A case study of a series of process writing workshops for teachers of English as a second language
- Authors: Claude, Marianne
- Date: 1994
- Subjects: English language -- Study and teaching -- South Africa -- Foreign speakers English language -- Writing
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1433 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003314
- Description: The case study, which is described in this thesis, is concerned with two aspects of second language teaching and learning, namely process writing and 'teacher development'. Ten Zulu speaking, English second language teachers in Durban, Natal, participated in a series of process writing workshops. Before the workshops, they were given opportunities to reflect, in interviews, upon their own past and present writing practices. After the workshops there were follow-up interviews to elicit their further understanding of what is involved in writing. The workshop materials were compiled and written by the researcher. The aims of the research project were, in summary, the following: to let the teachers, who are teachers of writing in their classrooms, become participating writers themselves; to make the process writing workshops be a reflective activity through which the participants would develop as teachers. The entire case study is positioned within critical theory, as a philosophical framework, in which the teachers' reflections upon their writing experiences is seen as emancipatory practice. The research project was small scale and predominantly qualitative. A narrative, 'explanation-building' analysis of the entire findings forms the major part of the thesis. The writing workshops gave the teachers in this study occasion to experience process writing; furthermore they were enabled to reflect in detail on their experiences. It is suggested that teacher training colleges and in-service courses incorporate the 'writing workshops for teachers ' concept, as an activity for growth and development. Further research may take the form of long term action research into how teachers who have attended such workshops implement the insights they have gained in their classrooms.
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- Date Issued: 1994
Intergenerational learning and environmental care: a case of a fishing community next to Africa’s first marine protected area
- Authors: Cloete, Cindy-Lee
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Tsitsikamma Marine Protected Area (South Africa) , Covie (South Africa) , Intergenerational relations -- South Africa -- Covie , Intergenerational communication -- South Africa -- Covie , Fishing villages -- South Africa -- Covie , Sustainable fisheries -- South Africa -- Covie , Environmental education -- South Africa -- Covie
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/7598 , vital:21277
- Description: This study explored the relationship between intergenerational learning and environmental care in the small fishing community of Covie, located next to the Tsitsikamma Marine Protected Area (TMPA) on the south-eastern coast of South Africa. Since Covie’s establishment as a woodcutter settlement in 1883, the community has depended on the marine and coastal environment such that their communal identity and basic means of subsistence are closely tied to their traditional fishing practices. Since its proclamation in 1964, the TMPA has undergone numerous policy changes, most notably the complete closure of the TMPA to fishing in 2001. Against this backdrop, the study sought to understand how intergenerational learning about fishing practices are mediated in Covie and the ways in which such learning processes constitute a sense of place and belonging for the Covie fishers, and to develop a sense of care for the natural environment. The study included 12 Covie community members of different generations and genders so as to be representative of the community (approximately 86 members). The research was informed by qualitative data generated through a focus group discussion with eight Covie community members, a mirror workshop with the same eight community members, eight semi-structured interviews, and five naturalistic observations of fishing practices. Data generation and analysis was informed by Etienne Wenger’s theory of Communities of Practice which was complemented by theoretical perspectives on intergenerational learning and attachment to place. This study found that the Covie fishers indeed operate as a community of practice who depend significantly on intergenerational learning processes to transfer knowledge, skills and values about fishing practices to younger generations. The 2001 policy changes that denied the Covie fishers access to their traditional fishing sites were shown to reduce the participation in fishing of a range of community members (in particular children and women), which in turn influenced forms of intergenerational learning about fishing. The youth’s reduced participation especially was linked to more protracted and fragmented processes of learning about fishing and Covie’s code of fishing conduct, including its underpinning sense of environmental care. Finally, this study argues that the affective and socio-material connections to their natural surroundings have shaped the Covie community’s sense of care and responsibility toward the environment.
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- Date Issued: 2017
A critical investigation into the managerial implications of inclusive education
- Authors: Cloete, Sanet
- Date: 2002
- Subjects: School management and organization -- Namibia
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1477 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003358
- Description: Special needs education has always provided special challenges to school administrators, policy makers and teachers. The world-wide move towards inclusive education as an alternative to exclusive education or casual mainstreaming has resulted in significant developments in Namibia in the past decade. Global educational reforms have focused on education for all as well as inclusive education and Namibia is signatory to several conventions and declarations in this regard. Research in this field has largely focused on the role of the inclusive teacher, and of course the special needs of the learners. Little or no attention has been paid to possible managerial and organisational challenges which accompany the move to inclusive education. This thesis seeks to critically investigate the managerial implications of inclusive education. The focal point of this research is to gain a clear understanding of the managerial implications in an inclusive school for learners with visual impairment, chiefly through an exploration of the experiences of management members of the inclusive process. The research is located within a qualitative research paradigm, which is subsumed by a phenomenological model. The data gathered through in-depth interviews include many anecdotal accounts that provide insight into the ways respondents reacted to experiences at the inclusive school. The main findings of the research are highlighted and discussed. Recommendations arising from a critical analysis of these main findings are presented.
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- Date Issued: 2002
An examination of the suitability of some contemporary South African fiction for readers in the post-developmental reading stage
- Authors: Cole, Lorna
- Date: 1992
- Subjects: Children's literature, South African -- History and criticism Children -- Books and reading -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1530 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003412
- Description: Adverse criticism regarding the quantity and quality of children's books in South Africa appear in such respected sources as The Oxford Companion to Children's Literature and The Companion to South African English Literature, the authors of which are of the opinion that South African children are dependent solely upon Eurocentric literature for their reading material. In recent years however, local publishers have attempted to redress this imbalance by offering prizes for unpublished works. These prizes have acted as incentives for aspiring writers, many of whom have had novels published specifically for children in the post-developmental reading stage. This study critically examines some of these prizewinning works of fantasy and contemporary realism, in an effort to gauge their literary worth within the context of accepted criteria for judging children's literature. Accolades from adults are not however a guarantee that the prizewinning books will be received with equal acclaim by the children for whom they are written. For this reason, five children in the post-developmental reading stage were asked to pass their opinions and non-literary judgments on the books. Although the critical evaluation of the indigenous works proves them to be eminently worthy of the prizes which they received on publication, the children did not rate them as highly as certain imported works. The works of fantasy by Marguerite Poland rated poorly in terms of their popularity despite the fact that the children said that in a non-circumscribed context, they choose fantasy in preference to contemporary realism. Within the context of the indigenous literature which they read for this study though, they preferred the works of contemporary realism as they were able to identify with particular aspects of the novels. Indigenous literature for children in the post-developmental reading stage is a comparatively new phenomenon which needs to be nurtured if it is to attain any lasting status. The onus rests upon the teachers of literature and librarians to introduce the literature and make the books more accessible to young readers. Publishers need perhaps to engage the views and opinions of the audience for whom the books are written in an effort to publish books which, without in any way detracting from their literary worth, will deal with subjects favoured by young readers.
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- Date Issued: 1992
Computer assisted language learning for academic development programmes : an appraisal of needs, resources and approaches
- Authors: Collett, Philip Godfrey
- Date: 1994
- Subjects: English language -- Computer-assisted instruction Language arts -- Computer-assisted instruction Language acquisition Computers and literacy English language -- Study and teaching -- Foreign speakers Computer-assisted instruction
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1457 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003338
- Description: A major objective of Academic Development Programmes is to support the student in acquiring a level of language competence which is sufficient to enable the student to cope with the linguistic demands of academic courses. Language teaching programmes in the Academic Development context in South Africa suffer from a number of constraints: staffing, time on task, relevance, and difficulty of integration with learning in other coUrses. A review of developments in the field of Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) shows that computers can be used to support language learning. CALL materials range from simple instructional programs to powerful linguistic research tools and need to be integrated into wider language programmes so as to support and enhance other teaching and learning activities. However, relatively little research has been done to investigate the feasibility and effectiveness of CALL in language development courses within Academic Development programmes in South Africa. The development of a system designed to enable students to practise proof-reading and editing is described and evaluated. Suggestions are made for using this system with other CALL materials within a computer assisted language development environment. It is argued that CALL can be used feasibly and effectively in this environment to enhance learning and to counteract constraints.
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- Date Issued: 1994
Human Development, the Capability Approach and the Mediating of Sustainable Rural Livelihoods: a case study of women’s empowerment through expansive learning in the Mzimvubu Catchment of the Eastern Cape province, South Africa
- Authors: Conde Aller, Laura
- Date: 2022-10-14
- Subjects: Expansive learning , Social learning , Transformative learning , Capabilities approach (Social sciences) , Women's rights South Africa Mzimvubu River Watershed , Women Economic conditions , Women Social conditions , Sustainable agriculture South Africa Mzimvubu River Watershed
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/366236 , vital:65845 , DOI https://doi.org/10.21504/10962/366236
- Description: This study makes a contribution to the field of sustainable agricultural development and women empowerment in rural South Africa by examining the transformations derived from an expansive learning process with a women farmers group in terms of their food production capability expansion and empowerment as well as the well-being of their local catchment or landscape where their activity was situated. The study took place in the Lutengele villages along the upper reaches of the lower Mzimvubu Catchment near Port St Johns in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. Women in southern Africa are significant contributors to household livelihoods through their household food production practices and at the same time they are also one of the primary natural resource users in rural landscapes. In this case study, historical and contemporary ethnographic and situational data revealed disjuncture between existing practice and the fulfilment of women aspirations with regard to food security and social and ecological well-being at large. As a result, central to this study were the concepts of aspirations and capabilities and the role that these played in transformative learning processes via formative intervention research (after Engeström’s concept of expansive learning). Expansive learning emerges from Vygotsky’s early work on mediation of learning through language and culture, which gave raise to Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT). Whereas the Capability Approach (CA) recognises that development interventions or initiatives should focus on “expanding the freedom that deprive people from enjoying their valued beings and doings” (Sen, 1999, p. 3), in other words, what people value or have reason to value. The Capability Approach coupled with CHAT deepens the contextual understanding of the agricultural activity system in light of the engendered power dynamics associated with women having access to productive resources, their culturally expected roles and responsibilities in the institution of their households, their families and the community at large, and most importantly, aspects of gerontocracy defined by their age and status in society. In addition, drawing on the Capability Approach as a lens to view agricultural development, social transformation and empowerment, provided the tools to conceptualise participants’ aspirations, their true value and the capabilities necessary for such aspirations to be realised in a context filled with socio-cultural and political power relations and dynamics faced especially by women. The first phase of the study set out to map the context in which the participants’ small-scale food production activity was situated, their aspirations relevant to sustainable agricultural livelihoods, food security, well-being and lastly, the main factors or contradictions inhibiting participants from attaining the aspired food production goals. During the initial phase of the expansive learning cycle I was able to address the first research question: What tensions and contradictions in aspiration-practice relationships shape household food security in the context of catchment management of the women farmers’ group or river forum in the Lutengele area? Twelve contradictions were identified from the historical and contemporary socio-cultural analysis of the home-based food production practices and agricultural activity in relation to the research participants’ envisaged aspirations, which under further scrutiny were thereafter considered by the participants as critical capabilities to pursue during the collective and transformative learning process in the second phase of the study. In the second phase of the study, a series of second stimuli were introduced in the form of conceptual and material tools and tasks with the aim to move participants along the expansive learning process. This led to the unfolding of the collectively defined Capability Learning Pathways for sustainable food production or expansion of their agricultural capability in the context of sustainability of the local micro-catchment or landscape. Through the various Change Laboratory workshops and supporting mini-cycles in the last stages of the formative interventionist research, participants’ learning and development was supported in a way that not only brought individuals together to co-design relevant solutions, strategies and working groups or committees, but also catalysed and amplified transformative agency and the expansion of food production capability, sustainable land use practices and ultimately empowerment. This answered the second and most important research question: Can, and if so, how can expansive social learning processes shape conversion factors for turning available resources into functionings that enhance household food security capabilities and ecological well-being? The methodology of expansive learning and formative interventionist research design intervention, with supporting mediating tools, has proven a positive intervention in the attainment of capabilities (or functionings) in relation to the participant’s aspired livelihoods and consequently improving their well-being as well as their ability to navigate through the various gendered power dynamics, especially for the young women participating in this study. The study proposes expansive learning as a suitable critical and transformative learning theory and methodology for the mediation of collective deliberations and the pursuit of capability development as charted by the learners’ collective and individual aspirations. This is a learning process that not only pursues the learners’ attainment of material and cognitive changes but also opens up new opportunities and most importantly, the freedom to exercise their agency no matter the circumstances they find themselves in – in other words, the freedom to aspire and to be, do and become what one values as instrumentally and intrinsically critical to live a life that they have reason to value. In sum, the unfolding of the expansive learning process happened at three levels: at the value clarification level in terms of human and non-human relationships and social relationality, the institutional level and the practices level. The study recommends further research on the suitability of expansive learning and Change Laboratories as a Capability Expansion Methodology involving human development and Capability Approach practitioners, particularly those with an interest in informal learning and community-based empowering initiatives. Additionally, further studies are also suggested for examining formative interventionist research as a participatory action research approach for capability development work in education and learning research and in different study fields and contexts. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Education, Education, 2022
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- Date Issued: 2022-10-14
An exploration of the interaction between English language learning orientation and motivation among marketing students at an FET college
- Authors: Cosburn, Ericha
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: English language -- Study and teaching -- Foreign speakers Language and culture -- South Africa Language and education -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1536 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003418
- Description: Student motivation in FET colleges in South Africa is generally considered to be underresearched. Seyfried (1998, p. 54) contends that "motivations of participants still receive too little attention in the planning of vocational programmes". In an attempt to explore how motivational variables interact with English language leaming, this mixed-method study focused on FET marketing students studying English as part of their three-year vocational qualification. In the first phase, three focus group discussions were conducted with students from the three levels in the programme - a total of 16 students. These interviews were transcribed and coded according to a theoretical model that was adapted from Domyei's Extended Framework of Motivation (1998). In the second phase, 195 questionnaires were distributed, of which 142 were used in the final analysis. The results of these were indexed according to the theoretical model. Initial data processing enabled the creation of two analytical models for use in data analysis - one to analyse focus group data and the other to analyse questionnaire data. The study found a link between instrumentality, integrativeness, identity and perceived motivational orientations. It was also clear that orientation did not automatically translate into motivation. Another link was found between self-worth, self-efficacy and goal orientation. Perceived L2 competence, self-concept and identity also interacted strongly: participants who saw themselves as most alienated from their culture, also saw themselves as more competent in the L2, than their peers who identified more closely with their own culture. A predictable link was found between linguistic self-confidence, willingness to communicate [WTC] and language use anxiety. What made this finding interesting was that participants seemed to fear being judged by native English speakers to a greater extent than being judged by their peers. Finally some factors emerged as detracting from motivation, while others played a contributing role. While this is to be expected, it was interesting to note which factors fell into which category.
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- Date Issued: 2012
The "About to teach" course: an introductory orientation course for secondary teachers in training: an evaluation of student assessments
- Authors: Coughlan, Niall Sean
- Date: 1986
- Subjects: Teachers -- Training of -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape High school teachers -- Training of -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1910 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007057
- Description: This piece of research is an attempt to evaluate the assessments made by secondary teachers in training of an introductory orientation course offered during the first seven weeks of the 1984 H.D. E. course in the Department of Education of Rhodes University. This course, the About To Teach (ATT) course, was introduced in an attempt to obviate some of the perceived problems that students experience in the initial months of their H.D.E. year. The course was first offered in 1982 and in both 1982 and 1983 it was assessed by the students. The evaluation of the assessments offered in those two years provided much of the background for this in-depth look at student assessments of the 1984 ATT course. Briefly, the course attempts to offer the students a stimulating, meaningful, interesting and enjoyable learning experience which will help them to orientate; prepare them adequately for their first teaching practice and the reception later of the offerings of the core theory discipline of Philosophy, Sociology and Psychology. The course itself is a piece of action research and its underlying assumptions are essentially humanistic in nature. Its planners have attempted to bracket as many assumptions as possible and to espouse only those assumptions which are basically positive in nature. It does not attempt to prescribe or offer any dogma which can or must be assessed in any formal sense; it attempts to meet the students from whatever stages in their development they are at when they arrive to commence their H.D.E. year; and it does not attempt to compel the students in any way whatsoever. It is a course which must stand or fall on its own merits. Since the researcher is himself an involved participant in the process, he felt that the completion of a detailed questionnaire and interviews with a sample of the students would be the most economical and the best means of obtaining data for as objective an analysis as possible. To further obviate the possibility of researcher bias all the responses collected have been included in the appendices so that the reader may satisfy him/herself that the interpretations made and conclusions drawn are reasonable. Briefly, the chief conclusion of this researcher is that the overwhelming majority of the students perceived the course as offering them a meaningful learning experience. In addition, it can be argued that the course is, in effect, a guidance course in that it appears to be preparing students for experiences which they still have to come across . Most are generally critical of other courses offered during the H.D . E. year and many make an appeal for, or suggest, a much more integrated approach along the lines of the ATT course . There is a definite appeal for a coherent H.D.E. experience which is meaningful and 'peoplecentred'. By no stretch of the imagination can the findings of this particular piece of research be generalised to any other context since it is very definitely specific in both context and setting. However the researcher is quietly confident that his conclusions and recommendations make a great deal of sense within the specific context of this study.
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- Date Issued: 1986
Developing and using an assessment instrument for spatial skills in Grade 10 geometry learners
- Authors: Cowley, Jane
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Geometry -- Study and teaching (Secondary) -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Geometry -- Evaluation. , Mathematics -- Study and teaching (Secondary)
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:2025 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1017336
- Description: This qualitative investigation took the form of a case study and fell within the interpretive research paradigm. The Mathematics Chair at the Education Department of Rhodes University launched the Mathematics Teacher Enrichment Programme (MTEP) in 2010 in order to combat poor Mathematics performance of learners in the lower Albany district of the Eastern Cape. The challenge that the participating MTEP teachers faced was a lack of time available to implement new teaching ideas. This was because most of their time was spent catching up “lost” or untaught concepts in the classroom. To address this problem, the Catch-Up Project was launched, whereby selected Mathematics teachers in the area taught lost concepts to Grade Ten learners during afternoon classes in an attempt to improve their fundamental Mathematics knowledge. In order to establish which sections of Mathematics were more difficult for the learners in this programme, bench mark tests were administered biannually. Whilst these tests certainly identified deficient areas within their Mathematics knowledge, the poorest performance areas were the sections of the syllabus which were spatial in nature, such as Space and Shape and Geometry. However, a more in depth assessment tool was required to establish which specific spatial skills the learners were not able to employ when doing these Geometry tasks. To this end, the Spatial Skills Assessment Tasks (SSAT) was developed. It consisted of traditional text book type Geometry tasks and real-world context tasks, both of which were used to assess six spatial skills deemed crucial to successfully facilitate learning Geometry. The case study took place in two of the schools which participated in the Grade Ten Catch-Up project. The case was focused on Grade Ten learners and the unit of analysis was their responses to the SSAT instrument. The learners that participated all did so on a strictly voluntary basis and great care was taken to protect their wellbeing and anonymity at all times. The results of the SSAT instrument revealed that the real world context tasks were in general far more successfully answered than the traditional text book type questions. Important trends in learner responses were noted and highlighted. For example, geometric terminology remains a huge challenge for learners, especially as they study Mathematics in their second language. The ability of the learners to differentiate between such concepts as congruency and similarity is severely compromised, partly due to a lack of terminological understanding but also due to a perceived lack of exposure to the material. Concepts such as verticality and horizontality also remain a huge challenge, possibly for the same reasons. They are poorly understood and yet vital to achievement in Geometry. Recommendations for the development and strengthening of spatial skills support the constructivist approach to learning. Hands on activities and intensive sustained practice over a period of a few months, in which both teachers and learners are actively involved in the learning process, would be considered most beneficial to the long term enhancement of these vital spatial skills and to the learning of Geometry in general.
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- Date Issued: 2015
Some aspects of the teaching of English as a main language at the secondary level with special reference to the question of 'language'
- Authors: Crampton, Michael Edward
- Date: 1984
- Subjects: English language -- Study and teaching (Secondary)
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1873 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004926
- Description: From Introduction: A training in English literature followed by a limited number of English method lectures on how to teach a prescribed Victorian novel proved inadequate in these circumstances. Moreover, several years of interaction with colleagues in staff rooms, conferences and seminars in England and South Africa failed to yield a secure sense of purpose or a confident understanding of why, when and how to teach what in the English lesson. Too many amateurs are employed to teach English. Barn dancers might as well teach ballet. Yet for all that, there grew a conviction, reinforced by the vital involvement of many inspiring colleagues, that English teaching is the mainspring of the educational process where that language is the medium of education. The hope of making some contribution to the advancement of the English teaching profession, especially for the benefit of those who look up, hoping to learn, is sufficient motivation for this work. The endeavour will be, in the first place, to review some traditional aspects of English teaching in their historical context. A description of the traditional sources upon which the profession intuitively draws might assist in explaining the existence of certain attitudes. In chapters 2-4 an analysis of current thinking, directions and practices will aim to explore some aspects of what English teaching in schools is, when and how it happens and to what end. The direction in which the profession is moving will be weighed against the relevance of school English in the further learning experiences of school leavers before conclusions and recommendations are listed. Throughout, the purpose will be to contribute insights into the practice of teaching English as a main language. The term 'main language' has been deliberately chosen. Growing numbers of South Africans might be described as English L2 'main language' speakers in the sense that though Afrikaans, Zulu, Xhosa or Gujarati might be regarded as their 'first' language , English is the language which they mainly use in the ordinary business of life, in the home, at work and at play. The situation is fluid and interactive. Many adult speakers are in the process of assuming English as a main language. Small groups at work (and increasingly in lecture halls and classrooms) might, in learning contexts use English mainly as a means of interaction but include a variety of native Ianguage speakers from Armenian to ZuIu. The concept of English as a 'main' as distinct from 'first' or 'second' language seems to be gaining fresh significance. The fact that it is no longer safe to assume that main language English speakers will all be drawn from uniform speech communities, has major implications for the teaching of the subject; implications that will rapidly become more significant with the eradication of apartheid from our society. In this study, focus will be upon the teaching of the subject at the secondary level. Within that area particular emphasis will fall upon the final three years of schooling. With the approach of the matriculation examination many schools begin to rattle their shackles, bringing 'English specialists' to bear on prescribed works and increasing the intensity of tests and mock examinations. The leisurely dalliance with projects and casual affairs with creative work associated with English in the early years, can be forgotten as attention is confined with increasing intensity on possible examination questions . Thus the opportunity to finish what has been begun is often wasted. Where added impetus and direction could be given in the final years to interest, enjoyment and abilities fostered at primary and junior secondary levels, preoccupation with an irrelevant literary erudition, with disjointed comprehension passages and spurious essay topics, can stifle natural growth. On the other hand it must be acknowledged that the impetus provided by the final examination can channel energy and produce insights that might otherwise have remained dormant. Thus, while the final three years of schooling are educationally no more important than any other phase in the twelve years schooling, they do III involve important issues within the writer's range of experience.
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- Date Issued: 1984
Enrichment strategies for gifted English first language (HG) pupils at the senior secondary level : a critical evaluation of a programme implemented at Grey Boys' High School, Port Elizabeth, 1986-1988
- Authors: Cunningham, Gregory Mark
- Date: 1990
- Subjects: English language -- Study and teaching (Secondary) -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Gifted children -- Education (Secondary) -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Gifted children -- Education -- Research
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1510 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003392
- Description: Programmes developed specifically for the gifted and talented pupil are not a novel idea. Yet, by comparison, the history of gifted education is a brief one. Highly gifted and talented pupils often have difficulty being challenged in a conventional classroom situation. Since classroom instruction is usually designed for the benefit of pupils who function at the level of the majority of their peer age-group, this teaching, no matter how well done, may not be appropriate for the extremely gifted pupil whose abilities differ greatly from this group. Even special programmes for gifted and talented students may be designed for a broad group of gifted students and may not meet the specific needs of the gifted child, especially ones with a special intellectual talent. While it is important to bear aspects such as the characteristics of giftedness and the attributes of the talented individual in mind, the basis of this dissertation examines what enrichment and acceleration strategies may be utilised by the English First Language (HG) teacher when presented with a preselected group of pupils who are gifted in English, utilising a composite gifted educational model as a mechanism for the development of this specific programme.
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- Date Issued: 1990
An investigation into how a guided learner leadership programme can foster authentic leadership in a boys’ boarding school environment
- Authors: Cuyler, Craig
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Educational leadership -- South Africa Boarding schools -- South Africa Boys -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/61756 , vital:28055
- Description: This study is located within the field of Educational Leadership and Management and the research was undertaken in a boys’ private boarding school in Grahamstown, South Africa. Learner Leadership within the ELM field of study, has gained much interest in recent times and as the process of democratisation within schools continues to take place, it is important that research efforts be more focused in this area. The lack of learner voice initiatives within South African schools, in spite of policies being in place that encourage it, has created the impression that learner leadership is far more about rhetoric than actual practice. This appears to be the case in private education as well, owing to practices that are reliant on hierarchy and tradition to cement their position within these schools. It was with this in mind that a formative peer mentoring intervention was put in place in a boarding house at St Andrew’s College, a private boys’ school in Grahamstown, South Africa, with the object of developing authentic leadership in a boarding house context. This study was framed by Cultural Historical Activity Theory and sought to investigate how a guided learner leadership programme could foster authentic leadership in a boys’ boarding school context. The intervention consisted of three phases: 1) a pre-intervention questionnaire; 2) a Mentoring Course, during which Grade 12 learners were trained how to be mentors; and 3) a Mentoring Programme, during which Grade 12 learners were each allocated a Grade 8 learner to mentor during the course of the year. Data was collected during all three phases of the intervention and said data was obtained via questionnaires, interviews and from notes kept in an observation journal. The data was analysed inductively and later by using Cultural Historical Activity Theory, which acted as a lens through which data was interpreted. The findings reflected that learners responded well to the Mentoring Course and that they participated as active agents of change. It was during the Mentoring Programme, where contradictions became apparent and where the default to practices associated with hierarchy and tradition became evident. The Mentoring Programme did reflect some positive results, such as learners taking more ownership of the Programme and becoming critical of their own practice as mentors. This led to the further take-up of the Mentoring Programme in other boarding houses at St Andrew’s College after the intervention, and the course continues to grow and improve. My recommendations include that broader research be undertaken generally, to understand the role that tradition and hierarchy play, particularly in private schools, so that more authentic learner leadership can be put in place, and to conduct a longitudinal study to establish the success of the Mentoring Programme at St Andrew’s College specifically, over time.
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- Date Issued: 2018
Use of eco-art education in supporting the establishment of sustainability competencies in basic education: an interventionist case study
- Authors: Da Silva, Juliana Schmidt
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Environment (Art) , Environmental education -- Brazil , Sustainable development -- Brazil , Education -- Curricula -- Brazil , Eco-art education
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/166127 , vital:41331
- Description: Recent socioecological approaches in Environmental Education acknowledge the complexity of “real-world situations”, which include environmental problems. One response to the challenge of enabling people to develop sustainability is the key competencies in sustainability framework. It can be faced as a guide to planning Environmental Education actions. On the other side, art practices hold potential to expand learning in varied ways. Art can offer the strategies employed in learning processes directed to sustainability, constituting the field of eco-art education. This research aims to investigate the integration of the visions of the key competencies in sustainability and the eco-art education in an Environmental Education project at high school level. Horta and Gastronomia (Vegetable Garden and Gastronomy) is an extra-curricular activity which happens every year at Irmão Jaime Biazus high school in Porto Alegre, Brazil. It addresses food security and sustainability associating the garden, the kitchen and exploration of sustainability issues using eco-art strategies. Action research approach is used, defining two research cycles to explore the effectiveness of eco-art for the development of key competencies in sustainability. The first cycle focuses on the eco-art activities applied in Horta and Gastronomia (2017 group) while the second cycle deals with a post-project intervention designed to observe indicators of the sustainability competencies and further explore eco-art strategies. This study adds to the field of sustainability competencies by exploring teaching strategies through eco-art education. Insight into key competencies in sustainability is given by presenting the investigation of the group of students about a situation of their reality. The activities implemented, classified according to their objectives, are contextualized regarding the competencies and in learning sequences. This research also contributes to the development of the sustainability competencies framework by applying the theory to a basic education level, adapting the work originally proposed to higher education contexts.
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- Date Issued: 2020
Leadership development within a Learner Representative Council (LRC) in a rural secondary school in the Oshana region, Namibia
- Authors: Da Silva, Rolens
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Student participation in administration Namibia , Student government Namibia , Educational leadership Namibia , Qualitative research
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/62808 , vital:28282
- Description: The Namibian Education Act (Namibia. Education Act No. 16 of 2001) mandates state secondary school learners to be included in school leadership through a body of learners known as the Learner Representative Council (LRC). The few studies carried out on the LRC in schools reveal that very little has been achieved in terms of learner leadership development. This study explored and provided insight into possible reasons for this, and recommendations. The research questions driving the study were: How is learner leadership currently understood and practised in the school? What are the enabling and constraining factors in the school as far as learner leadership development is concerned? And what can be done to promote learner leadership development? This study is an interpretive case study of learner leadership in the LRC in a Namibian state secondary school in the Oshana region. The conceptual framework used was distributed leadership. The Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) was used as an analytical tool. The research participants were the LRC members, school principal, Heads of Departments representing the school management members, the School Board Chairperson representing parents and the LRC liaison teacher and were all purposively selected. Data was collected through document analysis, open-ended questionnaires, interviews and non-participant observation. Data analysis took the form of inductively – identifying themes emerged from the data and deductively – using CHAT to surface the systemic contradictions within the learners’ activity system. The data revealed that learner leadership was mostly understood from a management perspective and equated with the formal authority of the LRC in the school. The data further revealed that the LRC performed more leadership roles stretched from inside the classroom, outside the classroom, on the School Board and outside the school. To capture this complexity, I developed a model which may prove useful for future studies of learner leadership. The data also indicated that much support was offered to the LRC members in the school; for example, support from the LRC liaison teacher, the School Management Team and generally from the school, through LRC leadership training. Using CHAT, the findings revealed that the historical context and cultural conventions contradicted the LRC leadership development in the school. In line with a distributed leadership theory, the study recommends that learner leadership should not be limited by position and authority but should be exercised by all learners, through the development and establishment of learner leader clubs in the school. The study also recommends that schools should embark on change initiatives which challenge their traditionally held beliefs and attitudes.
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- Date Issued: 2018
Project 1 - Student teachers' exploration of beadwork : cultural heritage as a resource for mathematical concepts
- Authors: Dabula, Nomonde Patience
- Date: 2001
- Subjects: Ethnomathematics , Beadwork -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Beadwork , Mathematics -- Study and teaching , Culture -- Study and teaching
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:1415 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003292
- Description: This portfolio consists of three research projects that predominantly lie within the socio-cultural strand. The first project is a qualitative ethnomathematical study that links students' knowledge of mathematics to their cultural heritage. The study was conducted with a group of final year student teachers at a College of Education in Umtata, Eastern Cape. These students visited a city museum where mathematics concepts were identified from beadwork artifacts. Mathematics concepts that were identified consisted of symmetry, tessellation and number patterns. Students' views about the nature of mathematics shifted radically after their own explorations. Initially students did not perceive mathematics as relating to socio-cultural practices. But now, they have reviewed their position and see mathematics as inextricably interwoven in everyday activities and as such, a product of all cultures. They also pride themselves of their own cultural heritage to have mathematical connections. A more positive attitude towards studying mathematics in this approach was noticed. Data was collected by means of interviews, reflective journal entries and photographs. The second project is a survey with a group of practising teachers who have already implemented Curriculum 2005, and a group which is about to implement it in 2001. The study sought teachers' understanding of connections between mathematics and socio-cultural issues. The new mathematics curriculum in South Africa calls for teachers to grapple well with these issues. About a third of the articulated specific outcomes specifically relate to socio-cultural issues. If teachers' understanding of these issues is poor, implementation of the new curriculum will remain a mere dream. The findings of the survey revealed that the majority of teachers could not identify the culture related specific outcomes in the new mathematics curriculum. Complicated language used in the OBE policy documents was found to inhibit meaning to these teachers. Although, all teachers showed a positive attitude towards the inclusion of socio-cultural issues in the mathematics classroom, the implementation of these outcomes was found to be very problematic. In this survey data was collected by means of questionnaires. The third project is a literature review on the need to popularise mathematics to students in particular, and to the broader public in general. The 21 st century places great technological demands. Mathematics underpins most thinking behind technological development. The role played by mathematics in advancing other fields is largely hidden to the majority of people. There is, therefore, a need to bring forth the vital role that mathematics plays in these fields. The number of students participating in mathematics is decreasing. Mathematics, as a field, is experiencing competition from other science fields. There is a need to bring some incentives to attract more students into this field and retain those mathematicians already involved. Also important, is the need to change the negative image that the public often holds about mathematics. Many people are mathematically illiterate and do not see mathematics as an everyday activity that relates to their needs. There is, therefore, a need to change the face of mathematics.
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- Date Issued: 2001
A study of the suitability of a modern African novel such as "Things fall apart" by Chinua Achebe for black pupils in Ciskeian schools in contrast to a prescribed novel such as "Silas Marner" by George Eliot
- Authors: Daley, Nirmala
- Date: 1991
- Subjects: Eliot, George, 1819-1880. Silas Marner -- Study and teaching Black people -- Education -- South Africa English literature -- Study and teaching -- South Africa Achebe, Chinua. Things fall apart -- Study and teaching
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1784 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003669
- Description: The enjoyment of any form of literature presupposes, in the reader, an understanding of the subject matter and a fundamental inclination to identify with the characters, to empathize with them and to appreciate varying perspectives. It follows that the choice of text is an important consideration especially, when the reader is not reading in the mother tongue. The choice of novel prescribed by the DET for Second Language, non-White, non-English-speaking, Ciskeian pupils poses many problems which lead to poor examination results. The increasing unpopularity of English Literature among Ciskeian pupils and teachers appears to stem largely from the predominance of works selected from the Great Tradition. To determine how far the choice of texts is responsible for the lack of success of literature teaching in Ciskei is the aim of this investigation. The DET syllabus for Black schools and the set books prescribed for Stds. 9 and 10 between 1980 and 1990 are examined to expose their Euro-centric focus. The effects of the DET examinations on literature study in Ciskei are also considered to show how examinations complicate the situation further. The aims of teaching literature to Second Language pupils are reviewed. Literary merit, relevance, aesthetic value and scope for moral seriousness, skill development are suggested as criteria suitable for an appropriate choice of literary texts for Second Language pupils. A comparative study of the prescribed novel, Silas Marner and an alternative African novel in English, Things Fall Apart has been attempted to find out whether Things Fall Apart is of equal literary value to Silas Marner and, perhaps, more relevant than Silas Marner to the experience of Black pupils. Six teachers have been interviewed for their opinions of the books prescribed. A miniature survey also has been conducted among pupils of Stds. 9 and 10 from selected schools to verify general attitudes to the study of literature. The findings indicate a dire need to make the syllabus more flexible and more open to include good African writing in English, such as Things Fall Apart.
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- Date Issued: 1991
Multilingualism and ICT education at Rhodes University: an exploratory study
- Authors: Dalvit, Lorenzo
- Date: 2010
- Subjects: Educational technology -- South Africa Educational equalization -- South Africa Digital divide -- South Africa Information technology -- Social aspects -- South Africa Educational innovations Information technology -- Study and teaching Language and education -- South Africa Native language and education -- South Africa Rhodes University -- Students -- Attitudes Computer science -- Study and teaching (Higher)
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:1673 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003556
- Description: In South Africa, the linguistic hegemony of English over the African languages in the academic field reproduces unequal power relationships between their speakers. The present study shows that an intervention shaped by a counterhegemonic ideology can change the attitudes of Black university students, key players in spearheading social change. Usign statistical analysis and survey methodologies, this research explored the hegemonic role of English as the only language of learning and teaching (LoLT) in the discipline of Computer Science (CS) at Rhodes University. The study found that those speakers of an African language who are the most disadvantaged by the use of English as LoLT are also the most likely to resist a more extensive use of their mother tongue as an alternative. A group of such students were involved in the development and use of an online glossary of CS terms translated, explained and exemplified in an African language (isiXhosa). This experience increased the support for the use of African languages as additional LoLT, even in the Englishdominated field of study of Computer Science. This is an initial step towards promoting linguistic equality between English and African languages and social equality between their speakers.
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- Date Issued: 2010
Research portfolio
- Authors: Daphney, Robert
- Date: 2001
- Subjects: Teachers colleges -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Competency-based education -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Geography -- Curricula Geography -- Fieldwork -- Study and teaching Geography -- Study and teaching
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1828 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003714
- Description: This portfolio of work represents three research projects on issues related to teacher education. The research was undertaken at Dr. W.B. Rubusana College of Education over a period of three years. The first project is a situational analysis that attempts to determine whether the college is capable of meeting the challenges placed on it by the evolving South African Educational System. The key finding is that the college is not ready to embark on the changes required by the Ministry of Education chiefly because its educators and learners are seemingly not ready to embrace change. The second project is a case study that attempts to determine whether a group of 12 Senior Primary students at the college are able to interpret photographs of the local environment and as such provide evidence of their ability to be environmental educators through the medium of geography. The findings indicate that they are only able to read the photographs at a very superficial level. Their poor communication skills and their disadvantaged backgrounds seem to prevent them from achieving the level of thinking required for them to be effective environmental educators. The third project describes, analyses and evaluates a fieldwork study done with a class of Senior Primary students at the college. While the students did not achieve the necessary progression from 'look and see' to 'enquiry based' fieldwork the project was valuable in that it was an educative experience for both teacher and learner and provides evidence of the value of action research and reflective teaching.
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- Date Issued: 2001
An evaluation of the impact of the Rhodes University Master of Education in Mathematics Education Programme in Namibia from the perspectives of its graduates
- Authors: David, Johannes
- Date: 2021-10-29
- Subjects: Master of education degree Namibia , Rhodes University. Department of Education , Mathematics Study and teaching , Critical thinking , Master of education degree Evaluation , Career development Namibia , Educational change Namibia , College students Attitudes
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/191942 , vital:45181
- Description: Rhodes University (RU) has been offering a MEdME (Masters in Education, Mathematics Education) degree in Namibia for over 12 years without evaluating its success and impact. This study aimed to evaluate the MEdME programme’s impact on the graduates and on mathematics education in Namibia from the perspectives of its graduates. The study also evaluated the factors that enabled or limited the impact of the programme from the perspective of RU staff members. A three-phased research study was implemented to achieve this. Phase I was a MEdME theses audit to analyze what each graduate researched which then guided the sampling process. Phase II was a distribution of a questionnaire to willing MEdME graduates to elicit their views about the programme's impact. In Phase III, selected graduates were interviewed to follow up on the questionnaire. The RU academic staff members were also interviewed about the programme's design and rationale, as well as their perspectives on its impact on graduates' professional lives. The study found that graduates believed that the programme made them more critical reflexive practitioners (CRPs) who: are now self-introspective, can reflect in context and are competent researchers. This is a sign of the programme attaining its objectives of developing and growing CRPs and graduates, who have advanced in their fields, including their ability to do research. The programme also created opportunities for graduates to study further and/or publish papers. The programme further opened up opportunities for graduates’ promotion into positions of influence in the Ministry of Education where they can positively impact on mathematics education transformation in Namibia (METN). The graduates consequently noticed improvements in some areas but they also noticed room for improvement in other areas of mathematics education in Namibia. This study therefore suggests that more mathematics teachers study further, improve their research capacity and contribute more to METN. The study also suggests a national campaign to increase mathematics teachers' content knowledge. Furthermore, the programme should reintroduce coursework to address students’ subject content knowledge. RU is also advised to explore offering a Professional MEd in Namibia for students who want to focus more on improving their mathematics content knowledge. It is also proposed that Namibia establish a research bank where researchers can upload their theses for wider dissemination. , Thesis (MEd) -- Faculty of Education, Education, 2021
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- Date Issued: 2021-10-29
Domino Servite School: an evaluative case study of a private Christian secondary school in rural Natal
- Authors: Davidson, Michael R
- Date: 1996
- Subjects: Christian education -- South Africa Church schools -- South Africa Education -- South Africa -- Kwazulu Private schools -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:1500 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003382
- Description: Domino Servite School (DSS) is a private school, founded in 1986, and situated on KwaSizabantu (KSB) mission station in the Natal midlands. This research into DSS is a case study which aims to present an illuminative evaluation in the Whole School genre, within that branch of educational research concerned with effective schools. The project aimed to make use of a compatibility paradigm accommodating nomothetic and anthropological data. In attempting triangulation of methodological approaches, it tried to establish the extent to which DSS may be considered an efficient and effective 'New Private' school. It also aimed to understand the school's raison d'ětre. In order to illuminate the relevance and social processes of DSS, evaluation made use of internal and external referents. The internal investigation sought to make judgements in reference to the efficiency of the school as an organisation. On the macro-level, whole school evaluation required extensive curriculum evaluation. On the micro-level, appraisal of teaching and assessment of pupil performance was undertaken. This internal investigation required a critical analysis of the school's formal, informal and hidden curriculum. The external evaluation sought to make judgement in reference to the effectiveness of DSS. On the macro-level, this required evaluation of the findings of the internal investigation in terms of a broader South African context. Implications, for example of the school's 'private' status, and its 'Christian' curriculum in respect of multi-culturalism, education for nationhood , and ethnicity were examined. The analysis of these dimensions paid attention to the school's spatial context in terms of both its 'rural' and missionary setting. Here the focus was on the school's formal curriculum. Analysis of the inter-relational context paid attention to its informal curriculum or the way in which the school deals with the commonality and diversity of its clientele and staff. The inter-relational context of the school examined the hidden curriculum, or the relationship between the school and the broader South African Community. A critical ethnographic account of this institution was therefore possible because of the dual focus on the internal and external evaluation reference points. Internal evaluation made extensive use of direct (non-participant) observation, structured and nonstructured interviews, questionnaires, and documentary analysis. Indirect (participant) observation, in particular Clinical Supervision (CS), was also used. Indirect (non-participant) observation made extensive use of Flanders' Interaction Analysis Categories (FIAC). Teacher self-evaluation was also included, while analysis of pupil performance made use of 'standardised' achievement testing and a tracer study. External evaluation required detailed study of local and international literature on issues relating to private schooling, rural and multi-cultural education, education for nationhood and ethnicity. The research found that much of the school's curriculum path is incongruous with its rural context largely because of its association with the former Department of Education and Training (DET), and because of its missionary heritage. As such the school is presently (1) located within a questionable (formal) curriculum tradition which has little relevance to, nor potential for, the transformational needs of either rural Natal or South Africa in general. However, this does not preclude the possibility of the school making a contribution to education for development in South Africa. (2) The school advocates a mono-cultural Christian value system and modified cultural pluralism which attempts to assimilate pupils from diverse socio-economic and ideologically homogeneous backgrounds. Multi-cultural education, plural values, religious and values democracy are therefore not part of the school's raison d'ětre. (3) The school, through its associated organisation Christians for Truth (CFT), represents a social view espousing either a modified cultural pluralism or multi-nationalism which allows for allegiance to a transcendent value system without compromising group. values and associations. This means that the school aims at assimilating or amalgamating diversity into a mono-cultural unity that transcends group identity. This transcendent culture is defined in Christian terms. The study recommends inter alia, further investigation into the educational implications of_values neutrality and the particularism of secular humanism; a comparative analysis of a random sample of private missionary schools and ordinary state controlled rural schools so that more generalisable results might be obtained; and a more thorough investigation into the parental and pupil contributions to the school, their attitudes and perspectives on missionary education and their feelings about the management styles evident in the organisation.
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- Date Issued: 1996