value to principals and other school stakeholders in addressing various complex challenges confronting community schools in these contexts. Most notably, the findings add to the theoretical body of knowledge around basic community school functionality, especially those in low-income communities. , Thesis (DPhil) -- Faculty of Education, School of Postgraduate Education, 2024
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2024-04
Early screening for the post intensive care syndrome in a tertiary ICU follow-up clinic in the Eastern Cape
- Authors: van der Merwe, Elizabeth
- Date: 2024-04
- Subjects: Critical care medicine , Post-traumatic stress disorder -- Patients , Psychology, Pathological
- Language: English
- Type: Doctral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/63915 , vital:73626
- Description: The Post ICU Syndrome (PICS) is defined as a constellation of new or worsened impairments in physical, cognitive, and/or psychological health which persist after critical care discharge. These deficits are more related to the patients’ intensive care unit (ICU) stay rather than to their original ICU admission diagnosis. Between 25-50% of critical care survivors suffer from PICS. There is a paucity of research on PICS in South Africa (SA). The primary objective of this study is to describe the incidence and co-occurrence of PICS symptoms, as well as the changes in instrumental activities of daily living and life roles in ICU survivors.The study was conducted in a multidisciplinary tertiary ICU in the Eastern Cape. Inclusion criteria were respiratory support for ≥ 48 hours, or a shocked state, and/or organ failure requiring ICU stay for 48 hours. Patients were assessed at six weeks and six months after hospital discharge. Physical impairment was measured by the six-minute walk test and ICU-acquired weakness by the Medical Research Council scale. Instrumental activities of daily living score and employment/educational status were determined. The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and Impact of Event Scale-Revised questionnaires were used as screening tools for significant psychological symptoms. Screening for neurocognitive impairment was performed with the NeuroScreen application and compared to a matched control group. The Short Form-36 Health-Related Quality of Life questionnaire (HRQOL) was used to determine quality of life at baseline and study visits. 107 patients, half of whom had COVID-19, completed the six-month follow-up. Six months after hospital discharge, six out of ten patients were affected by PICS, five out of every ten suffered from physical impairment, four out of every ten reported significant psychological symptoms, with three out of every ten affected by both. Three out of ten experienced significant chronic pain. Overall, six out of every ten patients experienced significant psychological symptoms at either one or both study visits. Only one in ten had psychological symptoms in isolation at six months. Six out of every ten patients reported a significantly lower health-related quality of life at six months as compared to their baseline. Three out of every ten patients had not returned to their previous remunerative work, studying or home making. Neurocognitive impairment in this cohort was not verified, and this may have been due to the selection of the control group. However, there was a significant improvement in neurocognitive functioning from the six-week to the six-month study visits. Only 15% of patients received rehabilitation therapy after hospital discharge. Female sex, a higher co-morbidity score and an admission diagnosis of trauma were predictors of PICS symptoms. COVID-19 was not found to be associated with a higher incidence of PICS. , Thesis (D.Phil) -- Faculty of Health Science, School of Behavioural & Lifestyle Sciences, 2024
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2024-04
- Authors: van der Merwe, Elizabeth
- Date: 2024-04
- Subjects: Critical care medicine , Post-traumatic stress disorder -- Patients , Psychology, Pathological
- Language: English
- Type: Doctral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/63915 , vital:73626
- Description: The Post ICU Syndrome (PICS) is defined as a constellation of new or worsened impairments in physical, cognitive, and/or psychological health which persist after critical care discharge. These deficits are more related to the patients’ intensive care unit (ICU) stay rather than to their original ICU admission diagnosis. Between 25-50% of critical care survivors suffer from PICS. There is a paucity of research on PICS in South Africa (SA). The primary objective of this study is to describe the incidence and co-occurrence of PICS symptoms, as well as the changes in instrumental activities of daily living and life roles in ICU survivors.The study was conducted in a multidisciplinary tertiary ICU in the Eastern Cape. Inclusion criteria were respiratory support for ≥ 48 hours, or a shocked state, and/or organ failure requiring ICU stay for 48 hours. Patients were assessed at six weeks and six months after hospital discharge. Physical impairment was measured by the six-minute walk test and ICU-acquired weakness by the Medical Research Council scale. Instrumental activities of daily living score and employment/educational status were determined. The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and Impact of Event Scale-Revised questionnaires were used as screening tools for significant psychological symptoms. Screening for neurocognitive impairment was performed with the NeuroScreen application and compared to a matched control group. The Short Form-36 Health-Related Quality of Life questionnaire (HRQOL) was used to determine quality of life at baseline and study visits. 107 patients, half of whom had COVID-19, completed the six-month follow-up. Six months after hospital discharge, six out of ten patients were affected by PICS, five out of every ten suffered from physical impairment, four out of every ten reported significant psychological symptoms, with three out of every ten affected by both. Three out of ten experienced significant chronic pain. Overall, six out of every ten patients experienced significant psychological symptoms at either one or both study visits. Only one in ten had psychological symptoms in isolation at six months. Six out of every ten patients reported a significantly lower health-related quality of life at six months as compared to their baseline. Three out of every ten patients had not returned to their previous remunerative work, studying or home making. Neurocognitive impairment in this cohort was not verified, and this may have been due to the selection of the control group. However, there was a significant improvement in neurocognitive functioning from the six-week to the six-month study visits. Only 15% of patients received rehabilitation therapy after hospital discharge. Female sex, a higher co-morbidity score and an admission diagnosis of trauma were predictors of PICS symptoms. COVID-19 was not found to be associated with a higher incidence of PICS. , Thesis (D.Phil) -- Faculty of Health Science, School of Behavioural & Lifestyle Sciences, 2024
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2024-04
- «
- ‹
- 1
- ›
- »