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Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for Doctor of Philosophy, University of the Witwatersrand. / In South Africa, difficulties with learners solving word problems has been a recurrent problem identified through national standardised assessments extending from Foundation Phase into the Senior Phase. As is evident globally, particular difficulties have been identified with young children solving ‘compare-type problems’ where the numbers of objects in two disjoined sets are compared. This design experiment provides empirical data of young South African learners trying to make sense of compare-type problems. The task design from this design experiment suggested that engaging learners in narrative processes where they are expected to model the problem situations and then retell and vary the word problems, to become fluent in using the sematic schemata may assist them to become more experienced and better able to make sense of compare-type problems. This finding contradicts the advice offered in official South African government documentation. The study was a three-cycle classroom-based design experiment which took place over 10 consecutive school days with Foundation Phase learners in a full service township school where the majority of learners were English Language Learners (ELLs), learning mathematics in English when their home language has not English. This study set out to research a ‘narrative teaching approach’ for a specific mathematics topic: additive relation word problems. At the heart of the study therefore, was a question relating to the efficacy of a teaching strategy: To what extent do young children’s example space of additive relations expand to include compare type word problems? This design experiment reveals that when adequately supported with careful task design and effort in monitoring and responding to learner activity, Grade 2 ELL children in a township school can improve their additive relations problem solving, in a relatively short time frame. The majority of the learners in this design experiment were able to solve compare-type problems at the end of the 10-day intervention. These learners were also able to produce evidence of movements towards more structured representations, and towards better learner explanation and problem posing using storytelling. III The design experiment intervention showed promise in expanding young children’s example space for additive relations word problems. In both cycles the mean results improved from pre-test to post-test. The gains evident immediately after the intervention were retained in a delayed post-test administered for the third cycle which showed further improvements in the mean with a reduced standard deviation. The effect sizes of the shifts in means from pre-test to post-test was 0.7 (medium) in both cycles, while the effect size of shifts in the mean from pre-test to delayed post-test was 1.3 (large). T-tests established that these shifts in means were statistically significant. The core group showed the greatest learning gains, suggesting that the intervention was most successful in ‘raising the middle’ of the class. Particular patterns of children’s reasoning about additive relations word problems are documented from the South African ELL children in this design experiment. For example many ELLs in this design experiment initially responded to compare word problems like ‘Mahlodi has 12 sweets. Moeketsi has 8 sweets. How many more sweets does Mahlodi have than Moeketsi?’ with: ‘Mahlodi has 12 sweets’. New actions and contrasts relating to additive relations are brought into focus. For example the empirical results indicated that inserting attention to 1:1 matching actions was found to be useful to helping learners to deal with static compare situations. This study has helped to extend the theoretical foundations of what is meant by a ‘narrative approach’ as the theoretical features of the narrative approach are now situated within a broader theoretical framework of orienting theories, domain specific instructional theories, and related frameworks for action. The findings of this design experiment have been promising in the local context of the focal school. Should the intervention task design be found to yield similar results in other South African Foundation Phase contexts, when implemented by teachers other than the researcher, then it may be appropriate to use the research findings to improve the guidance provided to Foundation phase teachers (in curriculum documentation and through professional development offerings). / MT2017

Doctorat en sciences psychologiques / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

M.Ed. / A number of studies has shown that adult education is a matter of great concern in South Africa, and the Northern Province has been earmarked as one of the regions with which needs thorough redressing and restitution of equality. This is because this region is constituted of rural areas characterised by poverty, unemployment and lack of proper housing and infrastructure. Many adults, most of hem middle-aged, and teenagers are illiterate because they either missed out on school or dropped out of school. It therefore becomes important that, given the situation in the province, ABET centres and relevant programmes be established and provided in order to fight against illiteracy. The literature shows that good provision in adult education should go hand in hand with the identification and assessment of the needs of adult learners. Whatever investigation is made on the needs of adult learners, the social and cultural background of the learner should be considered because it is the context which guides and influences expression of their needs. This suggests that appropriate methods for conducting ABET needs assessment should be selected and used - methods which will adapt to the background of the adult learners. The aim of this study, therefore, is to describe the process of conducting a needs assessment for the development of a programme for adult learners using the hermeneutic-dialectic methodology, and simultaneously assessing the viability of this methodology for developing appropriate needs assessment instruments in rural areas of South Africa. This study was approached from a constructivist (interpretive) perspective. This perspective is one which asserts that there exists multiple realities which are socially constructed. Within this perspective, the hermeneutic-dialectic methodology is suggested as a way of conducting research. Using this methodology as a framework, the open interview method was used in order to elicit constructions of participants. It became evident that the hermeneutic-dialectic methodology may be one of the appropriate methodologies which can be used for conducting needs assessment in rural areas. This is because the methodology adapts to the social and cultural background of the adult learners.

Given the demands of the era of accountability and standardization, the purpose of this study was to explore how educational leaders construct their identity and agency. The study utilized overlapping post-structural and critical theoretical frameworks on identity and agency to analyze how high school principals interpret and enact comprehensive school reform rhetoric and their state’s educational leadership standards. In addition to several cycles of coding, a critical discourse analysis was performed with the input of the participants’ high schools in order to further analyze the form and function of discourses, socially situated meanings, and ideologies that constitute being an educational leader and doing the work of an educational leader. The findings from the study revealed that the high school principals discursively construct their professional identity and agency by engaging in discourses and social practices related to managing the personnel, numerical data, and external expectations of the organization. As a result, the participants use the comprehensive school reform rhetoric as a way to legitimize and rationalize their duty as educators. The socially situated meaning attributed to the state’s educational leadership standards is not as clear, with the participants dismissing their value for a lack of context. In interpreting and enacting the school reform policy mandates set forth by the district and the state, principals conserve a corporatized model of school leadership that borrows much of its neoliberal language from the business sphere. The principals are positioned as mid-level managers, confirming Foster’s (2004) description of the contemporary school leader who is preoccupied with controlling the numeracy, information systems, and language of the organization. Future research should focus on performing critical discourse analysis studies with the upper levels of management, including, but not limited to, the central office and the office of the superintendent, as a way of exploring a more transcendent meaning of schooling and school leadership that focuses on human development. This study has the potential to provide leadership preparation programs and policymakers significant insight into the problems, paradoxes, and possibilities of school reform rhetoric and its impact on local school leaders. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2016. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

This quantitative, non-experimental study was conducted to determine whether there is a link between the principal’s behavioral agility, the organization’s culture, and school performance as defined by the state’s Value Added Measure (VAM). Additionally, this study examined if there was a moderator influence of contextual factors to behavioral agility and school culture and school culture and school performance. Data collection was obtained through the use of two validated scales, the Strategic Leadership Questionnaire (SLQ) and the Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI). Multiple regression was conducted to determine the extent each independent variable predicts school performance. Hayes’s (2012) PROCESS macro for SPSS was completed to determine if school culture mediated the relationship between behavioral agility and school performance and school culture and school performance. Significant correlations were found between and within the two instruments measured unidimensionally and multidimensionally. The OCAI findings included significant, high effect correlations with the four culture types, although market was not correlated with clan or adhocracy. All subscales of the SLQ had positive significant correlations within the instrument. School size was significantly negatively correlated with clan and adhocracy culture types. School performance was found to be significantly correlated with hierarchy culture type and school level. The contribution this study makes is both theoretical and practical. Theoretically, this study offers insights into school level and its moderation of culture and school performances as well as the influence culture types have on school performance. Practically, the study could identify a new culture type valuable to principals for improving school performance. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2017. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Behavioral data are frequently plagued with highly intercorrelated variables. Collinearity is an indication of insufficient information in the model or in the data. It, therefore, contributes to the unreliability of the estimated coefficients. One result of collinearity is that regression weights derived in one sample may lead to poor prediction in another model. One technique which was developed to deal with highly intercorrelated independent variables is ridge regression. It was first proposed by Hoerl and Kennard in 1970 as a method which would allow the data analyst to both stabilize his estimates and improve upon his squared error loss. The problem of this study was the application of ridge regression in the analysis of data resulting from educational research.

Thesis (MEdPsych)--Stellenbosch University, 2003. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The research question I wondered about was whether becoming a reflective practitioner/teacher could contribute to a sense of empowerment and greater effectiveness in practice. I am telling my own story in this study and have chosen to do this through the use of a variant of Life History Research called Narrative Inquiry. This is a qualitative approach to research and makes use of narratives. Field texts (journal entries, family stories, teacher stories) were produced through conversations, observation and journal writing. These field texts were then presented in narrative form. Analysis of the field texts, as well as the story was done throughout the research process. I used conceptual tools developed within Narrative Inquiry to analyse the narrated data in order to foreground the two main areas namely personal and professional growth. Based on this study of my personal experience of the use of reflection, it would seem that becoming a reflective practitioner could indeed contribute to a sense of empowerment and more effective classroom practice by supporting personal and professional growth and development. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die navorsingsprobleem waaroor ek wonder is of die gebruik van refleksie as reflektiewe praktisyn kan bydra tot 'n gevoel van bemagtiging en groter effektiwiteit binne die klaskamer. Aangesien ek my eie storie in hierdie studie wou vertel het ek besluit om gebruik te maak van 'n variant van lewensgeskiedenisnavorsing naamlik 'Narrative Inquiry'. 'Narrative Inquiry' is 'n kwalitatiewe benadering tot navorsing en maak gebruik van stories. Narratiewe data (dagboekinskrywings, familieen onderwyserstories) is geproduseer uit gesprekke, waarneming en die skryf van 'n dagboek en is in die vorm van 'n storie vertel. Analise van narratiewe data vind plaas regdeur die navorsingsproses. In die analise van die narratiewe data is gebruik gemaak van konseptueie terme wat binne 'Narrative Inquriry' ontwikkel is om die professionele en persoonlike ontwikkeling uit te lig. Uit hierdie studie van persoonlike ervaring van die gebruik van refleksie as 'n reflektiewe praktisyn wil dit blyk dat die gebruik van refleksie wel kan bydra tot gevoelens van bemagtiging en groter effektiwiteit binne die praktyk, aangesien dit professionele en persoonlike groei en ontwikkeling ondersteun.

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In 2002, the United Nations designates 2005-2014 as the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development. In China, Education for Sustainable Development [ESD] has been recognized as an important component in the new educational reform. However, there is an implementation gap between government policy and classroom practice. Teachers play a pivotal role in curriculum implementation. Therefore, knowing what teachers' think about ESD is the first step towards understanding the implementation of ESD. / Key words. sustainable development; education for sustainable development; teacher's belief; geography teacher; instrument development; values; teaching belief; China / Quantitative research methods supported by interview are used in this research. After analyzing relevant literature on ESD and interviewing 16 Beijing geography teachers, it is found that the ESD beliefs comprised two components: sustainability values [VESD] and teaching beliefs of ESD [TESD]. Based on ESD principles and some environmental beliefs instruments, a first draft of VESD instrument was developed and piloted among Yinchuan and Beijing geography teachers. A second draft was then developed and tested with over 300 Guangzhou and Changchun geography teachers. The final VESD instrument with four dimensions has been found with a stable structure and acceptable reliability and validity. These four dimensions are respect and care for the community of life; ecological integrity; social and economic justice; democracy, nonviolence and peace. / The aim of this research is to develop an effective and easy-to-use ESD instrument to reveal teacher's beliefs about ESD. In the process of developing the instrument, it is essential to study: What are teachers' ESD beliefs? Are ESD beliefs made up environmental values and teaching beliefs? What are the structure and content of the values and teaching beliefs of ESD? / The TESD instrument is found to have three factors with good reliability and validity. These three factors are namely: relevance to daily life, student's need in the future, and integrated teaching. / With these two instruments which can be used to tap teacher's ESD beliefs in China, researchers interested in ESD implementation can conduct future researches on teachers' beliefs about ESD and the potential implementation problems. / 楊光. / 論文(哲學博士)--香港中文大學, 2006. / 參考文獻(p. 256-274). / Adviser: Chi Chung Lam. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-03, Section: A, page: 0867. / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in Chinese and English. / School code: 1307. / Lun wen (zhe xue bo shi)--Xiang gang Zhong wen da xue, 2006. / Can kao wen xian (p. 256-274). / Yang Guang.