Papers by Sikhulile Bonginkosi Msezane
Journal for the Education of Gifted Young Scientists, 2021
This study is environmental in nature, occurring within a series of nested frameworks, namely sch... more This study is environmental in nature, occurring within a series of nested frameworks, namely school role players, sustainable development and greening schools. From a South African context, the day-today operations of the school activities and programmes are not solely the principal's responsibility. It is a 285; Kerlin, Santos & Bennett, 2015, p. 1). The idea of going green (Strife, 2010) was conceptualised locally in SA by: New Growth Path; the NDP; Green Economy Accord (Diab, 2015, 7); and GBCSA (Green Building Council News, 2018). Dr Joseph Allen and fellow researchers of the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health in the US conducted review studies that focused on green buildings and summarised the health benefits of the people who work in them (Medical and Health Report, 2015). They reported that occupants of green buildings have less exposure to allergens, pollutants and environmental contaminants, which lowers absenteeism because of asthma and allergies. This study noted that the concept of green schools is polysemous (has different meanings) and is inextricably intertwined with Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), sustainability and EE. Jobo (2013) reported that ESD should also be referred to as EE or environment and sustainability education. Dr Cathy from Dzerefos (personal communication from North West Wildlife Environment Society of South Africa (WESSA), (2018) argued that "green school is a very loose label, is confusing" and may have different foci to Eco-Schools such as eSTEM (Environment, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) or sustainable infrastructure. She emphasised that "green schools" as defined in China (citing John et al., 2013), Ireland and the USA could be synonymous with "Eco-Schools" or loose labels for other environmental initiatives managed by various non-profit organisations (NPO) and government departments.
Sustainability, Ecology, and Religions of the World [Working Title]
The South African education sector has experienced several shifts in the curriculum since 1994, t... more The South African education sector has experienced several shifts in the curriculum since 1994, thus affecting the coverage, teaching and examination of environmental impact topics in the South African Further Education and Training Phase (FET) phase. This chapter evaluates the effects of changes in curriculum on the coverage of education for sustainable development content in Geography. A qualitative research approach using an interpretative paradigm was employed in the documents used by Geography teachers in South Africa. The chapter used Margaret Archers, Realist Social Theory as a theoretical framework that guides data analysis and interpretation. Document analysis was the only method used where policy documents and examination papers were the instruments evaluated. The results show that environmental impact topics are covered in varying degrees in the South African CAPS curriculum. The level of coverage of environmental impact topics in the examination question papers fluctuate...
Graduate Employability Across Contexts, 2022
Journal for the Education of Gifted Young Scientists, 2021
This study explored environmental literacy level of both teachers and learners in rural primary s... more This study explored environmental literacy level of both teachers and learners in rural primary schools, with the focus on knowledge, attitude and skills components. The study further examined how the components promote sustainable behavioural change in rural schools. A qualitative multiple case study design, guided by the interpretivist paradigm was employed where three rural primary schools, from Sekhukhune District in Limpopo Province of South Africa were conveniently sampled. Data were collected through observations, document analysis, semi structured and focus group interviews. Three Grade 7 teachers each teaching Social Science, Natural Science and Technology, and 18 learners were purposively sampled to participate in semi structured and focus group interviews. Data were deductively and inductively analysed using content analysis. The findings revealed both nominal and functional environmental literacy levels of both teachers and learners, with limited contribution to sustainable behavioural change. The findings are attributed to teacher's lack of expertise in Environmental Education (EE) content; the limitations of a curricular framework in equally addressing the knowledge, attitude and skills components; and absence of policies and framework guiding sustainable behaviour. The study recommended reorienting and aligning the EE content curriculum with teachers' preservice training; ongoing in-service development and support; and the inclusion of polices that guide lifestyle and practices guiding sustainable behavioural change. This research provided insight into the progress of developing environmental literacy in rural primary schools.
Teaching and Learning for Change: Education and Sustainability in South Africa
Chapter 7
Journal for the Education of Gifted Young Scientists, 2020
The aim of this paper was to explore how and why senior phase teachers are capable or incapable o... more The aim of this paper was to explore how and why senior phase teachers are capable or incapable of integrating environmental education in teaching and learning process. From anecdotal evidence during the work integrated learning process, it was observed that teachers do not necessarily integrate environmental education, and this became the purpose of the study to find out why they do not. Consequently, a research method used was qualitative interpretative multiple case study design in one of the districts of the Mpumalanga province in South Africa. We selected three teachers who separately teach life orientation, natural sciences, and technology in grade 7 as participants from the schools. Data collection tools were interviews and observations. Teachers were interviewed in their schools and some of their lessons were observed. Data was analysed using a typology approach. We inferred from the results and findings of the paper that these teachers had problems with the integration of e...
The purpose of this paper is to explore the effectiveness of Natural Sciences interventions in on... more The purpose of this paper is to explore the effectiveness of Natural Sciences interventions in one of the circuits in Mpumalanga. This paper uses pedagogical content knowledge and the instructional learning theoretical framework as a lens. Based on the outcome of baseline assessment of teaching practices in Natural Sciences in Grade 7, this paper adopted a qualitative research approach, using single case study design to explore the impact of interventions to assist teachers with content knowledge and teaching strategies that could be used for teaching Natural Sciences. Through observation and face-to-face interactions, this paper employed the purposive sampling method to select five teachers who participated in the interventions. The results of the paper suggest that science teachers in primary schools are still facing challenges such as a lack of resources, content knowledge barriers and neglection. Furthermore, teachers expressed an opinion that following the interventions they wo...
I wish to acknowledge my heartfelt gratitude and appreciation to the following people who have ma... more I wish to acknowledge my heartfelt gratitude and appreciation to the following people who have made it possible for me to complete my study:  Dr A.V. Mudau, my supervisor, for guidance and advice from the beginning until the end of the writing of the dissertation. The research work would have been challenging without his constructive criticism and encouragement.  My parents, Mr J.M. Msezane and Ms R.B. Maphanga, for their unwavering moral support throughout the research journey.  The school, teachers and learners for their contribution in the data collection process.
Journal for the Education of Gifted Young Scientists
The main purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of Life Sciences teacher training works... more The main purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of Life Sciences teacher training workshops coordinated by the Fundisa for Change Programme whose aim was to strengthen environmental learning in science teacher education. As specified by the programme, Fundisa for Change's core objective is to strengthen the teaching of environmental concepts in schools. Due to continually emerging environmental crises and uncertainties, many of the environmental topics in the curriculum are new to Life Sciences teachers. Consequently, this affects how the topics are taught to learners in schools. The study employed Margaret Archers Realist Social theory as a lens. There were 12 Life Sciences teachers who took part in this study. Data was collected using qualitatively approach where case study research design was employed. Furthermore, the study used purposive sampling technique of Life Sciences teachers from 10 schools. Face to face, data collection method was used and thematically data analysis technique was employed. The results showed that Life Sciences teachers need relevant professional development workshops that improves their content knowledge, pedagogical teaching methods and assessment techniques. This implies that programmes such as Fundisa for Change provided additional skills to Life Sciences teachers in teaching content based on education for sustainable development (ESD).
Environmental Economics
The purpose of this paper is to delineate the perceptions of grade 12 students about the integrat... more The purpose of this paper is to delineate the perceptions of grade 12 students about the integration of environmental economics through environmental education into the South African Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS). Margaret Archer’s (1995) Realist social theory (RST): the morphogenetic approach provides the meta-theoretical framework that informs this study. RST deals with the concepts of structure, culture, agency, pre-existing structures, position-practice systems and mechanisms that have impact on the economic growth and welfare of the society. Data was collected through focus-group interviews with ten students who were purposefully selected from a classroom of 80 students. In addition, a qualitative research approach was used in this study to describe perception of youth about proper utilisation of scarce natural resources. The inductive analysis approach was used to interpret raw data sourced from the participants.The results of this paper revealed that even ...
Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals
Southern African Journal of Environmental Education
Environmental education and education for sustainability are educational responses to negative en... more Environmental education and education for sustainability are educational responses to negative environmental impacts both locally and globally. In South Africa, the schooling sector has experienced several shifts in the curriculum since 1994, with implications for the coverage, teaching and examination of environmentalimpact topics in subjects such as Life Sciences, Physical Sciences, Life Orientation, Agricultural Sciences, and Geography. The aim of the research reported here was to investigate the coverage and examination of environmental-impact topics in the Further Education and Training (FET) Phase of the South African school curriculum. Data sources were the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) documents and examination papers. In analysing the coverage and examination of environmental-impact topics, thematic content analysis was used. The findings indicate that there is unequal coverage of environmental-impact topics in the curriculum, despite the CAPS indicating that environmental content should feature in all subjects. The present paper shows that Life Sciences has the widest coverage and that Geography examination papers sometimes exceed the policy allocation. Agricultural Sciences has the least coverage. The study also found that there is general, but not complete, alignment between policy and examination papers. The study concluded that there is too little focus in the FET curriculum on environmental education and warns that this will constrain the development of a pro-environmental culture among learners. This has relevance for curriculum and policy developers in responding to societal and environmental issues.
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Papers by Sikhulile Bonginkosi Msezane