This is the first study done to ascertain which factors significantly determine graduation and non-graduation in the Diploma courses at Fiji Institute of Technology. It is a quantitative study and analyses of the effects of the variables sponsored/private, entry level, race, grade point average, course sex, age and rural/urban on graduation and non-graduation. The significance of this study lies in determining which improvements are necessary in order to increase the number of graduates and thus make more effective use of the physical and human resources. Resource utilisation gains added importance because of its national implications. The Diploma graduates are the main source of middle level technical manpower for Fiji; a developing country which since its independence in 1970, has made satisfactory social, political and economic progress. For the period under study, data analysis shows that the percentage of students graduating was 40.8. Furthermore, the major finding was that Government sponsored ethnic Indian male students with New Zealand University Entrance as entry level, belonging to the 24+ age group produced statistically significant results. It has been recommended that both the Fiji Institute of Technology and the Government of Fiji should increase and strengthen Government sponsorship of Diploma students. Fiji Institute of Technology in consultation with industry should work out effective strategies such as better supervision and the monitoring of sponsored students' progress throughout the course and provision of an increased variety of work experiences, in order to improve the weaker areas of practical experience during the course. Since this is the first such study, further research in areas such as the requirements of the Diploma curriculum and the availability of training facilities and equipment, is recommended.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Wayne State University, 1994. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 366-380).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Wayne State University, 1994. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 366-380).

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Education, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF EDUCATION in the Department of Educational Planning and Administration at the University of Zululand, 1989. / This dissertation sets out to investigate the relevance and the effectiveness of the Primary Teachers' Diploma (PTD) Music Syllabi. The Main focus is the KwaZulu and Natal Colleges of Education that offer PTD. Chapter 1 outlines the background to the research study, and discusses the role played by Music in both rural and urban Black communities. This chapter also summarises the musical needs of black communities. Chapter 2 reviews the literature that deals with the teaching of Music in schools. This literature is then compared and contrasted with the prescribed Music syllabi of the South African Black schools and colleges. Chapter 3 describes and discusses the interviews, questionnaires and observation (Triangulation) that are used to investigate the relevance and effectiveness of the PTD Music Syllabi. Chapter 4 presented the findings that are concluded in chapter 5. The prescribed PTD Music syllabi are found to be generally relevant but ineffective. The ineffectiveness is attributed to factors such as poor musical background of music students, inadequately trained music teachers, amount of allocated time, and a shortage of music equipment. The researcher recommends that Music teachers should be in-serviced and be helped to improve their music knowledge and qualifications. A balance is to be brought about between the allocated amount of work and time. Secondary schools are to try and offer Music as a subject.

When I began the study, I was a full-time nurse educator. I taught student nurses at a hospital-based nursing school under the Hospital Authority. I also had a part-time job with the Open University of Hong Kong (OUHK) from 1998 to 2008, teaching subjects in the Bachelor of Nursing (NU305) program, Higher Nursing diploma courses (NU112C), and Master’s in Education (E804/E814) program. Currently, I am a nursing officer in an intensive care unit (ICU), responsible for training and quality assurance. As a former nurse educator in a hospital-based nursing school, a trainer, and a part-time tutor at OUHK, I was interested in learning more about the trends and changes related to the teaching and learning of adult learners. I observed that in many state policies and academic discussions, “lifelong learning” has replaced the term “adult education.” Indeed, interest in the idea of lifelong learning has recently grown (Smith 2002). Nonetheless, I did not clearly understand the idea of lifelong learning. and how it is different from adult education. There is also no universal definition of lifelong learning; rather, it is interpreted by various stakeholders in different ways (Kumar 2004). This aroused my interest in exploring the nature of lifelong learning, its implications to me as a tutor and a trainer, and the process by which empirical and qualitative data on lifelong learning can be collected.

M. Tech. (Information and communication technology, Faculty of Applied and computer sciences), Vaal University of Technology / Historically, access to information technology (IT) in South Africa educational institutions has been socially stratified. As a result, many new learners seeking to enter South African tertiary institutions fail to meet the requirements of their preferred course and institution. In 2003, the Department of Information and Corrununications Technology at the Vaal University of Technology (VUT), in conjunction with the National Institute for Information Technology (NIIT), an internationally recognised IT organisation, introduced a short course named the Information Technology Boot Camp (ITBC). This course is now known as the Introduction to Information Technology course (Intro-to-IT). The course is targeted at learners who want to study the IT diploma at the VUT but, who as a result of their Matriculation marks, do not meet the VUT's entrance requirements. The aim of the course is to prepare and qualify these learners for possible acceptance into the IT diploma at the VUT. Although the Intro-to-IT course has impacted positively on the VUT, research has found that learners progressing from the Intro-to-IT course into the IT diploma course experience difficulties in solving programming problems in a logical way. Therefore, the failure rate in Development Software I, a first-semester programming subject, is relatively high. The model described in this study encompasses alterations (implemented and still to be implemented) to the syllabus and content of the Intro-to-IT course, changes to the learning methods and time frames for subjects, and the measurement of these changes in comparison to previous results. The model also includes a software program, which will assess the Intro-to-IT applicants, store results and provide analytical data on all learners' marks and results for the Intro-to-IT short course at the VUT. This model is designed to provide the necessary skills, knowledge and basic logic required to allow successful Intro-to-IT learners the opportunity of success when they enter the VUT's IT diploma stream.

This mixed-method study, grounded in critical pedagogy, explored teachers of the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program (IBDP) in Costa Rican public and private schools and examined the growth of the IB there. It surveyed the global mindedness of the teachers to understand their perceptions of the IB. The study also aimed to understand the IB’s Creativity, Activity, and Service (CAS) as a form of global education. Furthermore, neoliberalism was explored as a force driving the IB’s growth in Costa Rica. The study collected quantitative data from the Global Mindedness Scale (GMS) (Hett, 1993) from teachers of the IB in Costa Rica, assessing their level of global mindedness, factors that may have contributed to their score, and what differences, if any, existed between public and private school teachers. In the qualitative phase, four teachers were interviewed to explore how they perceived the IB in Costa Rica. It also critically analyzed the CAS requirement of the IB, as well as the neoliberal forces that have driven the growth of the IB in Costa Rica. The findings show that the type of school does not affect teachers’ global mindedness. Participants’ age and whether they have lived outside their country had a positive but weak relationship to teachers’ global mindedness. Teachers of STEM courses had slightly lower GMS scores. The interviews showed that teachers had positive perceptions of the IBDP and saw benefits for themselves, their students, and Costa Rica. The teachers were mostly uncritical in their responses, but the highest GMS scoring interviewee did express critical ideas. An analysis of the CAS requirement of the IB concluded that it reflects both soft and critical approaches to global citizenship education. Finally, the document analysis confirmed neoliberalism as a force behind the IB’s expansion in Costa Rica. Several recommendations were offered. First, an instrument is needed that can measure global mindedness on an international scale. Second, teacher education should incorporate issues related to global education. Third, implementation of the IBDP and other global education curricula requires ongoing support from policymakers, organizations, and schools. More research should examine the growth of the IB in other countries. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2018. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

No description available.

Background: Several international studies have been published on the importance of exploring and describing the perceptions of professional nurses to improve patient safety and quality of care. There is also a growing body of literature that has established the associations of qualifications on patient safety and quality of care. However, no comparable research has been conducted in South Africa, and little is known about the influence of personal characteristics, such as qualifications of the professional nurse, on his/her perception of patient safety and quality of care. Objective: To investigate the perceptions of professional nurses regarding patient safety and quality of care as well as the relationship between the qualifications of professional nurses and these perceptions in medical and surgical units in public and private hospitals in South Africa. Design: Cross-sectional survey of nurses. Setting and participants: 1187 professional nurses (161 Baccalaureate degree and 956 diploma-prepared) working in medical and surgical units of 55 private hospitals and 7 public national referral hospitals in South Africa completed the survey. Measurements: Perceptions of patient safety, quality of care and occurrence of adverse events, qualifications, age, job satisfaction, emotional exhaustion, experience, personal accomplishment and depersonalization. Results: 54.1% (n = 87) of Baccalaureate professional nurses and 51.2% (n = 490) diploma nurses feel as if their mistakes are held against them. 37.9% (n = 61) of Baccalaureate professional nurses and 42.4% (n = 404) diploma nurses perceive important information to be lost during shift changes. 39.1% (n = 63) of Baccalaureate professional nurses and 38.6% (n = 369) diploma nurses feel that things “fall between the cracks” when transferring patients from one unit to another. 43.5% (n = 70) of Baccalaureate professional nurses and 48.7% (n = 465) diploma nurses feel that their hospital‟s managements are not approachable. Almost half of professional nurses (49% [n = 79] Baccalaureate and 44.4% [n = 418] diploma) do not have confidence in hospital management to resolve reported problems regarding patient care. 26.6% (n = 26.8) of Baccalaureate professional nurses and 25.5% (n = 237) of diploma professional nurses perceive the quality of care in their hospitals to have deteriorated. Both Baccalaureate and diploma professional nurses reported adverse events to occur a few times a year or less. Verbal abuse towards nurses is reported to occur once a month or less. Qualifications revealed no correlation with perceptions of patient safety and quality of care, though emotional exhaustion and depersonalization showed a small to medium negative correlation and personal accomplishment a small to medium positive correlation with these perceptions. Conclusions: Supportive leadership and development of an environment in which professional nurses can freely report adverse events and hindering factors with regard to quality of care might benefit patients in terms of safety and better quality care. / Thesis(M.Cur.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.

Background: Several international studies have been published on the importance of exploring and describing the perceptions of professional nurses to improve patient safety and quality of care. There is also a growing body of literature that has established the associations of qualifications on patient safety and quality of care. However, no comparable research has been conducted in South Africa, and little is known about the influence of personal characteristics, such as qualifications of the professional nurse, on his/her perception of patient safety and quality of care. Objective: To investigate the perceptions of professional nurses regarding patient safety and quality of care as well as the relationship between the qualifications of professional nurses and these perceptions in medical and surgical units in public and private hospitals in South Africa. Design: Cross-sectional survey of nurses. Setting and participants: 1187 professional nurses (161 Baccalaureate degree and 956 diploma-prepared) working in medical and surgical units of 55 private hospitals and 7 public national referral hospitals in South Africa completed the survey. Measurements: Perceptions of patient safety, quality of care and occurrence of adverse events, qualifications, age, job satisfaction, emotional exhaustion, experience, personal accomplishment and depersonalization. Results: 54.1% (n = 87) of Baccalaureate professional nurses and 51.2% (n = 490) diploma nurses feel as if their mistakes are held against them. 37.9% (n = 61) of Baccalaureate professional nurses and 42.4% (n = 404) diploma nurses perceive important information to be lost during shift changes. 39.1% (n = 63) of Baccalaureate professional nurses and 38.6% (n = 369) diploma nurses feel that things “fall between the cracks” when transferring patients from one unit to another. 43.5% (n = 70) of Baccalaureate professional nurses and 48.7% (n = 465) diploma nurses feel that their hospital‟s managements are not approachable. Almost half of professional nurses (49% [n = 79] Baccalaureate and 44.4% [n = 418] diploma) do not have confidence in hospital management to resolve reported problems regarding patient care. 26.6% (n = 26.8) of Baccalaureate professional nurses and 25.5% (n = 237) of diploma professional nurses perceive the quality of care in their hospitals to have deteriorated. Both Baccalaureate and diploma professional nurses reported adverse events to occur a few times a year or less. Verbal abuse towards nurses is reported to occur once a month or less. Qualifications revealed no correlation with perceptions of patient safety and quality of care, though emotional exhaustion and depersonalization showed a small to medium negative correlation and personal accomplishment a small to medium positive correlation with these perceptions. Conclusions: Supportive leadership and development of an environment in which professional nurses can freely report adverse events and hindering factors with regard to quality of care might benefit patients in terms of safety and better quality care. / Thesis(M.Cur.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.