Thesis (MEd)--University of Stellenbosch, 2007. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Since 2001 an inclusive approach is being followed in education in South Africa. According to this approach all learners must be taught in one education system and according to the same curriculum, namely the National Curriculum Statement Grades R to 9 (Schools). To ensure that this outcomes-based curriculum is relevant and effective in the teaching of learners with a severe intellectual disability, it is important to evaluate the curriculum and to adapt it if necessary. Learners with a severe intellectual disability form a distinctive educational community marked by their high need for continuous support, specific educational strategies and appropriate learning content. In the past, these learners received their education outside the mainstream of education according to an own, appropriate curriculum. However, since 2004 they have been required to receive their education according to the National Curriculum Statement Grades R to 9 (Schools). The aim of this research was to establish the effectiveness and relevance of the National Curriculum Statement Grades R to 9 (Schools) in the education of learners with a severe intellectual disability. A mixed-method research design, which included a literature survey, an empirical, as well as focus group interviews, was applied. By means of the literature survey, the demands were determined that are made on the curriculum by learners with a severe intellectual disability, their parents, the community, and the work community. The demands that educators make on the curriculum were determined by means of an empirical survey. This survey revealed that outcomes-based education is not generally implemented in the 21 schools included in this study. These findings formed the basis on which curriculum evaluation criteria were developed and according to which the National Curriculum Statement Grades R to 9 (Schools) was evaluated. By applying these criteria it was established that in some instances the National Curriculum Statement Grades R to 9 (Schools) does not comply with the demands of the determinants. The deduction could however be made that the National Curriculum Statement Grades R to 9 (Schools) has sufficient adaptable built-in features to be effective and relevant for learners with a severe intellectual disability. Recommendations were made on how best to make the necessary adaptations. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: In Suid-Afrika word sedert 2001 'n meer inklusiewe benadering tot onderrig gevolg. Hiervolgens moet alle leerders binne een onderwysstelsel volgens een kurrikulum, naamlik die Nasionale Kurrikulumverklaring Graad R tot 9 (Skole), onderrig word. Ten einde te verseker dat hierdie uitkomsgebaseerde kurrikulum relevant en doeltreffend is in die onderrig van leerders met verstandelik erg-gestremdheid is dit noodsaaklik om die kurrikulum te evalueer en dienooreenkomstig die bevindinge aan te pas, indien nodig. Leerders met verstandelik erg-gestremdheid vorm vanweë hul intellektuele vermoëns 'n duidelik herkenbare onderwysgemeenskap wat gekenmerk word deur hul behoefte aan deurlopende ondersteuning, spesifieke onderrigstrategieë en toepaslike leerinhoude. In die verlede het hul onderrig buite die hoofstroomonderwys geskied aan die hand van 'n eie, toepaslike kurrikulum, maar sedert 2004 moet hul onderrig ook volgens die Nasionale Kurrikulumverklaring Graad R tot 9 (Skole) geskied. Die doel van hierdie navorsing was om die doeltreffendheid en relevansie van die Nasionale Kurrikulumverklaring Graad R tot 9 (Skole) vir leerders met verstandelik erg-gestremdheid te bepaal. 'n Gemengde-navorsingsmetode-ontwerp wat 'n literatuuroorsig, 'n meningsopname asook fokusgroep-onderhoude ingesluit het, is gevolg. By wyse van die literatuurondersoek is die eise bepaal wat leerders met verstandelik erg-gestremdheid, hul ouers, die gemeenskap, en die werkgemeenskap aan die kurrikulum vir leerders met verstandelik erg-gestremdheid stel. Die eise wat opvoeders stel is deur middel van 'n empiriese ondersoek bepaal en dui aan dat uitkomsgebaseerde onderrig nie algemeen aangewend word in die 21 skole in die ondersoek nie. Aan die hand van hierdie bevindinge is kurrikulumevalueringskriteria ontwikkel waarmee die Nasionale Kurrikulumverklaring Graad R tot 9 (Skole) geëvalueer is. By die toepassing van die kriteria is gevind dat die Nasionale Kurrikulumverklaring Graad R tot 9 (Skole) in sekere opsigte nie behoorlik aan die eise van die determinante voldoen nie. Die gevolgtrekking is gemaak dat die Nasionale Kurrikulumverklaring Graad R tot 9 (Skole) egter genoeg aanpasbaarheidselemente het om doeltreffend en relevant te wees vir leerders met verstandelik erggestremdheid. Aanbevelings is gedoen oor hoe die aanpassings gemaak kan word.

The educational reform policy in Namibia adopted the principles and practice of learner-centred education, a policy based on constructivist epistemology. This approach emphasises that learners are constructors of knowledge and that they must discover information and construct their own learning. Constructivist techniques require the use of critical thinking through learners’ active involvement in the learning process. The aim is for learners to use critical thinking to identify problems, ask questions, reason, examine and solve problems in real situations and make sound decisions. This approach provides learners with activities and experiences that stimulate them to learn to think for themselves and to ask questions. Therefore, teachers need to design activities that require learners to think critically and act independently through mastering these various modes of inquiry. The purpose of this study was to explore how the selected Grade 10 Life Science teachers understand and implement critical thinking in their teaching practice. I conducted the study in two secondary schools from the Omusati region in Namibia using a case study to gain insight into the implementation of critical thinking. Three data collection instruments: interviews, document analysis and class observations were used. The reason for conducting this study was to gain a better understanding of how teachers use various strategies to foster critical thinking skills in Life Science and the challenges they experience in teaching in secondary schools. The results of the study revealed that teachers have a theoretical understanding of what critical thinking implies and the role it plays in learning. They are also aware of the strategies used to develop critical thinking skills. However, these theoretical perspectives do not reflect in their teaching in that some of the strategies that the teachers used did not bring about meaningful learning. Learners are still required to recall factual knowledge, thus active involvement of the learners is limited. The study also revealed that there are specific issues that hamper the implementation of critical thinking, which include superficial understanding of learner-centered education, teacher-tell approach, overcrowded curriculum, inexplicit syllabus, lack of good examples from the textbooks and examinations, too short lesson periods, lack of language proficiency and lack of professional development. The findings indicate that despite the theoretical understanding of the teachers in this study, their actual practice of developing critical thinking skills is problematic. The study concludes that teachers should be encouraged to design better-structured activities in order to involve learners beyond just being listeners. In light of these findings, the study recognizes a need for ongoing in-service professional development to support teachers in modelling critical thinking to their learners and to teach them to think critically. The findings of the study will serve to inform both my and my colleague’s professional practice as advisory teachers with regard to what to focus on when advising and supporting the teachers in schools.

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.

Educational transformation and curriculum reform within the new South African Outcomes Based Education (OBE) system has introduced new roles for teachers, and a focus on environmental learning within each learning area. In an OBE system, teachers are required to mediate learning, develop learning programmes, and use a range of different learning support materials. This study aimed to explore how one teacher in an Eastern Cape school used environmental learning support materials to mediate learning within an OBE curriculum framework. Over the past ten years a number of environmental educators and researchers have been participating in curriculum policy development and curriculum implementation research. This has led to the incorporation of an environmental focus within different learning areas in Curriculum 2005. The focus on environment in the curriculum was strengthened by the introduction of the National Environmental Education Project in the General Education and Training (NEEP-GET) band in 2001. I am employed as a provincial co-coordinator within this project (for the Eastern Cape province), and one of my tasks is to work with service providers (who provide learning support materials) and teachers (who use these materials) to ensure improved environmental learning within the OBE curriculum. A qualitative and empirical case study was conducted in which I observed one teacher in a multi-grade class (with grade 6 and 7 learners) using learning support materials to achieve learning outcomes in three different lessons. The study employed a range of data collection methods such as questionnaires, interviews, field notes, video recording, and document analysis, photographs and journal entries. I compiled a contextual profile of the school and classroom and undertook two 'layers' of data analysis to report the findings of the study. This research indicates that theories of learning and associated teaching methods influence learning interactions, and the use of learning support material in the class. The study also highlighted emerging issues in the use of environmental learning support materials, which relate to planning; access to materials; over-use of materials; and the relationship between learning support materials and teaching methods.

The African Coelacanth Ecosystem Programme (ACEP) was established in 2002 after the discovery of a colony of coelacanths off the Maputaland coast at Sodwana Bay, KwaZulu Natal. The environmental education and awareness sub-programme developed learning support materials (LSM's) for use in schools and the materials were disseminated annually through teacher education workshops. This study aimed to uncover the use of these LSM's in the rural schools of Maputaland. The active learning framework was used to analyse the materials. Collectively, the ACEP materials cover a range of active learning aspects; however alignment with the curriculum has resulted in an increased focus on experiments, accompanied by a loss of environmental content and a narrowing scope for active environmental learning. Workshop questionnaires and four school case studies revealed the patterns of practice of use of materials in schools. The stated use of materials by teachers is not fully realized in the actual classroom practice which centres on learning content and concept definitions. There is no culture of use of materials in the schools following the annual introduction of ACEP materials. It was also found that the marine and coastal knowledge holding power is outside the realm of the teachers' practice and control. The findings of this study come at a time when there is uncertainty over the future of South African education and the curriculum. This research may inform the environmental education and coastal and marine education field as to their role in education and more specifically the development of learning support materials.

This study was conducted to investigate perceptions of Environmental Education among senior Ciskeian educationists, and to explore the possibility of implementing Environmental Education in school and college curricula in the Ciskei region. Data was collected from interviews with a sample of senior Ciskeian educationists, then analysed and assessed. Corroborating information was obtained from attendance at several regional workshops organised by the Environmental Education Policy Initiative. The data indicated a sound general awareness of environmental problems in Ciskei and a belief in Environmental Education as a means toward their solution. Although the interviewees' understanding of Environmental Education was imperfect, there was broad support for its aims and principles. Since the study was motivated by concern about the implementation of Environmental Education in Ciskei, the results obtained were encouraging.

This study explores the potential role of an environmental education approach towards the conservation of the Swartkops Estuary and Swartkops Nature Reserve. More specifically it examines the opinions, feelings and perceptions of a sample of twenty seven people, who have a vested interest, in the possible conservation of the area. These stakeholders were comprised of people representing all the various groups and communities that use either or both the estuary and reserve. Opinions were examined by means of a qualitative data analysis from semi-structured interviews. The conservation opinions of respondents were obtained on both general topics and more detailed areas. Due to the small sample and exploratory nature of the project, these results should be viewed as tentative. Proposals are made for increasing the impact of Environmental Education programmes in this and similar environments, and recommendations are put forward to help facilitate related studies in the future.

The purpose of this study was to establish whether educators of Grade 10 integrate environmental awareness issues in the teaching of the Life Sciences learning area as prescribed by the National Curriculum Statement (NCS). Related literature was reviewed on the changing curriculum in South Africa (NCS) as well as Environmental education to place in context the problem of the study, namely to figure out whether educators do integrate environmental awareness in the teaching of Life-Sciences learning area. A qualitative methodology research was used. School principals and educators were selected to participate in the research. The findings of the research showed that educators did not integrate environmental awareness in the teaching of Life sciences learning area. Respondents suggested that educators need to be retrained so that they could implement the principles of NCS effectively. / Educational Studies / M.Ed. (Specialization in Curriculum Studies)

This thesis deals with the analysis of curricula, plans, civic education textbooks and civic education in the late eighties and nineties of the 20th century. The aim of this work is to analyze the today's approach to teaching civic education in the establishment of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic and change of it before and after the revolution of 1989 by establishing a democratic regime. The work involves the analysis of textbooks and curricula from this period. The work is divided into two parts which are loosely linked. In the theoretical part of the thesis, there is the general definition of school textbooks, which are recorded features, concepts, structures, meanings, status, research and research methods according to various educational authors who dealt with analysis of school textbooks. This section is of narrower extent complemented by a variety of observations and comments of author. The practical part of the thesis is based on a detailed analysis of textbooks and curriculum of civic education that is embedded in the space of two historical periods of our country, at the turn of ending socialism and emerging democracy. The work focuses on the individual thematic subject which is then incorporated into the teaching curriculum of the elementary school years by the author. Here examines the appropriateness, timing and similarity teaching materials during the period of socialism with a democratic system of our state. Research component consists of a questionnaire survey work, where the former teachers are asked and current civic education. There are recorded difficulties of teachers and complicated transformation of the subject of the socialist epoch to the present democracy, referred to herein examines the issue of textbooks and curricula. In the practical part, the descriptive part analyzes composition of textbooks, curriculum demands for student motivation and graphic form of textbooks, educational goals and the interpretation of textbook materials for pupils.

It is the aim of this research to create a manual and programme for the reintegration of burn-injured primary-school learners in order to assist in their re-socialisation, and to act as a buffer against depression, conduct disorders, and academic lag. Additional aims of the programme included being resource-efficient, flexible, and compatible with Outcomes-Based Education (aBE) principles evidenced in Curriculum 2005. The final aim of the research involved designing the programme in order for teachers to be able to facilitate it. The manual and programme were evaluated through an embedded case study, encompassing a mildly disfigured burn-injured learner, his family, and his school environment by way of his class and teacher. The programme was found to be efficient in its use of resources, congruent with aBE principles, and engaging of the learners and teacher. Participation in the intervention seemed to afford the burn-injured learner with a buffer against depression, but did not prevent academic lag. Minimal teasing was encountered after the programme was implemented, which is contrary to the expected outcomes based on the literature available. Teacher facilitation was not achieved, however, numerous benefits were derived from the intervention for the majority of the participants.