The aim of this study was to investigate the criteria for effective continuous professional development of educators and to determine ways of improvement of the programmes as implemented in secondary schools in the Thohoyandou district of Limpopo Province. The study was conducted through a literature review and qualitative investigation. The literature review explored the nature of effective professional development of educators and the criteria for design, planning and implementation of such programmes. The qualitative study investigated the management of professional development programmes for secondary schools educators in the Thohoyandou district using interviews with district coordinators or Educator Multi Purpose Centers (EMPC) facilitators, secondary school principals and educators. The findings revealed the strengths and weaknesses of professional development programmes. Based on the literature review and qualitative investigation, recommendations were made with regard to the provision of effective professional development programmes for educators, particularly secondary school educators. / Teacher Education / M. Ed. (Education Managament)

The purpose of this study is to deepen the knowledge of how feedback and evaluation with a focus on formative assessment is perceived in terms of what, how and why by a few teachers working in special needs school with a focus on training school. To answer the purpose of this study three questions were formed, What is the teachers` understanding of formative assessment in relation to other practices of assessment and feedback? How do the teachers say they practice feedback and assessment with a formative assessment focus in their teaching practices? What pros and cons do some teachers believe there is in using formative assessment? The study is based on qualitative group interviews with teachers in two schools where all the teachers are active in the training school. The interviews were recorded. To identify the descriptions made by the teachers the transcribed material has been interpreted in terms of the didactic triangel. The results show that teachers are distinctly positive to the use of formative assessment though some negative aspects have been enlightened. The teachers consider formative assessment as increasing the status in today`s school and that the knowledge requirements are clear in the education which leads to a recurring assessment as well as a focus on the learning process. The results also show that documentation and reflection plays an important part in the learning process and that formative assessment promotes learning by using the right artifacts and clear feedback that makes visible the learning of the student. This is conducted by interaction. It is, however, stated that due to the level and type of disability formative assessment is more or less easy to implement. Students at an early stage of development and students in the autism spectrum tend to be more difficult to apply formative assessment to. The results also show that some teachers believe that formative assessment tend to take too much time, as well as demanding more time consuming documentation. / Syftet med denna studie är att fördjupa kunskapen om hur återkoppling och bedömning med fokus på formativ bedömning uppfattas i termer av Vad, Hur och Varför av några lärare som arbetar på grundsärskolan med inriktning träningsskolan. För att besvara syftet formulerades tre frågeställningar, Vad uppfattar lärarna att formativ bedömning är i förhållande till andra bedömnings och återkopplingspraktiker? Hur uppger lärarna att de praktiserar återkoppling och bedömning med fokus på formativ bedömning i sin undervisningspraktik? Vilka för- och nackdelar anser några lärare att det finns med formativ bedömning? Studien bygger på kvalitativa gruppintervjuer med lärare på två skolor där samtliga lärare är verksamma inom träningsskolan. Intervjuerna spelades in. För identifiering av lärarnas beskrivningar har det transkriberade materialet tolkats med hjälp utifrån den didaktiska triangeln. Resultatet visar att lärarna är genomgående positivt inställda till användandet av formativ bedömning men vissa negativa aspekter har belysts. Lärarna anser att formativ bedömning höjer statusen i dagens skola, att kunskapskraven är tydliga i undervisningen vilket leder till att bedömning sker återkommande hela tiden samt att fokus är på lärprocessen. Resultatet visar även att dokumentation och reflektion fyller en viktig del i lärprocessen samt att formativ bedömning främjar lärandet med hjälp av rätta artefakter och tydlig återkoppling som synliggör lärandet för eleven. Detta sker genom interaktion med varandra. Resultatets negativa aspekter med formativ bedömning visades vara att elever på tidig utvecklingsnivå kan vara svåra att genomföra formativ bedömning tillsammans med samt elever inom autismspektra. Resultatet visade att lärarnas uppfattningar var att formativ bedömning kräver mera av lärarna vilket kan ses som tidskrävande samt att dokumentation ses som en svårighet i genomförandet men otroligt viktig del i processen.

This study aims to investigate young boys’ construction of gender with particular focus on their expression of empathy, caring and vulnerability. Four focus groups and four in-depth interviews were carried out with a total of 12 senior high school students aged 16-18. Using thematic analysis, five themes were identified: boys care about and comfort each other; physical contact as an expression of friendship and caring; homophobia is the problem - not sexuality; crying and managing vulnerability; and gender fluidity. This analysis makes the complexity of gender construction visible: how boys, to greater or lesser extents, express both traditionally feminine- and masculine-coded expressions. All of the boys described situations where they felt empathy and expressed caring and vulnerability. Based on these results, a critique is developed: partly against a gender-binary understanding of gender construction, and partly against the categorisation of different (masculine) identities. To facilitate a better understanding of boys’ gender construction; in relation to feeling/expressing empathy, caring and vulnerability; a model was created to show the complexity of the relationship between traditionally feminine- and masculine-coded expressions in boys’ gender construction.

Over the last decades the weight has increased in the Norwegian population. Report no 16 to the Storting, “Prescription for a healthier Norway”, expresses concern for this development and defines important areas of commitment to prevent a further increase in health problems like diabetes 2 and other lifestyle related diseases. The foci described above are all justified by figures and statistical surveys. The dominant approach towards lifestyle related diseases is closely connected with Western medicine. The main tendency in the recommendations is primarily presenting overweight and obesity as something negative and problematic.  This study focuses on self-assessment and self-perception of people that are overweight as well as those of normal weight. The aim is to reveal the collective understanding in a local community that struggles to avoid a further weight-gain in its population. This thesis seeks to, shed light on how the weight- evolvement in the Norwegian society influence peoples individual self-image and body perception. A local community in Norway (“Libygda”) defined by media, some years ago, as the most overweight local community in the country, constitutes the basis for this thesis. Methods like fieldwork, multistage focus group interviews and individual interviews (all carried out in “Libygda”) were used. The main focus in all the approaches is the bottom up strategy gained through the research approach Co-operative Inquiry which implies that both researcher and participants together search to gain insight and new experiential knowledge. In this case about individual health perception, body and identity. The data material is analyzed mainly through Life Mode-Theory, and theories of social capital (and other theories from the Social Science field). Methodological and theoretical approaches within Public Health Work are mainly based in Health Science, whereas this thesis has Social Science (Sociology and Social Anthropology) as its point of departure. The thesis will by its perspective aim to complement the traditional Health Science and offer a supplemental approach to the Science of Public Health. This thesis describes how experience-based perspectives on health and body exist side by side with the medical and Public Health Science perspective. This implies that there exists a parallel understanding of reality, which is rarely focused on by health professionals. If Public Health Work should gain a greater impact on peoples’ everyday life, these experience based and folk perspectives must be taken into consideration and accepted by professionals as relevant. / De siste tiårene har vekten økt i den norske befolkningen. Stortingsmelding nr 16 ”Resept for et sunnere Norge” uttrykker uro for denne utviklingen og definerer viktige satsningsområder for å hindre en økning i antallet diabetes 2 og andre livsstilsrelaterte sykdommer. Satsningsområdene beskrevet over er alle basert på og dokumentert ved statistiske undersøkelser. Hovedtendensen i anbefalingene har som utgangspunkt at overvekt og fedme er assosiert med noe negativt og problematisk. Denne avhandlingens fokus er den subjektive selvoppfatningen til både normalvektige og overvektige. Hensikten er å avdekke den kollektive forståelsen av helse og et godt liv i et lokalsamfunn med overvektsutfordringer i befolkningen. Avhandlingen søker å belyse hvordan vektøkning i det norske samfunnet påvirker individers selvbilde og kroppsforståelse, og hvordan dette speiles på lokalsamfunnsnivå. Et lokalsamfunn i Sør-Norge (”Libygda”), definert av media rundt tusenårsskiftet som den mest overvektige kommunen i Norge, danner utgangspunktet for denne studien. Metoder som feltarbeid, deltagende observasjon, flerstegs fokusgruppeintervju, individuelle intervjuer (alt uført i ”Libygda”) blir benyttet. Hovedfokuset i de metodiske tilnærmingene er en nedenfra-og-opp inngang inspirert av handlingsorientert forskningssamarbeid, hvor både forsker og deltakere sammen søker ny innsikt og erfaringskunnskap om individuell og kollektiv helseoppfatning, kroppsforståelse og identitet. Datamaterialet blir analysert i lys av livsformteori, sosial kapital og andre relevante samfunnsvitenskapelige teorier. Metodiske og teoretiske tilnærminger innen folkehelsearbeidet er ofte knyttet til helseforskningen, mens denne avhandlingen har et samfunnsvitenskapelig (sosiologi og sosialantropologi) utgangspunkt. Avhandlingens perspektiv søker å komplementere tradisjonell helseforskning med en erfaringsbasert tilnærming til folkehelsevitenskapen. Avhandlingen beskriver hvordan erfaringsbaserte og folkelige perspektiver på helse og kropp lever side om side med den medisinske og folkehelsevitenskaplige. Dette innebærer at det eksisterer en parallell forståelse av virkeligheten, som sjelden blir tillagt vekt eller fokusert av helsepersonell eller akademia. Hvis folkehelsearbeid skal få større innflytelse og gjennomslagskraft i menneskers hverdagsliv, må disse erfaringsbaserte og folkelige perspektivene inkluderes av fagfolk.

The aim of the thesis is to investigate and analyse students’ expressions of pleasure and displeasure and how these are manifested in actions in the teaching of textile sloyd in lower secondary education. The study’s focus is on students’ expressions of pleasure and displeasure in social action in the working processes of textile sloyd and on how these expressions can be related to learning. The empirical material consists of observations, video and audio recordings, individual interviews and focus group interviews, where video and audio recordings were used as stimulated recall. In all, 32 lessons in textile sloyd and 49 students aged 14-15 years were observed at four different schools. Theoretically, the thesis is based on Mead’s practical intersubjectivity and on Dewey’s theory of experience-based learning and dependence on emotions and actions. Pleasure and displeasure constitute valuating partial aspects of emotions. Based on a socio-cultural perspective, emotions are regarded as practices which arise from different predispositions’ dependence on the social context. The study’s analytical approach is hermeneutical. Critical incidents regarding students’ expressions of pleasure and displeasure in social action found in observations and video and audio recordings were analysed in terms of Mead’s concept of gestures. The events were combined with what the students describe as critical incidents of pleasure and displeasure in the interviews and focus group talks. The material was then thematised. Several situations were then subjected to deeper analysis based on sociality and a change in perspective and related to different concepts of learning. The result of the thesis shows a tripartite semantic structure where students’ pleasure and displeasure in textile sloyd are mainly based on textile sloyd’s specific educational community, students’ relationship to the sloyd object and their experience of the working process. Social interaction, humour and mutual acknowledgement proved to be of importance for the function of pleasure and displeasure in the students’ working processes. The students’ experience of pleasure and displeasure depended on their control of the work, the characteristics of different craft techniques and their awareness of time. Pleasure and displeasure in textile sloyd found an expression in four overarching emotional practices with decisive importance for the students’ opportunities for learning: the repudiating, insecure, accepting and incorporating emotional practice. The study also provides an insight into how different cultural factors enable a certain scope for pleasure and displeasure. In this connection, social changes in relation to objects are discussed, as are changes in sociality and emotionality. Based on the pair of concepts of authenticity and ephemerality and closeness and intensity, cultural changes are visualised that are conceivably important for the students’ experiences of pleasure and displeasure in textile sloyd.

The purpose of the study was to examine the perception of female and male high school students regarding perpetrators and victims of teen dating violence. The purpose was furthermore to examine how the interviewees biological sex effects their description of the perpetrator and victim. The empirical material has been gathered through three groupintervies with a total of twelve interviewees. The main result shows that both girls and boys had easier to see boys as perpetrators and that high school students condemn teen dating violence. The high school students discussed the victims responsibility to handle the situation and that they diminishes the actions of the female perpetrator. The high school students also expressed that the victim may suffer negative consequences if he or she decides to leave the abusive relationship. / Studiens syfte var att undersöka kvinnliga och manliga högstadieungdomars föreställningar om gärningsperson och offer gällande ungas våld i nära relation. Syftet var dessutom att undersöka hur respondentens kön påverkar beskrivningen av gärningsperson och offer. Insamling av empiri har skett genom tre fokusgruppsintervjuer med totalt tolv respondenter. Huvudresultatet visar att både tjejer och killar hade lättare att se killar som förövare och att högstadieungdomarna fördömde våld i nära relation. Högstadieungdomarna beskrev också att offer har ett ansvar för att hantera situationen och att dom förminskar den kvinnliga gärningspersonens agerande. Högstadieungdomarna uttryckte också att den våldsutsatta kan drabbas av negativa konsekvenser vid separation.

The aim of this study was to investigate the criteria for effective continuous professional development of educators and to determine ways of improvement of the programmes as implemented in secondary schools in the Thohoyandou district of Limpopo Province. The study was conducted through a literature review and qualitative investigation. The literature review explored the nature of effective professional development of educators and the criteria for design, planning and implementation of such programmes. The qualitative study investigated the management of professional development programmes for secondary schools educators in the Thohoyandou district using interviews with district coordinators or Educator Multi Purpose Centers (EMPC) facilitators, secondary school principals and educators. The findings revealed the strengths and weaknesses of professional development programmes. Based on the literature review and qualitative investigation, recommendations were made with regard to the provision of effective professional development programmes for educators, particularly secondary school educators. / Teacher Education / M. Ed. (Education Managament)

Background: Psychosomatic problems are increasing among adolescent girls and levels of life satisfaction, well-being and self-esteem are lower among adolescent girls compared to boys at the same age. Aim: The aim of this thesis was to explore adolescent girls’ perceptions of the concept of PMH and to identify influential factors for PMH from their own perspectives. Methods: A qualitative explorative study was designed. The data collection was through four semi-structured focus group interviews. Participation in the study was completely voluntary and 14 high school girls aged 16-17 participated in the study. An inductive content analysis was conducted to analyze the collected data. Results: Six categories and sixteen subcategories emerged from the data analysis, answered the two objectives of the study and met the purpose of this thesis. The six categories were: 1) when you feel well and things go well; 2) school-related factors, 3) factors at home and at leisure time, 4) key personal characteristics, 5) coping skills and balanced healthy lifestyle, 6) more attention to PMH. The findings showed that PMH was perceived as a two-dimension concept of feeling well and functioning well in life. The main influential factors for PMH was healthy social relations within and outside the family, key characteristics such as optimism, high self-esteem, sense of control, purpose and progress as well as coping skills and paying more attention to PMH.     Conclusion: A combination of positive factors promoting feeling well and functioning well in life should be taken into account in the development of mental health promotion approaches and programs to improve PMH among adolescent girls. / Bakgrund: Psykosomatiska besvär ökar bland flickor och livstillfredsställelse, välbefinnande och självkänsla bland flickor är lägre än pojkar.    Syfte: Syftet med studien var att studera uppfattningar av flickor på gymnasiet om begreppet positiv psykisk hälsa (PMH) och identifiera faktorer som påverkar PMH utifrån målgruppens egna perspektiv. Metod: En kvalitativ explorativ studie utformades. Datainsamlingen skedde genom fyra fokusgruppsintervjuer och 14 gymnasieflickor i åldern 16-17 deltog i studien. Deltagande i studien var helt frivilligt. En kvalitativ induktiv innehållsanalys utfördes för att analysera insamlade data. Resultat: Sex huvudkategorier och sexton subkategorier återfanns i dataanalysen som svarade på syftet och två frågeställningarna i studien. De sex huvudkategorierna var: 1) när man mår bra och allt går bra 2) skolrelaterade faktorer 3) faktorer hemma och på fritiden, 4) viktiga personliga egenskaper, 5) coping färdigheter och balanserad hälsosam livsstil, 6) mer uppmärksamhet till PMH. Resultatet visade att PMH uppfattades som ett tvådimensionskoncept, att må bra och att fungera bra i livet. De centrala faktorerna för PMH identifierades som hälsosamma relationer inom och utanför familjen, viktiga egenskaper som optimism och bra självkänsla, känsla av utveckling, kontroll och meningsfullhet, stresshanteringsförmåga, samt att uppmärksamma PMH. Slutsats: En kombination av positiva faktorer för att må bra och fungera bra i livet, bör beaktas inom utveckling av strategier för att förbättra PMH bland flickor på gymnasiet. Nyckelord: Positiv Psykisk Hälsa, Flickor På Gymnasiet, Kvalitativ Explorativ Studie, Fokusgrupp Intervjuer.

Syftet med vår studie var att ur ett genusperspektiv undersöka ungdomars konstruktioner och föreställningar kring gärningspersoner och offer vid sexualbrott. Vi gjorde tre fokusgruppsintervjuer med totalt 18 ungdomar i gymnasieåldern. Ungdomarna benämnde genomgående gärningspersoner som män och hade generellt svårt att se kvinnor som gärningspersoner vid sexualbrott. Manliga gärningspersoner konstruerades främst som alfahannar som begår sexualbrott för att få utlopp för sin sexualitet medan kvinnliga gärningspersoner främst konstruerades som sjuka, konstiga och utan självrespekt. Ungdomarna hade lättare att se kvinnor som offer vid sexualbrott, samtidigt framhölls flertalet omständigheter som påverkar kvinnors offerstatus negativt. Att som kvinna utsättas för sexualbrott ansågs resultera i psykiska men och en kränkt sexualitet. Män beskrevs alltid vara okej och tycktes inte påverkas av utsatthet för sexuella övergrepp. Ungdomarna menade att kvinnor som berättar om övergrepp riskerar att betraktas som slampor och förstörda medan män som berättar om övergrepp riskerar att betraktas som homosexuella och omanliga. / Deep down, maybe she wanted it An essay based on qualitative focus group interviews with adolescents in a Swedish high school, regarding their thoughts on and constructions of perpetrators and victims of sexual offenses. The aim of our study was to examine adolescents perceptions and constructions of perpetrators and victims of sexual offenses from a gender perspective. We conducted three focus group interviews with a total of 18 adolescents between the age of 16 and 19. The adolescents consistently referred to perpetrators as men and generally had difficulties seeing women as perpetrators of sexual offenses. Male offenders were primarily depicted as alpha males who commit sexual offenses in order to get a sexual release, while female offenders were primarily depicted as sick, strange and without self-respect. The adolescents more easily perceived women as victims of sexual offenses, still, some circumstances seemed to affect the possibility for a woman to be viewed as an ideal victim, in a negative way. Being a woman subjected to a sexual offense was thought to result in mental issues and breached sexuality, while men were thought not to be as affected by sexual abuse. The adolescents believed that women who reported abuse risked being looked at as sluts and as tainted while men who reported abuse where at risk of being considered as unmanly and as homosexuals.

The pass rate in mathematics is unsatisfactory both in South Africa and internationally. Historically disadvantaged students tend to underachieve even more due to a variety of hampering factors. An investigation into the reasons for underachievement in mathematics prompted the researcher to launch a study through which she wanted to remediate some of these identified problems. The research project took place at Technikon Northern Gauteng (TNG), and comprised of the implementation of tutorial sessions. The study was conducted by means of a quasi-experimental design using action research. The primary goal of this dissertation is to report on the process, outcomes and recommendations in order to facilitate improvement in practice. The researcher's overarching hypothesis was that tutorials in mathematics would have a positive effect on the achievement of first year mathematics students at TNG. The following questions were focussed on during the course of the study: ¨ What is the impact of mathematics tutorials on problem-solving abilities and critical thinking? ¨ What is the impact of tutorials on the self-image of the students, with reference to mathematics and mathematics achievement? ¨ What is the impact of tutorials on mathematics achievement? ¨ Which role could tutors play in the creation of role models? ¨ Do students have the need to communicate mathematically in their mother tongue? ¨ How successfully could portfolio assessment be implemented? Quantitative and qualitative data were gathered through a standardised questionnaire, the SOM, a specifically designed, structured questionnaire, observations, focus group interviews, reflective diaries and student records. Some of the findings include: ¨ Historically disadvantaged students § often possess a unsatisfactory study orientation; § apply inefficient time management; § suffer from mathematics anxiety; § do not show a correlation in terms of grade 12 symbols and success at tertiary level § often experience milieu deficit; § do not achieve according to their expectations; and § do not have a learning culture (COLT) at their disposal. ¨ Students generally perceived the tutorials as positive and contributing towards success. The students § did not often speak in their mother tongues; § appreciated the relaxed work tempo; and § utilise the support system of the smaller group. ¨ During the focus group interviews students recognised the following success factors: § regular class attendance; § completion of homework § planning and revision according to a study timetable. ¨ Students shared some personal experiences with the researcher, namely that § the tutorials boosted their self-image and make them willing to ask questions during lectures; § some tutors acted as positive role models; and § the consistent involvement of the lecturer motivated students. The statistical procedures revealed that the students in the experimental group did not perform significantly better than those in the control group, yet that does not diminish the value of the study in any way. The researcher recommends further research in the tertiary mathematics environment in order to empower students. / Dissertation (MEd (Curriculum Studies))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Curriculum Studies / unrestricted