A dissertation submitted in the Faculty of Education in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a Masters degree in Educational Psychology at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 2012. / Higher education institutions in South Africa report dismal student graduation rates as a norm. The South African survey 2002-2003 revealed that South Africa has the highest number of higher education students in sub-Saharan Africa, but that less than two students in every ten actually graduate (Page, Loots & Toit, 2005). A similar trend is evident in American universities. The Times Higher Education Supplement reported that one in every four students drops out in the first year, and that only 54% of low income students actually graduate in six years (Marcus, 2004). There is a paucity of research on the determinants of academic success among undergraduate students at South African universities, for the present study the researcher intended to determine some factors which contribute to poor academic achievement among undergraduate students at a tertiary institution, particularly at the University of Zululand. This study used a qualitative methodology to identify the factors that contribute to students’ poor academic performance. Ten students of the University of Zululand took part in the study. A semi-structured interview was used with each participant to collect rich and reliable data and content analysis was employed for data analysis purposes. The findings indicated that most participants were affected by external factors as compared to their internal locus of control. Some of the factors that were found to be negatively related to academic achievement are: Financial difficulties, enrolment, political affiliation, and unavailability of lecturers to students. However, help-seeking has been shown to have positive impact on students’ performance. The study concluded with suggestions for practice and for further research. Further research on students’ performance could be conducted on a larger scale to obtain better results.

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of MASTERS IN EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY at the UNIVERSITY OF ZULULAND, 1997. / This study examined the impact of home-environment on pupils' academic achievement. The first aim was to find out the association, if any, between parental structure and pupils' academic achievement. The second aim was to find out the relationship, if any, between parent-occupational status and pupils' academic achievement. The third aim was to find out the relationship, if any, between parental-involvement and pupils' academic achievement. The fourth aim was to discover the association, if any, between parental-managed learning programmes and pupils' academic achievement. The findings reveal that there is consistent relationship between parental-structure and pupils' academic achievement. Two-parent families are the most influential variable on pupils' academic achievement. There is a relationship between parent-occupational status and pupils' academic achievement. The type of job the parent is doing has an impact on child's academic performance. The study showed that pupils bom of professional parents, obtain highest scores on academic performance. There is a relationship between parentai-invoivement and pupils' academic achievement. Children, whose parents show high level of involvement, perform better in their academic tasks than those children whose parents are not involved in school matters. There is a relationship between parental-managed learning programmes and pupils' academic achievement. Parental two-way communication with the school, enhances pupils' academic performance.

Submitted in fulfillment for the requirements of the Degree of Master of Education in the Department of Didactics in the Faculty of Education at the University of Zululand, 1996. / The aims of this study were: • to investigate the didactic causes of scholastic failure in primary schools; and • to suggest, in the light of findings obtained, didactically justifiable guidelines for reducing the failure rate in primary schools. To address these concerns the investigation was underpinned by the following hypothesis: the principal didactic causes of scholastic failure in primary schools centre upon the ineffective application of socialisation, individuaiisation, perception, motivation and evaluation as didactic principles. In order to combat the problem of fragmentation caused by an overemphasis on empirical research while theoretically engaging concepts as revealed in recent research findings are often disregarded, this investigation concentrated entirely on literary research. A comprehensive study was conducted of recent primary and secondary sources related to didactic causes of scholastic failure. Data collated from different types of research which were conducted, tried out and tested by other researchers were blended, integrated and analyzed according to didactic criteria articulated in the hypothesis. The findings revealed that scholastic failure in primary schools revolved around five major causes. First: inadequate situation analysis prevents effective psychological and educational diagnosis of (earning disabilities; temporary poor scholastic achievement of average learners are sometimes erroneously diagnosed by the teachers or orthodidacticians as being caused by permanent learning disabilities. Second: inattention to language skills causes many primary school children to be at a learning disadvantage; definite connections have been shown to exist between scholasticfaiiureand speech deficiencies, defective hand writing, spelling disabilities as well as reading and writing limitations. Third: inefficient teaching styles result in inadequacies in the integral, interactive parts which the child and his or her teacher play in the education situation. Fourth: weak classroom management generates disruptive behaviour, distraction, hyper-activity resulting in corporal punishment which in turn lead to scholastic failure. Lastly: lack of teacher self-evaluation creates a situation in which classroom actions are often not guided by accountable personal teaching theories and didactic principles. In the light of the above findings, the recommendations flowing from the research include, inter alia: that bridging module readiness classes be established for children turning five years of age and that professionally qualified educators be pfaced in charge of these children; • that more emphasis should be placed on peer group teaching in primary schools; • that teachers and parents work closer together to help, guide and shape the child's attitude towards school and that self-improvement among teachers should be promoted through in-service education.

Student Number : 9711192Y - MA Research Report - School of Human and Community Development - Faculty of Humanities / This research considered factors that predict academic achievement in Grade 8 and 9 learners. The learners in this study were categorised primarily based on their first language. As a researcher in South Africa one is not faced with a division between monolinguals and bilinguals, but rather is forced to classify language users based on their ‘home’ or ‘first’ language. Thus learners whose first language was English fell into the first-language (L1) group, while learners whose first language was not English fell into the second-language (L2) group Academic achievement was defined in this study as the marks obtained by learners in their school subjects. This method of assessing students and learners is both pervasive and essential in the determination of academic potential, and the subsequent determination of future employment and educational opportunities. The results of these school achievement tests were compared with results obtained from the Differential Aptitude Test Form S (DAT-S) English Version. The DAT-S is an assessment instrument used to determine academic potential. This test was developed in South Africa, and normed against Afrikaans and English speaking students (Vosloo, Coetzee & Claassen, 2000). The test was chosen for use in this study because “the kind of information obtained from the differential aptitude tests can … facilitate judgements regarding potential success in the course of a career” (Vosloo, Coetzee & Claassen, 2000 p. 1). The results of this comparison were used to examine factors that determine success in an academic sphere, and which underlying proficiencies as predicted by the DAT-S may have contributed to this success.

Childhood obesity and subsequent poor health implications continue to be a critical health concern and recent literature suggests academics may also be under greater strain among these individuals. This study examined the relationship between metabolic health and academic achievement in students “at risk” for drop. Fifteen adolescences participated in an educational camp aimed at developing knowledge of core curriculum by developing design projects. Metabolic health was assessed via biochemical measurements of blood lipid and glucose, resting blood pressure, and anthropometric measurements of height, weight, and waist circumference. Variables were examined individually and as a combined risk score. Academic achievement measurements were results were obtained from district testing. Little association was found between academic achievement and metabolic health. BMI was greater than the 85th percentile for sample. Participants partook in 32.4 minutes/day of moderate-vigorous physical activity during camp. Slight variation between Pre-and Post- measures of academics suggests presence of confounding variables.

The purpose of this quantitative study was to explore the effectiveness of a freshman orientation program on second-semester retention, second-year retention, and cumulative GPA for students enrolled in a community college in the Deep South. The problem addressed in this study is a lack of sufficient academic and social support for college students, limiting their ability to remain in school and with high levels of academic performance (Nora & Crisp, 2007). For this study, the following research questions were analyzed: (1) Are there differences in 1st to 2nd semester retention for program completers with a 17-18 ACT as compared to non-program completers with a 19-20 ACT? (2) Are there differences in 1st to 2nd year retention for program completers with a 17-18 ACT as compared to non-program completers with a 19-20 ACT? (3) Are there differences in cumulative GPA for program completers with a 17-18 ACT as compared to non-program completers with a 19-20 ACT? Data for these research questions were collected from the school’s director of data management and imported into SPSS software for analysis. The findings of this study indicated students who completed the program, despite having lower composite ACT scores compared to program non-completers, were 15.8 times more likely to enroll in the next semester and 2.42 times more likely to enroll in the 2nd year compared to those who did not complete the program but had higher composite ACT scores. Additionally, program completers had significantly higher cumulative GPAs than did program non-completers. Based on the findings, this study should target other moderating factors that might contribute to student retention.

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