Thesis (MEd)--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2017. / The teaching profession is unique in this sense that in no other employment industry, are beginner employees straight out of university expected to do the work and hold the responsibilities equal to that of a senior or more experienced colleague. This idea is held as one of the main reasons why teachers need support in their first few years of teaching (Darling-Hammond, 2010; Le Maistre & Paré, 2010). From my own experience as well as that of the novice art teacher participants in this research, it was clear that art teachers in their first three years of teaching experience positive encounters as well as several challenges. Challenges varied from the lack of support and orientation from school management to several other factors that contributed to a demanding workload and stress. The theoretical framework that informs this research is grounded in the combination of theoretical perspectives developed by Geert Kelchtermans (1993; 1994; 1999) namely the narrative-biographical perspective and the micro-political perspective. Participants were interviewed and requested to attend a focus group session where they were asked to create a River of Life representation of their experiences since starting their art education careers. The transcripts were analysed in conjunction with the drawings to forge connections between the participants’ feedback to establish themes. The themes of this particular research relate mainly to the common experiences that the participants face as novice art teachers and the support they receive from their school management and education authorities.

Magister Educationis - MEd / This research investigated how grade 7 learners dealt with introductory aspects of integers when they are introduced through a temperature model. In particular, the study analysed the effect of an intentional teaching strategy on learners' engagement with integers. The idea of combining an intentional teaching strategy with the introduction of integers in grade 7 learners using a temperature model is what makes this study unique. A qualitative study was adopted. Data was collected by means of audio and video and also by means of learners' completed worksheets. The results of the study indicate that the majority of learners could recognise, compare and order integers. It is recommended that the application of intentional teaching with a temperature model is a viable strategy to introduce grade 7 learners to integers.

M.Ed. / Key legislative acts and policy papers have been adopted to guide the transformation process these include the National Policy Act 27 of 1996, the National Qualifications Framework, South African Schools Act 84 of 1996, Curriculum 2005, and the Employment of Educators Act 1998 to name but few (Meyer and Motala 1998:1). Over and above these there is the Mpumalanga School Education Act 8 of 1995, Norms and Standards for school funding and numerous Educator Labour Relations Council resolutions that serve to guide the transformation process. All these acts and policy papers are initiatives of the state to ensure school competency and hopefully school effectiveness. Their dependence is substantially on strengthening capacity to plan, manage and supervise schools. Meyer and Motala (1998:1) further indicate that for the implementation of all acts and policy papers require a change in organisational culture and the development of appropriate capacities. The most important source of the required capacity to ensure school management and leadership is broadly in the hands of the principal. These rapid changes in acts and policies in our school system are creating a leadership crisis in the Mpumalanga schools. School principals as such commonly blame these rapid changes for their paralysis. On the other hand the Mpumalanga Department of Education (MDE) is randomly and sporadically conducting induction programmes, seminars, conferences and workshops for principals to ensure that principals understands and at least develop the capacity for effective school leadership. According to Bailey and Jenkins (1996:14) these initiatives alone can hardly sustain the needs of the school principals. / Prof. T.C. Bisschoff

M.A. / Teaching in institutions have come under the spotlight, as a result of inadequate teaching, learning and assessment strategies. Some of the most critical remarks that were made against teaching in institutes of higher education is that that the traditional methods of direct instruction are ineffective in developing learners’ critical thinking powers and problem-solving abilities. Alternative methods of teaching, learning and assessment should be taken into consideration, rather than teaching. The question that arises is whether the Dâr ’al ‘Ulûm, which is also an institute of higher education, are aware of these arguments and whether it strives to implement effective teaching, learning and assessment strategies. In this study the researcher concentrates on the development of criteria for effective teaching, learning and assessment. These criteria are developed by firstly conducting a literature review and then by evaluating the strategies of teaching and assessment in a Dâr ’al ‘Ulûm, to these criteria. The research methodology of this study consist of a qualitative component and it includes observations of the teaching methods in the classroom, document analysis and interviews with the teachers. The aim of the different data gathering methods is to determine the trustworthiness of the data. The same results were achieved each time the data provided was analysed. Furthermore, the consistency of interpreting and analysing the data was also addressed by returning the findings of this study to an external decoder. The empirical research results indicated that this Dâr ’al ‘Ulûm did not meet the criteria that was developed, and that this Dâr ’al ‘Ulûm relies heavily on the traditional method of direct instruction. The Dâr ’al ‘Ulûm is an institute that develops the minds, the values and the attitudes of ‘Ulamâ’. Knowledge, values and attitudes are shaped in this institute. Appropriate teaching and learning strategies are vital for quality education. Research has pointed out that an outcomes-based approach is more effective than the traditional direct instruction approach. It remains the responsibility of the Diyâr ‘al ’Ulûm to ensure that the teachers are trained in teaching skills that will promote effective learning.

The state of education in South Africa is of nationwide concern and primary school learners are at serious risk of not learning to read. The lack of parental involvement in children's reading development is one of the main barriers to quality education. Mothers are customarily the parent who is most often involved in the reading development of children but there has been an increased interest in asserting more about how fathers are taking on the reading tasks of children. The focus of the study is on the involvement of fathers in the reading development of their children and aims to determine the fathers’ perceptions regarding their roles in the reading development of their children, the barriers that hinder their involvement as well as the benefits of their involvement. The literature review was done using Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory as theoretical framework. A qualitative research design was employed using phenomenology as a research strategy. The research is underpinned by the interpretive paradigm and involved the fathers of grade 4 learners at a primary school in the Northern Areas of Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Data was collected from these fathers by means of questionnaires, group and semi-structured interviews and narratives. The main findings that emerged from the study revealed that fathers’ lack of support in reading development was embedded in the fact that they perceived their role as provider who underestimated their individual contribution. They acknowledged their participation in uncoordinated reading efforts whilst engagement with teacher and policy document were also findings that emerged from this study.

Feedback has an important role to play in the performance of learners. This study looks to identify the challenges that the learners are faced with when the teachers provide them with feedback and the ways they would like like it to be used in order to see feedback assisting them in their learning and improve their performance. Feedback contributes a lot to assessment and has a close link with performance. The study used the qualitative approach to identify the challenges the learners experience when they receive the feedback from their teachers. The participants were sampled from grade 12 learners in the form of a focus group (seven to ten per school) and individual respondents. The method used semi-structured interviews and portfolio observations to collect the data from two high schools in East London (EL) district to look at the nature of the feedback provided to learners. The data was later analysed and interpreted. It has been identified that for both schools feedback conveyed certain messages to learners such motivation to do better, a need to do better and, lastly, affirmation that the learners are on the right track or they are neglected and left to figure out how to do the tasks. The study discovered that, according to Hattie and Timperley (2007)’ there are four levels of feedback. It was found that for the task level learners from school A mainly received oral feedback which was often seen as denigrating them; however, in school B learners received both the oral and written feedback. They felt that the feedback assisted them to understand the task at hand. They also saw this as a way of building up their confidence in all the tasks they come across. Secondly, in the process level, learners in school A did not report receiving feedback at this level but only oral feedback which does not show their mistakes step by step in the task, yet in school B they reported that they got feedback from their teacher individually to help them understand the task. Thirdly, for the self regulation level, in school A there was no data to confirm this. Regarding school B, learners were being assisted by the feedback they received from their teacher and this caused them to monitor their progress. The fourth and last level is the self or personal evaluation where in school A learners were not able to evaluate themselves because they did not receive written feedback, whereas in school B learners could do that freely referring to the written comments from their teacher. The research therefore concluded that in one of the schools the four levels that the study was looking at were not all addressed and thus no meaningful feedback was given. For school B the teacher gave them the feedback which has contributed a lot in their learning. The study recommends that feedback should not be used for right or wrong answers but it must also state clearly why the learner has obtained such mark or grade and what to do to correct the wrongs. Teachers should consider that learner errors also assist them to have a broader picture on what more they need to do in their subjects. It is also recommended that teachers should consider various strategies in giving feedback and the learners’ work has to be monitored timeously for the purpose of the learning process. Lastly, a good approach when feedback is provided is also important because it builds high self-esteem and develops the teacher-learner approach accordingly.

Thesis (M. Ed.) -- University of Limpopo, 2016 / This study reflects on the teaching strategies that that teachers use to improve reading and writing in English FAL in the Acornhoek area of Mpumalanga Province. Since the study wanted to have an in-depth understanding of the strategies that teachers use to improve reading and writing, a qualitative methodology was used. It is within this methodology that a case study was adopted whereby three methods of data collection were used, namely: interviewing, observation and documents. Two schools were selected as sites for the study by means of purposive sampling. The participants interviewed included teachers and learners. The documents consulted included learners class work books, assignments and tests scripts. The researcher also observed lessons that were presented by the teachers. This study found that learners have difficulties in reading and writing, for example, they cannot punctuate, pronounce and spell words correctly. Furthermore, the study also found that teachers were not trained to deal with reading and writing difficulties. This is manifested by the strategies that they use to improve reading and writing, for example, lack of use of repetition which they claimed to use during interviews. KEY WORDS Reading, Writing, Difficulties, Strategies, Constraints, Improve

Significant research efforts have addressed the need for pursuing graduate teacher education to improve in-service teachers’ teaching practices. On contrary, empirical knowledge about the impacts of structural and process features of graduate teacher education on in-service teachers’ teaching practices is underdeveloped. This proposed study was designed to contribute to an empirically driven knowledge about the degree to which graduate teacher education programs support in-service teachers’ classroom needs and guide them diligently to deal with professional challenges. Mixed methodology approach including survey questionnaire (quantitative) and interview (qualitative) was used, and 34 in-service from 15 different teacher education programs of five different Upper Midwest states responded to the survey questionnaire. However, only two teachers participated in the interview process. Quantitative data from survey questionnaire revealed that most teacher participants perceived that graduate teacher education program had positive impact on their teaching practices.

A research report submitted to the Wits School of Education, Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education by combination of coursework and research. Johannesburg 2019 / Grade retention in South Africa, as in other developing countries, is a common practice of holding back learners who have failed to meet specific promotional requirements. Despite studies that highlight the negative outcomes of scholastic retention, this practice has gained popularity in countries in Southern Africa including South Africa. Learners who struggle academically are retained in the grade if they are unable to meet specific requirements. It is sad to note that learners are not consulted before being retained; their voices do not matter. Studies have been conducted on teachers’ perspectives on this topic. However, research on how learners experience retention has not been done. The main objective of this research is to ascertain how learners experience and perceive the practice of grade retention in the foundation phase. Doing research with children is critical and challenging, and this research tries to ‘dip a toe’ in and conduct research with children and not on children. Most schools were sceptical about allowing learners to participate in this study .but one school consented and allowed their learners to participate. The participants were selected using a number generating system so as to make sure that the sample was representative, and the participants were involved in two sets of interviews. In the first set of interviews, they drew pictures of themselves and were probed about the pictures they had drawn. In the second set of interviews, a blob tree was used as a tool for those interviewed to express their feelings. The focal point of this research was to understand the perceptions and experiences of a group and not an individual. Therefore, this qualitative research employed a phenomenographic methodology because it aims to “explore the range of meanings within a sample group, as a group, not the range of meanings for each individual within a group” (Akerlind, 2005, p. 323). This research was based on finding out how experiences of retained learners can enable Inclusive education. The findings were reported according to five key themes, namely socio-emotional outcomes, impact on learners’ relationship; academic issues and stereotyping by teachers. The findings of this study revealed that the majority of learners did not enjoy being retained in a grade, but this did not affect their academic progress. Some learners were teased and bullied by peers and friends. In some cases, the teachers also teased learners about repeating the grade. The limitations of the study included the following: the time frame; the sample size; the researcher’s involvement in the study; the data was collected from one school in Gauteng; the emotional distress experienced by some of the respondents; and, contradictory statements from a few of the respondents. Future research could look at broader cultural, social and economic issues that might contribute to an increased retention rate, as well as the negative emotional effects of grade retention. / NG (2020)

Engagement with educational instruction and related materials is an important part of learning and contributes to test performance. There are various measures of engagement including self-reports, observations, pupil diameter, and posture. With the challenges associated with obtaining accurate engagement levels, such as difficulties with measuring variations in engagement, the present study used a novel approach to predict engagement from posture by using deep learning. Deep learning was used to analyze a labeled outline of the participants and extract key points that are expected to predict engagement. In the first experiment two short lectures were presented and participants were tested on a lecture to motivate engagement. The next experiment had videos that varied in interest to understand whether a more interesting presentation engages participants more, therefore helping participants achieve higher comprehension scores. In a third experiment, one video was presented to attempt to use posture to predict comprehension rather than engagement. The fourth experiment had videos that varied in level of difficulty to determine whether a challenging topic versus an easier topic affects engagement. T-tests revealed that the more interesting Ted Talk was rated as more engaging, and for the fourth study, the more difficult video was rated as more engaging. Comparing average pupil sizes did not reveal significant differences that would relate to differences in the engagement scores, and average pupil dilation did not correlate with engagement. Analyzing posture through deep learning resulted in three accurate predictive models and a way to predict comprehension. Since engagement relates to learning, researchers and educators can benefit from accurate engagement measures. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2020. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection