Browsing by Author "Duku, Ntombozuko"

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    Educators’ Perceptions of the Influence of Administrative Communication on Effective Teaching in a Selected School in South Africa
    (Center for Strategic Studies in Business and Finance, 2023-03-14) Adu, Kemi O.; Duku, Ntombozuko
    The paper examines the educators’ perceptions of the influence of administrative communication on effective teaching in a selected school in South Africa. The paper adopted a case study research design of a qualitative research approach. Purposive sampling techniques were used to select eight (8) participants that comprises of 4 (four) educators and 4 (four) principals of some selected public schools in Buffalo City Metropolitan. A semi-structured interview was used to elicit information from the participants. The findings indicated that administrative communication influences educators’ task performance and communication is revealed to influence the attainment of goals and school objectives. Also, the principals make use of different communication channels according to the skills of their educators to make valuable decisions. Educators performed better when they have a sense of belonging and when they receive constant communication from the principal. It is however recommended that the principals should endeavour to understand the type of communication skills possessed by the educators so that such skills will be used constantly to promote effective teaching.
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    Innovation and Technology: A Panacea to Teaching and Learning Challenges during the Covid-19 Lockdown in South Africa
    (OpenED Network, 2022-03-15) Adu, Kemi O.; Badaru, Kazeem Ajasa ; Duku, Ntombozuko ; Adu, Emmanuel O.
    Innovation and technology brought by the 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR) have become an urgent reality to all teachers because of the need for a virtual classroom. In South Africa, over 13 million students in almost 25,000 schools have been affected by the COVID-19 lockdown. Most school teachers were not trained for online teaching, which was the only safe method of teaching during the lockdown period. This study, therefore, investigated how innovation and technology were utilised to mitigate the virtual classroom problems during the COVID-19 lockdown. This study employed a qualitative research approach using interviews to collect data based on the phenomenological research design. The sample for this study consisted of 12 lecturers purposively drawn from one university in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. Thematic content analysis was performed on the data. The findings revealed that a majority of the participants have poor pedagogical skills especially those related to using technologies such as Blackboard, Microsoft Teams, and V-Drive on computers for online teaching engagements during the COVID-19 lockdown; strategies utilised by the participants for their teaching activities during the lockdown included Microsoft Teams, WhatsApp voice notes, email attachments for sending bulky teaching materials to students, and other Computer-instructional resources. Thus, this study recommends an urgent need for capacity development workshops to equip lecturers with computer and ICT skills, knowledge, and strategies for online teaching delivery and increased provision of adequate learning and teaching facilities in all public educational institutions, including those in the rural areas.
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    Lecturers’ Perceptions of the Switch from Teaching in the New Normal to Normal in a Selected University in South Africa
    (Akadémiai Kiadó, 2023-05-30) Adu, Kemi O.; Duku, Ntombozuko
    The announcement of the lockdown because of the pandemic by the South African President in March 2020 came as a surprise and shock to many academics. Universities in the country have no choice but to switch to virtual classrooms, termed “the new normal” A few months ago, the president of South Africa announced the removal of all restrictions and back to normal conventional classroom face-to-face teaching. The paper investigates the perceptions of the lecturer to ascertain the strategies used to cope and share their experiences. 8 samples were purposively selected in one of the historically disadvantaged universities. A semi-structured interview was used to collect data. The findings revealed among others that virtually all the respondents have adopted one or two coping strategies with diverse experiences. The paper recommended that the lecturers should think outside the box and be 4IR compliance. They should be flexible to adapt to any situation and use blended approach pedagogy even in the normal stage.
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    Role of continuing professional teacher development (CPTD) on teachers’ and learners’ achievement in South Africa: A literature review
    (Center for Strategic Studies in Business and Finance, 2023-09-17) Adu, Kemi O.; Duku, Ntombozuko; Adu, Emmanuel O.
    Continuing Professional Teacher Development (CPTD) refers to the ongoing learning and development of teachers throughout their careers. It involves a range of activities, programs, and initiatives designed to help teachers improve their knowledge, skills, and effectiveness in the classroom. CPTD programs can take many different forms, such as workshops, seminars, mentoring programs, online courses, and peer networks. This desktop review paper examines the role of CPTD on teachers' and learners’ achievement. The paper reviews among others the following; the nature and concept of CPTD, the importance of CPTD, South African teacher education policy framework and CPTD, the educational achievement and CPTD, school effectiveness and CPTD, learner and teacher learning and CPTD. The paper uses social learning theory as a theory that underpins the paper and makes some plausible recommendations.
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    Teaching in a Pandemic: An Exploratory Study into University Instructors’ Perceptions of Workfrom-Home Opportunities and Challenges during the COVID-19 Lockdown in South Africa
    (Society for Research and Knowledge Management, 2022-07-28) Badaru, Kazeem Ajasa ; Adu, Kemi Olajumoke; Adu, Emmanuel Olusola ; Duku, Ntombozuko
    Recent studies have investigated the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economy, organisations, and education in South Africa. However, research on the work-from-home opportunities and challenges during the COVID-19 lockdown is still scarce in the context of South Africa. This study, therefore, explored university instructors’ perceptions of work-from-home opportunities and challenges in South Africa. Thstudy, guided by the SWOT analysis as the theoretical framework, was located within the qualitative research paradigm. It leveraged a sample of ten academics drawn from the Faculty of Education at a rural-based university using a purposive sampling technique. Data were collected using a semi-structured interview and analysis was thematically performed. The findings revealed that WFH arrangements offered opportunities for working from home without incurring the cost of travelling, saved commuting time, provided new ways of teaching and learning with evolving digital platforms, and allowed for prioritising of time for self-development and relaxation. WFH challenges included social isolation, disconnection from colleagues, fatigue from performing monotonous routines daily, inadequate data, and poor internet connectivity. Thus, the study recommends the provision of internet facility support and technological training of academic staff of universities on innovative and pedagogical approaches to teaching and learning for blended and/or online teaching in preparation for any similar disruption of education in the future.
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    Utilisation of ICT Tools for School Governance amid COVID-19 Crisis in South Africa
    (Society for Research and Knowledge Management, 2023-05) Duku, Ntombozuko; Badaru, Kazeem Ajasa ; Adu, Kemi O.; Mkhomi, Moses Sipho; Adu, Emmanuel O.; Mavuso, Mzuyanda Percival
    Teaching and learning activities in South African schools are a focus of several research on the use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) resources during the COVID-19 crisis. However, more studies are required to examine how the school principals and the parent members of the School Governing Bodies (SGBs) used the ICT tools to undertake communication on school governance activities during the COVID-19 lockdown. In the wake of the COVID-19 crisis in South African schools, this study examined the use of ICT technologies for decision making communications relating to issues of school governance between the principals and the SGBs. Utilizing a quantitative research methodology, information was gathered from 126 school principals who were chosen at random from the Buffalo City Municipality (BCM) in East London, South Africa. The data analysis method employed was descriptive statistics. The findings showed that the majority of SGB parent members had basic ICT skills, could read and write, used ICT tools like smartphones, voice calls, and SMS messaging, which enabled them to interact with school principals and take part in decision-making related to school governance activities during the COVID-19 crisis. The participants described some of the difficulties associated with their choice of ICT tools, including broken smart phones, a lack of expertise with WhatsApp and Telegram, and slow message answers. The study concludes that the SGBs need to align their school policies with the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) and adopt more ICT platforms for effective communications, governance, teaching, and learning activities in the new normal. It also recommends that, school principals and other SGB members still need to be trained and retrained for the use of ICT tools for efficient virtual or online participation in meetings; and there is also a need to equip SGB members with digital devices such as tablets, laptops, smartphones, and internet data subscriptions to encourage their participation in meetings from homes, offices or any other locations outside of school premises.