I am employed by the Department of Education as a Senior Education Specialist, / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009.

This study presents and applies Agenda Setting theory or the Multiple Stream model by Kingdon on the free higher education policy proposal in post-apartheid South Africa. The aim was to uncover how and why free higher education has been elevated onto the agenda of decision-makers; and why it is not yet an accepted policy proposal. Kingdon argued that for a policy proposal to be considered, it must be technically feasible, anticipate future constraints and receive enough political support or consensus. Apart from that, the following streams of action must converge: the problem must be clearly defined, feasible solutions offered and political consensus obtained. Using qualitative methods such as thematic and documentary analysis to collect and analyse data, the study has discovered that free higher education has been pushed onto the agenda because it was aimed at addressing the problem of unequal access to higher education. Mechanisms such as continual marches and protests by South African Students' Congress (SASCO) have been used to push this policy proposal onto the government and decision agenda. The study has also discovered that it is not yet an accepted policy proposal primarily because it is considered to be not feasible by decision-makers. Furthermore, it has not received enough political support or consensus. Lastly, it is not yet an accepted policy proposal because the streams of action have not yet converged. The study shows that the events in the policy and political streams have been the major hindrances for these streams to meet despite a clear indication that the problem in question is significant: South African higher education is still confronted by high university dropout rates.

The BSc4 (Foundation) programme offered at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) caters for students from disadvantaged educational backgrounds, with lower matriculation points, offering them the opportunity to pursue studies in science. The students in the BSc4 (Foundation) programme are registered for foundation modules in science, viz. biology, chemistry, mathematics and physics as well as an academic literacy course. It is in the context of these foundation modules in science within the BSc4 (Foundation) programme that this study is undertaken. This study explores the discipline-specific literacies that the BSc4 (Foundation) students require in order to learn science and to acquire science discourse. The study uses case study as a research design, the interpretive research paradigm and the qualitative research approach to analyse data obtained from multiple research instruments. Research findings reveal that with the change in student profile, module changes within the BSc4 (Foundation) programme were implemented. In light of these, the study explores factors such as the ‘articulation gap’ between school and university; and disadvantaged educational experiences. The findings also suggest that students experience challenges with the use of the language of science and the use of discipline-specific literacies in science in the modules offered in the BSc4 (Foundation) programme. However, there exists the scope for stronger engagement between the academics who teach the foundation modules in science and the academic literacy specialists to assist students in the acquisition of the discipline-specific literacies required to learn science and for science discourse. / Ph.D. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 2013.

The aim of this study was to find out the academic and social experience of Lesotho students who studied at institutions of higher in the Western Cape between 1990-1997.

Eleven years into the South African democracy there are still huge challenges facing South African public schools, especially with regard to the notions of equity and redress. Increasingly historically advantaged and disadvantaged South African schools are entering into partnerships in an attempts to address the challenges facing them. This study focused on one such a partnership between two primary schools in an attempt to ascertain whether partnerships can in fact improve the situation.

<p>In this thesis, I explore the benefit of electronic formative assessment on learner achievement. Studies had revealed the connection between throughput and assessment. There is great discrepancy between the throughput rate of Historically Disadvantaged Institutions (HDI) and Historically Advantaged Institutions (HAI), according to the National Plan for Higher Education. Previously, assessment was used primarily for summative and certification purposes. Now, with the introduction of Outcomes Based Education (OBE), a number of alternative forms of assessment can be used. In this study I establish the importance and necessity of frequent, electronic, formative assessments which would thereby improve learners&rsquo / achievement in the classroom.</p> <p>The white paper on e-education (DOE: 2003) states that e-education must be transformed so that information and communication technology (ICT) can be successfully integrated to &ldquo / ensure that all learners will be equipped for full participation in the knowledge society&rdquo / . Recent research has reported significant increases in learner achievement through educational technology with the use of learning management systems (LMS) software (Stephens, 2001, Buchanan, 2000, DeKock, 1994). This study was built upon this body of research on educational technology and how it can be effectively integrated into classrooms. This research would impact on learner achievement through the use of formative assessment to assist under-prepared learners to improve their summative scores. In particular, the effect of formative electronic assessment on learner achievement in the subject Business Information Systems, for first year accounting learners, in the Business Faculty at Peninsula Technikon was investigated. This quantitative study utilized the use of questionnaires and the control group design. The control group design, which consisted of the control and experimental groups was used on a group of learners who had been exposed to the treatment. The treatment for the experimental group comprised of using a formative on-line learning assessment. Independent variables included the treatment condition, race, gender and home language. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used on assessment. Analysis firstly revealed that there was no statistically significant difference between achievement in the practical component between the experimental and the control group. The Kruskal-Wallis tests showed that there were no significant differences between genders. The control group performed better than the experimental group in the theory test. Secondly, analysis revealed statistically significant mean achievement differences between Coloured female with no prior computer usage (M= 78) and Black female with no computer usage (M=44). Based on these findings, implications of the results of this study, future avenues of research and implementation suggestions are offered.</p>

Thesis (MEd)--Stellenbosch University, 2015. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Development in each sector of our society, especially with regard to computer technology, has progressed so dramatically that we have reached a stage where it is virtually impossible for an individual who does not have computer knowledge and skills to function with ease in society in almost any part of the world. In order to counter this situation the governments of a large number of countries across the globe are encouraging their citizens to become computer literate. These governments spend huge amounts of money on the integration and improvement of technology in education in order to ensure effective teaching and learning for each learner in each school. The South African government has also caught on and acknowledged the importance of communication technology in education, hence the White Paper on e-Education, which provides for the integration of technology in schools. The question that arises is whether enough is being done to enable underprivileged schools to benefit from this development as well. This study observed the way in which the policy regarding e-Education is applied in privileged and underprivileged schools. During the course of the study the researcher visited schools that utilise their technological facilities, as well as schools that do not, and the reasons and circumstances that prevent them from utilising these facilities were also investigated. An investigation regarding the application of the technology policy within schools and how schools adapt this policy to accommodate their requirements, was conducted. The study endeavoured to determine the reasons why the technology policy is applied wel land properly in some schools, while other schools that have the technology do not apply the policy. The difference between privileged and underprivileged schools regarding the application of the policy was also investigated. The situation regarding the application of technology policy in privileged and underprivileged schools in the Western Cape was researched in four schools: two schools in rural areas and two in urban areas. Two of these schools are privileged schools that have technology and utilise it daily. The other two schools are underprivileged schools with technology that, however, is not used to the advantage of the learners on a regular basis. Two schools have mainly Afrikaans-speaking learners while the learners of the other two schools predominantly have English as their mother tongue. The policy is applied differently at each of these schools, possibly due to circumstances or untrained staff who do not have the necessary knowledge and skills to utilise technology as method of instruction. The study aims to cause awareness at schools of the importance of technology and that a paradigm shift should take place in the methods and techniques of instruction of educators. It also aims to make teachers more aware of the value of technology when used effectively in their lesson presentations. In this way we could ensure that our learners receive the tuition they will need to be competitive globally. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die ontwikkeling in elke sektor van die samelewing en veral op die gebied van rekenaartegnologie het só dramaties vooruitgegaan en gegroei dat dit ʼn stadium bereik het waar dit vir ʼn persoon sonder rekenaargeletterdheid byna onmoontlik geword het om gemaklik in die gemeenskap in die meeste dele van die wêreld te funksioneer. Ten einde hierdie situasie die hoof te bied, moedig die meeste regerings regoor die wêreld hul burgers aan om tegnologie-geletterd te word. Lande spandeer groot bedrae geld om tegnologie in die onderwys te integreer en te verbeter om so effektiewe onderrig en leer vir elke leerder in elke skool te bewerkstellig. Plaaslik het die Suid-Afrikaanse regering die belangrikheid van inligtings- en kommunikasietegnologie in die onderwys besef en erken, vandaar die Witskrif oor e-Onderwys, wat voorsiening maak vir die integrasie van tegnologie in skole. Die vraag wat ontstaan, is of daar genoeg gedoen word om voorsiening te maak vir minder gegoede skole om ook voordeel uit dié ontwikkeling te trek. Hierdie ondersoek kyk na die beleid aangaande e-Onderwys en hoe dit toegepas word binne gegoede en minder gegoede skole. Tydens die studie het die navorser skole besoek wat oor tegnologiese fasiliteite beskik en dit gebruik, sowel as skole wat tegnologie besit en dit nie gebruik nie, en die redes en omstandighede wat hulle verhoed om dit te gebruik, is dus ook ondersoek. ʼn Ondersoek is gedoen na die toepassing van die beleid rakende tegnologie binne skole en hoe skole by hierdie beleid aanpas om hulle behoeftes te akkommodeer. Die studie het ook gepoog om vas te stel wat die redes is waarom die beleid rakende tegnologie in sommige skole na behore toegepas word, terwyl ander skole wat wel oor die tegnologie beskik, dit nie behoorlik toepas nie. Daar is verder ondersoek ingestel na die verskil in toepassing van die beleid tussen gegoede en minder gegoede skole. Die situasie ten opsigte van die toepassing van beleid oor tegnologie in gegoede en minder gegoede skole in die Wes-Kaap is by vier skole onder die soeklig geplaas: twee skole in die platteland en twee skole in ʼn stedelike gebied. Twee van die skole is gegoede skole wat tegnologie besit en dit daagliks gebruik. Die ander twee skole is minder gegoede skole wat oor tegnologiese hulpbronne beskik, maar dit nie gereeld tot voordeel van hul leerders gebruik nie. Twee skole het oorwegend Afrikaanssprekende leerders en twee oorwegend Engelssprekende leerders. Die beleid word by elk van hierdie skole verskillend toegepas, moontlik weens omstandighede of onopgeleide personeel wat nie die nodige kennis en vaardighede besit om tegnologie as onderrigmetode te gebruik nie. Die studie poog om skole bewus te maak van die belangrikheid van tegnologie en dat daar ʼn paradigmaskuif moet plaasvind in onderwysers se onderrigmetodes en -tegnieke. Dit poog ook om onderwysers meer bewus te maak van die waarde wat tegnologie kan hê as dit in lesaanbiedings geïntegreer word. Só kan daar moontlik verseker word dat leerders die opleiding ontvang wat nodig is om globaal mededingend te wees.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2000. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Due to the great differences of opinion regarding the exact area covered by the Overberg, the following boundaries are stipulated for the purposes of this study: the Hottentots Holland Mountains form the boundary to the west, the Riviersonderend and Langeberg Mountains to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the southwest and the Indian ocean to the southeast. In the east the area stretches up to the Duivenhoks River near Heidelberg. The history of education in South Africa is closely interwoven with the general history of the country. Education in rural areas had to contend with various inhibiting factors during the 18th and 19th centuries. Among these factors were the scarce population, large distances between main centres and a shortage of well-trained teachers. In spite of such limitations, education in farm schools blossomed after the initial period up to approximately 1940, after which time there was a steady decline in the numbers of these schools. The farm schools in the Overberg are not only important regarding the part they play in contributing to the formal education and upbringing of rural children, but also for the important contribution they make to cultural history. The child attending a farm school experiences certain aspects of culture such as folk tales, rhymes, songs, games and the close ties between culture and nature in a unique way, and this has an extremely important influence on the general development and education of these children. In the rural environment the parental horne and the church are two important allies of the farm school. Although there are currently (1999) no formal policies in place for the purposeful phasing out of farm schools, it is, however, a fact that they are forced to close their doors the one after the other. The importance of the cultural contribution these schools make to the upbringing of the child should be taken into consideration by the authorities before the decision is made to close them down. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Daar heers groot verskil van mening oor waar die grense van die Overberg lê en daarom word die gebied vir die doeleindes van hierdie studie soos volg afgebaken: die Hottentots- Hollandberge as die westelike grens, die Riviersonderend- en Langeberge as die noordelike grens, die Atlantiese oseaan as die suidewestelike en die Indiese oseaan as die suidoostelike grens. Aan die oostekant strek die gebied tot by die Duiwenhoksrivier naby Heidelberg. Die geskiedenis van die onderwys in Suid-Afrika is nou verweef met die algemene geskiedenis van die land. Onderwys op die platteland het in die 18de en 19de eeu met verskeie stremmende faktore te kampe gehad, byvoorbeeld die yl bevolking, groot afstande van die hoofsentra en 'n tekort aan goed opgeleide onderwysers. Ten spyte van dié beperkinge het onderwys in die plaasskole ná die vestigingsperiode 'n bloeitydperk beleef wat vanaf ongeveer 1940 gevolg is deur 'n afuame in die getal plaasskole. Die rol van die plaasskole in die Overberg is nie slegs belangrik as gevolg van hul bydrae tot die formele onderwys en opvoeding van die plattelander nie, maar ook vir die belangrike bydrae wat hulle lewer op die gebied van die kultuurgeskiedenis. Plaasskole is 'n goeie teelaarde vir die volkskultuur en die plaasskoolkind se belewing van sekere aspekte van die kultuur soos byvoorbeeld die volkswoordkuns, speletjies, en die noue band tussen bodem en kultuur, lewer 'n uiters waardevolle bydrae tot hulle algemene opvoeding en vorming. In die plattelandse milieu is die ouerhuis en die kerk besondere bondgenote van die plaasskool. Hoewel daar tans (1999) nie 'n formele beleid bestaan deur middel waarvan plaasskole doelbewus uitgefaseer word nie, gebeur dit wel in realiteit dat die een na die ander skool sy deure moet sluit. Die belang van die kulturele bydrae wat plaasskole maak tot die opvoeding en vorming van die kind, behoort in ag geneem te word voordat skole deur die owerheid gesluit word.

What has come to be labelled as 'the environment crisis' has roots in the structures and orientations of modern societies. True to our modernist ways we call on, or offer, education and research, experts and science, to address our socio-ecological concerns. This study set out to identify research priorities in environmental education from within the institutional setting of a university and within the context of environmental and political change in southern Africa and epistemological shifts in educational research traditions. The emergent research design allowed for a progressive clarification of theoretical vantage point: from an instrumental listing of priorities, through the participatory development of a critical and consensual framework for research, to a reflexive description of a landscape of shifting priorities. I collected data over a 3-year period, in inter alia 38 semi-structured interviews, workshops with some 150 participants, focus group discussions, documents and conferences. Participants' professional contexts included environmental education, natural resource management, social and biophysical sciences, development, formal and non-formal education, funding agencies, academic and non-academic settings. My engagement with the emerging discourses revealed patterns and inconsistencies in participants' views on research, environmental education, change and research priorities. I identified three orientations - Research for Management to Restore Order to Nature and Society, Research to Resolve Practitioners' and Communities' Problems, and Research for Radical Reconstruction - in the emerging landscape. These orientations were accompanied by change models and themes (discourses of difference and 'othering', instrumental views of education and research and accumulative knowledge, a conceptual theory-practice gap) which limited their potential for transformation towards sustainable living. They presented solutions cut from the same modernist cloth as the environment crisis. An emerging Reflexive perspective in and on environmental education research showed potential as a transitionary orientation outside modernist assumptions. I outline research priorities from this perspective. Reflexivity reveals the myths of expert-driven, instrumental and institutionalised research separated from environmental education and based upon rationalistic interpretations of science. It opens up possibilities for transformative knowledge emerging from 're-search' based versions of education as a process of, rather than a means to, social change.

This study examines multigrade teaching in selected schools in Canada and its implications for improving multigrade teaching in South Africa, where over 50 % of primary schools are multigrade and the teachers have not received preparation in multigrade teaching. The case study method was adopted because it allowed for 'an intensive, holistic description and analysis' of the multigrade classroom. The approach is interpretivist, based on the assumption that social phenomena are 'socially constituted' and 'valuationally based'. Research techniques included a literature review, interviews and observations. Four classrooms with grade combinations ranging from two grades to eight grades (Kindergarten to grade 7) were studied. Despite problems such as the lack of official recognition, inadequate teacher education and support - problems common to both Canada and South Africa - the Canadian teachers managed their classrooms effectively. This was indicated by their understanding of the children's needs, their integration of the curriculum for teaching across the grades and the learning areas, their use of effective instructional strategies and their involyement of parents in the classroom. A reason for their success may be that their teacher education includes child-centred, activity based approaches, integration of the curriculum, critical thinking, flexibility and effective instructional strategies, which they may adapt for effective multigrade teaching. The study found that successful multigrade teaching depended on the teacher. For South Africa, this may imply that intervention programmes should focus on relevant preparation and support for multigrade teachers. The emphasis on material resources in the implementation of Curriculum 2005 has not been balanced with adequate training on policy, curriculum and instructional strategies. Teacher education should include methodologies that are experiential, reflective and participatory. A variety of instructional strategies should be employed in the multigrade classroom. The respondents in the study believed further that multigrade teaching is more beneficial than single-grade teaching because it caters for the diversity of needs amongst children and allows for peer tutoring, thereby exploiting Vygotsky's theory of the 'zone of proximal development'. Thus, instead of viewing multigrade teaching as a temporary phenomenon, it should be viewed as an opportunity for improving school effectiveness.