Shifting from the old frame of reference to (w)holistic teacher-student relationship in higher education institution: A case of the University of The Free State
Abstract
This quantitative study examines the student’s perception of what their relationship with their lecturers should be to enhance higher education teaching and learning, as well as students’ success. The finding of the study reveals the students’ perception and expectations of a lecturer’s role in maintaining good pedagogical relations at the higher-education level. These roles were framed within four cardinal themes: students’ academic development, social relationships, respect and trust, and the ethics of care. The finding also reveals that the students hold substantial expectations of the lecturers to take a lead in driving social relationship. The student does not only expect the lecturer to pay attention to his or her academic progress, moral and personal development but also to care, respect, trust and even the student’s non-academic activities and goals are considered to be the lecturer’s prerogative. The study recommends institutional strategies for promoting effective teaching and learning through relational pedagogy drive, reduction of large-size classes, raising student voice and well-being, and establishing ethics of care or caring culture as an integral part of the Institution’s teaching philosophy. The study argues that the mainstream pedagogical relationship serves as a constructive way of understanding decolonialism in Africa, as well as an antidote to the persevering colonial infrastructures found in higher education.
Downloads
References
Aspelin, J. and A. Jonsson. 2019. “Relational competence in teacher education. Concept analysis and report from a pilot study.” Teacher Development 23(2): 264‒283.
Brownlee, J. and D. Berthelsen. 2008. “Developing relational epistemology through relational pedagogy: New ways of thinking about personal epistemology in teacher education.” In Knowing, knowledge and beliefs epistemological studies across diverse cultures, (ed.) M. S. Khine, 405‒422. Springer.
Champion, C. 2017. “Constraints militating against organisational communication in a multi-campus university.” Journal of Education and Social Sciences 8(1): 83‒90.
Cox, S. R. 2019. “Technology to enhance in-class discussions and student participation at a multi-campus program.” Currents in Pharmacy Teaching and Learning 11(7): 719‒722.
Creswell, John W. and Cheryl N. Poth. 1998. Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design. Choosing Among Five Traditions. University of California: Sage Publications, Inc.
Crownover, A. and J. R. Jones. 2018. “A relational pedagogy: A call for teacher educators to rethink how teacher candidates are trained to combat bullying.” Journal of Thought 52(1‒2): 17‒ 28.
Foluke, A. 2023. “What is decolonization? African Skies: If there were no Afrika, I would dream of her!” Foluke’s African Skies. Blog, 7 September. https://folukeafrica.com/what-is-decolonisation/.
Friesen, N. 2017. “The pedagogical relation past and present: experience, subjectivity and failure.” Journal of Curriculum Studies 49(6): 743‒756.
Hagenauer, G. and S. E. Volet. 2014. “Teacher–student relationship at university: An important yet under-researched field.” Oxford Review of Education 40(3): 370‒388.
Hollweck, T., K. Reimer, and K. Bouchard. 2019. “A missing piece: Embedding restorative justice and relational pedagogy into the teacher education classroom. The New Educator 15(3): 246‒267.
Integrated Transformative Plan. 2017; 2021. “University of the Free State Integrated Transformative Plan.” file:///C:/Users/ictloan/Documents/APP%20UFS%20To%20Read/the-revised-integrated-transformation-plan.pdf.
ITP see Integrated Transformative Plan.
Kang, H. 2022. “Teacher responsiveness that promotes equity in secondary science classrooms.” Cognition and Instruction 40(2): 206‒232.
Karpouza, E. and A. Emvalotis. 2019. “Exploring the teacher-student relationship in graduate education: A constructivist grounded theory.” Teaching in Higher Education 24(2): 121‒140.
Ljungblad, A. L. 2021. Pedagogical Relational Teachership (PeRT) – a multi-relational perspective. International Journal of Inclusive Education 25(7): 860‒876. DOI: 10.1080/13603116.2019.1581280.
Maiangwa, B. and C. N. Essombe. 2022. “The infrastructures of racism: How white norms inferior Black people.” https://breakthrough.neliti.com/infrastructures-of-racism/.
Okoye, F. I. 2022. “Difficulties Impacting Academic Activities at The University of The Free State Multi-Campuses During the Covid-19 Pandemic.” Research Report prepared for the Directorate for Institutional Research and Academic Planning [DIRAP]. Post-doctorate Fellowship, University of The Free State.
Okoye, F. I. and P. A. Mensah. 2021. “High institution dropouts in South Africa during Covid-19: Have we got our priorities right in resolving teaching and learning challenges?” Research and Analysis Journals 4(10): 7‒9.
Owusu-Agyeman, Y. 2021. “Pedagogical relations at the University of The Free State.” Research Report prepared for the Directorate for Institutional Research and Academic Planning [DIRAP]. Post-doctorate Fellowship, University of The Free State.
Owusu-Ansah, A. and L. Kyei-Blankson. 2016. “Going Back to the Basics: Demonstrating Care, Connectedness, and a Pedagogy of Relationship in Education.” World Journal of Education 6(3): 1‒9.
Parnes, M. F., C. Suárez-Orozco, O. Osei-Twumasi, and S. E. Schwartz. 2020. “Academic outcomes among diverse community college students: What is the role of instructor relationships?” Community College Review 48(3): 277‒302.
University of the Free State Annual Performance Plan (APP) 2023‒2028. 2022. Renewal and Reimagination for Greater Impact: Vision 130. file:///C:/Users/ictloan/ Documents/APP%20UFS%20To%20Read/R95_2022_Council_APP%202023%20to% 202025_Final.pdf.
University of the Free State Annual Review. 2021. Our 2021 Journey: Visibility and Impact. file:///C:/Users/ictloan/Documents/APP%20UFS%20To%20Read/ufs_%20annual%20report%2015-aug-2022.pdf.
University of the Free State Strategic Plan 2018‒2022. 2018. Widening and Accelerating the Scope of Transformation. file:///C:/Users/ictloan/Documents/APP%20UFS%20To%20Read/2018-2022-ufs-strategic-plan6ff7c9e65b146fc79f4fff0600aa9400.pdf.
Vandeyar, S. 2020. “Why decolonising the South African university curriculum will fail.” Teaching in Higher Education 25(7): 783‒796.
Walker, C. and A. Gleaves. 2016. “Constructing the caring higher education teacher: A theoretical framework.” Teaching and Teacher Education 54: 65‒76.
Copyright (c) 2023 Felix Okoye
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
This journal is an open access journal, and the authors and journal should be properly acknowledged, when works are cited.
Authors, copyright holders, may use the publishers version for teaching purposes, in books, theses, dissertations, conferences and conference papers.
A copy of the authors' publishers version may also be hosted on the following websites:
- Non-commercial personal homepage or blog.
- Institutional webpage.
- Authors Institutional Repository.
The following notice should accompany such a posting on the website: This is an electronic version of an article published in SAJHE, Volume XXX, number XXX, pages XXX “XXX", DOI. Authors should also supply a hyperlink to the original paper or indicate where the original paper (http://www.journals.ac.za/index.php/SAJHE) may be found.
Authors publishers version, affiliated with the Stellenbosch University will be automatically deposited in the University Institutional Repository SUNScholar.
Articles as a whole, may not be re-published with another journal.
The following license applies:
Attribution CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
