According to the Council on Higher Education (CHE, 2011:78) the term Work Integrated Learning (WIL) refers to an educational approach that aligns academic and workplace practices for the mutual benefit of students and workplaces. The CHE (2011:4) further describes WIL as an approach to career-focussed education that includes classroom-based and workplace-based forms of learning that are appropriate for the professional qualifications. WIL forms part of many training programmes for professions across the globe and is considered an important aspect of preparing the trainee or student to integrate theoretical learning into the clinical environment in which he or she will be building his or her career. WIL is considered crucial for the development of professional attributes and competencies needed to perform duties within the chosen profession once the trainee is qualified. Health care professions across the world employ WIL in clinical areas as an integral part of their curricula and nursing specifically is one of the health care professions that utilise a large component of WIL for clinical development of the student nurses. In South Africa, student nurses are currently placed in a variety of clinical settings in order to obtain the required and regulated clinical experience that work integrated learning should offer them. However, anecdotal evidence indicated that student nurses from the various Nursing Education Institutions in Nelson Mandela Bay experienced difficulty in finding adequate opportunities to develop their newly acquired skills when in the clinical areas and reported great difficulties in achieving their WIL outcomes. The aim of this study was to explore and describe the student nurses’ experiences of work integrated learning in various clinical areas in the Nelson Mandela Bay. This study followed a qualitative, exploratory, descriptive and contextual design with two phases. Thirty-five student nurses in their third and fourth-year were purposely sampled. In phase one data was collected using two steps, where the first step comprised using naïve sketches. During the second step interviews were done by means of focus groups using semi-structured questions and responsive interviewing. Data was transcribed verbatim and analysed thematically using Tesch’s method of analysis. In phase two recommendations for nurse educators to optimise WIL were formulated. The following three themes and related sub-themes emerged from the analysis: 1) Student nurses experienced a multitude of challenges in the clinical placement areas (CPA) and at the nursing education institution (NEI) that negatively impact on their morale and hinder WIL, namely lack of resources, unsupportive learning environments, a lack of belonging and workplace violence. 2) Positive experiences resulted in motivated and enthusiastic students, namely being inspired by role models, enhanced learning when support was offered and personal growth. 3) Students offered recommendations for enabling their WIL, namely adequate mentoring and clinical support, adequate financial support related to WIL and adjusting the nursing programmes to better incorporate the students’ needs. Relevant literature and recommendations offered by the student nurses were used to formulate recommendations with action steps for nurse educators to optimise work integrated learning of student nurses.

Eleven years into the South African democracy there are still huge challenges facing South African public schools, especially with regard to the notions of equity and redress. Increasingly historically advantaged and disadvantaged South African schools are entering into partnerships in an attempts to address the challenges facing them. This study focused on one such a partnership between two primary schools in an attempt to ascertain whether partnerships can in fact improve the situation.

This study is intended as a contribution to the debate and quality assurance activity which in South Africa is following the South African Qualifications Authority's recommendations that better quality co-operative education work experience be provided for higher education students. This study focuses on the perceptions and experiences of a cohort of Durban Institute of Technology students involved in co-operative education work programmes. Through a process of random sampling twenty students each were selected from the faculties of Arts, Commerce, Engineering Science & Built Environment and Health Sciences. The students comprised both male and female students in various years of study. Questionnaires articulating the research enquiry as well as the purpose of the study and questions to be answered for the study were mailed individually to each selected student. Forty six of the total selected sample of students returned completed questionnaires. The instrument comprised open and closed ended questions. With the aid of a statistical database programme the data was analysed. Findings of the study indicated that students' perceptions and experiences vary from positive to negative. Issues of racial discrimination, inadequate or no salaries and lack of support from mentors and lecturers emerged as concerns articulated by many students. On the contrary students perceived themselves as the greatest beneficiaries of the work programmes. Students also noted the relevance and value of the work programmes in developing the students' and preparing them for the workplace. The recommendations for co-operative education practitioners, in terms of listening to the voices of the students' in this study, is invaluable. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of Durban-Westville, 2004.

Eleven years into the South African democracy there are still huge challenges facing South African public schools, especially with regard to the notions of equity and redress. Increasingly historically advantaged and disadvantaged South African schools are entering into partnerships in an attempts to address the challenges facing them. This study focused on one such a partnership between two primary schools in an attempt to ascertain whether partnerships can in fact improve the situation.

Thesis (MTech (Construction Management))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2005. / Cooperative education is practiced in many fields of industry. The South African construction industry has shown a preference for cooperative construction management education. Cooperative construction management education is practiced worldwide, but the majority of these programmes do not have compulsory credit bearing experiential learning as part of its programmes. This study examined the experiential leaning experience as well as the relevance and adequacy of preparation of subject areas taught in UT construction management programmes from the perspective of all the stakeholders. The study had four main objectives namely (I) To measure the extent of the perceived relevance by industry stakeholders, students and academics of the topics and content of construction management programmes at UT; (2) To establish the level of inadequacy, as perceived by industry stakeholders and academic staff of the preparation of UT construction management graduates to perform construction management functions: (3) To determine the level of dissatisfaction, if it existed with the experiential learning of construction management students; and (4) To establish the preparedness of construction industry stakeholders to mentor construction management experiential learning students; and to use the findings of the study to inform development of construction management programmes. Literature was reviewed relative to experiential learning and its general and specific application to construction management education. Self- administered questionnaires were completed by I" year as well as senior students registered for the National Diploma: Building as well as the B. Tech. degrees in Construction Management and Quantity Surveying. The study suggests that although the experiential learning experience IS relevant and generally well accepted by all role-players, there is a mismatch between the needs of industry and what is being produced by the UT. The topics that form the programme are relevant, but a level of dissatisfaction exists with the preparation of construction management graduates to perform construction management functions do exist.

The research problem in this study was to identify how successful the methods are that organisations use within the Manufacturing Engineering and Related Services Education and Training Authorities (MERSETA) chambers to develop, implement and maintain learnerships. To achieve this aim a literature examination to determine the aspects of workplace learning were explored, including the various perspectives of learning, together with an investigation into workplace learning. Further, apprenticeships, traineeships, learnerships were discussed; including the concepts vocational education and training standards, and competence explored. Finally a process model for effective learnership implementation was presented based on international approaches together with the South African models and current practices. - v - The process learnership model served as a basis for drawing up a survey questionnaire to establish the extent to which organisations agreed or disagreed with the learnership model developed. The survey was limited to the “automobile” and “new tyre” chambers of the MERSETA. The results obtained from the empirical study indicted a high degree of agreement with the process model for effective learnership implementation. The results obtained from the quantitative data, and qualitative data were used to adapt the learnership process model, and produce a six-phase integrated learnership model. From the survey it become evident that organisations needed to be sensitised and educated as to learnerships before considering more seriously learnership implementation. Further, it emerged that learnerships cannot only be effective within a process approach, and that it should also take place within a positive “organisational learning culture”. Organisations and Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs) can now use the six-phase integrated learnership model with confidence, as there was a high degree of agreement with the learnership model that was developed as part of this research study. The six-phase integrated learnership model has been comprehensively developed and surveyed by organisations that are currently implementing learnerships on a large scale. Organisations and SETAs can now give effect to the Skills Development Act No. 97 of 1998, and contribute to the National skills Development Strategy of 2001, which aims to improve the workplace skills of all South Africans.

D. Tech. Interior Design / Work integrated learning at the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) is an integrated approach to teaching and learning for the attainment of qualifications. It specifically encourages and enhances learning partnerships between all role players, which include students, university staff and employers. The university perceives itself to be in partnership with commerce and industry in the development and delivery of high-level human resources who will uniquely contribute to the South African economy. It is important to acknowledge that the Interior Design management model for work integrated learning will in future form a division of the management practice at the TUT. The regular communication, exchange of information and asking for support in connection with a design problem or knowledge about a finishing material, between the Interior Design departments and the industry is of vital importance to support and distribute new design drawing techniques, new innovative design ideas and sharing knowledge with students and staff alike. The specific demands in the industry determined the management model for work integrated learning for the Interior Design qualification. Work integrated learning lies between the curriculum of Interior Design and the workplace. It is, therefore, important to develop a thoughtful management model to develop the area in-between the curriculum and the knowledge the students absorb during studying the Interior Design qualification and the real-life, work-based placement in the industry.

M.Phil. / Therapeutic massage therapy (TMT) as a profession has undergone major transformations on two levels simultaneously in the past five years. The first is the statutory recognition of TMT as a health profession regulated by the Department of Health and the Allied Health Professions Council of South Africa (AHPCSA) that has propelled the therapy from the services sector into the country's primary health care system. The second is the transformation of the South African education structures requiring TMT to be formalised and accredited by the South African Qualifications Authority's (SAQA) and the accommodation of the qualification on the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) in accordance with the Higher Education Act of 1997. These impetuses have led to a shift in the profession's approach to how it defines itself and how it trains future therapists. The focus of this study is the Massage Therapy Institute's Community Service Programme (MTI CSP), the focal point of the institution's second year programme. The CSP entails the combining of practical sessions and community service in order to expose learners to a wide variety of conditions to encourage theory-practice integration. It also fosters a social awareness through exposure to patients from varied cultural and socio-economic backgrounds in a clinical setting. The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions of learners and educators regarding the efficacy of the programme to integrate theory and practice and to prepare TMT therapists for a health profession in the primary health care domain. From the analysis it was apparent that despite a number of shortcomings, learners and educators agreed that the CSP encouraged theory practice integration and personal development. They were also able to hone their professional skills. All participants indicated however, that learners failed to effectively transfer the knowledge and skills gained during the combined practical and community service sessions to written learning tasks that formed part of and tasks outside the programme. This was confirmed by text analysis of treatment and case study reports. The implications for teaching and learning are discussed in the context of language learning and learning through language in order to move beyond the what and the how to the why. It was also clear from the research that participation in the programme led to perspective transformation in the majority of learners' perception of TMT as a health profession located in the PHCS. The analysis showed that the reasons for the exception to this trend, is related more to macro policies rather than the efficacy of the CSP. Finally, a number of recommendations are made to improve the transferability of the knowledge, skills and attitudes gained in the CSP to other learning tasks and beyond that to learners' personal and public lives. The recommendations emphasise metacognitive skills and critical reflection to equip learner-therapists to become fully participating members of a responsible and relevant health profession.

M.Ed. / Please refer to full text to view abstract

Thesis (Ph.d.) - Central University of Technology, Free State, 2006 / The research investigates the use of the Communicative Learning Programmes in the English First Additional Language (EFAL) Senior phase classrooms in the Free State province. During the turn of the twentieth century, syllabi were tools that were designed and provided by the Department of Education to the schools. Recent changes in education in South Africa now expect educators to design these learning programmes. The Revised National Curriculum Statement (RNCS) details steps that educators can follow in order to design the learning programmes for their learning areas. Outcomes-Based Education encompasses the eight learning areas in the Senior phase, namely Languages, Mathematics, Natural Sciences, Economic and Management Sciences, Social Science, Technology, Life Orientation, and Arts and Culture. The learning area that this study focuses on is Languages. EFAL is one of the languages that form the learning area of Languages. EFAL comprises six learning outcomes that have to be interpreted by the educators and achieved by the learners by linking teaching and learning with the accompanying assessment standards. Through the use of the communicative approach and co-operative strategies during group work, this study adds to the body of knowledge communicative learning programmes that Senior phase EFAL educators can use to assist and complement their current strategies.