Volume 1 (NCPDJE)

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Assessment practices in Africa today
(University of Namibia, 2014) Condy, Janet
The 1990 Jomtien World Conference ‘Education for All’ and the 2000 World Education Forum in Daka encouraged governments in developing countries to shift their emphasis from measuring outcomes to establishing the extent to which their education systems could provide quality in education (Howie, 2012, p. 81). Within the global economy, governments are held responsible for providing adequate education. This increased political pressure has led to direct links between national economies and education. The purpose of this paper is to identify tensions found in the various types of literacy and numeracy assessments within Africa; from large international high-stakes testing to local classroom formative and summative assessments. Four high-stakes tests commonly found in Africa are discussed. They are: school-leaving exams which assess all subjects at Grade 12 level; Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS); The Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality (SACMEQ); and, finally, the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS). I discuss four principles of summative and formative assessments based on the work of Johnston and Costello (2005, p. 256-265). They include: assessment as a social practice, minds in society, representation and interpretation and, lastly, practices of teacher assessments.
Challenges of large class teaching at the university: Implications for continuous staff development activities
(University of Namibia, 2013) Iipinge, Sakaria M.
Class size is a major concern to any educational system. At university, a class of any size (small or large) appears to be an acceptable norm. However, when classes are too large, they are considered to contribute some complex challenges related to the teaching and learning process. Whether the class is big or small, instructors are expected to teach and assess students effectively. This paper presents a general reflection on the author's personal experiences with teaching two large classes at undergraduate level at a university. The paper aims at sharing this personal account of experiences with fellow educators who may find themselves in similar situations of teaching and assessing large groups of students at any level of education. Although what constitutes a large class has been a subject of debate in literature, the author adopts from previous authors to define "a large class as one in which characteristics and conditions present themselves as inter-related and collective constraints that impede meaningful teaching and learning'~ Therefore, in the context of this paper, this meaning is adopted as a working standard that sets the parameters of the discussion of the concept of a 'large class ~ Furthermore the paper is based on the critical reflective practices and experiences as the author draws most of the evidence based on narrative practices and principles. A narrative representation of the author is found to be the most appropriate method of telling this experience.
Crtitical reflective teaching practice: enhancing teachers' consciousness of their teaching
(University of Namibia, 2013) Luwango, Luiya; Schafer, Marc
This paper emphasises the aspects that teachers should critically focus on when reflecting on their teaching practices. The paper emerged from a case study that was conducted in three secondary schools in Rundu- northern Namibia. Critical reflective teaching involves thought and action, and it raises teachers' consciousness pertaining to what they do. Through critical reflective practice, teachers scrutinize their beliefs and knowledge of the subject and their practice, through purposeful thoughtfulness. The selection of the three participants was based on their rich practical professional knowledge and exemplary teaching practices as evidenced. Interviews focused on 'when, what, how and why these selected teachers reflected critically on their practice. Data collection and analysis were done through an interpretive approach. Interviews and document analyses were the two research tools used for data collection and triangulation. Interpretations of the findings were validated through member checking where participants verified the interpretations made of their interview respectively.
Effects of socio-cultural knowledge on science education
(University of Namibia, 2013) Nashidengo, Willem P.
Science education is of paramount importance to a better socio-economy. The curriculumthat conveys the teaching and learning of science is supposed to reflect on the students.Science education builds on prior existing knowledge of students. However, many African theorists feel that science education is entirely based on "western" ideas. The values and the norms of the "African" or "Nonwestern" students are basically neglected or come into contradiction with that of science.
Factors influencing academic performance in Basic Business Statistics course at Polytechnic of Namibia
(University of Namibia, 2013) Pazvakawambwa, Lillian; Ngololo, Elizabeth Ndeukumwa; Dumeni, Efraim
The Polytechnic of Namibia offers the Basic Business Statistics course for all its undergraduate registered students for the Bachelor of Technology degrees in Business Administration, Public Administration ,Marketing, Human Resources Management and Economics programmes as part of their curriculum requirements, on full-time, part-time and distance education (open learning) basis. Academic performance in this course is generally poor, leaving a lot of students with the Basic Business Statistics Course outstanding even after their final year of study, thus delaying their graduation.This paper seeks to the determinants of the students' performance in this course by fitting a binary logistic regression based on the population of distance students who enrolled for the course in the first semester of 2012. The dependent variable is the performance or final result (Pass or Fail} for the Basic Business Statistics course. The independent variables include gender of student, Matric Score (Moths, English), home language, and degree programme.
First-generation entry into higher education: Namibia's future
(University of Namibia, 2013) Smit, Talita C.
With the changing political and socio-economical profile of previously disadvantaged Namibians, school leavers, as well as adults, increasingly decide to invest in Higher Education for an improved future. Students who come from homes where the responsible older generation was deprived of opportunities to enrol in education facilities are pioneering and positioning the world of academia for themselves. In their quest for education, they are at the same time paving the way for improved education for future generations. In a study conducted with First-Generation entrants at the University of Namibia it became clear that their general profile differs from that of First-Generation entrants in developed countries and their strengths and needs cannot be underscored by literature from developed countries. Further research into First-Generation entry into Higher Education in the African context will provide a clearer picture of the phenomenon and will allow educators to support the strengths that these entrants bring along to the tertiary institution of their choice.
The Impact of the University of Namibia merger on staff and students: The case of Hifikepunye Pohamba campus
(University of Namibia, 2014) Lopez, Razavi O.; Mbodo, L.
The merger of the University of Namibia (UNAM) with the four Colleges of Education in 2010 was necessitated by an Act of Parliament for tertiary institutions. This study aims to identify the challenges for staff and students to cope with the merger, in order to bring the merger process to the attention of the stakeholders. This study is important because, while history is being made, one needs to establish the human experiences of those going through these changes. It is intended to capture the merger’s impact on the academic, administrative and auxiliary staff and students. Participants responded to open-ended questionnaires and interviews designed to assess their perceptions of capabilities in their new roles, as well as the responsibilities, constraints and opportunities availed for personal and professional growth. The students who participated are the former BETD (Basic Education Teacher Diploma) students who were articulated into the B.Ed. (Bachelor of Education) Lower and Upper Primary program during the merge. Preliminary results indicated that the majority of the participants had positive experiences after joining UNAM. Challenges in the following areas were highlighted: infra-structure, unreliable communication technologies, the breadth and depth of work covered in some modules, diminishing philosophy of learner-centered education. A few participants voiced their concerns regarding some anomalies. A number of suggestions from the different stakeholders to make the merger even more effective and efficient are offered.
Instructional leadership
(University of Namibia, 2013) Shitana, Silas Shituleipo
Instructional leadership is one of the transformational leadership theories which focus on the task-person tension and dominates the world of organizations into the twentieth and twenty first centuries. The notion of instructional leadership emerged in the early 1980's. This was due to the fact that the public wanted change in education and to close the gap in the achievement between students who traditionally do well in schools and those who do not. Instructional leadership is also one of the most useful tools in creating a forward-looking environment. Various research studies show that instructional leadership has been criticized because it focused on curriculum and instructions from principals; as a result a principal is a center of power and authority. Instructional leadership model also focuses on the direction of influence which is increasingly concerned with teaching and learning.
Lessons from the implementation process of the merger between the University of Namibia Faculty of Education and former Colleges of Education in Namibia
(University of Namibia, 2013) Masule, Lubasi Borniface
This article is based on the implementation process of the merger between the University of Namibia and former colleges of education in Namibia. The aim of this article is to share some staff and student experiences of what transpired during the merger. The methodology used in this article reflects characteristics of both the quantitative and qualitative methodology.Questionnaires were used as research instruments for data collection. The article concludes that the general implementation process of the merger was slow, communication was very poor, stakeholder participation was very limited, pre-merger planning was not enough, time was not on the side of the university and unavailability of financial resources were a major obstacle to actual implementation.
Making space for literacy learning: The impact of spatial and temporal organization in constructing a writing subject in the early years
(University of Namibia, 2014) Dixon, Kerryn
The teaching of literacy is an embodied practice. Teacher’s pedagogical practices are directed onto children’s bodies. These practices are informed by teachers’ own knowledge, experiences and beliefs about literacy as well as constructions of literacy in the curriculum. These shape literate subjects children become. It is through these practices that children become literate subjects. This article explores how children become ‘writers’, by using Foucault’s work on power and the spatial as theoretical lenses. The article is underpinned by the view that everything happens in space. We construct space and space constructs us, social relations can only happen in space. But, because space and social relations are mutually constitutive, they can transform each other. Data is drawn from a research project using ethnographic methods in early years classrooms in South Africa. A spatial and temporal lens is applied to observations of the teaching of writing in two preschool classrooms (4-5 year olds and 5 to 6 year olds) and one Grade 1 classroom and illustrates how mundane practices are crucial to learning and teaching. It raises questions about how time and space across thevearly years produce literate subjects and the influence of globally of technicist approaches to literacy which have implications for teacher education.
A needs analysis for the implementation of a complementary course in Mathematics education for teachers of Mathematics in Namibia: a case study of the BETD graduates
(University of Namibia, 2013) Ilukena, Alex M.; Schafer, Marc
After the introduction of the Basic Education Teacher Diploma (BETD) in Namibia, a number of studies were conducted on how teachers, lecturers, stakeholders and the Namibian public perceived the BETD program and its implementation. However, very few studies focused specifically on mathematics subject content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge in the BETD. This paper reports on a study which investigated the need for a complementary course for mathematics teachers to address the perceived lack of mathematical content and pedagogical knowledge in the Namibian BETD. The study involved five mathematics school teachers, two former mathematics college lecturers in the Kavango educational region and a professor of mathematics education at the University of Namibia. These participants were purposefully selected because of their knowledge and experiences with various aspects of the BETD program. And the data was collected by means of two methods namely documents analysis and semi-structured interviews. These methods complemented each other and also provided a degree of cross checking of claims.
Performance management as best practice for improving the Namibian public schools
(University of Namibia, 2013) Ferreira, Johanna Wilhelmina
This paper examines several important elements of measuring performance in primary and secondary education and its contribution to best practice in education. Education management has increasingly been dominated by the norms and requirements of general management ideologies that focus on performance controls and target achievements. Under this regime, solving the labour problem - relatively low productivity - has taken priority over all other forms of management. 'There are tendencies of individually grievance, absenteeism, increased instrumentalism and dull compliance in the job' according to Sugrue and Day 2002, p. xv. The application of tighter controls over performance will encourage development through the allocation of real and meaningful responsibilities to employees. Performance management can raise levels of performance to achieve better outputs and outcomes in education.
Responses, coping strategies and needs of primary and secondary caregivers of children with visual impairments in Namibia: Teachers and parents perspectives
(University of Namibia, 2013) Haihambo Ya-Otto, Cynthy K.; Tobias, Elina I.; Mashego-Brown, Antony
Since becoming signatory to the Salamanca Declaration in 1994, the Namibian education system has been battling with the implementation oj inclusive education. It is taking the country a lot of efforts to move towards inclusive education approaches as the process is faced with various challenges including a lack of a commonly agreed upon conceptual understanding of inclusive education by stakeholders; lack of human and material resources and clinging to segregated approaches by stakeholders. One effort to implement inclusive education was to include learners with visual impairments in mainstream education systems. At the same time, special schools for learners with severe special needs continue to function and receive high preference from parents and caregivers. Teachers in mainstream schools do come across learners with visual impairments in their classes. In special schools into which learners with visual impairments are integrated, teachers also have the primary duty to teach all learners, including those with visual impairments even if they have not specialized in the field of visual impairment. While teachers have their own share of experiences related to their roles as teachers of learners with visual impairments, parents have experiences which influence their decisions to accord or withhold their children from education and social participation. In the current paper, which draws from two separate research exercises, one . that focused on teachers' experiences and another on parents' experiences,primary and secondary caregivers share their experiences of caring for children with visual impairments through the narrative approach. The researchers simply represent and re -tell those stories.
Using the Van Hiele phases of instruction to design and implement a circle geometry teaching programme in a secondary school in Oshikoto region: A Namibian case study
(University of Namibia, 2014) Dongwi, Beata Lididimikeni
Despite my positive views of geometry as one of the most interesting topics in the mathematics curriculum, others find it rather complicated and sometimes unbearable to successfully complete a geometry course. It is a common phenomenon that secondary school students globally struggle with simple geometric problems and their thinking and reasoning are generally below average. Although difficulties in geometric thinking and reasoning are prevalent in global educational research, problems in geometric conceptualisation still prevail. It is therefore the aim of this paper to report on the case study research that was conducted to examine, analyse and report on the findings of the experiences of selected mathematics teachers when they used the Van Hiele phases of instruction in designing and implementing a Grade 11 circle geometry teaching programme. The sample consisted of three selected Grade 11 mathematics teachers from the school where the researcher taught. The findings of this research revealed that teachers used and implemented all the five Van Hiele phases of instruction in their lessons whilst navigating quite freely from one phase of instruction to the next, but also returned to the earlier phases for clarification and reinforcement in their teaching. Teachers also saw the phases of instruction as a good pedagogical tool or template for planning and presenting lessons. The majority of the learners followed the instructions and seemed to obtain the answers faster than expected.
Wikipedia translation as an additive pedagogy for Oshikwanyama language learning
(University of Namibia, 2014) Hamwedi, Aletta
This paper reports on a study carried out in a northern Namibian urban school about the use of Wikipedia translation as an additional teaching and learning tool in Oshikwanyama Firs Language classroom. Higher-level learners (Secondary phase) were purposefully chosen for this study. The study followed a situated learning theoretical framework, of which its cognitive apprenticeship elements were used as the analytical tool. The research findings show that Wikipedia translation offers a simulating learning platform for learners to learn both languages Oshikwanyama and English reciprocally and this improves their performance. Furthermore, Wikipedia translation, which is done collaboratively, give learners confidence towards working with others to create knowledge. Lastly, Wikipedia translation motivates learners to learn Oshikwanyama and use it in their daily ICT interaction.

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