Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree Master of Management Science in Administration and Information Management, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa, 2016. / The purpose of the study was to explore the empowerment of women leadership, focusing on the Durban University of Technology. Statistics around the world have highlighted that women are under-represented in decision-making positions, with a specific focus on the academic sector; this study aims to review these statistics and establish which barriers prevent females from progressing to leadership positions. The target population was comprised of staff members from the Durban University of Technology and ranged from leadership, management, and lecturing, to entry-level employees. The technique of probability sampling was chosen in this research, with a sample size of 100 participants drawn from the population. Questionnaires were designed with both closed-ended and some open-ended questions, and were personally administered to all campuses of the Durban University of Technology, namely Ritson Campus, Steve Biko Campus, ML Sultan Campus, City Campus, Indumiso Campus and Riverside Campus. This study revealed that, although women are still under-represented in Higher Education, there are efforts being made to bridge this gap. This study found female leaders more productive than male counterparts at the Durban University and are able to run their department smoothly and efficiently. The study also found that there are internal respondents agreed that there are hidden difficulties in their department that women face and prevent them from moving into higher positions. Additionally, the study found that there are programs at the Durban University that empower women into leadership. This study contributes to knowledge of gender-based leadership and female empowerment into leadership positions, in the higher education sector. / M

M.Ed. (Educational Management) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

M.A. (Applied Linguistics) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

M.Ed. (Tertiary Education) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

D.Litt. et Phil. / In this study the term "information user education" applies to educating students to enable them to retrieve and utilise information sources and the library's services, facilities and sources effectively. In agreement with modern practice this includes learning library and information skills. Literature has shown that information user education must take place in order to render users library and information literate. Various writers have pointed out that distance education students also have a specific need for information user education, but that there is very little information on decentralised information user education. In Library and Information practice it has also been found that information on decentralised information user education is not readily available and that there is a need to educate students. In order to be able to develop decentralised information user education for Technikon SA, it was therefore necessary to undertake research on the design thereof. A literature study was indispensable in investigating information user education in general. Information user education was also explored in the context of distance education (national and international), technikon education, the education model of Technikon SA and the library and information services of Technikon SA. The status of information user education at some distance education institutions was also investigated. Based on the research undertaken by Technikon SA on international distance education trends, it was found that three basic principles form the nucleus of a well-organised distance education institution. These principles are student support of a high standard, learner-centred course material and quality administrative systems. The education model of Technikon SA, that is the Integrated Learner-Centred Distance Education model, is based on these principles. To support this education model, the library and information services of Technikon SA concluded co-operation agreements with public libraries throughout South Africa in order to offer these services to students. Technikon SA purchases duplicate copies of recommended books, processes, issues and dispatch them to the public libraries. At present approximately 270 libraries house these collections. Postal loans and article services are also available for students to supplement these services. For the purposes of this study the library and information services were evaluated according to the guidelines laid down for distance education libraries and for technikon libraries. Based on these guidelines it was found that Technikon SA library generally met the criteria stipulated, but that the library and information services did not offer decentralised information user education. To supplement the literature study, an empirical study was undertaken to determine how essential information user education was for Technikon SA students. In addition it had to be established what aspects had to be offered, at what levels these aspects had to be offered and who had to present the training.

M.Ed. / This study forms part of a greater ongoing research project concerning teacher competence and its assesment. The project focuses on researching teacher opinion on teacher competences identified by the initial research. The following areas of teacher competence are being researched : The learning environment Professional commitment Order and discipline Educational foundation Teacher reflection Co-operative ability Effectiveness Leadership This dissertation is part of the research undertaken regarding order and discipline and its role in teacher competence. An intensive research of the literature has given rise to a conceptualisation that consists of the following five aspects, namely : values; rules; human relationships; management of classroom behaviour; and teaching practices. This research essay focuses on classroom management behaviour as an aspect of order and discipline : implication for the management of teacher competence. Having orientated the reader to the particular field of research, the motivation and background of the problem will now be discussed.

D.Ed. / During the past decade there have been far-reaching changes in the social and political structure in South Africa. As South Africa has entered the global stage, many companies are now competing internationally. There has been a rapid rise in the technological development which has often meant that people have outdated skills and can no longer be employed. Consequently, young people who wish to make a decision concerning their future careers, are presented with a host of new challenges. The reality of today's world of work demands an individual who can anticipate and adjust to change. The postmodem identity of the multiple selves, is in constant flux in order to maintain position in a rapidly changing world. Sunter (1999), Burr (1995), Mazarr (1999) all refer to the way metanarratives of the past have, in today's world, been called into question. All the old certainties of the past have evaporated. These changes have led to a lack of stability and a sense of hopelessness for the older generation. As a result, there has been an increasing lack of guidance both from parents and from those involved in educating the young people of the country, especially in terms of career choice. Subsequently, our young people are not empowered and many of them fall victim to unemployment and a sense of non-agency. The realities of people living and making meaning of life under very different social, cultural and economic conditions has profoundly important theoretical implications for career counselling (Donald, 1995). There are so many new options open in the world of work, that these confound the process of career decision making. Savickas (1993;1995;1997), suggests that the new work ethic for the 21" century will be one of self-development, changing the goal of career counselling from supporting careerism to fostering self-affirmation and improved decision-making. There is an urgent need to develop an approach which facilitates the process of career decision-making which suits the "spirit of the age" and which is discourse sensitive, but which also incorporates aspects of universal significance. The challenges which are faced by this need are: How can the career seeking adolescent be assisted to search for his/her own identity and recover his/her own voice? How can the adolescent be empowered to challenge and overcome the disempowering discourses which invite career "indecision*? Which way of working could assist the career seeking adolescent to position him/herself and enable him/her to exercise personal agency with regard to the dynamic world of work in the South African context, so that s/he can make a meaningful career decision? The intention of this study is to describe and explain the use of narrative ways of working to facilitate career decision making. This study was set in a postmodem South African context and used narrative ways of working in both career decision making and in the research process. Narrative ways of working use ideas which encompass aspects such as social construction of knowledge through language (Burr, 1995: Gergen, 1991), the power/knowledge relations (Foucault, 1980), and the "not-knowing" approach (Anderson & Goolishian, 1992). Career seeking adolescents took part in the study. The participants drew a lifemap and then they told their stories. I questioned the participants using the inner landscape of action, the outer landscape of consciousness and the experience of experience (Bruner, 1986; White, 1991) framework of questioning. All the participants wrote a reflection of the effect of the lifestory conversation. Other relevant knowledge was gathered from documents, such as school reports. I listened to each conversation which had been recorded. I transcribed the conversations and listened to them again several times. Each listening provided an opportunity to listen for themes which might have been missed. The participants listened to the retelling of the story which the researcher had written and themes which emerged, were co-constructed. Then the participants and the reseracher had a reflexive group conversation using the reflections of the process and further questions as stimulus. This conversation was transcribed and after multiple listenings the researcher wrote a retelling of this conversation. I asked reflexive questions about the career decision making process and each participant was invited to asked me questions about the process. These reflexive conversations were transcribed after multiple listenings. A reflection was written about the effects of the process. Other data collected was used to provide coherence with the knowledges elicited in the conversations. This research report follows a recursive rather than a linear structure. I avoided the objectification of knowledge as it is in direct contrast with the fundamental principles of narrative ways of working. Accountability for this study lies within the multiple reflexive conversations. The authenticity of the data was checked by the participants themselves and a peer researcher who is well versed in narrative ways of working. The retellings of the tellings, allow the reader to make meaning of the participants' and the researcher's stories of the experiences.

M.A. / This study seeks to formulate a rationale to overcome the negative perceptions many South Africa ethnic language parents have adopted towards the use of their children's mother tongue as the language of learning and teaching. With a view to considering the role both home and school can play in supporting South Africa's new language-in-education policy, underpinned by additive bilingualism, this study investigates three factors of bilingual education, viz. (1) language planning and policy-making, (2) research into bilingualism and bilingual education, and (3) language attitudes of parents of L2 learners in three distinctly-different Gauteng primary schools...

D.Ed. (Didactics) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

M.Ed. / Please refer to full text to view abstract