Science teachers' transformative and continuous professional development : a journey towards capacity-building and reflexive practice
- Authors: Ngcoza, Kenneth Mlungisi
- Date: 2013-07-16
- Subjects: Curriculum change -- South Africa Science -- Study and teaching (Secondary) -- South Africa -- Grahamstown Science teachers -- In-service training -- South Africa -- Grahamstown Educational change -- South Africa -- Grahamstown Education -- South Africa -- Grahamstown
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:1953 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1008258
- Description: This study was conducted in Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape, South Mrica. Triggered by the demands of South Mrican post-apartheid curriculum transformation, the study focused on establishing a sustainable science teachers' trans formative and continuous professional development (TTCPD) network with the view to improving their practice. It is premised on the assumption that teachers are capable of taking responsibility for their own professional development. It is a case study carried over a period offour years with a group of eight teachers. Rooted in the socially critical-emancipatory orientation in conjunction with the participatory action research approach, and located in the qualitative and interpretive research paradigms, it focuses on doing research in democratic and egalitarian ways through working with teachers rather than on them. Such a stance supposes a collaborative partnership and a dialogic relationship viewed as being both reciprocal and mutually enriching for the teachers who were seen as co-learners and co-researchers in this study. Two main goals of the study may be identified. For the first goal, the actors in this study established a sustainable and participative approach to professional development. This was explored through the formation of a TTCPD network which was informed by the actor-network theory framework. Our focus was on co-construction of scientific knowledge utilising the development and adaptation of learning and teaching support materials (LTSMs) as a catalyst to drive the process. The second goal was to examine how the TTCPD network enhanced the teachers' subject-content knowledge, pedagogical-content knowledge as well as individual and collaborative reflections. The research process evolved into three mam phases: The initial phase involved adapting and modifying LTSMs which were initially used in conjunction with microscale science kits and pilot tested with a group of Grade 10 students. This led to the second phase of the research project, which was aimed at gaining insights into the science teachers' capabilities in developing teaching and learning units of work. ii \ The second phase focused on the development of a collaborative orientation to the development of LTSMs and culminated in the formation of sub-networks responsible for certain tasks within the broader network. AB common ground, we focused on developing teaching and learning units of work on the following science topics: electrostatics, electricity, and electrochemistry, to illuminate and foster integration within science. The third phase was concerned with gaining insights into the science teachers' practice in their classrooms. This phase focused on putting theory into practice through the collaborative implementation of teaching and learning units of work. Feedback on the lessons was discussed during our workshops as an attempt to further enhance collaborative reflections. Data was generated usmg workshop discussions with reflective notes; active interviews; focus group discussions; co-teaching, participant observation and videotaped lessons with reflective notes; and a research journal. A variety of data generation techniques were employed to enhance validity and quality of the research. Techniques for validation and trustworthiness of data included triangulation; member checks orface validity; prolonged engagement; catalytic validity and peer validation. The study exposed the underlying historical, ideological and epistemological contradictions of the teachers' past educational backgrounds. It emerged that the ways in which they were taught were at times an inhibitor to innovativeness, perpetuating transmissive approaches to teaching and learning. Lack of professional development and support, and the tensions between policy formulation and implementation exacerbated this. Reflections from the teachers' experiences further revealed that, for teachers to be effective agents of change in the reform process, empowerment opportunities are vital. AB a result, exposure to the TTCPD network was useful in capacitating the teachers with the development of LTSMs, which led to the enhancement of their pedagogical, and science content knowledge conceptual development as well as collaborative reflections.The main findings of this study is that, science teachers' transformative and continuous professional development based on participative approaches and mutual collegial support are indispensable, and that teachers' socio-cultural contexts and experiences should be taken into consideration during this process. Teachers should be regarded as central in the process, and mutual respect and dialogical relationships are pivotal. A further recommendation of this study is that capacity-building is critical for quality teaching and learning, and there is a need to move beyond the rhetoric of complacency to pro-activism, supporting ongoing development of teachers in professional transformative networks. , KMBT_363 , Adobe Acrobat 9.54 Paper Capture Plug-in
- Full Text:
- Authors: Ngcoza, Kenneth Mlungisi
- Date: 2013-07-16
- Subjects: Curriculum change -- South Africa Science -- Study and teaching (Secondary) -- South Africa -- Grahamstown Science teachers -- In-service training -- South Africa -- Grahamstown Educational change -- South Africa -- Grahamstown Education -- South Africa -- Grahamstown
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:1953 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1008258
- Description: This study was conducted in Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape, South Mrica. Triggered by the demands of South Mrican post-apartheid curriculum transformation, the study focused on establishing a sustainable science teachers' trans formative and continuous professional development (TTCPD) network with the view to improving their practice. It is premised on the assumption that teachers are capable of taking responsibility for their own professional development. It is a case study carried over a period offour years with a group of eight teachers. Rooted in the socially critical-emancipatory orientation in conjunction with the participatory action research approach, and located in the qualitative and interpretive research paradigms, it focuses on doing research in democratic and egalitarian ways through working with teachers rather than on them. Such a stance supposes a collaborative partnership and a dialogic relationship viewed as being both reciprocal and mutually enriching for the teachers who were seen as co-learners and co-researchers in this study. Two main goals of the study may be identified. For the first goal, the actors in this study established a sustainable and participative approach to professional development. This was explored through the formation of a TTCPD network which was informed by the actor-network theory framework. Our focus was on co-construction of scientific knowledge utilising the development and adaptation of learning and teaching support materials (LTSMs) as a catalyst to drive the process. The second goal was to examine how the TTCPD network enhanced the teachers' subject-content knowledge, pedagogical-content knowledge as well as individual and collaborative reflections. The research process evolved into three mam phases: The initial phase involved adapting and modifying LTSMs which were initially used in conjunction with microscale science kits and pilot tested with a group of Grade 10 students. This led to the second phase of the research project, which was aimed at gaining insights into the science teachers' capabilities in developing teaching and learning units of work. ii \ The second phase focused on the development of a collaborative orientation to the development of LTSMs and culminated in the formation of sub-networks responsible for certain tasks within the broader network. AB common ground, we focused on developing teaching and learning units of work on the following science topics: electrostatics, electricity, and electrochemistry, to illuminate and foster integration within science. The third phase was concerned with gaining insights into the science teachers' practice in their classrooms. This phase focused on putting theory into practice through the collaborative implementation of teaching and learning units of work. Feedback on the lessons was discussed during our workshops as an attempt to further enhance collaborative reflections. Data was generated usmg workshop discussions with reflective notes; active interviews; focus group discussions; co-teaching, participant observation and videotaped lessons with reflective notes; and a research journal. A variety of data generation techniques were employed to enhance validity and quality of the research. Techniques for validation and trustworthiness of data included triangulation; member checks orface validity; prolonged engagement; catalytic validity and peer validation. The study exposed the underlying historical, ideological and epistemological contradictions of the teachers' past educational backgrounds. It emerged that the ways in which they were taught were at times an inhibitor to innovativeness, perpetuating transmissive approaches to teaching and learning. Lack of professional development and support, and the tensions between policy formulation and implementation exacerbated this. Reflections from the teachers' experiences further revealed that, for teachers to be effective agents of change in the reform process, empowerment opportunities are vital. AB a result, exposure to the TTCPD network was useful in capacitating the teachers with the development of LTSMs, which led to the enhancement of their pedagogical, and science content knowledge conceptual development as well as collaborative reflections.The main findings of this study is that, science teachers' transformative and continuous professional development based on participative approaches and mutual collegial support are indispensable, and that teachers' socio-cultural contexts and experiences should be taken into consideration during this process. Teachers should be regarded as central in the process, and mutual respect and dialogical relationships are pivotal. A further recommendation of this study is that capacity-building is critical for quality teaching and learning, and there is a need to move beyond the rhetoric of complacency to pro-activism, supporting ongoing development of teachers in professional transformative networks. , KMBT_363 , Adobe Acrobat 9.54 Paper Capture Plug-in
- Full Text:
An analysis of the influence of question design on pupils' approaches to number pattern generalisation tasks
- Authors: Samson, Duncan Alistair
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Mathematics -- Study and teaching Number theory -- Problems, exercises, etc Algebra -- Study and teaching Arithmetic -- Foundations Pattern perception
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1421 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003302
- Description: This study is based on a qualitative investigation framed within an interpretive paradigm, and aims to investigate the extent to which question design affects the solution strategies adopted by children when solving linear number pattern generalisation tasks presented in pictorial and numeric contexts. The research tool comprised a series of 22 pencil and paper exercises based on linear generalisation tasks set in both numeric and 2-dimensional pictorial contexts. The responses to these linear generalisation questions were classified by means of stage descriptors as well as stage modifiers. The method or strategy adopted was carefully analysed and classified into one of seven categories. A meta-analysis focused on the formula derived for the nth term in conjunction with its justification. The process of justification proved to be a critical factor in being able to accurately interpret the origin of the sub-structure evident in many of these responses. From a theoretical perspective, the central role of justification/proof within the context of this study is seen as communication of mathematical understanding, and the process of justification/proof proved to be highly successful in providing a window of understanding into each pupil’s cognitive reasoning. The results of this study strongly support the notion that question design can play a critical role in influencing pupils’ choice of strategy and level of attainment when solving pattern generalisation tasks. Furthermore, this study identified a diverse range of visually motivated strategies and mechanisms of visualisation. An awareness and appreciation for such a diversity of visualisation strategies, as well as an understanding of the importance of appropriate question design, has direct pedagogical application within the context of the mathematics classroom.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
- Authors: Samson, Duncan Alistair
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Mathematics -- Study and teaching Number theory -- Problems, exercises, etc Algebra -- Study and teaching Arithmetic -- Foundations Pattern perception
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1421 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003302
- Description: This study is based on a qualitative investigation framed within an interpretive paradigm, and aims to investigate the extent to which question design affects the solution strategies adopted by children when solving linear number pattern generalisation tasks presented in pictorial and numeric contexts. The research tool comprised a series of 22 pencil and paper exercises based on linear generalisation tasks set in both numeric and 2-dimensional pictorial contexts. The responses to these linear generalisation questions were classified by means of stage descriptors as well as stage modifiers. The method or strategy adopted was carefully analysed and classified into one of seven categories. A meta-analysis focused on the formula derived for the nth term in conjunction with its justification. The process of justification proved to be a critical factor in being able to accurately interpret the origin of the sub-structure evident in many of these responses. From a theoretical perspective, the central role of justification/proof within the context of this study is seen as communication of mathematical understanding, and the process of justification/proof proved to be highly successful in providing a window of understanding into each pupil’s cognitive reasoning. The results of this study strongly support the notion that question design can play a critical role in influencing pupils’ choice of strategy and level of attainment when solving pattern generalisation tasks. Furthermore, this study identified a diverse range of visually motivated strategies and mechanisms of visualisation. An awareness and appreciation for such a diversity of visualisation strategies, as well as an understanding of the importance of appropriate question design, has direct pedagogical application within the context of the mathematics classroom.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
An exploration of mathematical concepts embedded in Xhosa beadwork artifacts through an invention programme for Grade 9 learners
- Authors: Myemane, Dumakazi Margaret
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Mathematics -- Study and teaching -- Psychological aspects Mathematics -- Study and teaching -- Social aspects -- South Africa Mathematics -- Study and teaching (Secondary) -- South Africa Xhosa (African people) Ethnomathematics Beadwork -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Beadwork, Xhosa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1950 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1008201
- Description: Mathematics has become increasingly important, as it is a pre-requisite for careers like architecture, science, engineering and medicine. Therefore it becomes imperative for the learners to understand and love it. In other words a sound foundation of mathematical skills and knowledge in the early stages is required. Often we hear learners asking questions like "when and where are we going to use these symbols x and y in our lives? " These questions might indicate that learners cannot link mathematics with daily life occurrences or even their own background experiences. This study is an exploration through hands-on activities of mathematical concepts embedded in beadwork artifacts. Learners' background experiences on bead work artifacts are acknowledged and explored for mathematical understanding. It is a case study, consisting of 44 learners in Grade 9 in two schools in Grahamstown. An interpretive approach is used. In order for the learners to be able to explore beadwork artifacts, they visited the Albany Museum (AM) and Msithandane Women's Project (MWP) in the community. Learners gathered information from these two sources. Beadwork artifacts in this study were used as a mediation and integration tool between culture and mathematics. Beadwork artifacts are found in the learners' cultures serving different purposes. In this study the focus was on Xhosa bead work artifacts. The hands-on activities posed challenges to learners because of their different background experiences. Some were able to draw designs but were unable to thread what they designed, whereas others were able to thread beads but were unable to draw designs. In this study learners had to use both completed bead work artifacts and drawn up designs for the investigation of mathematical concepts. Learners were able to identify symmetries in dress and in South African flag designs. Number patterns discovered were linked to their prior number pattern knowledge. The economic value of beadwork artifacts linked mathematics to the economics learning area. This study ties up with the new curriculum (C2005) and RNCS, which advocate the inclusion and integration of learning areas. In this instance, art and culture were used in mathematical activities. The study also encouraged the inclusion of participants' cultural background as a starting point for motivating them towards utilizing mathematical resources existing in their real life situations. The purpose was to make them aware that mathematics is found everywhere around us.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
- Authors: Myemane, Dumakazi Margaret
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Mathematics -- Study and teaching -- Psychological aspects Mathematics -- Study and teaching -- Social aspects -- South Africa Mathematics -- Study and teaching (Secondary) -- South Africa Xhosa (African people) Ethnomathematics Beadwork -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Beadwork, Xhosa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1950 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1008201
- Description: Mathematics has become increasingly important, as it is a pre-requisite for careers like architecture, science, engineering and medicine. Therefore it becomes imperative for the learners to understand and love it. In other words a sound foundation of mathematical skills and knowledge in the early stages is required. Often we hear learners asking questions like "when and where are we going to use these symbols x and y in our lives? " These questions might indicate that learners cannot link mathematics with daily life occurrences or even their own background experiences. This study is an exploration through hands-on activities of mathematical concepts embedded in beadwork artifacts. Learners' background experiences on bead work artifacts are acknowledged and explored for mathematical understanding. It is a case study, consisting of 44 learners in Grade 9 in two schools in Grahamstown. An interpretive approach is used. In order for the learners to be able to explore beadwork artifacts, they visited the Albany Museum (AM) and Msithandane Women's Project (MWP) in the community. Learners gathered information from these two sources. Beadwork artifacts in this study were used as a mediation and integration tool between culture and mathematics. Beadwork artifacts are found in the learners' cultures serving different purposes. In this study the focus was on Xhosa bead work artifacts. The hands-on activities posed challenges to learners because of their different background experiences. Some were able to draw designs but were unable to thread what they designed, whereas others were able to thread beads but were unable to draw designs. In this study learners had to use both completed bead work artifacts and drawn up designs for the investigation of mathematical concepts. Learners were able to identify symmetries in dress and in South African flag designs. Number patterns discovered were linked to their prior number pattern knowledge. The economic value of beadwork artifacts linked mathematics to the economics learning area. This study ties up with the new curriculum (C2005) and RNCS, which advocate the inclusion and integration of learning areas. In this instance, art and culture were used in mathematical activities. The study also encouraged the inclusion of participants' cultural background as a starting point for motivating them towards utilizing mathematical resources existing in their real life situations. The purpose was to make them aware that mathematics is found everywhere around us.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
An interpretive inquiry into girls' educational choices and aspirations: a case study of Murang'a district, Kenya
- Authors: Mwingi, Mweru P
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Education -- Kenya -- Case studies Education -- Economic aspects -- Kenya -- Case studies Student aspirations -- Kenya -- Case studies Women -- Vocational guidance -- Kenya -- Case studies Sex discrimination in education -- Kenya -- Case studies Sex discrimination against women -- Kenya -- Case studies Sexism in education -- Kenya -- Case studies Women -- Education -- Kenya -- Case studies Educational equalization -- Kenya
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:1583 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003465
- Description: Global consensus on the importance of gender equity in education is perhaps one of the greatest agreements reached in the twentieth century. However, for countries in the sub Saharan African region where disparities of gender are wide and primary education takes priority, secondary education continues to remain in the periphery. As countries make progress towards the attainment of Universal Primary Education (UPE), the concerns for gender equity and equality have become associated with school access and pupil retention. Yet, patterns and trends in school enrollment suggest that disparities of gender are more complex. As lessons are learned from the achievements and challenges of attaining UPE, it is increasingly apparent that gender disparities within education occur in, within and beyond access to schooling. In other words, the challenge of making education gender equal goes beyond school access and school enrollment. Kenya is a signatory to the 1990 Jomtein Declaration on Education For All (EFA). It is also among the few countries in the sub Saharan Africa region with a significantly reduced gender gap in primary and secondary education. This is in tandem with the third of the eight Millennium Development Goals whose aims bear a broad social and economic development agenda. While education equity is important in Kenya and tremendous progress has been made in primary education, beyond the attainment of Universal Primary Education (UPE) there is an even more significant target; gender equity in education both in primary and secondary education by 2015. The attainment of this target requires more than access to schooling and for this reason it poses great challenges to governments and schools. In light of the progress made in Kenya and the need for more equitable education beyond primary education, this study conceives a need for an incisive examination of education equity priority areas in Kenya. The study argues on the need for a shift of concern and debate from primary education to secondary education because the gains of UPE only become meaningful when education equity is secured in secondary education. The study underscores that beyond school access and retention, education output and outcomes need to become prominent variables because they gauge trends and patterns and the quality of gains made where education is claimed to be both accessible and equitable. Using case study method, the study makes a critical interpretation of the schooling experiences, educational choices, preferences and aspirations of girls taking secondary education in single-sex schools in Murang’a district, Kenya. The study shows that girls schooling experiences are not homogenous and that there are contradictions in the ways that girls experience their schooling and make educational choices. It also shows that girls do not necessarily stand good chances with their education simply because they are enrolled in single-sex schools. The study reveals individual subjectivities and schooling culture to be at the centre of the differences between schools and the schooling experiences that girls have. The two have impact on how girls perceive themselves and their abilities, the preferences they nurture and the educational choices they make. The study draws attention to nuances in access and equity within girls’ education. It draws out issues and nuances linked to gender access, equity and equality with respect to school, teacher and subject access. Though the study is not generaliseable, it shows that in contexts where female access and survival is secured, there is need for attention to be paid to the environments that nurture educational choices and preferences so that the high rates in school access become translated into equally high educational output and outcomes.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
- Authors: Mwingi, Mweru P
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Education -- Kenya -- Case studies Education -- Economic aspects -- Kenya -- Case studies Student aspirations -- Kenya -- Case studies Women -- Vocational guidance -- Kenya -- Case studies Sex discrimination in education -- Kenya -- Case studies Sex discrimination against women -- Kenya -- Case studies Sexism in education -- Kenya -- Case studies Women -- Education -- Kenya -- Case studies Educational equalization -- Kenya
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:1583 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003465
- Description: Global consensus on the importance of gender equity in education is perhaps one of the greatest agreements reached in the twentieth century. However, for countries in the sub Saharan African region where disparities of gender are wide and primary education takes priority, secondary education continues to remain in the periphery. As countries make progress towards the attainment of Universal Primary Education (UPE), the concerns for gender equity and equality have become associated with school access and pupil retention. Yet, patterns and trends in school enrollment suggest that disparities of gender are more complex. As lessons are learned from the achievements and challenges of attaining UPE, it is increasingly apparent that gender disparities within education occur in, within and beyond access to schooling. In other words, the challenge of making education gender equal goes beyond school access and school enrollment. Kenya is a signatory to the 1990 Jomtein Declaration on Education For All (EFA). It is also among the few countries in the sub Saharan Africa region with a significantly reduced gender gap in primary and secondary education. This is in tandem with the third of the eight Millennium Development Goals whose aims bear a broad social and economic development agenda. While education equity is important in Kenya and tremendous progress has been made in primary education, beyond the attainment of Universal Primary Education (UPE) there is an even more significant target; gender equity in education both in primary and secondary education by 2015. The attainment of this target requires more than access to schooling and for this reason it poses great challenges to governments and schools. In light of the progress made in Kenya and the need for more equitable education beyond primary education, this study conceives a need for an incisive examination of education equity priority areas in Kenya. The study argues on the need for a shift of concern and debate from primary education to secondary education because the gains of UPE only become meaningful when education equity is secured in secondary education. The study underscores that beyond school access and retention, education output and outcomes need to become prominent variables because they gauge trends and patterns and the quality of gains made where education is claimed to be both accessible and equitable. Using case study method, the study makes a critical interpretation of the schooling experiences, educational choices, preferences and aspirations of girls taking secondary education in single-sex schools in Murang’a district, Kenya. The study shows that girls schooling experiences are not homogenous and that there are contradictions in the ways that girls experience their schooling and make educational choices. It also shows that girls do not necessarily stand good chances with their education simply because they are enrolled in single-sex schools. The study reveals individual subjectivities and schooling culture to be at the centre of the differences between schools and the schooling experiences that girls have. The two have impact on how girls perceive themselves and their abilities, the preferences they nurture and the educational choices they make. The study draws attention to nuances in access and equity within girls’ education. It draws out issues and nuances linked to gender access, equity and equality with respect to school, teacher and subject access. Though the study is not generaliseable, it shows that in contexts where female access and survival is secured, there is need for attention to be paid to the environments that nurture educational choices and preferences so that the high rates in school access become translated into equally high educational output and outcomes.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
An investigation of student leadership in an independent school in the Eastern Cape: ʺdo alternative forms of leadership (such as servant leadership) emerge through community building?ʺ
- Authors: Knott-Craig, Ian Duncan
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Kingswood College Private schools -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Servant leadership -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Educational leadership -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Community and school -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Student volunteers in social service -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1643 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003525
- Description: Significant changes have taken place in recent years in leadership theory and practice world wide. Theorizations of effective leadership have evolved from being authoritarian and task-centered to a model in which leaders are encouraged to look beyond their self-interest and prioritize the interests of the group. This study investigates the development of an alternative form of leadership through community building in two male school boarding houses. It attempts to ascertain whether students are able to work collaboratively towards developing an environment conducive to servant leadership. Structured according to the transformative research paradigm, this action research study was conducted in an independent school, Kingswood College, in Grahamstown, South Africa. The College is a traditional independent co-educational school that prides itself on producing leaders. As the school was in the process of reviewing its leadership system, it became an appropriate site to investigate the development of community and to explore possibilities for the emergence of an alternative form of leadership that would reflect the attributes of servant leadership. The participants in the study were volunteers from two boarding houses, who agreed to reflect on their perceptions and experiences of the way in which their houses functioned. My research findings show that through their willingness to engage in moral dialogue, students can transform their boarding houses into closely-knit communities bound together by shared values and beliefs. Closer relationships make for better understanding. As the leaders take on the responsibility of caring for their juniors, a moral obligation begins to manifest itself. Leaders will display the attributes of servant leadership if they are prepared to acknowledge in practice this moral obligation to serve others.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
- Authors: Knott-Craig, Ian Duncan
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Kingswood College Private schools -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Servant leadership -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Educational leadership -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Community and school -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Student volunteers in social service -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1643 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003525
- Description: Significant changes have taken place in recent years in leadership theory and practice world wide. Theorizations of effective leadership have evolved from being authoritarian and task-centered to a model in which leaders are encouraged to look beyond their self-interest and prioritize the interests of the group. This study investigates the development of an alternative form of leadership through community building in two male school boarding houses. It attempts to ascertain whether students are able to work collaboratively towards developing an environment conducive to servant leadership. Structured according to the transformative research paradigm, this action research study was conducted in an independent school, Kingswood College, in Grahamstown, South Africa. The College is a traditional independent co-educational school that prides itself on producing leaders. As the school was in the process of reviewing its leadership system, it became an appropriate site to investigate the development of community and to explore possibilities for the emergence of an alternative form of leadership that would reflect the attributes of servant leadership. The participants in the study were volunteers from two boarding houses, who agreed to reflect on their perceptions and experiences of the way in which their houses functioned. My research findings show that through their willingness to engage in moral dialogue, students can transform their boarding houses into closely-knit communities bound together by shared values and beliefs. Closer relationships make for better understanding. As the leaders take on the responsibility of caring for their juniors, a moral obligation begins to manifest itself. Leaders will display the attributes of servant leadership if they are prepared to acknowledge in practice this moral obligation to serve others.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
An investigation of the educational aspirations of high school female learners
- Authors: Willemse, Anneley
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Women -- Education Student aspirations Vocational interests High school students Sex discrimination in education Sex differences in education Teenage girls -- Education
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1833 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004301
- Description: Researchers hold numerous perceptions of the educational aspirations and future career choices of teenage girls. Studies argue that factors such as the curriculum, teachers' and parents' attitudes, the impact of HIV/AIDS, and teenage pregnancy, influence girls' future educational and occupational hopes and dreams either positively or negatively. Other researchers claim that learners' career choice is limited by their potential and school performance. The existing literature also suggests that girls have lower self-esteem and levels of achievement than boys. This research seeks to gain insight into high school girls' perceived academic and vocational prospects. The research was carried out in an interpretive paradigm. Six secondary school female learners from one school participated in the study. Semistructured interviews were the core method of data collection, supplemented by questionnaires and a focus group interview. As teenagers, the girls were expected to already have started to think about their future hopes and dreams. The findings revealed that all the girls seemed to experience school as a place where they could acquire knowledge about what they needed to make them autonomous and successful in adult life. For them, their parents remained their major significant others. They regarded fear of poverty as a major factor motivating them to achieve their educational and vocational aspirations. Peer pressure appeared not to be a major determinant of these girls' successes in school. The girls believed that there is a relationship between their academic performance and their future vocational choice. In addition, the girls did not see boys as a threat to their climbing the ladder of success.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
- Authors: Willemse, Anneley
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Women -- Education Student aspirations Vocational interests High school students Sex discrimination in education Sex differences in education Teenage girls -- Education
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1833 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004301
- Description: Researchers hold numerous perceptions of the educational aspirations and future career choices of teenage girls. Studies argue that factors such as the curriculum, teachers' and parents' attitudes, the impact of HIV/AIDS, and teenage pregnancy, influence girls' future educational and occupational hopes and dreams either positively or negatively. Other researchers claim that learners' career choice is limited by their potential and school performance. The existing literature also suggests that girls have lower self-esteem and levels of achievement than boys. This research seeks to gain insight into high school girls' perceived academic and vocational prospects. The research was carried out in an interpretive paradigm. Six secondary school female learners from one school participated in the study. Semistructured interviews were the core method of data collection, supplemented by questionnaires and a focus group interview. As teenagers, the girls were expected to already have started to think about their future hopes and dreams. The findings revealed that all the girls seemed to experience school as a place where they could acquire knowledge about what they needed to make them autonomous and successful in adult life. For them, their parents remained their major significant others. They regarded fear of poverty as a major factor motivating them to achieve their educational and vocational aspirations. Peer pressure appeared not to be a major determinant of these girls' successes in school. The girls believed that there is a relationship between their academic performance and their future vocational choice. In addition, the girls did not see boys as a threat to their climbing the ladder of success.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
An investigation of the implementation of the thematic approach in Namibian lower primary classrooms: a case study
- Authors: Amukushu-Niipare, Alina
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Education, Elementary -- Namibia -- Case studies Teaching -- Namibia -- Case studies Education -- Namibia -- Case studies Educational change -- Namibia -- Case studies School integration -- Namibia -- Case studies Curriculum planning -- Namibia
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1651 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003534
- Description: This study focuses on the implementation of a thematic approach in the Namibian Lower Primary Phase of schooling. The purpose of the study is to investigate teachers’ perceptions and understanding of the thematic approach and also to explore how teachers plan and implement a thematic approach in their classrooms. It is argued that a thematic approach allows for a combination of subjects that integrate content across the curriculum in such a way that learners can see the relations among concepts and so build up their knowledge in a more meaningful way. The work was done in a qualitative paradigm using a case study approach. Findings reveal that the majority of teachers have a shallow conceptual understanding of the principles of a thematic approach and this causes difficulties in their practice. The investigation concludes that in order for teachers to deepen their conceptual understanding of the thematic approach, follow-up workshops are necessary to help them develop appropriate strategies for their classrooms.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
- Authors: Amukushu-Niipare, Alina
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Education, Elementary -- Namibia -- Case studies Teaching -- Namibia -- Case studies Education -- Namibia -- Case studies Educational change -- Namibia -- Case studies School integration -- Namibia -- Case studies Curriculum planning -- Namibia
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1651 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003534
- Description: This study focuses on the implementation of a thematic approach in the Namibian Lower Primary Phase of schooling. The purpose of the study is to investigate teachers’ perceptions and understanding of the thematic approach and also to explore how teachers plan and implement a thematic approach in their classrooms. It is argued that a thematic approach allows for a combination of subjects that integrate content across the curriculum in such a way that learners can see the relations among concepts and so build up their knowledge in a more meaningful way. The work was done in a qualitative paradigm using a case study approach. Findings reveal that the majority of teachers have a shallow conceptual understanding of the principles of a thematic approach and this causes difficulties in their practice. The investigation concludes that in order for teachers to deepen their conceptual understanding of the thematic approach, follow-up workshops are necessary to help them develop appropriate strategies for their classrooms.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
An organisation development intervention in a rural school in the Omusati region of Namibia
- Perestrelo, Helena Ndeyatila
- Authors: Perestrelo, Helena Ndeyatila
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Rural schools -- Namibia -- Omusati Organizational change -- Namibia -- Omusati School management and organization -- Namibia -- Omusati Educational change -- Namibia -- Omusati School improvement programs -- Namibia -- Omusati
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1932 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007636
- Description: Organizations globally are challenged with a very volatile, fast changing environment. It is only those organizations that develop the capacity to change timeously that will survive in this millennium. (Meyer & Botha, 2000, p.23) Organizational development (OD) is a planned change approach aimed at changing behaviour and enhancing organizational effectiveness. Central to such an approach is continuous business process improvement. OD rests on the foundation of values and assumptions about people and organizations, and it is imperative that organizations adopt systematic methodologies in introducing business improvement interventions. The study introduced an OD approach to one of the rural primary schools in the Omusati region of Namibia, with the purpose of examining if it would bring change in the school. My goal was to explore participants' experience and perception of the OD process and to investigate the possible short term outcome of such an intervention. The case study involved 16 staff members made up of a principal, one head of department and 14 teachers. Data was gathered through formal interviews with the principal, head of department and three teachers, through a focus group interview with teachers, and through observation and observation note entries. The study found that OD was a new concept approach to the participants which differs completely from the way that change processes are introduced in the schools. Participants felt that introducing change in an organization using an OD approach can bring effective change, but it can also place huge demands on participants' commitment. This is particularly so if they do not adopt it as an internal process of business improvement. The OD approach is a long-term change process and not a quick fix. Finally, the outcome of the intervention indicated enthusiasm for the school to continue addressing the prevailing challenges despite various obstacles that they do not have control over.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
- Authors: Perestrelo, Helena Ndeyatila
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Rural schools -- Namibia -- Omusati Organizational change -- Namibia -- Omusati School management and organization -- Namibia -- Omusati Educational change -- Namibia -- Omusati School improvement programs -- Namibia -- Omusati
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1932 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007636
- Description: Organizations globally are challenged with a very volatile, fast changing environment. It is only those organizations that develop the capacity to change timeously that will survive in this millennium. (Meyer & Botha, 2000, p.23) Organizational development (OD) is a planned change approach aimed at changing behaviour and enhancing organizational effectiveness. Central to such an approach is continuous business process improvement. OD rests on the foundation of values and assumptions about people and organizations, and it is imperative that organizations adopt systematic methodologies in introducing business improvement interventions. The study introduced an OD approach to one of the rural primary schools in the Omusati region of Namibia, with the purpose of examining if it would bring change in the school. My goal was to explore participants' experience and perception of the OD process and to investigate the possible short term outcome of such an intervention. The case study involved 16 staff members made up of a principal, one head of department and 14 teachers. Data was gathered through formal interviews with the principal, head of department and three teachers, through a focus group interview with teachers, and through observation and observation note entries. The study found that OD was a new concept approach to the participants which differs completely from the way that change processes are introduced in the schools. Participants felt that introducing change in an organization using an OD approach can bring effective change, but it can also place huge demands on participants' commitment. This is particularly so if they do not adopt it as an internal process of business improvement. The OD approach is a long-term change process and not a quick fix. Finally, the outcome of the intervention indicated enthusiasm for the school to continue addressing the prevailing challenges despite various obstacles that they do not have control over.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
Challenges faced by secondary school teachers in integrating ICT into the curriculum: a multiple case study in the Grahamstown Circuit
- Maholwana-Sotashe, Nikiwe Laura
- Authors: Maholwana-Sotashe, Nikiwe Laura
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Educational technology -- South Africa -- Grahamstown Education, Secondary -- South Africa -- Grahamstown -- Data processing Information technology -- Study and teaching (Secondary) -- South Africa -- Grahamstown Internet in education -- South Africa -- Grahamstown Information technology -- South Africa -- Grahamstown Computer-assisted instruction -- South Africa -- Grahamstown Education, Secondary -- Curricula -- South Africa -- Grahamstown Educational innovations
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1445 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003326
- Description: The integration of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) into the curriculum has become the major issue worldwide. The education system does not only pursue the integration of ICT into the curriculum because of its popularity in the market system, but because of the role it is perceived to play in the changing curriculum (encourages active construction of knowledge). According to White Paper 7 e-Education policy (2004:17) every South African learner should be able to use ICTs confidently and creatively to develop the skills and knowledge they need to achieve personal goals and to be full participants in the global community by 2013. The central role played by teachers in teaching and learning requires them to have a holistic understanding of ICT integration. Furthermore they should be able to analyse when ICT integration is appropriate according to what is expected from the learner in the teaching and learning process. Drawing on the evidence from a survey of nine secondary schools in the Grahamstown Circuit of the Eastern Cape, this study examines how teachers from three different types of secondary schools: Former Department of Education (FDET) schools, Former House of Representatives (FHOR) schools and Former Model C (FMC) schools perceive the integration of ICTs in the curriculum. The salient ideas of how teachers perceive the integration of ICTs into the curriculum emerge from what they view as benefits of using ICT and what they view as challenges of integrating ICT into the curriculum. Contrary to expectations, the degree of ICT integration within the curriculum did not correspond directly with the availability of sufficient hardware, software or Internet connectivity at the participating schools.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
- Authors: Maholwana-Sotashe, Nikiwe Laura
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Educational technology -- South Africa -- Grahamstown Education, Secondary -- South Africa -- Grahamstown -- Data processing Information technology -- Study and teaching (Secondary) -- South Africa -- Grahamstown Internet in education -- South Africa -- Grahamstown Information technology -- South Africa -- Grahamstown Computer-assisted instruction -- South Africa -- Grahamstown Education, Secondary -- Curricula -- South Africa -- Grahamstown Educational innovations
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1445 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003326
- Description: The integration of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) into the curriculum has become the major issue worldwide. The education system does not only pursue the integration of ICT into the curriculum because of its popularity in the market system, but because of the role it is perceived to play in the changing curriculum (encourages active construction of knowledge). According to White Paper 7 e-Education policy (2004:17) every South African learner should be able to use ICTs confidently and creatively to develop the skills and knowledge they need to achieve personal goals and to be full participants in the global community by 2013. The central role played by teachers in teaching and learning requires them to have a holistic understanding of ICT integration. Furthermore they should be able to analyse when ICT integration is appropriate according to what is expected from the learner in the teaching and learning process. Drawing on the evidence from a survey of nine secondary schools in the Grahamstown Circuit of the Eastern Cape, this study examines how teachers from three different types of secondary schools: Former Department of Education (FDET) schools, Former House of Representatives (FHOR) schools and Former Model C (FMC) schools perceive the integration of ICTs in the curriculum. The salient ideas of how teachers perceive the integration of ICTs into the curriculum emerge from what they view as benefits of using ICT and what they view as challenges of integrating ICT into the curriculum. Contrary to expectations, the degree of ICT integration within the curriculum did not correspond directly with the availability of sufficient hardware, software or Internet connectivity at the participating schools.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
Changing words and worlds?: a phenomenological study of the acquisition of an academic literacy
- Authors: Thomson, Carol Irene
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Education -- Study and teaching (Higher) -- South Africa Universities and colleges -- South Africa College student development programs -- South Africa Literacy -- South Africa Education, Higher -- Philosophy Educational change -- South Africa Phenomenology
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:1446 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003327
- Description: This study is contextualised within the field of post-graduate, continuing teacher education, and the vibrant and demanding policy context that has characterised higher education in post-apartheid South Africa. Situated within a module specifically designed to address what is commonly understood to be the academic literacy development needs of students in the Bachelor of Education Honours programme at the former University of Natal, it aims to unveil the lived experiences of students taking this module. The module, Reading and Writing Academic Texts (RWAT), was developed in direct response to academics’ call that something be done about the ‘problem’ of students’ reading and writing proficiency. As a core, compulsory module, RWAT was informed by Systemic Functional Linguistics and drew on Genre Theory for its conceptual and theoretical framework. It foregrounded the genre of the academic argument as the key academic literacy that was taught. The motivation for this study came from my own increasing concern that the theoretical and conceptual framework we had adopted for the module was emerging as an inherently limiting and formulaic model of literacy, and was resulting in students exiting the module with little or no ‘critical’ perspective on any aspect of literacy as social practice. I was also keen, in a climate of increasing de-personalisation and the massification of education, to reinstate the personal. Thus, I chose to focus on individual lives, and through an exploration of a small group of participants’ ‘lived’ experiences of the RWAT module, ascertain what it is like to acquire an academic literacy. The key research question is, therefore: What is it like to acquire an academic literacy? The secondary research question is: How is this experience influenced by the mode of delivery in which it occurs? For its conceptual and theoretical framing, this study draws on social literacy theory and phenomenology, the latter as both a philosophy and a methodology. However, although the study has drawn significantly on the phenomenological tradition for inspiration and direction, it has not done so uncritically. Thus, the study engages with phenomenology-as-philosophy in great depth before turning to phenomenology-as-methodology, in order to arrive at a point where the methods and procedures applied in it, are justified. The main findings of the study suggest that, despite the RWAT module espousing an ideological model (Street, 1984) of literacy in its learning materials and readings, participants came very much closer to experiencing an autonomous model of literacy (Street, 1984). The data shows that the RWAT module was largely inadequate to the task of inducting participants into the ‘situated practices’ and ‘situated meanings’ of the Discourse of Genre Theory and/or the academy, hence the many ‘lived’ difficulties participants experienced. The data also highlights the ease with which an autonomous model of literacy can come to govern practice and student experience even when curriculum intention is underpinned by an ideological position on literacy as social practice. Finally, the study suggests that the research community in South Africa, characterised as it is by such diversity, would be enriched by more studies derived from phenomenology, and a continuing engagement with phenomenology-as-a-movement in order to both challenge and expand its existing framework.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
- Authors: Thomson, Carol Irene
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Education -- Study and teaching (Higher) -- South Africa Universities and colleges -- South Africa College student development programs -- South Africa Literacy -- South Africa Education, Higher -- Philosophy Educational change -- South Africa Phenomenology
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:1446 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003327
- Description: This study is contextualised within the field of post-graduate, continuing teacher education, and the vibrant and demanding policy context that has characterised higher education in post-apartheid South Africa. Situated within a module specifically designed to address what is commonly understood to be the academic literacy development needs of students in the Bachelor of Education Honours programme at the former University of Natal, it aims to unveil the lived experiences of students taking this module. The module, Reading and Writing Academic Texts (RWAT), was developed in direct response to academics’ call that something be done about the ‘problem’ of students’ reading and writing proficiency. As a core, compulsory module, RWAT was informed by Systemic Functional Linguistics and drew on Genre Theory for its conceptual and theoretical framework. It foregrounded the genre of the academic argument as the key academic literacy that was taught. The motivation for this study came from my own increasing concern that the theoretical and conceptual framework we had adopted for the module was emerging as an inherently limiting and formulaic model of literacy, and was resulting in students exiting the module with little or no ‘critical’ perspective on any aspect of literacy as social practice. I was also keen, in a climate of increasing de-personalisation and the massification of education, to reinstate the personal. Thus, I chose to focus on individual lives, and through an exploration of a small group of participants’ ‘lived’ experiences of the RWAT module, ascertain what it is like to acquire an academic literacy. The key research question is, therefore: What is it like to acquire an academic literacy? The secondary research question is: How is this experience influenced by the mode of delivery in which it occurs? For its conceptual and theoretical framing, this study draws on social literacy theory and phenomenology, the latter as both a philosophy and a methodology. However, although the study has drawn significantly on the phenomenological tradition for inspiration and direction, it has not done so uncritically. Thus, the study engages with phenomenology-as-philosophy in great depth before turning to phenomenology-as-methodology, in order to arrive at a point where the methods and procedures applied in it, are justified. The main findings of the study suggest that, despite the RWAT module espousing an ideological model (Street, 1984) of literacy in its learning materials and readings, participants came very much closer to experiencing an autonomous model of literacy (Street, 1984). The data shows that the RWAT module was largely inadequate to the task of inducting participants into the ‘situated practices’ and ‘situated meanings’ of the Discourse of Genre Theory and/or the academy, hence the many ‘lived’ difficulties participants experienced. The data also highlights the ease with which an autonomous model of literacy can come to govern practice and student experience even when curriculum intention is underpinned by an ideological position on literacy as social practice. Finally, the study suggests that the research community in South Africa, characterised as it is by such diversity, would be enriched by more studies derived from phenomenology, and a continuing engagement with phenomenology-as-a-movement in order to both challenge and expand its existing framework.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
Cluster centre principals' perceptions of the implementation of the school cluster system in Namibia
- Authors: Aipinge, Lydia P
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: School management and organization -- Namibia Education -- Namibia School principals -- Namibia Educational leadership -- Namibia Educational change -- Namibia
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1449 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003330
- Description: The School Clustering System (SCS) was introduced five years after Namibia’s independence in 1990. The rationale for its implementation was to improve the quality of education in Namibian schools by enabling the sharing of resources, experience and expertise among clusters and facilitating school administration by pooling resources from several schools to be shared equally. It was piloted in Rundu and then gradually expanded to the whole country. The cluster system groups 5-7 schools that are eographically close and accessible to each other in one cluster under the leadership of one of the principals known as a Cluster Centre Principal (CCP). The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions of CCPs of the implementation of the SCS in two clusters of a particular circuit in the Omusati region. It is a case study involving two CCPs, one serving Inspector of Education (IE), a former Inspector of Education, several teachers, principals and parents. Data were collected through interviews, document analysis, and focus group discussions. The study found that the practice of cluster leaders is informed by contemporary leadership and management thinking. The participatory approach employed in clusterbased committees enables site-based management and collaboration. This has led to organisational learning. It was also found that a number of challenges are hampering the implementation of the SCS. These include lack of system support and inadequate resources. However, the human potential coupled with a high degree of readiness exhibited by cluster members are seen as potential drivers of further development of the system. The study recommends the adoption of a national policy that formalises the SCS as well as the strengthening of system support to build cluster capacity. It also makes suggestions for further research in organisational culture and behaviour with the aim of developing leadership and management practices in the SCS.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
Cluster centre principals' perceptions of the implementation of the school cluster system in Namibia
- Authors: Aipinge, Lydia P
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: School management and organization -- Namibia Education -- Namibia School principals -- Namibia Educational leadership -- Namibia Educational change -- Namibia
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1449 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003330
- Description: The School Clustering System (SCS) was introduced five years after Namibia’s independence in 1990. The rationale for its implementation was to improve the quality of education in Namibian schools by enabling the sharing of resources, experience and expertise among clusters and facilitating school administration by pooling resources from several schools to be shared equally. It was piloted in Rundu and then gradually expanded to the whole country. The cluster system groups 5-7 schools that are eographically close and accessible to each other in one cluster under the leadership of one of the principals known as a Cluster Centre Principal (CCP). The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions of CCPs of the implementation of the SCS in two clusters of a particular circuit in the Omusati region. It is a case study involving two CCPs, one serving Inspector of Education (IE), a former Inspector of Education, several teachers, principals and parents. Data were collected through interviews, document analysis, and focus group discussions. The study found that the practice of cluster leaders is informed by contemporary leadership and management thinking. The participatory approach employed in clusterbased committees enables site-based management and collaboration. This has led to organisational learning. It was also found that a number of challenges are hampering the implementation of the SCS. These include lack of system support and inadequate resources. However, the human potential coupled with a high degree of readiness exhibited by cluster members are seen as potential drivers of further development of the system. The study recommends the adoption of a national policy that formalises the SCS as well as the strengthening of system support to build cluster capacity. It also makes suggestions for further research in organisational culture and behaviour with the aim of developing leadership and management practices in the SCS.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
Curriculum recontextualising using gardens for the health promotion in the life orientation learning area of the senior phase
- Authors: Jenkins, Msawenkosi Wiseman
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Environmental education -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape -- Case studies School gardens -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Gardening -- Study and teaching (Secondary) -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Environmental education -- Curricula -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Environmental education -- Curricula -- Case studies Environmental policy -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1487 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003368
- Description: With a view to understanding how curriculum is interpreted at classroom practice level, the study examined three stories of how the environmental discourse of the National Curriculum Statements (R-9) was recontextualised using school gardens in the Life Orientation Learning Area for the Senior Phase. To understand how the curriculum is recontextualised, I used Bernstein's theory of recontexutalisation where he explained how official pedagogic discourse (OPD) (in this case the environmental discourse is first delocated once it is transferred from the field of production (FOP) and relocated in the recontextualising field (where teacher educators and departmental officials mediate the discourse) and in the field of reproduction (FOR) which is the classroom and school. Bernstein explained that as the discourse is delocated and relocated it undergoes transformation. This transformation is influenced by practitioners' prior-knowledge, experience, culture and beliefs and other factors. To understand how transformation of the environmental discourse takes place, Bernstein's conceptual constructs of selective appropriation and ideological transformation were applied to an interpretation of three lesson processes, to explain how the discourse was changed. Each lesson was reviewed in terms of the selective appropriations and ideological transformations which took place. All three of the lessons observed took place in one school, and as such the study is designed as an interpretive case study where I have tried to make meaning from a rich, thick description of a specific case context. The school is located in Bizana, one of the villages in the O.R. Tambo District Municipality in the Eastern Cape Province,, and is currently in the process of implementing South Africa’s new National Curriculum Statement (NCS) like all other schools in South Africa. In conducting the research I observed lessons, interviewed the learners and teachers, and a community member and the manager of the SANBI greening project, and I also analysed documents which included the NCS for Life Orientation, and teachers planning documents and learners work produced in the lessons. I started the study by conducting a document analysis of the NCS, through which I identified dimensions of the Official Pedagogic Discourse. This was used as a framework to review the lessons to understand how the OPD was being recontextualised. The study concludes by discussing the key findings of the study in the form of a set of analytical statements. Some of the findings indicate that teachers have not been given adequate training for understanding and implementing the NCS which affects the recontextualisation process. The study shows that there is a dire need for professional development if the OPD is to be interpreted adequately by teachers so that its implementation at the meso and micro- levels becomes clear and effective.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
- Authors: Jenkins, Msawenkosi Wiseman
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Environmental education -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape -- Case studies School gardens -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Gardening -- Study and teaching (Secondary) -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Environmental education -- Curricula -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Environmental education -- Curricula -- Case studies Environmental policy -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1487 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003368
- Description: With a view to understanding how curriculum is interpreted at classroom practice level, the study examined three stories of how the environmental discourse of the National Curriculum Statements (R-9) was recontextualised using school gardens in the Life Orientation Learning Area for the Senior Phase. To understand how the curriculum is recontextualised, I used Bernstein's theory of recontexutalisation where he explained how official pedagogic discourse (OPD) (in this case the environmental discourse is first delocated once it is transferred from the field of production (FOP) and relocated in the recontextualising field (where teacher educators and departmental officials mediate the discourse) and in the field of reproduction (FOR) which is the classroom and school. Bernstein explained that as the discourse is delocated and relocated it undergoes transformation. This transformation is influenced by practitioners' prior-knowledge, experience, culture and beliefs and other factors. To understand how transformation of the environmental discourse takes place, Bernstein's conceptual constructs of selective appropriation and ideological transformation were applied to an interpretation of three lesson processes, to explain how the discourse was changed. Each lesson was reviewed in terms of the selective appropriations and ideological transformations which took place. All three of the lessons observed took place in one school, and as such the study is designed as an interpretive case study where I have tried to make meaning from a rich, thick description of a specific case context. The school is located in Bizana, one of the villages in the O.R. Tambo District Municipality in the Eastern Cape Province,, and is currently in the process of implementing South Africa’s new National Curriculum Statement (NCS) like all other schools in South Africa. In conducting the research I observed lessons, interviewed the learners and teachers, and a community member and the manager of the SANBI greening project, and I also analysed documents which included the NCS for Life Orientation, and teachers planning documents and learners work produced in the lessons. I started the study by conducting a document analysis of the NCS, through which I identified dimensions of the Official Pedagogic Discourse. This was used as a framework to review the lessons to understand how the OPD was being recontextualised. The study concludes by discussing the key findings of the study in the form of a set of analytical statements. Some of the findings indicate that teachers have not been given adequate training for understanding and implementing the NCS which affects the recontextualisation process. The study shows that there is a dire need for professional development if the OPD is to be interpreted adequately by teachers so that its implementation at the meso and micro- levels becomes clear and effective.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
Education in the wetlands and wetlands in the education: a case of contextualizing primary/basic education in Tanzania
- Authors: Hogan, Alice Rosemary
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Education -- Tanzania Environmental education -- Tanzania Education, Rural -- Tanzania Education -- Curricula -- Tanzania Community and school -- Tanzania
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1504 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003386
- Description: This dissertation describes an action research case study carried out at a sub-village school at Nyamakurukuru, Utete, Rufiji District, Tanzania. The study was a fully independent research activity funded and led by a female Irish environmental and community specialist who has fifteen years experience of working in rural Tanzania, five of which were in Rufiji District. The aim of the action research was to engage a community of villagers, teachers, students and district officers in a participatory process to adapt a module of a school curriculum to the local context, and teach it in order to describe one way in which contextualization, using local and indigenous knowledge and active discovery teaching-learning processes, can be done. The major research question, which I wished to answer for one specific case, was: Does integrating local environmental cultural knowledge into formal schooling contribute to curriculum relevance? If so, in what way? This document describes the background and context of the research, the motivation and the theoretical basis for the work, the methodology and methods, and the action research process itself. The results are interpreted and discussed in the light of current theoretical perspectives on education and environmental education. The main findings within the case are that: Contextualization improved relevance of education and thus its quality by: • breaking through traditional frames/barriers between teachers and students, students and elders and community and teachers, • allowing formal education to take place outside of the school, • necessitating a change in pedagogy1 to more learner-centered, discovery methods, • allowing indigenous knowledge to come into the classroom, • stimulating creativity and increased confidence, and • bringing local socio-political environmental issues into the classroom. This study provides a case example of how education processes, when engaging local cultural knowledge, can improve the relevance, and thus an aspect of the quality of teaching and learning in school-community contexts, while providing a conduit for integrating environmental education into the formal school curriculum. It provides insights into the key issue of relevance which currently faces educators of children in wetlands in Tanzania. Recommendations were made for the case studied and may be useful beyond the boundaries of the case: • Give more explicit government policy and strategic support for community involvement in educational content–epistemologies and pedagogies. • Weaken framing (hierarchical power positions) to encourage greater partnership between school, home and community to improve relevance. • Investigate the provision of education beyond schools. • Provide practical teacher and community training on use of learner-centered, discovery and active pedagogies. • Provide teacher and community education on biodiversity and the environment. • Provide relevant reference texts and research data on the ecology, biodiversity, vegetation, hydrology, agriculture, sociology, history and other relevant subjects. • Officially nurture a culture that learning should be enjoyable. • Allow the curriculum freedom, in these times of increasing risk for rural tropical wetland communities, to make the curriculum fit the local issues rather than vice versa. • Nurture critical analysis of the curriculum in local pedagogic discourse i.e., at the local contextualization level of the home, community and school.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
- Authors: Hogan, Alice Rosemary
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Education -- Tanzania Environmental education -- Tanzania Education, Rural -- Tanzania Education -- Curricula -- Tanzania Community and school -- Tanzania
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1504 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003386
- Description: This dissertation describes an action research case study carried out at a sub-village school at Nyamakurukuru, Utete, Rufiji District, Tanzania. The study was a fully independent research activity funded and led by a female Irish environmental and community specialist who has fifteen years experience of working in rural Tanzania, five of which were in Rufiji District. The aim of the action research was to engage a community of villagers, teachers, students and district officers in a participatory process to adapt a module of a school curriculum to the local context, and teach it in order to describe one way in which contextualization, using local and indigenous knowledge and active discovery teaching-learning processes, can be done. The major research question, which I wished to answer for one specific case, was: Does integrating local environmental cultural knowledge into formal schooling contribute to curriculum relevance? If so, in what way? This document describes the background and context of the research, the motivation and the theoretical basis for the work, the methodology and methods, and the action research process itself. The results are interpreted and discussed in the light of current theoretical perspectives on education and environmental education. The main findings within the case are that: Contextualization improved relevance of education and thus its quality by: • breaking through traditional frames/barriers between teachers and students, students and elders and community and teachers, • allowing formal education to take place outside of the school, • necessitating a change in pedagogy1 to more learner-centered, discovery methods, • allowing indigenous knowledge to come into the classroom, • stimulating creativity and increased confidence, and • bringing local socio-political environmental issues into the classroom. This study provides a case example of how education processes, when engaging local cultural knowledge, can improve the relevance, and thus an aspect of the quality of teaching and learning in school-community contexts, while providing a conduit for integrating environmental education into the formal school curriculum. It provides insights into the key issue of relevance which currently faces educators of children in wetlands in Tanzania. Recommendations were made for the case studied and may be useful beyond the boundaries of the case: • Give more explicit government policy and strategic support for community involvement in educational content–epistemologies and pedagogies. • Weaken framing (hierarchical power positions) to encourage greater partnership between school, home and community to improve relevance. • Investigate the provision of education beyond schools. • Provide practical teacher and community training on use of learner-centered, discovery and active pedagogies. • Provide teacher and community education on biodiversity and the environment. • Provide relevant reference texts and research data on the ecology, biodiversity, vegetation, hydrology, agriculture, sociology, history and other relevant subjects. • Officially nurture a culture that learning should be enjoyable. • Allow the curriculum freedom, in these times of increasing risk for rural tropical wetland communities, to make the curriculum fit the local issues rather than vice versa. • Nurture critical analysis of the curriculum in local pedagogic discourse i.e., at the local contextualization level of the home, community and school.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
Excavating the 'critique' : an investigation into disjunctions between the espoused and the practiced within a Fine Art studio practice curriculum
- Authors: Belluigi, Dina Zoe
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Art -- Study and teaching (Higher) Postmodernism and education Universities and colleges -- Philosophy Universities and colleges -- Curricula Education, Higher -- Political aspects Creative thinking -- Study and teaching Discourse analysis -- Methodology Critical pedagogy
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1531 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003413
- Description: This report presents the findings of a case study excavating the event of the ‘Critique’ (crit), the formative assessment method within a Fine Art Studio Practice curriculum. Arguments informed by critical postmodernism, education theories and contemporary art criticism are utilised to construct a dialectic of higher education, contemporary art and fine art studio practice. An emphasis is placed on the importance of agency, expressed through intentionality and critical thinking, with a recognition of the relationship between ‘the self’ and ‘the other’. Using critical discourse analysis, the disjunctions between the espoused and practiced curriculum are explored. The researcher analyses how the assessment practices of the case studied are influenced by unexamined agentic factors, such as inter-departmental relations, lecturers’ assumptions and prior learning, and structural determinants, such as the medium-specific Bachelor of Fine Art degree structure and prevailing artistic traditions. The research findings indicate that these are underpinned by tensions between two orientations, the espoused curriculum’s discourse-interest informed by critical theory, and the theory-in-use. The latter is shown to have unexamined modernist leanings towards formalism and a master-apprentice relationship between lecturer and students, which encourages reproduction rather than critical, creative thinking. The dominant discourses in the case studied construct a negative dialectic of the artist-student that can be seen to deny student agency and authorial responsibility. Findings suggest that students experience this as alienating, to the extent that to preserve their sense of self, they adopted surface and strategic approaches to learning. An argument is made for lecturers’ critically reflexive engagement with their teaching practice, and thereby to model ethical relationships between ‘self’ and ‘other’ during ‘crits’. In addition, emphasis is placed on how assessment practices should be more aligned with the espoused curriculum, so that the importance of a reflexive relationship between form and content, process and product, intentionality and interpretation is acknowledged.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
- Authors: Belluigi, Dina Zoe
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Art -- Study and teaching (Higher) Postmodernism and education Universities and colleges -- Philosophy Universities and colleges -- Curricula Education, Higher -- Political aspects Creative thinking -- Study and teaching Discourse analysis -- Methodology Critical pedagogy
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1531 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003413
- Description: This report presents the findings of a case study excavating the event of the ‘Critique’ (crit), the formative assessment method within a Fine Art Studio Practice curriculum. Arguments informed by critical postmodernism, education theories and contemporary art criticism are utilised to construct a dialectic of higher education, contemporary art and fine art studio practice. An emphasis is placed on the importance of agency, expressed through intentionality and critical thinking, with a recognition of the relationship between ‘the self’ and ‘the other’. Using critical discourse analysis, the disjunctions between the espoused and practiced curriculum are explored. The researcher analyses how the assessment practices of the case studied are influenced by unexamined agentic factors, such as inter-departmental relations, lecturers’ assumptions and prior learning, and structural determinants, such as the medium-specific Bachelor of Fine Art degree structure and prevailing artistic traditions. The research findings indicate that these are underpinned by tensions between two orientations, the espoused curriculum’s discourse-interest informed by critical theory, and the theory-in-use. The latter is shown to have unexamined modernist leanings towards formalism and a master-apprentice relationship between lecturer and students, which encourages reproduction rather than critical, creative thinking. The dominant discourses in the case studied construct a negative dialectic of the artist-student that can be seen to deny student agency and authorial responsibility. Findings suggest that students experience this as alienating, to the extent that to preserve their sense of self, they adopted surface and strategic approaches to learning. An argument is made for lecturers’ critically reflexive engagement with their teaching practice, and thereby to model ethical relationships between ‘self’ and ‘other’ during ‘crits’. In addition, emphasis is placed on how assessment practices should be more aligned with the espoused curriculum, so that the importance of a reflexive relationship between form and content, process and product, intentionality and interpretation is acknowledged.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
Information and communication technology driven teaching and learning opportunities in support of environmental education processes: a case of the eno-environment online programme at Treverton Preparatory School, South Africa
- Authors: Snow, Janet P
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Treverton School (Natal, South Africa) , Environmental education -- South Africa -- Case studies , Sustainable development -- South Africa -- Case studies , Computer-assisted instruction -- South Africa -- Case studies , Education, Preschool -- Computer assisted instruction -- South Africa -- Case studies , Education, Preschool -- South Africa -- Case studies , Early childhood education -- South Africa -- Case studies , Educational technology -- South Africa -- Case studies , Ethnoscience -- Study and teaching -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1575 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003457 , Treverton School (Natal, South Africa) , Environmental education -- South Africa -- Case studies , Sustainable development -- South Africa -- Case studies , Computer-assisted instruction -- South Africa -- Case studies , Education, Preschool -- Computer assisted instruction -- South Africa -- Case studies , Education, Preschool -- South Africa -- Case studies , Early childhood education -- South Africa -- Case studies , Educational technology -- South Africa -- Case studies , Ethnoscience -- Study and teaching -- South Africa
- Description: This research looks at a global virtual web-based programme for environmental awareness and education for sustainable development (ENO-Environment Online). It is a case study of Treverton Preparatory school in South Africa, one of several schools where the programme is implemented. One of the themes within the programme (“This is our culture”) is highlighted. A mixed method, interpretive case study methodology is used. Research methods include two focus group interviews with a selected group of learners, observations of four computer-based lessons and one practical session, document analysis of the three forms of learners’ submissions (‘blog’ site submission, presentation of material and ‘chat’ session), and two interviews conducted with the Treverton form teacher and ENO programme co-ordinator. The research views the Treverton ENO activities in relation to: academic rigour in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) use, the teacher’s role in ICT pedagogy, and active learning in ICT applications. As the theme is culturally based with a global perspective, the research also considers these activities from the perspectives of education for cultural knowledge (multicultural education) and in terms of mobilising indigenous knowledge and global education. These perspectives on the ENO activities are analysed in relation to dimensions of teaching and learning guidelines pertinent to Education for Sustainable Development in a southern African context. The research shows that the ENO theme supported a variety of learning contexts, a sense of community, modelling of behaviours and actions, debate, sharing of information and improved communication skills. Learners were exposed to cultural diversity, contradictory cultural values, cultural and global inclusivity. Knowledge of social cultural practices and indigenous knowledge was shared. Academic rigour in the ENO theme was noted with reflection being the predominant activity. Based on these key findings, recommendations to the ENO programme, schools and teachers have been made. These include: exploring possibilities for increasing focus on sustainable development actions, improving access to relevant information, encouraging critical debate and critical engagement with cultural diversity.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
- Authors: Snow, Janet P
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Treverton School (Natal, South Africa) , Environmental education -- South Africa -- Case studies , Sustainable development -- South Africa -- Case studies , Computer-assisted instruction -- South Africa -- Case studies , Education, Preschool -- Computer assisted instruction -- South Africa -- Case studies , Education, Preschool -- South Africa -- Case studies , Early childhood education -- South Africa -- Case studies , Educational technology -- South Africa -- Case studies , Ethnoscience -- Study and teaching -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1575 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003457 , Treverton School (Natal, South Africa) , Environmental education -- South Africa -- Case studies , Sustainable development -- South Africa -- Case studies , Computer-assisted instruction -- South Africa -- Case studies , Education, Preschool -- Computer assisted instruction -- South Africa -- Case studies , Education, Preschool -- South Africa -- Case studies , Early childhood education -- South Africa -- Case studies , Educational technology -- South Africa -- Case studies , Ethnoscience -- Study and teaching -- South Africa
- Description: This research looks at a global virtual web-based programme for environmental awareness and education for sustainable development (ENO-Environment Online). It is a case study of Treverton Preparatory school in South Africa, one of several schools where the programme is implemented. One of the themes within the programme (“This is our culture”) is highlighted. A mixed method, interpretive case study methodology is used. Research methods include two focus group interviews with a selected group of learners, observations of four computer-based lessons and one practical session, document analysis of the three forms of learners’ submissions (‘blog’ site submission, presentation of material and ‘chat’ session), and two interviews conducted with the Treverton form teacher and ENO programme co-ordinator. The research views the Treverton ENO activities in relation to: academic rigour in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) use, the teacher’s role in ICT pedagogy, and active learning in ICT applications. As the theme is culturally based with a global perspective, the research also considers these activities from the perspectives of education for cultural knowledge (multicultural education) and in terms of mobilising indigenous knowledge and global education. These perspectives on the ENO activities are analysed in relation to dimensions of teaching and learning guidelines pertinent to Education for Sustainable Development in a southern African context. The research shows that the ENO theme supported a variety of learning contexts, a sense of community, modelling of behaviours and actions, debate, sharing of information and improved communication skills. Learners were exposed to cultural diversity, contradictory cultural values, cultural and global inclusivity. Knowledge of social cultural practices and indigenous knowledge was shared. Academic rigour in the ENO theme was noted with reflection being the predominant activity. Based on these key findings, recommendations to the ENO programme, schools and teachers have been made. These include: exploring possibilities for increasing focus on sustainable development actions, improving access to relevant information, encouraging critical debate and critical engagement with cultural diversity.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
Information and communication technology in A-level physics teaching and learning at secondary schools in Manicaland Zimbabwe: multiple case studies
- Authors: Mlambo, Watson
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Information technology -- Zimbabwe Educational technology -- Zimbabwe Education, Secondary -- Zimbabwe Information technology -- Study and teaching (Secondary) -- Zimbabwe Physics -- Study and teaching (Secondary) -- Zimbabwe Computer-assisted instruction -- Zimbabwe
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1576 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003458
- Description: As personal computers (PCs) and related ICTs become more and more omnipresent than ever before in institutions of education, teachers are faced with the challenge of having to teach in ICT rich environments. Some syllabuses increase this pressure by stipulating where ICT may be applied. While past research efforts have focused on presence of and/or effectiveness of ICTs on achieving various didactic goals, there is limited literature on the extent to which actual practice occurred naturally. It was the aim of this study to determine the extent to which Physics teachers and students used ICT in their usual teaching/learning ambience, referred to as natural settings in this study. Using activity theory as a theoretical lens, multiple case studies were chosen as a strategy using 10 schools, 15 Physics teachers, 20 A-level Physics students and 10 ICT teachers (computer specialists). Questionnaires, observations and informal and focus group interviews were used to elicit responses from students, teachers and computer specialists. It emerged from the case studies that despite the presence of apt ICT infrastructure in the schools and although the teachers had a positive attitude towards the use of ICT for teaching and learning of Physics, teachers were apathetic when it came to the actual use. Some of the reasons militating against use were lack of an ICT policy, school authority, and monopoly of computers enjoyed by computer studies teachers. However among students there were ‘early starters’ who used ICTs outside of school, a situation that tended to change the Physics learning environment. These findings led to a proposal for a post of Computer Specialist (CS) in the schools. The need for developing ICT policy at all levels namely national, Ministry of Education and the school was also proposed. Lastly staff development in the use ICT for Physics teachers was proposed as indispensable.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
- Authors: Mlambo, Watson
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Information technology -- Zimbabwe Educational technology -- Zimbabwe Education, Secondary -- Zimbabwe Information technology -- Study and teaching (Secondary) -- Zimbabwe Physics -- Study and teaching (Secondary) -- Zimbabwe Computer-assisted instruction -- Zimbabwe
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1576 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003458
- Description: As personal computers (PCs) and related ICTs become more and more omnipresent than ever before in institutions of education, teachers are faced with the challenge of having to teach in ICT rich environments. Some syllabuses increase this pressure by stipulating where ICT may be applied. While past research efforts have focused on presence of and/or effectiveness of ICTs on achieving various didactic goals, there is limited literature on the extent to which actual practice occurred naturally. It was the aim of this study to determine the extent to which Physics teachers and students used ICT in their usual teaching/learning ambience, referred to as natural settings in this study. Using activity theory as a theoretical lens, multiple case studies were chosen as a strategy using 10 schools, 15 Physics teachers, 20 A-level Physics students and 10 ICT teachers (computer specialists). Questionnaires, observations and informal and focus group interviews were used to elicit responses from students, teachers and computer specialists. It emerged from the case studies that despite the presence of apt ICT infrastructure in the schools and although the teachers had a positive attitude towards the use of ICT for teaching and learning of Physics, teachers were apathetic when it came to the actual use. Some of the reasons militating against use were lack of an ICT policy, school authority, and monopoly of computers enjoyed by computer studies teachers. However among students there were ‘early starters’ who used ICTs outside of school, a situation that tended to change the Physics learning environment. These findings led to a proposal for a post of Computer Specialist (CS) in the schools. The need for developing ICT policy at all levels namely national, Ministry of Education and the school was also proposed. Lastly staff development in the use ICT for Physics teachers was proposed as indispensable.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
Investigating learning interactions influencing farmers' choices of cultivated food plants
- Authors: Pesanayi, Victor Tichaona
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Sustainable development -- Africa Poverty -- Africa Environmental education -- Zimbabwe Food supply -- Environmental aspects -- Zimbabwe Farmers -- Education -- Zimbabwe Agriculture -- Study and teaching -- Zimbabwe Plants, cultivated -- Zimbabwe
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1587 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003469
- Description: The most critical hurdle on the path to sustainable development in Africa and the rest of the so-called Third World is poverty, commonly manifested as food security. A number of factors threaten food security in Zimbabwe, and these include climate change, an unstable socio-political environment and economic depression. The major debates and initiatives on sustainable development often fail to focus on the eradication of poverty in southern Africa. As a result, the trade liberalisation programmes signed by African countries in economic partnership agreements leave smallholder farmers vulnerable to the influx of hybrid seed and genetically modified organisms (GMOs), which threaten local agro-biodiversity. This case study has shown that farmers select seed to plant for food as a result of various learning interactions they engage in, which include inter-generational knowledge transfer, farmer to farmer extension and external training by extension organisations and NGOs. A communities of practice (COPs) (Wenger, 2007) framework was used to gain an understanding of the learning interactions among farmers and their stakeholders in Nyanga and Marange COPs of small grain farmers in Manicaland Province, Zimbabwe, who have been working with Environment Africa (A regional NGO). A critical realist causal analysis was conducted to unravel the various causal factors influencing choice. A number of underlying structures and causal mechanisms were found to influence learning interactions and choices in these communities of practice, and they include ambivalence, which influences the changing domain and practice. Climate change, drought and risk were found to affect farmer practice, while power relations affect the community, its practice, domain, sponsorship and the learning interactions in the COPs. The political economy was also found to have a profound effect on the domain and practice. A space was found for the influence of capacity and knowledge sharing in participatory frameworks of the communities, implying that extension quality can be enhanced to promote locally adapted and diverse seed varieties for food security improvement. The study shows that a deeper understanding of the mechanisms influencing the context of teaching and learning provides a more refined insight into the learning interactions and choices of farmers. This, coupled with the social processes descriptors provided by Wildemeersch (2007) has given me a more detailed understanding of the nature of learning interactions influencing farmer choices.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
- Authors: Pesanayi, Victor Tichaona
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Sustainable development -- Africa Poverty -- Africa Environmental education -- Zimbabwe Food supply -- Environmental aspects -- Zimbabwe Farmers -- Education -- Zimbabwe Agriculture -- Study and teaching -- Zimbabwe Plants, cultivated -- Zimbabwe
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1587 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003469
- Description: The most critical hurdle on the path to sustainable development in Africa and the rest of the so-called Third World is poverty, commonly manifested as food security. A number of factors threaten food security in Zimbabwe, and these include climate change, an unstable socio-political environment and economic depression. The major debates and initiatives on sustainable development often fail to focus on the eradication of poverty in southern Africa. As a result, the trade liberalisation programmes signed by African countries in economic partnership agreements leave smallholder farmers vulnerable to the influx of hybrid seed and genetically modified organisms (GMOs), which threaten local agro-biodiversity. This case study has shown that farmers select seed to plant for food as a result of various learning interactions they engage in, which include inter-generational knowledge transfer, farmer to farmer extension and external training by extension organisations and NGOs. A communities of practice (COPs) (Wenger, 2007) framework was used to gain an understanding of the learning interactions among farmers and their stakeholders in Nyanga and Marange COPs of small grain farmers in Manicaland Province, Zimbabwe, who have been working with Environment Africa (A regional NGO). A critical realist causal analysis was conducted to unravel the various causal factors influencing choice. A number of underlying structures and causal mechanisms were found to influence learning interactions and choices in these communities of practice, and they include ambivalence, which influences the changing domain and practice. Climate change, drought and risk were found to affect farmer practice, while power relations affect the community, its practice, domain, sponsorship and the learning interactions in the COPs. The political economy was also found to have a profound effect on the domain and practice. A space was found for the influence of capacity and knowledge sharing in participatory frameworks of the communities, implying that extension quality can be enhanced to promote locally adapted and diverse seed varieties for food security improvement. The study shows that a deeper understanding of the mechanisms influencing the context of teaching and learning provides a more refined insight into the learning interactions and choices of farmers. This, coupled with the social processes descriptors provided by Wildemeersch (2007) has given me a more detailed understanding of the nature of learning interactions influencing farmer choices.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
Investigating the role of portfolios in developing reflective practice : a case study
- Authors: Mbango, Karolina Naango
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Portfolios in education -- Namibia -- Case studies Student teachers -- Namibia -- Case studies Teachers -- Training of -- Namibia -- Case studies Teacher educators -- Namibia -- Case studies Reflective teaching
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1595 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003477
- Description: The purpose of this study was to investigate the purpose and role portfolios are playing in developing reflective practice in student teachers and to assess the degree to which this role is being achieved in practice. This study was a interpretive small scale case study. The target groups were 3 student teachers in their final year of study, 3 teacher educators and the vice-rector of the college. Data were obtained through interviews and document analysis. The findings indicated that the students had no meaningful orientation to both the role of portfolio development and reflective skills. The sources of this were the lack of common understanding among teacher educators, lack of support for both teacher educators and student teachers and lack of time, lack of guidelines for construction and clear assessment rubric. The results of this study indicated that the teacher educators were in need of vigorous professional development and considerable implementation strategies are needed to develop the desired reflective skills.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
- Authors: Mbango, Karolina Naango
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Portfolios in education -- Namibia -- Case studies Student teachers -- Namibia -- Case studies Teachers -- Training of -- Namibia -- Case studies Teacher educators -- Namibia -- Case studies Reflective teaching
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1595 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003477
- Description: The purpose of this study was to investigate the purpose and role portfolios are playing in developing reflective practice in student teachers and to assess the degree to which this role is being achieved in practice. This study was a interpretive small scale case study. The target groups were 3 student teachers in their final year of study, 3 teacher educators and the vice-rector of the college. Data were obtained through interviews and document analysis. The findings indicated that the students had no meaningful orientation to both the role of portfolio development and reflective skills. The sources of this were the lack of common understanding among teacher educators, lack of support for both teacher educators and student teachers and lack of time, lack of guidelines for construction and clear assessment rubric. The results of this study indicated that the teacher educators were in need of vigorous professional development and considerable implementation strategies are needed to develop the desired reflective skills.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
Namibian school principals' perceptions of their management needs
- Authors: Kapapero, Fanuel
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: School principals -- Self-rating of -- Namibia School principals -- Rating of -- Namibia School principals -- Management -- Namibia School principals -- Development -- Namibia School management and organization -- Namibia Educational leadership -- Namibia School supervision -- Namibia
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1674 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003557
- Description: The Namibian education system is at the crossroads as a result of the demands of the Education and Training Sector Improvement Programme (ETSIP), a programme initiated by the Government to address shortcomings in the education and training sector. ETSIP requires that school principals play a much more significant role to realize the goal of quality education, which is one of the major goals of education reform. In view of the ever-increasing responsibilities of the principals for ensuring the quality of education, the need for management development has become more apparent. Although management development for principals in the African context is a recent phenomenon, it has been a subject of extensive research over the years in many developed countries. The findings of these studies suggest that it has the potential to improve the quality of school leadership and ultimately lead to school improvement. In Namibia, literature suggests that little has been done to determine the needs of school principals with regards to their management development. This study therefore seeks to address that need. The study is situated in the interpretive research paradigm whose central purpose is to interpret and understand the phenomenon through the perceptions and experience of the participants. Data were collected by means of semi-structured interviews and document analysis. The findings generally suggest that principals perceive management development as vehicle to empowerment and capacity building. The findings further suggest that principals would prefer management programmes that are more experienced-based and offer opportunities for reflection. The findings also brought to light the aspect of monitoring and support as a critical element in the success of management development programmes. As far as the management development needs of school principals are concerned, the findings highlighted the following needs: the need to be trained on how to manage change which include the new curriculum and policies, training in information communication and technology and training in the management of human and financial resources which include instructional leadership and budgeting.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
- Authors: Kapapero, Fanuel
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: School principals -- Self-rating of -- Namibia School principals -- Rating of -- Namibia School principals -- Management -- Namibia School principals -- Development -- Namibia School management and organization -- Namibia Educational leadership -- Namibia School supervision -- Namibia
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1674 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003557
- Description: The Namibian education system is at the crossroads as a result of the demands of the Education and Training Sector Improvement Programme (ETSIP), a programme initiated by the Government to address shortcomings in the education and training sector. ETSIP requires that school principals play a much more significant role to realize the goal of quality education, which is one of the major goals of education reform. In view of the ever-increasing responsibilities of the principals for ensuring the quality of education, the need for management development has become more apparent. Although management development for principals in the African context is a recent phenomenon, it has been a subject of extensive research over the years in many developed countries. The findings of these studies suggest that it has the potential to improve the quality of school leadership and ultimately lead to school improvement. In Namibia, literature suggests that little has been done to determine the needs of school principals with regards to their management development. This study therefore seeks to address that need. The study is situated in the interpretive research paradigm whose central purpose is to interpret and understand the phenomenon through the perceptions and experience of the participants. Data were collected by means of semi-structured interviews and document analysis. The findings generally suggest that principals perceive management development as vehicle to empowerment and capacity building. The findings further suggest that principals would prefer management programmes that are more experienced-based and offer opportunities for reflection. The findings also brought to light the aspect of monitoring and support as a critical element in the success of management development programmes. As far as the management development needs of school principals are concerned, the findings highlighted the following needs: the need to be trained on how to manage change which include the new curriculum and policies, training in information communication and technology and training in the management of human and financial resources which include instructional leadership and budgeting.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
Perceptions of the gap between theory and practice in the preparation of English language teachers at the Lesotho College of Education
- Authors: Molete, Bakae
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Lesotho College of Education Education -- Research -- Lesotho Teachers -- Training of -- Lesotho Student teaching -- Lesotho English language -- Study and teaching -- Lesotho Observation (Educational method) English teachers -- Training of -- Lesotho
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1936 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007682
- Description: The distinction between theory and practice can be traced back to Aristotle (384-322 B.C). Theory has been seen as the preserve of the academician who, through research, produces knowledge for the practitioner to use in his/her practice. This research sets out to investigate perceptions of the respondents with regard to the extent to which theory is applicable in practice. It does this in the context of teacher training at the Lesotho College of Education, (LCE), a teacher training college in Lesotho. In this research project; a case study of 5 students from the LCE who had been on teaching practice, their mentor teachers on teaching practice, and a college lecturer who had observed said students on teaching practice was used. Data was collected by means of focus group interviews and semi-structured interviews. Relevant documents in the form of classroom observation forms were also used. The findings from the data analysis revealed that students on teaching practice had, to a great extent, had difficulties in applying what they had learned at the college when they got to teaching practice. Difficulties were mainly experienced in the areas of classroom and time management as well as in the application of the teaching methods learned at the college. This research takes a closer look at these difficulties. It investigates their probable causes and, finally, suggests ways of responding to them.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
- Authors: Molete, Bakae
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Lesotho College of Education Education -- Research -- Lesotho Teachers -- Training of -- Lesotho Student teaching -- Lesotho English language -- Study and teaching -- Lesotho Observation (Educational method) English teachers -- Training of -- Lesotho
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1936 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007682
- Description: The distinction between theory and practice can be traced back to Aristotle (384-322 B.C). Theory has been seen as the preserve of the academician who, through research, produces knowledge for the practitioner to use in his/her practice. This research sets out to investigate perceptions of the respondents with regard to the extent to which theory is applicable in practice. It does this in the context of teacher training at the Lesotho College of Education, (LCE), a teacher training college in Lesotho. In this research project; a case study of 5 students from the LCE who had been on teaching practice, their mentor teachers on teaching practice, and a college lecturer who had observed said students on teaching practice was used. Data was collected by means of focus group interviews and semi-structured interviews. Relevant documents in the form of classroom observation forms were also used. The findings from the data analysis revealed that students on teaching practice had, to a great extent, had difficulties in applying what they had learned at the college when they got to teaching practice. Difficulties were mainly experienced in the areas of classroom and time management as well as in the application of the teaching methods learned at the college. This research takes a closer look at these difficulties. It investigates their probable causes and, finally, suggests ways of responding to them.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008