Thesis (Ed. D.)--West Virginia University, 1999. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains vi, 117 p. : ill. (some col.). Vita. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 74-77).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 224-250).

Thesis (Ed. D.)--West Virginia University, 2001. / Title from document title page. Includes bibliographical references (p. 216-219).

Thesis (Ed. D.)--Columbia University, 1965. / Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 108-117).

Thesis (M. Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 109-111).

Educational reforms have been widely discussed across the world in the 21st century, and recent research suggests that teachers are the mediating agents in implementing educational reforms, particularly curriculum reforms. The eighth curriculum reform in China, which requires a paradigm shift from the teacher-dominated, knowledge-based transmission mode of teaching to the student-centered, experience-based inquiry mode of teaching, has greatly challenged teachers. Notwithstanding the great importance of teachers’ responses to China’s new curriculum reform, there is a little qualitative research that examines teachers’ responses to the new curriculum reform. The present study sets out to examine teachers’ responses to the new curriculum within the particular social, cultural and institutional context, and to explore the factors that might influence teachers’ responses through a qualitative multiple case study. Three dyads of mentor-mentee senior secondary English teachers in three schools at different levels in Beijing, China were selected as the main research participants. Data were collected over a period of time in each school through interviews, observations and analysis of documents such as teaching logs and students’ homework. Data were analyzed following a grounded approach in an iterative process to provide insights into the process of teachers’ implementation of the new curriculum and to ascertain the mediating factors impacting teachers’ responses. Findings from case studies reveal that secondary English teachers in China responded to the new curriculum reform at both cognitive and behavioral levels. These responses altogether triggered changes in teachers’ professional world, which constituted teachers’ professional growth. Grounded in Wenger’s theory of identity formation, this study suggests that the changes in teachers’ professional world mediated teachers’ professional identity reconstruction through the participative and reificative dual process of identification and negotiation of meanings, in which teachers’ competences, trajectories, and participation in the new curriculum implementation were negotiated. During this process, secondary English teachers reappropriated the meaning of secondary EFL teaching in China as a student-centered, individually selective, pedagogically integrating communicative and traditional methods, Chinese context-adapted, but still exam-oriented teaching process in relation to the curriculum reform, and also reclaimed that secondary EFL teachers need to be equipped with updated knowledge pool, be aware of individual needs, make compromises to seek a balance between the prescribed curriculum and teaching reality, and allow an interactive teacher-student relationship in response to the curriculum reform. Findings suggest that the process of teacher identity reconstruction was mediated through three-level factors, socially and culturally: national policies, institutional powers, and teachers’ personal factors. This study contributes to an understanding of teachers’ cognitive and behavioral actions and the interplay between the two in response to a paradigm-shift curriculum reform from a sociocultural perspective. It provides a theoretical lens, namely teacher identity formation to interpret teachers’ responses to the curriculum reform. Situated in a Chinese context where Confucius largely impacted the culture of teaching and learning, this study provides a fresh perspective on Chinese culture of teaching and learning, and raises positive voices from frontline teachers, suggesting that teachers’ responses to the curriculum are not simply mass resistant, but rather complex and dynamic. / published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

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The theory of evolution is relatively new to the majority of teachers who teach Life Sciences in South African schools. It was introduced into the Grade 12 Life Sciences curriculum in 2008. The purpose of this study was to examine the subject matter knowledge of Life Sciences teachers regarding the theory of evolution. Furthermore the study aimed at finding out about the challenges that the Life Sciences teachers encounter during the teaching of evolution to their learners and how they deal with those challenges. This study also aimed to contribute to the field of research regarding Life Sciences teacher’s understanding of the theory of evolution in a South African context. The focus of the research was on the teachers who were teaching Life Sciences at Grade 12 level in 2008. This study was underpinned by the conceptual framework developed by Lee Shulman (1986; 1987). Shulman (1986; 1987) argues that the subject matter knowledge should be the foundation for teaching. The research was conducted within the pragmatic paradigm. The data was collected from the Life Sciences teachers under Vulindlela Circuit in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal. The methods of collection included questionnaires and individual interviews with selected teachers. Quantitative data were analysed using SPSS while qualitative data were analysed using thematic content analysis. The findings indicated that the Life Sciences teachers who were enacting the new curriculum do possess some knowledge of the theory of evolution. However there were some gaps in their understanding of the concepts related to the theory of evolution by natural selection. Probably Life Science teachers will also increase their knowledge and levels of understanding of evolutionary concepts as they teach these year after year. This was evident from the scores of the teachers under the section of genetics. They scored high marks in this section because genetics was introduced into the Biology curriculum more than twenty years ago. Fossils, biogeography and natural selection were introduced in 2008, and teachers had much less knowledge about these topics than about genetics. This study also found that some teachers do encounter problems such as the views of students which contradict with that of evolution by natural selection. Teachers mentioned that they do not know how to handle such problems in the classroom during teaching in a manner that would not criticise religious beliefs of other learners. This study concluded that professional development of teachers in the form of workshops and in-service training should be an ongoing process within the Department of Education in order to help teachers with the ever-changing curriculum. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2012.

Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2007.

The purpose of this study was to explore how the National Curriculum Statements (NCS) Policy was interpreted by two provinces -the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal - from the macro to the meso level. The study further ascertains what happened during the training of national, provincial and district trainers and lastly how the educators realized and recognized the new curriculum, as they are the people who will implement the curriculum in their respective learning sites. There was a change of the curriculum from National Report 550 to NCS as per the mandate of the democratic Government of National Unity which promised better education for all in 1994. According to the principles of the NCS, teachers were supposed to make a paradigm shift in education from a teacher-centred approach to a learner-centred approach. The NCS was supposed to be implemented in grade 10 with effect from 2006 and the first product of the NCS .was in 2008. The researcher also tracked the recontextualisation process up to the matriculation results of 2008 in the uMzimkhulu circuit, which was integrated into KZN in 2006, with the result that educators were trained by both provinces. The study followed the interpretivist paradigm with the qualitative research methodology. The researcher sampled two officials from each province, two advisors and two educators as my primary sources and interviewed them using semi-structured interview format. The interviews were tape recorded and transcribed by the researcher. The data obtained was organized into themes. Grounded theory methods were used to collect and analyze data. The study collected data using participant observation, interviews, analysis of relevant documents and field notes.The findings of the study inform the responses given in interviews revealed that there was an urgent need for more in-service training, especially for both beginner and experienced teachers, as there is high teacher turnover due to the rural nature of Sisonke District. The DoE need to consider the issue of employing Subject Advisors as they are key role players to the implementation of the NCS, so as to workshop and do follow up support visits to the schools in order to monitor and support. The DoE has to conduct well-organized workshops on the new curriculum. Another finding was that teachers need to be consulted before the implementation of any new development to avoid negative responses. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2013.