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Magister Educationis (Adult Learning and Global Change) - MEd(AL) / Conceptualised within Habermasian critical theory, the conceptual framework includes concepts such as domination, emancipation and emancipatory education, and frames RPL as emancipation. Recognition of prior learning is promoted by the South African government as an instrument for access and redress. This research paper focuses on an investigation into the benefits of the implementation of RPL policies and practices in the policing sector. Findings reveal that the participants in the study who are employed in the policing sector enjoyed a wide range of emancipatory benefits, including access to formal academic programmes. Furthermore, these programmes enabled historically disadvantaged staff to gain formal qualifications which in turn provided access to higher salaries and promotions. Explaining the latter as redress, I argue that RPL is a form of emancipation that has liberated disadvantaged staff from apartheid discrimination and domination.

Magister Educationis (Adult Learning and Global Change) - MEd(AL) / Scholars focusing on experiential learning argue that experience should be considered as critical for adult learning. This research paper frames experiential learning within a Constructivist framework. This paper focuses on an investigation into the ways that facilitators use the Continuous Learning Cycle, a model for learning based on Kolb's Learning Cycle, to facilitate learning through experience during the triad skills observation role-play in a workshop, which is part of an induction programme, for a retail bank. Indications are that facilitators use the Continuous Learning Cycle in limited ways, and therefore undermine the possibilities for optimal experiential learning; and that the Continuous Learning Cycle has limitations.

This study’s primary aim was to quantitatively measure financial literacy levels in South African (SA) high school learners, an exercise which had not been done before. Differences in literacy levels were identified for different demographic and psychographic profiles and between four categories (General Finance Knowledge, Saving, Spending, and Debt). Another aim was to compare SA and US financial literacy levels, based on the 2006 Jump$tart Coalition’s Personal Financial Survey of High School Seniors. Finally, the study aimed to determine if financial literacy and the ability to delay gratification are related. A quantitative survey was conducted amongst 12th grade learners consisting of different population groups and genders in seven public or private, rural or urban schools in South Africa. The sample comprised 536 respondents, of which 508 submitted useable responses. The results indicate significant differences in financial literacy levels of 12th graders from different schools, population groups, and public vs. private schools, but not across different genders. Significant differences exist between different psychographics, and between financial literacy categories. An unclear relationship exists between financial literacy and propensities for debt, saving and spending, suggesting the need for further research. As expected, SA financial literacy levels are poor and lower than for US youth. Finally, financial literacy and ability to delay gratification are unrelated. A model is proposed relating SA financial literacy to the major conclusions from the tested null hypotheses. The results should enable SA business, educational settings and government to understand the impact of demographic, psychographic and educational differences on financial literacy and the need for improvement in financial literacy. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

Sverige blir ett alltmer mångkulturellt samhälle vilket påverkar skolan. Under 2016 var ungefär två procent av eleverna i förskolan, förskoleklassen och i årskurs 1-6 nyanlända elever. Detta medför både positiva och negativa didaktiska konsekvenser för lärare, då dagens elever har olika språkbakgrund och skolerfarenheter. Alla elever har enligt Skollagen (SFS 2010:800) rätt till en likvärdig utbildning, oavsett kulturell bakgrund. Därför är det viktigt att som lärare söka förståelse för elevers olikheter för att kunna bemöta alla elever likvärdigt.Studien inriktar sig på elevers upplevelser av sociala relationer och lärandemiljön samt hur lärare upplever att de kan bemöta nyanlända elever utifrån ett socialt och språkligt perspektiv och utifrån ett lärandeperspektiv. Studiens syfte är att, ur elev- och lärarperspektiv, undersöka hur nyanlända elever mottas i den svenska skolan. Studien baseras på fyra kvalitativa intervjuer med elever och lärare. Studien visar att den första tiden i den svenska skolan i många fall är problematisk för nyanlända elever, vilket främst beror på att de för tillfället inte har ett tillräckligt utvecklat språk för att kunna kommunicera på svenska. Ur ett lärarperspektiv finns det många positiva aspekter av ett mångkulturellt klassrum, då eleverna lär sig att förstå och acceptera andra människor och kulturer.

Skolan är en unik plats för möten och bör uppmärksammas med sina möjligheter att arbeta med jämställdhet. Lärares bemötande och agerande påverkar eleverna i deras identitetsskapande och kan befästa eller motverka över - och underordning. Det är varje enskild lärares ansvar att arbeta med jämställdhet och se till att det får plats i undervisningen och i skolans vardag. Denna kvalitativa studies syfte är att undersöka vilka olika förhållningssätt lärare har till skolans jämställdhetsuppdrag. I studien intervjuas fyra lärare, i skolans tidigare år, för att synliggöra deras uppfattningar och attityder gentemot jämställdhetsuppdraget samt vilka didaktiska val de gör för att främja jämställdhet. Lärarna i studien uttrycker att detta arbete är en viktig del i värdegrunden men också svårt och tidskrävande. De yttrar ett symboliskt arbete med genus men nämner även strategier för att fördela pojkar och flickors talutrymme i klassrummet. Vi finner både ett symboliskt och maktrelaterat förhållningssätt. Jämställdhet framgår i studien vara ett begrepp som lärarna är omedvetna över betydelsen kring och kön är något som ofta verkar förbigås.

Sweden has in recent years seen a great increase of immigrants, which has led to more schools than ever having newly arrived students. In lower secondary schools, newly arrived students, who may not have studied English before, study English together with native-born Swedes who have studied English for some years already. This great mix of English proficiency levels makes it difficult for English teachers to adapt their teaching to every student’s needs, even though the Swedish curriculum for compulsory school states that “teaching should be adapted to each pupil’s circumstances and needs” (Skolverket, 2011a, p. 10). In this degree project essay, I present what the National Agency for Education has published about teaching English to newly arrived students in lower secondary school, and I also answer the research question: How can English teachers create a good environment for learning English for newly arrived students in lower secondary school? The findings from three interviews with lower secondary school teachers are that the situation is challenging, and their best advice is to let the newly arrived students study English at their individual level through the help of computers and digital resources. The essay concludes with encouraging English teachers to have realistic ambitions regarding newly arrived students. Teachers must be able to accept that not all students will achieve a grade in English in year 9, but through the Language Introduction Programme, newly arrived students still have a genuine chance of fully completing their compulsory school education.

Although imitation pedagogy is not specified in the subject syllabus in GY 11, English teachers in upper-secondary school can apply this pedagogy in their teaching to enhance students’ language awareness. The subject syllabus specifies that teaching should help students develop language awareness. Imitation pedagogy that involves scaffolding a model can give students the opportunity to develop their language awareness, which in turn can enhance their production and reception skills. In addition, teaching students how to imitate a model work, using scaffolding as a strategy, allows them to practice deep analysis and to study how language works in different contexts and for different purposes. Imitation pedagogy that involves scaffolding a speech not only gives students the opportunity to pay attention to form, such as morphology and syntax, while maintaining emphasis on meaning, but also to notice the gap between the model work and their own compositions, which is beneficial for developing students’ reception and writing skills.Through the analysis of a model work combined with their writing practice, students learn about how language can create meaning, emphasis, rhythm, clarity, coherency and power. In addition, power is produced through language; therefore, equipping students with the capacity to understand how compositions written in English can be used for a range of different functions and purposes and how to adapt their own compositions to rhetorical context enables them to work towards participatory democracy. Furthermore, this essay will show how imitation pedagogy could enhance students’ language awareness by analyzing passages from the speech “A More Perfect Union” by Barack Obama. This essay will also demonstrate how this pedagogy could be applied in the English classroom for upper-secondary school through a lesson plan.

Rhetoric has been a part of education since ancient Greece and even though it faded away and disappeared for a long time, it was quite recent reintroduced in the Swedish curriculum. This reintroduction is clearly reflected in the European council’s Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, and in the English subject syllabus in the Swedish 2011 curriculum for upper-secondary school. Teachers may find this reintroduction challenging, and may need support in their teaching, support which textbooks for language education should provide. The question becomes how supportive these textbooks are, and how they chose to present rhetorical appeals, communicative strategies, argumentation and democratic awareness. This essay takes a critical look at how rhetoric is presented in tasks through instructions and terminology in the textbook series Blueprint 2.0, designed for the progression English 5, 6 and 7. This essay also focuses on the assumptions about persuasive-and argumentative speech in this popular teaching material and how those assumptions might steer teaching and learning in the English subject. The result shows that the chosen textbooks are vague about the rhetorical purposes in the oral tasks, which teachers must compensate to create a progression aligned with the subject syllabus. Rhetoric is not only useful for students in the classroom, but also in their civic life. It can also broaden students’ democratic awareness and critical thinking, which is needed in today’s society. In our society, citizens should not only be able to argue for their opinions and persuade others, but they should also be respectful of others and diplomatic.

Pragmatic understanding is required for us to communicate with each other in our daily life, for example, we need to know how to respond appropriately depending on context and the relation we have towards the person/s we talk to. Without pragmatic understanding, we will have a hard time communicating to one another because of failure to understand the force in what is said. Force, in this context, means the intention (underlying meaning) in the utterance. For native speakers, this understanding is naturally developed in their language. However, second-language learners can have a hard time learning and using the language in an appropriate way. This essay argues that video games can be used in the classroom to enhance the students’ pragmatic understanding by exposing them to a range of different contexts with characters with different agendas through the role-playing game, Fallout: New Vegas. With the game’s requirement that players actively choose between utterance responses in specific situations, combined with the multiple endings the game offers, the student needs to think through his/her choices in order to reach the desired gameplay and ending, forcing him/her to reply in an appropriate way given the context. By adding task-based teaching to this, such as discussion or group projects, teachers can use Fallout: New Vegas as teaching material for enhancing pragmatic understanding.