D.Ed. (Educational Psychology) / The aim of this study was to give an ethnographic story of the first Grade R programme in a developing school in 2010 in a black urban community and to use my story of the Grade R teaching and learning to contribute to a better understanding of the field of Early Childhood Development (ECD) and education in South Africa. This research was a response to the Department of Education’s concern that the Foundation Phase, Grade R included, does not receive the attention it deserves in South Africa. There appears to be alternative views and perspectives of what constitutes good ECD or Grade R practice. As a result, the conceptualisation of Grade R and ECD as a whole is problematic and inconsistent. This study is situated in the interpretivist naturalistic paradigm using sociocultural theory as theoretical framework. I studied the participants in a naturally occurring setting using methods of data collection which captured their social meanings and ordinary activities, whilst I participated directly in the setting in order to collect data in a systemic manner. Thutong1 a primary school established in 2010 in a black urban community, was the research site. Two Grade R classrooms were studied, comprising 60 children and two teachers. The classes were divided according to the children’s home languages, Sesotho (South Sotho) and isiZulu. The lens through which I observed the teaching and learning of the Grade R at Thutong had a sociocultural focus. Data was collected by means of participant-observation; interviews; photographs and photographic data; and artefacts. I used Brewer’s steps of analysis but they were not necessarily followed to the letter. As social phenomena were recorded and classified I compared the different data sets across categories. Atlas.ti computer software was used for qualitative data analysis and text management. Findings suggested that the Grade R language maze is central to teaching and learning of Grade R children, and this became an overarching theme. The sub-themes that were arrived at include language code switching, translation, dual medium in multilingual context, sound/letter recognition, numeracy teaching, Thutong teachers as griots, rhymes and Grade R learning, rote learning in language and numeracy, play in language acquisition, and barriers to learning and support. The diverse population of the black urban community in which the school is situated cautions stakeholders to plan carefully Grade R. In line with the sociocultural theory, a proposal for reform in Thutong would have to consider economic, political, historical, social, and cultural factors because the school is a part of and reflects the larger social system in which it is situated. The story reflects an urgent need to strengthen Early Childhood Development and education in South Africa, thus this study also addresses the need to support and promote local perspectives, questions and issues in order to move beyond the singular image of the global child. The study highlights the importance of teacher training, intense support to teachers and children by the Department of Education, children’s readiness to learn and parental involvement in language acquisition and development.

Masters of Art / Cohabitation families have become a widely accepted and increasing form of family structure nowadays. However this family structure’s characteristics have caused it to be described as a risk factor to child development as it is associated it with negative child outcomes especially during the adolescence period. The adolescence stage itself has been described by literature as a unique human development stage coupled with a variety of physical, cognitive, social and emotional changes, making it a vulnerable stage characterised by experimenting with risk behaviours. Therefore the aim of this study was to explore and describe the challenges of cohabiting families with regard to discipline of the adolescents. An explorative and descriptive research design grounded in a qualitative research approach was used. Two set of data, namely (a) cohabiting biological parents, and (b) adolescent children living in cohabiting families, were collected for a better understanding of the situation. The population for the study encompassed all cohabiting parents and their adolescent children living in the city of Cape Town, and research participants were purposively selected from the caseload of Cape Town Child Welfare. Data was collected by means of individual interviews with the aid of an interview guide. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and field notes were taken. Data analysis was conducted according to Tesch (in Creswell 2009), and ethical considerations, such as confidentiality, voluntary participation, informed consent from parents and informed assent from adolescents, as well as no harm to participants, were adhered to. Most participants identified with cohabiting step-parent families. The reported challenges affecting discipline of adolescent children stemmed from poor parent-child relationships, ambiguous step-family roles, negative family communication patterns, and the applied disciplinary methods in cohabiting families. With consultation from some of the suggestions put forward by all the participants, the researcher concluded the study with recommendations for social workers working with cohabiting families.

Inclusive education generally promotes a shift away from the use of psychometric assessment for the placement of learners in special education facilities. This study, however, examines the potential role of psychometric screening for inclusive education in South Africa. This was done by investigating the relationship between selected demographic factors of age, gender, parental levels of education, and caregiver employment status – and psychometric test performances in children identified as having barriers to learning. The participant sample consisted of 329 primary school children aged between 6 and 15 years from the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan area. Demographic data was collected by means of a questionnaire completed in collaboration with participants’ caregivers and their school authorities. Participants were psychometrically assessed by means of the Raven’s Coloured Progressive Matrices (CPM) and the Bender Gestalt Test (BGT), which are commonly used screening measures in the South African context. Results indicated a relationship between test scores and the demographic variables of age and gender on both the Raven’s CPM and the BGT. Paternal level of education was found to impact positively on the BGT scores when the father had achieved a Grade 10 level of education or higher. No statistically significant relationship was found between any of the other socio-demographic factors and the performance scores on the Raven’s CPM and the BGT. It was concluded that the measures appear to be free of undue influence or bias arising from demographic factors. They were found to be useful psychological measures which should be included in screening processes when identifying children with barriers to learning.

This study, focused on child mental development, has aimed to contribute and provide valuable information to a larger research project that is currently under way to create a set of norms for a South African population on the GMDS-ER. The primary aim of the study was to explore and describe the developmental profile of children from a low socio-economic status, aged between 3 and 8 years 4 months old, on the Griffiths Mental Development Scales- Extended Revised (GMDS-ER). The purpose of the study was to generate information on low socio-economic status and child mental development. A quantitative, exploratory-descriptive research design was employed. The participants were selected through a non-probability, purposive sampling procedure. Information was collated using clinical observations, biographical data, as well as the results of an assessment on the Griffiths Mental Development Scales Extended-Revised. The data were analysed using descriptive statistical tables[PJS1].

This thesis is an exploratory ecological study of the role of the family environment as it relates to a number of variables under investigation in the Vancouver Day Care Research Project's extensive contextual study of children enrolled in family day care settings. These variables include child language scores, indices of socio-economic status, conditions of maternal employment and attitudes related to maternal employment, other measures of the home environment, and parental attitudes to childrearing. In addition, the family environments of the family day care caregivers were examined in relation to the quality of care provided. The Moos Family Environment Scale (1986) was administered to parents and caregivers enrolled in the study. Scores from its ten subscales were correlated with measures of the variables of interest and then tested for significance. Data was then analyzed for important trends, patterns and highlights. Results showed that exposure of family members to stimulating ideas and activities is facilitative of child language skills, while an emphasis on achievement seems to have a negative effect. Families from higher socio-economic status homes seemed to be more likely to provide these opportunities for their children, particularly if they are well-educated. Findings also indicate that mothers who are satisfied with their employment tend to provide more positive family environments for their children than those who are working reluctantly. Mothers who worked part-time also appeared to provide better family environments than did those who experienced the increased stress of full-time employment. Adult-centered parenting values which stressed obedience were associated with family environments which were less facilitative of child cognitive development, whereas homes with child-centered parenting values appeared to be more positive. Family day care caregivers who provided superior childcare were found to be more organized in their own families, more supportive of one another, and more able to allow their family members to function independently than were other caregivers. There was considerable overlap in the results for each variable of interest; many similar features were found in the environments which were considered optimal in terms of language development, socio-economic factors, conditions of maternal employment, attitudes to childrearing, and high quality care for children. The study results strongly support the importance of exposure to a wide range of intellectual and cultural stimuli, participation in activities outside the home, expression of feelings amongst family members, and well-organized family functioning in the creation of optimal family environments; an emphasis on achievement, and the use of rigid rules and doctrine were found to be deleterious to the creation of positive home environments. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

This study addressed the questions of whether parents can give effective phonological and phonics skills instruction to their own young children, who are at risk for reading difficulties, and whether any positive changes in child attitude and parent confidence occur as a result of the instruction. Early phonological and phonics skills instruction is known to be effective for children at-risk for reading difficulties, but is not always provided in schools. Two groups of families (experimental and "waiting list" control) used a home program (providing phonological and phonics skills instruction, and Paired Reading guidance) for two separate, daily, ten-minute activity and reading sessions, for ten weeks. The program also included a process to address reading motivation, whereby parents used the language of strategies of mediation based on Vygotsky's social learning theories. Significant Time by Group interaction effects were calculated for Word Attack and Phoneme Deletion (Initial Sound). Parent and child pre-test and post-test questionnaires explored changes in motivation and attitude to reading. There were significant positive changes in child attitude to reading, and parent perceptions of progress. Small but significant correlations were also found between parent perceptions and treatment integrity, and between treatment integrity and achievement outcomes. It was concluded that the study provides limited support for the idea that parents of grade 1 children at-risk for reading difficulties can give instruction effectively when given detailed information about all three aspects of early reading. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

This study examined a model of children's role-taking competencies which sought to predict children's role-taking performances by taking into account both children's beliefs about the nature of knowledge (i.e., copy- theoretic or quasi-constructivistic) and the types of knowledge held by other people in the role-taking situation (i.e., physicalistic, logico-mathematical, or fully relativised). Eighty-four 3- to 7-year-old children were first screened to determine which of the potential beliefs about the nature of knowledge they held and then presented with a series of tasks representative of each of the theoretically identified types of knowledge in others. The expectation that only those children who held developmentally more mature beliefs about the nature of knowledge (i.e., quasi-constructivistic) would be capable of understanding the more complex types of knowledge possessed by others was strongly confirmed in the present study. The results of this study were seen to suggest that the proposed model could more adequately account for the development of role-taking skills in young children than previously presented typologies. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

M.Cur. (General Nursing) / Child development is a subject that is increasingly becoming the focus of discussion. The interest in this subject, however dates back to the twenties when Arnold Gesell started researching this field. Over the years scales were developed to make the measurement of the level of child development easier. The community health nurse should have a thorough knowledge of the use of child development scales. This will enable her to identify, diagnose and refer possible cases of retarded development found at healthy baby and toddler clinics. During this investigation the use of the child development scales by community health nurses, within the municipal boundries of Johannesburg, is evaluated. It was found that a lack of time during normal clinic hours, elaborate record-keeping systems, differences in community priorities, the training of community health nurses in the use of these scales, as well as the ignorance on parents regarding child development, influence the way in which the child development scales are used for community health purposes.

No description available.

Although the negative associations between marital conflict and children’s adjustment are well documented, less is known about how marital conflict styles (e.g., engagement, withdrawal, problem solving and compliance) are related to children’s developmental outcomes. The present study seeks to determine what types of parents’ conflict styles, during the child’s first year of life, are related to children’s behavioral outcomes in the first grade. Analyses examine the hypothesis that more conflictual conflict resolution styles of parents during a child’s infancy will predict poorer child outcomes over time. In addition, given the growing literature documenting the first year of life as a particularly sensitive period in children’s development, the proposed study will explore the effect of parents’ conflict resolution styles in the child’s first year of life on child outcomes at age six, controlling for concurrent levels of conflict. Lastly this study will explore the interaction of parents’ conflict resolution style in predicting children’s outcomes. Conflict resolution style and children outcomes were examined in a sample of 153 working-class, first-time parents and their children. Participants were recruited through prenatal classes at hospitals and birth clinics, as well as through Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) offices in Western Massachusetts.