M.Ed. (Curriculum Studies) / Teachers with expert knowledge or skills can exercise a leadership function as they use their knowledge or skills to help colleagues and to further the progress of the innovation knowledge and expertise. Although innovation could be well structured, teachers still need support in one or other form in order for effective implementation to take place. Barriers to the satisfactory implementation of innovation includes: the teachers' lack of curriculum-related knowledge, ineffective flow of communication between innovator and teacher and the state of facilities and equipment available to implement change. The way in which the innovation is to be introduced to the teachers who are to be involved with it are likely to have profound effects on the extent to which the innovation is successfully implemented. A number of ways have been suggested.

M.Ed. / The building and construction industry is currently hampered by an unacceptably high number of incidents (accidents) which occur in the industry yearly. This results in huge financial and labour losses. Training of workers in occupational health and safety could address some of the causes of these incidents (accidents). In order to provide relevant and effective training for this industry their training needs regarding occupational health and safety training need to be determined. Based on these needs guidelines could be set to ensure the development of applicable training. In this study the needs of the building and construction industry is determined from which the researcher provides guidelines for curriculum development. The first chapter provides an introductory orientation to the study and provides an overview of incidents (accidents) in the building and construction industry. Chapter two is devoted to a literature study of occupational health and safety. Chapter three consists of a literature study with the aim to provide parameters for the empirical research component in the study. In chapter four the empirical data, collected by means of qualitative research, is analysed. Chapter five relates the findings of the study to the theory of curriculum development. In conclusion chapter six consists of conclusions and recommended guidelines for the development of an occupational health and safety curriculum for the building and construction industry, which forms the product of this study. The value of this study is that the guidelines provided are the result of empirical qualitative research conducted with various role-players in the building and construction industry. Therefore the results are the perceptions and opinions of the role-players in the industry and not the direct assumptions of the researcher.

Prof. D. van der Westhuizen

M.Ed. (Curriculum Studies) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

D.Ed. / The training and development opportunities available in Human Resources in a country play an important role regarding the growth and progress of such a country and its people. The parameters wherein training and development is conducted determine to a large extend the direction the country takes towards the efficient productivity of individuals. In South Africa, in the past, the political system of apartheid, which created unequal opportunities between different races, played a major adverse role in the education and training facilities of its employable population. As a result common education standards became a victim of political expediency, and the school system created a forum of unequal education. After research conducted by the Human Sciences Research Council in 1980 to investigate the education system in South Africa it was concluded that it is impossible to implement a system focussed on equal quality education overnight. It is not until after the first multi-cultural election in the history of South Africa in 1994 that this situation started changing. The National Qualifications Framework and The South African Qualifications Authority was established. That brought about major change in the education and training system in the country, and it also shifted the emphasis to lifelong learning. It became apparent that for the quickest beneficial results a program of adult education had to be initiated to work hand in hand with the more gradual development of equal education at undergraduate levels. The shift that needs to be made from the traditional school system to the training of adults is however a difficult one. Adult education is not yet established in South Africa.

The aim of this dissertation is to ‘problematize’ the ‘flexible generalist’ - the form of subjectivity allegedly produced by the basic education system of South Africa. According to the South African Qualifications Authority, ‘flexible generalists’ are individuals who possess the necessary skills, knowledge and flexibility to successfully participate in new working environments, thereby sustaining an adaptable workforce and contributing to the national economy. The dissertation will illustrate that this economic viability comes at the cost of critical and relative autonomous thinking, and is therefore not as ‘beneficent’ as the South African Qualifications Authority suggests. Initially, Louis Althusser’s theory regarding the repressive state apparatus and ideological state apparatuses will be employed in order to indicate how the education institution is underpinned by consumer-capitalist ideology. Subsequently, in order to ensure docility, efficiency and obedience within the workforce, the formal education system subjects the learner to various disciplinary discursive practices. By applying Michel Foucault’s theory regarding disciplinary power, this dissertation will illustrate that, through the regimentation of the subject’s time and space, docility is, for the most part, ensured. However, the flexible generalist is not solely produced through disciplinary power, but also through Foucault’s conception of bio-power, which is disseminated through the deployment of sexuality. Disciplinary power and bio-power are both appropriations of pastoral power, since the learner is led to believe that the well-being and care of the ‘self’ is always in the hands of another: specialists in numerous fields who ‘guide’ the individual regarding the ‘correct’ and ‘normal’ conduct in relation to the self and society, thereby stripping the subject of critical and relative autonomous thinking. The dissertation will conclude by suggesting a possible offset to the discursive practices that produce the flexible generalist in the form of ‘philosophy as a way of life’, or philosophia – the love of wisdom. Unlike the current educational discursive practices in South Africa that are underpinned by an ‘ethos of skills’ (resulting in mere economic empowerment), philosophia is based on an ‘ethos of wisdom’ - a comprehension of oneself, others and existence, based on the mastery of the self, and resulting in the ability to apply perceptions, judgements and actions on a contextual basis.

Music education is an essential aspect of education. The South African school curriculum for the Creative Arts combines dance, drama, music and the visual arts. The curriculum uses a combination of the theories of Carl Orff, Emile Jaques-Dalcroze and Zoltán Kodály. Each of these music theorists and educationists have their own distinctive approach to teaching music. This study explores the theories of music education of Carl Orff, Emile Jaques-Dalcroze and Zoltán Kodály. These theories are applied in a critical analysis of both the South African curriculum and the curriculum of New South Wales. The researcher developed music activities to address the shortcomings of both the South African curriculum and the music texts.

This research study has emerged as a result of my concern regarding many of my colleagues’ apparent low morale in the teaching profession. Since the new dispensation in 1994 the South African education system has undergone numerous and intensive curriculum changes as varying policies aimed at transforming education in South Africa have been implemented (Asmal, 2009). I, therefore, decided to investigate the lived experiences of Intermediate Phase teachers regarding curriculum renewal processes in South Africa over a fifteen year period from 1998 to 2012. This period encompasses the four curriculum renewal processes which have been implemented since 1994. The research undertaken was an empirical study and qualitative methods were used for data gathering purposes. Data collection tools included unstructured, individual, in-depth interviews and reflective journal entries. The qualitative data generated suggest that many teachers in the Port Elizabeth Metropole appear to be demotivated by the uncertainty around curriculum renewal and the impact this has on curriculum implementation in their respective classrooms. According to Ornstein and Hunkins (2004), the implementation process of a new curriculum requires extensive actions by the designers and implementers of the new programme and Smith (2008) asserts that managing change in education, and improvement in classroom instruction, are very complex tasks which teachers and learners face worldwide. The study revealed that the main obstacles to successful curriculum change initiatives are insufficient training of teachers, lack of support for teachers and time constraints under which teachers work. An investigation into the lived experiences of teachers regarding the post- apartheid curriculum renewal processes should make a valuable contribution to the debate in terms of providing insights for curriculum implementers of possible alternative curriculum implementation strategies for more effective curriculum renewal processes in the future.

This research explored the effects of implementing a curriculum based on important principles of Waldorf education with a Latino student population enrolled in a Transitional Bilingual Education program for gifted Hispanic students attending a public school in central Massachusetts. Qualitative research methods were employed in order to record how the students interpreted specific experiences and to gain insight and understanding concerning the impact of a curriculum based on Waldorf education principles used with bilingual/bicultural students. The study focused on two groups of bilingual gifted classrooms--a sixth grade in a Magnet school and a fourth grade in a community school. All of the students were Puerto Rican with the exception of one girl from El Salvador. Data used for this research study were collected for a period of four months through observation, videotaping, audiotaping, student interviews, and field notes. The finished products of the students were also considered data. The research revealed that the students became connected to the curriculum in three stages--social, physical, and cognitive. The cognitive connection to the curriculum occurred most successfully when artistic activities preceded the introduction of intellectual concepts. This finding is compatible with the research of Martin L. Albert, Lorraine K. Obler, and Kenji Hakuta concerning language formation in bilingual individuals. Increased use of verbal language in the native and second language of the students, a positive sense of self, and increased motivation to learn were noted as results from the students' involvement with the curriculum. Recommendations were made by the researcher to reform traditional public school teaching practices so that a culturally and educationally relevant curriculum might be developed for language and culture minority Latino students.

Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS) can provide individualized instruction in problem-solving skills, a kind of instruction that until recently only humans could perform. While ITS have been an active area of research for nearly twenty-five years and researchers have convincingly demonstrated that ITS can instruct in various ways, few ITS are in actual use and their potential benefit to learners is unrealized. This research is predicated on the notion that ITS research has three closely related but distinct foci: artificial intelligence research in tutoring, instructional research in tutoring, and research on practical tutoring; and on the notion that investigation and evaluation in the latter two areas has been lacking. With respect to instructional research in tutoring, this work examines the extent to which conventional instructional design theory can usefully inform the design of intelligent tutors, the means of incorporating instructional methods into an intelligent tutor, and the range of instructional skills necessary in a practical intelligent tutor. It examines how ITSs push instructional design theory in the area of computational instructional design and presents a new instructional method: Focused Practice. Evaluation of tutoring skills focused on trainees' usage of the tutor and the resulting learning, and on measuring the extent to which the tutor was capable of individualizing instruction. With respect to research on practical tutoring, this work examines the extent to which it is feasible to simulate a work environment, represent the expertise of a non-formal domain, construct a large knowledge base, build a functional student model, supply a shell and authoring tools, incorporate a variety of instructional skills, instructional activities, and instructional materials into a cohesive tutoring package that integrates well into a training program; and gain support from the variety of stakeholders affected by the tutor. Evaluation of practicality focused on trainees' and instructors' affective responses toward the tutor, their perceptions of usability and instructional value; and on other stakeholders' (instructional designers, managers from research, production and training) perceptions of value.