Social science research on HIV and AIDS has tended to focus on the statistics regarding the spread of the pandemic and the prevention awareness campaigns. However, there has not been much research on the impact that the pandemic has on families and communities at large. Furthermore, although there are international studies very little research has been conducted on caregivers’ education and training locally. Therefore, the current study was done to bridge the gap between literature and practice by conveying findings that are based on a local South African context. The study was conducted in Mpophomeni Township, in Kwazulu-Natal. The research participants consisted of twelve home-based caregivers. The purpose of the study was to explore the informal learning experiences of home-based caregivers from a non-governmental organisation, Siyasiza, in KwaZulu-Natal. The study tried to establish what informed the informal learning experiences of caregivers. The study further investigated how the informal learning experiences were made explicit to inform further learning and also tried to find out what caregivers did with shared information to inform their practices. In order to achieve the objectives of the study a basic qualitative research design was deemed most suitable. The situated and experiential learning theories informed the study and were also used as lenses in the thematic analysis of data collected through observation, focus group discussions and in depth interviews. The findings of the study showed that caregivers’ informal learning experiences were informed by both intrinsic and extrinsic factors. The loss of own family members influenced caregivers to join the community home-based caregiving initiative to assist families affected by the pandemic. Furthermore, caregivers’ informal learning experiences were driven by career-directed ambition, exemplary learning and second chance learning. The findings further indicated that, for some caregivers, once new information was obtained, it was compared with the related prior knowledge, looked at for similarities or differences, and the value added to the previous experiences was determined. The study also found that caregivers valued and appreciated the information sharing sessions which improved their future practices and so made their jobs a bit easier. Lastly, the study found that caregivers played a huge role in supporting the families affected by HIV and AIDS since they mediated between homes and hospital by providing basic health services. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2014.

The poor school performance among black children in South Africa is best understood by focussing on the generative mechanisms which underlie performance. This research was undertaken within Pascual-Leone's neo-Piagetian Theory of Constructive Operators, which models cognitive functioning as a bilevel system of content-specific schemes and situation-free silent operators. Of the seven silent operators posited, Pascual-Leone is able to distinguish cognitive competence, or mental capacity (structural M, or Ms), from learning (L structuring) which is dependent upon environment. The M-construct is a reserve of mental attentional energy which can be applied to task-relevant schemes to boost their activation weights. The Compound Stimulus Visual Information (CSVI) task was used to distinguish the amount of M-power subjects employed in a given task (functional M, or Mf ), as well as the efficiency with which they used this Mf. Children from the black township of lndaleni, outside Richmond, Natal, South Africa, were selected. Thirty subjects in each of four age groups, seven-, nine-, eleven-, and thirteen-year-olds, were tested. The Children's Embedded Figures Test (CEFT) and the Raven's Standard Progressive Matrices (RSPM) test were administered in groups. Two versions of the CSVI were given: the Free Response (CSVI-FR) and the Tachistoscopic version. The latter was analysed in terms of first look (CSVI-1STL), which gives an estimate of Mf, and repeated looks (CSVI-TACH) which estimates the number of attending acts made over the task. The CEFT was found not to distinguish cognitive style in the sample. As the sample was of low socioeconomic status and rural, it was argued that the subjects were predominantly field dependent.Results were analysed for the total sample as one FD group. Results showed eleven- and thirteen-year-old children's arousal executives were increasingly poor (i.e., the eleven-year-olds brought one unit less than their available M to the task.). Performance on the RSPM showed a dramatic decline in percentile rank with age, which confirmed these increasingly poor arousal executives. This concurs with a regular cross-cultural Piagetian finding which shows no formal operational thinking in certain cultures. All subjects evidenced poor temporal executives (i.e., made fewer attending acts than predicted in task analyses). In the CSVI-FR analysis It was shown that children employed more efficient temporal executives as the stimulus became more complex, but their maximum performance still did not reach the predicted level. The results confirm patterns found among children from other disadvantaged environments. Proposals are made for further research to isolate the factors involved in the poor arousal executive strength of the present sample, which conflicts with a previous finding that Zulu-speaking children employ their full Ms.The findings are related to the poor educational environment of the children and suggestions are made for improving school performance by encouraging active problem solving. This would focus first on maximising M arousal, afterwhich temporal executives may be improved. Further, a warning is made to those who see training as a useful method to improve performance, for this does not maximise arousal and temporal executives within the child, but rather reduces the demand of the task. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1987.

This research paper is designed to introduce a sexual education programme that can be adapted for Mountain of Fire Global Ministries (MFGM), to guide the youth in their safer sexual practices in the era of HIV and AIDS. In view of this, the research paper will build upon other sexual education programmes such as S- safer practices, A- available medication, V- voluntary counseling and testing, E- empowerment through education (“SAVE”), A- abstain, B- be faithful, C- condomize (ABC) and others (INERELA+ 2008:1). Setting the stage to understand the challenge in South Africa for safer sexual practices among youth, the researcher saw it fit to conduct research in his local community of Wentworth. The intention of the research was to get a basic understanding of the HIV and AIDS prevalence among youth and the type of education they were receiving from the local organizations. The interviews conducted in the research demonstrated that there was more of an authoritarian or top-down rather than a grass roots bottom-up approach used by the organizations, which gave the impression that the type of curriculum used was obsolete. The researcher felt that addressing the need for safer sexual practices among youth would have been more effective if the approach was through dialogue. Youth may have felt insecure, believing that some of their needs, inputs or experiences could not be discussed in a top-down approach. Organizations that appeared to be condescending, as well as more superior and intellectually equipped, may have made youth feel inferior and inadequate. The outcome of this approach may have created mixed feelings between the organizations and the youth. A lack of understanding, on behalf of the educating organizations, as to what the youth really required in education on safer sexual practices and what they were experiencing personally, eventually could have led to the youth treating the education lightly. On the other hand, from a Christian education perspective, this research paper ascertained that the youth were being squeezed into a mould where safer sexual practices were not considered. Christian education strongly discourages the practice of sex outside of marriage and teaches that abstaining from sex until marriage is the only commendable way. This type of education creates a distancing and has a great impact on the lives of youth, especially those who are sexually active. Somehow if they do engage in sexual activity, they feel isolated, inferior, unaccepted and inadequate to grow spiritually. The change in their attitude and behavior results from continuous pulpit caution, instead of precaution, on how to manage safe or safer sexual practices. Christian education continues to place fear on the youth about premarital sex and the youth often feel that they are responsible for the consequences that derive from negligence. This research uncovered that Christian education adopted a top-down instead of a bottom-up approach, thus denying the youth the opportunity to express themselves with their experiences and needs when it came to safe or safer sexual practices. In view of the hierarchical approaches of some organizations and Christian education, the youth find themselves under difficult circumstances, whereby they are not given the opportunity to relieve themselves of some of the pressures they face when it comes to safe and safer sexual practices. In light of this struggle to find common ground, Paulo Freire in his book Pedagogy of the oppressed (2003:71-83) introduces some positive methods, such as dialogue, that can broker a relationship between the facilitator and the participants. In addition to this, the International Network of Religious persons with and affected by AIDS (INERELA+) has compiled a “SAVE” Toolkit (2012) that the researcher has included in the research paper, as a guide to walk alongside Freire‟s philosophy of dialogue. This will help to bridge the gap between the facilitators and the participants, and assist them in finding a common ground as they search for social transformation in the context of safer sexual practices. The interviewees mentioned in the research showed a great deal of experience and knowledge, but they were limited in the ABC method they used to educate youth on HIV and AIDS. This method did not cater for those who were beyond this stage, such as those who had contracted the virus. Since the “SAVE” Toolkit is more user friendly, incorporating both the ABC method and reproductive health for those who have contracted the virus to live a positive lifestyle, to blend it with dialogue improves its effectiveness. This proved to be an important finding in the research in terms of the hypothesis which promotes a sexual education programme for safer sexual practices among youth. This will eventually assist youth to develop mindsets that enable them to be more responsible in their sexual behavior. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2013.

This thesis argues that it is both necessary and possible to change the world. Changing the world requires engaging with, to try to understand it from the basis of lived reality, and then acting. Our ability to do this is, however, affected by hegemony, which attempts to convince us that the way things are is either normal and natural and the only possible way they could be, or that it is impossible to change them. Nevertheless, there is always resistance to this, and I suggest that we might learn something useful by examining how this happens. The thesis thus explores Gramsci’s theory of hegemony, and its applicability to our current world; and also considers resistance to this. I argue that the nature of capitalism has shifted, and discuss how this shift has impacted on hegemony, identifying three current interlocking hegemonic ideologies. I consider current resistance to this hegemony, including the role of social movements. Much resistance, and many social movements, I argued, cannot properly be called counter-hegemonic in that, although it/they may critique the dominant economic system, it/they remain trapped within hegemonic logic. However, it is clear that there is existing truly counter-hegemonic resistance, including some social movements, and I argue that Abahlali baseMjondolo is one such counter-hegemonic movement. Thus it is possible that those who join/align themselves with this movement might be considered to have ‘unlearned’ hegemony and be useful subjects for this study. I thus consider the life stories of seven people who have aligned themselves to this movement, in order to determine whether they have indeed ‘unlearned’ hegemony, and if so, how. I discuss relevant and appropriate theory for examining this phenomenon, including experiential learning, transformative learning and Freirean emancipatory learning. I argue that whilst these theories of learning are helpful, they cannot entirely account for unlearning. I then turn to the theory of the event of Alain Badiou as a possible complementary or alternative way into thinking about unlearning. I apply both the learning theories and Badiou’s theory of the event to the stories, all of which show strong evidence of unlearning,, and consider how useful the theories are in understanding this. I conclude that all of the theories help to some extent in understanding the unlearning in stories. There are, however, fundamental differences between the learning theories on the one hand and Badiou’s theory on the other. I construct a model showing that the basis of the difference between the adult learning theories and Badiou’s theory of the event rests on the locus of the trigger for transformation. I argue that Badiou’s theory provides a very useful additional perspective to adult learning theory; but that it cannot be considered to have replaced existing theories in understanding how people learn informally to think and act in counter-hegemonic ways. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2012.

This study explores the narrated experiences of nine women heads of department (HoDs) in their roles as middle managers of secondary schools in South Africa. There is scant literature about women who hold such positions in schools. Too little is known about how they develop as middle managers and what capabilities they need to perform a management function. This study aims to push that peripheral attention given in education management literature to women in middle management roles in schools into sharp focus by concentrating on the women who operate in this much neglected tier of management. The study seeks to do this by understanding how women HoDs develop capabilities in a changing social context so that they become able to function as transformational middle managers and leaders at secondary schools. The key critical questions posed in the study are: * What are the narratives from women HoDs about how they developed their capabilities in a transforming and contested social context? * What are the capabilities that enable women middle managers to function as managers? * In what way do the capabilities of women middle managers enable them to function as transformational leaders? Located within the feminist paradigm, the study employs a participatory narrative methodology in two phases to generate data through qualitative participatory methods such as life-history interviews, letter-writing, journaling and participant observations. The first phase in the field focuses on eliciting accounts from nine women HODs about their lived experiences from early childhood to adulthood in order to understand how they developed their capabilities and how they came to take up management roles. Central to the development of capabilities are family relationships and educational experiences that influenced and equipped them for management. The second phase of data generation concerns observations and experiences of the women HoDs in their middle management roles. In this part of the study, role models, mentors and practices as middle managers come to the fore. To understand how women middle managers develop as managers in a transforming school context, and what capabilities enable the women middle managers to function in their role as transformational leaders, the study uses two theoretical lenses. The first lens is Nussbaum's and some educational scholars‟ expansion of Sen's capability approach; and the second lens is Bass and Avolio's and Leithwood et al's work on the behaviours and attributes of transformational leaders, which are used to separate out the capabilities that enable women to function as transformational middle managers. Five key findings emerge in this study: * The foundational management capabilities that enable women to function as transformational leaders in school management develop over an extended period of time from childhood into early career years. * Women identify mentors and/or role models who are afar from or in close proximity to them and who are located within their personal and/or professional domains as significant formative influences on them as middle managers in schools. While some women assert that their mentors and role models put up some barriers to their development as middle managers, these women employed their agency and resilience to offset any weak capability development. * Women middle managers' capability to function as transformational HODs is constituted in four attributes that emerge through the practice of behaviours and attributes that characterise transformational leadership. The management capabilities and the transformational leadership functionings are aligned on the basis of leadership attributes, namely, developing knowledge and skills; setting departmental directions; developing people in the department; and redesigning the department. * While women middle managers in schools have the internal capability to function as transformational leaders based on the foundational management capabilities they developed over many years, the external conditions within the school context may constrain them from functioning as transformational leaders. When external conditions support the development of women‟s management capabilities, then women appear to have a strong capability set; however when there are barriers to their capability development, then their capability set may be weak. * Neither the capability approach nor transformational leadership theory on their own is sufficient to understand how women develop capabilities to function as transformational leaders within the middle management tier of schools in the South African context. Based on these five findings, especially the fifth finding, the thesis of this study is that the affinity and complementariness between the development of foundational management capabilities and the behaviours and attributes of a transformational leader proposes a hybrid of the two theoretical lenses. This new approach, referred to as the Transformational Leadership Capabilities Approach, provides an explanation of how women middle managers develop capabilities appropriate for a management role and how they can function in that management role as transformational leaders. The Transformational Leadership Capabilities Approach unifies the capability approach and transformational leadership theory on the basis that management capabilities and transformational leadership behavioural components and dimensions are complementary. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2013.

With the advent of democracy in South Africa in1994, a plethora of old pieces of legislation and policies have either been revised or new ones promulgated to address the gross inequalities of the apartheid state. In the context of education new policies were designed to improve the standard of education across public schools in the country. One such policy is the Integrated Quality Management System intended to support teachers in achieving quality education. Policy Design and Policy Implementation are separate concepts and it is well known that the intentions of the policy are not always achieved during implementation. It is clear that the State President, Jacob Zuma was cognizant of the disconnection between Policy and Policy Implementation when he stated at a meeting with school Principals in 2009 that “our wonderful policies that we have been implementing since 1994 have not essentially led to the delivery of quality education for the poorest of the poor”. He questioned as to why the policies have failed to deliver excellence and what should be done about it. Further, the Basic Education Minister, Angie Motshekga in her maiden Budget Speech asserted that: “The findings of Professor Jonathan Jansen’s committee on National Education Evaluation and Development Unit (NEEDU) confirms what we all know, what the view is outside there and reasons for a general lack of public confidence in our education system”. The study explores the extent to which the implementation of the Integrated Quality Management System has indeed led to the delivery of quality education. The Policy was also intended to restore public confidence in the education system and the study aims to explore the extent to which this has been achieved. The Integrated Quality Management System was intended to ensure that the State is obtaining value for the money expended on education, the largest portion being allocated to the salaries of educators. It would appear not to be the case. In this regard, a Report issued by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD 2008) found that international studies have shown that the “returns to investment” in teacher education, or the quality of performance one might expect from learners in return for money spent on educators, is very low in South Africa, to the extent that “low educator productivity has been cited as the main reason for South Africa’s relatively poor performance” It is for the above reason that the National Policy on Whole School Evaluation which includes the Integrated Quality Management System, designed to address the problems of educator performance and poor learner attainment were put under the spotlight. The success of Policy Implementation, and the possible adaptation of existing policies to ensure that the desired results are achieved are also investigated in the study. Recommendations are made as to how policy might be reviewed or changed. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2010.

On the first October, 1954 the Tomlinson Commission submitted its report to Parliament. Inter alia, it recommended that it should be the ultimate aim in the implementation of the policy of separate development of the races that as the Blacks become sufficiently advanced to manage their own affairs in their own areas, the administration of such affairs should be gradually transferred to the Blacks. In order to achieve this, it became necessary to employ Blacks in the areas to manage their own affairs where they might qualify. The Department of Development Aid and that of Education and Training therefore, collaborate with the national states to localize posts if need be or identify them for occupation by seconded officials in case they cannot be localized. The progressive localization of posts advances with self-government. There are constrains militating against the localization of posts. The main ones being the shortage of skilled manpower generally and of sufficiently qualified management personnel in the higher echelons in particular. Some problems are culture - based. For example, the inability of some Zulu civil servants to accept posts in strange and remote areas even if they are in senior positions. Since localization implies the gradual transfer of administrative decision-making it has transpired that KwaZulu civil servants are keen to localize whatever posts they possibly can localize especially in the Department of Education and Culture. The technical, medical and engineering fields are the most difficult to localize. Localization however, does not mean a mere replacement of one race with another. It means the transformation of a foreign system of administration into a local, indigenous one. The whole ethos, philosophy, system of values and procedures change from being legalistic and law enforcing. It assumes new duties of promoting, empowering and managing African development. The purpose of this thesis is to find out how far the policy of localization has been applied in KwaZulu especially in the Department of Education and Culture. It traces the fundamental assumptions and implications of localization in general, drawing on the literature available on other African countries and analyses the process in the KwaZulu civil service specifically. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1990.

Prior to the first democratic elections in South Africa , the education system was structured around a hierarchical and bureaucratic style of management. This meant that the control of schools and the decision-making in schools was centralized, and leadership was understood in terms of "position, status and authority" (Grant, 2006). This study intended to look at how this understanding of leadership could have contributed to creating a situation in the education system where female teachers were, and are still not being given the same opportunities to assume leadership positions as their male counterparts. Using semi-structured interviews and questionnaires, two female teachers occupying different post levels, in each of the four schools who had, in their teaching career, expressed an interest to take on leadership roles and who have/have not succeeded and who have experienced/are experiencing challenges in this regard, were asked to volunteer for this study. The interviews were tape-recorded and transcription of the interviews for analysis was done both quantitatively and qualitatively, making use of tables to illustrate numbers and percentages in different aspects in the study, as well as thematic content analysis using the tool of zones and roles as outlined in Grant (2008). Being female they have also experienced a number of challenges in their careers as well as in the areas of being mothers and spouses, and it would seem that these female teachers are still feel ing the strain of what is socially expected of them as mothers and spouses and their desires to advance their careers in what appears still to be a male dominated and patriarchical society, especially when it comes to taking on leadership and management positions in school. The findings in this study have led to the conclusion that for some of these female teachers, teaching was not their career of choice, but are now committed to this profession and are very aware of the gender inequalities in education and the challenges they face as female teachers, and have expressed sincere wishes that this be addressed. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2008.

This dissertation, through the case study approach, investigates the role of environmental action groups in raising public awareness of environmental hazards in Merewent. Merewent is a residential suburb that lies in the heart of the South Durban Basin adjacent to two oil refineries, a paper mill and other small industries. The sulphur -rich gases released by these refineries over the more than forty years have affected the health of the residents. Many today have respiratory ailments, with some of them developing related cancers. With the emergence of environmental action groups in the area, the awareness of the problem has increased. This has resulted in pressure being applied by the community on the refineries to adopt less hazardous methods of refining crude oil. Most of the people who make up these action groups had limited knowledge of the environmental pollution. However, through their involvement in the activities of these groups, they learnt and became active participants in these organisations. Using science literacy, popular education and social learning theory as the underlying theoretical basis, this study investigates the learning that took place when people participated in social action. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2002.

This research presents an understanding of Grade R teachers' beliefs and practices, and elucidates factors that constrain the belief practice domain. In asking the question, "What are the beliefs and practices of Grade R teachers within a context of effective pedagogy in Grade R/Reception Year classes in the greater Durban area of KwaZulu-Natal?" I produced data from Grade R teachers' perspectives. I reported on their beliefs on pedagogy, and the nuances of their practice, in order to develop an understanding of the different dimensions of pedagogy in Grade R. Using a qualitative, exploratory case study design I produced data on three Grade R teachers from different ethnic backgrounds, in three public schools, in the greater Durban area. The schools chosen varied from low, to middle class socio-economic background, catering for learners from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds. A multi-method approach of data-collection was followed. This study used the social constructivist theory of Vygotsky, as a theoretical lens through which teacher beliefs and practices were examined. Drawing largely on data from observations and interviews, the findings of this study concluded that although teachers were observed to generally follow their pedagogic beliefs, several points of difference between their beliefs and practices existed. This study found that the belief practice domain was affected by a number of contingent factors such as teachers' understanding of the curriculum, teacher training and qualifications, and support from the Education Department, school and parents. In addition, contextual factors such as working conditions, learner-teacher ratios, provision of resources and facilities also affected teacher practice. There was evidence of a high value placed upon learning through play. However, the findings of this study illuminate the need for training Grade R teachers in: creating the conditions for learning through play, the use of collaborative play approaches, and guidance on scaffolding children's learning. This study concludes that the absence of an educational programme geared towards multiculturalism and diversity is of great concern. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Edgewood, 2011.