Browsing by Author "Neshila, Kashinauua Faustina"

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    A reflection on constructively aligned remote assessment for quality learning beyond COVID-19 pandemic: A case of University of Namibia
    (Creative Education, 2022) Neshila, Kashinauua Faustina; Joshua, Lukas Matati; Shihomeka, Sadrag P.
    To take a critical reflection on quality assessment used beyond remote teaching, learning and assessment at the University of Namibia. Objectives: 1) To encourage assessment tasks that promote critical thinking beyond remote learning period. 2) To promote constructively aligned assessment that enhances quality student learning. 3) To fulfill various purposes of assessment in higher education setting. Method: The paper adopted Donald Schön’s Reflection-in-Action as method to critique constructive aligned assessment for quality learning beyond COVID-19 era. Findings: The main findings revealed that for quality post-remote assessment to take place it should be aligned to curriculum, teaching and learning activities. Quality assessment promotes student lifelong learning and the assessment criteria should be explicit. Conclusion: The paper concluded that assessment is the heart of education and should be well understood by both lecturers and students. Effort should be made to ensure that culture does not constraint quality remote assessment. Recommendations: It is recommended that the university should organize capacity building training for lecturers in the ever-changing assessment practice. Finally, it is recommended that attention should be placed on demystifying remote assessment which enhances teaching and lifelong learning
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    Academic resilience in Mathematics amongst at-risk Grade 10 learners in Namibia: A phenomenology study
    (University of Namibia, 2018) Neshila, Kashinauua Faustina
    Demands for technical and scientific expertise in many countries including Namibia made the Namibian government emphasise the need for effective teaching of mathematics and science in schools to enable learners to excel in these subjects. Despite that, school failure at Grade 10 level remains a challenge in Namibia. Learners continue to perform poorly, especially in mathematics over the past years. One intriguing manifestation of this record of performance is that there are some learners who may be considered to be at risk of school failure yet they excel in mathematics. These are learners of a low social economic status, who come from poverty-stricken families and communities ravaged by crime, violence, parental unemployment and substance abuse, just to mention a few. The focal point of this study is to understand the conceptual, experiential and practical ramifications of resilience displayed by such learners. Thus, a study on protective factors which contribute to academic resilience in mathematics might provide a stepping stone to success in learning mathematics and to the development of a subject/section in the school curriculum to foster academic resilience amongst Namibian learners. A phenomenological research methodology was chosen with the aim of describing the lived experiences of those Grade 10 learners who are at risk of school failure yet have resilient outcomes in mathematics. A sample of eight learners who obtained a B grade/symbol or better in mathematics in the national Grade 10 formal examinations in 2014; and were considered at-risk of school failure; were selected with the help of their mathematics and life skills teachers. The research participants were interviewed using a three-phase approach. The standardised open-ended interview in the first phase focused on the context of the participants’ experience with resilience. In the second phase the participants were asked to describe details of their lived experiences of resilience in the school context. Lastly in the third phase participants were encouraged to reflect on the meaning of their experiences of resilience. The interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed. The transcripts were analysed thematically to identify core commonalities and meanings. The results of this study have provided evidence that academic resilience in mathematics was displayed through the strong social bonds learners shared with both adults and peers/friends who promoted their desire to participate in the life of school and to achieve. Furthermore, findings showed that the context in which learners had/have to learn mathematics was best described as not being favourable for learning mathematics. Most of the participants were orphans born to un-educated/under-educated parents and lived in crowded homes in poverty-stricken neighbourhoods. These neighbourhoods were characterised by a high number of cuca shops/bars which emitted so much noise that it was challenging for the learners to study at home. Learners reported exposure to violence, alcohol and substance abuse in their streets. In addition, owing to low levels of parental education they receive/d little or no family support with their learning of mathematics; consequently, their home background failed to provide them with role models in mathematics. Instead, some of the participants live/lived with siblings who dropped out of school, parents who failed grade 10 and peers who disliked mathematics. These participants relied on their own self-determination, self-efficacy, self-help and optimism for learning mathematics. Because of these qualities learners were able to adapt to the challenges in their environment and achieve good results in mathematics. Bearing of these findings in mind the study developed a theoretical model for promoting academic resilience in mathematics herein referred to as the triple I (I-I-I) model for promoting academic resilience in mathematics through the perspective of the learner informed by the learners’ lived experiences of the phenomenon. The study provided some suggestions which if implemented might enable learners from disadvantaged backgrounds to succeed in mathematics. It is recommended that the Ministry of Education should revise the life skills syllabus to add a section aimed at promoting academic resilience. Another suggestion is that parents should be encouraged by school principals and teachers to show interest in their children’s education. For example, schools should also inform parents about school activities through the local media such as local radio stations. Schools should strengthen the parents’ relationship with the school through the school board and encourage parents to attend school meetings by highlighting the importance of parental attendance to the learners.
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    Exploring perceptions and educational needs of grade 10 learners at risk of school failure
    (2011) Neshila, Kashinauua Faustina
    Abstract provided by author
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    Namibian boys' underachievement and under-participation in education
    (University of Namibia Press, 2023) Zimba, Roderick F.; Kasanda, Choshi D.; Haihambo, Cynthy K.; Kudumo, Marius; Kapenda, Hileni M.; Neshila, Kashinauua Faustina; Sheyapo, Mirjam
    The main purpose of the Namibian boys’ underachievement in education research project was to find out what accounted for the disparity in academic performance between male and female learners/students and what its educational and social-economic implications were. In addition, the study sought to explore factors which influenced Namibian male learners’/students’ underachievement and under-participation in education. Using a pragmatic parallel mixed methods research design, systematic, criterion and case study sampling techniques, we collected data from all 14 Educational Regions of Namibia by administering structured questionnaires to 4659 secondary school learners, 528 secondary school teachers, 182 parents, 122 University lecturers and 807 University and Vocational Training Centre (VTC) students. When collecting qualitative data, we conducted focus group discussions with sampled secondary school learners, secondary school teachers, parents and University students. From document analysis, we ascertained that at the secondary school level, challenges of some boys’ low survival rates, low promotion rates from grade to grade, high failure rates, high school leaving rates, and high dropout rates negatively affected their academic achievement and academic participation in school in all 14 education regions. At the tertiary education level, evidence showed that substantially more female than male students had been enrolled in all public and private Namibian educational institutions for three decades and that in general, during this period, female students had consistently and substantially performed better academically than male students in all tertiary education institutions. In summary, according to sampled learners and sampled teachers, some Namibian boys performed worse than girls because they distracted themselves from school work, withdrew from learning activities, engaged in self-destructive behaviour, believed they could do without education and because they were not interested in education as it was boring to them. In addition, some boys under-participated in education because they dropped out of school, did not take advantage of psychosocial programmes that were organized to promote their participation in education, and did not actively participate in learning activities. All this expressed some boys’ self-imposed exclusion from educational activities organized by schools. According to sampled learners, some boys underachieved in education because they spent less time on academic activities, preferred to work in isolation, were not eager to share academic information, did not care about their academic achievement, and they were less concerned about their future. Furthermore, sampled learners and sampled teachers reported that several parents undermined and sabotaged their sons’ educational achievement during socialization by giving them too much freedom to roam and loiter around aimlessly without restraint while strictly controlling the behaviour and movements of their daughters; allowing their sons to abuse alcohol and drugs, including, in some instances, sharing alcohol with them- alcohol they had easy access to through bars, night clubs, Shebeen outlets and Cuca shops (i.e. small retail shops in rural areas that include the sale of alcohol); not caring about what their sons did and how they spent their time; not giving their sons responsibilities at home to cultivate in them ethics of responsibility, hard work, discipline, commitment, persistence-virtues that promote academic achievement; not being concerned of their sons’ education, welfare, misconduct and misdeeds; and in some regions by criticising, ostracising, ridiculing, shaming and shunning their sons for going to school instead of looking after livestock. Moreover, University lecturers and University and VTC students reported that female students academically performed better than male students who underachieved at tertiary education institutions because they were motivated, worked harder, did not waste time socializing in dysfunctional ways (e.g. abusing alcohol and drugs), participated in learning activities, were collaborative, were willing to learn, were organized, were persistent and they did not easily drop out of universities when faced with difficulties. v We have discussed these and other findings in the rest of the report and made recommendations on how Namibia’s educational policy framework should be reviewed, reoriented, adapted and transformed to cater for the needs of boys who underachieve in education; how schools, teachers, fellow learners, parents, communities, University lecturers, University students and other educational stakeholders should support Namibian boys’ education. At the theoretical level, we have demonstrated how the data from this study could be used at the global, continental, Southern African Development Community (SADC) regional and Namibian national levels to reframe boys’ and girls’ education in a manner that promotes genuine gender parity in education, authentic and balanced social-economic development. We have also proposed that for all this to be implemented, a social cultural and participatory community-based transformation in support of boys’ functional socialization and education should take place in the Namibian society.