This paper looks at the qualitative study of distance learning at Lesotho College of Education. In 2002 the college was tasked by the Government of Lesotho with the provision of distance education to unqualified and under-qualified teachers. It is the experiences, feelings and observations of the professional learners as they progress through the distance teacher education programme. It looks at the internal quality assurance process within the college. Student support is enhanced by short contact sessions on a weekend at centre level where tutors provide assistance once a month. All professional learners meet at the college at the end of each semester for a week long contact session followed by the examinations. Semi-structured interviews were used to elicit experiences, feelings and observations about the programme. The results indicate that whilst there are challenges, there are lots of positives within the programme. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / gm2014 / Science, Mathematics and Technology Education / unrestricted

Aims The aims of this study were to increase community pharmacists’ willingness and confidence to provide consultations for people with depression, and to enhance patients’ awareness of the pharmacists’ developing role. Research Design To observe pharmacist-patient consultations, the researcher developed a patient scenario. Pharmacist knowledge and attitude questionnaires were adapted, and a skills observation checklist was developed. Assessments of patient satisfaction levels took place before and after pharmacist training, which included a simulated consultation and action planning. The consultations were both video recorded and observed. Participants undertook a short interview with the researcher and each pharmacist developed his/her own plan for continuing professional development (CPD). An exploration of the interview transcripts was undertaken qualitatively. A University Ethics Panel approved the project. Results There were twenty-two pharmacists who took part in the study, comprising eighteen males and four females. MPharm students comprised one female and two males, and community pharmacists made up three females and sixteen males. The quantitative results: It was found that pharmacists possessed appropriate knowledge (the mean score was 75%, which showed that the pharmacists were aware of the safety and action of anti-depressants). The mean score for attitude was 54%, which tends towards the positive. When observing the simulated consultations, the mean score for initiating a consultation session was recorded at 28%. This indicates that the pharmacists were not very interested in initiating rapport with patients. However, the highest mean score calculated was 61%, which corresponded with closing a consultation. For data collection and action, the mean scores were 42% and 35%, respectively, and this indicates the need for improvement in these areas. The qualitative findings: The pharmacists demonstrated good knowledge about anti-depressants and held positive attitudes towards people with depression. However, the pharmacists were not very willing to exercise the responsibilities of their extended role or provide additional services for patients. The pharmacists lacked certain skills and opportunities to be able to enhance the patients’ satisfaction. The pharmacists in this study needed to improve their soft skills in some areas and engage in mutual discussion with patients in order to enhance patients’ expectations with the service provided. Conclusion/discussion The knowledge and attitude of pharmacists were good, but their consultation skills could be improved. Although simulated consultation allowed pharmacists to review their skills and practice the apparent impact on patient care was limited. This study has enable greater understanding of pharmacist strategies when consulting people with depression, and the findings could be used by those developing training programmes for enhancing pharmacists skills.

Published Article / The paper reports on a Learn 2.0 technology that was used to support the continuing professional development of mathematics teachers at a secondary school. Design Based Research methods were used within a Multiphase Mixed Methods research framework to create professional development opportunities that were subsequently monitored by Social Network Analysis techniques. We demonstrate that Learn 2.0 technologies can indeed support the continuing professional development of teachers and improve their performance, and also that Social Network Analysis is an effective method to describe, comprehend, clarify and transparently monitor teacher engagement during online professional development activities. We identify 'participation' as a key pre-determinant to success.

This study investigated the effectiveness of staff training and development programmes and policies at the Unisa Library. The aim of the study was to establish how staff training and development needs were met and also how staff felt about the centralisation of the Human Resources Department. Self-administered questionnaires were distributed among the Unisa Library staff including the Unisa Branch Libraries. Interviews with four divisional managers were also conducted. Staff development is an ongoing process that, by means of a systematic approach, serves to orient, train, and develop each member of the library staff to work together and to serve their customers with the skills necessary to deliver a quality service. As a result, training can be viewed as an essential vehicle to efficient and effective performance by staff and also as a process that develops the skills, awareness or expertise of staff. This is important for both professional and non-professional employees. Chapter one of this dissertation provided the orientation of this study. Chapter two looked at how the study was conducted, including the research design and methods. Chapter three provided information on the legal aspects of training and development in the workplace and what employees need to be aware of and to know. Chapter four dealt with staff training and development and a literature survey. Chapter five gave an analysis and interpretation of the research findings. Chapter six described the situation at Unisa with respect to staff training and development, while in chapter seven recommendations were made based on the findings of this study. It was found that the personal development of staff was hindered as only job - related training is supported by the Library's STD workgroup. It is recommended that a training needs analysis be compiled in the Library based on the individual staff training requirements expressed during annual performance appraisals. Fifty percent of the staff who were surveyed thought it was good to centralise the Human Resources Department. / Information Science / M. A. (Information Science)

This study focussed on teacher training in the context of distance education. It investigated the impact on practice of an English methodology course offered by Unisa’s Department of English Studies at certificate level. The unit of analysis was a group of eight student teachers registered for the module ACEEN26 Teaching English: General Principles offered by Unisa’s Department of English Studies. This module aims to help students to understand the approaches that underpin Outcomes-based Education (OBE) and how these translate into practice in the English First Additional Language (FAL) classrooms. To investigate the participants’ classroom practices, the study adopted an open and inductive approach aimed at gauging their thinking with regard to teaching, learning, assessment and how these understandings reflected OBE practices. The aim was to determine how the eight students made sense of this phenomenon given their own epistemologies within the unique contexts in which they worked. Data collection consisted of a mix of lesson observations, in-depth audio-taped interviews and analysis of documents. The interview was the main data-gathering technique. All these instruments were supplemented by field notes based on informal observations which were entered in a reflective journal. The picture that emerged was of teachers who worked under demanding conditions as they tried to implement complex and sometimes contradictory policies and were constantly under the pressure of policy demands. Their practices were, to a large extent, inconsistent with the OBE approach to teaching and learning. Although they gained some theoretical surface knowledge from the course, the students’ practice remained traditional because of two main reasons emanating from the findings: their inability to internalise the theory to make it an integral part of their mental repertoire and the negative impact of disabling contextual factors.The study constituted an evaluation of the course and therefore fed directly into the whole concept of dialogue and student support which are necessary prerequisites for success in distance education. As a teacher educator, this research was also a way of illuminating my teaching practices through practical research that simultaneously informs the field of teacher education. Based on the training needs identified, a re-contextualised curriculum for the ACE English programme was proposed. This proposed new programme reflects my stance that instead of continuing to focus on pouring resources into dysfunctional schools, we should concentrate on the lowest denominator in the system — the teacher. / Educational Studies / D. Litt. et Phil (English)

The study sought to gain an in-depth understanding of the knowledge and skills regarding rehabilitation of mental health care users of nurses who work at a psychiatric rehabilitation centre, in order to design a continuing professional development plan for registered and enrolled nurses. The researcher used a qualitative, exploratory descriptive design to explore the knowledge and skills of nurses who practise in a psychiatric rehabilitation centre dealing with the rehabilitation of mental health care users. Four themes emerged from the data that were collected from four focus groups: knowledge of the rehabilitation process; the need for continuing professional development; nursing skills required for the implementation of psychiatric rehabilitation and means of communication within psychiatric rehabilitation. The researcher devised a continuing professional development plan, including topics on the management of the mentally ill, the problems associated with mental illness and rehabilitation appropriate to the mental illness. / Health Studies / M. A. (Health Studies)

The purpose of this study was to explore the practices, perceptions and needs of nurses in relation to their participation in continuing professional development. A quantitative descriptive study was conducted guided by Knowles’ Adult Learning Theory as the conceptual framework. Data collection was done using a structured self-administered questionnaire with a sample of 178 nurses. The findings revealed that the respondents perceived continuing professional development as important. However the study found minimal involvement of nurses during the initial stages of designing continuing professional development programmes and this may lead to incorrect identification of learning needs. Personal, organisational and professional factors were identified as barriers to nurses’ participation in continuing professional development. Preparation of nurses in advance and the use of teaching strategies that recognise past experience and adults as resources were found to increase nurses’ participation in continuing professional development programmes / Health Studies / M.A. (Health Studies)

The main theme of the study is exploring and understanding the impact of an innovative continuing professional development model for integrating ICT into classroom pedagogy. The focus is on the relationship between teachers’ beliefs, knowledge and pedagogic practice in the process of developing and adopting new knowledge and skills to cope with 21st century education. The study explores the 'future schools' primary teachers’ education, in-service training, status, beliefs, knowledge, and skills of using ICT in practice in the Kuwait context. The finding from the exploratory study shows that teachers’ lack of Technological, Pedagogical and Content knowledge TPACK and that this impacts on their capacity to improve their pedagogic practice. The study applied a social-constructivist approach to understand the process of change in the nine participants' teachers' beliefs, knowledge through an innovative continuing professional development model, and stimulating teachers to develop a reflective practice skills focusing on improving pedagogic practice and using ICT. A case study approach was used as the methodology of the study to develop an understanding of the process of change in the nine participant teachers' reflection on and experienced of the effects of adopting alternative pedagogic practice and integrating ICT. The numerous small findings from the quantitative and qualitative methods applied to the six months of continuing professional development involving nine primary teachers come under four main themes: 1) In-service teachers' beliefs and knowledge development, 2) Classroom pedagogy for autonomy with ICT integration, 3) Constraints affecting future schools’ teachers' integration of ICT, and 4) The key principles of an RP-BCPD model for teachers CPD in Kuwait. The understandings from the findings of the study show that the quality of the CPD for improving teachers' pedagogic practice is affected by the socio-cultural context of the 'future schools'. The study shows that the nine participant teachers can develop effective alternative pedagogic practice and successfully integrate ICT, when they are empowered to reflect, inquire into their practice, and learn from each other and from cross-cultural best practice. The unique finding of the study indicated that the nine participant teachers experiences some difficulties with engaging in the change process because of classroom cultural context such as: teachers' TPACK knowledge and competences, curriculum overload, and classroom size. Finally, the finding shows that providing the participant teachers with reflective practice as the base of CPD programme within schools context linked learning theory to improve pedagogic practice.

本研究旨在探討幼稚園園長持續專業發展與園長專業能力的關係。本研究方法為文獻分析法、問卷調查法及同步訪談。問卷調查樣本以台灣地區宜蘭縣、基隆市、台北縣、台北市、桃園縣之公私立幼稚園園長為研究對象，共592人，樣本回收297份，可用296份，可用率達50％。訪談對象為3位現職之公私立幼稚園園長。研究工具包含「幼稚園園長持續專業發展調查問卷」、「幼稚園園長專業能力調查問卷」「幼稚園園長持續專業發展之研究訪談大綱」。本研究統計方法為描述性統計、t考驗、單因子變異數分析、皮爾森積差相關分析、多元逐步迴歸分析及內容分析等方法進行分析討論。根據研究結果及分析後歸納之研究結論如下： 一、幼稚園園長持續專業發展，以「確認及分析持續專業發展需求」向度得分最高，而「監控及評估持續專業發展後之影響」向度得分最低 二、幼稚園園長專業能力的現況得分程度佳，並以「專業責任」能力表現最佳 三、園長背景變項中，年齡、園所性質對知覺園長持續專業發展的差異達顯著水準，但最高學歷、服務年資、園所區域未達顯著差異 四、園長背景變項中，年齡、服務年資、園所性質，對知覺園長專業能力的差異達顯著水準，最高學歷、園所區域未達顯著差異 五、幼稚園園長對持續專業發展得分程度高分組者，在園長專業能力的得分顯著優於中、低分組，中分組又顯著優於低分組 六、園長持續專業發展與園長專業能力間呈顯著正相關 七、園長持續專業發展對園長專業能力具有預測作用 最後，本研究依研究結果，提出以下建議： 壹、對教育行政機關的建議 一、依班級規模建立園長專任制度，走向專責專職 二、建立園長儲訓制度與持續專業發展評估輔導機制 三、與學術機構合作，暢通持續專業發展管道 貳、對幼稚園園長的建議 一、檢視自我專業能力之優劣勢，作為進修研習之參考依據 二、組成參與園長專業社群，以增進經驗交流、互動與成長 / The main purpose of this research is to study the relationship of kindergarten directors’ continuing professional development and professional competence. The research methods used was literature analysis, questionnaires investigation, and synchronal interviews. The research instrument was distributed to 592 kindergarten directors in Yilan Country, Keelung Country, Taipei City, Taipei Country and Taoyuan Country and 296 valid samples were used in this study. The data obtained was interpreted using descriptive statistics, t-test, one-way ANOVA, Scheffé posteriori comparison, Pearson’s product-moment correlation, Multiple Regression and content analysis. The conclusions drawn from the study were as follows: 1. Kindergarten directors’ continuing professional development “identifying and analyzing the need of continuing professional development” rank first and “monitoring and evaluating effect of continuing professional development” rank last. 2. All the kindergarten directors’ professional competence received a positive outcome and “professional responsibility” ranks the highest. 3. The kindergarten directors’ background demography age and kindergarten category of public or private incurred a significant difference with all the directors’ continuing professional development. 4. The kindergarten directors’ background demography age, years of service and kindergarten category of public or private incurred a significant difference with all the directors’ continuing professional development. 5. Kindergarten directors who got high score on the continuing professional development were gotten better score in the professional competence than low and middle ones, who got middle score on the continuing professional development were gotten better score in the professional competence than low ones. 6. The kindergarten directors’ continuing professional development is positively correlated with the professional competence. 7. The kindergarten directors’ continuing professional development could positively predict. In the last, based on the research results, the researcher propose some suggestions for “Educational Administrative Agencies” and “kindergarten directors”, hoping to benefit the of the school principal preparation systems in the future.

This thesis explores the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) of mid-career artists in England and the South West of England in particular during 2000 to 2010. It identifies what their needs are and asks what CPD means to them; how they navigate their careers through their practice; how they articulate their needs; and how they negotiate to fulfil those needs. It examines to what extent the providers’ thinking about, and provision of, CPD in the region is aligned with the needs of the artists themselves. The individual narratives of artists are represented at the centre of this research. The research was developed in collaboration with University of Plymouth and the CPD agency, ArtsMatrix Ltd. Research methods used to collect data included extended dialogues with the artists Alyson Hallett, Mariele Neudecker, Helen Poynor and Phil Smith, via a series of walking interviews, using walking as an ethnographic research tool. By walking I engaged with a literal momentum of movement paralleling the physical and theoretical momentums of the artists’ practices. Policy and literature reviews; group interviews; artist interviews; desk-based research; observation and attendance at artist-led seminars and practice groups were also used. The research contrasts two CPD Schemes: The Contemporary Craft Fellowship Scheme, and The Artist as Cultural Agent: DIY. The thesis includes a policy and provision review of CPD literature in the UK and South West of England over the past ten years; a mapping of South West CPD provision for artists; and the identification and application of relevant theoretical and critical approaches to place, space, language and momentum in order to consider CPD provision in relation to the articulation, situation and concept of a career. This thesis argues that the language of CPD can constrain as much as enable artists’ development; that the terms “mid-career” and “South West” are open to contestation and can affect provider conceptualisations of artists in the region; and that artists need professional development throughout their careers but may not name it as such. I advocate for policy and provision to understand artists’ need to be supported “throughout” their practices rather than at certain points in a career, and advocate walking as both a research method and as one of a number of facilitative practices for those who provide CPD with or for experienced artists. I also advocate for artist-led CPD initiatives and an administrative support agency for artists.