This case study investigates sense of place of youth amidst a background of change in postapartheid South Africa. As used in this study, sense of place refers to the attachments made to both physical and social places, and the social and cultural interactions and meanings associated with such places. The research was conducted with a group of 13 young adults at Mary Waters Senior Secondary School in Grahamstown. The literature suggests that the changes that occur in the lives of the participants at school-leaving age such as new opportunities to identify with global aspirations, tend to influence their sense of place in local contexts. Social change that occurs due to globalising forces such as access to new technologies and improved personal mobility, also influences sense of place in this context. Another integral factor is the structural influence of changing cultural and educational norms. These notions form part of the backdrop of this study. The research project was developed in response to calls for learning approaches that are situated more in local contexts and which include the youth as intrinsic participants informing environmental education approaches. This research draws attention to the significance of finding sustainable ways that enhance opportunities for agency on the part of the youth in future local and global environmental care-taking. The study took place over a period of 15 months in which time the participants undertook place-based activities in their communities around self-identified environmental concerns. The study was intentionally generative in approach as this allowed the voices of the participants and their environmental perspectives to be considered in developing methods and activities that were suitable to their particular contexts and interests. The study highlights the relevance of particular social contexts, through the perspectives of people and in this case learners, as key to environmental education enquiries. The combination of approaches that consider: a) knowledge about social context, b) the educational intervention (place-based activities) and, c) the situated social capital of the participants, all form the basis of meaningful pedagogical engagements and serve to address my research question: How is learners' sense of place developed and articulated through place-based activities, and what are the implications for environmental education amidst a contemporary landscape of change in South Africa?

This thesis looks at what choice of medium of instruction (MOl) parents in a rural village in KwaZulu would make if they had the opportunity to choose. The background to this choice goes back to 1979, when Education and Training Act No. 90 established the mother tongue as MOl from Sub A to Std 2 in Department of Education and Training (DET) primary schools, followed by a sudden transition to English medium of instruction - (EMl) in Std 3. Though by 1990 98% of the schools had opted for EMI, conditions were not favourable for a sudden transition and the policy led to high drop-out rates. The problems encountered by teachers and learners were researched and documented by Macdonald in the Threshold Project Reports (1990). Although the Minister initially ignored the Project's findings, in May 1991 he admitted that his department's language policy was leading to serious educational disadvantages. The explosive situation that culminated in the 1976 school uprisings led to the amendment of the Act. There was concern among people involved in educational language policy that parents had not been given sufficient information to make informed educational choices. They feared that many parents would, largely out of ignorance, opt for straight-for-English, when in fact the conditions in the schools were not conducive to the success of that choice option. The widespread assumption about the parents choosing straight-for-English was based on anecdotal evidence. I decided to investigate this matter in the Nongoma area. My findings pointed to very healthy attitudes towards the mother tongue and there was even a measure of understanding of the place of mother tongue instruction in the beginner classes. But even though the respondents wanted their language to be respected, they also wanted their children to acquire a good education in English, so as to be eligible for jobs in an economy that emphasises the importance of English.

Teachers' Centres are one of the means whereby teachers needs for in-service education and training (Inset) can be met. The professional basis of Teachers' Centres as providers of in-service education and training derives from the need of teachers to develop professionally throughout their careers. Aspects which need to be considered are the need for professional growth and the professional nature of teaching. The effective provision of in-service training requires a knowledge of effective in-service training practise and the barriers that could be encountered in presenting it. Central to any Inset for teachers would be the teachers' needs for such activity. Following on a general statement of teachers needs for Inset the role of the Teachers' Centre in meeting these needs will be examined. Teachers' Centres have specific advantages in meeting certain areas of need for Inset by teachers. A knowledge of the professional activities of teachers activity and methods of establishing the needs for Inset of teachers should promote the effective provision of these programmes. The teacher as an adult learner is important to effective Teachers' Centre operation and the nature of adult learning and variables which affect it will determine the Teachers' Centre reaction in providing Inset. Subject study group activity is very important in Teachers' Centres in the Cape Province and the principles involved in their operation together with practical considerations regarding their operation are important in the provision of Inset. The practical application of theory is illustrated by examples from the East London Teachers' Centre with an emphasis on organisation and the creation of a climate within the Centre for the existence of study groups. The presentation methods used in these study group activities are important and will vary according to the needs of the study group. The selection of methods together with the organisation of presentations and practical methods used in presentation will have an important effect on how they operate. Teachers' Centres have a role to play in promoting change and innovation in schools. The theories of promoting innovation and the roles of the change agent are important. Practical examples from the East London Teachers' Centre are provided. This research, thus, provides a theoretical study of the role of Teachers' Centres in meeting some of the inset needs of teachers as well as practical examples of such activities.

This narrative study reviews the development of Share-Net, an informal resource materials network, located within the developing environmental education activities of the Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa. Historical shaping factors within the Society are discussed and changing views on conservation, environmental education and research are described. Rather than the research process being a utilitarian and outside endeavour for clarifying and monitoring, the research orientation of this study is one of grounded activity within and integrally part of processes of change. Within a developing story of resource materials and workshops, themes are traced and emergent tensions are critically reviewed. Teacher workshops from 1981 until 1995 are analysed and developing orientations are described. Within this review changes are evident from an orientation of 'us' informing 'them' to joint, collaborative endeavours within the development and use of resource materials. The study reviews and illuminates the Share-Net project around questions of project orientation and management and this is done through the narration of case studies. Principles and patterns emerging within these are examined to guide future resource development projects. Popularist notions of networking and structural functionalist notions of social change are also examined. Grand, modernist strategies designed to cause change in others are questioned and the role of small-scale nodes of resource material activity cooperating within an open network are clarified as useful alternatives. Local resourcing centres such as these have proved useful in supporting teachers in the development, use and adaptation of resource materials. The study also examines income and expenditure of the Share-Net project since 1988 to review economic sustainability. A case is made for sustaining the project conceptually and financially through the sales of products and services rather than through external donor sources. Finally the study raises questions and challenges within the project and proposes guiding frameworks for future review, in action, as the story continues.

Text in Afrikaans / Summaries in Afrikaans and English / Die doel met hierdie studie is om 'n kurrikulum vir die onderwys van swaksiende kinders vanui t 'n makroperspektief te ontwerp. Van die belangrikste gevolgtrekkings waartoe in hierdie studie gekom word, dui daarop dat die kurrikula, leerplanne en -opleidingsprogramme wat in die Republiek van Suid-Afrika vir kinders met spesiale onderwysbehoeftes (wat die onderwys van swaksiende kinders insluit) voorsien word * dikwels nie toereikend is om leerlinge vir suksesvolle indiensplasing voor te berei nie; * oorwegend akademies georienteerd is; * en nie altyd tred hou met die veranderende behoeftes, eise en tendense in die arbeidsmark nie. Swaksiende kinders is as groep hoogs heterogeen en het besondere en uiteenlopende onderwys- en opleidingsbehoeftes. Ten einde 'n relevante kurrikulum vir swaksiende kinders te on twerp wat genoemde leemtes ondervang, moes hulle uni eke behoef tes sowel as die eise van die moderne arbeidsmark in aanmerking geneem word. Die voorgestelde kurrikulum is op die onderwys van swaksiende kinders in af sonderlike skole vir gesiggestremde kinders en in skole in die hoof stroom van die onderwys van toepassing en maak * enersyds voorsiening vir die effektiewe implementering van die kurrikulum wat deur die Suid-Afrikaanse onderwysowerheid op nasionale (en moontlik ook op provinsiale) vlak vir die onderwys van normaalsiende kinders voorgeskryf word, en * andersyds vir die ontsluiting en bemeestering van die noodsaaklike kompensatoriese persoonlikheids- en karaktereienskappe en algemene vaardighede, waaroor swaksiende kinders behoort te beskik ten einde hulleself na skoolverlating in die volwasse sosiale en beroepslewe te kan handhaaf. Die kurrikulummodel wat die basis vorm vir die ontwerp van hierdie kurrikulum, is sodanig aangepas dat dit uitdrukking gee aan die essensies van 'n Christelik-wysgerige perspektief op opvoeding en onderrig. / The aim of this study is to design a curriculum for the education of partially sighted children from a macro perspective. some of the most important conclusions arrived at in this study indicate that the present curricula, syllabi and training programmes which are being offered to children with special education needs (including the education of partially sighted children) in the Republic of South Africa * are often not adequate to prepare learners for successful placement; * are predominantly academically orientated; * and do not always keep track with changing needs, demands and tendencies in the labour market. Partially sighted children as a group are highly heterogeneous and have particular and diverse education and training needs. In order to design a relevant curriculum for partially sighted children which intends to eradicate the mentioned deficiencies in the present provision of education to them, their unique needs as well as the demands of the modern labour market have to be considered. The proposed curriculum is directed at the education of partially sighted children who are accommodated in separate schools for the visually impaired as well as in schools in the mainstream of education and provides * on the one hand for the effective implementation of the curriculum which is prescribed normally sighted children by for the education of the South African education authorities on national (and perhaps also on provincial) level and * on the other hand for the unlocking and mastering of the essential compensatory personality and character qualities and general skills which partially sighted children should possess in order to maintain themselves in the adult social and vocational life after leaving school. The curriculum model which formed the basis for the design of this curriculum was adadapted in such a way that it expresses the essence of a Christian philosophic perspective on education and teaching. / Teacher Education / D.Ed.

South Africa finds itself on the threshold of new challenges taking place in virtually every :possible sphere of life, i.e. the political, technological, human, social, economic and cultural spheres. The education system is also faced with these changes and cannot be viewed in isolation, rut demands new outlooks by educational planners and educationists. Non-formal education f orns an integral part of the provision of a system of education in' South Africa and is also influenced by these challenges. In order to make reasonable reconnnendations on how the challenges - particularly those of education management - should be approached by education planners and educationists, the following were investigated: * the role of and need for non-formal education in a system of education provision in south Africa so as to detenltlne the need to manage and administrate non-formal education successfully * the institutions which make the biggest contributions to the provision of non-formal education in south Africa, in order to point out where problem areas exist, and the resultant duplication, overlapping and fragmentation of training regional development and the role of regional bodies such as the Regional Development Advisory Conunittees, Regional Development Conunittees of the National Training Board, Training Board for Iocal Government Bodies and Regional services Councils the utilisation of Regional services COUncils to co-ordinate non-formal education at regional and local levels Based on the findings, an educational strategy is proposed to co-ordinate non-formal education on recJional and local levels through Regional Services councils. / Educational Leadership and Management / D. Ed. (Educational Management)

The overall aim of the study was to study the relevance of educational provision in KwaZulu-Natal. There have been no vocationally orientated alternatives available in the schools of this province. The poor performance of our matriculants results in wide-spread media coverage. A further consideration in the formulation of the aims of this study was the decline in the socio-economic development of this province. It was postulated that the problems of high youth unemployment were related to the perceived irrelevance of educational provision. A basic needs approach for human development was adopted as the theoretical foundation for the study. The aims included a comparative examination of a selection of international systems of education from high and low-income economies of the world. Primary analysis was vis-a-vis a historical, legal, socio-economic, and structure of education analytical framework .. The secondary analysis was visa- vis a framework that included trends, critical issues and anticipated future developments or reforms in education. The analytical framework was applied stringently through-out the study. Consequently the data reduction process was cyclical and on-going. Data gathering process was done by means of a process of document collection supplemented by interviews with stakeholders and educators. Two questionnaires were designed for implementation at a critical stage of the study .. These two surveys focused on critical areas of relevant education in the region. Data reduction took place systematically the context of Chapters 3, 4 and 5. The emerging themes were concluded in a final summarising chapter. The findings indicated that the problems of relevance in KwaZulu-Natal were linked to a fragmented historical past. The perpetuation of irrelevance in education was however, associated with neo-ideological considerations. The study suggested that the provincial education department did not have the capacity to provide relevant education. A decline has taken place in the standards of education in the public school sector. The strength of the private sector of this province was concluded to be a factor of relevance. Further research in human resources development was critical for the future development of the province. / Educational Studies / D. Ed. (Comparative Education)

This study investigated the seemingly conflicting and incompatible ideological positions that post-apartheid South Africa appears to straddle. On the one hand, South Africa is an aspiring liberal democracy courtesy of its constitution of 1996, which is liberal in that it enshrines a wide range of rights and freedoms for the individual. On the other hand, the same constitution recognises the institution of traditional leadership, whose claim to power is hereditary and not by popular vote. Thus the study established that South Africa is an aspiring liberal democracy that is also heavily steeped in African traditions and cultures. It offered a rebuttal of the view that existence and recognition of traditional institutions of politics and governance in a liberal democracy is a fundamental contradiction. Drawing on the literature the study showed that liberal democracies such as Japan, the United Kingdom (UK), Belgium, The Netherlands and Spain, have had monarchies from time immemorial. But their monarchies are not a hindrance to either liberalism or liberal democracy. The study underscored the importance of Ubuntu as a socio-cultural discourse in South Africa, more so given that South Africa is an African country whose population is 80 per cent African. Concomitantly the study proposed a philosophy of education that amalgamates some aspects of liberal education with some aspects of African traditional education. Aspects of liberal education that were found to pertain to the amalgamation are ‘cultivating humanity’ and ‘narrative imagination’, while aspects of African traditional education are the values and principles implicit in Ubuntu, the latter understood as a humane normative concept. At a practical classroom level the study proposed that such an amalgamated philosophy of education would be attained through storytelling and the teaching of history through chronology and causation. As a form of ‘narrative’, storytelling reveals the finite in its fragile uniqueness and illustrates how the past influences and shapes the present, and how the present determines aspects of the past that are useful and meaningful today. Similarly the teaching of history through chronology and causation enables the students to organise their historical thought processes and construct their own probable historical narratives. The teaching of history through chronology and causation therefore offers the students multiple opportunities to gain a better understanding of historical events, and lessons that can be learn from such events. / Psychology of Education / D. Ed. (Philosophy of Education)

Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Master of Technology: Information Technology in the Faculty of Informatics and Design at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology / It is well recognised that Information and Communication Technology (ICT) can enhance the quality of teaching and learning in tertiary education. Similarly, research has uncovered a range of factors that impede the successful adoption of digital technology for educational purposes. It remains unclear, furthermore, how educators in institutions of higher learning negotiate and frame their experiences with technology, and how this implicates the teaching and learning process. In this thesis, I will examine this problem, with particular focus on educators from Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions in the Western Cape of South Africa. In addressing the research problem, I use symbolic interactionism as analytic framework to unpack and reconstruct the meaningful engagement with technology. Understanding the multiple symbolic meanings that arise from interactions with technology can illuminate the diverse and nuanced perspectives that underpin the use of ICT in teaching and learning. A symbolic interactionist lens can shed further light on the matter of adoption, and allow this research study to make a practical contribution to the introduction of ICT tools in TVETs. To elicit and interpret the multiple meanings that TVET educators associate with ICT, I will employ photo-elicitation methodology, observation and fieldnotes, and self-reflection. Photo-elicitation involves participants taking photographs along the line of inquiry (e.g. the benefit of using technology to teach), after which they undergo a reflexive interview in which they reflect on the meanings of the photographs they have taken. I will couple direct participant observation (documented in field notes) with symbolic interactionism and photo-elicitation to contribute to the production of meaningful data. Finaly, I will apply guidelines of self-reflection by compiling a reflective journal. Self-reflection will allow me to reflect on my own thoughts about the social phenomenon under study and will enable me to understand how my own behaviour may affect the inquiry. The meanings that emerged from the data were grouped into interactionist themes through which the engagement with technology is framed and understood. Educators are generally appreciative of the support and creative capacities that ICT provides to teaching and learning. They are however frustrated with their own inability to fully understand technology and the lack of support from government and institutional decision makers. Despite educators’ struggles with ICT, they are determined to overcome challenges. These themes can be useful in the repositioning of technology for education in TVETs, and can support implementers and policymakers in more effective application.

Tesis voorgelê volgens die vereistes van die M.Ed. vir die Fakulteit van Onderwys en Sosiale Wetenskappe te Kaapse Skiereiland Universiteit van Tegnologie, 2012 / Onderwys moet gesien word as ‘n sosialiseringsproses en leer in groepe as ‘n primêre leerbeginsel. Leerders moet deur interaksie hul sosiale, akademiese en geletterdheids-vaardighede verbeter. Die navorsing het gepoog om antwoorde te verkry op die volgende vrae: In watter mate word groepwerk tans in die Intermediêre Fase-multigraadklas toegepas? Wat is die faktore wat groepwerk as ‘n onderrigstrategie vir geletterdheid in die Intermediêre Fase-multigraadklas ondersteun of verhinder? Wat is die effektiwiteit van ’n intervensieprogram om opvoeders te ondersteun in groepwerk as onderrigstrategie? Hierdie navorsing wil bydra tot die implementering van geskikte groeponderrigstrategieë om goeie beplanning en organisasie in die multigraadklas te verseker. Dit wil opvoeders bemagtig om deur groepwerk multigraadklasse in die Intermediêre Fase effektief te onderrig, om sodoende verbetering in leerders se leer te bewerkstellig. Daar moet ook ‘n bewusmaking by die beleidmakers geskep word wat betref die uitdagings wat multigraad-onderwys inhou vir opvoeders. Die navorser het met dié navorsing bepaal hoe groepwerk as ‘n onderrigstrategie in multigraadklasse in die Intermediêre Fase geïmplementeer kan word. Daar is egter in multigraadklasse waargeneem dat leerders nie oor die nodige vaardighede beskik om in groepe te werk en verantwoordelikheid vir hul eie leer en die van ander te aanvaar nie. Die opvoeders in die multigraadklasse is ook onkundig wat betref gepaste klaskamer-organisasie, beplanning, groeperingstegnieke en groepaktiwiteite vir die implementering van groepwerk. Die ontwerpgebaseerde navorsingsmetode is in die navorsing gebruik. Dié navorsings-metode bestaan uit drie fases, naamlik: voorlopige navorsingsfase, prototipe-fase en die assesseringsfase. <p></p> ABSTRACT Education should be seen as a socializing process and learning in groups as a primary principle of learning. Through interaction learners must improve their social, academic and literacy skills. The research endeavoured to find answers to the following questions: To what extent is group work currently applied in the Intermediate Phase multi-grade class? What are the factors enhancing or hindering group work as an educational strategy for literacy in the Intermediate Phase multi-grade class? How effective is an intervention programme in supporting educators in group work as an educational strategy? This research aims at contributing to implementing suitable group work strategies to ensure good planning and organization in the multi-grade class. It wants to empower educators in the Intermediate Phase to teach multi-grade classes effectively through group work, and in so doing bring about improvement in the way learners learn. Policy makers should also be made aware of the challenges facing educators of multi-grade education. With this research the researcher determined how group work as an educational strategy can be implemented in multi-grade classes in the Intermediary Phase. It was, however, found that in multi-grade classes learners do not have the necessary skills to work in groups and take responsibility for their own learning and that of others. The educators in multi-grade classes are also ignorant concerning suitable classroom organization, planning, grouping techniques and group activities in implementing group work. The design based research method was used in this research. The research method consists of three phases, namely: preliminary research phase, prototyping phase and assessment phase.