Thesis (M. Ed. (Curriculum Studies)) -- University of Limpopo, 2021 / This study explored the different teaching strategies which teachers use to teach mathematics in order to improve the performance of Grade 9 learners in the subject in Mkhuhlu Circuit; Bohlabela District of Education in Mpumalanga Province. The inability of Grade 9 learners to achieve the set minimum performance standard of a pass at level 3 (40%) in mathematics poses a challenge because mathematics is set as a pass requirement in the said grade and it is compulsory for all learners to enrol for this subject. The poor performance of learners in mathematics is attributed to inappropriate teaching strategies that teachers use in the teaching of this subject. There are lessons to be drawn from the practices of leading countries in learner performance in mathematics and this study sought to find alternative strategies that are appropriate for teaching Grade 9 learners and to improve their performance in mathematics in the circuit. The study used constructivism as its lens to look at the realities about learner performance in mathematics. Constructivism as a theory presents and unpacks the manner in which people learn and acquire knowledge. The participants for this study were sampled using a purposive sampling technique and samples were drawn from two secondary schools representing good and poor performance of Grade 9 learners in mathematics. Seven participants were engaged in this study and this sample included a principal, SMT member, and mathematics teacher from each school. A subject advisor for mathematics in the GET was also interviewed. This study adopted and followed a qualitative design of inquiry which included interviews, observation, and the analysis of documents and artefacts to collect data from the different respondents that were identified for this study. The inquiry was guided by the following research questions: Which teaching strategies do teachers normally use to teach mathematics in Grade 9 at Mkhuhlu circuit? There are two sub-questions which were used to support the main research question and they are: To what extent do teachers vary the strategies of teaching and which strategies and LTSM do the teachers use to teach mathematics in Grade 9? What is the level of support that teachers receive from the different levels of the system? Data was analysed by organizing the data collected using codes to summarize it and then interpret the coded data to identify themes, patterns and relationships. This study revealed that different teaching strategies have an impact on the learners’ academic performance in mathematics. It also emerged from this study that quality and effective teaching and learning of mathematics are grounded on the constructivist theory. This study also established that the choice and use of appropriate teaching strategies coupled with the availability of relevant resources contribute towards positive learning gains. Similarly, learners’ preferences of teaching and learning strategies must be considered towards the development and sustenance of a positive attitude towards mathematics. The study recommended that the Annual Teaching Plans should suggest teaching strategies to be used for a particular topic; and that teachers must specify their teaching strategies and their choice of resources in the planning of every lesson. The provision of resources, particularly for mathematics teaching must be made an apex priority. Subject advisors must give attention to the teaching strategies that teachers use in curriculum delivery and not only on content mastery and coverage. School Management Teams must follow-up on the implementation of ICT in their curriculum management and monitoring. The study further recommended that an analysis of results must shift from concentrating on the pass percentages and focus on the quality of the passes. The identified limitations of this study were methodological limitations and sample characteristic limitations where the size of the research sample was relatively small.

Includes bibliography. / School Effectiveness is a relatively new and poorly defined domain for which a structure is proposed, to facilitate future discussion. Three fields within School Effectiveness are identified, namely School Effectiveness Research (SER), School Improvement (SI) and Quality Assurance (QA). Three divisions are identified within each field on the basis of various criteria. SER has methodological generations, Sl is classified by decade, and three themes of QA are described, including performance indicators (Pis). A definition of effectiveness in terms of regression lines is described and the concept of added value or adjusted achievement developed. This study is concerned with the development of Pis for use within a single school to monitor and promote improvement. The context of the study (a model C senior high school in a predominantly white southern suburb of Cape Town) and the data collected is described before a review is made of some of the analyses which could be used to monitor effectiveness. A technique whereby pupil achievement is adjusted (for prior achievement and other background variables) and the residuals (or adjusted achievement) derived from the regressions investigated with one-way A NOVAs is described and tested using various models and subjects. With respect to groups, it is proposed that statistical significance of differences between mean residuals could be used as a PI. With respect to individual pupils, educators could set their own criterion for investigating cases where adjusted achievement is very large or very small. Statistical significance requires interpretation, however, and the role of professional judgement in modelling and monitoring adjusted achievement is discussed. The view that techniques such as regression analysis can only indicate when professional investigation and intervention might be necessary is stressed. It would seem unwise to rank teachers or subjects on the basis of adjusted achievement.

Thesis (M.Ed. (Curriculum Studies)) -- University of Limpopo, 2022 / This study investigated the poor performance of learners in mathematics in a rural secondary schools in Bohlabela District in Mpumalanga province. Mathematics is one of the most critical subjects globally and in Mpumalanga Province of South Africa, specifically. The purpose of this study was to explore the possible causes of poor performance of learners in mathematics in schools. In this study, non-probability sampling was used whereby a purposive sampling strategy was adopted. The participants in this study were secondary school teachers and learners. Twenty mathematics (20) learners participated in this research. These learners were sampled from a pool of 54 Grade 12 learners in one school. Learners were then grouped according to their level of understanding to the subject. The focus was on Grade 12 because it is the exit point of FET. In this study, a case study approach was adopted whereby interviews, documents and observation were used to collect data. The choice of the research design was guided by the following research question: What are the causes of poor performance of Grade 12 learners in mathematics in rural secondary schools? The sub–questions were: What strategies do teachers use to address poor performance of learners in mathematics in Grade 12 in rural secondary schools? What is the role of the department of education in addressing poor performance of learners in mathematics in rural secondary schools? The data analysis involved the generating of themes related to the data collected. In this way, different parts of the narratives were grouped under identified categories. The study found that lack of resources, poor teaching methods, anxiety and attitude towards mathematics contribute to learners’ poor performance in mathematics in Grade 12 in rural secondary schools. The research concludes that teachers should engage learners in more writing activities in order for them to learn effectively and to perform better in mathematics. The study also recommends that teachers should use a variety of teaching methods to teach mathematics and the schools should be well-resourced and teachers should address learners’ anxiety in mathematics to develop the love for mathematics and also enhance positive attitude towards mathematics

Thesis ((Ph.D. (Mathematics Education)) -- University of Limpopo, 2016 / The focus in this thesis was on the approaches that seek to compare two study arms in the absence of randomisation when the interclass correlation coefficient is greater than zero. Many reports on performance of learners in Grade 12 have used ordinary regression models (such as logistic regression model and linear regression models) which ignore clustering effect, and descriptive statistics (e.g., averages and standard deviations for continuous variables, and proportions expressed as percentages and frequencies). These models do not only bias point estimates but also give falsely narrow confidence intervals. The study was applied to two of the nine provinces of South Africa: Gauteng Province and Western Cape Province in 2008, 2009 and 2010 academic years. Causal models, and in particular, hierarchical models (or disaggregated approach), unlike descriptive analyses, are more powerful as they are able to adjust for individual covariates. For the analysis of continuous variables; Western Cape Province was expected to significantly score higher marks than Gauteng Province in 2008 (Crude estimate: 0.782) and 2009 (Crude estimate: 0.957 ) while Gauteng Province was expected to score higher marks than Western Cape Province in 2010 (Crude estimate: −0.302). Adjusted models indicate that Western Cape Province performed better than Gauteng Province in 2008 and 2009 but not in 2010 where Gauteng Province performed better than Western Cape Province after adjusting for gender. In case of binary outcome; the crude estimates favoured Western Cape Province than Gauteng Province in 2008 (Odds ratio = 1.16) and 2009 (Odds ratio = 1.19). Otherwise, the crude estimates favoured Gauteng Province in 2010 (Odds ratio = 0.11). The proportion of female learners in Gauteng Province ranged between 54.48% and 54.99%, while in Western Cape Province it ranged between 56.78% and 57.16%, in 2008 through 2010 academic years. Proportion of female learners in Western Cape Province were found to be higher than those in Gauteng during this period. At least 70.42% of learners in Gauteng and at least 73.96% of learners in Western Cape Province passed Grade 12 during the years 2008 to 2010. Through the application of causal model we have learned that although gender is not a significant predictor of the overall learner performance in Grade 12, the effect of gender gave the mixed findings depending on the nature of the outcome. The xi effect of gender on continuous endpoint (marks) suggests that a model of single-sex classrooms or single-sex schools may be adopted so as to mitigate the inherent perceptions and stereotype regarding learner-gender. However, the results based on binary endpoint (pass/not pass) suggest that coeducation system is the best bet. A school quintile is a significant predictor of the overall learner performance in the two provinces. The resourceful schools are more likely to produce learners with higher marks. Also, the resourced schools than the less or under resourced schools are more likely to produce the favourable results (higher marks (%) or/and pass) in the two provinces.

Thesis (M.Ed. (Curriculum Studies)) -- University of Limpopo, 2022 / This study intended to investigate the effects of language transition and the educational conduit of language acquisition to learner performance in the academic space, especially in learning Natural sciences and technology. Moreover, refraining from the ideologies of globalization innovation and growth using English as a patriarchal language of choice for transformation. The study followed the qualitative approach with Interpretivism humanistic paradigmatic assessment of human behavior to achieve the aim. A purposive sampling strategy was used in selecting only schools in rural settings of Mankweng Circuit, where the ideologies of the fourth industrial revolution, are marginally advocated by cultural and curriculum perspective. Data collection was done through semi-structured interviews and conducting field observation notes. The results analysed with thematic Tech`s coding method indicated the existence of language transition problems for both teachers and grade four learners from a practical perspective of classroom interaction. Also, learners were unable to receive instruction, for the subject natural sciences and technology solely in English. Therefore, teachers had to device new strategies to curb the problem. The presence of trans-languaging problems in Grade 4 supports the need to review the period and method in which these learners are expected to transit from mother tongue learning to learning solely in English. Moreover, there is a need to review the Natural Sciences and Technology Curriculum Assessment Policy Statement document. Furthermore, prescribed textbook need to be reviewed to ensure inclusivity, eliminating language barriers, because language, forms the core part of learning, communicating and generating new ideas for the fourth industrial revolution.

Throughput rates and student retention are a burning concern that all higher education institutions share, as student dropout rates remain high. Promoting student academic success has become imperative. This study is concerned with students who display innate resilience and overcome adversities in their personal lives, but fail to demonstrate resilience when it comes to being academically successful. The objective of this study was to explore: (1) the personal resilience in at-risk students who overcome adversities in their personal lives, but fail to demonstrate resilience when it comes to being academically successful and (2) how their personal resilience can be tapped into to promote academic success. A mixed methods approach was used, employing both quantitative and qualitative methods. At-risk students at a particular higher education institution were identified using their study records. From these students a subgroup of resilient students were selected by means of a resilience questionnaire. This group completed a pre-interview questionnaire, resulting in 10 students being selected on the grounds of being information rich cases of the at-risk resilient student. Through the process of social constructivism and dialogue between the researcher and the participants, themes were identified and analysed using an inductive data analysis style. The data was finally linked to supportive literature. The primary finding was that the same protective factors that can assist a student in developing innate resilience, can also cause the student to be placed academically at- risk. The study further revealed, that if the environment in which students find themselves does not allow them to negotiate for resources, these students' innate resilience alone cannot assist them to overcome the challenges of higher education. The researcher concludes that higher education institutions in their attempts to retain and assist students should be encouraged to tap into students’ innate resilience to develop their academic resilience / Psychology / M.A. (Psychology)

The present study explored whether a significant relationship exists between academic procrastination and academic achievement in high school learners within South Africa. It furthermore examined whether certain personality traits of individuals are more prone to procrastination than others. It lastly investigated the relationships between gender and academic procrastination, age and academic procrastination, number of siblings and academic procrastination; and area of residence and academic procrastination. The research sample consisted of 349 high school learners aged between 12 and 19 years old (n=167 male, n=180 female, n=2 gender not disclosed). Data was collected by means of the Personal Information Questionnaire (PIQ), the Tuckman Procrastination Scale (TPS) and the Ten-Item Personality Inventory (TIPI). A significant negative correlation was found between procrastination and academic achievement. The correlations between procrastination and gender, age, area of residence and number of siblings respectively were not significant. Conscientiousness and Emotional Stability were both found to be significantly negatively related to procrastination, however, the relations between procrastination and Extraversion and Agreeableness respectively were not significant. An anomaly found in the present study was the negative relation between procrastination and Openness to Experience, and it is postulated that this finding may be due to the TIPI’s inability to measure the individual facets of each Big Five Factor domain or that it could be ascribed to the need for cognition. / Psychology / M.A. (Psychology)

Text in English / This study was designed to determine whether a relationship exists between self-reported mindfulness, self-consciousness, adjustment and academic performance in first-year university students. Additionally, the study aimed to assess the predictive quality of mindfulness and self-consciousness towards emotional adjustment (adjustment disorder symptoms, depression and anxiety) and academic performance, and to further determine the contribution of mindfulness and self-consciousness on adjustment to the predictability of academic performance. First-year students (N = 290) at the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) at the Pretoria West and Ga-Rankuwa campuses completed the selfreported mindfulness measure, Mindfulness Attention and Awareness Scale (MAAS) (Brown & Ryan, 2003), the Self Consciousness Scale- Revised (SCS-R) (Scheier & Carver, 1985), the Beck Depression Scale (BDI) (Beck et al., 1961) the Beck Anxiety Scale (BAI) Beck & Steer,1993) and the adjustment disorder checklist; based on DSM V, (Sadock, Sadock & Ruiz, 2014). Students’ year-end results for the first year of study were used to operationalize academic performance. Results of correlation analyses indicated a significant negative correlation between mindfulness and students’ emotional adjustment (adjustment disorder symptoms, depression and anxiety), a significant positive correlation between selfconsciousness and students’ emotional adjustment (adjustment disorder symptoms, depression and anxiety) as well as a significant negative correlation between adjustment disorder symptoms and academic performance. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to test whether mindfulness and self-consciousness significantly predicted students’ depression, anxiety and adjustment disorder symptoms. The results of the regression analysis indicated the two predictors explained 16% of the variance (F (1, 1773) = 29.66, P< 0.0001) (depression), 14% of the variance (F (1, 985) = 24.14, p < 0.0001) (anxiety) and 14% of variance (F (2, 292) = 23.87, p <0.001) (adjustment disorder symptoms). Furthermore, mediation analysis provided information regarding the impact of mindfulness and selfconsciousness on students’ academic performance. The impact of mindfulness and selfconsciousness on students’ academic performance (students’ marks) was found to be mediated by adjustment disorder symptoms. However, the Sobel test indicated a significant effect (0.03) for mindfulness and an insignificant effect (0.09) for self-consciousness. / Psychology / Ph. D. (Psychology)

The present study explored whether a significant relationship exists between academic procrastination and academic achievement in high school learners within South Africa. It furthermore examined whether certain personality traits of individuals are more prone to procrastination than others. It lastly investigated the relationships between gender and academic procrastination, age and academic procrastination, number of siblings and academic procrastination; and area of residence and academic procrastination. The research sample consisted of 349 high school learners aged between 12 and 19 years old (n=167 male, n=180 female, n=2 gender not disclosed). Data was collected by means of the Personal Information Questionnaire (PIQ), the Tuckman Procrastination Scale (TPS) and the Ten-Item Personality Inventory (TIPI). A significant negative correlation was found between procrastination and academic achievement. The correlations between procrastination and gender, age, area of residence and number of siblings respectively were not significant. Conscientiousness and Emotional Stability were both found to be significantly negatively related to procrastination, however, the relations between procrastination and Extraversion and Agreeableness respectively were not significant. An anomaly found in the present study was the negative relation between procrastination and Openness to Experience, and it is postulated that this finding may be due to the TIPI’s inability to measure the individual facets of each Big Five Factor domain or that it could be ascribed to the need for cognition. / Psychology / M.A. (Psychology)

Throughput rates and student retention are a burning concern that all higher education institutions share, as student dropout rates remain high. Promoting student academic success has become imperative. This study is concerned with students who display innate resilience and overcome adversities in their personal lives, but fail to demonstrate resilience when it comes to being academically successful. The objective of this study was to explore: (1) the personal resilience in at-risk students who overcome adversities in their personal lives, but fail to demonstrate resilience when it comes to being academically successful and (2) how their personal resilience can be tapped into to promote academic success. A mixed methods approach was used, employing both quantitative and qualitative methods. At-risk students at a particular higher education institution were identified using their study records. From these students a subgroup of resilient students were selected by means of a resilience questionnaire. This group completed a pre-interview questionnaire, resulting in 10 students being selected on the grounds of being information rich cases of the at-risk resilient student. Through the process of social constructivism and dialogue between the researcher and the participants, themes were identified and analysed using an inductive data analysis style. The data was finally linked to supportive literature. The primary finding was that the same protective factors that can assist a student in developing innate resilience, can also cause the student to be placed academically at- risk. The study further revealed, that if the environment in which students find themselves does not allow them to negotiate for resources, these students' innate resilience alone cannot assist them to overcome the challenges of higher education. The researcher concludes that higher education institutions in their attempts to retain and assist students should be encouraged to tap into students’ innate resilience to develop their academic resilience / Psychology / M. A. (Psychology)