In Lesotho, as in any other country, women face many challenges stemming from the difficulty of simultaneously transcending and accommodating to gender stereotypes, prejudices and cultural beliefs perpetuating women submissiveness. Although, the government of Lesotho has made attempts through the implementation of policy documents of gender equity, the challenges and barriers that women experience in educational leadership and management positions are still prevalent today. The study aims to explore the experiences of female principals who are already in educational leadership positions. The study adopted the qualitative approach which based on an interpretive paradigm. The qualitative methods of data production were used to get a deeper understanding of the female principals’ experiences. Individual semi-structured interviews, with open-ended questions were used to collect data. Field notes were also used to capture the cues which the tape recorder could not show or in case the tape malfunctions. The study employed the contribution of feminist theories as a guide to the study in order to liberate women from practices and structures that perpetuate their unequal status. The purposive sampling was used for selection of the participants and the sites. Five primary school female principals and four deputy principals were selected in the Leribe district of Lesotho. Responses of female principals and their deputies were based on three key questions: What are the female principals’ experiences as school leaders when they assume the leadership positions in Lesotho primary schools? How do female principals’ experiences affect their leadership roles? How do female principals deal with the challenges and experiences as they carry out their responsibilities? Data was subjected to content analysis. The findings reveal that organizational factors and teachers’ negative attitudes towards female primary school leaders are some of the factors that hold up the effective school administration. The findings also reveal that women principals in primary schools are competent and do possess the necessary skills to manage the schools effectively. Furthermore, with the necessary support of leadership and management styles they use, women can become successful in transform schools into institution of learning. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Edgewood, 2011.

Until recently educational geographers have concerned themselves largely with questions regarding those parts of the discipline which should be included in school and university curricula (Fitzgerald, 1969; Thomas, 1978). The advent of the quantitative and more recently the behavioural approaches to geography have focused attention on the nature of the discipline and educationalists faced with the change in emphasis from a regional to quantitative approach have incorporated new areas of study into the school curricula, without (in many cases) considering the needs of school children and their stages of conceptual development. The emphasis in geography teaching has in this manner moved away from a factual basis towards the teaching of concepts. Geographic concepts which are important for children to acquire have been defined by academic geographers (Hagget, 1975) but unfortunately little research has been undertaken into the teaching of these concepts. Only recently have geographers begun to show an interest in the way in which concepts are acquired by young pupils. In particular, the works of Blaut and Stea (1973, 1974), Catling (1978, 1978b, 1979), Balchin and Coleman (1973), Naish (1977), Cole and Beynon (1968, 1969), Rushdoony (1971) and Cracknell (1976) have focused attention on the need for geographic educators to understand the way in which pupils develop spatial concepts so that teaching strategies can be correctly planned. Deep seated prejudices regarding what children can understand at primary school are being subjected to careful analysis with sometimes surprising results (Blaut and Stea, 1974). Research into spatial concept formation and the teaching of geography is still in its infancy and more research is needed to enable geography at the primary school level to play a meaningful part in the total development of the child. In this regard the emphasis placed on the teaching of graphicacy needs special attention and mapwork skills need to be improved (Balchin and Cole, 1973). In this thesis an attempt is made to analyse and discuss the major theories of spatial concept development and to apply the ideas of the theorists to the practice of geography teaching in senior primary schools. The research into childrens' spatial concepts in two Natal primary schools, and into ways in which mapwork concepts can be utilised to aid spatial concept development, should help to improve the effectiveness of geography teaching at this level. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, 1980.

As the title of the thesis suggests, this is a study of the problems and concerns experienced by student teachers in The Yemen at different stages in their training (second, third, first year of teaching). An initial exploratory case study of one teacher training institute, using interviews, was utilized to generate items for two questionnaires (about problems, and related beliefs respectively) completed by about 800 student -s in all 11 General Teacher Training Institutes in the country. The items covered several areas: School Material Conditions and Resources, Teaching Demands, Relationships with Professionals and Adults, Teaching Competencies, Institutes' Courses, Job Rewards, Pupils' Response to Teaching, and Students' Security. Applying Factor Analysis to the ratings of the total population for the 'problems' questionnaire showed no sufficiently strong structure of problems (patterns). Further analysis using commonsense categories showed that most problem areas were of great concern to the majority of student teachers and beginning teachers and these concerns were stable across stages, except for Students' Social/Emotional Security which showed consistently decreased concern over successive stages. When males and females were studied separately, the patterns of change were different, and diverse changes ii were found for the various (single-sex) institutes. Variables such as Background (Urban/Rural), Institutes attended, Primary School Location, Job Location for beginning teachers, seemed to be dominated to a large extent by sex differences. Males mainly expressed higher concern about job rewards, females about their own ability to cope with the tasks of classroom teaching. Variables such as Age within Stages, and Stage of Joining Institutes, did not appear to have influence upon students and beginning teachers' problems. The results of the 'Beliefs' questionnaire were analysed similarly and showed patterns of results which did not correspond with the 'Problems' results in a way which could allow the concerns to be explained by the belief s. The initial exploratory case study sample was followed longitudinally by interviews. This approach showed different patterns of increasing concerns on entry to teaching. Possible explanations for the different patterns are discussed. Interviews with a sample of institutes' lecturers suggest an awareness by the majority of lecturers of some of the common problems expressed by student teachers. iii The substantive findings and methodological issues are discussed in relation to the literature (e. g. Fuller, Gibson, Lacey ... ). Some suggestions for improving teacher education in The Yemen are offered.

Thesis (MEducation)--University of South Australia, 2002

Thesis (MEd) -- University of South Australia, 1993

Thesis (MEd (Literacy and Language Ed))--University of South Australia, 1995

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Adelaide, 1989. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 400-433).

Thesis (M.Ed. (Hons.)) -- University of Western Sydney, 2002. / "Masters in Education (Honours), 2002, University of Western Sydney" Bibliography : leaves 180-187.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Wollongong, 2003. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references: leaf 258-284.

Thesis (M.Ed.)--Murdoch University, 2005. / Thesis submitted to the Division of Arts. Bibliography: leaves 155-166.