RSE 4801

Assignment 2023

Assignment number 1

Unique number

Surname CIBANE

First Names SBONGOKUHLE

Student Number 61505013

Date 30 April 2023

Honesty Declaration

HONESTY DECLARATION FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATIONS

Module Code: RSE4801 Assessment Date: 30 April 2023

1. I know that plagiarism means taking and using the ideas, writings, works or
inventions of another as if they were one’s own. I know that plagiarism not only
includes verbatim copying, but also the extensive use of another person’s ideas
without proper acknowledgement (which includes the proper use of quotation
marks) or any attempt to cheat the plagiarism checking system. I know that
plagiarism covers the use of material found in textual sources and from the Internet.

2. I acknowledge and understand that plagiarism is wrong.

 3. I understand that my assignment/exam answers must be accurately referenced.

4. This assignment/exam file/portfolio is my own work. I acknowledge that copying

someone else’s work, or part of it, is wrong, and that submitting identical work to
others constitutes a form of plagiarism.

5. I have not allowed, nor will I in the future allow, anyone to copy my work with the
intention of passing it off as their own work.

6. I understand that I can be awarded 0% if I have plagiarized.

7. I understand that my assignment/exam file/portfolio may be submitted

automatically to Turnitin.

8. I confirm that I have read and understood the following UNISA policies:

8.1 Policy for Copyright and Plagiarism -

8.2 Policy on Academic Integrity

8.3 Student Disciplinary Code

9. I have not changed the wording of the original honesty declaration document.

Name: SBONGOKUHLE CIBANE Student No: 61505013

Signed: S. Cibane Date: 30 April 2023

Question 1

a) Personal, professional, ethical and political factors that shaped the research
path.

The professional experiences that she faced shaped her into applying the principles of
confidentiality when it comes to the information that she was or information that was
shared by the local people. She narrates that the people entrusted her with information
that was highly personal and as a researcher this shaped her in to a responsible
researcher who kept the respondents’ information safe. This was due to the fact that the
area that she was researching on was more of anti-indigenous research hence, those
who chose to open up with the information she ensured that the information she has
obtained from the few that were willing to cooperate was handled professionally.
There were several politics that were within the Maori community and when she was
promoted to employment as a community health-based researcher there were
increased responsibilities, this included the hot politics that was there within the
community health. Here research was now then shaped by some neutrality when it
comes to politics that was there within the community. Thus, here research was only
focused on aspects of research as opposed to political motivation. (Smith, L. T. (2012)

On the personal experiences that Linda faced kind of shaped her research career as she
reveals that she cannot say that she has always wanted to be a researcher. This was a
process that was shaped by her personal experiences with the Maori community as she
became more interested in the field of research because she felt like it was a natural
thing to do after all her encounters with the community in the field of health research.

Her choice as an indigenous researcher was also moulded by her experience in the
communities that she researched on based on what she saw on other individual
researchers when they advanced in their education they would not want to research in
their communities. Thus, she felt that someone had to consider researching within the
local communities in order to cover the gap because those other researchers who were
not indigenous researcher would be presenting biased information.
b) How Smith’s journey helps emergent researchers
Smith’s journey helps emergent researchers in research especially on the political
aspects of research, it gives the researcher an insight on research and political issues. As
a researcher for example one must not be tempted by the political atmosphere that is
within the community that they are researching in, this helps an emergent to report
information based on research which is free from politics.

Moreover, as a n emergent researcher her journey also makes us understand the role
that research should play in the communities. For example, if one advances their
education in research, they should not abandon their original community and research
in other communities. As an emergent researcher it will be important for the researcher
to always research in their parent community and give solutions to the problems
therein.

Her journey also helps us to understand that as an emergent researcher we are faced
with professional responsibilities in the field of research such as the principles of
confidentiality when one is given information especially personal information. For
example, if one is conducting research participants usually reflect on their experiences
and thus their identities should be withdrawn in reporting the information.

c) Educational issues that can be addressed in my community

Educational issues in my community that seek to be researched and addressed entail

human rights issues and the ignorance of the law, for example individuals in the
community are not aware of their rights and this causes them to omit or to fail to
enforce their individual rights because of ignorance.

There are several abuses in the community and most rampant is child abuse including
sexual abuse and researching on the ignorance of the law in the community will go a
long way in solving the problem and raising awareness on the individuals as well.

Question 2

The purpose and main elements of the different components of research

Defining the question, purpose, aims and rationale – the first process of actually
ascertaining the question that one seeks to answer based on the research objectives is
fundamental as this assists the researcher to know what their inquiry is on. This will
further the mandate of the research in finding the purpose of the research. It is
important to note that the purpose and aims.

Educational researches are always aimed at filling the gaps in research hence
establishing the purpose and the aims of the research in order to know the target areas
that the research seeks to address, therefore, these are important in a research proposal

The decision on the research type – the concept of determining the research type is
very important in that it helps the research the type of information that they are
gathering, for example if the research proposal states that they will be conducting
literature-based research, the researcher will not be gathering primary data but will be
getting scholarly opinions from previous works, this gives the researcher a direction in
conducting the research. This also helps the researcher to know the data collection and
data analysis methods.

Selection of a research paradigm – since the research paradigm seeks to formulate

the approach that the researcher seeks to use it will also be important to include it in a
research proposal. The research paradigm will clearly show the theories and philosophy
that is used in approaching the research. This component further sets out the theories
that fit into the research as well.

Data collection methods – The research proposal should also set out the data
collection methods so that the researcher knows what mechanisms will be needed in
conducting the research this will also be based on whether the researcher seeks to
highlight numerical results. This will entail a different research method in terms of the
mechanisms such as the difference in approach when it comes to gathering qualitative
and quantitative methods of data collection.

Data analysis method – the data that is gathered from the research will need to be
analysed by the researcher in a way that shows that the research methods have been
effective producing the results. This further ensures that the analysis that is being used
is appropriate considering the information and data that is gathered. This also ensures
that the researcher comes up with a sound conclusion.

Question 3

The theory of Anthropocene seems to hammer on the fact that the earth has been
manipulated by human activities to the extent that this damages other components of
the environment and not only humanity. To this effect the theory further acknowledges
that this will have effects on the coming generation since they will be inheriting the
challenges within the environment. Therefore, this theory can be described as an
unofficial unit of geologic time, used to describe the most recent period in Earth’s
history when human activity started to have a significant impact on the planet’s climate
and ecosystems. (Bennett, J. (2010).
According to Christie and McKinney, C. (2017) there is an argument that there is an
inquiry that is posed concerning the existence of human beings such as to ask on how
our culture, political lives and the economic set up adjust in order to address these
issues, the issues of environmental shifts. To this effect there are several ways in how
this theory affects the curriculum. Several theorists have given their inputs regarding
the issue. Yet recent theory upends all this in novel ways, for example by proposing that
machines might write curriculum (Braidotti, 2013), or that the voices of animals should
be as important in curriculum as those of humans (Snaza & Weaver, 2015) or that soil
should be the ground for all curriculum planning (McKnight, 2018).

This means that they way that the curriculum is to be crafted is to be in a way that
accommodates all the components of the ecosystem within the earth. The curriculum is
to be shaped in a way that preserves the ecosystem, thus the curriculum should actually
challenge human dominance.

Therefore, this has effects on the way the curriculum has to be crafted to preserve the
environment, there are theories that have suggested the curriculum design in order to
solve these challenges. This will entail that the earth will be very much sustainable in
terms of safeguarding the environment.

Question 3(b)

Research project that responds to the condition

Topic: Minimizing human dominance on ecosystems

Background

The epoch of Anthropocene suggests that there has been an overall dominance of the
humans on the ecosystems and this has led to the extinction of other aspects of the
ecosystems in a way that damages the earth, this is to say that there should be some
change in the approach and the way the humas do not consider other aspects of the
ecosystem. This becomes a huge problem for the future as the extreme dominance of
humans manipulates other aspects of the earth and if the manipulation continues there
will be extinction of the earth. This dominance has caused the animals and plants to
suffer.

The problem statement

The dominance of humans on the ecosystem has led to practical problems such as global
warming, emission of greenhouse gases and pollution of the air and this suffocates other
ecosystems such as the plans and animals. Moreover, this problem seems to extend to
other generations who will inherit these created problems that have been caused by the
dominance of women. The most devastating factor to this problem is on how to
minimize the human activities when it comes to the control or minimizing the human
activities and their impacts on the ecosystem.

Research Questions
1. How can the human activities on the ecosystem be limited or minimized?
2. What problems do this dominance have?
3. Are there any ways in which the ecosystem can be protected?
4. Which other components are in the ecosystem?
5. How will the extinction of resources affect the future generation

Rationale of the study

the rationale of the study is to investigate the effects of the human control of the several
ecosystems that exist within the earth. Since these activities by the humans seems to
damage the earth leading to the extinction of other lives within the ecosystems it means
that there should be some control or minimizing the effects of humans’ dominance on
the ecosystem.

Therefore, the purpose of this study is to:

Examine ways in which human dominance on the ecosystem can be minimised and
create a safe earth for all the ecosystems to survive beyond extinction.

Question 4

Changes within the South African Curriculum after the introduction of Democracy.
Background of the study

The south African Education system has undergone some considerable changes when it
comes to the content that is to be delivered to the students after the apartheid era. This
is to say that the curriculum during the apartheid era was restrictive in approach and
also discriminatory. It mostly favoured the Whites in terms of the quality of curriculum
that was being taught the western values dominated the curriculum and the language
that was used as the medium of instruction was also the foreign languages. This meant
that the medium of communication somehow acted as barriers to education among the
local African students. This has since changed when one looks at the post-colonial era
which seeks to implement democracy within the education system.

Problem statement

The post-colonial era in South Africa is symbolised by democracy and equality which is
part of the core values of independence. The problem that remains is that some of the
local parts of South Africa are still in the shadows of the colonial era when it comes to
the issues of curriculum and the education. The aspects of gender and race is still a
fantasy in other parts of the schools. There is still need to create a curriculum that fits
the diversity that is within the South African students. This is problem because there are
still sectors of the education system that dominates the curriculum there should be
more indigenous or and indigenised curriculum that recognises the different cultures in
south Africa.

Research Questions

The research seeks to answer the following questions:

1. How will the principles of democracy affect the South African curriculum?
2. How can the era of democracy adjust the curriculum?
3. What are the democratic challenges that are being assessed by the new era
4. Has the new era managed to change the pre-colonial setup?
5. What steps can be taken by the education framework to address the issues of
decolonizing the curriculum in South Africa?
Research Type

The research type will be a desktop-research that is mainly based on literature review
from several work that has been done by several scholars. From this the researcher will
conduct a critical research theory or paradigm which seeks to question the existing
phenomena when it comes to the south African educational system. This is to question
the colonial set up and change it. This means that the research will consult several
educational mechanisms such as the white paper publications.

This will be a mixed research approach as well since there will be the use of both
qualitative and quantitative data analysis method, this will also enable the research to
be comprehensive in order to produce accurate results.

Research Methods

The use of a mixed methos research mainly entails the gathering of primary data or
information from qualitative research. This method will require the use of participants
within the educational sector and they will be interviewed using several interview
methods such as structured interviews, individual and group interviews in gathering
the information. There will also be use of questionnaires in the process. The
questionnaires will also contain open ended question so that the individuals will be able
to be broad in their answers. This will also ensure that the research will be able to
gather substantive information.

REFERRENCES
1. Smith, L. T. (2012). Decolonizing methodologies. Research and indigenous people
(2 nd). Zed Books
2. Smith, L. T. (1999). Decolonizing methodologies. Research and indigenous peoples.
Zed Books.
3. Bennett, J. (2010). Vibrant Matter: A Political Ecology of Things. London: Duke
University Press
4. Kress, G. (2010). Multimodality: A Social Semiotic Approach to Contemporary
Communication. London: Routledge
5. Christie and McKinney, C. (2017)
6. McKnight, L. (2018a). Anthropocene Poetry: Arts-Based Educational Research for
a New Era.
7. Snaza, N., & Weaver, J. (2015). Education and the Posthumanist Turn. In N. Snaza
& J. Weaver (Eds.),