Views of teaching: implications for the didactic training of mathematics teachers. School mathematics teaching is an essential learning area in South African schools. Owing to persistent traditional positivist-based views and approaches, it still suffers from a variety of teaching-learning problems. Various national attempts have already been made to develop an effective teaching-learning program for school mathematics. Prominent researchers reveal that the failure of teaching-learning programmes often have to be attributed to the lack of an underlying grounded didactic theory. Therefore this study focused on the development of a grounded teaching-theoretical framework for school mathematics teaching. A further problem regarding school mathematics is that its teaching and learning traditionally are viewed from a narrow school subject disciplinary perspective. Therefore this study departed from a general didactic-theoretical perspective, creating the opportunity to approach and solve problems from a wider angle. A constructivist-based post-positivist view of effective teaching was developed, before entering the field of school mathematics. In this way an integrated ontologicalcontextual view of teaching was developed in terms of six identified ontological essential features, and their contextual coherence, namely: intention, teacher, leamer, interaction, content and context. Contrary to traditional positivist views, no causal relationship between teaching and learning was imposed, and teaching was not qualified in terms of learning products. Instead, teaching was characterised and qualified on ontological grounds, departing from the phenomenon itself. In this way the limitations of positivist process-product views of teaching could be identified, explained and overcome. Alternatively, a dynamic integrated view of teaching as a human act, directed at the facilitation of relevant and meaningful learning, was grounded and developed. Based on this general ontological-contextually based view, a specific ontologicalcontextual view of effective school mathematics teaching was grounded and developed. To this end a variety of prominent contemporary views of and approaches to school mathematics, and its teaching and learning, needed to be analysed in a critical way. According to this analysis school mathematics, and its teaching and learning should be viewed and approached from a constructivist-based dynamic change-and-grow perspective as human acts. In addition, it could have been proved that the perspective concerned can facilitate the treatment and solving of the currently experienced teaching-learning problems. This requires the reconsideration, from a similar perspective, of the current school mathematics curriculum, as well as the preservice didactic training of mathematics teachers. Specific implications of the developed ontological-contextual view of effective school mathematics teaching were identified, and practically tested in the corresponding preservice didactic training situation in the North West Province. Based on this an integrated model for the training concerned was formulated. It was found that the current training largely contributed to the continuation of traditional views of and approaches to school mathematics teaching, and its essential features. From the developed integrated ontological-contextual perspective definitive proposals regarding the transformation of school mathematics teaching and the corresponding didactic training were made and motivated. Further areas for investigation and development, resulting from this study, were identified, as well. This study aimed at investigating, and revealing for further exploration, the specific and broadening interaction between the general teaching and subject didactical fields and research, particularly in the two contexts of effective school mathematics teaching and the corresponding preservice didactical training. A particular attempt was made to accomplish this in a grounded and integrated way, to the benefit of both fields. / Thesis (PhD)--PU for CHE, 1998.

With the acceptance of Outcomes-based Education (OBE) in South Africa, the emphasis shifted from a teacher-centred to a learner-centred instruction approach. The learner-centred teaching approach of OBE is based on the social constructivistic teaching view. This view is based on the fundamental acceptance that people construe knowledge through interaction between their existing knowledge and beliefs and new ideas or situations within a social environment or milieu. It is thus essential that future Geography education students receive training in a similar manner as that which is expected of them as future practising teachers. Lecturers' and students' beliefs and perceptions of how instruction must take place, in the majority of cases, still support the traditional direct instruction approach where lecturers transfer knowledge to students mainly through formal lectures. The acceptance of the social constructivistic teaching approach for the training of Geography education students implies that the beliefs of lecturers and students as well as their roles in the teaching learning process, must change. This means that the purpose of contact time between lecturer and students must necessarily change. Contact time should not just be used by the lecturer for presenting content. It is the task of the Geography lecturer to create a learning environment where students are actively involved in cooperative learning environments in the learning process. The lecturer acts as facilitator, guide, enabler and fellow-explorer in the learning process. Contact sessions must be used to offer the students the opportunity to report back on the learning assignments and activities or to reflect on what has been learnt. Continuous formative assessment takes place during contact and non-contact times to give quick feedback on learning. The lecturer and students are involved in the assessment process. Clear assessment criteria must be compiled by the lecturer in cooperation with students so that the students will know precisely what is expected of them. Together with the learner-centred teaching approach, certain universities worldwide have been obliged to decrease contact time between lecturer and student. Reasons for this can mainly be ascribed to an increase in student numbers and to effectively vii manage the lecturers' time so that more time can be spent on research. The lecturer is supposed to design and plan a specific module so that the set learning outcomes could be achieved within the reduced time. Different guidelines are identified in the context of reducing contact time so as to ensure the effective achievement of learning outcomes. The lecturer should prepare, plan and manage contact time. Students must also accept larger responsibility for independent learning and attain some of the learning outcomes during non-contact times. To support students during non-contact times and to guide them in the attainment of learning outcomes and completion of assignments, students must make use of resource-based learning. The interactive study guide and work planning, as developed and compiled by the lecturer, is necessary for providing students with assistance and guidance so that students know precisely what is expected of them, what resources to use and when. It is furthermore necessary that the assessment strategies, that are used in the teaching of Geography, support the decrease in contact time. Bigger responsibility is given to students in the assessment process and is included in self and peer group assessment of and feedback to assignments. The Geography education lecturer involved in the development of the different Geography modules must make sure that over-assessment does not take place, but that students are exposed to multiple assessment methods. Decision-making by university management on decreased contact time was probably taken without considering the full implications for learner-centred teaching. This study is an attempt to implement a learner-centred teaching approach in the Geography training of education students within the optimising of contact time between lecturer and students. A concept model for the Geography training of education students was developed to ensure the successful attainment of learning outcomes. The perception and attitudes of the students regarding the concept model in Geography-training within the optimising of contact time was analysed, after which the examination results of the students were compared with results of previous years. From the information required in the literature as well as in the implementation of the concept model in Geography training, criteria and strategies for the effective training of Geography teachers in the optimising of contact time were developed. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2005.

This dissertation documents a mixed methods doctoral study that accessed a popular online faculty rating system situated in the public domain, to reveal adult students’ perceptions of effective teaching characteristics in three community colleges located in British Columbia, Canada. The study is informed by two phases including a quantitative analysis of attributions and a qualitative interpretive content analysis of 300 randomly selected student anecdotal evaluations of their classroom experiences that were cross-referenced to the empirical research that formally defines effective teaching characteristics. Six attribution themes emerged from the students’ online perceptions: Articulate, Competent, Content-expert, Empowering, Perceptive, and Trustworthy that in their complexity were re-articulated for latent symbolism and problematised through an adult education lens. These findings subsequently led to development of the ACCEPT Model of Student Discernment of Effective Teaching Characteristics. The research findings contribute to a further understanding of students’ ability to discern and report effective teaching characteristics through an online faculty rating system that is informal and less traditional, for the purpose of improving teaching and learning practices in college settings in British Columbia. There are six recommendations provided that will be of interest to administrators, faculty, students, and institutional researchers regarding student evaluation of effective teaching characteristics and adult learning needs.

One of the important characteristics of effective teaching is to devote sufficient time to appropriate physical activity in physical education classes. The purpose of this study was to compare teaching effectiveness of prospective and in-service teachers in relation to student behaviors, course content activities and Academic Learning Time in Physical Education (ALT-PE) scores. Participants were 26 prospective and 28 in-service physical education teachers. Forty-minute regular lessons (n=54) of each teacher were video recorded in their natural settings and observed with the ALT-PE observational instrument. Learner involvement behaviors, context levels and ALT-PE scores were compared for two groups of teachers. MANOVA results have shown significant differences in student behaviors and course content activities between the groups. While prospective teachers spent significantly more time with management content, in-service teachers spent significantly more time with warm-up activities. Students in the classes of prospective teachers spent significantly more time with off-task and interim behaviors, but students in the classes of in-service teachers spent significantly more time with on task behaviors. The results, however, indicated no significant differences between the groups in motor appropriate behaviors of students. ANOVA results indicated that students spent 17.9% (for prospective teachers), and 18.7% (for in-service teachers) of total class time with ALT-PE behaviors. It seems fair to suggest that prospective and in-service PE teachers should decrease the time on management, transition, waiting, and theoretical explanations, while allocating more time on physical activity.

This study aimed at establishing and analysing the literacy practices in the rural and urban communities and their effect on the academic achievements of learners. It also aimed to establish the impact of other factors, such as the exposure to the language of examination, the level of parents formal education and the quality of parental mediation in the their children's academic work, which could be responsible for the imbalance between the rural and urban learners academic achievements. This study endeavours to established that the literacy practices in urban areas prepare learners for schooled and global literacies while the literacies in rural areas are to localised and thus impoverish the learners initial literacy development. This study also seek to determine the extent to which the current language policy in education in Uganda favours the urban learners at the expense of the rural learners as far as the acculturation into and acquisition of the schooled and global literacies are concerned.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Tennessee, Knoxville, 2009. / Title from title page screen (viewed on Mar. 10, 2010). Thesis advisor: Deborah Ann Wooten. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Tennessee, Knoxville, 2009. / Title from title page screen (viewed on Oct. 22, 2009). Thesis advisor: Mary Jo Reiff. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

The purpose of this study was to investigate how instructional leadership manifests itself and can be strengthened in a Namibian rural school. As a teacher, head of department and later an education officer, I have long held the view that committed school leadership is essential for the school’s instructional and academic success. Equally, I have always been aware of the impact of the past segregation and the unequal education provided by the colonial government in South Africa and South West Africa/Namibia. The inferior education provided to Africans posed a serious challenge to the leadership and management of schools, as would be principals were not adequately trained to provide the necessary “ingredients” relevant for instructional success. Given this background, I attempted, using a case study of one secondary school, to investigate how instructional leadership is manifesting itself and could be strengthened in a rural school in the Omusati region of Namibia. Research questions that framed the study were: firstly, how does the leadership approach in the school promote teaching and learning; secondly, what is the role of external players in enhancing instructional leadership and thirdly, what are the strengthening and inhibiting factors of instructional leadership. The population of the study was composed of an Inspector of Education, a school principal, a head of department (HOD) and four teachers from a secondary school, located in the Omusati region in Namibia. Data were collected through interviews, document analysis and observation. With regard to data analysis, I first immersed myself in the data. I developed themes that formed the basis of my discussion with my research questions in mind. The analysis revealed that instructional leadership is strongly evidenced at the case study school. However, it emerged that despite the existence of strong instructional leadership at the school, as with all other organisations, there are several challenges that limit the effective implementation of the teaching and learning programme. These challenges vary from indiscipline, poor time management, to lack of teaching and learning resources. Participants also provided a number of possible solutions to the problems identified, including that the principal should be a good role model for the staff and that an enabling environment for both teaching and learning should be created. The study also strongly suggested that participative leadership and management is a cornerstone to the academic success of the school.

The debate on how students of different abilities should be organised and taught is probably as old as the introduction of formal schooling. It has generated a lot of debate in the past and continues to do so in the present millennium. This debate has invariably divided the world of educational research into two distinct camps. On one hand are proponents of ability grouping who claim that this grouping approach creates homogeneity which make it possible to tailor teaching to individual needs and thus raise achievement. On the other hand, are the exponents of mixed-ability grouping, who argue that ability grouping denies equality of educational opportunities to many young people, limiting their life chances and increasing social segregation. However, there is an emerging trend which posits that teachers should view students' mixed-abilities as an asset, which if properly exploited can result in effective instruction for the benefit of all students regardless of their many individual differences. This emanates from the realisation that there are different types of intelligences, and that it is not always possible for an individual student to posses all the types of intelligences. Therefore, students from diverse backgrounds, endowed with multiple intelligences, can help one another understand the content better as they will perceive the content from their diverse experiential backgrounds. This qualitative study concerned itself with investigating how mixed-ability grouping can be optimised for effective instruction at the junior secondary school level in Botswana. The study made use of literature study, focus groups, follow-up interviews and lesson observations. Major findings were that teachers are not optimising mixed-ability grouping for effective instruction. Instead, teachers have problems in teaching mixed-ability classes, with most of their teaching being teacher-centred. However, teachers can optimise mixed-ability grouping through the use of student-centred instructional strategies such as cooperative learning, small-group instruction, peer teaching and student research. Gifted students could be catered for through curriculum compaction, enrichment and extension work, while mentally challenged students could be offered remedial work. These cited teaching strategies are differential and they make use of the diverse abilities found in mixed-ability classes. / Educational Studies / D.Ed. (Didactics)

This thesis describes the background and findings of a study of effective schools and learners achievement in Botswana senior secondary schools from an education management perspective. The aim was to identify schools that promote learners’ achievement when the students’ initial intakes were considered. The study was guided by five research questions. The study adopted an ex post facto design and a quantitative value added methodology to answer the research questions. Simple random sampling was used to select a sample of 5662 from the population of 58 032 students who wrote the BGCSE examinations for 2005, 2006 and 2007. Two sets of data: prior and later achievements at individual student level were collected from BEC and Secondary Education. The statistical software, MLwiN 2.10 beta 4, which is based on hierarchical linear modelling or multilevel modelling, was used to analyse the data for the value added by schools. The findings indicated that a) schools differ in their effectiveness. Some schools were more effective than others; b) Ten characteristics of effective schools were identified from the literature review c) schools differed in their consistency across the three core curriculum areas of Setswana, English and Mathematics; d) schools differed in their stability from year to year and e) schools were differentially effective. They were effective for the mid ability students and boys more than the other groups. The study confirmed that the use of a single statistic measure even in value added analysis could be misleading because of the internal variations between departments in schools. Furthermore, the uses of raw results for measuring school effectiveness were misleading. Some schools which were at the top in raw results were not doing so well in terms of value added and vice versa. The value added measures of school performance proved to be the most appropriate measure of school’s contribution to students’ learning. The value added by schools is also a measure of schools’ productivity. The study made recommendations to improve practice, such as the use of appropriate and fairer methods to evaluate and compare schools. The areas that need further attention were suggested based on the findings of the study. / Teacher Education / D.Ed. (Education Management)