A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the Requirements for the degree of MA in Communication Science University of Zululand, 2002 / In this thesis I present my recommendations regarding the role of organisational com¬munication and record keeping in Outcomes-Based Education within the intermediate phase classroom. I reveal that the fundamental switch from the traditional educator-centred teaching to learner-centred teaching in Out-comes Based Education requires that both educators and learners be in command of a range of communication strategies in order to construct meaning in the real-world social contexts. It will also be illustrated that intra-personal, interpersonal and small group involvements are all essential for successful teaching and learning to take place. The importance of verbal as well as nonverbal communication skills are also given due attention. Outcomes-Based Education is based not on knowledge, but on how we think learning takes place. The focus is on the mind of the learner as an knaginer, an inventor, a creator of ideas. What is clearly evident with this approach is the manner in which learners constandv ne¬gotiate, renegotiate and construct their own meaning. The focus is on the individual and not on the group. With this in mind, we need to note that everyone learns differently and we need to assess accordingly. As educators we also need to recognise what learners have learnt and we need to find ways of acknowledging that learning has indeed taken place. Out-comes Based Education requires a cooperative method of teaching which allows for democracy in the classroom. Learners are allowed to contribute freely about their daily ex¬periences. Further to this I examine the forms of communication that learners and educators must be in command of to succeed in OBE. I further recommend tools that can be imple¬mented to successfully manage assessments in OBE classrooms. A flexible database of spread¬sheets will be presented which could be adapted to suit individual schools.

The concept of entrustable professional activities emerged as an attempt to overcome some of the criticisms to the competency-based medical education approach; it has had a broad impact in practice and health professions education research. It has been disseminated internationally with its English acronym: EPA. This approach proposes to orient assessment and teaching to specific activities in the profession, which allows the integration of several competencies, and to determine which responsibilities can be entrusted to the trainee, in a gradual and explicit manner. The model assumes the definition of levels of supervision that allow progressive autonomy for each EPA, in students or residents, once they demonstrate the required competencies. Practice, supervision and feedback in real clinical scenarios are key to the development of autonomy in EPA performance. The dissemination of the EPA approach is still limited in Latin America, but it has the potential to create a significant contribution to curriculum design and evaluation, and to assessment practices of health professionals across their careers. It provides a deep review of the assumptions under which healthcare professional practice decisions are made, at under and postgraduate levels. / Revisión por pares

Submitted to the Faculty of Education in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Education in the Departmrnt of Curriculum and Instructional Studies at the University of Zululand, 2006. / The present study examines educators' implementation of assessment in Outcomes-Based Education. The aim was to ascertain the extent to which educators use assessment methods, assessment tools, assessment techniques, forms (specific purposes) of assessment and reporting tools. Another aim was to determine whether educators' biographical factors (gender, teaching experience, qualification and teaching phase) have any influence on educators' usage of assessment methods, assessment tools, assessment techniques, forms (specific purposes) of assessment and reporting tools. To this end, a questionnaire was administered to a randomly selected sample of three hundred and three educators. The findings reveal that educators differ in the extent to which they use assessment methods. A very high percentage (66.3%) of educators report a moderate level of using assessment methods, 29.7% report a low usage level and 4% report a high usage level. The findings also indicate that educators' biographical factors have no influence on educators' usage of assessment methods. The findings show that educators differ in the extent to which they use assessment tools. A relatively high percentage (59.1%) of educators report a moderate level of using assessment tools, 6.2% report a low usage level and 34.7% report a high usage level. The findings further reveal that qualification and teaching phase have an influence on educators' usage of assessment tools. The findings reveal that educators differ in the extent to which they use assessment techniques. A high percentage (62.7%) of educators report a moderate level of using assessment techniques, 13.5% report a low usage level and 23.8% report a high usage level. The findings also indicate that teaching phase has an influence on educators' usage of assessment techniques. The findings show that educators differ in the extent to which they use forms (specific purposes) of assessment. A relatively high percentage (50.2%) of educators report a moderate level of using forms of assessment, 6.6% report a low usage level and 43.2% report a high usage level. The findings further indicate that educators' biographical factors have no influence on educators' usage of forms of assessment. The findings reveal that educators differ in the extent to which they use reporting tools. A high percentage (61.4%) of educators report a low level of using reporting tools, 34.6% report a moderate usage level and 4% report a high usage level. The findings also indicate that educators' biographical factors have no influence on educators' usage of reporting tools. On the basis of the findings of this study, a model for implementation process of assessment in OBE was proposed and recommended.

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Science, School of Education, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, in partial fulfilment of the award of Master of Science (MSc.) in Science Education May, 2016 / There have been indications of inadequate content knowledge of South African physical science teachers and poor pedagogical content knowledge in making the concepts accessible to students. With this, the pre-service teachers are considered a part of the science education foremost links to schools and young science learners. Empirically, it has been reported that this unique teacher knowledge could be developed particularly in pre-service teachers in a planning context and that the new technique of developing pre-service teachers’ PCK within a topic helps in their good mastery of teaching concepts and thus making them specialists in topics. The Topic Specific PCK (TSPCK) construct focuses on the transformation of the understanding of content of a particular topic. This study investigated the extent to which focus on kinematics improves pre-service teachers’ PCK in the topic and possible transferability of the learnt pedagogical competence to a new physics topic – electric circuits. Guiding this study were two research questions: What is the impact of the intervention on the quality of pre-service teachers’ Topic Specific PCK in Kinematics? To what extent is the preservice teachers’ learnt pedagogical transformation competence transferrable to their planning of a new topic in physics topic – Electric circuits? This study used mixed methods to investigate TSPCK in pre-service teachers. It was located in the methodology class of Twenty-three (23) 4th year physical science majors. The study included an intervention where the theoretical framework for TSPCK was used to introduce the construct in Kinematics. The intervention explains each of the five components of Topic Specific PCK using the knowledge concepts of Kinematics. Data were collected using three instruments: an instrument measuring content knowledge in kinematics; an instrument measuring the quality of Topic Specific PCK in kinematics administered as a set of pre/post intervention tests; and an instrument measuring transferability of learnt competence in planning for teaching a new topic electricity. The pre-service teachers’ written responses to the TSPCK kinematics tool were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively. Both methods of analysis revealed that the pre-service teachers improved in their quality of TSPCK in kinematics following the intervention. It was also found out that the pre-service teachers’ improvement in the quality of TSPCK in kinematics was as result of rigorous engagement with the TSPCK components at varying degrees. Similarly, on the topic of transfer, electricity which was not discussed during the intervention, TSPCK tool in electric circuits was administered to the pre-service teachers and few records of their actual classroom teaching were analyzed. This was done to examine possible transferability of learnt pedagogical transformation competence to the new physics topic of electricity. The findings revealed that the pre-service teachers had ‘developing level’ of TSPCK in the topic of transfer similar to the finding in the topic of kinematics. The study demonstrated that focus on a single topic in a methodology course will enable transfer to another topic provided the teachers have the pre-requisite content knowledge. The findings of this study would contribute to the training of the Physical science student teachers and specifically improve their planning of other physics topics to enhance effective teaching and learning process.

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. Johannesburg, 2017. / The potential for South African science teachers to become powerful agents of transformation needs to be explored. Speaking of Fensham's (2002) term “educo-politics” Aikenhead (2010) argues that, "all science teachers are constantly engaged in ‘educo-politics'” (Aikenhead, 2010:615). In this study I attempted to uncover some of the socially critical aspects of science and society related themes. This study investigated how science and society themes outlined in the Natural Sciences Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) (Department of Basic Education [DBE], 2011) are understood and valued by teachers. The study provides an account of how science teachers under the direction of the curriculum statement conceptualise the pedagogical use, and social value, of Specific Aim 3 in their regular teaching of Grade 9 Natural Sciences. The Science-Technology-Society- Environment (STSE) currents presented by Pedretti & Nazir (2011) provided a theoretical framework from which this inquiry was conducted and structured. This was a qualitative, small-scale study limited to 32 participants. The theoretical foundation of this study was influenced by the ideology and pedagogical frameworks which underpin science and society philosophies and movements in science education. An evaluation of the Natural Sciences CAPS (DBE, 2011) using such frameworks informed the development of the two research instruments used. A questionnaire was administered to 32 Grade 9 Natural Sciences teachers from government schools in the Johannesburg-West and Johannesburg-North districts in Gauteng. Three of the questionnaire participants were then interviewed using a semi-structured interview schedule. The participants varied in age, race demographics, distribution of home languages, professional qualifications and years of teaching experience. The schools where participants teach were varied in terms of demographics and available resources. The study found that participants did not communicate a clear understanding of the principles which form science and society in the Natural Sciences CAPS. Time constraints, deviation from science content and limited usefulness for science learning were commonly cited to justify limited science and society practices. Furthermore, participants regularly made statements which communicated their belief in the superiority of science in terms of its explanatory value. In this regard participants showed insensitivity to the cultural barriers students may experience when learning science. This study has contributed to our understanding of how South African science teachers conceptualise and use science as society themes as outlined in the Grade 9 Natural Sciences CAPS. The findings of this study confirmed that the effects and consequences of the prescriptive elements and nature of the Natural Sciences CAPS (DBE, 2011) need to be critically evaluated. Although curriculum reform in South Africa was intended to empower teachers in their decision-making about what and how to teach, over-reliance on work schedules and Learning Support Materials (LSMs) results in the constriction of teacher agency (Stoffels, 2008). Such tendencies were observed in this study and hence it is suggested that this aspect of teacher agency be explored in further research. KEY WORDS Science and Society Scientific literacy Humanistic science education Curriculum Teachers Science-Society-Technology Science-Society-Technology-Environment Socioscientific Issues / EM2018

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This study investigated the views of academic personnel at, and of employers associated with, six community colleges in Virginia and West Virginia regarding the desired amount and character of general education in two-year occupational programs. Specifically, the desired amount of general education was measured as the proportion--expressed as a percentage--of the total credit hours in a program the participants would dedicate to general education, compared to amounts desired for other curriculum components. Response to the primary research question--desired character of general education--was recorded as the emphasis placed on each of several general education competences and measured as a percentage of the general education effort to be devoted to each. Results of the analysis showed that academic personnel and employers are in substantial agreement on the amount of general education desired in a two-year occupational program--about 20-22 semester hours--and on the nature of that component: both would emphasize strongly communication skills and critical thinking and, to a lesser degree, vocational adjustment ability, mathematics skills, human relations skills, and a knowledge of science and economics. Academic personnel and employers would each place less emphasis on ethical sensitivity, knowledge of health and fitness, and political awareness. They would emphasize least a knowledge of art and literature, a global perspective, and a knowledge of history. Employers representing manufacturing, retail sales and non-profit enterprises are in essential agreement on these points. Among academic personnel, occupational faculty, particularly in the engineering technologies, desire less general education and put more emphasis on mathematics and critical thinking skills than do general education faculty. The study finds sufficient consensus among the groups surveyed to suggest that community colleges should move boldly forward to improve their general education programs. / Ed. D.

The infusion of special education students into general education programs has added to the expanding role of the high school principal. The purpose of this study was to identify competencies needed by high school principals and assistant principals to effectively develop, supervise, monitor, and evaluate school-based special education programs. Competency statements were generated from the literature and validated by a panel of experts. The final instrument containing thirty competency statements in eight function areas was administered to Virginia high school principals and assistant principals who were randomly selected from the <u>Virginia Educational Directory</u>. Respondents were asked to rate the individual competency statement using a five point index of value scale and to list the competency statements which should receive first, second, and third priority. Data were analyzed by descriptive statistics. The index of value rating for the competency statements were independent of the position of respondent. The selection of first priority statement was dependent on the position of the person generating the rating, while the second and third priority statements were independent of the person generating the rating. The findings of this study identified "rules for discipline", "select personnel", "implement due process", "enable improvement of instruction", and "implement programs according to regulations" as competency statements with the highest mean index of value. Principals identified the top priority statements as: "evaluation for referred students", "evaluate personnel", and "implement programs according to regulations". Assistant principals identified the top priority statements as "promote positive attitudes", "rules for discipline“, and "implement programs according to regulations". Recommendations for further research included task analysis of competency statements to identify performance indicators that could be used in administrative training programs; cooperation between the local and state education agencies and universities in the provision of special education administration skills infused into general education administration pre- and in-service training programs; and the use of Public Law 94-142, Education of the Handicapped Act, Part B State flow through funds and Part D State personnel preparation funds as financial resources. / Ed. D. / incomplete_metadata

Many colleges and training institutions have shifted to Competency-Based Education/Learning (CBE/L) after using the traditional time-credits approach. Students’ achievements and progress are accumulated, not only by credit hours for theoretical knowledge but also, through demonstrating their practical competences. In CBE/L, students are assessed based on their ability to perform specific tasks using the knowledge and skills (competencies) required for each task in their academic course, regardless of how long such progression might take. The traditional method of learning was time-based on course credits, which last for a specific period of time, and through which students are learning more theoretical knowledge than practical or applied knowledge and skills. This quantitative study was designed to establish whether CBE/L had a significant impact on students’ achievements in knowledge and skills based on their college and marketplace assessments. It has also explored whether the CBE/L approach had a significant impact on employers’ decisions to recruit CBE/L graduates in comparison with traditional credit-based graduates. A survey targeting Kuwait major workplaces has been conducted online and 442 replies was received in addition to the utilization and analysis of archiving data from Kuwait College for Technological Studies (CTS), Kuwait Civil Services Commission (KCSC), and Kuwait Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE). CTS has also provided the researcher with a large number of documents that show their planning, implementation, and follow-up processes, as well as their agreements with various workplace sectors and government entities. After conducting the analysis for the survey’s and archival data, the researcher concluded that CBE/L implementation at CTS had a significant impact in improving student’s competencies that enables them to perform their entry-level job tasks and duties. Such improvements in CTS graduated competencies have increased major workplaces satisfaction, trust, and confidence in CTS graduates which have reflected in their shorter waiting for employment periods compared to graduates from CTS before CBE/L implementation.

Thesis (MA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2005. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This research work has put into practice the theoretical framework of text construction advanced by Grabe and Kaplan (1996) for the analysis of South African female celebrities' texts in Xhosa. Theoretical elements employed in this study includes linguistic elements and the elements that are applicable to the structure of narrative texts. This framework can be included in teaching methods and approaches for the development of the learners' analytic skills in analyzing the discourse structure of written texts. These skills are to be acquired by learners, are part of the Curriculum 2005 and are meant specifically for the teaching and learning of languages. This study has employed a range of textlinguistic strategies for analyzing written genre texts on issues relating to female music artists and actresses. It is imperatively recommended that language teachers with the incorporation of Curriculum 2005 methodology can use these strategies in order to produce learners that are able to analyze texts successfully and who have an awareness about how language is used in text construction as a reflection of social activities. For the purpose of analysis in this thesis, texts from the Xhosa Bona magazine with contents ranging from acting careers and music artists has been collected. This study demonstrates that text analysis involves to a larger extent, an investigation of generic factors such as the communicative purpose, the culture and the community, and as well as the traumatic and exciting human experiences encountered by people in the society in which the text is produced. A broad definition of a narrative and a text will be established in the discussion of the generic features of texts. The text-linguistic construction, the analysis of linguistic structures, and the elements of the overall structure of narratives will be demonstrated in the analysis of Xhosa texts with emphasis on the discussion of the parameters of the ethnography of writing as proposed by Grabe and Kaplan (1996). The following questions are addressed by these parameters of the ethnography of writing: "Who writes what to whom. for what purpose. why. when and how?" In addition to these parameters the study addresses the elements of narratives based from the overall structure of narrative texts as proposed by Labov (1972). In Labov's framework the following elements are addressed: "the orientation section. the complication. the evaluation. the resolution and the coda". In addition to these elements examined the move structures will be explored as a way of summarising the facts and the message carried by the content of each Xhosa text written for the purpose of analysis. This study explores the implications and rationale for the incorporation of text analysis in language teaching and learning, as well as to explore the relationship between the theoretical underpinning of this study with the learning outcomes of Curriculum 2005 which have to be applied in language pedagogy. Finally, this study has proved that the theoretical framework of Grabe and Kaplan (1996) and the elements of the overall structure of narrative texts of Labov (1972) as employed in the written text construction, will introduce language teachers and learners into an effective language learning and teaching. This implies that the strategies acquired in this study can be employed in any analysis of written text in any language study as it has been explored in the analysis of Xhosa genre texts of South African female celebrities from a Xhosa Bona magazine. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie navorsing doen 'n praktiese toepassing van die teoretiese raamwerk van tekskontruksie soos voorgestaan deur Grabe en Kaplan (1996) in die analise van Xhosa tekste oor vroulike bekendes. Teoretiese elemente wat aangewend word in die navorsing sluit in tekslinguistiese elemente en die elemente wat toepaslik is tot die struktuur van narratiewe tekste. Hierdie raamwerk kan gebruik word in taalonderrigmetodes en benaderings gerig op die ontwikkeling van leerders se analitiese vaardighede in die analise van die diskoersstruktuur van skriftelike tekste. Hierdie vaardighede wat verwerf moet word deur leerders, is gespesifiseer in Kurrikulum 2005 vir die leerarea tale. Die studie wend 'n verskeidenheid tekslinguistiese strategieë aan in die analise van geskrewe genre-tekste oor vraagstukke rakende vroulike musiekkunstenaars en aktrises. Daar word aanbeveel in die studie dat taalonderwysers, deur die toepaslike metodologie in Kurrikulum 2005, hierdie strategieë aanwend ten einde leerders te lewer wat in staat is om tekste suksesvol te analiseer, en wat 'n bewussyn het van hoe taal gebruik word in tekskonstruksie as 'n refleksie van sosiale en kommunikatiewe doelstelling. Vir die doel van die analises in hierdie studie, is 'n verskeidenheid Xhsoa tekste oor bekende vroulike musici en aktrises gekies uit die BONA tydskrif. Hierdie studie demonstreer dat teksanalise 'n ondersoek behels na die teks-generiese faktore, die kommunikatiewe doelstelling, en die sosiale en kulturele konteks en die traumatiese en opwindende ervarings ervaar deur mense in die gemeenskap waarin die teks geproduseer word. 'n Breë definisie van narratief en teks sal gegee word in die bespreking van die generiese kenmerke van tekste. Die tekslinguistiese konstruksie, die analise van linguistiese strukture, en die elemente van die geheelstruktuur van narratiewe, sal gedemonstreer word in die analise van die Xhosa-tekste met klem op die parameters in die etnografie van skryf soos voorgestel deur Grabe en Kaplan (1996): Wie skryf wat aan wie vir watter doel, waarom, wanneer. Bykomend tot hierdie parameters, ondersoek hierdie studie die globale elemente van narratiewe gebaseer op Labov (1972), die orientasie, die komplikasie, die evaluasie, die resolusie, en die koda. Bykomend sal die kognitiewe of retoriese skuifstrukture ook ondersoek word.