Social space: Philosophical reflections

Strauss, Danie

doi:10.4314/sajhe.v23i4.51069

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Every distinct form of life (societal entity, collectivity, relationship, social sphere) is surrounded by a number of others, serving as its environment. The concept sphere sovereignty refers to the internal autonomy or independence of the societal entity in question (Strauss, 2009).…”

Section: Conceptual and Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…All societal entities or social structures possess social and non-social aspects. The connection between the social and the ethical/moral aspect as one of the non-social aspects is important in this discourse since it embodies the notion of social morality and hence of trust; that is, the showing of respect to the spheres of competence of all other societal relationships, entities or structures (Strauss, 2009). There must be a point, as Verburg (2015) argues, at which the interest of the state and those of the people and the structures that form the subjects of the state converge and are in balance.…”

Section: Conceptual and Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The opening and reopening of schools in South Africa during the COVID-19 pandemic: An appraisal from two vantage points

Van der Walt,

Oosthuizen

2021

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General legislation as well as legislation specifically regulating education in South Africa is aimed at the protection and advancement of the best interests of children (learners). Developments in the school education sector during the COVID-19 pandemic, which reached the shores of South Africa in March 2020, starkly underscored that not only the interests of the learners were at stake but also those of a variety of other stakeholders such as the parents (-in-organisation), the teachers (-in-organisation), the wider community (civil society) and the state (in the form of, for instance, the Departments of Basic Education and of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs). An examination of the situation in the schooling sector reveals that decisions had to be taken about the opening and reopening of schools in a context of great complexity. This paper examines this complexity from two vantage points, a societal-theoretical and a pedagogicalethical perspective. The societal-theoretical perspective might help all the role-players to gain a deeper understanding of what their respective roles should be during a crisis: does a situation such as this indeed require a nanny-state (based on the notion of an external locus of control) or should the state allow all those involved to just muddle through the crisis; how should the different role-players interact with one another while confining themselves to their own spheres of competence and respecting those of other parties? The pedagogical-ethical perspective, in turn, might assist the various role-players to understand the ethical dilemmas that tend to surface during a pandemic. The aim of the investigation was to derive guidelines for role-players to find their way through the complexity brought about by a crisis such as a pandemic that seemed to threaten the very fibre of civil life 1. 1 At the time of publication of this paper, the pandemic was still raging on in the world. Second and third waves of the pandemic, spreading even more infectious strains of the COVID-19 virus, have been recorded in numerous countries during December 2020 and January 2021. Experts foresee no end to the pandemic before herd-immunity has been achieved. The availability of vaccines early in 2021 raised the possibility that such a level of immunity might be achievable towards the second half of 2021. Developing countries such as South Africa might reach this level much later.

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Section: Conceptual and Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Conceptual and Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

The opening and reopening of schools in South Africa during the COVID-19 pandemic: An appraisal from two vantage points

Van der Walt,

Oosthuizen

2021

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“…The social space and ethical action or function theory (cf. Strauss, 2009Strauss, , 2014Van der Walt, 2017a, 2017b, 2017c, 2017d hinges on two key ideas, namely the notion that events always occur within social spaces and that actions in such spaces should ideally comply with a particular set of ethical or moral norms. Our contention is that appropriate GCE in a space of global flow should reflect the principles contained in both components of the theory.…”

Section: Conceptual and Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Global citizenship education in a space of “flow”

Walt

Wolhuter

2021

Prospects

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The world has become a space of flow due to globalization resulting from great strides in communication, transport, and the use of social media. This flow has gained impetus due to national borders becoming more permeable, leading to increased migration and social mobility. Apart from all the advantages that this new space might offer, it has brought with it a number of deplorable phenomena such as religious and cultural intolerance, discrimination, stereotyping, xenophobia, and violence. The core argument of this article is that although there is as yet no consensus about the definitions of citizenship and of global citizenship education (GCE), about the best theoretical positions to adopt in the current circumstances, and about the dimensions of the global flow, GCE curriculum designers, and citizenship educators in particular, are confronted with several challenges. These challenges include: how to ontically deal with the flow in terms of the ontic balance between permanence and change, and how to educate learners to become informed, critical, and conscientized citizens of their own nation-states while at the same time preparing them for drawing on the global flow as a pedagogical resource that will enable them to deal with the injustices in the world that might be associated with, caused, or highlighted by that flow. Five such challenges are outlined and suggestions offered about how to address them in these times of "glocal" flow.

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Behartiging van het onderwijs in coronatijd in Nederland en Zuid-Afrika: een vergelijkende studie

Broer

Walt

Wolhuter

2022

HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies

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Managing education during the pandemic in the Netherlands and South Africa: A comparative study. Optimism has reigned supreme for a long time regarding the potential of education (schooling) to address the many societal ailments that humankind has had to deal with. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 shifted all such aspirations to the back-burner. Now, after just more than a year after the initial outbreak of the pandemic, the question can be raised whether those who managed the pandemic in the educational context followed the correct policies and instituted the correct (ethical, moral) measures in combatting the pandemic. This comparison between the situation in the Netherlands and South Africa reveals that although the role-players in both countries had a good understanding of the situation and of their duties in such conditions, they tended to treat education as just another facet of society, thereby demonstrating a lack of empathy with the unique demands of education (schooling).Contribution: In this article, the authors investigate the governance performance of two different countries during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic concerning education and judge that performance based on a Biblically driven ethical-moral-pedagogical framework.

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Social space: Philosophical reflections

Cited by 3 publications

References 18 publications

The opening and reopening of schools in South Africa during the COVID-19 pandemic: An appraisal from two vantage points

The opening and reopening of schools in South Africa during the COVID-19 pandemic: An appraisal from two vantage points

Global citizenship education in a space of “flow”

Behartiging van het onderwijs in coronatijd in Nederland en Zuid-Afrika: een vergelijkende studie

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