The South African government like most governments around the world create public entities to perform functions on its behalf and achieve particular objectives ranging from facilitating investments, delivering services or providing goods and advice. These public entities receive annual funding either whole or in part from the national fiscus and report to parliament through their respective Ministries. In the 2005/6 financial year government funded Umalusi 7, 69 million rands through direct transfer payments from the Department of Education, excluding any indirect payments from other governmental structures. Many public entities, about three hundred and thirty odd or so in South Africa, were promulgated to ensure and improve service delivery to the nation. However, they were not intended to be seen as an extension of their reporting departments. This research work evaluates the effectiveness of Umalusi in the education regulatory system and seeks to find ways to improve public entity effectiveness using the South African Excellence Model (SAEM) as the base tool to measure organisational effectiveness. A brief conclusion to this study is that Umalusi as a public entity, is adequately meeting its intended purpose. This is confirmed through its annual reports having never received a qualified audit since its inception. This research triangulates the results of the South African Excellence Model, the Questionnaire to senior education officials and the Auditors' Reports to confirm that Umalusi is effective as a public entity in the South African regulatory system. / Busniness Management / M.Tech. (Busniness Administration)

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

M.Ed. (Education Management) / The eradication of the apartheid education system and subsequently the 're-admission' of the Republic of South Africa to the international arena does not only entail that the education system be effectively managed and governed but also that the potential of all stakeholders in education be maximized. The foundation for performance is linked to investment in people to capitulate high returns in education in the form of skilled personnel, a productive and competitive workforce and an effective and efficient educational community ...

The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the Souns-for-Literacy program in selected Knysna and Plettenberg Bay pre-schools. This included investigating if there were significant benefits for its recipients and recommending improvements that could be made to the program, particularly in adapting it to fit the South African context. The program claims to build letter-sound associations. In response to evidence gained in the biannual surveys done by KET, it was decided that the program warranted a more formal evaluation. It was later agreed that the evaluation should i) critically examine claims about the effectiveness of the program; ii) analyse the relative value of factors contributing to its effectiveness, such as teachers, implementation practices and the program’s material and methodology, then iii) recommend improvements that cauld be made to the program. The evaluation should also identify insights gained in developing reading skills in pre-school children, specifically in South Africa’s multicultural and multilingual contexts. The total number of schools investigated was 25 (21 pre-schools and 4 primary schools for follow-up purposes). The data collection was primarily through i) interviews with program personnel (mentors, facilitators, teachers and volunteers), ii) observations of the children interacting with the equipment of the program as well as iii) individual, informal and age-appropriate testing of letter-sound association knowledge at the end of the academic year. The findings revealed that: i) the program’s materials and methodology showed ‘highly significant’ benefits to most of its beneficiaries; ii) KET’s support system (including mentors, facilitators and volunteers) was particularly valuable in contributing to the program’s effectiveness; iii) certain adaptations to the sequence of symbol presentation for each language would benefit the children’s word-building capacity; iv)the emergent literacy skill of learning letter-sound knowledge should gain more focus during this pre-school stage.

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Law and Management University of Witwatersrand, in 25% fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Management (in the field of Public and Development), 2016 / The National Certificate: Vocational (NCV) qualification was introduced at Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges in 2007 to enable students to acquire necessary skills and knowledge that would prepare them effectively for the world of work. The NCV is an outcomes-based curriculum and its introduction was accompanied by a general shift to outcomes-based teaching and learning approaches, as well as a rigorous assessment and moderation regime, particularly with regards to the internal assessment (ICASS) component. The shift required lecturers to adopt multi-dimensional assessment of skills, knowledge, understanding, attitudes, values and dispositions when assessing students. The report released by Umalusi in 2014 pointed out a number of factors that negatively affect the implementation of ICASS at some TVET colleges. The aim of the study was to explore the factors that constrain or enhance the implementation of the ICASS component of the NCV at TVET colleges. Literature related to the research topic was consulted and, subsequently, document analysis and semi-structured interviews were used to determine ICASS practices applied at Western College (Westcol) for TVET. ICASS requirements as per NCV-related policies and the current ICASS practices at the college were compared to determine the factors that (including those cited by Umalusi) hinder or promote ICASS implementation. The findings reflected that lack of resources (mainly financial and physical resources, as well as under-qualified and unqualified lecturers at the college) hinder the effective implementation of the ICASS component in some subjects at the college. Furthermore, the quality of the assessment elements was of great concern. Most interviewees reported that: some of the ICASS tasks in various subjects were of poor quality; there was lack of or poor moderation of tasks; portfolios were incomplete and there was a lack of structured remedial intervention after tasks were conducted. Interviewees attributed the above situation to increased lecturers’ workloads and students’ poor class attendance. The research recommends that the college build capacity for ICASS implementation through the provision of resources, and the training and development of lecturers, as well as partnerships with industries and other institutions to complement and strengthen the college’s limited resources and to apply knowledge management practices so that the college can leverage and benefit from the knowledge it currently possesses, to improve the implementation of the internal assessment component. / XL2018

This pilot research survey was undertaken as a result of the need to assess the service quality within Higher Education in general and the Department of Management at UWC in particular. This report focuses on the complexities of measuring service quality in higher education. The quality of service delivery within education is becoming more important as the competition for students increases.<br /> The literature was searched to find a suitable measure with a sound theoretical structure. This measure was then adapted for the department.<br /> <br /> In a preliminary way this instrument was then applied to students in the department and initial results are reported on.<br /> The results revealed that undergraduates overall were uncertain in their attitude to the service quality in the department. On the other hand, postgraduate students tended to rate the service quality rather more negatively (p &lt / 0.004). Furthermore there were no gender differences except for tangibles (p = 000.5).<br /> <br /> This pilot study could serve as a pilot study of the service quality in an academic environment. It is the main contention of this report that students themselves should be part of defining quality.

A research report submitted to the Wits School of Education, University of Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Master of Education Submission 17 October 2016 / As access to formal schooling has expanded all over the world, there is acknowledgement that the quality of learning in many schooling systems, including South Africa, is extremely weak. Nationally representative samples of South African children participated in the PIRLS 2006 and pre-PIRLS 2011 studies, along with 48 other countries as a benchmarking exercise to measure the literacy levels of primary schools according to international standards. The PIRLS 2006 study indicated that more than 80% of South African children had not yet learned to read with meaning by grade 5. The pre-PIRLS results provided a new baseline of reading literacy levels for Grade 4 learners in South Africa, 29% of Grade 4 learners that participated did not have the rudimentary reading skills required at a Grade 2 level. Learners tested in African languages, particularly Sepedi and Tshivenda, achieved the lowest performance overall and were considered to be educationally at risk (University of Pretoria, 2012). The context in which schooling takes place is key in understanding learner performance in South Africa. After decades of differential provision of education on the basis of race, the education system has been overhauled since the early 1990s. The South African government has introduced several initiatives and policies to address these systemic imbalances. All things considered, South Africa’s learner performance has remained poor, even relative to several poorer countries in the region. There is a wealth of research describing weaknesses in the education system. However, going a step further and identifying resources and practices that actually improve learner performance is central to improving education planning, policy and ultimately classroom practice. Rigorous evidence on classroom-based practice and resources that will have a measurable effect on learner performance in a developing country like South Africa is limited. The most significant shortfall of non-experimental evaluation methods (including qualitative and many quantitative approaches) is the absence of a valid estimate of the counterfactual – what outcomes would have been obtained amongst programme beneficiaries had they not received the programme. This often leads to the reporting of large positive effects of programmes being evaluated. By using a lottery to allocate participants to an intervention and a control group, the Randomised Control Trial (RCT) methodology constructs a credible ‘counterfactual’ scenario – what might have happened to those who received an intervention had they not received it. This study provides a systematic literature-based argument on why RCTs should be part of the methodological options education researchers and policy makers consider in developing countries such as South Africa. Both the strengths and limitations of RCTs are discussed in light of the debate on RCTs and evaluation methods in education, as well as the technical critique of the methodology. The main critique of external validity is also elaborated on with efforts that may be taken to diminish the limitations discussed. In addition, the study illustrates the value of RCTs using data from two South Africa RCTs on early grade reading interventions through a secondary analysis of the RCT data. The first case study in Chapter 4, is the Reading Catch-Up Programme (RCUP) conducted in Pinetown, KwaZulu-Natal. The main findings of the RCUP evaluation were that although learners in intervention schools improved their test scores between the baseline and the endline assessment, the learners in comparison schools improved by a similar margin. The results should contribute to a sobering realisation that the effects of the various interventions introduced by education stakeholders including NGOs and government are not obviously positive or more importantly, different from normal schooling. This points to the need to evaluate programmes before they are rolled out provincially or nationally, using RCTs and other rigorous methods. The new analysis of data in this study explores the so-called “Matthew Effect” - the notion that initially better-performing children typically gain more from additional interventions and from schooling itself. The data from the RCUP RCT indicates that children with higher baseline test scores benefited from the intervention, whereas children with very low English proficiency at the outset did not benefit from the programme. Although females significantly outperform males in the reading tests used, there was no clear evidence of a differential effect of the intervention by gender. The Matthew Effect therefore seems to be driven by prior knowledge and not gender or any other characteristic that was measured in the data. The second case study in Chapter 5, is the Early Grade Reading Study (EGRS) conducted in the North West province. The EGRS may be seen as a more extensive follow-up to the RCUP to answer some of the unanswered questions. For example, will an early grade reading intervention that is implemented over a longer duration (two years) have an impact? Can intervening right at the start of school be a strategic point to intervene? Can a Home Language literacy intervention have lasting educational benefits? In conclusion, although the policy formulation and evaluation process should draw on research using a variety of methods, the policy process will certainly be impoverished if there is a lack of research meeting two core criteria: interventions and findings that are relevant to the larger schooling population; and the precise measurement of the causal impact of interventions and/or policies. This study makes a clear literature-based argument on the contribution of internally valid methods, specifically RCTs in fulfilling these criteria and illustrates this with two case studies of RCTS. The study also provides a demonstration of the insights that are possible through secondary analysis founded on the richness of RCT data. / MT2017

This pilot research survey was undertaken as a result of the need to assess the service quality within Higher Education in general and the Department of Management at UWC in particular. This report focuses on the complexities of measuring service quality in higher education. The quality of service delivery within education is becoming more important as the competition for students increases.<br /> The literature was searched to find a suitable measure with a sound theoretical structure. This measure was then adapted for the department.<br /> <br /> In a preliminary way this instrument was then applied to students in the department and initial results are reported on.<br /> The results revealed that undergraduates overall were uncertain in their attitude to the service quality in the department. On the other hand, postgraduate students tended to rate the service quality rather more negatively (p &lt / 0.004). Furthermore there were no gender differences except for tangibles (p = 000.5).<br /> <br /> This pilot study could serve as a pilot study of the service quality in an academic environment. It is the main contention of this report that students themselves should be part of defining quality.

Submitted to the Faculty of Education in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Education in the Department of Educational Psychology and Special Education at the University of Zululand, 2007. / This study was concerned with analysing the school context for factors that promote or impede resilience among middle adolescent learners. The study aimed to find out if black high school learners perceive themselves as resilient or non-resilient: It also investigated the aspects perceived by learners as retarding or enhancing resilience within the school context and to identify qualities of the school that enhance or impede resilience in learners. Four schools within the Pinetown district in KwaZulu Natal were chosen as a sample. Random sampling procedure was used to ensure that any of the schools falling within the four wards of Pinetown district had the same probability of being selected. All grade 10 learners, mostly those falling within the ages of 15 to 20 were asked to participate in data collection. The self-evaluation instrument that was used to collect data about whether learners perceived themselves as resilient was specifically designed to measure this variable. This instrument was designed at the University of Pretoria as part of a research project aimed at making a comparative study of middle adolescent perception of resilience (ranked high or low). The research instrument was statistically proven to have demonstrated content validity and construct validity. This instrument has statistically demonstrated its reliability in terms of internal consistency. The questionnaire had to be translated into isiZulu as most learners were first language Zulu speakers. Learners first had to undergo a self-evaluation process to test how resilient they perceived themselves to be. The second aspect of the questionnaire was to rate, in order of importance, those factors within the school environment that they perceived either enhanced or impeded resilience. A 5-point Likert-type scale Was used with a series of levels of degree expressing positive or negative response to the questionnaire. The researcher used at least 3-5 items in the instrument measured similar idea. All items were interspaced to avoid predictability of questions. The learners indicated the extent to which they agreed or disagreed with each statement. No numbers were given as learners might have mistaken them as values that are used for grading learners. Learners had to express their own views on Structured open-ended questions in order for the researcher to better understand the use of resilience. Data collected was integrated and analysed collectively to give a comprehensive understanding of resilience. The majority of learners rated themselves as resilient despite the many difficulties faced in their environment. They also affirmed all the resilience promoting factors as important to their life at school. The main characteristic of a good school highlighted by black South African adolescents in this study, was an appreciative, caring and supportive environment where respect for self and others prevails. Good schools in this study provided opportunities for learners to engage in a variety of extra-curricular activities and the resources needed by the learners were made available. The adolescents in this study appreciated a well organised school where rules and regulations were consistently followed. A good physical environment was seen also as conducive to teaching and learning. Educators who offered relevant information and empowered learners to deal with the challenges of life were viewed as great assets according to the findings of this study