Emma Groenewald’s Updates

The individual in the learning context

Current projects:

Raising conscious of oppression through a transformed curriculum.

Experiencing otherness: a journey with first year students

The module builds on students` lived experiences and aims to assist them to make meaning of how an individual’s identity is constructed. In order for these student teachers to adjust to the new university context, they constantly have to navigate and negotiate the university space, while in the process their own identities are simultaneously been re-evaluated and reconstructed. Not only do students share their experiences of race, class, gender, language and religion, but new stories of “otherness” are also created. Their shared narratives help them to make sense of their own lived experiences and enable them to understand their place in the social world.  Reflection formed an integral part of the module and both students and lecturers constantly reflected on their experience and understanding of “otherness”.