Education support services policy and practice in South Africa: An example of community psychology in action?
This article examines recent education policy (White Paper 6 on building an inclusive education and training system in South Africa, Department of Education 2001) for the purposes of identifying whether and how this policy reflects a community psychology approach to understanding and responding to psychosocial challenges in education. The authors then critically discuss the relevance and value of this approach in practice. The discussion concludes with case narratives by two of the authors, of how this approach has been developed within two specific district education support structures in two South African provinces. It considers what the benefits and challenges are that relate to the practices of psychologists in educational settings.
Purpose The aim of this paper is to extend the knowledge of how identity is connected to information sharing activities in social media during pre-school teacher training. Design/methodology/approach An ethnographic study is performed where 249 students at a Swedish pre-school teacher training programme are followed through participant observations from November 2013 to January 2014, and from September 2014 to January 2015. The material produced includes 230 conversations from a Facebook Group used by 210 students and several teachers, field notes and transcribed interviews with 9 students. Comparative analysis is used to analyse the Facebook conversations to identify ways of positioning identity and performing information sharing activities. Interviews with students are analysed to contextualize and validate the findings from the online interactions. Findings Three identity positions are identified: discussion-oriented learner, goal-oriented learner and customer-oriented learner. The way a student commit...