D.Ed. (Educational Psychology) / As a family constitutes the primary educational relationship of a child, and a child's development depends almost entirely on these relationships, it stands to reason that one would expect children with well-balanced personalities to be found in families characterized by a reasonable degree of sound family relationships that ensure concern, care, love and guidance. This is because men and women are not only themselves; they are also the region in which they were born, the city apartment or farm where they learned to walk, the games they played as children, the old wives' tales they overheard, the food they ate, the schools they attended, the sports they participated in, the poems they read and the God they believe in. Man is thus not only himself, but also what his environment makes of him (Purkey, 1970:34; Loubser, 1993: 13). It can,therefore, be concluded that children who grow up in an unhealthy family will probably grow up unhealthy as a result...

M.Ed. / The study examines the nature of English competence in both learners and teachers in black schools. It was conducted as a result of the investigator in this study being directly involved in teaching English as a second language in a black high school and being a beneficiary of English language teaching projects. As is shown in the study, these projects do not effectively serve their stated purpose, that is, to improve teacher and learner competency in English. The study was conducted by exploring existing literature on the topic and investigations already undertaken. An empirical component is included comprising an observation of an English lesson in progress. The conclusion reached in the study is that an unfortunate cycle still persists where learners taught by teachers who are incompetent in English go through the existing inadequate and inefficient milieu in education to become incompetent English language teachers themselves. The recommendations in this study are that there needs to be a re-evaluation of present English language teaching methods particularly in the light of the fact that the government is in the process of implementing a new educational system called Outcomes Based Education. Furthermore, this study draws attention to the inadequacies prevalent in teacher training and subsequent teacher practice in the classroom.

M.Ed. (Educational Management) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

M.Ed. (Educational Management) / The school is an educational institution that has been established in order to facilitate education. Prior to the establishment of schools, education was the responsibility of the parents and the community. Schools therefore came into existence when it was realised that parents could no longer cope with the specialised skill of transferring the increased knowledge necessary for the cognitive development of the child (Stone, 1988:22). The school is a means of handing down norms and a philosophy of life and is also an agent of the redevelopment and renewal of society (Stone, 1988: 18). Education is an existential necessity which is aimed at leading the child from nonadulthood to adulthood. Education which is a means to maturity formally takes place at a school. Therefore a school is seen as an institution for initiation of the development towards adulthood (Stone, 1988: 17). For the school to attain this objective, it has to consider the total person of the child, that is, a holistic approach towards education has to be adopted. Education has to transmit culture to the pupils in the service of the community from which it springs (Castelyn, 1985:49). Through the medium of its teaching, the school should educate the child to enable him to assume his role in civilized society as a mature adult. This can be achieved through the selection, ordering and presentation of subject matter in such a manner that the children acquire knowledge and skills that can be used to ensure a meaningful existence (HSRC, 1981a:11)...

M.Ed. (Educational Psychology) / The purposes of this study were to determine the sense of obligation of a group of Northern Sotho speaking student teachers, their lecturers and some parents of the area, which factors affect their sense of obligation positively or negatively, and how pupils and students can be educated towards a mature sense of obligation. An empirical study was conducted and 1500 questionnaires were distributed among students and lecturers at Mamokgalake Chuene College of Education and also among parents in the vicinity. Only 450 questionnaires were returned. Factors such as culture, maturity, time perspective and the influence of parents and educators, which are related to a sense of obligation, were discussed.

M.A. (Psychology) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

M.Ed. (Educational Psychology) / The main aim of this research was to do an exploratory study of the value-orientations and perceptions of the Zulu pupi Is in Sebokeng in order to enable teachers to understand the Zulu pupils better and thus be in a posi tion to teach them more effectively. The phenomenological strategy served as a basis from where the research was undertaken. This strategy made provision for the employment of various methods such as action research, literature study, word- and concept analysis. A questionnaire was used to determine the value-orientations and perceptions of the standard eight and ten Zulu pupils. For the purpose of empirical investigation a total of 224 standard eight and ten Zulu pupils was drawn from Botebo-Tsebo and Moghaka secondary school s • This was the total number of all standard eight and ten Zulu pupils in the two fore-mentioned schools during the academic year 1991. The most important findings of the research are as follows: * The typical value code of the Zulu child is not compatible with the values promoted in the school. * The beliefs of the Zulu pupils range from tradi tional belief in ancestors to those of modern times. A large percentage of the pupils are Christians. However, they still support the traditional religion. * The present Zulu pupil is inclined towards individuality rather than group consciousness that characterized traditional culture. * When comparing the valueing of school related matters, it was found that the standard ten pup! Is were relatively more positive to schooling than their standard eight counterparts. * Another important finding is that Zulu pupils prefer nonintegrated schools. They give preference to schools for their own people.

1.1 MAIN PROBLEM A major concern in South African schools, especially in the disadvantaged areas, is the absence of effective leadership. Problems such as a lack of planning, an absence of vision, unfair resource allocation and feelings of uncertainty indicate a lack of meaningful leadership within the schools (Sterling and Davidoff, 2000:5). South Africa currently lacks a coherently explicit policy for the in-service training of school leaders. Until recently there has been no literature specifically addressing the problems school leaders face in black schools, no black professional organization for black school leaders, few opportunities for the discussion of ideas between departments, and few opportunities for training both before and after taking up a leadership position (Taylor and Tsukudu, 1995:111). The types of skills needed by School Management Teams(SMTs) for the effective management of schools depend on factors such as the needs of individual senior management members, the schools, the education system, the existing expertise of SMT members and their previous training. The purpose of skill development is to help develop and improve both the individual and the team performance of leaders responsible for managing schools in order to improve the functioning of schools(Mashinini and Smith,1995:133-135). In a growing number of developed and developing countries, a need for the more effective management of schools is becoming more important. Good management is regarded as essential if resources, both human and material, are to be used to maximum benefit so that schools make a valuable contribution to the economic and social well-being of societies (Taylor and Tsukulu, 1995:108). According to Sterling and Davidoff (2000:3), South African education is in a process of reconstruction and change. For those involved in education, the context feels unstable and at the point of delivery, the school, pressure is experienced. In addition to these problems, the socio-economic conditions result in many learners expecting not to be employed after completing their studies. This contributes to a feeling of despondence and demotivation amongst learners, which is often expressed in absenteeism, and a lack of commitment to their own education. Since 1996, reports by people in educational authority have confirmed a need for proper management training for managers in the South African educational system. In the past managers have been appointed to managerial positions such as head of department (HOD), deputy principal and principal without proper prior training. They have had to learn through trial and error and have made mistakes in the process. This situation is considered as neither inductive nor productive to a culture of teaching and learning (Deventer and Kruger, 2003:62). A study conducted by Steyn (1998:131-137) concluded that in the new South African dispensation, principals need to work closely with their first line managers in order to perform their 2 functions effectively. Steyn is of the opinion that a participative orientation in schools will be more effective than a centralized hierarchical orientation. The picture described above concerning the South African system and problems currently faced by teachers depicts a difficult environment which will not change overnight and one which requires effective intervention measures. This leads to the following problem, which will be addressed by this research. What management development skills do SMTs need to enhance their ability to manage schools effectively?.

This thesis provides evidence that learning difficulties some. black primary-schoolchildren may experience with certain textbooks, can be attributed, in part, to the visual text (imagery). These difficulties were established by eliciting responses from educationally dlscfdvantaged urban black primary learners to selected examples of visual texts using the Research Interview method. To further establish if these difficulties were attributable either to poorly executed/unrecognizable visual text, or to low levels of learned educational visual literacy skills - white primary-school children were also interviewed - as it was anticipated that they would be familiar with Western pictorial material due to their consistent exposure to books from an early age. The difficulties experienced by the black interviewees were attributed mainly to their level of learned pictorial perceptual skills and to a lesser extent to poorly/inadequately illustrated visual texts. It was found from interviews with the developers of visual texts - publishing personnel and illustrators - that the former were not entirely certain e.xactly which aspects of visual text were difficult for black primary learners to comprehend, while the latter were generaUy very uncertain. The procedure for visual text development by the developers (including textbook authors), was found to be problematic due to the lack of synthesis and consultative decision making in the process- between these persons. The limited time allocated to illustrators for producing visual text, as well as their professional isolation, were found to be factors which can give rise to ineffective and inadequate visual texts. Most publishers and authors, if they trial (field-test) materials, generally do not trial the visual text. The visual text is usually decided upon ultimately by the poblishers and produced after trialling and/or consultants have examined the written text. Consequently incongruent meanings and inconsistencies can result between written and visual text, which can affect the learning effectiveness of the composite text. Trialling (field-testing) of visual and written text together, was recommended to identify and address any difficulties experienced by learners prior to final publication of the textbook. Recommendations were provided for textbook selection committees, authors, teachers, publishers and illustrators.

This thesis is concerned with the impact of Western education on the social life of the members of a Transkeian village. Various authors in the locally relevant literature, have for a long time commented that, due to Western education and Christianity, African societies became divided into 'school'people, who readily accepted Western education and culture, and 'red' people, who initially resisted these. Whilst the terms 'red' and 'school' became used as analytical constructs for the differing responses to Western culture, they were also used by African people. My findings at Qhude, Transkei, confirmed such a social division. I argue that this social division does not present an absolute distinction, but may best be conceived in terms of a continuum. Whilst the thesis considers interaction between the 'school' and the 'red' people of Qhude in various fields of life such as politics, law, religion (see Chapter Two) and education (see Chapter Six), the main emphasis is on the 'red' people. Thus, the thesis concerns itself, to a large degree, with an analysis of the 'red' people's experience and interpretation of Western education and Western educated people. The main argument is that the 'red' people's perception of Western education and Western educated people is ambiguous. That is, they see them in both positive and negative terms (see Chapter Five). This ambiguity is looked at here as a manifestation of the difficulties encountered by the 'red' people in adjusting to an institution (i.e Western education)that was initially foreign, and to which they were initially opposed. The perception of Western education as positive follows from the fact that it is seen as leading to economic empowerement by the 'red' people of Qhude, who are facing poverty, due to an economic decline (see Chapter Three). However, the economic contribution of the young (who are the ones receiving western education) and the knowledge they gather from school, threaten the authority of elders, as the young become increasingly independent from the elders. As a result of such independence, and other factors, Western education is seen in negative terms by the 'red' people. Such potential dangers of Western education are well recognised by the 'reds' of Qhude, and are dealt with culturally. That is, it is made clear to the young, in particular during occasions such as circumcision rituals, that education has to be made relevant to the building of the homestead, which is under the overlordship of parents whom the young are called upon to respect (see Chapter Six). In conclusion, it is argued that the use of culture in this way, shows how 'tradition' is employed to deal with crisis. Such use of culture necessitates a clarification of the opinion that uneducated Africans rejected Western education (see Chapter Seven).