The opening chapter states the problem, purpose of study and also provides background to the problem as well as preliminary literature of the study. The other chapter that has substantially enriched the project is chapter two, which provided all the literature, related to the research. The third chapter explains the methodology used in this research study. Data was collected through the use of questionnaires from learners in Gaborone Junior Secondary Schools. All in all, a sample of sixty (60) (n=60) subjects were used to collect data. Chapter four is about data presentation, analysis and interpretation and lastly the recommendations, which are provided to help the authorities as well as the school administrators. The study sought to find out the causes and effects of peer harassment in Gaborone Junior Secondary Schools, as well as the prevalent forms of bullying and the effort undertaken by school administrators and other stakeholders to support victims of peer harassment in the educational system. The researchers' hypotheses were that home background, peer pressure, and popularity are some of the major causes of school bullying, physical and verbal abuse are the prevalent forms of bullying in secondary school, there is . a significant positive relationship between school bullying and learners' low academic achievement and that school administrators and teachers are not supportive to learners who are victims of peer harassment. The findings revealed that indeed, children who come from violent homes, homes faced with divorce, alcoholism, lack of maternal affection and poverty, become bullies. The other ,causes of bullying behaviour according to the study, is negative peer pressure as well as the desire to be popular. The study also revealed that learners who are victims of bullying academically perform poorly, fear going to school, riding a school bus and develop low self-esteem and are depressed. Furthermore, the study found that the school administration and teachers do not make an effort to attend to victims of peer harassment. The study recommends that the Ministry of Education through the work of curriculum developers should provide , policies and programs that address unacceptable behaviour. These polices can include expansion of the school curriculum to cater for guidance and counselling. During the study, the researcher's schedule was affected especially during administration of questionnaires as . a lot of schools were engaged in the Performance Management System exercise (P.M.S), thus some were reluctant to help. / (M.Ed.) North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, 2005

The study sought to investigate on the learning support provision for learners with visual impairment at a senior secondary school in Botswana. The objectives of the study were to describe and explain the learning support provided to the learners with visual impairment at the school and to suggest ways for improving the learning support services to the learners. The study is qualitative in nature. The target population was the school community and its stakeholders. Data was collected using document study, interviews and observation. Qualitative data analysis was employed extensively through descriptions. The research study findings established that there are a variety of learning support programmes provided to learners with visual impairment at the school to enhance their understanding of the academic material. The learning support programmes range from counselling, guidance, advisory, consultancy, assessment, physical orientation of the environment, the school curriculum, tactile orientation of graphically presented learning materials to mention but a few. However, these learning support programmes are not adequate and effective enough to help the learners perform better academically. The shortage of human and material resources especially in the recent past has negatively influenced the performance of learners with visual impairment. There are also main areas of weaknesses such as lack of adequate stakeholder consultation and involvement in the planning and implementation of special educational programmes. The study recommends that partnership between the school and its stakeholders be improved. It is also important that the entire school community and stakeholders be involved in thoughtful, carefully researched learning support programmes. Large class sizes, imbalances in resource provision, counselling services and low production rate of learning and teaching materials at the Resource Centre all need serious attention. / Inclusive Education / M. Ed. (Inclusive Education)

The study sought to investigate on the learning support provision for learners with visual impairment at a senior secondary school in Botswana. The objectives of the study were to describe and explain the learning support provided to the learners with visual impairment at the school and to suggest ways for improving the learning support services to the learners. The study is qualitative in nature. The target population was the school community and its stakeholders. Data was collected using document study, interviews and observation. Qualitative data analysis was employed extensively through descriptions. The research study findings established that there are a variety of learning support programmes provided to learners with visual impairment at the school to enhance their understanding of the academic material. The learning support programmes range from counselling, guidance, advisory, consultancy, assessment, physical orientation of the environment, the school curriculum, tactile orientation of graphically presented learning materials to mention but a few. However, these learning support programmes are not adequate and effective enough to help the learners perform better academically. The shortage of human and material resources especially in the recent past has negatively influenced the performance of learners with visual impairment. There are also main areas of weaknesses such as lack of adequate stakeholder consultation and involvement in the planning and implementation of special educational programmes. The study recommends that partnership between the school and its stakeholders be improved. It is also important that the entire school community and stakeholders be involved in thoughtful, carefully researched learning support programmes. Large class sizes, imbalances in resource provision, counselling services and low production rate of learning and teaching materials at the Resource Centre all need serious attention. / Inclusive Education / M. Ed. (Inclusive Education)

No description available.

Public Administration / (M. A.( Public Administration))

Public Administration and Management / (M. A.( Public Administration))

Thesis (MTech (Quality))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2011. / Education is undoubtedly of great significance to everyone, and as a consequence countries are working hard to ensure that their educational systems are responsive to their socio-economic needs. In search for competitive advantage, institutes of higher learning throughout the world are focussing their attention in ensuring the provision of quality academic programmes. Botswana's public technical colleges are no exception. In recent years, the government of Botswana through Department of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (DTVET) has stepped up its efforts to expand and transform technical and vocational education in that country. In spite of these investments, studies show that the quality of training is still a serious concern. This study aims to explore the extent to which the Botswana institutions implement quality management systems. Critical areas and attributes where institutions should focus their efforts in relation to quality are explored. To achieve the objective of the study, both qualitative and quantitative research methodologies were used. The case study research method was employed to investigate issues which have affected the capacity of the institutions to implement quality management systems. Data was gathered from students, teachers and the college management team members by means of a self-administered questionnaire. This study hopes to contribute to the existing body of knowledge by providing insights into the implementation of quality management systems in the training institutions in Botswana.

This thesis describes the background and findings of a study of effective schools and learners achievement in Botswana senior secondary schools from an education management perspective. The aim was to identify schools that promote learners’ achievement when the students’ initial intakes were considered. The study was guided by five research questions. The study adopted an ex post facto design and a quantitative value added methodology to answer the research questions. Simple random sampling was used to select a sample of 5662 from the population of 58 032 students who wrote the BGCSE examinations for 2005, 2006 and 2007. Two sets of data: prior and later achievements at individual student level were collected from BEC and Secondary Education. The statistical software, MLwiN 2.10 beta 4, which is based on hierarchical linear modelling or multilevel modelling, was used to analyse the data for the value added by schools. The findings indicated that a) schools differ in their effectiveness. Some schools were more effective than others; b) Ten characteristics of effective schools were identified from the literature review c) schools differed in their consistency across the three core curriculum areas of Setswana, English and Mathematics; d) schools differed in their stability from year to year and e) schools were differentially effective. They were effective for the mid ability students and boys more than the other groups. The study confirmed that the use of a single statistic measure even in value added analysis could be misleading because of the internal variations between departments in schools. Furthermore, the uses of raw results for measuring school effectiveness were misleading. Some schools which were at the top in raw results were not doing so well in terms of value added and vice versa. The value added measures of school performance proved to be the most appropriate measure of school’s contribution to students’ learning. The value added by schools is also a measure of schools’ productivity. The study made recommendations to improve practice, such as the use of appropriate and fairer methods to evaluate and compare schools. The areas that need further attention were suggested based on the findings of the study. / Teacher Education / D.Ed. (Education Management)

This study investigated perceptions of preservice primary student teachers of their teacher preparatory program. In particular, the study wanted to find out if the Philosophy of Kagisano, which encompasses the five national principles of democracy, development, self-reliance, unity, and botho, was integrated in the training of the preservice primary student teachers. The study addressed the following three research questions: 1. How do preservice primary student teachers perceive their preparatory program, including the integration of the national principles? 2. What pedagogical methods/teaching strategies and assessment techniques do teacher educators in primary colleges use? 3. How do primary teacher educators integrate the national principles (philosophy of Kagisano) throughout the program, including in their content, teaching strategies and assessment techniques? This qualitative case study used semi-structured, in-depth interviews with the participants, document analysis and classroom observations for collecting the data. Seventeen preservice student teachers at Fellow College of Education in Botswana were interviewed individually. These were third and final year students with a specialty in Social Studies. The interviews were recorded, transcribed and the grounded theory was used to analyze the data. The findings indicated that preservice teachers were taught “more” theory than application. The content that was taught at the College of Education was a repetition of the junior and senior secondary school content. The study also found that college lecturers do integrate the five national principles of democracy, development, self-reliance, unity, and botho in their content, and teaching strategies but did not integrate them in their assessment techniques. Furthermore, the study found that some inconsistency in the grading of students’ work existed. / Access to thesis permanently restricted to Ball State community only / Department of Educational Studies

This thesis describes the background and findings of a study of effective schools and learners achievement in Botswana senior secondary schools from an education management perspective. The aim was to identify schools that promote learners’ achievement when the students’ initial intakes were considered. The study was guided by five research questions. The study adopted an ex post facto design and a quantitative value added methodology to answer the research questions. Simple random sampling was used to select a sample of 5662 from the population of 58 032 students who wrote the BGCSE examinations for 2005, 2006 and 2007. Two sets of data: prior and later achievements at individual student level were collected from BEC and Secondary Education. The statistical software, MLwiN 2.10 beta 4, which is based on hierarchical linear modelling or multilevel modelling, was used to analyse the data for the value added by schools. The findings indicated that a) schools differ in their effectiveness. Some schools were more effective than others; b) Ten characteristics of effective schools were identified from the literature review c) schools differed in their consistency across the three core curriculum areas of Setswana, English and Mathematics; d) schools differed in their stability from year to year and e) schools were differentially effective. They were effective for the mid ability students and boys more than the other groups. The study confirmed that the use of a single statistic measure even in value added analysis could be misleading because of the internal variations between departments in schools. Furthermore, the uses of raw results for measuring school effectiveness were misleading. Some schools which were at the top in raw results were not doing so well in terms of value added and vice versa. The value added measures of school performance proved to be the most appropriate measure of school’s contribution to students’ learning. The value added by schools is also a measure of schools’ productivity. The study made recommendations to improve practice, such as the use of appropriate and fairer methods to evaluate and compare schools. The areas that need further attention were suggested based on the findings of the study. / Teacher Education / D.Ed. (Education Management)