MAPPING THE SOCIAL CONTEXT
4.2 Mapping the presentation of findings
4.2.1 DoE node
4.2.1.1 Practice gets performed as negotiable moments of obedience seeking
During the mediation of policy the subject advisor skillfully and creatively involves the following actors e.g. good NSC exam results, criticism of stakeholders, NCS FET Life Sciences policy, attendance register, decrease in number of learners, exemplar exam paper. These actors are used to enact different realities and constructions of policy during the mediation process. Mediation of policy is not a smooth easy going process. It is a collage of tension, conflict, uncertainties and power dynamics that cohere together and hold the practice of mediation momentarily.
Mediation of policy began with the subject advisor using the attendance register to confirm teachers’ attendance or absence from the training session. The register contains the names of the schools that were supposed to field a Life Sciences teacher to the
DoE: Policy:
NCS-FET Nated policy
Good NSC exam results
Teachers
Parents Principals,
SEM, DoE
Number of
learners decreases Curricula
content
Difficult syllabus
Data base Frequent
curricula change
Subject Advisor Register
training. It the hand of the subject advisor the register is transformed into an instrument of power. It is used to wield his authority and display his hierarchal position of power, as is visible in the excerpts below:
“Do not sign for your friend who is not here. I could get you charged for misconduct”
Subject advisor, day one mediation of policy (see Appendix C, Annexure 3C, p.192)
“There are four errant teachers who have not signed the register as yet, school begins at 7:50. Now its 9:15. They don’t have the decency to call and explain their absence or lateness”
Subject advisor, day one mediation of policy (see Appendix C, Annexure 3C, p.192)
The display of authority by the subject advisor mirrors how teachers are positioned during mediation of policy. Teachers are treated with disrespect (four errant teachers), mistrust (don’t sign for your friend), and are subjected to hierarchical power relations (I could get you charged for misconduct). Mediation of policy gets performed as an autocratic obedience seeking process. The tension during mediation of policy surfaces and teachers respond to the subject advisors display of authority with criticisms about the untimely scheduling of the mediation session. Teachers construe the poor timing of the mediation session as imposing on their curriculum implementation time and placing them under undue pressure to meet a multitude of closely spaced deadlines as is evident below:
“What’s irritating is the lack of consultation with us over the training date and time, this could or should have been done in the first week of December 2007”
Teacher, 5, day 1 mediation of policy, (see Appendix C Annexure 3C, P. 193)
“It cuts across the first term which is already so short, we are loosing valuable instruction time, we have to also field athletes to the IPSSA games in volleyball,
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netball and soccer and be on duty at these games. Admits this were is the time for the learners to get into the routine of serious academic work”
Teacher, 7, day 1 mediation of policy, (see Appendix C Annexure 3C, p. 193)
“This cuts across my teaching time, I will be away for the Math Lit training as well, that is 10 days away from school. I will have to rush with syllabus coverage, prepare learners for the first provincial controlled test, fund raise and get learners to participate in the IPSSA games, If the results are poor my principal will be mad at me”
Teacher8, day one mediation of policy, (see Appendix C Annexure 3C, p. 193) The strained rapport between the subject advisor and teachers emerges. The subject advisor fidgets with his tie, checks his cellphone while he received the criticism about the poor timing of the training. He hurriedly introduces the 2007 NSC exam results. He distributes graphs and tables of the results. The graphs illuminate the pass rate of each school in the region while the tables depict the percentage pass rate, percentage failure rate, symbol distribution and rank the schools in this region according to their pass rate.
The graphs and tables serve a two fold purpose, first, they structurally capture the link between good NSC exam results and best practice. Second, they are used as a trump card to negotiate with teachers and form alliances with teachers, the DoE and stakeholders. In other words, the graphs and tables are connected to teachers through various actors such as best practice, pedagogical identity and stakeholders’ expectations. Practice therefore gets performed as negotiable moments. It is in this regard that Law (2009) argues that practice consists of resistance18 on the one hand and repeated efforts or accommodation19
Multiple ties are formed with good NSC exam results to produce a synergised effect at the DoE node. The alliances formed with good NSC exam results are used to negotiate and reduce conflict with other actors encountered in the mediation network, e.g. to ensure to overcome them on the other hand.
18 Resistance: failure to achieve the philosophical goals (Law, 2009, p. 5)
19 Accommodation: Strategy of response to the resistance encountered during practice (Law, 2009, p. 5)
the survival of Life Sciences in the curriculum, to obviate stakeholders’ criticism of the premature implementation of policy. The alliances formed with good NSC exam results help to stabilise the network and show how practice gets performed. The alliance network elucidates that the practice of mediation of policy gets performed as negotiable moments with good NSC exam results. The alliances formed with good NSC exam results are a strategy used by the subject advisor to enroll teachers for implementation of policy, to create the impression that policy is implemented successfully, to attract learners into Life Sciences, to affirm policy and to form alliances with teachers and the DoE.
As a result of the negotiations and alliances forged with good NSC exam results, the latter are transformed into a mediator and mobilise and translate the practice of mediation of policy. The repeated recruitment of good NSC exam results into the actor network highlights the subject advisors’ non-compliance, non-alignment and divergence from the goals and intentions of the NCS-FET Life Sciences Policy. This is in terms of teaching approach, learner- centredness, and the kind of learner emerging from the FET phase.
Good NSC exam results divert the mediation of policy from the intentions of the gazetted policy. The power of good NSC exam results as a credentialing agent becomes apparent at the DoE node. Good NSC exam results are used to enact different realities during the construction of policy. Each construction of policy brings to the fore the kind of work good NSC exam results does in relation to the practice of mediation of policy.
4.2.1.2 Policy construction
Policy is constructed in four ways viz. as superior, as premature and powerful, as a hindrance, and as endangered.
94 4.2.1.2.1 The construction of policy as superior
A power point slide was used by the subject advisor to affirm the NSC-FET Life Sciences policy in terms of its curricular content, teaching approach and assessment standard (AS). Teachers were referred to the relevant pages in the NCS-FET Life Sciences policy. In the process of affirming the NCS-FET Life Sciences Policy, the restrictive opportunities of the past (Nated policy) are contrasted with the expanded opportunities of the present (NCS-FET Life Sciences Policy), as reflected in the excerpt below:
“It’s far superior to the Nated policy, it embraces IKS and evolution, it’s not content driven, but learner centred.”
Subject advisor day 2 mediation of policy (see Appendix C, Annexure C3, p. 196) He used the power point slide to emphasize and demonstrate how the Nated 550 and NCS-FET Life Sciences policy differ as shown below:
“It’s different from Nated 550; the learners are not expected to merely recall information, it favours the testing of SKAV.”
Subject advisor day2 mediation of policy (see Appendix C, Annexure C3, p. 196) In the conceptualisation of policy as superior, the subject advisor displays kinship and altruistic behaviour towards the NCS-FET Life Sciences Policy. Alliances are formed with the curricula content (it embraces IKS and evolution) hint of power relation between employer and employee. It is worth noting that the subject advisor forms part of the National Curriculum Development Team. He has no options but to form alliances with the DoE as this is his job. The novel AS of the policy (it favours the testing of SKAV) is used to induce the enrolment of good NSC exam results into the network. The subject advisor forms multiple alliances with good NSC exam results. Good exam results are used to negotiate and reduce conflict with teachers.
As mentioned before the NSC exam results are transformed into tables and graphs by the subject advisor and used to signal best practice and identify outstanding teachers, schools of excellence and underperforming schools. In other words, the graphs and tables are used by the subject advisor to depict a closely aligned association between good NSC exam results and best practice in a structural way. It is also used by the subject advisor to take ownership and accountability of the good NSC exam results (my schools), as shown in the excerpts below:
“I took the liberty of drawing ranking tables and graphs for my schools in terms of percentage pass rate and quality of passes”
Subject advisor day 1 mediation of policy (see Appendix C, Annexure C3, p. 194)
“I call it a table of consistency. These schools have maintained their 100% pass rate for the last five years in spite of the frequent curricula changes”
Subject advisor day 1 mediation of policy (see Appendix C, Annexure C3 p. 195)
“I hope the others have been making notes on these teachers’ strategies;
remember as teachers you are judged by your school matric exam results.”
Subject advisor day mediation of policy (see Appendix C, Annexure C3, p. 195) The enrolment of good NSC exam results creates tension and uncertainty at the DoE node in respect of teachers’ pedagogical practice and identity. In the construction of teachers’
pedagogical practice and identity, the subject advisor uses good exam NSC results to bestow qualities, desires, visions and motivations onto teachers. This arbitrary association between good NSC exam results and best practice highlights the tension and contradictory cartography during mediation of policy as is visible below:
“It’s demeaning and embarrassing for us ….I didn’t ask to be placed at a previously disadvantaged school….You don’t know how hard it is to work in the conditions I face”
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“We function in different working environments, our learners are different, their social problems are unique so how can you compare our result?”
Teacher, 4, mediation of policy (see Appendix C, Annexure 3C, p.195)
It is this contradictory cartography that elucidates that action is not transparent during mediation of policy - and therefore has to be traced to be rendered visible. These tensions result in the construction of policy as premature and powerful.
4.2.1.2.2 The construction of policy as premature and powerful
The tensions and uncertainties that confront the subject advisor during mediation of policy ensnare him to frequently make reference to stakeholders’ criticisms about the early implementation of the policy and the novel AS of the policy that ensue good NSC exam results. This action results in the paradoxical construction of policy as premature and powerful. This construction of policy reveals the dual nature of policy, which in turn highlights the contradiction and inconsistency within the policy and shows how policy is simultaneously negated and reinforced. The shortened timeframe between the formulation and implementation process and its goal of involving all stakeholders in its formulation is used to annul the policy as shown below:
“The public feels policy was implemented before schools and teachers were properly trained”
Subject advisor day 2 mediation of policy (see Appendix C, Annexure C3, p. 196) Policy is affirmed in terms of its AS and associated good NSC results as is evident below:
“Good exam results will dispel fears and concerns of the public about implementation; it will stop criticism and good results will show that the curriculum is successfully implemented.”
Subject advisor day 2 mediation of policy (see Appendix C, Annexure C3, p. 196)
The dual nature of policy reveals that alliances formed, e.g. with policy and the DoE, are not stable or fixed but are fluid in nature. These fluid alliances can lead to convergences, divergences and contradictions in the network created. When policy is construed as premature and powerful, the subject advisor forms alliances with Life Sciences teachers, good NSC exam results and the DoE.
The alliance formed with good NSC exam results demonstrates how these get enlisted during mediation of policy to confer a particular vision for policy implementation. Good NSC exam results are transformed into a negotiation tool that serves as a yardstick to validate implementation of policy as successful and the success of teachers’ pedagogical practice, and to allay the fears of stakeholders. The alliance formed with good NSC exam results initially subverts policy in terms of teaching approach as well as the image of the teacher and learner, but reaffirms policy in respect of its curricula content. The fluidity of the alliance formed (re)emerges. These (re)alliances and (re)associations shift in response to the interest of the subject advisor to facilitate the practice of mediation of policy. The alliance formed unearths the strategies used by the subject advisor to enroll actors for implementation of policy. The shifting alliances formed reiterate that action is not transparent, it is dislocated, and it has to be traced to be illuminated.
The alliance formed with the DoE when policy is constructed as premature and powerful illuminates the power of the DoE and the subjugation of teachers as implementers of policy, as seen in the excerpt below:
“It’s gazetted now and you have to teach it, that’s the bottom line.”
Subject advisor, mediation of policy day 4 (see Appendix C, Annexure C4, p.
199)
What becomes visible from this excerpt is that mediation of policy is performed in a hierarchal “top down” approach. The practice of mediation of policy illustrates how
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of teachers exposes the micro politics of policy reform. The subject advisor resorts to using formal (“it’s gazetted now”) and informal (“you have to teach it”) power to seek the obedience of teachers during mediation and implementation of policy. The subject advisor uses both formal and informal power to regulate the practice of teachers. This means that teachers have no option but to comply with protocol and the powers that be.
Therefore, the practice of mediation of policy gets performed as obedience-seeking.
While an alliance is formed with the DoE, this alliance leads to subversion of the gazetted policy’s vision for teachers as interpreters and designers of learning materials. The practice of mediation of policy gets performed as a way of “breaking away” or divergent from the gazetted policy’s expectation for teachers. Furthermore, the subversion of policy in terms of teaching approach has implications for how enrolment of teachers occurs during mediation of policy. The conflicting nature of the alliance formed by the subject advisor with the DoE emerges. The analysis brings to the fore how actors do the sociology for the enquirer, and highlights what constitutes their associations. The analysis reveals that actors are defined in unstable sets of relations, which lead to the construction of policy as endangered.
4.2.1.2.3 Construction of policy as endangered
The statistics on the decreasing number of learners pursuing Life Sciences is used by the subject advisor, during mediation, to annul the NCS-FET policy in terms of its goal of broadening access to science, its curricular content and AS. This results in the construction of policy as endangered. This particular construction of policy alerts us to the dwindling number of learners pursuing Life Sciences in the FET band, as illustrated in the excerpt below:
“I’m aware that numbers of learners pursuing Life Sciences is decreasing, but our good results will attract more learners to Life Sciences.”
Subject advisor, day 1 mediation of policy (see Appendix C, Annexure C3, p.
194)
The dwindling number of learners epitomises the tension, conflict and contradictions between policy mediation and policy goals. The alliances formed with good NSC exam results lead to affirmation of policy and policy goals in terms of broadening access into sciences. Good NSC exam results are enrolled to serve firstly, as a motivation to prevent the extinction of Life Sciences from the school curriculum (in South Africa Life Sciences is not a compulsory subject in the FET band), and secondly, as an agent that can reduce the conflict caused by the decrease in the number of learners pursuing Life Sciences.
These results are construed as a magnet that can create a strong ‘force-field’ to attract learners into Life Sciences, thereby providing continued employment for Life Sciences teachers and subject advisors. The dwindling number of learners consequently results in the construction of policy as a hindrance.
4.2.1.2.4 Construction of policy as a hindrance
The dwindling number of learners pursuing Life Sciences and the comparisons of the NSC Life Sciences exam paper to other learning areas exam papers is used in the construction of policy as a hindrance. The construction of policy as a hindrance negates the NCS-FET Life Sciences Policy in terms of its curricula content and strategy for testing. An astonishing comparison is made between other learning areas and Life Sciences in terms of curricular content (“difficult length of syllabus”) and examinations (“other subjects have no shocks”), as is seen in the excerpt below:
“ It’s a difficult, lengthy syllabus, other subjects have no shocks in the exam, I will take you through it step by step and show you what you need to focus on for good exam results… provide multiple opportunities for learners to master these testable competencies … remember practice makes perfect … use a drill method to
teach.”
Subject advisor, day 1 mediation of policy (Appendix C, Annexure C3, p. 194) This particular construction of policy illuminates that the difficult, lengthy syllabus and
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Life Sciences (see ‘Construction of policy as endangered’). It serves to multiply injustices by certifying learners' eligibility for access to science, universities, and better jobs. It is significant to note that the analysis reveals how networks get extended, e.g.
when the difficult, lengthy syllabus identified by the subject advisor adds more actors such as exams, frequent curricula change, assessment and teaching into the network of mediation. The construction of policy as a hindrance reveals the alliance formed with good NSC exam results and teachers. As shown in Part A of Chapter Two, the analysis illustrates how actors are moved out of their intended path of action by some other agent, e.g. good NSC exam results.
The alliance formed with good NSC exam results serves to counteract the difficult curricula content and exam strategy and motivate teachers for curricula implementation.
These alliances reduce the severity of the conflict with the difficult, lengthy syllabus and exams in Life Sciences. The alliance formed with good NSC exam results subverts policy in terms of teaching approach (“use a drill method”), the image of the learner (“practice makes perfect”) and assessment practice (“master testable competencies”), but affirms policy in terms of curricula content.
4.2.1.3. Optical density of the DoE node
In each construction of policy many associations, ties and alliances are formed with the heterogeneous elements enrolled into the actor network created by the subject advisor. A glimpse is provided of how networks are put into place by actors. The discussion above (section 4.2.1.1. and 4.2.1.2.) illuminates the ties formed with the difficult, lengthy syllabus, curricula content, attendance register, policy, decreasing number of learners, frequent curricular change, stakeholders’ expectations, and ultimately good exam results.
The alliances formed at the DoE node map the structure of its alliance network, which is determined by the number of ties the conspicuous actor forms with any particular f(actor). The more ties an entity has, the more stable it becomes. The alliance network formed alters the optical density of the node and shapes how mediation of policy gets performed and which SKAV are constituted.