No abstract available. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of Durban-Westville, 1977.

No abstract available. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Durban-Westville, 1992.

This study is aimed at investigating how quality of teaching in higher educational institutions can be improved and how staff development programmes can play a role in the enhancement of the tertiary teaching profession. Over the years, the field of Academic Development has (AD) undergone many changes and has faced enormous challenges as the South African higher education terrain has shifted in the wake of political transformation. The field of Academic Development has grown into a multidisciplinary endeavour with practitioners working in areas such as curriculum and staff development, assessment of student learning, evaluation, educational technology and student development. In recent years, the demise of soft funding and the financial constraints caused by falling student numbers have resulted in a situation where many Academic Development units have faced job losses and even closure. At the same time, challenges facing the higher education system have opened opportunities for AD practitioners to use their expertise to cope with the demands of teaching and learning. The Academic Development programme contributes to the assurance of this performance by supporting staff in meeting the demands of teaching at a Southern African university with international standards. It does this by running an on-going staff development programme and by providing assistance with curriculum development, assessment and evaluation. The Institute for Higher Education Policy engages in research and provides practical advice and background on key issues in higher education policy for a clientele comprised of public and private organisations, individuals and government structures within South Africa as well as abroad. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of Durban-Westville, 2003.

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2011. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Background: Academic support programmes have an important part to play in addressing the needs of students experiencing difficulties. A quality assurance exercise by the national accreditation body highlighted the fact that academic staff involved in non-academic counselling had no prior training. Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate the academic advisor programme in a Malaysian medical school from the academic advisors’ perspective in order to determine their understanding of their role, their experiences and needs. Method: Focus group discussions (FGDs) involving 10 academic advisors were conducted using a semi-structured interview schedule. Results: Study participants demonstrated some instinctive understanding of their role (especially as role models in their professional development) although they did not have clear guidelines. They strongly expressed a need for training in counselling skills and better administrative support. There was some reluctance to undertake the task of academic advising as there were no perceived rewards or incentives. Conclusions: The training of academic advisors needs to be addressed in faculty development programmes. Strong institutional administrative support is important with efficient channels of communication to academic advisors on student performance and other relevant information. Teaching activities need due institutional recognition and reward. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Geen opsomming

A generally untested assumption within the stereotype threat literature is that it is only those individuals who are highly identified with a domain who will be susceptible to stereotype threat. Further, many of the studies on stereotype threat have been confined to artificial laboratory settings and have been conducted on American samples. The current study aimed to develop a measure of domain-identification in order to test this central assumption of stereotype threat theory on a sample of students in a humanities access programme in a South African university. Results indicate that the experience of stereotype threat varies with respect to the combination of 1) the degree of domain-identification, and 2) the degree to which students are aware of negative domain-relevant stereotypes. That is, students who were highly domain-identified and were highly or moderately aware of negative stereotypes performed worse than highly domain-identified individuals who had low levels of awareness of others negative stereotypes about their in-group. / Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2008.

The main aim of the study was (1) to identify errors committed by learners in financial mathematics and (2) to understand why learners continue to make such errors so that mechanisms to avoid such errors could be devised. The following has been hypothesised; (1) errors committed by learners are not impact upon by language difficulties, (2) errors committed by learners in financial mathematics are not due to prerequisite skills, facts and concepts, (3) errors committed by learners in financial mathematics are not due to the application of irrelevant rules and strategies. Having used Polya’s problem-solving techniques, Threshold Concept and Newman’s Error Analysis as the theoretical frameworks for the study, a four-point Likert scale and three content-based structured-interview questionnaires were developed to address the research questions. The study was conducted by means of a case study guided by the positivists’ paradigm where the research sample comprised of 105 Grade-10 Mathematics Literacy learners as respondents. Four sets of structured-interview questionnaires were used for collecting data, aimed at addressing the main objective of the study. In order to test the reliability and consistency of the questionnaires for this study, Cronbach’s Alpha was calculated for standardised items (α = 0.705). Content analysis and correlation analysis were employed to analyse the data. The three hypotheses of this study were tested using the ANOVA test and hence revealed that, (1) errors committed by learners in financial mathematics are not due to language difficulties, as all the variables illustrated a statistical non-significance (2) errors committed by learners in financial mathematics are not due to prerequisite skills, facts and concepts, as the majority of the variables showed non-significance and (3) errors committed by learners in financial mathematics were due to the application of irrelevant rules and strategies, as 66.7% of the variables illustrated a statistical significance to the related research question.