M.Ed. (Education Management) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

Discrimination based on sexual orientation takes place on a regular basis in schools today. A major form of discrimination among learners in secondary schools is homophobic victimisation. South Africa is a democratic society with laws that protect lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) learners, yet discrimination towards these learners still occurs. The objective of this research is to investigate teachers’ perceptions of homophobic victimisation among learners within independent secondary schools. The researcher adopted a phenomenological approach. The research design was qualitative and of an exploratory, descriptive and contextual nature. Information was gathered through questioning participants via an open-ended, structured questionnaire. Teschs’s eight step method of data analysis was used. An independent coder, together with the researcher, analysed the data. Three themes (and attendant categories) were identified, discussed and supported with literature. The first of these themes pertains to the institutional level and the school context, in particular. The categories identified under this theme pertained to teachers’ thoughts regarding a culture of acceptance of homosexuality and school policy regarding sexual orientation and homophobic victimisation. The second theme related to the individual level of the teachers and their perceptions regarding, firstly, homosexuality and, secondly, homosexually-oriented learners. The third and final theme identified was that of the individual level of the learners and the difficulties they experience. In particular, these difficulties pertain to social difficulties, acts of verbal, physical and emotional victimisation and the learners’ self-concept.

M. Tech. Architecture. / This thesis presents the design of a secondary school in the township of Emzinoni, Mpumalanga. The thesis challenges the current school building morphology in terms of spatial layout and tectonics, with the intent of providing multi-use facilities accessible to both the school pupils and the surrounding community. The selected site in Emzinoni, like many township areas in South Africa, is almost devoid of any civic or public buildings or services, just the endless sprawl of small residential units and shacks with the random school rising two storeys above the surrounding context. With the large capital expenditure of building a new school, this project endeavours to show a school that is more than a facility for learning or imparting knowledge; a school that can be the centre of the community and a neighbourhood activity hub, providing services and activities to the total community, to benefit all.

Management entails achieving our goals through other people with the effective use of available resources. This study investigated the influence of the management of teaching and learning on the matriculation results of grade 12 learners in schools under Moroke Circuit in Limpopo Province, having considered the instructional and transformational leadership activities of the school leaders. The literature that has been consulted, explains the concept of the management of teaching and learning, the instructional and transformational leadership of the school principal, approaches used by the school leadership to ensure effective management of teaching and learning, the role of all stakeholders in ensuring effective management systems and positive and/or negative influence of the management of teaching and learning on matriculation examination results. Two schools from the rural area of Limpopo Province were selected for the purpose of gathering information relating to the management activities of the schools, educators’ roles, the roles of the parents and those of learners in ensuring good results in the matriculation examination. Good leadership has a recognisable influence on the performance of learners in their academic work. Therefore, the presence of this was explored in the schools selected as sample for this study. All the above topics have been explained in full taking into consideration data gathered from the two schools selected for the study. The study has revealed that effective management of teaching and learning promotes discipline in the school and impacts positively on the matriculation examination results. However, poor management of teaching and learning affects the performance of learners negatively. The conclusion is, therefore, that effective management of teaching and learning is inevitable in every school that aims at performing high in the matriculation examination every year. Recommendations have also been given as to how the management of teaching and learning can be improved upon in order to influence the matriculation examination results of our schools positively. / Educational Management and Leadership / M. Ed. (Education Management)

Management entails achieving our goals through other people with the effective use of available resources. This study investigated the influence of the management of teaching and learning on the matriculation results of grade 12 learners in schools under Moroke Circuit in Limpopo Province, having considered the instructional and transformational leadership activities of the school leaders. The literature that has been consulted, explains the concept of the management of teaching and learning, the instructional and transformational leadership of the school principal, approaches used by the school leadership to ensure effective management of teaching and learning, the role of all stakeholders in ensuring effective management systems and positive and/or negative influence of the management of teaching and learning on matriculation examination results. Two schools from the rural area of Limpopo Province were selected for the purpose of gathering information relating to the management activities of the schools, educators’ roles, the roles of the parents and those of learners in ensuring good results in the matriculation examination. Good leadership has a recognisable influence on the performance of learners in their academic work. Therefore, the presence of this was explored in the schools selected as sample for this study. All the above topics have been explained in full taking into consideration data gathered from the two schools selected for the study. The study has revealed that effective management of teaching and learning promotes discipline in the school and impacts positively on the matriculation examination results. However, poor management of teaching and learning affects the performance of learners negatively. The conclusion is, therefore, that effective management of teaching and learning is inevitable in every school that aims at performing high in the matriculation examination every year. Recommendations have also been given as to how the management of teaching and learning can be improved upon in order to influence the matriculation examination results of our schools positively. / Educational Leadership and Management / M. Ed. (Education Management)

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

Thesis (M.A.) --University of Limpopo, 2012 / The study was undertaken because the researcher was concerned about the denial of poor learners the right to education, as their parents could not afford to pay School Fees due to high unemployment and poverty in rural schools. The researcher noticed that schools sent learners home to collect school fees and also withheld learner reports until the required amount was paid. As a result, “Fee Exemption policy” was available to exempt poor parents from paying School Fees, but it was not effective because schools did not inform them to apply for this policy. As a result, poor learners decide to dropout. The government introduced “no-fee-schools” policy to end marginalisation of poor learners. Further, it appeared that School Allocations are little because rural schools have a shortage of school facilities and some of the facilities are too expensive.A purposive sampling strategy was used to select 3 public secondary schools as research sites and 26 respondents as a sample of the target population. Respondents consisted of 8 members; the principal, SGB member and 6 educators from School A; Nine (9) respondents; the principal, 2 SGB members and 6 educators from School B; the principal, 2 SGB members and 6 educators from School C. Twenty-six respondents were considered to be sufficient because my focus was not on representation. The respondents were considered to be key informants with required data. Interviews and document analysis were used as data collection methods. The researcher used semi-structured interviews because they are interactive, and they also give the respondents a voice associated with their perspectives and experiences. Document analysis was used to supplement data collected through interviews. The interviewees discovered that learners were denied the right to education, despite the departmental policies formulated to help poor learners and theirparents. Furthermore, “no-fee-schools” policy was formulated to enable poor students to access education, but it is problematic because School Allocation is not deposited to school accounts on time and does not cover all the school costs. The study recommends that poor learners should not be denied the right to education and that the departmental policy (viz., Fee Exemption Policy) should be monitored to ensure that marginalised learners benefit from this scheme. This policy should also be budgeted for so as to enable poor schools to purchase modern facilities to improve the quality of teaching and learning and employ extra educators so as to reduce the educator-learner ratios and so on.

Thesis (MPA.) --University of Limpopo, 2015 / This study seeks to investigate the availability and effects of Information Communications Technology (ICT) on teachers’ ability to perform their duties in terms of teaching and of managing other curriculum-related activities in Groot Letaba Secondary Schools of the Mopani District, Limpopo Province. A quantitative research approach was applied to conduct this research and a structured questionnaire was used to collect primary data from participants in twelve Groot Letaba Circuit secondary schools. Secondary data was collected from a variety of electronic and printed media and official documents from the Department of Basic Education’s records. The findings reveal that, with the exception of a TV, photocopier and laptop/desktop computer, there is a scarcity of ICT resources at schools for ICT integration, and that the teaching and curriculum administration functions of most teachers have been impacted negatively by a lack of ICT equipment and/or insufficient use of these ICT resources for those schools who have them. In addition, while some teachers had received some form of ICT training, it was evident that such training has had minimal impact on the abilities of teachers to use ICT in their teaching or their curriculum administration work. The findings also reveal that there is a host of factors that negatively influence teachers’ readiness for, andconfidence in, using ICT. These need to be dealt with by the various stakeholders including,and especially, the Department of Education and the school management and private partners.

M.Ed. / Please refer to full text to view abstract

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