Thesis (Ph. D. (Education)) -- University of the Limpopo, 2001 / Refer to document

Thesis (MPhil (Information Science))--University of Stellenbosch, 2007. / The world has advanced and grown to a stage where a person without a basic computer literacy finds it almost impossible to function comfortably in society. To address the situation governments all over the world are encouraging their citizens to become technologically literate. Countries are spending large sums of money to integrate ICTs in education. The South African government on its part has realized and acknowledged the importance of Information and Communication Technology in education. Hence, its White paper on e-Education, which provides for the integration of ICTs into schools. This study looks at efforts being made by the Department of Education and other education stakeholders to address the ICT situation in some schools based in a rural area of the Limpopo Province. A well-resourced school in so far as ICTs are concerned was visited to assess the functionality and applicability of ICT within the school system and to make comparisons to less resourced schools. The study highlights the plight of schools in rural areas where the lack of basic amenities such as adequate accommodation, furniture, water, etc. is the order of the day. It is however pointed out that dwelling on these issues is no solution as the question of ICT integration into schools is a non negotiable one, if South African learners are to be kept abreast with trends in other parts of the world. That is, without adequate immersion into ICT, learners would not be globally competitive. The ICT situation in schools in the Limpopo Province has been analysed within a framework developed under this study. The framework is set to help the Department of Education determine the suitable intervention programmes for each level of ICT integration. In addition, the study concludes with a recommendation. The success or failure to integrate ICT into schools, especially those in rural areas, depends to a large extent on the kind of intervention the government adopts. Since all schools have not attained the same level of ICT integration, there should be a clearly defined audit to determine what is needed and how it should be provided. This study raises some of the key issues for integration of ICTs in schools within a rural setting.

This study explores the management of parent volunteers in secondary schools in the Limpopo Province. A literature study was conducted to investigate the existing theories and models of managing parent volunteerism in secondary schools. The literature revealed how parent volunteer programmes are conducted in countries, which have developed successful programmes such as the United States. The present state of parent volunteering in secondary schools in South Africa is also investigated to reveal the current situation. A qualitative investigation in two secondary schools in the Limpopo Province was done. Data was gathered by means of semi-structured interviews with principals and deputy principals. Analysed data revealed that there are no volunteer programmes which are implemented in secondary schools in the Limpopo Province and school managers do not have the necessary skills to implement and manage parent volunteer programmes at secondary schools. / Educational Studies / (M.Ed (Education Management))

A quantitative, descriptive, explorative design was used to evaluate a decentralised primary health care training programme at a training unit in the Limpopo Province. The study sought to determine to what extent the newly qualified diplomates were able to manage patients appropriately when faced with the realities, such as the shortage of personnel, large numbers of patients, shortage of resources and time constraints in the real situation without the support and guidance from medical practitioners and senior nursing personnel. Data were collected by observing the diplomates as they managed patients with hypertension by making use of checklists. The diplomates were also interviewed by making use of an in interview schedule. The major inferences drawn from this study was that these diplomates were competent in the management of these patients and were satisfied with their abilities and training. / Health Studies / M. A. (Health Studies)

South Africa began with the ‘no-fee’ school policy (NFSP) implementation on 01 January 2007. The policy abolished mandatory school fees in public ordinary schools to make basic education available to poor learners in the country. However, critics argued that the NFSP implementation made poor schools poorer and needed researched. This prompted an exploration on “No-fee schools’ inability to address the needs of the poor in Limpopo” The researcher randomly sampled ten ‘no-fee’ primary schools for the study. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and documentation. Interviewees were principals, treasurers and chairpersons of school governing bodies from the schools studied. The collected data were analysed through inductive techniques. The study discovered that the no-fee schools were unable to address the needs of the poor in Limpopo. The study concluded with recommendations for empowering no-fee schools on addressing the needs of the poor in Limpopo and for topics on future research. / Thesis (M. Ed. (Educational Management))

South Africa is currently undergoing a process of change from a segregated education system to a more democratic system of education. The country is characterised by drastic policy shifts in the social, economic and political arenas. The problem that called for this research is that education managers at national, provincial, district, and circuit levels are facing challenges in the understanding, interpretation and implementation of education policies as they apply to support staff, educators, learners and their parents or guardians. Lack of access to and knowledge of acts, policies and procedures in educational leadership and management seem to impact negatively on the effective functioning of public schools in the provisioning of quality education in Limpopo province of South Africa. A qualitative research methodology coupled with ontology and epistemology theories were used in a phenomenological interpretive perspective. The rationale for choosing the qualitative approach was that the subject of this research study required data on the experiences, perceptions and views of the research participants. Three research instruments of data collection were employed, namely participant observation, document analysis and interviews. Purposive sampling was chosen to select the education managers as participants who were likely to be knowledgeable about and experienced in the phenomenon under study. Focus group and individual interviews were conducted with educators, education managers, and educator union representatives. I used content analysis method to catergorise data into themes. The findings in this study revealed that knowledge of the education policies is a pre-requisite for the implementation of such policies for quality education. It was evident that education managers have inadequate understanding of the formulation, interpretation and implementation of policies. Education managers had contrasting perceptions of education quality and divergent interpretationsof education policies. The deployment of circuit managers undermined the value of management qualifications, experience and expertise in such management posts. The absence of a policy enforcement agency and a lack of coordination within different levels of education management in the province have led to unresolved cases of misconduct and non-compliance with education policies. The researcher recommends that induction of newly appointed education managers, continuous training of the serving education managers, mentoring and monitoring of the implementation of education policies should receive priority for the provision of quality education in public schools. / Educational Leadership and Management / D. Ed. (Education Management)

M.Ed. (Information and Communication Technologies in Education) / The use of ICT at all levels in the schools has been shown to have a positive impact on teaching and learning, in particular of Mathematics. In South Africa, Dinaledi schools have been given ICT resources by the former Department of Education (South Africa) with the aim of improving Grade 12 results, particularly in Mathematics. This study aims to assess the use of ICT for learning in the selected Dinaledi School, with an additional focus on Mathematics learning in grade 8 to 12, and to provide guidelines for the use of ICT in the Dinaledi schools, and specifically to support Mathematics learning. The ‘mixed–method’ study comprised several sets of data, both quantitative and qualitative, using a sequential-mixed-method-explanatory design for the case of the selected Dinaledi School, Kone High School (Fictitious name), situated in the Limpopo Province, to determine how ICT resources are used in the teaching and learning, and also for Mathematics. In the quantitative phase, quantitative data was collected by means of structured questionnaires on the use of ICT from the principal, teachers and students. The University of Johannesburg’s STATKON unit analysed the data, and confirmed the latent theoretical constructs that were embedded in the questionnaire. To clarify the results, in the follow-up qualitative phase, the principal, teachers and students were interviewed on the use of computers. Other quantitative data were sourced from official end-of-year matric results. Both teachers and students pointed that the ICT resources were not sufficiently used in teaching and learning, in particular for Mathematics, although in contrast it appeared that the principal believed that the ICT resources were sufficiently used for teaching and learning. The study concluded that ICT was not an important driver of teaching and learning in this Dinaledi school and it did not play the role in teaching and learning at Kone High School, as is envisioned for Dinaledi schools.

MPM / Oliver Tambo Institute of Governance and Policy Studies

MGS / Institute for Gender and Youth Studies

MCur / Department of Advanced Nursing Science