Enabling open learning and participatory parity through increased e-learning

At the core of challenges besetting most South African Technicaland Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges are poor leadership andmanagement which lead to inadequate guidance and support for open learning,in general, and, more specifically, technologically innovative practices such ase-learning. E-learning contributed to improving learning flexibility for financiallyprecarious students at Gert Sibande TVET College (GSC), who were unable tocommute daily. Flexible modes of learning provision tie in with the South AfricanDepartment of Higher Education and Training’s (DHET) open learning principles. Asmall-scale qualitative study was undertaken to investigate leadership approachesand practices in its promotion of open learning via the prioritisation of e-learning atGSC, identified by DHET as a forerunner of e-learning. In-depth interviews with seniormanagement and college lecturers were conducted online. Due to the social justiceintent foregrounded in DHET’s draft Open Learning Policy Framework, Nancy Fraser’ssocial justice framework was used to determine the extent to which the leadershipprocesses and practices enabled socially just environments for increased e-learninginitiatives. The study found that visionary and socially just leadership practicescontributed to increasing e-learning implementation at the college, although certaineconomic, cultural and political injustices in terms of effectively enabling e-learningstill prevailed. This study holds the potential to further influence the social justiceimperatives of leadership of e-learning at the institution, as well as contribute toleadership for open learning initiatives in South Africa and abroad.