Motlalepule Ruth Mampane
@up.ac.za
Prof, Department of Educational Psychology, Faculty of Education
University of Preotira
Mampane is an Associate Professor, Head of Educational Psychology Department, University of Pretoria and a registered Educational Psychologist with the Health Profession Council of South Africa. Her research focus is on academic resilience, family and adolescent resilience. Her scholarly contributions are centred on the influences of context and developmental processes on academic resilience, adolescent and family resilience against multiple adversities that South African families are exposed to. Her research is unique in highlighting family resilience in resource-constrained context of South African townships and cultural influences to family resilience. On international scholarship, she received postdoctoral award to the University of Michigan (Ann-Abor), African Presidential Scholar (UMAPS) for the period August 2010 – February 2011. Mampane also received National Research Foundation of South Africa funding (2013-14/ 2018-2021) focusing on the Determinants of family resilience.
EDUCATION
PhD Educational Psychology
M.Ed. Educational Psychology (Registered Educational Psychologist with HPCSA)
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Family resilience
Academic resilience
Adolescent risk and adversity
Inclusive education
Scopus Publications
Scopus Publications
Motlalepule Ruth Mampane
MDPI AG
Teacher education programmes are developed around the theoretical and practical understanding of child development, learning, assessment, behaviour management and motivation, which are areas of expertise in educational psychology. This paper aims to (a) critically investigate the contribution of educational psychology in the training of preservice teachers at South African universities and (b) understand the distribution of educational psychologists in public schools to support teaching and learning. A narrative literature review and email requests for unpublished documents from four educational psychologists were used as methods to collect literature in order to answer the following questions: What contribution does educational psychology make to training preservice teachers at public universities in South Africa? What contributions do educational psychologists make to support learners in South African public schools? Analysis was carried out by identifying recurring patterns in the literature reviewed. This study found that of the 26 public universities in South Africa, there are only 6 universities that offer educational psychology programmes. Educational psychology programmes in higher education institutions are in decline, leading to a decrease in the number of qualified educational psychologists. This decline negatively affects the involvement of educational psychologists in training preservice teachers in educational psychology modules or courses. Therefore, the inclusion of educational psychology as a core or fundamental module in the curriculum of preservice teachers to avoid dependence on the decreasing number of educational psychologists in higher education institutions is key. An increase in teacher training programmes in higher education should be merged with an equal increase in educational psychology core or fundamental courses in the curriculum of preservice teachers.
Motlalepule Ruth Mampane
OpenEd Network
This article reports on the perceptions of academic resilience of Grade 8 and Grade 9 learners and their teachers in low socioeconomic township schools. Learners from township schools experience many risk factors that can impede their academic success and careers. A lack of resources is one of the risk factors experienced by the learners. During COVID-19, where an online or hybrid learning model was relied on for teaching and learning, most township schools relied on the rotational learning model instead. The study’s main aim is to evaluate and understand the learners’ perceptions of their academic strengths, future aspirations and motivation, and to compare their perceptions with those that emerged from their teachers’ blind evaluations. The participants were teachers (n = 8) and learners (n = 12) from two purposively sampled township secondary schools. Data-generation instruments included semi-structured interviews for learners and a self-constructed Likert-type-scale questionnaire for teachers. Content analysis was used to analyse the data. The findings suggest that risk factors to academic resilience exist within the family and the school environment. Lack of parental support and school security, poor teacher-learner relationship and unemployment were frequently mentioned. However, factors that can enhance academic resilience were also identified within the family, school and community. Risks and protective factors affecting learners’ immediate threats and needs were identified. Access to technology and the need for technological advances were not identified as resources or risks. Future research should examine the relationship between resilience, academic resilience, career aspirations and the role of technology in education.
Folake Ruth Aluko and Motlalepule Ruth Mampane
Boston College University Libraries
There has been much debate on access and social justice, and the role ofdistance education in redressing social injustices. However, little is knownabout these issues in relation to students with disabilities. The South AfricanDepartment of Higher Education and Training’s Strategic Policy Frameworkon Disability for the Post-School Education and Training System aims to improvepeople with disabilities' access to and success in post-school education andtraining. The document notes that despite the ground gained in transforming the the country's higher education landscape, systematic, institutional and personal challenges persist in relation to integrating such students into postschool education and training. This article highlights the challenges typically encountered by students with disabilities despite policy responses and why these have not worked. It proposes transformational leadership nestled within Ubuntu to transform the issue of disability in post-school education and training and offers directions for further research directions.
 Key words: distance education; disability; access, social justice; Ubuntu;transformational leadership
Liesel Ebersöhn, Margaret Funke Omidire, and Motlalepule Ruth Mampane
Routledge
Linda Theron, Motlalepule Ruth Mampane, Liesel Ebersöhn, and Angie Hart
MDPI AG
Exposure to drought is on the increase, also in sub-Saharan Africa. Even so, little attention has been paid to what supports youth resilience to the stressors associated with drought. In response, this article reports a secondary analysis of qualitative data generated in a phenomenological study with 25 South African adolescents (average age 15.6; majority Sepedi-speaking) from a drought-impacted and structurally disadvantaged community. The thematic findings show the importance of personal, relational, and structural resources that fit with youths’ sociocultural context. Essentially, proactive collaboration between adolescents and their social ecologies is necessary to co-advance socially just responses to the challenges associated with drought.
Motlalepule Ruth Mampane
Informa UK Limited
ABSTRACT This article reports on the effect of a community-based social support programme offered through a government-linked centre that works on the resilience of children of families from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Purposive sampling was used to select four parents (mothers) and nine school-going children (N = 13) who all benefit from and attend a community-based social support programme (drop-in centre) that targets vulnerable learners and their families. A case study design was implemented to construct data using biographical questionnaires, semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions. The findings revealed that the socioeconomic status of families and the degree of vulnerability of primary school children are key determinants and identification strategies that are used by schools to refer learners to social support programmes aimed at supporting their resilience. Moreover, the identification of vulnerable children through the school system enhances and facilitates their family’s access to social support programmes.
Angie Hart, Shahnaz Biggs, Stephen Scott-Bottoms, Lisa Buttery, Scott Dennis, Simon Duncan, Liesel Ebersöhn, Mirika Flegg, Clare Kelso, Neo Mosna Khaile,et al.
SAGE Publications
In the absence of empirical and conceptual considerations of the negotiation of leadership in teams doing community-based research, this article adds to the leadership literature by offering a critical reflection on positioning and collaborative teams in the context of one interdisciplinary, co-productive, cross-generational and international research project. The project focused on youth and community resilience to drought in South Africa. Fourteen co-researchers reflected on their experiences of leadership within the project, using a collectively developed questionnaire. Findings uniquely highlight wider ethical considerations when youth and novice researchers are included in research teams. A strong emphasis on cultural responsiveness was found; with local and culturally led leadership seen to positively influence both processes and outcomes. Reflections suggest collaboration may be approached as an “ethos” and aided by transformational leadership theories and methodologies. Findings may be especially relevant to research teams, funders, and ethical bodies.
Jacobus Gideon (Kobus) Maree, Motlalepule Ruth Mampane, and Margaret Funke Omidire
Informa UK Limited
This Call for Manuscripts concerns three closely connected aspects of early childhood education, namely the importance of promoting resilience in the early years of people’s lives, developing their communication skills, and improving their narratability. These aspects are discussed briefly below. To begin with: While the construct ‘resilience’ refers to healthy and successful development in the context of risk and adversity (Masten, 2001), resilience research covers people’s development over their entire lifespan as well as a number of related topics. Extensive research has been conducted on issues relating to the theories and methodologies of childhood development, learning, and education, yet little research has been done on theories and methodologies of resilience in the early years of people’s lives (Masten, Gewirtz, & Sapienza, 2013) and on the role of significant others in the development of children and childhood resilience in particular. The acquisition of resilience occurs within specific developmental and context-specific processes; for instance, it is generally accepted that children need a safe and nurturing environment to develop satisfactorily. They cannot achieve healthy development on their own – they need the help of significant others such as their primary caretakers (Masten et al., 2013). Adult social and emotional support is a key protective factor that promotes children’s experience of resilience (Mampane & Bouwer, 2011; Masten, 2001; Theron & Theron, 2010). Little attention has been given to how resilience can be strengthened in the early years of people’s lives by developing their communication skills, even though the importance of promoting communication as a key protective factor in enhancing resilience throughout people’s lifespan is generally accepted. It should also be borne in mind that earlier research on childhood resilience was conducted from a developmental psychopathology perspective (Garmezy & Masten 1986) and focused on promoting healthy developmental trajectories for children raised by parents with “mental illness or stress in the family, social disadvantages, or poverty” (Masten et al. 2013, p. 2). At the same time, research on resilience and language development tended to focus on the communication and academic performance of school-going children. Secondly, the close link between the acquisition of resilience and language development is generally acknowledged, where language development is seen as a process that helps children communicate their thoughts, opinions, and wishes to others. Language and, more specifically, articulacy supports children’s ability to express their ideas and emotions to others as well as their ability to process and understand information received from others. The key role of language in learning and in promoting resilience cannot be overstated. Early experiences in listening and talking provide the foundation for reading, writing, and expressing one’s innermost feelings. What children learn through oral language provides a knowledge base for their reading and writing skills, which, in turn, enhances their articulation competencies. Learners without a robust literacy foundation may struggle not only academically but also in terms of becoming more resilient. Inadequate language
Liesel Ebersöhn, Tilda Loots, Ruth Mampane, Funke Omidire, Marlize Malan-Van Rooyen, Maximus Sefotho, and Maitumeleng Nthontho
Wiley
This research paper and approach have emerged as a result of the work and thinking advanced by Kim Samuel in her collaboration with Oxford University's Poverty and Human Development Initiative and through her leadership as President of the Samuel Family Foundation.This research has also been done in partnership with Synergos, the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund (NMCF), and the Foundation for Community Development (FDC) in Mozambique, working to overcome isolation and deepen social connectedness for children and youth in Southern Africa. Nelson Mandela Children's Fund (NMCF) Researchers: Vuyani Patrick Ntanjana & Fezile July.Nelson Mandela Children's Fund Regional Partners: SADC Countries; South African Provinces: Lesotho—Red Cross‐Lesotho; Gauteng—Albertina Sisulu Special School; Swaziland—Save the Children, Swaziland; Eastern Cape—Diaz Primary School; Namibia—Church Alliance for Orphans; Limpopo—Sepanapudi Traditional Authority; North West—Emmang Basadi Advocacy and Lobby Organisation.
Ruth M. Mampane, , Margaret F. Omidire, Folake Ruth Aluko, , and
Education Association of South Africa
The recent student unrest in South African public higher education institutions highlighted the call for the decolonisation of education across post-colonial countries. This research explored the construct of the “decolonisation of education” through the lens of students of different nationalities across Africa, their perspectives on approaches to the actualisation of a decolonised curriculum, and the applicability of technology in education. Qualitative research methods and the Transformative Learning Theory were employed. Findings show that decolonising education for students means addressing past injustices and marginalisation by valuing and leveraging indigenous languages and culture, while incorporating relevant and cost-effective technology. The authors recommend that decolonisation ought to involve glocal initiatives from the perspectives of young people, where education is foregrounded in indigenous knowledge and integrated international worldviews. Keywords: culture; decolonising education; discourse; glocal; indigenous knowledge; language; technology; transformative learning theory
MR Mampane
University of the Free State
This study seeks to describe the socio-educational afterschool intervention programme run by a drop-in centre to fight poverty, strengthen and build resilience in families and school microsystems. Indigenous psychology is used as a theoretical lens to understand the school, family and community response to contextual challenges and how resilience is conceptualised. The study took place at a drop-in centre, working with families, schools and community organisations in the Pretoria township of Mamelodi, South Africa. Methods used to collect data included a focus group with community care workers (CCWs) (n = 10) employed by the drop-in centre and a participatory reflection and action (PRA) method with caregivers (n = 18) of schoolchildren attending the drop-in centre. The focus group and PRA workshop were audio-recorded and transcribed. The community intervention programme uses a systems approach to fight poverty, build capacity and sustainability in families and school systems. Findings suggest that caregivers view the educational success and achievement of their children as an indication of their own success and accomplishment of their dreams, with the aim to uplift and dignify the family standing in society and to alleviate or eradicate poverty. Socio-educational programmes for children and families serve to strengthen resilience in families and to decolonise the social programmes and policies. Furthermore, CCWs confirmed that to ensure sustainability, three systems of child development are considered, namely the family (home visits), the school (satellite centres within the school) and the individual system (life-skills programme).
Liesel Ebersöhn, Tilda Loots, Ruth Mampane, Funke Omidire, and Marlize Malan-van Rooyen
Wiley
High-need contexts, such as those in postcolonial Southern Africa, require interventions that provide psychosocial and socioeconomic care and support. This comparative case study uses the lens of indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) to supplement predominantly Western knowledge of care and support interventions. Participatory reflection and action (PRA) were used in 7 conveniently selected Southern African regions reflective of bounded systems with high adversity and likely to portray indigenous belief systems on a regional basis (n = 430; elders = 240; youth = 190; men = 150 and women = 280). Interactive PRA sessions, focusing on generating narratives about traditional care and support strategies, were recorded and analyzed. It emerged that the IKS care and support interventions still being practised are fundamentally relational and pragmatic pathways of resource management, and include reciprocal donations, shared savings in societies, and partnerships and borrowing/lending. Rather than being outdated vestiges of previous times, these age-old structures continue to function as robust and sophisticated social technologies of care and support.
Ruth Mampane, , and Christelle Huddle
Education Association of South Africa
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of National Research Foundation (NRF - Project No: 82620, CEC12091412827) under the principal investigator and academic supervision of Prof. Liesel Ebersohn (University of Pretoria).
Ruth Mampane, Liesel Ebersöhn, Avivit Cherrington, and Melanie Moen
SAGE Publications
This study aims to explain how adolescents in a rural high school conceptualise school violence. Qualitative data were collected over two two-day periods (24 hours) through child-centred tasks like drawing and the completion of open-ended sentences, informal conversations regarding the given activities, observations documented as visual data (photographs), a research journal, and focus group discussions. In total, four boys and five girls participated in the study. Results of the study indicate that the adolescents (aged 15–17 years) view school violence both as negative, in that it causes harm, and positive, in that it serves as a strategy to ensure order and protection. The adolescents conceptualise violence as interweaving constructs of power, discipline and aggression. Future adolescent-focused interventions regarding violence must include conversations about these nuanced understandings.
Motlalepule Ruth Mampane and
Education Association of South Africa
Factors that contribute to resilience are key to the positive development of youths, and knowledge of such factors is essential for promoting resilience in schools through both policy and practice. This study reports on the results of an item and factor analysis of the Resilience Questionnaire for Middle-adolescents in Township Schools (R-MATS) that was used to survey 291 Grade 9 middle-adolescent learners from two black-only township secondary schools. The majority of respondents indicated an overall sense of contending with various stressors, especially the exposure to violence, and academic challenges. Respondents attributed their buoyancy to individual and environmental factors, such as self-confidence, an internal locus of control, a tough personality, commitment, being achievement-oriented, as well as positive identification of and access to social support. Keywords : middle-adolescence; resilience questionnaire; resilient; R-MATS; township school
Ruth Mampane
Informa UK Limited
This study reports on the reliability of scores and the structural properties of a resilience measure used with adolescents from a low resource South African neighbourhood. The Resilience Questionnaire for Middle-Adolescents in Township Schools (R-MATS) was administered to 213 Black, Grade 9 middle-adolescent learners (Mage = 14 yrs, 11 months, SD = 0.54, girls = 38.5%, boys = 61.5%). Internal consistency measures were computed including Exploratory Factor Analysis. Four factors defined resilience in the setting: confidence and internal locus of control, social support, toughness and commitment, and achievement orientation. The R-MATS appears reliable for measuring resilience among teenagers in low-income settings.
Ruth Mampane, , and Cecilia Bouwer
Education Association of South Africa
Many learners living in townships require protection and resilience to overcome obstacles and adversities in their context of development. The literature on resilience indicates strongly that resilience is embedded systemically. In the absence of constructive and supportive conditions in the home environment, the school would logically appear to be the next resource in line to be tapped. We investigated the contribution of two South African township schools to the resilience of their middleadolescent learners. Case studies with focus groups of resilient and less-resilient Grade 9 learners were used, following the Interactive Qualitative Analysis method, to determine the participants’ perceptions of how the school contributes to the degree and nature of their resilience. The influence of the school varied depending on the degree of the learners’ resilience, but also depending on factors within the school itself, suggesting that schools play a distinctive and determining role. Contributions particularly highlighted included creation, or failure to create, a supportive teaching and learning environment with effective implementation of rules and educational policy to provide care and safety for its learners and develop them to reach their future goals. Resilient learners were more ready than less resilient learners to acknowledge and utilise these characteristics. All focus groups placed much emphasis on goal attainment, suggesting a strong relationship with resilience. Keywords: less resilient; middle-adolescent; resilient; township; township school