M.Ed. (Curriculum Studies) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the implementation of the new History curriculum at Grade 10 level of Further Education and Training band in the Qumbu district of the Eastern Cape Province. The focus of the study was on evaluating: (a) the extent to which the new History curriculum was implemented as intended; (b) concerns harboured by History educators in relation to the new History curriculum; and the (c) degree of support undertaken by principals in the implementation of the new History curriculum. A review of literature related to the implementation, evaluation and support in curriculum implementation was done. It was the basis for establishing a theoretical framework. The approach used in the study was the survey method. Data was gathered by means of a Stages of Concern (SoC) questionnaire and principal intervention questionnaire. The sample was made up of 15 educators from 15 high schools. The findings indicate that History educators have intense concerns about the new History curriculum. Also, the data shows that principals provide support during the implementation of the new History curriculum. However, the data indicates an occurrence of a disjuncture. It seems that there is no correlation between the intensity of educator concerns and the degree of support undertaken by the principals. It is acknowledged that due to the limitations of this study, further studies on curriculum implementation should be done. It should encapsulate the use of an interview schedule and observation method of data gathering. It is recommended that principals should be trained by the Eastern Cape Department of Education by using stages of concern as the diagnostic tool of evaluating the degree of curriculum implementation. Principals should undertake to provide relevant and effective support to educators during curriculum implementation. Support should be provided according to the findings of the study.

The past two to three decades have seen unprecedented expansion in enrolments in Universities across the world. Increased participation rates in Higher Education, however, has not been matched by a corresponding increase in success rates as reflected in students' poor retention rates and unsatisfactory outcomes. One strand of explanation claims that students, for a variety of reasons, come to university `unprepared' and suffer an articulation gap in the transition between high school and university; the other explanation seeks to move away from the deficit perspective and puts emphasis on the need to enrich experiences of students to enable them to exercise agency and change constraining circumstances in order to succeed. This study reports on one programme, a grounding programme known as the Life, Knowledge and Action (LKA) in one South African university. One of the central purposes of the LKA is to enrich students' first year experiences through liberating dialogue embedded in its pedagogical architecture. A sequential mixed methods study was carried out. A survey of first year students who had been exposed to the LKA was first carried out. This was followed by a case study of purposively selected first year students. Findings show that LKA promoted dialogue in varied ways depending on the level of the pedagogical architecture. At Umzi level students as peers across disciplines exchanged ideas freely about their circumstances and social issues. At the Ekhaya level where the abakwezeli (facilitators) were active, power dynamics emerged between students and the facilitators which had the effect of diminishing dialogical moments. At village level, there was not much discussion; instead there was a lot of lecturing. Dialogue was limited to a few minutes of discussion at the end of the lecture. The other finding was that seen from Archer's lens of morphogenetic analysis, the `articulation gap' can be seen as a structural constraint, that can be addressed through liberating dialogue which enables the students to question the status quo. There was evidence that through dialogue in the LKA, students felt that it liberated them in the sense that it exposed them to different perspectives as well as enabled them to explore alternatives. It can be concluded that through an appropriately designed dialogical pedagogy, students can be empowered to transform the structural constraints to their education and create enablers that can help them succeed in their learning. There is evidence that within the LKA pedagogical architecture, the students have the opportunity to take responsibility for their learning and thus enabled to exercise agency. It is recommended that the processes that take place at each level of the LKA architecture must be further studied with a view to discovering mechanisms at work that may undermine the liberating thrust of the programme. As a liberating core curriculum, LKA must not be limited to first year students; consideration must be given to roll it out across the levels of the undergraduate offerings.

M.Ed. (Curriculum studies) / The purpose of this study is primarily to establish whether or not the curriculum objectives of the primary schools in Davey ton are worthwhile. This study is prompted by the observation that pupils in Davey ton are reluctant to school and that they fail their examinations in area numbers. The rationale in this study is that learners become demotivated if they find the teaching learning activities incomprehensible or leaning less to them, that is, if they fail to interpret the learning experiences. In order to be meaningful and worthwhile, curriculum objectives (thus, the curriculum) must help people to meet their significant needs, such as helpin2 them to solve their social and economic problems, helping them to discover their potentials, helping them to find meaning in their life world, to pursue their goals, to lead a meaningful life and to survive. In short, to be relevant, curriculum objectives (thus the curriculum itself) must address the needs of the society wherein the schools operate. In evaluating the curriculum objectives, situation-analysis was conducted in order to find out what the community needs are. A random sampling of pupils, teachers, parents and some members of the community was done. Interviews were conducted. Pupils and teachers were asked to complete questionnaires. The results of the study indicated that the home and the school appear to be two different and incompatible worlds to the child's experience. What the child learns at school has no bearing~ to what the child experiences in the community or in real life. Learners seem to be unable to reconcile school learning with their practical daily experiences. The knowledge pupils gain from schools cannot help them to solve their social and economic problems. The learning in the schools is academically biased. Career education or vocational training is non-existent. Schools and parents do not co-operate. The most significant findings of this study is that the curriculum objectives of these schools do not address the needs of the community, and this casts's shadow of doubt whether pupils can really be motivated in pursuing studies wherein they find no solutions to the problems that beset them in their social, community or family lives. In the final chapter, recommendations are made on how to improve the curriculum objectives and how to make teaching learning activities in these schools meaningful and worthwhile.

Since the advent of democracy in 1994, there have been several turning points in South African education. One of the key changes has been the conception of Social Sciences (SS) – a learning area under the National Curriculum Statement of 2002. The structure of SS has undergone a significant change with regard to evolving from Human and Social Sciences (HSS) to its current state – SS. The DoE claims that the SS curriculum is the result of integration – a concept which has been widely accepted in the international community. The aim of this study was to investigate the views and pedagogy of SS teachers with reference to the concept of integration. I engaged in qualitative research and employed the interpretivist paradigm when analysing my data. Research instruments included semi-structured interviews, a picture identification session and a critical discourse analysis (CDA) of key SS policy documents which inform SS pedagogy. Data were analysed through the method of open-coding. The study concluded that integration has a multitude of meanings, and the conceptualisation and implementation of it differs from teacher to teacher. Integration has now become a generic concept which can be applied to socio-political, economic, educational and environmental spheres of the SS curriculum. For this reason I argue that the SS curriculum may not be foregrounded by the concept of integration, but rather an alternate disciplinary collaboration/s such as interdisciplinarity, pluridisciplinarity and multidisciplinarity. The different disciplinary collaborations has been investigated and applied to the SS curriculum within the South African educational context. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Edgewood, 2011.

Since the collapse of apartheid and the first democratic elections of 1994, education in South Africa has undergone fundamental transformation and part of this transformation was the reconstruction of the school curriculum. The new curriculum, known as Curriculum 2005 and developed in 1997, introduced Technology as a new learning area. This study is based on the inclusion of ‘indigenous technology and culture’, a new aspect introduced in a revision of Curriculum 2005. The broad goal of the study was to examine and explore pedagogic practice in relation to the inclusion of ‘indigenous technology and culture’ in the revised National Curriculum Statement for Technology. The study was informed by an examination of literature pertaining to philosophy of technology, indigenous knowledge systems and technology education. The review of the literature highlighted the contested nature of ‘indigenous knowledge systems’. Philosophies on the nature of technological knowledge were reviewed in order to explore the meaning of ‘technology’, and a comparative review of curriculum reform in regard to technology education in various parts of the world was conducted. This study presented an attempt to determine the rationale for the inclusion of ‘indigenous technology and culture’ in the revised National Curriculum Statement for Technology in South Africa and to explore and examine what teachers’ existing practices were in this regard. It also examined a process of participatory co-engagement with a focus group of teachers. This process was an attempt to implement ‘indigenous technology and culture’ of the curriculum in a more meaningful way. A case study approach using an in-depth, interpretive design was used. A questionnaire, document analysis, interviews and focus group discussions were used to conduct the investigation. What emerged from the data analysis was that there was unanimous support for the inclusion of ‘indigenous technology and culture’ in the technology curriculum, but implementation had been problematic. This was partly due to difficulties with the interpretation of this aspect in the curriculum as well as a lack of meaningful teaching and learning for various reasons. The study revealed that teachers face multiple dilemmas in implementing ‘indigenous technology and culture’ as an assessment standard. These dilemmas are pedagogical, political, conceptual, professional and cultural in nature. The intentions of the study were to build a comprehensive understanding of ‘indigenous technology and culture’ and to determine how a focus group of teachers were dealing with this new inclusion. The interpretive study concluded with implications and recommendations for further studies.

“Arts in education are arts that play a radical different role in the open classroom than traditional school. Arts are the real business of reading, writing, math or science” Siberman cited in Mark, (1995:160). This view by Siberman sharply contrasts with my observations in my school. During CASS moderation sessions, teachers bring learner portfolios with no learning activities, others prefer to teach learning areas they are qualified for rather than teaching Arts and Culture because they have no background knowledge in Arts and Culture. The question I wrestled with was: what could be the challenges faced by the Arts and Culture teachers given the fact that training has been conducted since the inclusion of the learning area in the curriculum from 1999 to date? In an implementation evaluation study that I conducted among four schools in the Bizana Area of the Eastern Cape Province, I found out through participant observation, questionnaires and interviews from four sampled senior phase teachers, that some of the participants have stopped teaching Arts and Culture in their schools because ‘they do not know what to teach’. Through the use of a thematic content analysis approach, I found out that many teachers complain about their lack of background knowledge of the art forms and that there is limited time provided in the timetable to teach this learning area. Seemingly, there are still challenges in the implementation of the learning area in this district. The results indicate a serious need for formal training of the Arts and Culture teachers with proper qualifications in more than one art form.

In 2006, a new subject, Religion Studies (RS), was introduced in Grade 10 as an optional subject. It represents a major paradigm shift in education of religion at the public school level. Minimal research has been conducted on the factors influencing the choice of RS in Grade 10 by the learners, subject advisors, principal and educators. This subject might constitute an “easy option” to boost the learner’s performance. Former or “recycled Biblical Studies” educators may be available or even volunteer to teach this subject or they may have to be absorbed within the system. Ethics, morals, cross cultural respect and non-discrimination are critical for the development of the South African democracy. While RS is optional, it could play a critical role towards achieving these outcomes. This study restricted its focus to the Uitenhage District of the Province of the Eastern Cape. After careful consideration, the interpretive approach seemed to offer the best access to the kind of knowledge the researcher desired. A theoretical framework, that narrowly links rational choice with cultural reproduction theory, can prove to be inadequate. This study would be deficient if it was restricted to the family or home factors. Peer influence, self-efficacy or ability, utility value, motivation and teacher or school factors have to be included. The case study approach was used for this research.Semi-structured interviews were used to obtain qualitative responses from learners, from principals and educators whose schools are offering Religion Studies, and from subject advisors with oversight of this subject. This study discovered, inter alia, that learners did not have a real choice but were led to believe that RS was compulsory. The school has an influential role on a learner’s subject choice. Parental participation fluctuated from active to passive guidance. Learners saw RS as an easy subject and an aggregate booster. The school community both informs and influences the subject choice of learners. The peer influence of friends and fellow learners also featured in subject choice. RS teaches about religion and culture, respect, catalyses moral development, is enjoyable and easy to study but requires extensive reading. The limited diversity in RS classes did not allow for this respect to be tested. RS can catalyse the development of moral values. Despite this subject being an aggregate booster, learners enjoyed RS and therefore do well. After balancing the “costs and benefits,” according to rational choice theory, learners choose subjects with a utility value for their future career. RS opens the possibilities directly and indirectly. The majority of learners said that RS will assist them in their career path, not only narrowly in religious and pedagogical vocations but also more widely. RS could assist in careers with constituencies of religious diversity, in the medical field, human resources and journalism. RS fosters citizenship, non-discrimination and the rounded development of the learner and these objectives have attracted educators to teach RS. Learners enjoy RS, have self-efficacy, their performance ranges from good to well. Educators have a positive view of RS and contend that RS fosters respect, analytical, critical, constructive and lateral thinking. Principals were introduced to RS when it replaced Biblical Studies and much confusion between the two has ensued. RS is inclusive and also catalyses the development of morals. Principals emphasised the ongoing need for retraining of teachers through refresher courses, workshops and seminars and an involved role of the Department. Retraining would prevent the RS educator from being an “ad hoc teacher.” The Department has failed to act proactively in the introduction of RS as a new subject. Challenges lie in the integration of learning, essay writing skills and developing good model assessment tasks. Understanding RS terminology, confusion of RS with Biblical Studies, a shortage of resources, the vast content and the subject related methodology of RS are other concerns. All the stakeholder groups confirm this misperception. Researchers also concur with this finding. Biblical Studies educators have no advantage in RS but rather also necessitate retraining. RS, as a new subject with low intake, was not afforded all the requisite support. The number of schools offering RS is static. Provincial officials also reflect confusion of RS and Biblical Studies. The lack of staffing of the subject specialist at the National or Provincial level office is perturbing. Based on this study of the factors influencing the choice of Religious Studies in the FET Band, the following recommendations were made: Steps should be taken to ensure that learners be given a real choice Sharing of detailed information about the unique nature and outcomes of RS including its critical engagement Informed stakeholder groupings e.g. parents, educators, principal, SGB, community, Provincial and National Department of Education should not abuse their influential role of support by overt or covert compulsion Clarity between spiritual formation and catalysing moral development Educators should continue to foster enjoyment of RS Steps to be taken to facilitate integration of learning, developing essay writing skills and encourage good assessment tasks Increase diversity in class so that respect can be tested More information be given about direct and indirect career pathing Need for continual re-training through refresher courses, workshops and seminars Steps to be taken to address inadequate resources of RS Despite the “flattering” results for RS, efforts need to be taken by all the stakeholder groupings to ensure that learner’s competencies become a means in which RS markets itself Concerted on-going effort be made to clarify the confusion between RS and Biblical Studies That the Department assumes a more engaged role in RS Steps be taken by all the stakeholder groupings to encourage religious diversity in the RS class The National Department of Education has to staff both the National and Provincial Offices with well-equipped and highly motivated leaders.

The purpose of this dissertation was to evaluate the Mandarin Chinese course taught as a foreign language for distance learners through a review of distance education and how it applied in foreign language teaching, a learning package based on Unisa's Mandarin Chinese 1, a beginners' course, was fully discussed and demonstrated. An analysis was made of what had been utilised in the learning package and how each element helped distance learners to develop their language skills. Based on the course's learning outcomes, learning material, assessments and learning support, empirical research was done through focus group interviews and questionnaires to test the effectiveness of the Mandarin course. Analysis of the results suggested that: • Students needed to build up a more realistic expectation about learning Chinese. • Students' workloads needed to be re-examined and re-measured. • Certain students lacked learner autonomy. • Mandarin courses should be produced jointly with distance teaching institutions abroad. / Educational Studies / M.Ed. (Didactics)

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2001. / Some digitised pages may appear cut off due to the condition of the original hard copy. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The world of 'business learning' is changing dramatically and business sc'iools therefore need to respond differently to the demands of the market place, not only to survive, but to grow as well. To achieve this objective, feedback from students with regards to a course and lecturer form a part of the effective management and delivery of educational instruction, as evaluation of performance provides an important instrument in clarifying goals and standards and enhancing future performance. The focus of this study is, therefore, to determine firstly differences in the perceptions of students with regards to the teaching of Industrial and Social Relations within the MBA programme at the USB. The relevance of the research is that differences between students following the four programmes, namely full-time, part-time, modular English and modular Afrikaans, may affect their commitment to the subject, which in turn may affect the quality of the programme. Secondly, it is also necessary to compare the lecturer's objectives pertaining to his particular approach and course content, to the perceptions of the students and to establish the degree of congruence between these. To test the consistency of the evaluation process, a brief comparison of the four MBA classes of 2000 as a whole is made with the first class of 2001 completed at the time of writing. The sample groups were comprised of students who had completed the course evaluation questionnaire. This was voluntary in nature. The data collected was interpreted in terms of the Wilcoxan Rank Sum Test within a framework of fifty-six hypotheses. The hypotheses were formulated from theories relating to the course and students. There are however, a number of limitations contained in this study. The pertinent ones are that the course evaluation questionnaire used is the same for every course within the MBA programme. No distinction is made between the different subjects. The validity of the instrument may, therefore, be impaired and the results not entirely conclusive of students' views. The questionnaires were also completed unaided and it is possible that students did not interpret the questions correctly. This notwithstanding, the research within the parameters of this study points to some minor differences between the students of the four MBA programmes. More importantly, however, it identifies a very strong degree of congruence between the students' perceptions and the lecturer's objectives in the teaching of Industrial and Social Relations. These results have given the lecturer, apart from some general 'pointers' on how to improve the course, the assurance to continue with his present approach to the 'teaching' of Industrial and Social Relations within the MBA programme at the USB. This study should be seen merely as a preliminary trial, and all constraints notwithstanding, it should serve as a starting point for future research. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die wêreld van sakeonderrig verander dramaties en daarom is dit noodsaaklik dat bestuurskole anders begin optree teenoor die vereistes van die markplek, nie net om te oorleef nie, maar ook om te groei. Daarom is die terugvoering van studente met betrekking tot In program en die dosent In deel van die effektiewe bestuur en aanbieding van opvoedkundige opleiding. Die evalueringsproses is dus In belangrike instrument om doelstellings en standaarde te bepaal, en om toekomstige optrede te verbeter. Eerstens fokus die studie daarop om verskille in die persepsies van studente te bepaal ten opsigte van die opleiding van Arbeidsbetrekkinge en Sosiale Verhoudinge in die MBA-program van die USB. Die belangrikheid van dié navorsing is dat die verskillende studente van die vier MBA-programme, naamlik Voltyds, Deeltyds, Modulêr (Engels) en Modulêr (tweetalig), en hul toewyding tot die MBA-program daartoe aanleiding kan gee dat die kwaliteit van die program beïnvloed word. Tweedens is dit ook van belang om In vergelyking te tref tussen die doelwitte met betrekking tot die dosent se benadering en die programinhoud teenoor die persepsies van die studente, om In graad van analogie tussen dié twee te bevestig. Om die betroubaarheid van die evalueringsproses te bevestig, is In kort vergelyking getref tussen die MBA-klasse van 2000 in sy geheel, met dié van die eerste voltooide MBA-klas van 2001. Die vier groepe is saamgestel deur studente wie vrywillig die programevalueringsvraestel beantwoord het. Die inligting wat ingewin is, is volgens die Wilcoxan Rank Sum Test in In raamwerk van 56 hipoteses geïnterpreteer. Die hipotese is geformuleer uit teorieë wat op die program en die studente betrekking het. Daar is egter 'n aantal beperkings in die studie. Die belangrikste is die evalueringsvraestel, wat dieselfde is vir elke kursus wat in die MBA-program aangebied word. Geen onderskeiding is gemaak tussen die verskillende kursusse nie, en daarom is dit moontlik dat die validiteit van die instrument nie optimaal is en die resultate nie 'n korrekte aanduiding van studente se persepsies is nie. Die studente het die vraestelook sonder enige bystand voltooi, wat moontlik die korrekte interpretasie van vrae kon beïnvloed. Alhoewel die navorsing op klein verskille tussen die studente van die onderskeie MBA-programme dui, identifiseer dit 'n sterk graad van analogie tussen studente se persepsies en die dosent se doelwitte in die onderrig van Arbeidsbetrekkinge en Sosiale Verhoudinge. Hierdie resultate gee die dosent nie net algemene riglyne om die program te verbeter nie, maar ook die nodige versekering om voort te gaan met sy huidige benadering tot die onderrig van Arbeidsbetrekkinge en Sosiale Verhoudinge op die MBA-program van die USB. Hierdie studie moet gesien word as primêre navorsing. Hopelik sal dit as 'n beginpunt vir toekomstige navorsing dien.