Bibliography: leaves 265-271. / The study was designed to investigate the structure and function of informal day care provision for pre-school children in Khayelitsha, but the inquiry succeeded in generating information beyond the original assignment. Data was gathered from interviews with active in the day care field and from local agencies meetings with residents in Khayelitsha, as well as from a field study carried out in Khayelitsha. A review of international and local literature was also undertaken. A brief history of black settlement in the Western Cape and an examination of their socio-cultural environment provided the necessary backdrop for the study. The field study involved systematic selection of 200 houses in Khayelitsha. Respondents completed a questionnaire administered by the investigator. The questionnaire furnished information on the use of day care and produced a profile of day carers and the services they offered. A similar questionnaire was used to collect information from the pre-school centre. Analysis of the data revealed that child rearing practices differed from those of technologically advanced societies, but they were not deficient! The findings demonstrated that parents preferred day care in the home setting to that of the school setting. The pattern of day care services accentuates the importance of mutual aid and kinship and social networks in the community. Day care arrangements tended to be stable and were provided predominantly by relatives, friends and neighbours. The frequency with which day care services were required, corresponded to the work commitments of the parents, and usually involved overnight care. The pre-school centre operated during the weekdays from 7.30 am to 4.30 pm, with after-school care frequently undertaken by older siblings. The findings reveal that day carers function as surrogate mothers and incorporate the children into their families. The data collected with regard to suitability of the service offered, relates to physical needs, emotional needs, discipline and promoting readiness for the future, and emphasizes the universal poverty that abounds in the area, but simultaneously highlights the importance of traditions and the resourcefulness of the people in transcending the culture of poverty and providing an enriching environment for the children. The recommendations draw attention to the need for finance, training and supportive services, but recognises the justified resistance of the community to initiatives from the State.

M.A. (Social Work) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

This thesis examines socialization in the homes and crèches of a rural area in a time of change. Change which is controlled and initiated from outside the local context, creates a dilemma for socialization agents when it introduces a knowledge paradigm different from that operating locally. Rural South African communities frequently experience exogenous change. The introduction of rural preschools, locally known as crèches, provides one example of such change challenging local socialization agents. While rural residents may not operate within knowledge paradigms to deal effectively with such change, they are not necessarily defeated by it. They "grapple" with the uncertainty, developing ways of coping and containing the change. This forms the focus of this thesis. Vygotsky's concept of mediation and conceptualization of the individual/society relationship, informs the examination of "grappling" with change. Two central questions are addressed: In an unfamiliar situation, what is mediated and what resources are drawn on? The research was designed around the recognition of the process nature of research, the constructivism inherent in research and the significance of the social context. Two central mediators, the mother and the crèche teacher, and the broader social context of the home and the creche, were examined. Three levels of investigation were utilised. An analysis of mediation in dyads working on an unfamiliar task provided insight into the social/psychological dynamics. Interviews with residents highlighted socialization beliefs and practices and the social context. Analysis of verses and stories taught to children revealed the inherent ideology of socialization. The main findings of this study are that: Rural residents "grapple" with social change by drawing on their own resources; in "grappling" with the unfamiliar what is mediated is an adult/child interactional status based on the inherent ideology of socialization and the dominant resource drawn on is the "culture of orality". It is argued that in the situation of neither mastery nor defeat, rural residents have used intermediary strategies of coping and containing the effect of the preschool as an agent of exogenous, social change. Recommendations are made for integrating "socialized" and "learned" knowledge from the home and the crèche.

M.Com. / This study investigated the possibility of establishing a sustainable early childhood development centre in Orange Farm by means of a literature review and practical research. The main objective was to evaluate the current early childhood development situation of ‘Orange Farm Day & Nite Day Care Centre’ at Orange Farm, Stretford Extension 2, to understand what typifies early childhood development best practices by using an excellent early childhood development centre in Mondeor, ‘Top Kids’, as a comparable model. The research strategy was to interview key stakeholders pertinent to the delivery of this research’s objective. These were stakeholders who could define the needs of the target audience (community, teachers, parents, centre owners and children), in terms of early childhood development in order to identify challenges and best practices...

Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements of the Degree of Master of Technology: Food and Nutrition Consumer Science, Durban University of Technology, 2011. / Background: South Africa, a richly diverse developing country has been faced by the consequences of transition attributed to urbanisation and acculturation. A Westernised lifestyle has, therefore, resulted in increasing disease patterns that are characterized by a combination of poverty-related diseases together with the emerging chronic diseases. The shift to a Westernised lifestyle has resulted to a shift in the composition of dietary staples leading to dietary factors related to an increase in lifestyle diseases. These include a high fat, low fibre diet, as well as an inadequate intake of fruits and vegetables. However, this in turn has led to higher energy intakes with insufficient and imbalanced micronutrient intake. Research conducted amongst the elderly in South Africa has clearly indicated that the elderly live within a limited financial budget leading to extreme levels of food insecurity and the social burden of being the head of the household, in addition to being the caregiver to grandchildren and sick children. Due to the current living status the elderly encounter reduced food intake in addition to a reduced variety in their diet, therefore, micronutrient deficiencies are common amongst this age group. Therefore, a consumption of energy-dense foods, particularly staple foods, to stretch the food budget which are more affordable and thus allow for an increased consumption is evident. Aim: To determine the socio-demographic profile, health and nutritional status in relation to the dietary intake patterns to reflect malnutrition among free living elderly (60yrs+) in Verulam. Methodology: Fifty nine randomly selected men and 191 women aged 60+ participated on a voluntary basis in this study. A descriptive survey method was used for this cross sectional study. Trained fieldworkers assisted with the administration of all questionnaires and a registered nurse measured blood pressure. Socio-demographic questionnaires were administered to determine the socio-economic characteristics of the elderly within this community. Anthropometric measurements determined the Body Mass Index according to the World Health Organisation and Asian cut-off points to indentify the risk factors. The Health questionnaire identified the health status correlated to the respondent’s profundity of disease and deficiencies associated to dietary patterns. Blood pressure measurements were taken to determine the hypertension prevalence related to the dietary intake. Two 24-Hour Recall questionnaires were completed by the 250 respondents to identify actual vii food intake and measured against the Dietary Recommended Intake (DRIs). A food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) determined the respondent’s food variety score over a period of one week. The socio-demographic questionnaire, health questionnaire, food frequency questionnaire and anthropometric measurements were captured on an Excel® spread sheet by the researcher and analyzed for descriptive statistics using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 17.0 with the assistance of a statistician. The 24-Hour Recall data were captured and analyzed by a nutrition professional using the MRC Food Finder® version 3.0 software, based on the South African Food Composition tables. Results: The majority of the respondent’s role in the family was mothers (70.8%) and lived in an urban area (68.8%). In addition, 73.2 percent (n=183) of the respondents shared the house with one to five people, and lived in a brick house (74.4%, n=186) with more than 3 rooms (74.0%, n=185). The elderly in this sample were pensioners and, therefore, 76.0 percent (n=190) received state grants of which the total household income ranged between R1001-R1500 (35.2%, n=88). Food insecurity is prevalent as reported by 28.4 percent. Primary school was the highest level of education completed by 52.4 percent (n=131) and English is the most spoken language amongst this group (74.0%, n=185). Women had higher BMI values particularly in the overweight (18.32%, n=35) and obese I and II (58.6%, n=112) categories when compared with men. Blood pressure measurements indicated that 60.0 percent (n=150) of the respondents suffered from hypertension. The use of chronic medication was reported by 84.4 percent (n=212). The total range of individual food items consumed by an individual during the seven-day data collection period measured by the (FFQ) was between 4-66 foods. However, the highest consumption was four food items by 23.2 percent (n=58) of the respondents. The summary of the food variety within food groups indicated a high dietary diversity, of which the other vegetable group reported the highest individual mean FVS (±SD) of 10.86 (±5.82), followed by other fruit, cereal, flesh and Vitamin A rich groups with 5.73 (±4.41), 5.03 (±1.85), 4.08 (±2.23) and 2.43 (±1.09) respectively. The nutrient analysis indicated a deficient intake by both men and women of all the nutrients, except for the mean (±SD) total protein in the women 45.10 (±12.55) and carbohydrate 212.83 (±36.97) in the men. The energy contribution indicated 98.3 percent (n=58) men and 85.72 percent (n=158) women consumed <100 percent of the EER for viii energy. However, the findings from the Top 20 food items measured by the 24-Hour Recall indicated that this community’s diet is largely carbohydrate-based, containing primarily starchy staple foods, sufficient intake of animal products, and insufficient intakes of dairy foods, fruit and vegetables, possibly resulting in the micronutrient deficiencies. The energy distribution of the macronutrients from the average of both 24-Hour Recalls indicates that both men and women are in range of 15-30 percent total fat intake, 10-15 percent protein and 55-75 percent carbohydrate. Conclusion: The results of the study reflect that the elderly in this community are faced with poverty, food insecurity as well as social factors thus contributing to a compromised nutritional status. The progression of malnutrition in particular overnutrition is experienced by the majority of the respondents in this study, however, an increased BMI and the prevalence of hypertension is a risk marker for noncommunicable diseases. However, the high prevalence of inadequate food and nutrient intake amongst elderly discloses the need for nutrition interventions and should be aimed at modifying the elderly food choices when purchasing food, healthier food preparation methods, increasing fruit and vegetable portions and improving daily physical activity to attain a better quality of life. / DUT Postgraduate Development and Support Directorate (PGD)

This case study considers the relationship between context, school policy and environmental teaching and learning processes at a community-based early childhood development centre in South Africa. The study recognises that educational practices in the early childhood development field are shaped by historical, cultural, economic and political realities at both local and national levels. It is from the understanding that each school is a unique composition of these shaping factors that the research was designed to consider the community-based school participating in this study. By compiling a contextual profile, this study attempts to consider dominant contextual factors affecting the school. Through the critical discourse analysis of a school policy document, this study considers local level policy, and through the literature chapter, national policy. Teacher interviews provide insight into teacher understanding of school policy in response to contextual issues, as well as providing insight into how teachers perceive their translation of policy into teaching practice. Observations of lessons in the centre provided an. opportunity to see how context and policy translated into and influenced environmental teaching and learning processes. This study looks at how environmental education is addressed in the Raglan Road Child Care Centre, and provides insight into how environmental education within the context of the school and in relation to school policy may be strengthened. It comments on the tensions and ambivalences arising from the relationships between context, policy and environmental teaching and learning processes and makes recommendations to address these ambivalences in ways that are contextually relevant. The main recommendations were designed to be practically useful for the school involved in the study and are focused around engaging the ambivalences emerging from this study to open up 'spaces' for deliberating environmental teaching and learning processes and other tensions arising out of the study at an ECD level. Recommendations included: 1) engaging with the strong development focus in school policy and the educational focus in national policy and teacher discourse; 2) deliberating the ways in which school policy and national policy respond to risk; 3) engaging with the ambivalence in the school-parent relationship; 4) the re-alignment of the explicit curriculum and broadening the contextually-based view of whole child development; and 5) engaging the ambivalence in approaches to education at the centre.

Thesis (MTech (Education))--Peninsula Technikon, Cape Town, 2002 / Within the broad theoretical context provided by debates on the importance of focussing on programme teaching towards workplace-orientated goals and greater cooperation between the world ofwork and the higher education sector in order to develop work integrated curricula, this study attempted to investigate the relevance of the diploma in educare with regard to meeting the needs ofeducare centres. The study as a whole is set against the general literature on the development of the transdisciplinary curriculum that integrates the world of work with academic programmes and the development oftransdisciplinary curriculum in educare in particular. The literature that was surveyed covered the following aspects: The needs ofthe educare practitioner in the workplace, important aspects that need to be present in the Early Childhood curriculum in order for the child to learn effectively and how could the higher education sector and the workplace, work together to develop a balanced curriculum that is offered to the educare practitioners at the institutions. Along with this investigation quantitative as well as qualitative data were collected about the curriculum that is offered to potential educare practitioners by means of questionnaires, interviews and focus group interviews. The conclusion drawn from the findings of the literature survey and the investigation is that the integration of theory and practice in the teaching and learning processes should be encouraged if the development and professional growth of students are to be achieved, and more interaction should take place between the higher education sector and the workplace in order to increase the performance levels of students and their employability in the workplace. The present study therefore, is an attempt to encourage the integration oftheory and practice and collaborative efforts between higher education institutions and the worklllace in curriculum development and is in line with the new South African curriculum that places emphasis on the relevance of education to the needs ofthe workplace and to the lives of South Africans.

In this study an ecosystemic and social constructionist approach is used to understand the meanings and perceptions held by working mothers in relation to their experiences with the childcare and organisation settings. These meanings are described in terms of the influence of wider social discourses, personal epistemological assumptions, tacit knowledge, past experiences and current contexts. The working mothers, together with the researcher, form a linguistic system in which meanings about motherhood, employer-support and childcare arrangements are co-constructed and shared. The relationships between the working mothers and the researcher are not only observed within a linguistic context, but also within the ecosystemic view of mutual reciprocity, self-referentiality and double description. A qualitative and naturalistic research methodology is followed to describe the emergent design and the grounded theory. Based on the qualitative paradigm, the conclusions drawn at the end of the study are idiographic and reflective. / Psychology / M.A.(Clinical Psychology)

In this study an ecosystemic and social constructionist approach is used to understand the meanings and perceptions held by working mothers in relation to their experiences with the childcare and organisation settings. These meanings are described in terms of the influence of wider social discourses, personal epistemological assumptions, tacit knowledge, past experiences and current contexts. The working mothers, together with the researcher, form a linguistic system in which meanings about motherhood, employer-support and childcare arrangements are co-constructed and shared. The relationships between the working mothers and the researcher are not only observed within a linguistic context, but also within the ecosystemic view of mutual reciprocity, self-referentiality and double description. A qualitative and naturalistic research methodology is followed to describe the emergent design and the grounded theory. Based on the qualitative paradigm, the conclusions drawn at the end of the study are idiographic and reflective. / Psychology / M.A.(Clinical Psychology)

Text in English with abstracts in English, isiZulu, and isiXhosa / South Africa’s education system is in crisis. Problems in education directly impact the country’s economy through its influence on skills development for employability. Young children trapped in an environment under serviced by educational resources and haracterised poor social cohesion cannot reach their full potential. This study, undergirded by Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model, sought to establish whether stateled early childhood development centres (ECDCs) in the Cape Flats can establish social cohesion and foster responsible citizenship and youth resilience. A qualitative study was conducted in selected ECDCs. Focus group interviews with caregivers of children from sampled centres and face-to-face interviews with the owners/managers of centres were augmented by an interview with an official from local government. The study concluded that the sampled ECDCs are merely coping, but restricted by various problems. They cannot function optimally as institutions for community development, although the community holds them in high esteem. Recommendations are made for improvements. / Uhlelo lwemfundo yaseNingizimu Afrika lunezingxaki. Izinkinga ezitholakala kwezemfundo zinomthelela othintana ngqo nezomnotho ngenxa yethonya ezinalo ekuthuthukisweni kwamakhono kuzokwenza abantu ukuba baqasheke. Izingane ezisezincane ezibiyelwe esibayeni esincishwa izimfanelo zezemfundo, ezingenakho nokubumbana okufanele komphakathi, ngeke zakufeza lokho ezinamandla okufinyelele kukho. Ucwaningo olususelwe esibonelweni sikaBronfenbrenner ngobudlelwane bomuntu nesizinda sakhe, lwaluhlose ukuthola ukuthi ngabe izikhungo eziholwa ngumbuso zokuthuthuka kwezingane ezincane (ama-ECDC) eCape Flats ziyakwazi yini ukugxilisa ukubumbana komphakathi, zikhulise kumuntu ukuba yisakhamuzi esiqotho nabasha abakwazi ukuqina bomelele. Kwenziwa ukuhlolisisa ezikhungweni zama-ECDC ezikhethiwe. Kwaba nokuxoxisana namaqembu aqokiwe abanakekeli bezingane zakulezo zikhungo ezikhethiwe, kwabuye kwaba nokuxoxa bukhoma nabanikazi/abaphathi bezikhungo, okwengezwa kukho nesikhulu esivela kuhulumeni wendawo. Lolu cwaningo lwafinyelela ekuthini izikhungo ezikhethiwe zama-ECDC zazipatanisa nje ngoba zazinqindwa yizinkinga ezahlukene, okusho ukuthi zazingakwazi ukusebenza ngokuphelele njengezikhungo zokuthuthukisa umphakathi, noma umphakathi wona wawuzibabaza kakhulu. Kukhona nezincomo ngokungase kwenziwe ukuze isimo sibe ngcono. / Isimo senkqubo yemfundo yoMzantsi Afrika simandundu. Iingxaki ezikhoyo kwezemfundo ziluchaphazela ngqo uqoqosho ngenxa yokuba zinefuthe kuphuhliso lwezakhono ezilungiselela ukuqesheka komntu. Abantwana abaselula abakwazi ukuphuhla ngokugqibeleleyo kuba bavaleleke kwimeko yemfundo eneenkonzo ezingekho mgangathweni nakwisimo esingazinzanga somphakathi. Esi sifundo sisekelwe kwinkqubo kaBronfenbrenner yolwalamano lwezinto eziphilayo nendalo, kwaye sizama ukuqonda ukuba ingaba ukusekwa kwamaziko ophuhliso lwabantwana abancinci (iiearly childhood development centres- ECDCs) eCape Flats kungadala uzinzo eluntwini, kukhuthaze ukuba ubani abe ngummi othatha uxanduva, ulutsha lungathabatheki lula kusini na. Uphando lomgangatho lwenziwe kumaziko iiECDCs ezikhethiweyo. Udliwano-ndlebe namaqela abantu abagcina abantwana kumaziko akhethiweyo kwanabaphathi baloo maziko luxhaswe ludliwano-ndlebe esiphathamandla sorhulumente wendawo. Esi sifundo sifikelele kwisigqibo esithi ezi ECDCs zikhethiweyo ziyazama kodwa zikhonkxwa ziingxaki ezahlukeneyo, nto leyo ithetha ukuthi azikwazi ukusetyenziswa ngokupheleleyo njengamaziko ophuhliso lomphakathi nangona umphakathi wona uzixabise kakhulu. Kunikwe iingcebiso zokuphucula imeko. / Development Studies / M.A. (Development Studies)