Currently in South Africa there are over 8 million people who have had little or no formal schooling. This has resulted in a large portion of the population that is unable to read and write or participate fully in society. The Adult Basic Education and Training Act of 2000 declares that access to education for adults is a basic human right, and it should therefore be readily available to the population. However, in KwaZulu-Natal there are only a few centres which offer ABET courses, and those that do have mostly not been designed specifically for this function, but are schools and community centres. This has meant that facilities are often inappropriate and inefficient in addressing the needs of the adult learner. It is in response to the current educational shortage that a Centre for Adult Basic Education and Training for Durban has been proposed. Through this study, key aspects relating to the design of a centre for adult education were examined. These included the response to an urban context, movement in the city and buildings, the quality of the learning environment, and the needs of the adult learner. In order to develop the architecture for a Centre for Adult Basic Education and Vocational Training, these principles were analysed and understood in order to make a meaningful response. This research examines some of the complex factors which influence the design of a Centre for Adult Basic Education and Vocational Training in Durban in order to provide a centre that provides all the necessary services in one building. Primary and secondary data collection methods were used, in the form of interviews, case studies, a literature review and precedent studies. The research was then used in order to draw up a design brief, resulting in the design of a Centre for Adult Basic Education and Vocational Training. / Thesis (M.Arch.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2008.

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The study focuses on a partnered facilitation involving teachers, the media and the learner. The implications of educational technology-based strategies of learning and the need for teachers to develop a theoretical framework of understanding educational technology are considered. The partnership between the teacher, the learner and the media are seen as crucial to the implementation and enhancement of educational technology-based strategies of learning. In recommending the need for ongoing, sustained training of teachers in educational technology-based strategies of learning, the study concludes that satellite teachers' centre is indispensable as an agency to drive the entire process forward. In this regard it is considered that satellite teachers' centres have the potential to take the focus of training and development of skills closer to schools and arrange on-site programmes. The large mass of under-qualified and untrained teachers will be able to enhance their educational technology skills to facilitate resource-based learning which is so crucial to the new outcomes based approach to learning and education. South Africa has the media and a large population of learners who are yearning for quality education. In addition, the country has a large store of teachers who are in need of ongoing sustained training in educational technology-enhanced strategies of learning. The study concludes that teachers' centres have been under-utilised and that satellite teachers' centres could operate on a more structured basis in terms of an approved national policy. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of Durban-Westville, 1998.

Staff motivation in a contact centre environment was analysed from the perspective of Herzberg's Motivation- Hygiene theory in the present study using survey data from seven contact centres in the Kwa-Zulu Natal region. The study investigates the relationship between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation factors and the extent of the existence of equity factors in the and the relationship between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation factors with equity factors in the South African environment, specifically favouritism, discrimination and consistency. The findings confirm that contact centre agents need to be highly skilled and adequately supported by management in order to fulfil the significant role that they play in an organisation. The support required goes further than technical skill and training but moves into the emotional well being of the agent. The emphasis shifts from the agent providing a service to the customers and the organisation and moves from the organisation providing its agents with the recognition and incentives to motivate them to strive for their very best at their jobs. / Thesis (MBA)-University of Natal, 2003.

Background This thesis explores processes involved in stakeholders’ attempts to secure sustainability of three short-term funded community health initiatives known as healthy living centres (HLCs). The overall aim was to identify and examine development of sustainability strategies in Scottish HLC organisations. In contrast to retrospective accounts examining influences on extent of sustainability little is known about how this concept is considered by organisations approaching the end of funding. Organisational development theorising has focused on organisational change, with no attention given to sustainability processes in short-term funded organisations. Building on a concurrent longitudinal evaluation of a larger sample of HLCs, the temporal nature of this PhD study offered scope to explore development of, influences on and changes to stakeholders’ sustainability strategies over time. Methods The study used a qualitative evaluation methodology. A case study approach framed the HLCs, permitting comparison between sites. An ethnographic approach using observations and in-depth interviews was employed. Interviews were undertaken with stakeholders (comprising managers, staff, partners and board members) from each HLC. Managers were interviewed on several occasions. Latterly, interviews were undertaken with respondents holding policy, practice and funding posts. A thematic analysis, informed by grounded theory, was carried out. This used a constant comparative methodology to understand the data against the backdrop of the PhD study aims and wider literature. Findings Findings examine stakeholders’ accounts of the impact of a range of issues on HLC sustainability strategies. These are located in the context of health and community sector restructuring. Especially challenging were: efforts to secure local partners and further lottery funding; consideration of new funding criteria and models of service delivery; and limitations in demonstrating effectiveness. Addressing such challenges, managers’ strategic positioning signified attempts to influence HLCs’ fit within local health structures. Stakeholders’ accounts highlighted attempts to secure continuation of HLCs’ original identity; ensuring continued accessibility of Centres to local communities; and, seeking continuation of developmental methods of work. External respondents’ perspectives illuminated how policy-driven changes restricted system-wide attention to HLC sustainability. Latterly, Government-provided funding offered a short-term fix, enabling continuation of attempts to secure sustainability. Conclusions and implications This study offers new perspectives on the temporal exploration of sustainability of shortterm funded health initiatives. Analysis of stakeholders’ accounts over time provides insight into the effects of restructuring and ways in which system-wide flux impacted on influences known to enhance the likelihood of sustainability. Recommendations address programme design and wider responsibilities of health system actors in positioning and considering a future for such organisations after short-term funding ends.

The aim of this study was to outline the importance of Junior Traffic Training Centres in both primary and secondary schools. This would aid the effective integration of Traffic Safety Education in the school curriculum within outcomes-based education. The primary objective of this research was to determine the ways in which Junior Traffic Training Centres at schools are instrumental in the development of knowledge, skills and attitudes of learners towards safe participation in traffic environment. This research was conducted by means of a literature study and an empirical investigation through a questionnaire and observations. Investigation focused on learners from three schools, namely Maheelo Primary School (a farm school at Hartbeesfontein), Gaenthone Secondary School (a semi-rural school in Tigane Township near Hartbeesfontein) and Phaladi Combined School situated in Ikageng Township. It was found that more emphasis should be placed on pedestrian education. Learners should be taught traffic safety from pre-school, with the help of Junior Traffic Training Centres. Ten recommendations are made in Section 7.5. These include more training in Traffic Safety Education and that focus must be placed on disadvantaged areas; that government should avail trained teachers in Traffic Safety Education; and that schools must have access to Junior Traffic Training Centres. This study is of significance to the North West Province and the South African society because each day we lose learners through road accidents. This does not only cost the government money but is also painful to all of us. This study maintains that teaching our learners road safety education could contribute towards overcoming this situation. / Thesis (M.Ed.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2004.

Parmi les minorités présentes au Canada, les communautés Premières Nations ont longtemps vécu et continuent à vivre des expériences qui les placent aux marges de la société canadienne. Récemment pourtant, une éclaircie est apparue, notamment en ce qui concerne les Centres Jeunesse au Québec. Des dispositifs ont ainsi été mis en place pour aider les intervenants à prendre des décisions qui prennent davantage en compte les réalités culturelles des communautés Premières Nations. Dans ce contexte, nous avons trouvé intéressant d’observer un de ces dispositifs pour comprendre où, quand et comment la culture Anishinaabeg des Premières Nations apparaît dans les décisions des intervenants quand ils sont confrontés à des situations de compromission et ce, aux stades de l’orientation et de l’application des mesures prises dans ce type de dossier. À partir d’une approche ethnométhodologique de notre matériau empirique (entretiens et observations participantes), nous avons ainsi pu tirer cinq grands enseignements au sujet du processus décisionnel qui est suivi en matière de compromission (par processus décisionnel, nous n’entendons pas les décisions liées à l’évaluation du dossier mais seulement celles qui touchent à l’orientation et à l’application des mesures prises dans ledit dossier) : 1) La culture Anishinaabeg des Premières Nations prend différents visages selon l’acteur professionnel qui la mobilise et le contexte dans lequel il la mobilise ; 2) La culture Anishinaabeg des Premières Nations joue différents rôles (secondaire ou absent) dans le processus décisionnel en matière de compromission ; 3) Quand la culture Anishinaabeg des Premières Nations joue un rôle informel dans le processus décisionnel en matière de compromission, elle se fait toujours dans une approche différencialiste; 4) Quand la culture « blanche » joue un rôle formel ou informel dans le processus décisionnel en matière de compromission, elle se fait toujours dans une approche normalisante; et 5) Qu’elles soient formelles ou informelles, les approches différencialiste et normalisante présentent des impasses comme des ouvertures.

The Birth Centre is a midwife-led, out-of-hospital facility for normal births in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Exploring women’s experiences of choosing the Birth Centre was the primary objective for this thesis. Through a feminist perspective and using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA), each participant’s idiographic description of the decision-making experience was analysed. A sample of seventeen women participated in in-depth interviews. Six themes emerged through the qualitative analysis: Exercising personal agency; Making the decision in the context of relationships; An expression of one’s ideology; Really thinking it through; Fitting into the eligibility criteria; and The psychology of the space. The findings suggest that a woman’s sense of safety is related to these themes. The women had a normal birth influence in their lives from personal relationships, past experiences, or personal values and beliefs. The study highlighted the importance of access to midwifery services in order to increase awareness and access to the Birth Centre.

No description available.

When the African National Congress took power from the apartheid regime in 1994 it promised to transform the public service by eradicating the inequalities of the past in the provisioning of basic services. The ANC-led government aimed to be a people-centred one, and service delivery became the central focal point. For government to realise its goal of annihilating the inequalities of the past, it became imperative that services be provided in a transparent, coherent and representative manner to all citizens, particularly the previously marginalised communities. in order to promote efficiency, effectiveness, responsiveness and accountability, the government identified various alternative strategies that would enhance service delivery and bring it closer to the people. One of the strategies was to set up Multipurpose Community Centres (MPCCs), also known as Thusong Service Centres (TSCs), that were to serve as the vehicle to enhance service delivery. Although such a move was a noble one and brought hope to many impoverished South Africans, there are still challenges faced by government in the provision of basic services that culminated in recent violent service delivery protests that adversely affected the whole country. The purpose of the research was to determine if the establishment of the MPCCs as a vehicle in enhancing service delivery has made a difference in the lives of previously marginalized communities. This study, therefore, critically examines whether the already established Centres play a pivotal role in enhancing service delivery. The literature review revealed that successful public service transformation has to create a sound relationship between government and its constituencies, and that can be attained by meaningfully engaging the public in matters such as policy formulation, as such engagement will inform government on the kind of programmes to be initiated and implemented that will respond to the social and economic needs of citizens. It is crucial that government must be community owned so that citizens must not only see themselves as recipients of services but also as decision makers. The literature review further argues that government must recognise that its primary responsibility is to drive the delivery of services in an efficient, effective and economic manner. It is therefore crucial that public administrators be committed and accountable toward the community, expand customer choice of services, ensure that citizens get the best possible value for money, and that access to basic services is increased regardless of the locale. On the contrary, the empirical study revealed that the Centres are not effectively addressing the needs of communities. One of the reasons of the failure of these Centres is due to the fact that the establishment of some Centres there was lack of proper consultation with communities and other relevant stakeholders on what services need to be rendered. The study also revealed that some Centres do not have adequate physical and human resources, Centres are managed by managers that are not adequately trained in managerial skills. The study further revealed that lack of funding makes it impossible for these Centres and services rendered sustainable, and lack of communication and coordination of activities between departments utilising the Centres render integrated service delivery ineffective The research concludes by presenting recommendations that were carefully drawn from the analysis of the findings and the entire study, followed by a proposed model that provides a multifaceted approach that outlines an action plan in the delivery of services, and should serve as a guide to Government with regard to the implementation of strategies and policies for the betterment of lives of South African citizens, especially the previously marginalised. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2010.