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published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

M.Ed. / Science teachers in South Africa had to cope with the implementation of a host of new policies and curricula during the past years. New policies were implemented within a short space of time and teachers struggled to cope. The professional development teachers received during the implementation phase did not provide sufficient support to teachers and manifested in teacher overload, confusion and stress. For science teachers this resulted in lack of content knowledge, laboratory skills and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), to name a few. The consequence was learner underperformance in science during international and local assessments. The aim of this study is to add to current knowledge pertaining to the professional development of science teachers. The lived experiences of the science teachers during implementation of a new curriculum, their problems and needs, as well as the professional development that they received in their community of practice by keystone species were researched. A qualitative case study with a phenomenological flavour was chosen as research design. A single school was selected and data generated using interviews, observations, photos and artefacts. The findings suggest that the needs and problems of the science teachers in this case study are not sufficiently addressed through professional development programmes. No keystone species could be identified amongst the science teachers and the community of practice was found to be a pseudo-community of practice. The science teachers experienced problems with learner-centred teaching methods and practical investigations. In addition, there appears to be a general lack of applying shoestring science. The teachers experienced negative feelings and many of them lacked a sense of agency. To overcome the problems it is recommended that a community of practice be developed and nurtured for the science teachers. This should be supplemented by properly planned professional development programmes offering shoestring science, PCK and personal wellbeing programmes. The establishment of cluster groups (as ecologies of practice), in which Natural-, Life- and Physical Sciences teachers support one another, is also a recommendation of this study.

A research report submitted in partial fulfilment of the degree of the Masters degree in Education at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 15th March 2016 / In Lesotho the development of the Curriculum and Assessment Policy is considered a crucial milestone in the history of education in the country as it is the first official curriculum document to be published post-independence. The policy advocates an integrated approach with a merge of eleven subjects that were taught at primary school into five learning areas. Integrated curriculum is adopted as a means to make education relevant in an attempt to address the socio-economic needs of the country. Curriculum revision towards integrated curriculum is done in phases, and the process of implementing the new curriculum is currently at primary school level. In 2013 implementation started in grade one, two and three, it has moved progressively such that in 2015 implementation was in grade five. The aim of this research was therefore to explore challenges primary school teachers face in implementing integrated curriculum. This study intended to find out how grade three and grade five teachers’ interpret and enact integrated curriculum. The study followed a qualitative case study method in which six teachers from three schools participated. The data was gathered through semi structured interviews in order to find out how teachers understand integrated curriculum. To further understand how teachers interpret the curriculum lesson observations were conducted. The study was informed by Bernstein (1971) concepts of classification and framing as they provided the language for description of their pedagogic choices. The lessons were coded and classification and framing values were designated. The findings revealed that in two of the three schools the teachers attempted to implement the curriculum, however in terms of classification and framing their pedagogic understanding was limited and varied. The teachers’ understandings of integrated curriculum across the schools varied. Teachers in School A understood the curriculum to mean making links between everyday knowledge while the understanding of teachers in school B was interconnection between concepts across learning areas. In the third school the teachers were not implementing the curriculum; findings showed that they lacked understanding of integrated curriculum as all their lessons were strongly framed and classified. In all three schools the findings reflected that teachers’ pedagogic choices were related to their understanding and interpretation of the curriculum. Given this, there is still a need for further teacher development and follow up in schools. Key terms Curriculum reform, integrated curriculum, pedagogy

Chan Chi-chiu, Daniel. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 120-125). / Questionnaire also in Chinese. / Chapter I. --- INTRODUCTION / Chapter 1.1 --- Background of the Study --- p.1 / Chapter 1.2 --- Purposes of Study --- p.3 / Chapter 1.3 --- Framework of this Study --- p.8 / Chapter 1.4 --- Scopes and Congruence of Review --- p.12 / Chapter 1.5 --- Significance of the Study --- p.15 / Chapter II. --- LITERATURE REVIEW / Chapter 2.1 --- The Definition of Curriculum --- p.18 / Chapter 2.2.1 --- School-based Curriculum Development --- p.20 / Chapter 2.2.2 --- The Present Situation of Curriculum Development in Hong Kong --- p.26 / Chapter 2.2.3 --- The School-based Curriculum Project Scheme in Hong Kong --- p.27 / Chapter 2.3 --- "Educational Philosophy as Reflected from Knowledge, Culture, Individual and Learning Theory" --- p.30 / Chapter 2.4 --- Factors Affecting the Planning and Making of School-based Curriculum Projects --- p.42 / Chapter 2.5 --- Curriculum Materials Analysis --- p.53 / Chapter 2.6 --- Definitions of Terms --- p.55 / Chapter III. --- THE DESIGN OF THE STUDY / Chapter 3.1 --- Methodology --- p.59 / Chapter 3.2 --- Subjects --- p.61 / Chapter 3.3 --- Instruments --- p.61 / Chapter 3.4 --- Validity of the Study --- p.64 / Chapter 3.5 --- Data analysis --- p.66 / Chapter 3.6 --- Limitations of the Study --- p.67 / Chapter IV. --- FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION / Chapter 4.1 --- Realities in Perceiving the Nature of SBCD and the Aims of SBCPS --- p.69 / Chapter 4.2 --- The Educational Philosophy of the Participants in Developing School-based Curriculum Projects --- p.81 / Chapter 4.3 --- Factors Affecting the Participants during the Process of Developing the School-based Curriculum Projects --- p.86 / Chapter 4.4 --- The Characteristics and Qualities of School- based Curriculum Projects' Materials --- p.97 / Chapter 4.5 --- "The Congruence of the Findings in Input, Process and Output" --- p.108 / Chapter V. --- CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS --- p.113 / BIBLIOGRAPHY --- p.120 / APPENDIX