This study explores the influence of teacher unions on the formulation and implementation of the Integrated Quality Management System (IQMS) in the Johannesburg Central District. The involvement of unions in the signing of Collective Agreement Number 8 of 2003 and the failure of unions to fully support implementation at school level is a challenge. Unions are part of the bargaining council in the Education and Labour Relations Council as they are also part of the policy formulation process. The constitutional duty that teachers need to align themselves with is to provide quality education that will allow learners fair and better opportunities of succeeding. The use of IQMS as a quality measurement system is of outmost importance to stabilise the education environment and to benefit the nation. Unions therefore have a statutory obligation not only to their constituencies but also to their clients, the teachers. The study was qualitative and exploratory in nature, based on grounded and social constructivism theory. It was conducted in the Johannesburg Central region that forms part of the Gauteng Education Department. The sample consisted of groups of five union representatives, two Gauteng Department of Education officials and 35 school-based unionised teachers. The researcher used observation, one on one interview as well as focus group interviews to collect data. The unions involved in the study were the Suid Afrikaanse Onderwyseris Unie the National Professional Teachers’ Organisation of South Africa and the South African Democratic Teachers’ Organisation .Findings showed a deficiency in processes such as advocacy, training and funding which are the main determinants of policy implementation. The unions were of the opinion that regardless of their role in the ELRC which some viewed as rubberstamping; their influence was not of much significance during the formulation of policies. They suggested a more rigorous and intense route that could give them the mandate to be hands on during the formulation of policies. They also reported that they needed qualified and competent people to spearhead training so as to ensure a better understanding by all stakeholders during the effective implementation of IQMS. / Educational Leadership and Management / D. Ed. (Education Management)

Dit is nie oordrewe om te beweer dat die Suid-Afrikaanse onderwyssisteem tans midde-in 'n krisis staan nie. Dat ook die tersiere onderwyssektor ten nouste deur die omvang van hierdie krisis geraak word, kan nie betwis word nie. Die dilemma soos wat dit huidig binne die onderwys manifesteer, is direk herleibaar tot die jarelange apartheidsbeleid van die verlede. Dit is besonderlik die tersiere onderwyssektor wat 'n onvoldoende verrekening van die behoeftes van die gemeenskap weerspieel - veral die onderwysgerigte probleme en uitdagings binne die breer Afrikakonteks. In 'n poging om die onderwysspeelveld gelyk te maak, is indringende veranderings en hervormings besig om plaas te vind aan die bree onderwysfront. Verskeie onderwysimperatiewe tree na vore:Regstellings met betrekking tot die diskrepansie in onderwysstandaarde; Die toekomstige onderwysbehoeftes van die groeiende bevolking wat geakkommodeer moet word; Opgeleide mannekrag wat voorsien moet word ten einde 'n lewensvatbare en progressiewe ekonomie te verseker Die eiesoortige probleme van groot massas individue wat ongeskoold is of wat beskik oor 'n minderwaardige skoolopleiding, wat aangespreek moet word. Een van die grootste struikelblokke wat staan in die weg om die voorgenoemde probleemareas daadwerklik aan te spreek, is dosente aan tersiere onderwysinstansies se oenskynlike gebrek aan toereikende onderrig- en begeleidingsvaardighede. In die literatuurstudie is verskeie navorsingsbevindinge aangehaal wat daarop dui dat die meerderheid dosente vasgevang is in 'n nimmereindigende gejaag na die verwerwing van kwalifikasies en die publisering van navorsingsresultate - ongelukkig ten koste van doeltreffende onderrig en begeleiding van studente. Hierbenewens het dit ook aan die lig gekom dat meer as 80% van alle dosente aan geselekteerde tersiere onderwysinstansies in Suid-Afrika, oor geen vorm van formele onderrigkwalifikasies beskik nie.n Vraelys is ontwikkel ten einde te bepaal tot watter mate bevestiging vir die literatuurbevindinge in die praktyk gevind kon word en ook om dosente se algemene persepsies te toets met betrekking tot die doseerprofessie in sy geheel. Daar is veral klem gele op die onderskeie komponente van dosentskap - begeleiding en onderrig, navorsing, administrasie en gemeenskapsdiens. Drie bree kategoriee dosente is betrek by die studie, naamlik diegene verteenwoordigend van: Histories Afrikaanse Instellings; Histories Engelse Instellings; en Histories Swart Instellings. Uit hoofde van die bevindinge van die empiriese ondersoek, is praktykgerigte riglyne vir onderrig en begeleiding binne andragogiese konteks neergele. / It is not an exaggeration to maintain that the educational system in South Africa finds itself in the midst of a crisis. It can furthermore not be denied that tertiary education in particular is profoundly involved in this crisis. The dilemma which presently manifests in the educational sector is without doubt the result of the prolonged apartheidspolicy of the past. The tertiary sector, in particular, reflects an inadequate consideration of the unique needs of the broader community. In an effort to level the educational playfield, incisive changes and reconstruction are currently taking place in the broader educational sector. Various educational imperatives emerge:Affirmative action with regard to the discrepency in educational standards have to be addressed; The future educational needs of the growing South African population have to be accommodated; Qualified manpower that has to be provided so as to ensure a viable and progressive economy; The unique problems of large numbers of individuals who are unskilled or who are in possession of an inferior school education, have to be considered. A major obstacle in the way of addressing the aforementioned problem areas, is lecturers' apparent lack of sufficient teaching and accompaniment skills. Various research findings are quoted which point to the fact that the majority of lecturers are trapped in a spiral of obtaining qualifications and publishing research findings. This process unfortunately impacts negatively on effective teaching and the accompaniment of students. ·A related finding confirms that more than 80% of all lecturers at selected tertiary institutions in South Africa are not in possession of a professional teaching qualification. A questionnaire was developed in order to establish to which degree confirmation could be found in practice for the literature findings and also to establish lecturers' general perceptions with regard to the teaching profession. Emphasis was placed on the different components of the lecturing task. Three broad categories of lecturers were involved in the study, namely those representing: Historically Afrikaans Institutions; Historically English Institutions; and Historically black institutions. In view of the findings of the empirical study, practice-based guidelines for teaching and accompaniment within andragogical context were put forward. / Educational Studies / D.Ed. (Orthopedagogics)

This research was undertaken in the context of socio-economic transformation in South Africa, and more specifically, in the context of change in education policy. To support socio-economic transformation in South Africa after the first democratic elections in 1994, a competence-based National Qualifications Framework (NQF) was introduced in 1995. In responding to the particular socio-historical context of South Africa, the South African NQF is underpinned by the notion of applied competence, integrating practical, foundational and reflexive competence, which is the key and distinguishing feature of this competence-based framework. In this context of transformation, the research was aimed at an in-depth exploration of the notion of reflexivity and reflexive competence, and course processes that enable its development, with a view to providing curriculum development insights for learning programme development in the competence-based NQF, more broadly, and environmental education professional development programmes, more specifically. To enable these aims, the research was undertaken in the context of the Rhodes University / Gold Fields Participatory Course in Environmental Education (RU/GF course), as a case example of a professional development course that aims to develop critically reflexive practitioners. Within an interpretivist orientation, a multiple-embedded case study approach was used to gain insight into the relationship between course processes, reflexivity and the development of reflexive competence to clarify and provide a critical perspective on how competence develops in the context of the course. Data was collected over a period of one year using observation, interviewing and document analysis as the primary data collection techniques. Data was analysed through various phases and layers to inform data generation and the synthesising of data for further interpretation. Through the literature review undertaken within the study, various significant insights emerged around the notion of reflexivity and reflexive competence. Firstly, there appears to be a need to distinguish between reflexivity as social processes of change (social actions and interactions within social systems, structures and processes) and reflexive competence (a range of integrative elements of competence) that provides the evidence of an engagement within social processes of change. The second key insight emerging is the significance of social structure in shaping participation in reflexive processes, thus emphasising the duality of structure as both the medium for, and outcome of reflexive social actions and interactions and so challenges the deterministic conception of social structure. Further, the significance of an epistemologically framed notion of reflexivity and reflexive competence emerged, in the context of responding to the complex and uncertain quality of socio-ecological risks and in supporting change in context. Reflexivity, distinguished from processes of critical reflection, foregrounds a critical exploration of both knowledge and unawareness. As such a reinterpretation of reflexive competence is offered as a process of potential challenge to dominant and reigning forms of reasoning (knowledge frameworks) and consequent principles of ordering. Through this reframing of reflexive competence, the potential exists to destabilise dominant forms of reasoning and principles of ordering to create a broader scope of possibilities for action and change in context. This reframing of reflexive competence in the context of transformation in South Africa has critical implications for engaging within processes of learning programme design in the NQF to support an engagement within reflexive processes of change and the development of a range of integrative elements of reflexive competence. In this light, the study attempts to make the following contribution to curriculum deliberations within the context of environmental education and the NQF in relation to reflexivity, reflexive competence and change: ♦ Reflexivity is conceptualised as social processes of change with reflexive competence providing evidence of engagement within these social processes of change; ♦ An epistemologically framed conception of reflexivity and reflexive competence recognises how rules of reason and the ordering of the ‘reasonable’ person come to shape social life; and so ♦ Change is conceptualised as ruptures and breaks in dominant knowledge frames and the power relations embedded in these; ♦ Unawareness emerges as a key dimension within reflexive environmental education processes in responding to the unpredictable and uncertain nature of risks; ♦ An epistemological framing of reflexivity and reflexive competence highlights the need to develop open processes of learning to support the critical exploration of knowledge and unawareness; and ♦ Within this framing of reflexivity and reflexive competence, the difficulty emerges in specifically predefining reflexive competence to inform standard setting processes within a context of intended change. In framing data within this emerging conception of reflexivity and reflexive competence, a review of course processes highlighted potential areas for reorienting the RU/GF course to support change in context, for which I make specific recommendations. Drawing on the review of course processes in the RU/GF course, and in light of the reframing of reflexivity and reflexive competence, I further offer summative discussions as ‘possible implications’ for learning programme design in the South African competence-based NQF, broadly and environmental education professional development programmes in this framework, more specifically.

D.Phil. / The purpose of this research is to develop a curriculum framework for a distance education course in sustainable urban agriculture, whereby it is envisaged to train the trainers of urban farmers. The factors which motivated this study are mainly socioeconomic and ecological in nature and include the food crisis of the urban poor, unsustainable agricultural practices, malnutrition, starvation, health risks and high population growth in cities. Sustainability in urban agriculture implicates a need for environmental education and ecological agriculture. An exploratory and descriptive research design was used in the empirical study to determine the feasibility of an urban agriculture course through distance education. The need for Environmental Education in this course as well as the best media to use for the course were determined. Secondly, the policies and assistance by local governments to establish an infrastructure for practising sustainable urban agriculture, aimed at improving socio-economic and environmental sustainability, were determined. In both these cases a quantitative research study was undertaken, using a questionnaire as the data collecting instrument and a research survey as the method of enquiry. The sampling population was purposively selected. The questionnaires were coded and the data from the closed-ended questions was computer-analysed while data from the open-ended questions was content analysed, using Kerlinger's method of content analysis. Thirdly, a literature study was done on the educational philosophies and the philosophical base undergirding this curriculum as well as curriculum design models and sources of change, influencing this curriculum. A curriculum design model was chosen to serve as a theoretical foundation for designing an urban agriculture curriculum. Finally an empirical study with a discriptive and exploratory research design was undertaken in a qualitative research study to set the curriculum framework for a distance education course in urban agriculture.

M.Ed. / A research team from the Department of Educational Sciences at the Rand Afrikaans University has recently engaged in a group project to establish to what extent the school has educated children towards democracy by the time they reach std.10. Statements by various educationists and politicians, alluding to the fact that a democratic attitude has to be taught because it is not an innate human characteristic, prompted the researchers to select this theme. Each member of the team did research on a specific aspect of democracy. This study focuses on "freedom, tolerance and the rights of minorities in a democracy. It was decided that a questionnaire would be an appropriate research instrument. It was compiled on the basis of literature studies of the different aspects of democracy. Six of the 37 questions related to the aspects of freedom, tolerance and the rights of minorities in a democracy. Std.10 pupils and teachers representative of all secondary schools in the Witwatersrand area were deemed to be best qualified to respond to the questions posed in the questionnaire.

Matriculation pass rates in South Africa, especially in Mathematics, have been poor. The literature and personal experience suggests that a problem with homework may be a factor in this. In order to discover how Port Elizabeth learners from ex-DET schools perceived and experienced Mathematics homework, and the nature of such homework, ten case studies of Grade 11 learners were done. While conducting and analyzing the case studies, a pattern emerged from the findings, which together with some new questions, needed to be explored on a larger sample population. In order to do this and to be able to generalize the findings, four follow-up studies in the form of surveys on Mathematics homework were conducted at nine schools. These studies involved a learner questionnaire, a teacher questionnaire, the timing of learners as they did set Mathematical problems and the analysis of common errors made by the learners while doing the problems. The findings revealed that learners received too little homework too infrequently and did it inefficiently and ineffectively. The learners worked too slowly, did not complete the homework, left out the difficult problems and made numerous unnecessary mistakes. However, most of the learners claimed to have enough time available to do their homework and spent approximately one hour on Mathematics homework when it had been assigned. Many of the misconceptions and the resultant errors originated from work that should have been well covered in previous grades. However, parts of the syllabi were omitted in previous grades and completion of the syllabus and homework was only seriously considered in Grade 12. Some implications of the findings for educational practice and further research are discussed.

The question of learner participation or involvement in school governance has been a thorny issue in South Africa for decades. This study investigated secondary learners’ participation in the governance of their schools through representation by the Representative Council of Learners (RCLs), formerly known as school representative councils (SRCs). The study attempted to find out how learners participation is perceived by both the RCLs and the School Management Teams (SMTs). The study was conducted in five secondary schools in the Eastern Cape townships of Grahamstown. The research participants were members of School Management Teams and Representative Councils of Learners from these schools. The study was oriented in an interpretive paradigm following a qualitative approach. Questionnaires and in-depth semi-structured interviews were used to explore the perceptions of the two groups involved. The Department of Education documents that sanction RCL participation were referred to throughout and especially when analysing the respondents’ views. The main finding of the study is that learner involvement in school governance is still problematic, though it is presently provided for by policies that govern schools, including the South African Schools Act and the Guides for Representative Councils of Learners of 1999, in which their roles are outlined. The findings of the study reveal an indecisive and autocratic mindset among educators regarding the issue of learner involvement in governance and management. Furthermore, the Department of Education documents in place betray a narrow conception of RCL participation in school governance and still display an element of mistrust towards the learners concerning their roles in governance. As a result of these forces, the democratic potential of learner participation is undermined, and RCLs compromised as legitimate stakeholders.

In this study an exploration was conducted of change and transformation at an institution of higher education in South Africa using Anstey’s conceptual framework. This framework incorporated the work of major change theorists as well as the balanced scorecard of Kaplan and Norton. A quantitative and exploratory approach was used. The research question for this study was formulated as follows: How successful was the organizational transformation process at the newly established university in the period 2003 – 2007? The first objective of the study was to describe the organizational transformation process as it unfolded at the newly established university. The second objective was to evaluate the success of the organizational transformation process by using Anstey’s conceptual framework. Eight factors were identified in Anstey’s framework according to which the success of the merger was analyzed. These factors were: constructive unease; harnessed urgency; clear purpose; challenging vision with clear measurable objectives; champions at all levels; culture and community; competitive competencies; coherent strategy, and communication and consultation. A computerized survey tool was utilized to design a structured questionnaire with both fixed response and open-ended questions. Some 13 percent of the employees responded to the questionnaire. The internal consistency of the scores derived from the instrument was confirmed using Cronbach’s alpha. Descriptive statistics revealed that 62.5 percent of factor scores were neutral and 37.5 percent negative with regard to staffs’ perceptions of the merger. Inferential statistics disclosed that academic staff viewed the merger more negatively on factor 3 challenging vision with clear measurable objectives than their administrative colleagues. The total success of the merger can be summarized by the following statement of one of the participants ‘If the NMMU merger is compared to other mergers in Higher Education in South Africa then it is clear that, from a systems and procedural perspective, it was managed satisfactory. Unfortunately the ‘people’ dimension of the merger did not feature as a priority and many staff members were alienated as a result of this.’ The limitation of the study was the small sample size. This study was also contextual in nature, meaning that it focused on the transformation process as it unfolded at a specific university in South African between the years 2003 – 2007. No results generated in this study can be generalized as they only presented a shot-in-time reflecting the transformation process at a particular organization at a particular period in time. This study also confirmed the usefulness of Anstey’s conceptual framework in assessing transformation at an institution of higher education.

This study examines the experiences of the school management teams and educators of the Isibane Circuit in the Queenstown District, regarding the implementation of an Integrated Quality Management System (IQMS) policy at school level. Following an agreement reached in 2003 between the South African Education Department and the major teacher organisations in this country, the IQMS was scheduled to be implemented in public schools from 2004. Two major challenges are identified and explained: accountability and development of human resources, as well as contradictions between internal and external evaluations. The study also elaborates on the changes in the educational history from the apartheid system to the democratic system of education. Nine schools participated in the study (two secondary schools and seven primary schools). These schools were purposely selected due to the fact that they had started implementing the IQMS policy, which was the main criterion for selection. Semi-structured interviews were used to gather data from principals, Heads of Departments as well as post-level one educators concerning their experiences of the IQMS implementation. The findings indicated that while the IQMS policy was good on paper, it was extremely difficult to implement. Issues of honesty and trust were at the root of difficulties that made the IQMS implementation challenging. The participants‟ understanding of IQMS was that it was intended for the provision of quality education and development.

Education policies remain a contested terrain in both the social and political environments. They are not neutral instruments and are used both to maintain the existing social order and also to promote varying kinds of change or mobility. The South African Schools Act, 1996 (Act 84 of 1996) hereafter SASA, which is the source of all policies that regulate school issues in South Africa promotes democratic methods of school governing and education provisioning that favours the previously disadvantaged groups. The NNSSF is one of the policies of SASA that makes schooling accessible to the poor through school fee exemptions while attempting to close the gap between the rich and the poor through differentiated school funding created according to researched poverty levels and standardized target lists. This has been designed to fulfil one of the essential human rights of man- education that has been entrenched in the Bill of Rights of the Republic of South Africa Constitution, 1996 (Act 108 of 1996) hereafter, Constitution. Thus, the study’s objective is to evaluate the implementation of the NNSSF policy in public schools focussing on school fee exemptions. The extent to which poor parents and learners are given school fee exemptions as they are supposed to according to the policy will be indicators of whether the NNSSF is justly or unjustly implemented in public schools. Learners are the recipients of the right to education. Parents are given the responsibility to fund the education of their children. However, for poor parents to fulfil that they need advice and assistance from the teachers and SGBs to be able to access the school fee exemptions while they have a right to just administrative action and to human dignity in dealing with them. SGBs and teachers have to create a favourable environment for the just implementation of the NNSSF by advising and xiii assisting deserving parents and learners to access school fee exemptions so that the right to education is fulfilled. The duty of in loco parentis and acting in the best interest of the child enforce teachers to do everything possible to ensure that learners access education. EDOs are supposed to guide, monitor and supervise the implementation of the policy while legal bodies should assist parents and learners to demand their right when it is violated through litigation. The study used the method of survey which is quantitative and interviews which are qualitative. Questionnaires and interview schedules were tools used to collect data that was analysed through statistical methods and represented in the form of tables and pie-charts. Various significant findings were made that had a bearing on the implementation of the NNSSF policy in public schools, most important to note is that some learners who have the right to education are aware of this right but do not know how to ensure that it is not violated. Parents are not given the opportunity to decide whether school fees should be charged in their schools. Above that they are not given the advice they need to be able to access school fee exemptions. Some teachers think that by advising and assisting learners and parents they will be buying cheap popularity- showing ignorance. EDOs do not know how schools implement the NNSSF, they are not involved in anyway. Thus the study views the implementation of NNSSF policy in public schools as unjust and recommends that SGBs and teachers need to be educated, guided and monitored by the EDOs on the policy and its implementation. They in turn will have to educate parents and learners so that they are able to access school fee exemptions thereby receiving education – their right.