Action research on an organization development intervention in a secondary school in the Erongo education region of Namibia
- Authors: Neshila, Selma
- Date: 2005
- Subjects: Education -- Namibia , Educational change -- Namibia , Education and state -- Namibia , School management and organization -- Namibia
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:1418 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003299
- Description: Organisations that will not, that resist, that cannot, that are incapable, that lack the confidence or that believe it’s not possible to change are likely to stagnate and die (Smith: work in progress). Since independence in March 1990, the new Namibian Government has realized that the quality, efficiency and effectiveness of Namibian schools depends on the ability of teachers and other stakeholders to be innovators and facilitators of change, especially through effective communication, effective meetings, working through conflict, solving problems and making decisions. Organization Development (OD) is an effective, planned change approach for improving organization workgroup processes. Resting on a foundation of values and assumptions about people and organizations, OD promotes collaboration, interdependence and interconnectedness, empowerment, participation and involvement in problem solving and decision-making for all members. Based primarily on a normative, re-educative strategy and secondarily on a rational-empirical strategy, OD assumes that people will change if and when they realize that change is advantageous to them. OD makes use of interventions to determine areas requiring change. The intervention used for my research included a survey-data-feedback (SDF) where data was gathered, analyzed and fed back to the participants. The data was used as a basis for problem solving and training in organizational processes of communication. The case study involved 23 teachers. Journal entries, observation, formal and non-formal interviews as well as focus interviews were used as data collection tools. Participants wanted to see immediate organizational changes thus it was important to remind them that OD is a long-term change approach and that there is no quick fix. Initially, participants were used to the norm of fault finding to determine areas requiring change. However, a year later, during problem solving sessions, I observed collaborative and positive involvement by all participants. Finally, the outcome of the intervention based on the data from the communication workshop and the problem-solving meetings revealed that participants want OD to be institutionalized in all Namibian schools.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
- Authors: Neshila, Selma
- Date: 2005
- Subjects: Education -- Namibia , Educational change -- Namibia , Education and state -- Namibia , School management and organization -- Namibia
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:1418 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003299
- Description: Organisations that will not, that resist, that cannot, that are incapable, that lack the confidence or that believe it’s not possible to change are likely to stagnate and die (Smith: work in progress). Since independence in March 1990, the new Namibian Government has realized that the quality, efficiency and effectiveness of Namibian schools depends on the ability of teachers and other stakeholders to be innovators and facilitators of change, especially through effective communication, effective meetings, working through conflict, solving problems and making decisions. Organization Development (OD) is an effective, planned change approach for improving organization workgroup processes. Resting on a foundation of values and assumptions about people and organizations, OD promotes collaboration, interdependence and interconnectedness, empowerment, participation and involvement in problem solving and decision-making for all members. Based primarily on a normative, re-educative strategy and secondarily on a rational-empirical strategy, OD assumes that people will change if and when they realize that change is advantageous to them. OD makes use of interventions to determine areas requiring change. The intervention used for my research included a survey-data-feedback (SDF) where data was gathered, analyzed and fed back to the participants. The data was used as a basis for problem solving and training in organizational processes of communication. The case study involved 23 teachers. Journal entries, observation, formal and non-formal interviews as well as focus interviews were used as data collection tools. Participants wanted to see immediate organizational changes thus it was important to remind them that OD is a long-term change approach and that there is no quick fix. Initially, participants were used to the norm of fault finding to determine areas requiring change. However, a year later, during problem solving sessions, I observed collaborative and positive involvement by all participants. Finally, the outcome of the intervention based on the data from the communication workshop and the problem-solving meetings revealed that participants want OD to be institutionalized in all Namibian schools.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
Project 1 - Student teachers' exploration of beadwork : cultural heritage as a resource for mathematical concepts
- Authors: Dabula, Nomonde Patience
- Date: 2001
- Subjects: Ethnomathematics , Beadwork -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Beadwork , Mathematics -- Study and teaching , Culture -- Study and teaching
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:1415 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003292
- Description: This portfolio consists of three research projects that predominantly lie within the socio-cultural strand. The first project is a qualitative ethnomathematical study that links students' knowledge of mathematics to their cultural heritage. The study was conducted with a group of final year student teachers at a College of Education in Umtata, Eastern Cape. These students visited a city museum where mathematics concepts were identified from beadwork artifacts. Mathematics concepts that were identified consisted of symmetry, tessellation and number patterns. Students' views about the nature of mathematics shifted radically after their own explorations. Initially students did not perceive mathematics as relating to socio-cultural practices. But now, they have reviewed their position and see mathematics as inextricably interwoven in everyday activities and as such, a product of all cultures. They also pride themselves of their own cultural heritage to have mathematical connections. A more positive attitude towards studying mathematics in this approach was noticed. Data was collected by means of interviews, reflective journal entries and photographs. The second project is a survey with a group of practising teachers who have already implemented Curriculum 2005, and a group which is about to implement it in 2001. The study sought teachers' understanding of connections between mathematics and socio-cultural issues. The new mathematics curriculum in South Africa calls for teachers to grapple well with these issues. About a third of the articulated specific outcomes specifically relate to socio-cultural issues. If teachers' understanding of these issues is poor, implementation of the new curriculum will remain a mere dream. The findings of the survey revealed that the majority of teachers could not identify the culture related specific outcomes in the new mathematics curriculum. Complicated language used in the OBE policy documents was found to inhibit meaning to these teachers. Although, all teachers showed a positive attitude towards the inclusion of socio-cultural issues in the mathematics classroom, the implementation of these outcomes was found to be very problematic. In this survey data was collected by means of questionnaires. The third project is a literature review on the need to popularise mathematics to students in particular, and to the broader public in general. The 21 st century places great technological demands. Mathematics underpins most thinking behind technological development. The role played by mathematics in advancing other fields is largely hidden to the majority of people. There is, therefore, a need to bring forth the vital role that mathematics plays in these fields. The number of students participating in mathematics is decreasing. Mathematics, as a field, is experiencing competition from other science fields. There is a need to bring some incentives to attract more students into this field and retain those mathematicians already involved. Also important, is the need to change the negative image that the public often holds about mathematics. Many people are mathematically illiterate and do not see mathematics as an everyday activity that relates to their needs. There is, therefore, a need to change the face of mathematics.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2001
- Authors: Dabula, Nomonde Patience
- Date: 2001
- Subjects: Ethnomathematics , Beadwork -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Beadwork , Mathematics -- Study and teaching , Culture -- Study and teaching
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:1415 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003292
- Description: This portfolio consists of three research projects that predominantly lie within the socio-cultural strand. The first project is a qualitative ethnomathematical study that links students' knowledge of mathematics to their cultural heritage. The study was conducted with a group of final year student teachers at a College of Education in Umtata, Eastern Cape. These students visited a city museum where mathematics concepts were identified from beadwork artifacts. Mathematics concepts that were identified consisted of symmetry, tessellation and number patterns. Students' views about the nature of mathematics shifted radically after their own explorations. Initially students did not perceive mathematics as relating to socio-cultural practices. But now, they have reviewed their position and see mathematics as inextricably interwoven in everyday activities and as such, a product of all cultures. They also pride themselves of their own cultural heritage to have mathematical connections. A more positive attitude towards studying mathematics in this approach was noticed. Data was collected by means of interviews, reflective journal entries and photographs. The second project is a survey with a group of practising teachers who have already implemented Curriculum 2005, and a group which is about to implement it in 2001. The study sought teachers' understanding of connections between mathematics and socio-cultural issues. The new mathematics curriculum in South Africa calls for teachers to grapple well with these issues. About a third of the articulated specific outcomes specifically relate to socio-cultural issues. If teachers' understanding of these issues is poor, implementation of the new curriculum will remain a mere dream. The findings of the survey revealed that the majority of teachers could not identify the culture related specific outcomes in the new mathematics curriculum. Complicated language used in the OBE policy documents was found to inhibit meaning to these teachers. Although, all teachers showed a positive attitude towards the inclusion of socio-cultural issues in the mathematics classroom, the implementation of these outcomes was found to be very problematic. In this survey data was collected by means of questionnaires. The third project is a literature review on the need to popularise mathematics to students in particular, and to the broader public in general. The 21 st century places great technological demands. Mathematics underpins most thinking behind technological development. The role played by mathematics in advancing other fields is largely hidden to the majority of people. There is, therefore, a need to bring forth the vital role that mathematics plays in these fields. The number of students participating in mathematics is decreasing. Mathematics, as a field, is experiencing competition from other science fields. There is a need to bring some incentives to attract more students into this field and retain those mathematicians already involved. Also important, is the need to change the negative image that the public often holds about mathematics. Many people are mathematically illiterate and do not see mathematics as an everyday activity that relates to their needs. There is, therefore, a need to change the face of mathematics.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2001
The interpretation of ABET placement tests in the recognition of prior learning
- Authors: Blunt, Sandra Viki
- Date: 2000
- Subjects: English language -- Ability testing , English language -- Study and teaching -- Foreign speakers
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:1582 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003464
- Description: This thesis analyses the way in which placement testing is being interpreted in Adult Basic Education and Training (ABET). The thesis examines whether the placement tests used in the case study were valid in terms of whether their contents were relevant and authentic with regard to what English second language speakers could reasonably be expected to know. Adult learners have differing English second language knowledge depending on the different contexts in which they have learned their second language. This thesis investigates the implications of the different contexts and different language needs of adult learners for the testing of English as a second language for placement purposes in ABET programmes. The thesis examined two placement tests to determine how the recognition of prior second language learning was being interpreted and how the interpretation affected the validity of the tests. Learners= perceptions of the assessment process and test content were elicited in order to determine whether a policy of transparency had been followed in the implementation of the assessment. It was also established what the goals of the organisation were in implementing an ABET programme. This research suggests that placement testing should be viewed holistically; in other words, the goals of the organisation and the level of transparency affect the validity of the placement test. The conclusions were that the placement tests were inauthentic since their contents excluded certain vital aspects of real life performance, namely, that related to the work context. The research revealed that if the placement testing process and the ABET programme are integrated into the culture of the organisation and if employees are remunerated when they have passed the different levels in the programme, the programme is likely to achieve a fair measure of success. Recommendations are that literacy should be viewed as based on a variety of contexts and uses and that therefore tests should be tailored to suit each particular organisation and should contain workrelated content. Furthermore, multiple methods of assessment should be considered.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2000
- Authors: Blunt, Sandra Viki
- Date: 2000
- Subjects: English language -- Ability testing , English language -- Study and teaching -- Foreign speakers
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:1582 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003464
- Description: This thesis analyses the way in which placement testing is being interpreted in Adult Basic Education and Training (ABET). The thesis examines whether the placement tests used in the case study were valid in terms of whether their contents were relevant and authentic with regard to what English second language speakers could reasonably be expected to know. Adult learners have differing English second language knowledge depending on the different contexts in which they have learned their second language. This thesis investigates the implications of the different contexts and different language needs of adult learners for the testing of English as a second language for placement purposes in ABET programmes. The thesis examined two placement tests to determine how the recognition of prior second language learning was being interpreted and how the interpretation affected the validity of the tests. Learners= perceptions of the assessment process and test content were elicited in order to determine whether a policy of transparency had been followed in the implementation of the assessment. It was also established what the goals of the organisation were in implementing an ABET programme. This research suggests that placement testing should be viewed holistically; in other words, the goals of the organisation and the level of transparency affect the validity of the placement test. The conclusions were that the placement tests were inauthentic since their contents excluded certain vital aspects of real life performance, namely, that related to the work context. The research revealed that if the placement testing process and the ABET programme are integrated into the culture of the organisation and if employees are remunerated when they have passed the different levels in the programme, the programme is likely to achieve a fair measure of success. Recommendations are that literacy should be viewed as based on a variety of contexts and uses and that therefore tests should be tailored to suit each particular organisation and should contain workrelated content. Furthermore, multiple methods of assessment should be considered.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2000
The serpent both in water and on land : a critical phenomenological investigation of foreign students' experiences of learning English in South Africa
- Authors: Picard, Michelle Yvette
- Date: 2000
- Subjects: English language -- Grammar -- Study and teaching -- Foreign speakers , English language -- Foreign speakers
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:1408 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002639
- Description: In this dissertation I attempt to examine “the experience of the perspective” of foreign students introduced into English classrooms in South Africa. I acknowledge the importance of focussing on the individual’s narrative, since it is “only through an unconscious synthetic activity of consciousness” that perspectives are connected together (Carspeken 1996:11), but, along with Freire, I believe that “generative themes” can only be investigated in “man-world relationships”. The researcher needs to examine the phenomenon in context of the world that it originated from, since “historical themes are never isolated , independent, disconnected or static” (Freire 1972: 73). In this dissertation I, therefore, carefully follow the classic phenomenological steps to analyse data from my respondents and then immediately contextualise it in term of literature about the learners background, the educational and political system in which they currently find themselves as well as general literature about the phenomenon of immigrants and learning of a second language. The premise underlying this research is the “taken-for-granted certainty” (Carspeken 1996:11) that there is something unique in the South African situation which results in foreign students experiencing the learning of English in a particular way within this context.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2000
- Authors: Picard, Michelle Yvette
- Date: 2000
- Subjects: English language -- Grammar -- Study and teaching -- Foreign speakers , English language -- Foreign speakers
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:1408 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002639
- Description: In this dissertation I attempt to examine “the experience of the perspective” of foreign students introduced into English classrooms in South Africa. I acknowledge the importance of focussing on the individual’s narrative, since it is “only through an unconscious synthetic activity of consciousness” that perspectives are connected together (Carspeken 1996:11), but, along with Freire, I believe that “generative themes” can only be investigated in “man-world relationships”. The researcher needs to examine the phenomenon in context of the world that it originated from, since “historical themes are never isolated , independent, disconnected or static” (Freire 1972: 73). In this dissertation I, therefore, carefully follow the classic phenomenological steps to analyse data from my respondents and then immediately contextualise it in term of literature about the learners background, the educational and political system in which they currently find themselves as well as general literature about the phenomenon of immigrants and learning of a second language. The premise underlying this research is the “taken-for-granted certainty” (Carspeken 1996:11) that there is something unique in the South African situation which results in foreign students experiencing the learning of English in a particular way within this context.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2000
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