This study identifies and describes the implications of new policy and legislation on non-formal adult education and training focusing on the KwaZulu-Natal Poultry Institute (KZNPI) Five Months Poultry Management Programme. This is a non-formal residential course during which the learners assume full responsibility of a small modern diversified school farm. Learners apply the theoretical and practical knowledge they acquire during the course in order to advance their practical skills. Poultry management forms an important component of the knowledge and skill pool within the poultry industry. The development and implementation of effective programmes that educate and train managers are therefore necessary and an absolute requirement. Effective management skills and knowledge of the poultry-related operations add significant value to productivity in the workplace. It is a valuable set of skills required in the industry and it needs ongoing revision in light of changing technology, new working operations and the generation of new knowledge. In 1997 the South African government declared new policy in education with the intention to transform education systems and to improve the quality of education provided to learners in a variety of settings. The most important policies and legislation include the Further Education and Training Policy, Skills Development Act, Skills Development Levies Act and the South African Qualifications Authority Act. Policy and legislation in Further Education have been implemented over the last three years. This study investigates the impact of policy on the KZNPI Management Course. The study suggests that the new legislation poses significant changes to non-formal education programmes as well as the way in which providers of non-formal programmes operate. The legislations have not only affected the course design, provision and delivery, but the funding of non-formal providers as well. This is a case study of a non-formal programme provided by a non-governmental organizations located in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. This case study included an in-depth examination of the key policies and legislation, related literature and the use of interviews as the key methods of investigation. Data analysis involved a comparison of policy and legislation requirements to practices by non-formal adult education and training programmes. South Africa has embarked on a particular process of systems transformation in education and training with emphasis being placed on programme design and delivery based on nationally recognised qualifications and standards. Systems of accreditation and quality assurance are unfolding based on standards and this has contributed to the formalisation of non-formal programmes. The study shows that non-formal programmes, such as the KZNPI management course, require significant re-development and design in order to meet the requirements set in policy and legislation. The KZNPI is expected to redevelop its courses and have them registered and accredited. The implications of new policy and legislation also pose profound challenges for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) such as the KZNPI. Although the impact on the organizational requirements was not the focus of this study, it is intricately linked to policy reform and it is impossible to ignore them because they are directly linked to the organizational capacity and the way programmes are designed and delivered. This study therefore also describes briefly the implications of policy and legislation on the organization. Funding of non-formal education programmes is one of the key determinants and is intricately linked to the registration and accreditation of education and training programmes. It poses significant challenges to the future of non-formal education and training in the country. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, [2007]

This study is an ethnographic enquiry into the experiences of a school and its community as they interface with the implementation of the policy of educational inclusion in a pilot project in a rural school in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Through the lens of critical theory and postmodernism, I critique special education and argue for the discourse of inclusive education to be placed on the broader agenda of social inclusion and exclusion and for its focus to extend beyond a narrow emphasis on special needs education. The study focuses on the micro-level, the teachers, learners, and parents who act within conflicting discursive spaces. Under scrutiny is context as a discursive field, which includes social, political and cultural factors and practices. The study examines systemic issues related to inclusion and exclusion within situated contexts. On the macro-level it examines discursive forces, including national and global forces that influence the implementation processes. Ethnography as a methodological tool opened up spaces to interrogate change and reform at the level of the interpersonal in the context of wider social and political power relations. In uncertain and unstable circumstances, an ethnographic approach, with multiple and prolonged data collection strategies, provided me with a fuller picture of the multiple realities within the school. The concept of a conditional matrix is a useful construct in understanding the multiple interlocking and intersecting influences that impact on the process of policy implementation. In this study, the micropolitical and micro-cultural conditions in the school, the politics of participation of departmental officials in policy implementation , teacher identities, macro-economic policy of the state, globalisation and neoliberalism and competing policies, impacted on and at times constrained the policy implementation process. Many gains were made in moving towards an inclusive school in this pilot project, but fiscal austerity in a sea of poverty threatened the goals of equity and redress. In understanding the implementation of a generic policy in all schools in a country, the contextual conditions within this conditional matrix need to be understood. Empirical evidence from this investigation suggests that developing learning schools and communities helps to bring about educational change and build inclusive schools. Collaboration in the form of team teaching, peer coaching, mentor relationships, professional dialogue, action research, and collaborative partnerships with and between members of the community provided a crucial plank in teacher development and school improvement. Using collaborative learning for teacher development transcends personal, individual reflection, or dependence on outside experts, leading to a situation where teachers learn from one other, to share and develop their expertise. This investigation provides evidence that the accessing and building of human and social capital within the school and the community is one way to implement inclusive education and reduce exclusion in the school and community. Collaborative partnerships with universities, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), Community-Based Organizations, Disabled Peoples Organizations (DPOs), and intersectorial networking with government departments, and people from the community, played a major role in the implementation of the policy of inclusive education. The data suggests that teachers' experiences in professional development can influence their identities for policy change. Changing mental models or deeply established conceptions is essential in developing learning organizations. Critical to this shift of the 'mental model' or identity, is how the policy is mediated to the incumbents. This study proposes a tripolar approach to policy implementation, that is, a combination of three dimensions of teacher development: the 'top-down' , 'bottomup' and 'horizontal' dimensions. While some teachers used constructivist learner centred pedagogy effectively, others grappled with the principles of constructivism. Constructivist approaches to teaching, a learner centred pedagogy, active learning, cooperative learning, curriculum differentiation and multilevel teaching created a pedagogy of possibility for an inclusive curriculum for all learners. Whilst on the other hand the hegemony of traditional practices such as a 'one-size-fits-all' approach, closed up possibilities for some learners to access the curriculum. Different forms of assessments or a flexible assessment system generates opportunities or possibilities for a more equitable and non-discriminatory assessment procedure. The formative assessment together with alternative forms/techniques of assessment opens up spaces for a more inclusive and equitable system of assessment. A transformational, democratic style of leadership with shared decision-making, accountability, commitment and risk-taking, are important factors in creating a climate for change in schools. More importantly, the leadership of the principal as an avant-garde for inclusion influenced the change process. Indigenous practices such as the informal open-air meetings and the 'imbiso' or the 'legotla' type of meetings created spaces for effective organizational strategies in the school. Evidence from the study suggests that the "Institutional Support Team" (IST) as a proposed new structure in schools, opens up possibilities for internal support for the institution rather than a reliance on specialized outside help. Collective problem solving by the IST addressed systemic, social, pedagogical and cultural barriers to learning and development. Paradoxically, the quest for quality or excellence in education sometimes stymies the goals of equity and redress. The notion that excellence and equity are incompatible or bipolar human values is based on fallacious or binary logic. One of the ways to depolarize the equity/excellence dichotomy is to value both and not privilege anyone at the expense of the other. 1. imbiso/legotla: Zulu/Soto word for meeting called by the King, traditional leader, chief or the leadership of the land. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2005.

The study reported in this thesis is a qualitative case study of teachers' experiences of the dissemination of Education White Paper 6 on Special Needs Education – Building an Inclusive Education and Training System in two districts in the Greater Durban area, in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. Located in three primary schools, the study aimed to examine the process adopted by the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education to disseminate the policy and prepare schools (mostly teachers and other stakeholders) for its implementation, by 1) investigating teachers' understandings and experiences of the policy and the concept of inclusive education in three primary schools, 2) examining the factors that impact on the teachers' understandings of the innovation; and 3) investigating the teachers' views regarding the nature of support provided by the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education and its sub-systems: the Greyville and Shelley Beach districts and the schools themselves to prepare for the implementation of inclusive education in schools. Data analysis in the study is informed by social constructionism as the overarching framework, as well as the systems theory and the theory of innovation diffusion. In addition, two conceptual frameworks are also used , the philosophy of inclusion and re-culturing. These are used as lenses to understand the nature of teachers' understandings of the policy and concept of inclusive education, and the ways in which the province is diffusing the innovation , and preparing and supporting teachers for the implementation of inclusive education in their schools and classrooms. Findings from the study suggest that the teachers had very limited, varied and often distorted understandings of the policy and the innovation. Their understandings suggested that instead of the paradigm shift warranted by the new policy, most of them still relied heavily on the old deficit, medical model of educating learners with special educational needs. The findings suggest that this might be because of the inadequate and inappropriate strategies that were utilised to disseminate information about the new policy among stakeholders, as well as the inadequate communication between and among the different sectors of the education system. The study concludes that the policy initiation process needs to become more inclusive to enable stakeholders to embrace the agenda and to understand its purpose; that a new policy is not able to challenge and change the culture of practice unless people are assisted to evaluate and question their practice, to unlearn the old and learn new ways of doing ; and that the system needs to break down walls that separate levels and directorates in order to make communication between and within sub-systems more effective. / Theses (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2006.

A qualitative study was conducted at Oakleigh Girls High School which aimed at exploring the ways in which seven teenage girls from a single-sex, predominantly middle-class state school negotiate the demands of schooling and parenting. Drawing upon the findings of the focus group interviews conducted, the study aimed to illuminate how these teenage mothers juggle their varied roles as mothers and learners and its effects for the educational outcome of young mothers at school. In this study I argue that even though the South African Schools Act (Department of Education 1996) regulates the support of pregnant teenagers and teenage mothers in schools, however teenage mothers still experience difficulties in schools. These difficulties range from fear of the parents’ response, child fathers’ response, as well as teachers’ response, rejection from peers and teachers, ridicule from teachers and peers, lack of support from teachers, decline in academic performance as well as the inability to participate in school activities. However in the same study there were positive elements that also surfaced, in that some teachers, learners as well as a support group provided some kind of support to the teenage mothers even though it was very minimal. Working with teachers to support young mothers at school remains important. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2010.

This study is an exploration of prison learners' experiences of the educational rehabilitation programmes offered in the Westville Youth Centre School. The study was done in the Westville Youth Centre, which is situated in the Durban Management Area in the province of Kwa-Zulu Natal. The sample consisted of eleven prison learners of the Usethubeni Youth School, nine educators from this school and one control educator (who is responsible for co-ordinating the educational rehabilitation programmes in the Durban Management Area). Data was collected through interviews and questionnaires. Interviews with learners were done at different intervals. There was an in-depth interview with one of the learners and two focus group interviews, which consisted of five learners in each session. A questionnaire was used to gather data from educators and finally an in-depth interview was conducted with the co-ordinator of educational rehabilitation programmes. Photographs of the prison classroom and the cell were taken by the researcher to illustrate the context in which the research was done. The varying methods of data collection revealed that what is referred to as "educational rehabilitation programmes" are programmes similar to any school curricular outside the prison. There is nothing unique about this curriculum. The participants felt that this curriculum was not rehabilitative because it did not include programmes that could curb recidivism (relapsing into crime) by empowering prison learners and helping them "unlearn faulty behaviour." This study concludes with the recommendations for the Department of Correctional Services' policy makers and planners as well as the managers of educational rehabilitation programmes in the Durban Management area. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of Durban-Westville, 2002.

The aim of the study was to gain an understanding of factors that affect motivation of adolescent learners in the classroom. The pilot and main research study was conducted with 42 adolescent learners in Grades 8 to 12 at Sunflower Secondary School1 in Durban. The theoretical frameworks that underpinned this study were the ecosystemic perspective, the systems theory and the humanistic theory. These frameworks guided my focus on the interactions that learners, peers, and educators and the whole system of education have with each other as well as on the role they play in motivating each other. The study used a qualitative research methodology. This approach allowed the researcher to interview the participants of Sunflower Secondary to ascertain rich data as to what factors motivate adolescent learners in the classroom. A semi structured interview schedule was used. The interviews were tape recorded, transcribed and analysed. Central themes emerged, revealing that educators and peers motivated adolescent learners to learn in the classroom. A list of guidelines was also developed to assist educators in motivating adolescent learners to learn in the classroom. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2006.

This study explored the barriers to education experienced by a group of learners in the context of HIV and AIDS. It also examined the extent to which HIV/AIDS is viewed as an exclusionary factor in the schooling experiences of primary school children. The research site was a co-educational school that is a service provider to mostly disadvantaged learners from a lower socio-economic background. There were twelve participants in the study: six girls and six boys. Four focus group interviews were conducted with the children to explore their experiences of potential barriers to education. Within the focus group sessions, various participatory research techniques were employed in data collection, including projective techniques, drawing exercises and ranking exercises. The study provides evidence of a complex, at times contradictory, and intricate web of barriers to education that learners experience in this schooling context. In general, various contextual factors have a profoundly negative impact on the children’s schooling experiences, in particular their access to quality education. Children are exposed to multiple, complex layers of risk and trauma from growing up in the context of HIV and AIDS. There is little evidence that the school has the resources to provide emotional and psychological support. The study has implications for the development of policy and intervention strategies that may meet these children’s needs. Finally, the study makes a contribution to research methodology in its use of participatory research techniques for data collection. The data exemplifies that children are active participants in and competent interpreters of their world – in this case their lives and schooling in the context of HIV and AIDS. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of KwaZulu Natal, Durban, 2008.

Background. This study takes you on a journey back in time to the adult education offered to Blacks during the apartheid era in South Africa. It also looked at the events that had lead to the high degree of illiteracy in South Africa today. This study also ascertained the reasons for the massive unskilled workforce prevalent in South Africa in this technologically advanced age. In conducting this research on Adult Basic Education and Training (ABET) it was an imperative to visit the various countries to briefly view their ABET practices and policies. In so doing their practices and policies were compared to those implemented in South Africa. Purpose. The South African government has neglected the constitutional right of adults to basic education over the last decade (Rule, 2006). This had motivated me to enquire if the practices at ABET centres were in keeping with the policies advocated by the ABET directorate of the Department of Education (DoE). The ABET centre managers represent the DoE at their respective ABET centres. Bearing this in mind this study interrogates the roles and responsibilities of ABET centre managers as purported by the DoE’s policy documents presented to these centre managers. The collection of data for this research was achieved by concentrating on three of the core duties of the ABET centre managers in practice. These core duties were administration, managing resources and managing adult educators. In so doing data was gathered from the centre managers using the processes of observations, interviews and document analysis. This data from the centre managers was further triangulated with the data obtained from the centre educators through a method of interviews and from suitably selected documents analysed at the research sites. Conclusion. The research concluded with the recommendations that the ABET directorate needed to develop more forceful and intense developmental workshops to improve the capacity and competencies of ABET centre managers and ABET centre educators in order to improve the ABET system in South Africa. Merely presenting policy documents to these vital proponents of ABET in South Africa will not improve the illiteracy rates overnight or even over the next decade. These policy documents must be thoroughly understood by the policy implementers in order for the policies to be effected as was intended by the policy formulators. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2007.

No abstract available. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of Durban-Westville, 1987.

No abstract available. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1982.