M.A. / The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between career maturity and career decision-making self-efficacy expectations among disadvantaged Grade 12 students. Factor analysis was used for this purpose. The construct of career maturity was dealt with comprehensively by means of a theoretical review of the contributions made by Donald Super, John Crites and Ronelle Langley. The second construct, i.e., career decision-making self-efficacy expectations was covered by reviewing the contributions of Albert Bandura, Nancy Betz, Steven Brown, Gail Hackett and Robert Lent. Three measurement instruments were utilised, namely, the Biographical Questionnaire, the Career Development Questionnaire (CDQ) and the Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy Scale (CDMSES). The data was analysed by means of principal factor analysis with iterated communalities. The Scree-test and eigenvalues-greater-than-one criterion were used to determine the number of factors. The factors were obliquely rotated according to the Promax criterion. The factor analysis revealed that career maturity and career decisionmaking self-efficacy expectations are two distinguishable but empirically and conceptually related constructs. Although the CDQ and CDMSES and their respective sub-scales define two separate factors, the correlation between the factors show that they are not entirely independent. Factor analysis also revealed that the CDQ and CDMSES were valid and reliable measures of career maturity and career decision-making selfefficacy for a sample other than the white, middle-class samples. The results also show that the disadvantaged learner has a lower level of career maturity and career decision-making self-efficacy as compared to a normative high school sample and an affluent sample. These results were expected, especially in the light of South Africa's historical past. Changes in the economic environment may prove to be instrumental in changing perceptions about the world of work and attitudes towards career planning and choice. Researchers are challenged to implement programmes that will assist in the enhancement of career maturity and career decision-making self-efficacy ofthe disadvantaged learner.

The research presented in this thesis investigates challenges faced by principals in historically disadvantaged schools in terms of their role as instructional leaders facilitating the implementation of curriculum policies. The study consists of two parts. The first study sampled 25 school principals, 80 teachers and 11 department of education officials from the Uitenhage and Port Elizabeth education districts in the Eastern Cape. Data obtained in the first study were generated by administering a pen-and-paper questionnaire and individual interviews to selected participants. The second study employed an online questionnaire that was open to principals, teachers and departmental officials in all provinces of South Africa in order to generate data over as wide a geographic range as possible. Mixed methods were used to analyse the qualitative and quantitative data from the two studies. Thematic analysis techniques were employed to categorise qualitative data and the quantitative data were subjected to analytical techniques to provide descriptive and inferential statistics. The data revealed that school principals view themselves as change agents who should be in the forefront of change and curriculum implementation, and that they believe that they know what is expected of them in this regard. However, they recognise that they are not adequately prepared for the task of instructional leadership. The data also suggest that teachers have expectations that principals should be trained in instructional leadership and work closely with departmental officials in order to provide guidance and leadership at school level to address their professional needs. Problems related to capacity and skills of subject advisors and other district officials were revealed by the study. These issues are generally and informally recognised, but have not been formally raised within the Department of Education. The findings of the study also highlight the fact that, after nearly two decades in the new political dispensation, there are still vast differences within the South African schooling system between school types. These differences are most evident between ex-Model C schools and historically disadvantaged ex-DET schools, and it is recognised that principals in ex-DET schools need support tailored to their particular circumstances and context. The findings in this study support the notion that much needs to be done in South Africa in terms of empowering school principals; especially those from historically disadvantaged schools. The data provide insights into some of the constraints of local context, which enables better understandings of the challenges of instructional leadership in historically disadvantaged schools. These understandings should be of value when considering strategies to support principals in their role of instructional leaders.

This thesis is concerned with the education of children in care. Its analytic focus is on ways in which children in public care are and have been constructed by knowledge and policies that are embedded in the discourses that surround them. A literature review of empirical research conducted in the UK concludes that the dominant research strands and epistemologic studies in this area have failed to allow foregrounding and exploration of children's own accounts of their experiences at school as children in care. Other literature concerning policy and historical contexts is considered within subsequent analytic chapters where a Foucauldian approach is adopted. The empirical work reported is of the content of interviews conducted in schools with 27 children and young people who were in foster care. A Foucauldian perspective allows consideration of the fashion whereby practices of surveillance and "the gaze" construct children by adults. The children's accounts are foregrounded in the data chapters where, firstly, their experiences of adults are explicated in terms of the three mechanisms of surveillance that Foucault identified. Adults' writings about the children, particularly within Records of Needs that had been opened to delineate the special educational needs of some of the children, are described and the fashions whereby these too construct the children, often negatively, are exposed. A sometimes overpowering sense of public intrusion into the children's private lives permeated their accounts but the final data chapter considers the ways they utilised their own agency sometimes as a struggle to resist the markers of difference experienced. Here again their own stories are given prominence. The implications of these accounts lead to suggestions about how changes to adults' practices in their dealings with children in care could be introduced in a range of settings including schools, the meetings held about children and educational psychologists' activities where, fundamentally, a need for adults to display more genuine respect to children and young people is required.

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

No description available.

Research has demonstrated various ways of improving academic performance of students in public-school classrooms (e.g., Barrish, Saunders, & Wolf, 1969), some of which may be clinically effective but not practical within present school systems. A more practical method is the use of a program involving home-based contingencies. Home-based contingencies simply means that: When children are reinforced by their parents for their appropriate behavior and performance at school, school behavior and performance will improve (Broughton, Barton, & Owen;. 1981). The current study employed a program including home-based contingencies modeled after one created by Shumaker, Hovell, and Sherman (1977), and tested the program's effect on academic performance of disadvantaged middle school youths. The independent variable was the home-based contingency component of the program, and the dependent variables were daily report cards, grades, truancy, attendance, and archival data reflecting previous grades, truancy, and attendance. Results indicated that the home-based contingency program significantly increased appropriate school behavior (t(25) = 13.85, p<0.00), but, did not have any substantial impact on grades (t(2) = 1.53, p>0.08), truancy, or attendance.

Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education in the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Zululand = Proefskrif voorgele ter vervulling van die vereistes vir die graad DOCTOR EDUCATIONIS in die Fakulteit Opvoedkunde (Departement Psigopedagogiek) aan die UNIVERSITBT VAN ZOELOELAND, 1994 / Eng; = The aim of this investigation was to determine the awareness and capability of house parents in children's homes to meet the educative need of the children who have been entrusted to their care. An introductory historical overview was provided of the origin and development of children's homes in the Republic of South Africa with specific reference to the children's homes of the Dutch Reformed Church, as well as the "idealised" task of these homes. The admission of a child to a children's home was described in terms of the Child Care Act, Act No. 74 of 1983. Aspects that need to be considered when placing a child in a children's home, such as the child's cultural and religious affiliation and the distance from his parental home, were discussed. The fact that the child is admitted to the children's home as an educationally neglected child, was considered. By adopting the education situation as point of departure, educational neglect as the outcome of the inadequate realisation of educative intervention, was elucidated. The non-accountable interventional assistance of the child's own parents who are incapable, causes the child to experience the education relationships as impaired. Arising from this, the education sequence structures and the education activity structures are inadequately actualized. As outcome of the non-accountable educative intervention the normative image of adulthood which is strived for as educational aim, is not adequately realised and is posed as a delayed education aim. An own parental home with both parents available, was scrutinised. The importance of a happy and normal family life for the becoming child was discussed by referring among others, to the significance of the father and the mother in the education of the child. The group situatedness of the child in the children's home, which entails both positive and negative educative lived- experiences, was addressed. Attention was given to the special educative task of the house parents, which includes the physical, psychological and spiritual "re-education" of the child in the children's home. Sufficient physical care of the child is imperative for the creation of a basis for all other educative actions. The educationally neglected child's emotional education (affective education) shows a distorted image in becoming. The house parents' unconditional acceptance of the child and their willingness to provide assistance, aid and guidance, are necessary to winning his confidence and enabling him to live-experience acceptance. Through mutual trust and acceptance, and authoritative guidance the child experiences security. Certain aspects of the educational task of the house parents with regard to the cognitive education of the child, are highlighted. Through the support and guidance of the house parents, the child must be assisted in learning how to cope with his emotions. The child can only pay full attention to his school work and studies when he experiences a stable emotional life. Attention is also given to the moral education, soda} orientation and religious guidance of the child in the children's home. For the purpose of the empirical investigation, self-structured questionnaires were used. The questionnaires were completed by the principals (directors) and house parents of the children's homes of the Dutch Reformed Church in the Republic of South Africa. An analysis was done of 179 questionnaires completed by house parents, and twenty which were completed by the principals. The data thus obtained was processed and interpreted with descriptive and inferential statistics. In conclusion, the findings emanating from the literature study and the descriptive and inferential statistics were presented. Based on these findings, the following recommendations were made; Urgent attention must be given to further training of house parents and improved conditions of service for them. No house parent must be responsible for more than ten children. Educational support services must gradually be incorporated in the assistance and control over the children in the children's homes. Afr = 'n Eie auerhuis met albei auers teenwaardig, is bespreek. Die belangrikheid van 'n gelukkige en ncrmale gesin vir die volwaardige valwassewording van die kind is ender die loep geneem deur ondermeer na die ral van die vader en die moeder in die opvoeding van die kind te verwys. Die graepsgesitueerdheid van die kinderhuiskind wat sowel pasitiewe as negatiewe opvoedingsbelewenisse inhou, is aangespreek. 'n Beskrywing is gegee van die besondere opvoedingstaak van die huisauers ten aansien van die fisiese, pSlglese en geestelike "heropvoeding' van die kinderhuiskind. Toereikende fisiese versorging van die kind is onontbeerlik vir die daarstelling van 'n basis vir alle ander opvoedingsaktiwiteite. Die opvoedingsverwaarloosde kind se gevoelsopvoeding(affektiewe) apvoedingtoon'n wordingsgeremde beeld. Die huisouer se onvoorwaardelike aanvaarding, bereidwilligheid tot hulpverlening en steungewing is inderdaad voorwaarde vir die ontsluiting van vertroue en die belewing van aanvaarding by die kinderhuiskind. Deur wedersydse aanvaarding, vertraue en simpatieke gesagsleiding beleef die kind affektiewe gebargenheid. Sekere aspekte van die huisouer se apvoedingstaak rakende die kagnitiewe apvoeding van die kind is uitgelig. Deur middel van steungewing en leiding maet die kinderhuiskind gehelp word am beheer oar sy gevoelens te kry. Eers wanneer hy sy gevoelens as stabiel beleef, kan die kind sy volle aandag aan sy skoolwerk en studie gee. Aandag is oak aan die sedelike opvoeding, sosiale orUintering en religieuse leiding van die kinderhuiskind gegee. In die empiriese ondersoek is van selfgestruktureerde vraelyste as meetinstrumente gebruik gemaak. Die vraelyste is deur die hoofde (direkteure) van die Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk kinderhuise in die Republiek van Suid-Afrika voltooi. 'n Ontleding is gemaak van die 179 vraelyste wat deur die huisouers en 20 wat deur die kinderhuishoofde voltooi is. Die gegewens wat uit die vraelyste verkry is, is verwerk en geinterpreteer aan die hand van beskrywende en inferensiele statistiek. Ten slotte is sekere bevindings voortspruitend uit die Iiteratuurstudie, beskrywende en inferensiele statistiek aangebied. Na aanleiding van di~ bevindings is die volgende aanbevelings gemaak: Verdere opleiding van huisouers moet dringende aandag geniet en beter diensvoorwaardes moet vir huisouers beding word. Elke huisouer moet vir hoogstens tien kinders verantwoordelik wees. Opvoedingshulpdienste(Onderwysdepartemente) moettoenemend betrek word by hulpverlening aan en beheer oor die kinders in die kinderhuise. / University of Zululand

The purpose of this study was to investigate effective administrative support for successful teachers of urban at-risk students. The main difficulty in studying administrative support is that it comes in so many ways. Johnson’s (1990) theory of workplace variables and Butterworth's (1981) social exchange theory were the basis for this study. Failures of at-risk students threaten the well being of public schools and have become a generally recognized social problem of national priority. This study explores how principals act to influence the success of teachers as they work with at-risk students. It is grounded in the following four assumptions: 1. Administrators significantly influence workplace satisfaction (Butterworth, 1981; Sergiovani, 1991). 2. Workplace satisfaction directly affects quality of performance (Johnson, 1990; Lortie, 1975). 3. Teachers have a moral right to a satisfying workplace (Goodlad, 1984). 4. At-risk students are, in important ways, unique in their educational needs (Capuzzi & Gross, 1989; Chenoweth, 1993). Collection, analysis, and evaluation of data were guided by three research questions focusing on how uncommonly successful teachers of urban at-risk students perceive their administrative support, what these teachers recommend regarding administrative support and what these teachers recommend regarding preparation for teachers to teach at-risk students. The teachers were deemed successful by a combination of parental, student, teacher, and administrator evaluations (Peterson, Bennet, & Sherman, 1991). Thirty-nine teachers who had been recommended by their peers, parents, students, and building and central office administrators were sent letters inviting them to participate in this study. The first 18 who responded were interviewed using a 15 item protocol. Three were elementary teachers, 10 were middle school teachers, and 5 were high school teachers. Four of the 10 middle school teachers were from one middle school but the others were from a variety of schools. The elite interview technique proposed by Marshall and Rossman (1989) was used because it was felt that surveys do not elicit the depth of information desired and a single case study would not give enough breadth. The interview responses were analyzed both as individual documents and also an analysis by item was conducted. Twenty-two recommendations for aspiring and practicing administrators are listed and the eight main themes are listed. The results show specific kinds of support that can help teachers of at-risk students succeed: personal support, peer support, and training for both teachers and administrators. In general, the successful teachers felt that they did not receive adequate administrative support even though when asked the question “do you feel supported by your administrators?" some said "yes." The results also indicate that administrators need further training in both interpersonal skills and communication skills.

The present research was undertaken to determine whether a utilitarian method could be devised for directing and maintaining culturally disadvantaged students' attention to taped verbal lessons. Extraneous novel tone bell stimuli were inserted prior to the presentation of material about which the children were questioned. The purpose of the study was to learn whether the nature of the tone bell stimulus reflects the accuracy of responses due to attention having been directed to the lesson content. The author hypothesized that a combination of melody and rhythm would be most effective in attracting attention and, thus, in eliciting a greater number of correct responses.

The purpose of the present study was to examine the relationship between the tested intelligence of children in a public children’s shelter and the length of time these children had been institutionalized.