Dissertation / The aim of this study is to investigate teacher stress and to identify factors that contribute to the stress experienced by township secondary school teachers. Based on an extensive literature study, an inventory, the Teacher Stress Identification Test was developed. The inventory was completed by 368 teachers who live in townships and work in township secondary schools in the Free State. Information thus gained was analysed with the use of a statistical computer programme. It appears from the research that the inventory has both a high reliability coefficient and construct validity. The empirical research revealed that township secondary school teachers experience moderate to high levels of stress. It also gave a clear indication of the factors contributing to the stress experienced by these teachers, allowing the researcher to make several recommendations. Lastly, the manifestations of stress as well as the coping mechanisms of these teachers were briefly investigated. / Psychology of Education / M. Ed. (Psychology of Education)

Submitted in fulfillment requirement for Doctor of Technology Degree: Human Resource Management, Durban University of Technology, 2013. / The intended contribution of this empirical study was the development of an exploratory employee assistance programme (EAP) model for secondary school educators in KwaZulu-Natal. The academic EAP model formulated was hybrid as it relied on the synthesis of traditional and contemporary paradigms that encapsulated System, Gestalt and Leadership theories. The main problem revolved around the lack of an effective on-site EAP model for secondary school educators in KwaZulu-Natal. Hence the need for this study. The objective of this study was to conduct an audit of EAP policy and action plans at secondary school level in KwaZulu-Natal and develop an exploratory EAP model. The research design adopted a quantitative methodological approach using a self-administered questionnaire that was mailed to a representative sample of 512 secondary schools in KwaZulu-Natal. A significant response rate of 59.7% was obtained as 311 respondents returned the questionnaires. The data was analyzed using the computerized Statistical Program for Social Sciences (SPSS version 17.0 for Windows). Some significant findings emerged from this study. The respondents reported that 69.2% of schools did not have an EAP policy, while 66.9% of schools did not have action plans to implement EAP. A further 71.8% of respondents required training on EAP frameworks. The respondents also indicated that 79.1% of educators would use an EAP due to work-related stress and only 9% of schools had a budget to pay external EAP service providers. The Pearson Chi-Square test showed a significant correlation for 25 out of the 27 hypotheses that tested the variables of the exploratory EAP model. One of the recommendations suggest that, for fair and consistent treatment of the troubled and underperforming educator, on- site EAP policy and action plans be developed and implemented. Another recommendation highlighted that, in the absence of specialized EAP professionals, school management teams use the exploratory EAP model as a strategic intervention to assist troubled and underperforming secondary school educators in KwaZulu-Natal. The study concluded with suggestions for future research in this field.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), an intellectual impairment, generally characterised by inattentiveness and impulsivity has become prevalent in South African schools. ADHD learners require support from within the classroom to accommodate their academic and behavioural needs. A quantitative research was undertaken to determine the impact of an educator's knowledge of ADHD on teaching support strategies. An educator's ADHD knowledge is based on their understanding of the diagnosis, causes, symptoms and management of ADHD as well as the effect that ADHD has on a learner's classroom skills. Data was obtained from responses to questionnaires from randomly selected respondents within randomly selected government secondary schools in the Umlazi District of Kwa-Zulu Natal. The data was descriptively analysed to conclude that the level of ADHD knowledge possessed by educators impact on the appropriateness of their teaching strategies. There is a need to impart knowledge regarding learning barriers to educators, to ensure the efficacy of teaching strategies. / Inclusive Education / M. Ed. (Inclusive Education)

The birth of democracy in 1994 in South Africa moved away from the authoritarian leadership style of the Apartheid era to a democratic style where accountability , democracy, transformational and distributed leadership style was encouraged at school. Leadership was not deemed to be the duty of the principal alone but leadership is shared among all the stakeholders at school. The above assertion prompted the researcher to engage in this study whose purpose was to investigate the extent of teacher participation in decision making in curriculum and management issues at schools. The study sought to assess:(i)To identify the categories of teachers who participated in decision making at school level (ii) To find out the areas in which teachers are involved in decision making at school (iii) To identify the strategies used by principals/ school management in involving the teachers in decision making (iv) To find out the views of principals and teachers regarding their involvement regarding their participation in decision making in curriculum and management issues. To achieve these objectives the researcher opted for the qualitative approach which is embedded in the interpretivist paradigm. The qualitative approach typically studies people by interacting and observing the participants in their natural setting and focusing on their meanings and interpretations. This methodology was relevant because it produced the desired results and gathered information directly from the respondents through interviews, observation, and document analysis. This methodology assisted the researcher to find out the extent of teacher participation in decision making. The data revealed that all teachers are expected to be involved in decision making but that depends on the nature of the issue. The study revealed that all teachers were involved in decisions concerning disciplinary, curriculum, sport as major school activities but some teachers were not involved in financial matters. The data also found out that male teachers feel that there is imbalance of contribution in staff meetings since female teachers are more than male teachers. Furthermore , the study showed that school principals used various strategies to involve teachers in decision making such as consultation on individual basis, group or at committee level. The study also revealed that the principals and teachers felt that when they work together as the school community all organizational goals and objectives will be achieved and owned by all teachers. Teachers also viewed non involvement as what resulted in the negative impact of the activities including high teacher absenteeism and demotivation.

Dissertation / The aim of this study is to investigate teacher stress and to identify factors that contribute to the stress experienced by township secondary school teachers. Based on an extensive literature study, an inventory, the Teacher Stress Identification Test was developed. The inventory was completed by 368 teachers who live in townships and work in township secondary schools in the Free State. Information thus gained was analysed with the use of a statistical computer programme. It appears from the research that the inventory has both a high reliability coefficient and construct validity. The empirical research revealed that township secondary school teachers experience moderate to high levels of stress. It also gave a clear indication of the factors contributing to the stress experienced by these teachers, allowing the researcher to make several recommendations. Lastly, the manifestations of stress as well as the coping mechanisms of these teachers were briefly investigated. / Psychology of Education / M. Ed. (Psychology of Education)

While some research has been done on the use of corporal punishment in South African schools, there is a dearth of research on other forms of punishment and little has been done to research the meaning of punishment. This study explores the meaning of punishment in a high school context and focuses on the different attitudes of parents, teachers and pupils, with a view to identifying, in particular, how they justify the use of punishment. A sample of 50 pupils, 30 teachers and 30 parents were selected for the study. Focus groups and a questionnaire with closed and open-ended questions were used to collect the data. The questionnaire was constructed to explore themes which emerged in the focus group discussions . Results were grouped into themes and arranged by tables , and the Chi-square test of statistical significance was used to analyze some of the data. The results show that the meaning and the approach to punishment is differently construed by participants. Parents construe punishment as an educative instrument and a disciplinary measure used for the good of pupils and the society. Teachers see it as a discip1inary measure, a strategy used for effective learning, and a negative stimulus used to inflict pain towards the goal of an orderly school environment. To pupils the punishment scene provides an opportunity for what they perceive as sadistic enjoyment and as something negative which is used by teachers to vent their own frustrations. Participants agree that clear, consensually agreed upon rules should be set to regulate school behaviour and that there should be clear and consensually agreed upon ways of ensuring that these rules are adhered to; and constructive ways of dealing with violation of these rules. The central concern seems to be to move away from a retributive, punitive mode of thinking about punishment, towards a purposeful one. The implications of the research findings are discussed in the context of existing literature in the area and in relation to policy development.

M.Ed. (Language Teaching) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the Degree of Master of Applied Science in Food and Nutrition, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa, 2016. / There is a lack of information and research on nutrition content in the curriculum for learners at the secondary school level. While nutrition content is addressed in the curriculum for Grades 8 and 9 in Natural Science, Social Science and Life Orientation, not all aspects of nutrition education are included. In Grades 10 to 12, nutrition content exists in Life Orientation, Agricultural Science, Agricultural Technology, Design Studies, Civil Technology, Electrical Technology, Mechanical Technology, Dance Studies, Information Technology, Consumer Studies and Hospitality Studies, however, not all learners are exposed to the learning areas that contain nutrition content. An important consequence of this lack of exposure to information on nutrition content is that learners who leave school after Grade 12 with inadequate nutrition knowledge potentially become adults who suffer from lifestyle diseases. This study focused on the nutrition content in the curriculum in Grades 8–12 in Kwa-Zulu-Natal in order to: evaluate the content in the curriculum referring to nutrition and to analyse the critical and developmental outcomes of nutrition education;. assess the nutrition knowledge of learners in Grades 8–12 in the Durban Central area (for the purpose of following a healthy lifestyle); determine the views of educators on the inclusion of nutrition content in the curriculum; highlight the importance of applying nutrition content in the curriculum to educate learners on disease prevention and good eating habits. The design of the study was evaluative, analytical and descriptive, and adopted both the quantitative and qualitative methodologies. The purposive sampling method was utilised for the selection of sample. The study was located in Central Durban and the sample comprised of boys and girls in Grades eight–12 at Durban High School and Ridge Park College, respectively. The sample included 343 boys and 360 girls who participated in the study. In order to establish the views of educators who teach nutrition knowledge in the curriculum, the study also included 134 educators purposively selected from 15 schools in the Umlazi District in KwaZulu-Natal. Two sets of instruments were used for data collection. The Nutrition Knowledge Questionnaire (NKQ)(previously developed) was used to determine the nutrition knowledge of learners in Grades eight–12 and across genders in both schools. An Educator Questionnaire (EQ) (developed for the study) on the learning areas that contained nutrition content was utilised to measure the extent to which the educators teaching those learning areas completed the curriculum content on nutrition. The Educator Questionnaire was used to ascertain the educators’ views on the importance of nutrition knowledge. The results of the research showed that the content dealing with nutrition in the school curriculum for Grades eight–12 was inadequate in certain learning areas to adequately educate learners on nutrition for the purpose of following a healthy lifestyle. The compulsory learning areas that contain aspects of nutrition knowledge were Life Orientation, Natural Science and Social Science for Grades eight and nine. In Grades10 to 12, Life Orientation is the only compulsory learning area that contains aspects of nutrition knowledge content. Nutrition knowledge investigation showed that learners are not adequately prepared in respect of all aspects of nutrition knowledge when they leave school at the end of Grade 12. The curriculum analysis of the learning areas in Grades 10 to 12 showed that the learning areas that contain nutrition knowledge are specialist learning areas not offered at all schools in the Durban Central area. The Educator Questionnaires showed that learning areas that include nutrition content in Grades 10 to 12 are not offered at all schools, thus probably negatively impacting on the learners’ level of nutrition content. The results of the Educator Questionnaire reinforced the notion that the curriculum for nutrition education was inadequate. The research concluded that the curriculum does not prepare learners adequately in respect of all areas of nutrition knowledge to enable them to follow healthy lifestyles. The results revealed that there is a correlation between the nutrition knowledge of learners and certain nutrition education aspects in the curriculum. Such results showed that the total mean scores for all the Food Based Dietary Guidelines ranged from 62.0% as the lowest, to the highest total mean score of 72.0%. However, the scores are low in critical areas of nutrition knowledge when individual scores are taken into consideration. An important consequence is that learners who leave school at the end of Grade 12 with inadequate nutritional knowledge become adults with the potential to suffer from lifestyle diseases. It is recommended that a compulsory learning area for all grades that deals exclusively with health, physical education and nutrition be introduced into the curriculum to assist learners to follow healthy lifestyles during and after school. / M

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), an intellectual impairment, generally characterised by inattentiveness and impulsivity has become prevalent in South African schools. ADHD learners require support from within the classroom to accommodate their academic and behavioural needs. A quantitative research was undertaken to determine the impact of an educator's knowledge of ADHD on teaching support strategies. An educator's ADHD knowledge is based on their understanding of the diagnosis, causes, symptoms and management of ADHD as well as the effect that ADHD has on a learner's classroom skills. Data was obtained from responses to questionnaires from randomly selected respondents within randomly selected government secondary schools in the Umlazi District of Kwa-Zulu Natal. The data was descriptively analysed to conclude that the level of ADHD knowledge possessed by educators impact on the appropriateness of their teaching strategies. There is a need to impart knowledge regarding learning barriers to educators, to ensure the efficacy of teaching strategies. / Inclusive Education / M. Ed. (Inclusive Education)

This research investigates the relationship between the attitude of senior secondary mathematics educators towards school and the achievement of their learners. A literature study examined research into the relationships between an educator's attitude towards his or her school management team, colleagues, learners, parents, the subject of mathematics and the factors influencing mathematics achievement. An empirical investigation used a quantitative research design to collect data from selected senior secondary schools in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. A questionnaire was used to gather data and a statistical data analysis was conducted to calculate frequencies and test hypotheses. Findings indicated the existence of a relationship between educators' attitudes towards school and the achievement of their learners. It was therefore recommended that school managers should be very sensitive to the climate prevailing in their schools in order to encourage mathematics educators and thus, indirectly, learners in this vital subject. / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (Didactics)