M.Ed. (Curriculum Studies) / The purpose of this research is to set a structure for the practical training of N-course apprentices. This research focuses on the practical training of apprentices in the telecommunications field. However it has become clear that this structure can be applied to other fields of practical training for apprentices as well. It is important for all training officials who deal with practical training in the technical field to keep pace with the latest development in competency-based training in the technological world. Modular practical training focuses on the ability of the apprentice to master specific skills as required in his field of training. The training program comprises a set of instruction modules with set objectives which can be obtained only if followed by carrying out specific actions. The important characteristic of modular training is that the apprentice is expected to master all the modules set for his particular field of occupation at his own pace according to his individual talents and abilities. The individual trainee is held responsible for succesfully mastering all practical objectives set to him. These modules are arranged progressively and progress is measured with definite performance criteria. A practical module is a complete instructional unit. It comprises aims, objectives, a pre-test, contents with resource material and a final criterium test.

Magister Educationis - MEd / The problem that gave rise to this study was to determine how Adult Basic Education and Training (ABET) was implemented in the Western Cape and to find answers to the question of "what exactly is the nature of the relationship between adult education and training&quot. / South Africa

From Preface: The question of religious instruction in Cape Schools first aroused my interest when I was subjected to anything but religious tnstruction during my own high school years. My desire to enquire into the whole position of religious instruction in the high school curriculum grew out of an essay on the role of religion in the education of the child which I wrote whilst reading for the B.Ed. degree. As background, I read Harold Loukes' classic Teenage Religion, and from then onwards, I felt that it was necessary to undertake an investigation of this kind in the Cape Province. My aim was not only prompted out of a desire to expose what I already knew to be an educationally and religiously unsound and unhealthy state of affairs, but more deeply because I, although an ignorant amateur in theology, am aware that too often the traditional religious foundations, poorly built by unintelligent teaching, are shaken, if not destroyed, by scientific discovery and material advancement.

The education of intellectually disabled (ID) people is constructed within mass education systems as a problem requiring specialised intervention, separation from “normal” school contexts and the application of professional expertise. A social model of disability resists these practices from a human rights perspective and underpins an inclusive education approach. In this study, a post-structuralist disability studies theoretical framework, drawing particularly on the work of Foucault, was used to examine discourses that construct the intellectually disabled person as a subject of education. The study was conducted in Buffalo City, South Africa at a time when an inclusive education policy is being implemented in the country. The research questions were: What discourses are deployed in the representation and educational practices of those identified as ID? What are the effects of these discourses in constructing the ID subject and associated educational practice? The study utilises Q-methodology, a factor analytic method that yields whole patterns of responses for analysis. A process of sorting selected statements along the dimension of agree to disagree was completed by three groups of participants, namely adults with ID, parents of people with ID and professionals working with ID. Discourses of representation and of educational practice were identified through statistical and interpretive analysis, following the discourse analysis school of Q-methodology. The findings of this study reveal the operation of power in a medico-psychological gaze that makes ID visible and supervises disability expertise within education. Representations of ID suffused with religious notions support the exercise of pastoral power by disability experts. Human rights discourses in education can marginalise ID people if applied uncritically. Fixed notions of impairment constrain an intellectually disabled subject who is vulnerable and incompetent. This study argues instead for a theory of (poss)ability, underpinned by an understanding of the situational and shared nature of competence and a fluid conception of impairment. Human rights should be supplemented by an ethics of care and belonging in the community (ubuntu). A research agenda supporting this effort would examine the ways in which ID people work on themselves as subjects (subjectivisation) and explore the potential for resistance in this process.

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This study explores the possible influence of twenty children on their 'parents', with a view to better understanding the potential 'multiplier effect' of children regarding environmental responsibility. The criteria employed to study the potential influence included certain of the environmental activities learnt by the children during an Environmental Education programme. The programme was undertaken by the researcher with a Std 4 class from Ryneveld Primêreskool in Graaff-Reinet. An action research approach was adopted and results were analysed qualitatively. Due to the short duration 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 peri-urban township communities, and recommendations are put forward to help facilitate related studies in the future.

Population dynamics is a South African secondary school biology syllabus topic which deals specifically with ecology or concepts within the realm of ecology. It is currently taught in a way which largely emphasises the teaching and learning of facts and concepts, often out of any context to which students can relate. While it is important to convey scientific concepts, it is just as important to address social and political issues regarding overpopulation and the environment. This research involved the administration of a questionnaire to Std 10 biology teachers in the Department of Education and Training (DET), which sought to obtain information about various aspects of teachers' teaching of population dynamics. These included their feelings toward the teaching of the specific sections of the population dynamics syllabus, and their knowledge and views of environmental issues and human population expansion. The findings of the research suggest that population dynamics is an important topic for students to learn about. The traditional teacher-centred approach to teaching is used by the teachers in the research sample. The sections considered by the teachers to be most important for learning were also considered the most interesting and the easiest to teach. The majority of the teachers in the research sample recognised that human population growth is a global and local problem and that South Africa cannot sustain its present population growth. The teachers in the sample show a diversity of opinions about sustainable development, and have a limited understanding of the links between population, poverty and consumption. Important information gained from the research will be significant in the development of a teaching and learning module on population dynamics that reflects the aims and purpose of environmental education.

The primary objective of this mini-dissertation was to investigate whether a relationship exists between rewards, intrinsic motivation, work engagement among school teachers in South Africa. A further aim was to determine if work engagement has a moderating effect on the relationship between rewards and intrinsic motivation. The researcher further investigated whether demographic differences occurred across the three constructs studied. The study made use of quantitative research to achieve the above-mentioned objectives. The researcher made use of Ulrechs Work Engagement Scales (UWES), Intrinsic Work Motivation Scale (IWMS) and the Organisational Rewards Scale (ORS) to measure the mentioned relationships. The ORS was qualitatively piloted on a sample of primary school teachers in a Non-governmental institution. After refinement, a composite questionnaire was electronically completed by 207 teachers within South Africa. Data analysis was conducted in the form of descriptive and inferential statistics, including Cronbach’s alpha testing, Pearson’s Product Moment Correlations, t-tests, analysis of variance and structural equation modelling. The quantitative findings suggested that rewards lead to higher levels of Work Engagement, which in turn causes higher levels of Intrinsic Motivation. Thus, there was full mediation of rewards onto intrinsic rewards through work engagement From a demographics perspective, practically significant differences were discovered between NGO’s and Government High Schools for Rewards. In addition to these results, age differences were discovered across Work Engagement and job level differences were discovered for Intrinsic Motivation, together with significant correlations between the three constructs. These results theoretically contribute to the validation of the newly developed Intrinsic Work Motivation Scale. Furthermore, the results make a valuable contribution to the field of rewards management for teachers in South Africa.

This study constitutes a theoretical and qualitative investigation into the meanings and locations of social cohesion in dance education. Theoretical connections between culture, dance education and social cohesion are explored. The empirical investigation is designed as a qualitative case study interrogating pre-service student teachers’ experiences and perceptions of a particular dance education course in a culturally and politically diverse university classroom in post-apartheid South Africa. Open-ended questionnaires, reflective journals and focus group interviews were employed to generate data. Findings indicate that involvement in creative movement and ethno-cultural dances raised awareness of the Self and the Other, engendering perspective and personal transformation, important requisites for social transformation and subsequently social cohesion in a formerly divided society, such as South Africa. In addition, these dance education experiences provided participants with unique encounters with the Other’s culture. These occurred through embodied experiences of the culture of the Other, as well as through bodily negotiations with the Other. These findings lead me to argue that dance education, as pertaining to this particular course, can facilitate spaces conducive to cohesion amongst culturally and politically diverse participants in post-apartheid South Africa.

Admissions assessment batteries at most South African higher education institutions augment matriculation results with assessment data from cognitive and non-cognitive measures, in order to identify potentially successful students. The Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) is a non-cognitive measure, developed in the United States of America to assess the motivational orientation and use of learning strategies among college students. Numerous international studies have confirmed the reliability and validity of the MSLQ. Presently only three quantitative studies have been conducted in the South African higher education context, and in these, researchers have focused on the predictive validity, construct validity and reliability of the MSLQ when used with multicultural and multilingual groups of test-takers. An overview of these studies revealed a confirmation of adequate reliability of the MSLQ, and whereas it was established that nine of the fifteen subscales of the MSLQ are significantly related to the academic success of undergraduate students, limited support was found for the construct validity of the measure. As a result of these findings, a lack of qualitative methods for confirming or disconfirming the quantitative results was noted. The general aim of this study was to explore the applicability of the MSLQ in a higher education South African context, with respect to aspects related to bias, through assessing the item content with specific reference to language and cultural appropriateness. This was to ensure that items on the MSLQ did not favour or disadvantage any cultural and language groups. Investigations in this regard are a necessity in a country like South Africa in an effort to promote fair assessment practices. In order to achieve the above-mentioned aim, a quantitative and qualitative approach was utilised following an exploratory-descriptive research method. The researcher employed a non-probability, purposive sampling procedure to select post-graduate participants employed at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) to act as expert reviewers. A Bias Review Form was the primary mode of data collection and this enabled the researcher to collect the biographical details of the expert reviewers, their ratings of the language and cultural appropriateness of each item, and their comments, suggestions and recommendations for improving identified problematic items. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the reviewers’ responses to the short biographical questionnaire included on the Bias Review Form, while frequency counts were calculated based on the reviewers’ responses to the language and cultural appropriateness of each item. The reviewers’ comments were analyzed into themes using Tesch’s model of content analysis. Three main themes relating to potential bias were identified, namely, language, culture and item characteristics. Guba’s model was employed for assessing the trustworthiness of the qualitative data and for data verification.