M. Tech. Business Information Systems / The integration of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) within South African schools created new possibilities for learners and educators to engage in new ways of information selection, gathering, sorting and analysis. However, the implementation of ICT in schools has had an impact on curriculum development and delivery of education around the world. The main objective of this study was to develop a framework for acceptance and use of E-learning by educators in South African secondary schools. This study intended to address the lack of interest shown by educators in integrating ICT into teaching and learning.

M. Tech. Education / Learners in the Limpopo province are reported to be performing very poorly in their examination results. This is clearly seen in Grade 12 results which are published for the entire country, South Africa. This problem is caused by, among other things, the lack of effective communication between educators and learners. This study investigated the problem of communication between learners and educators by using a quantitative approach, through implementing sampling, data collection and data analysis. A total of 47 educators from four secondary schools falling under Soutpansberg East Circuit of the Vhembe District answered a questionnaire. The collected information was grouped into categories and revealed that aspects of effective communication, for example, feedback, asking questions and proximity should be considered in the teaching-learning activity to improve learner performance. The results of the study were translated in a number of recommendations for improved communication practice and further research.

M. Tech. Education / Literature shows that transition from primary to high school is a challenge to learners. The aim of this study was to obtain, from qualitative data derived from structured interviews, and document review from a case study carried out in District D3 Tshwane North (Soshanguve) schools, an adequate understanding of factors that influence transition.

This study focuses on the effectiveness of the implementation of Curriculum 2005 in Grade 8 and Grade 9 in a Secondary School in Durban and it also investigates if educators have moved away from traditional ways of teaching as required by Curriculum 2005. Teachers' knowledge of the new curriculum, reactions and attitudes play a major role in any curriculum change. To make this study possible, the modules that introduced the concept of curriculum innovation are Theorizing Curriculum, Curriculum Design and Development as well as Managing Curriculum Change. These modules preceded this study. The methods of data collection were Interviews, Questionnaires and Observation (informal). The data collected suggests that educators are still experiencing problems with regard to the implementation of Curriculum 2005. Seemingly the cascading model had some discrepancies smce most educators who attended the workshops seem to be unclear of what they have to do in the classroom. It is also evident that most educators that were trained to implement Curriculum 2005 are not teaching Grade 8 and Grade 9 for various reasons like the policy of Redeployment and Rationalization. Senior Phase Learning Areas are regarded as filler subjects which means that, the Senior Phase Learning Areas are not given the same status as the Learning Areas in Further Education and Training Phase. The school will rather allocate educators at Grade 10 to 12 first before considering the Senior Phase. The attendance of Outcomes-Based Education workshops are not considered when allocating teaching loads. There is also no structure from the school or Department of Education that ensure that those educators that are trained remain in the Senior Phase so as to master the outcomes-based approach. So every year a new teacher is exposed or introduced to new ways of teaching without being trained. On the basis of the findings, there is no effective implementation of Curriculum 2005 and most teachers are still using traditional ways. The Department of Education has a great task to ensure that there is development and support of educators that are still battling with the implementation process. It is also the responsibility of the Department of Education to ensure that all children in South Africa receive quality education and narrows the gap between previously advantage and previously disadvantage communities. But all depends on the teachers' skills and knowledge of the new curriculum, structures to support the implementation process and the support from the Department of Education. Without teachers' understanding and the necessary support structure, the intended outcomes will not be achieved. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2004.

Beginning with Piaget, literature has accumulated indicating that children's moral judgments pass through a series of stages culminating in the application of high order general principles to practical judgments. Principled moral reasoning, therefore, has come to be seen as similar in principle to other abstract sciences where less formal, narrative forms of thinking are seen to be less abstract and more immature. Kohlberg's research as inspired by the work of Piaget who had tried to connect the development of a child's moral judgment to its overall cognitive development. Kohlberg believed that as the whole human personality matures, our thinking about right and wrong starts at a preconventional level, then progresses to a conventional level, then finally arrives at postconventional thinking. Each of these three levels has two specific stages. Kohlberg's research included subjects from many cultures, and therefore, he believed that he was uncovering a universal innate developmental structure of the human personality. Carol Gilligan has posed a serious threat to this general scheme by suggesting that a more narrative contextual approach to moral reasoning, what she calls an "ethic of care", which far from applying abstract moral rules to particular cases, treats each case in terms of a host of considerations any or all of which may have some role in arriving at a judgment or an action. She argues that such moral reasoning is as valid an orientation of moral thinking as that based on the application of general, abstract rules, and furthermore, that the bias towards this orientation is, at base, a gender based. A rich body of data has now been collected congruent with these claims. In order to explore the relationship between this alternate proposal and Gilligan's "justice" and "care" orientations, this study was designed to examine the moral orientation with a group of adolescents, fifteen boys and fifteen girls, at two high schools in Durban. The participants live in a working class, housing estate that has high levels of crime and violence. The adolescences were requested to reflect upon two scenarios depicting real life dilemmas, and then engage in moral judgments and decision-making in response to probing questions put to them in an interview situation. Results have shown that, contrary to Gilligan's view; across age and gender the adolescences responses reflected a higher moral orientation to justice than care. 66% of boys' responses show greater use of a justice orientation in their reasoning than care orientation 34%. A similar pattern was evident with girls across the age ranges: 53% of girls' responses were justice oriented as against to 47 % that were care oriented. An interesting finding was that girls' use of a justice orientation increased with age, and the use of moral reasoning that reflected a care orientation decreased with age. However, in line with Gilligan's theory, boys' responses across age ranges reflected a higher orientation to justice than to care. Based on previous research findings (Gilligan & Attanucci, 1988; Johnston, 1988), it was hypothesized that female learners would demonstrate higher ethic of care scores than men. The results from this study fell in line with this hypothesis. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2006.

Neuropsychologists are becoming increasingly aware that there is a complex interplay of cognitive, personality, and sociocultural factors that affect an individual's performance on neuropsychological tests. The current study investigated the effect of one aspect of the sociocultural environment, that is, quality of education, on performance on neuropsychological tests of executive function. The sample included 40 high school learners: Group A comprised learners with a high quality of education and Group B comprised learners with a low quality of education. Four tests of executive function were administered: the Verbal Fluency Test, the Design Fluency Test, the Stroop Test and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test. Results indicated that quality of education significantly affected the participants' performance with Group A performing significantly better than Group B on all the tests of executive function. These findings have implications for the interpretation of neuropsychological test performance in cross-cultural research and practice. / Psychology / M.A. (Clinical Psychology)

Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree DOCTOR OF EDUCATION in the Faculty of Education and Social Sciences at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology 2014 / Educational inequality still exists in South Africa and permeates lower socio-economic communities. Improving the situation in schools serving poorer communities is essential. Intense interest in school effectiveness through research and policy could provide impetus for school improvement. The study aims to understand what makes a school effective within a disadvantaged community. To address school ineffectiveness, the study proposes a substantive theory developed from within a disadvantaged community. The study further focused on determining the effect of the social conditions on the effectiveness of the school. Disadvantaged communities are characterised in the study by aspects such as weak socio-economic conditions, poverty and high unemployment rates. The theoretical underpinnings of general systems theory (von Bertalanffy, 1950) and the theory of practice (Bourdieu, 1977) were used to conceptualise the study. The conceptual constructs of these theories were used as analytical tools in the study. The research study was based within an interpretive paradigm. The study made use of qualitative approaches as part of a case study research methodology. The case study is a high school in a poor community with black learners on the periphery of Cape Town. The sample used in the study included the school management team, school governing body, teachers, alumni and current Grade 12 learners. The data collection process involved interviews, both semi-structured and focus group interviews with the principal, the SMT, teachers and parents. Data was collected from learners by means of closed and open-ended questionnaires. The results of the research study have identified five critical factors that contribute to the effectiveness of the school in a disadvantaged community: effective leadership, cross-collaboration and communication, high expectations, effective teaching and development, and supportive learning field. The study further found that cross-field factors have a major influence on learners and schools in becoming effective. The cross-field factors refer to the influence of leadership and teachers on the learners. The study contributes to existing knowledge of school effectiveness, but particularly in the context of disadvantaged communities in the Western Cape. The substantive theory on school effectiveness was developed within a relevant context to address ineffectiveness. The study concludes with recommendations pertaining to leadership, collaboration, expectations, teaching, the learning environment and motivation of teachers. Recommendations were made to improve the practice of making schools effective in disadvantaged communities.

M.Ed. (Educational Management) / As a result of the accelerated industrialization which is taking place, organised industry as well as the educational authorities involved, became more aware of the need to have schools where pupils/students could receive technical oriented education (Department of Education and Training, 1981:4). Scientific and technical literacy is increasingly necessary in our society, but the number of pupils who graduate from high school with only the most rudimentary notions of science and technology portends trouble in the decades ahead. This has several implications, inter alia: People in a wide range of non-scientific and nonengineering occupations and professions must have a greater understanding of technology than ever before. Yet, the educational system does not always provide such an understanding. Pupils who take no more mathematics and science after their ninth year in school have effectively eliminated the possibility of science or engineering as a career. The pool from which the future engineering personnel can be drawn is therefore in danger of becoming smaller. Education is t.he route by which upward mobility has been achieved by disadvantaged groups. Increased emphasis must be given to aiding those who have been excluded from careers in science and engineering...

M.Ed. (Educational Management) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

M.Ed. (Media Science) / The influence of technology on our everyday lives and the increasing control that technology exerts over nature and people make mandatory the competencies of our society to evaluate and make- decisions about new technological discoveries. In this regard it is of importance to keep in mind what Toffler (1970:428) attempts to put in its right perspective by saying: "We cannot and must not turn off the switch of technological progress. Only romantic fools babble about returning to a state of nature. A state of nature is one in which infants shrivel and die for lack of elementary medical care, in which, as Hobbes reminded us, the typical life is poor, nasty, brutish and short. To turn our back on technology would be not only stupid but immoral."...