This is an interpretative case study of four Grahamstown Education District Further Education and Training (FET) schools. The study sets out to investigate how Geography teachers integrate mapwork and environmental issues using local context, with the intention of providing insights for future professional development. Data for this study were generated using qualitative methods such as document analysis, semi-structured interviews and lesson observations. Interviews were conducted with geography teachers, the subject advisor and a workshop facilitator. The evidence generated in the study revealed that contrary to the integrative design of the curriculum, there is a superficial integration of mapwork and environmental issues as well as a cursory reference to and use of local context. This was noted in both professional development support workshops and classroom practice. The study finds that efforts to improve performance in geography need to pay closer attention to curriculum policy that calls for an integration and localization of knowledge and skills for coherence and relevance. It also notes that there is a need for a focus on real-world problem solving in social, economic, cultural and physical environments through the use of inquiry-based local fieldwork. Local investigations provide an integrative space for content and skills as well as being an important point of reference from which learners can compare and contrast issues in other places such as provincial, national, continental, and global locations. A professional development programme that emphasizes integration and contextualization alongside the current focus on basic skills training is proposed to improve what teachers are delivering in the classroom and to support enquiry-based fieldwork and research to strengthen a place-based relevance in local, national and international contexts. Finally an exemplar for professional development is briefly developed for the topic of soil erosion.

This research project examines a case of environmental training for workers in the Expanded Public Works Programme, a poverty relief programme operating in South Africa (EPWP). It is constituted as an interpretive case study, and explores what workers learn and how they learn in an environmental skills programme. The study also examines the context of learning. In accordance with education and training policy, what learners are meant to learn is articulated in unit standards registered on the South African Qualifications Authority website. The unit standards are used to design curricula and learning programmes which are registered as environmental skills programmes by Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs). For the conservation sector the SETA is the Tourism and Hospitality Education and Training Authority (THETA). To develop an understanding of what learners learn, I considered the content, concepts, skills, values and attitudes contained in the unit standards, and then considered the actual learning taking place during the training programme focusing on three unit standards. Data was generated from semi-structured interviews with facilitators, focus group interviews with learners, observations of teaching and learning interventions and document analysis of EPWP, training and skills development policy documents, registered unit standards for the skills programme, and learning support materials produced by the provider implementing the training. The study notes that there is learning taking place within the training implemented through environmental skills programmes. The training is influenced by a number of diverse contextual factors namely policy factors, historical contextual factors, the economic context and diverse literacy levels. Learning interactions involve a variety of social interactions, activities and practices between learners and learners, and learners and facilitators. The main finding of the study is that the training programme’s major emphasis is on concepts and content, and social and learning skills, and values and attitudes. The prominence of social skills masks a neglect of practical workplace related skills which make up a strong focus of the unit standards. This, the study shows, is related to a lack of engagement with workplace learning, which in turn is linked to a disjuncture between policy and practice, where workers working in the EPWP programme are meant to benefit from training, but in this case it was found that community members, who were not working in the programme were being offered training. It was therefore not possible for them to develop the applied workplace skills, which were also meant to facilitate increased employability, as this is one of the key objectives of the EPWP programme. Based on the insights raised by the research findings the study made recommendations that the programme consider the following to recover the situation: to develop strategies that allow for longer term training frameworks so that learners can be trained on full qualifications so that they may qualify and benefit more substantively from the training in terms of employability skills. Facilitators in the programme need to be trained so that they can develop materials that address practical skills, values, attitudes, critical reflections and actions. Monitoring of training needs to be given preference both at materials development level and implementation level.

This study aims to explore four grade 3 teachers’ understanding of teaching reading in Rukwangali, a home language in Namibia in Kavango region and to observe the strategies they use as well as the activities they set for their learners. During my School Based Studies (SBS), I noticed that learners were not reading with understanding. My interest was also stimulated by a study carried out in Namibia that found that the literacy levels for Namibian learners were poor compared to those of other African countries. This is a qualitative case study carried out within an interpretive paradigm. It seeks to understand the meaning that people attached to human actions. I selected the participants purposefully and in terms of convenience, as all three schools selected are situated in Rundu, the town in which I work as a college lecturer. The research tools I employed were semi-structured interviews, document analysis, classroom observation, and stimulated recall discussions on the lessons I observed. I used a variety of methods to triangulate data and enhance validity. This study reveals that teachers use multiple methods to teach reading. These methods include phonics and syllabification to help struggling learners to decode difficult and long (polysyllabic) words and the look-and-say method for whole word recognition and meaning making at word and sentence level. In addition, they also use the thematic approach to teaching and learning to expand learners’ vocabulary and enhance their understanding of the texts they read and to make their lessons learnercentred. However, the problems of language, lack of reading books written in Rukwangali and large class sizes constrain the teachers from teaching in a more learner-centred way. Therefore, the study gives some tentative recommendations to remedy this situation.

234 f. / Submitted by Suelen Reis (suziy.ellen@gmail.com) on 2013-04-29T14:34:44Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Carlos Roberto_Tese.pdf: 4563370 bytes, checksum: 502613d2b46774c1dcff3b3803b22c9d (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Maria Auxiliadora Lopes(silopes@ufba.br) on 2013-04-30T17:02:38Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Carlos Roberto_Tese.pdf: 4563370 bytes, checksum: 502613d2b46774c1dcff3b3803b22c9d (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2013-04-30T17:02:38Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Carlos Roberto_Tese.pdf: 4563370 bytes, checksum: 502613d2b46774c1dcff3b3803b22c9d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010 / A tese trata do sistema de complexo “Sociedade-educação-esporte”, e analisa o trato desse conhecimento no currículo de formação de professores, para estabelecer relações e nexos entre o trabalho pedagógico, a teoria do conhecimento, o projeto de escolarização e o projeto histórico para reconhecer a proposição superadora no trato com o conhecimento, na perspectiva da formação para a emancipação humana. A temática Sociedade foi analisada a partir das relações “ser humano-natureza-cultura” e das leis gerais que regem as relações “capital-trabalho” que determinam a formação do ser humano e se expressam dentro da escola nas finalidades da educação e na teoria do conhecimento que explica o que é o ser humano, como ele conhece e como ele desenvolve as suas capacidades cognoscitivas; Educação a partir das relações “capital-trabalho” e “trabalho-educação”, que estruturam a sociedade e se expressam dentro da escola na organização do trabalho pedagógico; Esporte a partir das relações entre “sociedade-educação-esporte” e entre “competitivo-lúdico” que se expressam no currículo, no trato com o conhecimento, nos conteúdos e métodos, nos objetivos e avaliação. Este processo de análise, encontrado na literatura, da produção do conhecimento em dissertações e teses e dos programas dos cursos de educação nos permitiu a exposição: 1. do fenômeno social esportivo enquanto totalidade concreta identificado no trato do conhecimento na formação de professores e da singularidade dos processos histórico-sociais; 2. do trabalho pedagógico no tocante ao conhecimento do esporte no currículo de formação de professores. Este percurso possibilitou a apresentação de uma proposta para a organização do conhecimento em ciclos e a abordagem do conteúdo do ensino esportivo, nos Cursos de Formação de Professores em Educação Física, através do sistema de complexo “Sociedadeeducação- esporte” como contribuição teórica para a superação do conhecimento fragmentado, tratado em modalidades esportivas, a falta de relação e nexo entre o trabalho pedagógico e o projeto histórico nos Cursos de Formação de Professores de Educação Física no Brasil. / Salvador

This study focussed on teacher training in the context of distance education. It investigated the impact on practice of an English methodology course offered by Unisa’s Department of English Studies at certificate level. The unit of analysis was a group of eight student teachers registered for the module ACEEN26 Teaching English: General Principles offered by Unisa’s Department of English Studies. This module aims to help students to understand the approaches that underpin Outcomes-based Education (OBE) and how these translate into practice in the English First Additional Language (FAL) classrooms. To investigate the participants’ classroom practices, the study adopted an open and inductive approach aimed at gauging their thinking with regard to teaching, learning, assessment and how these understandings reflected OBE practices. The aim was to determine how the eight students made sense of this phenomenon given their own epistemologies within the unique contexts in which they worked. Data collection consisted of a mix of lesson observations, in-depth audio-taped interviews and analysis of documents. The interview was the main data-gathering technique. All these instruments were supplemented by field notes based on informal observations which were entered in a reflective journal. The picture that emerged was of teachers who worked under demanding conditions as they tried to implement complex and sometimes contradictory policies and were constantly under the pressure of policy demands. Their practices were, to a large extent, inconsistent with the OBE approach to teaching and learning. Although they gained some theoretical surface knowledge from the course, the students’ practice remained traditional because of two main reasons emanating from the findings: their inability to internalise the theory to make it an integral part of their mental repertoire and the negative impact of disabling contextual factors.The study constituted an evaluation of the course and therefore fed directly into the whole concept of dialogue and student support which are necessary prerequisites for success in distance education. As a teacher educator, this research was also a way of illuminating my teaching practices through practical research that simultaneously informs the field of teacher education. Based on the training needs identified, a re-contextualised curriculum for the ACE English programme was proposed. This proposed new programme reflects my stance that instead of continuing to focus on pouring resources into dysfunctional schools, we should concentrate on the lowest denominator in the system — the teacher. / Educational Studies / D. Litt. et Phil (English)

The aim of this study is to deal with the theoretical and philosophical aspects of Christian education and to evaluate the realisation thereof in Gazankulu schools. Concepts dealing with the study, such as education, Christian education, learning, teaching, pedagogy, religion and Christianity are firstly discussed. A brief background of the area of study is also given. Secondly a philosophical orientation is given in which an attempt is made to answer the question 'What is philosophy?'. Important aspects of a Christian philosophy is also established and philosophical categories, the nature and aims of Christian education are discussed. Christian schooling are thirdly discussed, especially Christian schooling as it ought to be. Important aspects thereof, such as major learning goals and components of the education situation are dealt with. The position and status of scripture teaching in school, as well as the position of religious education in Gazankulu are outlined. In the fourth place, an empirical study to evaluate the stand of Christian education in Gazankulu schools, are discussed. This study involved principals, parents, pupils and teachers. Finally conclusions are given and certain recommendations regarding Christian education are made. / Die doel van hierdie studie is om die teoretiese en filosofiese aspekte van Christelike onderwys te deurgrond en om die realisering van hierdie aspekte in skole in Gazankulu te evalueer. Begrippe wat met die studie te make het, soos opvoeding, Christelike onderwys, onderrig-leer, pedagogie, geloof, en Christelikheid, word bespreek. 'n Beknopte oorsig van die studiegebied word ook gegee. Daar word tweedens 'n filosofiese orientering gegee, waarin daar gepoog word om vrae soos 'Wat is filosofie?' te beantwoord. Belangrike aspekte van 'n Christelike filosofie word ook bespreek en filosofiese kategoriee, die aard van en doelstellings met Christelike onderwys, word aangespreek. Christelike onderwys, en veral Christelike onderwys soos dit behoort te wees, word derdens bespreek. Belangrike aspekte daarvan, soos die onderrigleerdoelstellings en die komponente van die opvoedingsituasie word aangeraak. Die plek en status van Bybelonderrig in Gazankulu word ook beskryf. In die vierde plek word 'n empiriese ondersoek om die stand van Christelike onderwys in Gazankulu te evalueer, bespreek. Hierdie ondersoek het hoofde, ouers, leerlinge en onderwysers betrek. Laastens word daar tot sekere gevolgtrekkings gekom, en aanbevelings gemaak ten opsigte van Christelike onderwys. / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (Philosophy of Education)

This study uses a systems thinking perspective to explore the role and meaning of participation, capacity development and project sustainability in the Zimbabwe Secondary Teacher Training Environmental Education Project (St²eep). Since there was no consistent critical reflection upon the different assumptions that underpin these important aspects of St²eep in the original project design, this study aims to articulate a theoretical framework for guiding the project. St2eep is a donorfunded project, located in the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education in Zimbabwe that seeks to integrate environmental education across the curriculum of secondary teacher education. The study first develops a theoretical framework drawing on systems thinking. In particular it uses the holistic and constructivist perspectives embedded in systems thinking to describe a number of analytic frameworks that are used as a guide to investigate participation, capacity development and project sustainability in the St²eep case study. The research methodology comprises a qualitative case study approach, which contains elements of an instrumental, evaluative and critical case study. Data-collection methods include document analysis, focus group discussions, focus group interviews, semi-structured face-to-face interviews and participant observation. Data analysis follows the constant comparative method of coding and categorising data as outlined by Strauss and Corbin (1998). The outcomes of this research show that participation processes in St²eep evolve around the interactions between a political dimension and a learning dimension. The political dimension relates to giving the project stakeholders a critical voice, allowing them to shape the project and involving them in the decision-making process. This approach has fostered an ongoing learning process in a small team of committed stakeholders based on the principles of collaborative learning, team learning and action research. Participation was shown to enhance capacity-development processes at individual and institutional level by the provision of support through learning teams, and by the renegotiation of responsibilities and power relations between lecturers involved in St²eep, donor representatives and college administrations. The strong operational role of the donor organisation was seen as a serious threat towards individual and institutional capacity development since it creates a functional but artificial and independent project system within the college system and takes over any local institutional support structure that it might seek to develop. Fostering continuous learning and capacity development, St²eep’s participatory approach was shown to contribute to a better understanding of the interconnectedness of factors that influence future sustainability of the project and the implementation of environmental education. This has assisted in the development of different scenarios on the sustainability of the project. The research shows that the project-ustainability planning process draws directly from St²eep’s ongoing learning process, with individual and institutional capacity development featuring strongly in the different scenarios, and with the external context such as the economic situation and the low priority of environmental education being recognised as important factors that need to be considered. Drawing on the findings from the case study, this study makes a tentative recommendation that donor organisations should focus more on capacity-development initiatives and avoid taking on a strong operational role in project activities. The research also recommends that there is need for a deliberate focus on both the political and learning dimensions of the participation process in order to foster local ownership. Making the learning aspect much more central in St²eep is presented as a possible strategy for motivating a larger number of college lecturers to become involved in the project and the implementation of environmental education. The study also urges St²eep to combine the different scenarios that have emerged during the project sustainability planning process and to focus on the benefits that stakeholders want to see sustained.

Submitted by Maria de Lourdes Mariano (lmariano@ufscar.br) on 2017-01-18T10:30:25Z No. of bitstreams: 1 MARAGNI_Arianne_2014.pdf: 2331152 bytes, checksum: c37dece840fb70850b086d16dc0db537 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Maria de Lourdes Mariano (lmariano@ufscar.br) on 2017-01-18T10:30:33Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 MARAGNI_Arianne_2014.pdf: 2331152 bytes, checksum: c37dece840fb70850b086d16dc0db537 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Maria de Lourdes Mariano (lmariano@ufscar.br) on 2017-01-18T10:30:44Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 MARAGNI_Arianne_2014.pdf: 2331152 bytes, checksum: c37dece840fb70850b086d16dc0db537 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-01-18T10:30:51Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 MARAGNI_Arianne_2014.pdf: 2331152 bytes, checksum: c37dece840fb70850b086d16dc0db537 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-02-24 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / This dissertation discusses the training workshop “Vivências com a Natureza” (offered by the Associação Brasileira de Vivências com a Natureza, Instituto Romã) from May 2003 until June 2012. The survey consists on mapping the educators who have participated, their professional actions using the methodology, what impact on their personal and professional lives it has had and how the methodology relates to Environmental Education. It also examines the complementarity between the processes of awareness and knowledge within the field of the Environmental Education. The results indicate that educators work with the Flow Learning methodology because they believe that consciousness-raising processes are important to start changing behavior and attitudes in the environmental area. They also believe that information and more objective questions are complementary to this process. / Esta dissertação se propõe a analisar a oficina de formação de educadores na metodologia do Aprendizado Sequencial, oferecida pela Associação Brasileira de Vivências com a Natureza – Instituto Romã desde o ano de 2003 até junho de 2012. A pesquisa consiste num mapeamento dos educadores participantes desta formação, das suas ações profissionais utilizando a metodologia do Aprendizado Sequencial, os impactos que esta formação teve em suas vidas profissionais e pessoais, e como eles relacionam a metodologia com a Educação Ambiental. Também analisa a complementaridade entre processos de sensibilização e de informação dentro do campo a Educação Ambiental. Os resultados apontam que os educadores que trabalham com a metodologia do Aprendizado Sequencial o fazem por acreditar que processos de sensibilização são importantes para iniciar mudanças de comportamentos e atitudes na área ambiental, mas que informações e questões mais objetivas são complementares a este processo.

A partir de pressupostos teóricos de Émile Benveniste, esta pesquisa investiga o conceito de enunciação e os que o constituem (eu-tu-aqui-agora), no documento intitulado Referenciais da Educação da Rede Municipal de Caxias do Sul, Caderno 2 - Planos de Estudo de Língua Portuguesa, mais especificamente, no que diz respeito aos objetivos gerais e às habilidades dos 7° e 9° anos. De cunho essencialmente bibliográfico, esta investigação fundamenta-se em referenciais teóricos de Saussure e Benveniste, entre outros autores que tratam de educação, epistemologia, processos de ensino e aprendizagem e de questões relacionadas à língua materna. A análise efetiva do conceito de enunciação é realizada com base em um material teórico delimitado a partir de um itinerário de leitura. Esse material é composto por seis textos das obras benvenistianas Problemas de Lingüística Geral I e II: Natureza do signo linguístico (1939), A Natureza dos pronomes (1956) e Da subjetividade na linguagem (1958); A linguagem e experiência humana (1965), A forma e o sentido na linguagem (1966/1967) e O aparelho formal da enunciação (1970). Com base nos resultados apresentados neste estudo, entendo que a organização do material analisado, seja pelos objetivos gerais, seja pelas habilidades, concretiza o conceito de enunciação e os que o compõem, evidenciando o ensino de língua materna, sob uma perspectiva enunciativa, que considera o efetivo uso da língua, nas mais diferentes situações interlocutivas. / Submitted by Ana Guimarães Pereira (agpereir@ucs.br) on 2016-05-24T14:50:12Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Carla Roberta Sasset Zanette.pdf: 2140601 bytes, checksum: 6b84a3f0cebbb1d2554771c1902a64ec (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-05-24T14:50:12Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Carla Roberta Sasset Zanette.pdf: 2140601 bytes, checksum: 6b84a3f0cebbb1d2554771c1902a64ec (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-05-24 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior, CAPES. / This research investigates the concept of enunciation, from Émile Benveniste’s theoretical perspective, and those that constitute it (I-you-here-now) in the document entitled Referenciais da Educação da Rede Municipal de Caxias do Sul (Education Framework for the Municipal Schools in Caxias do Sul). The research focuses more specifically on the general goals and skills of the 7th and 9th school years found in the number 2 Study Plan booklet for the Portuguese Language. The study is essentially bibliographic and is based on Saussure’s and Benveniste’s views as well as on other researchers whose works are related to education, epistemology, the teaching and learning processes and to issues on the mother tongue. The effective analysis of the enunciation concept is carried out based on a theoretical material framed according to a reading program. This material consists of six essays found in the two volumes of Problems in General Linguistics by Benveniste: the nature of the linguistic sign (1939), the nature of pronouns (1956) and subjectivity in language (1958); language and human experience (1965), form and meaning in language (1966/1967) and the formal apparatus of enunciation (1970). Based on the results presented in this study, I understand that the planning of the analyzed material, considering both the general goals and the skills, materializes the concept of enunciation and those that constitute it. The results show that the teaching of the mother tongue is based on an enunciative perspective, which considers the effective use of language in many different situations of interlocution.

O desenvolvimento de habilidades científicas é o principal objetivo da Alfabetização Científica e Tecnológica (ACT), a qual tem sido atualmente alvo de interesse de inúmeros pesquisadores que tenta tanto elucidar os mecanismos de concretização da ACT junto aos estudantes, quanto avaliar os indicadores desse processo verificando os avanços construídos pelos mesmos. A Alfabetização Científica busca a compreensão da estrutura básica de funcionamento das ciências, o que engloba a aquisição de vocabulário básico de conceitos científicos, uma compreensão da natureza dos métodos científicos e uma compreensão do impacto da ciência e da tecnologia sobre os indivíduos e sobre a sociedade. Neste estudo objetivou-se avaliar a efetividade da Educação Ambiental para o desenvolvimento de habilidades científicas em estudantes dos anos finais do Ensino Fundamental de uma escola pública, localizada na Microbacia do Arroio Pena Branca no Município de Caxias do Sul, RS, Brasil, utilizando como tema motivador os recursos hídricos. Trata-se de pesquisa participante com dados predominantemente qualitativos, utilizando-se como estratégias para coleta de dados o questionário e o grupo focal, além da observação direta da pesquisadora. O método de aprendizagem ativa utilizado com os participantes foi o Ensino pela Pesquisa e, no aporte teórico de conceitos necessários aos mesmos, foi realizada consulta a especialistas. As atividades envolveram conscientização quanto aos impactos ambientais e fundamentação teórica sobre os recursos hídricos, coleta de amostras e análise da qualidade da água de arroio com determinação do Índice de Qualidade da Água, reconhecimento e identificação de macroinvertebrados aquáticos coletados no arroio e utilizados como bioindicadores, realização de analogias entre ecossistema natural e ecossistema artificial, socialização dos conhecimentos construídos e construção de um jogo pedagógico. O estudo aponta para a efetividade da Educação Ambiental no desenvolvimento de habilidades científicas, sendo que compreendendo os efeitos da ação antrópica no ambiente natural, os participantes puderam refletir sobre possíveis mudanças e métodos que podem ser utilizados para a preservação e conservação dos recursos naturais e em particular a água. O envolvimento dos estudantes de Ensino Fundamental nas atividades de pesquisa demonstrou-se uma importante ferramenta para a compreensão das metodologias científicas e sua aplicabilidade em atividades de Educação Ambiental, bem como para a formação profissional futura. / Submitted by Ana Guimarães Pereira (agpereir@ucs.br) on 2017-06-27T16:47:57Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Anarisa Fatima Carminatti.pdf: 14977501 bytes, checksum: 18dc73bd80502a799fca445cb706833f (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-06-27T16:47:57Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Anarisa Fatima Carminatti.pdf: 14977501 bytes, checksum: 18dc73bd80502a799fca445cb706833f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-06-27 / The development of scientific skills is the main goal of the Scientific and Technological Literacy (LST), which has been currently target of interest of many researchers who try to elucidate the mechanisms of implementation with the students, and to evaluate the indicators of this process checking the advances built by them. Scientific Literacy seeks the understanding of the basic operating structure of science, which encompasses the acquisition of basic vocabulary of scientific concepts, an understanding of the nature of scientific methods, and an understanding of the impact of science and technology on individuals and society. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of environmental education to the development of scientific skills in students of the final years of primary school of a public school, located on the watershed called Arroio Pena Branca in the city of Caxias do Sul, in the State of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, which uses the water resources as a motivating theme. The chosen methodology is a participant research with predominantly qualitative data, using as strategies for data collection the questionnaire and the focus group, besides the direct observation of the researcher.The active learning method used with participants was teaching by research and, theoretical concepts required contribution, was made queries the specialists and specialities. The activities involved awareness of environmental impacts and theoretical foundation on water, specimen collection and analysis of water quality of the stream with determination of the Index of Water Quality, the recognition and identification of aquatic macroinvertebrates collected in the watershed and used as bioindicators, the realization of analogies between natural and artificial ecosystem, the socialization of knowledge, and the construction of an educational game. The study points to the effectiveness of environmental education in the development of scientific skills. The understanding of the effects of human action in the natural environment made the participants to be able to reflect on possible changes and methods that can be used for the preservation and conservation of natural resources, particularly related to water. The Elementary school students’ involvement in research activities proved to be an important tool for the understanding of scientific methodologies and their applicability in environmental education activities, as well as to vocational training.