University of Macau / Faculty of Education

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

The challenges of implementing the curriculum for the Life Orientation learning areas in the National Curriculum Statement have been a matter of concern for South African schools. This study sheds light on the implementation of the LO curriculum in selected high schools in the Fort Beaufort District, in the Eastern Cape Province in South Africa. The study adopted a qualitative approach and used face-to-face interviews, focus group interviews, classroom observation and document analysis to collect the data. The purpose of the study was to investigate the implementation of the Life Orientation curriculum in high schools in the Fort Beaufort District. Six high schools from the six clusters in the Fort Beaufort District were purposively selected to form the focus of the study. The participants were six principals, six LO teachers and thirty-six learners. The study revealed that lack of adequate teaching and learning materials in schools affected the implementation of the curriculum. Inadequacy of teaching and learning materials affected both the teachers and learners as they sought to make up for the shortages of teaching and learning materials by sourcing for local materials like news paper and magazine. In some of the schools, teachers made photocopies of textbooks for learners which could be time consuming and added to the teachers‘ workload. The study found that some of the teachers were frustrated because of the lack of adequate teaching and learning materials in LO. The results also revealed that the majority of the teachers had the Advanced Certificate in Education (ACE LO) qualification and/or an undergraduate qualification in Psychology, which are basic requirement for teaching LO, while the others had general teaching qualifications in other subjects. It was found that many learners were positive about LO, but it could not be proven that learners meant all their positive responses as it seemed that learners‘ responses were too good to be true. However, the results showed that learners had at least been taught and were aware of the consequences of the social problems like teenage pregnancy, drug abuse and HIV/AIDS that affect them. Some of the challenges that teachers encountered in the implementation of the Life Orientation curriculum were also highlighted in this study. These include; lack of adequate training which some of the teachers complained did not allow them to handle some topics like career choice and religious education as they should. Some of the teachers also stated that their culture and belief did not permit them to share some LO topics with their learners. There was also the challenge of learners turning against things taught in LO class. The study found that the support and monitoring put in place for LO teachers are in the form of documents such as subject guides, textbooks and sometimes funds to take learners out on outdoor activities, extra teachers to lessen the teachers‘ burdens, advice, workshops and training. There is course moderation where teachers‘ and learners‘ files are marked. In some of the schools where monitoring is carried out, it starts with the Heads of Departments (HODs) and ends with the principal. Many of the schools do not monitor the teaching of LO because of the trust the principals have in the teachers and challenge of school size. Class visits is prohibited by South African Democratic Teachers‘ Union. The subject is not being handled properly despite its importance in helping learners to be adequately guided towards positive self-concept formation, the realisation of their potential, and enabling them to protect themselves from various forms of social violence and abuse, and this in turn would make the society safer.

The researcher has observed and noted that out of the four regions of Swaziland, Shiselweni is the leading region with high schools that manifest a poor culture of learning and teaching. The summary of 2009 Junior Certificate results revealed that it is not only that Shiselweni had the lowest pass rate, but also that it recorded the highest number of failures when compared with the other three regions. The purpose of the study was to determine strategies that could be used by principals in promoting a culture of learning and teaching in Shiselweni high schools in Swaziland. The study pursued a qualitative research design which was explorative and descriptive. Qualitative methods were used to collect data from the respondents. Data was collected by means of focus group interviews with learners and teachers, and then through one-onone interviews with principals and parents. The sample was drawn from six high schools in the Shiselweni region that differed in their academic performance. Purposive sampling was used when selecting the schools and those who were to participate in the study. Data was constantly compared and analyzed using the coding method. Participants signed letters of consent and they were assured of the anonymity and confidentiality of the study. They were also made aware that they were not forced to participate in the study and that they were free to withdraw if they were so persuaded. Triangulation and the Guba’s trustworthiness model were used to enhance the reliability and validity of the study. Findings helped the researcher to arrive at recommendations on the role that principals should play in promoting a culture of learning and teaching in Shiselweni high schools in Swaziland. / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (Educational Management)

MEd (Curriculum Studies) / Department of Curriculum Studies / The purpose of this study was to investigate the challenges prevalent in teaching mapwork in Geography at Grade 12. The researcher adopted the mixed-methods research design which, combines elements of the qualitative and quantitative approaches. The researcher used an interview schedule and questionnaires to collect data. Purposive sampling and simple random sampling were used to select participants for the study. The population comprised of Heads of Departments of Geography, Geography teachers and Grade 12 learners. The Qualitative sample consisted of 5 Heads of Departments of Geography and 5 Geography teachers. The Questionnaires were administered on 150 learners. The researcher analysed the qualitative data thematically. The Quantitative data was analysed through the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 25. The findings showed that the dearth of learner-teacher support materials and overcrowded classrooms are the major set back on teaching Geography mapwork at Grade 12. The study recommended that the Department of Basic Education should provide schools with enough learner-support materials and construct enough classrooms at schools, so that there is a conducive teaching-learning environment. / NRF

[pt] Investigamos fatores associados ao valor agregado de proficiência em Língua Portuguesa e Matemática, a alunos do Ensino Médio de escolas estaduais do estado do Rio de Janeiro. A escolha pelo Ensino Médio é justificada pela importância desta etapa para a concretização plena do direito à Educação Básica, pelos baixos índices de desempenho e rendimento evidenciados nas avaliações nacionais e pela carência de estudos, no Brasil, sobre fatores associados ao desempenho dos alunos nesse nível de ensino. Seguindo apontamentos da literatura sobre as escolas eficazes e estudos baseados na análise de valor agregado, investigamos a variação dos ganhos de proficiência em Língua Portuguesa e Matemática entre os alunos de diferentes escolas da rede e sua associação com um conjunto de fatores internos e externos à escola, por meio do uso de dados do Sistema de Avaliação da Educação do Estado do Rio de Janeiro – SAERJ. Utilizando uma abordagem longitudinal, a obtenção dos valores agregados ao longo do Ensino Médio se deu pela comparação entre as proficiências prévias dos alunos, no SAERJ 2010, quando cursavam o nono ano do Ensino Fundamental, e as proficiências de saída desses mesmos alunos, quando foram avaliados no terceiro ano do Ensino Médio, em 2013. A análise dos dados compreendeu três etapas principais. Na primeira, tendo em vista que o nosso grupo de interesse estava constituído por alunos sem reprovações, comparamos características desse grupo com o restante dos alunos avaliados pelo SAERJ em 2013, de maneira a verificar o quanto nossa amostra se aproximava da realidade do restante do estado em termos das características sociodemográficas e socioeconômicas dos alunos, bem como das características do sistema de ensino (turno, modalidade de Ensino Médio, distribuição geográfica etc.). Os resultados dessa comparação evidenciaram que a amostra de alunos apresenta grandes semelhanças com o universo de alunos avaliados. Na segunda etapa, mapeamos a distribuição dos valores agregados de proficiência entre as escolas da rede estadual, buscando identificar variâncias significativas nos valores agregados, bem como escolas que tivessem se destacado positiva ou negativamente. A conclusão dessa segunda etapa nos permitiu categorizar as escolas da amostra, tendo em vista tanto suas médias de desempenho quanto sua localização na escala de padrões de desempenho do SAERJ. Os resultados mostram que há grandes desafios no Ensino Médio, referentes aos dois componentes curriculares avaliados, sobretudo em Matemática, disciplina na qual uma pequena minoria dos alunos se encontra nos níveis adequado ou avançado de proficiência. Na última etapa, através do uso de modelagem linear hierárquica, foram feitas análises dos fatores associados aos valores agregados de proficiência. Os principais resultados apontam que o porte da escola importa tanto para a eficácia como para a equidade escolar; que a reprovação está associada a desempenhos mais baixos dos alunos especialmente em Matemática; e que políticas e práticas mais democráticas de gestão escolar estão associadas a melhores proficiências em Língua Portuguesa e, principalmente, em Matemática. A tese também traz evidências de escolas em que há associação significativa entre eficácia e equidade, especialmente em Língua Portuguesa. / [en] We investigated factors associated with proficiency value-added in Portuguese and Mathematics to high school students in the state of Rio de Janeiro. The relevance of this work is based on the importance of this level of education for the full realization of the right to education, the low levels of performance evidenced by national educational evaluation systems and the lack of studies in Brazil on factors associated with student performance at this level of education. Following notes of the literature on effective schools and studies based on value-added analysis, we investigated the variation of proficiency gains in Portuguese Language and Mathematics among students from different schools of the network and its association with a set of internal and external factors to school. Data were obtained through the Evaluation System of education in the state of Rio de Janeiro - SAERJ. From a longitudinal approach, added-values over the high school was given by comparing the previous proficiencies students in SAERJ 2010, when they were attending the 9th grade of elementary school, and the output proficiencies of these same students, when evaluated in the 3rd year of high school, in 2013. Data analysis was developed in three stages. At first, given that our interest group was made up of students without reproaches, we compare characteristics of this group with the rest of the students evaluated by SAERJ in 2013, in order to check how much our sample approached the state of the rest, in terms of sociodemographic and socioeconomic characteristics of students as well as the characteristics of the education system (shift, high school mode, geographical distribution etc.). The results of this comparison showed that the sample of students is very similar to the universe of evaluated students. In the second step, we map the distribution of proficiency added-values between schools of the state, seeking to identify significant variances in the aggregate figures and schools that had stood out positively or negatively. The completion of this second stage allowed us to categorize the schools in the sample, with a view both their average performance and its location on the scale of SAERJ performance standards. The results show that there are major challenges in high school, for the two curriculum components evaluated, especially in Mathematics, in which a small minority of students is in the appropriate level or advanced level of proficiency. In the last step, through the use of hierarchical linear modeling, analysis of factors associated with proficiency added-values was made. The main results show that school size matters both for effectiveness and for school equity; that school failure is associated with lower performance of the students especially in mathematics; and more democratic policies and practices of school management are associated with better proficiency in Portuguese and, especially, in mathematics. The thesis also provides evidences of schools where there is a significant association between efficiency and equity, especially in Portuguese.

[pt] Essa pesquisa investigou a motivação para aprender de jovens alunos do ensino médio da Rede Pública Estadual do Rio de Janeiro frente às adversidades vivenciadas durante o isolamento social imposto pela pandemia de covid-19 e ao uso das TIC e/ou de material impresso para continuar, de forma remota, os estudos no ano de 2020. Para tanto, olhamos para o campo delimitado - alunos de nove escolas de ensino médio da rede pública de ensino do Rio de Janeiro -, pelos preceitos da Teoria da Autodeterminação, que afirma que existem três necessidades psicológicas básicas – de autonomia, competência e pertencimento (vínculo) – cuja satisfação é imprescindível para a motivação e o bem-estar, mas podem sofrer influências contextuais. A pesquisa consistiu de 3 estudos articulados: um estudo quantitativo, realizado com alunos que estudaram majoritariamente pelo uso do aplicativo Classroom; um estudo quantitativo com alunos que fizeram uso de material impresso; um estudo de base qualitativa, com alunos de ambos os grupos, realizado a partir de entrevistas. Os materiais dos dois estudos de base quantitativa foram submetidos a análises estatísticas psicométricas; as entrevistas foram submetidas a análise de conteúdo. Os resultados foram discutidos à luz da literatura sobre motivação, especificamente a Teoria da Autodeterminação, e da literatura sobre cultura escolar. De modo geral, os resultados indicam que as condições de estudo em 2020 não favoreceram as percepções dos alunos quanto ao atendimento das necessidades psicológicas associadas à motivação para aprender (autonomia, vínculo e competência), principalmente o vínculo. Indicam, ainda, a falta de letramento digital e de autorregulação da aprendizagem. / [en] This research investigated the motivation to learn of young high school students from the State Public Network of Rio de Janeiro in face of the adversities experienced during the social isolation imposed by the covid-19 pandemic and the use of ICT and/or printed material to remotely continue the studies in the year 2020. Therefore, we look at the delimited field - students from nine high schools in the public education system in Rio de Janeiro -, according to the precepts of the Self-Determination Theory, which states that there are three basic psychological needs – autonomy, competence and belonging (bond) – whose satisfaction is essential for motivation and well-being but may suffer contextual influences. The research consisted of 3 articulated studies: a quantitative study, carried out with students who studied mainly through the use of the Classroom application; a quantitative study with students who used printed material; a qualitative-based study, with students from both groups, carried out through interviews. The materials from two quantitatively-based studies were subjected to psychometric statistical analyses; interviews were subjected to content analysis. Results were discussed from the perspective of the literature on motivation, specifically the Self-Determination Theory, and the literature on school culture. Overall, the results indicate that study conditions in 2020 did not favor the student s perceptions of meeting the psychological needs associated with the motivation to learn (autonomy, bonding and competence), especially bonding. They also indicate the lack of digital literacy and self-regulation of learning.

[pt] O trabalho tem como objetivo principal apresentar como foi o processo de implantação da disciplina sociologia no ensino médio no estado do Rio de Janeiro entre 2008 e 2018, seus avanços, limitações e incertezas. Argumentamos que a dinâmica estadual foi influenciada pelas competências comuns advindas do pacto federativo definido na Constituição Nacional de 1988 que orienta a relação entre União, estados e municípios no Brasil. Constatamos que, mesmo com a presença nacional obrigatória, a sociologia no ensino médio se encontra ainda em fase de implementação, uma vez que a disciplina lidera a inadequação entre formação de docentes e sua atuação no país. Ainda assim, o espaço da sociologia no Rio de Janeiro e no Brasil é muito mais estabelecido do que na Espanha. A tese busca contribuir com a área de ensino de sociologia para conhecer a disciplina em outros contextos. O recorte temporal escolhido se justifica pelo objetivo de abarcar o período dos novos anos dourados da sociologia escolar, começando com a Lei Federal n. 11.684/2008, lei da presença obrigatória, interrompido pela reforma do ensino médio de 2017, e ocupando agora um período de incertezas com a implementação da Base Nacional Comum Curricular nos estados. Trata-se de um estudo de caso com elementos qualitativos e também quantitativos e de uma pesquisa multidisciplinar, com foco principal na Ciência Política e com apoio na bibliografia da Sociologia e da Educação. Entre os resultados encontrados na investigação, observa-se que o federalismo brasileiro, praticado a partir dos anos de 1990, ainda é pouco cooperativo, embora o advento do Fundeb tenha sido uma iniciativa nessa direção, e muitas vezes coloca os seus entes federados em pesada competição. Nesse ambiente, os problemas do ensino médio no país perduram, o que dificulta a implantação da disciplina de sociologia. A União poderia colaborar mais não só com maior repasse financeiro às unidades subnacionais, mas também expandindo políticas públicas que auxiliem direta ou indiretamente a sociologia escolar como formação de professores, PNLD, PIBID, PROFSOCIO, entre outras ações governamentais. Apesar dos esforços, sobretudo das redes estaduais de educação no Brasil em universalizar o acesso ao ensino médio, há baixa autonomia fiscal por parte de alguns dos estados da federação, inclusive o Rio de Janeiro, e esse problema afeta o financiamento da oferta da sociologia escolar, aspecto que se agravou na década passada e se impõe como um dos grandes desafios de natureza estrutural. / [en] The main objective of this work is to present how the process of implementing the discipline of Sociology in high school in the state of Rio de Janeiro between 2008 and 2018 was like, its advances, limitations, and uncertainties. We argue that the state dynamics were influenced by common competences arising from the federative pact defined in the 1988 National Constitution, which guides the relationship between the Union, states, and municipalities in Brazil. We found that even with the mandatory national presence, sociology in secondary education is still in the implementation phase since the discipline leads the inadequacy between teacher education and their performance in the country. Even so, the space of sociology in Rio de Janeiro and in Brazil is much more established than in Spain. The thesis seeks to contribute to the teaching of sociology area to get to know the discipline in other justified by the objective of covering the period of the new golden years of school sociology, starting with Federal Law No. 11,684/2008, mandatory attendance law, interrupted by the 2017 high school reform, and now occupying a period of uncertainty with the implementation of the Common National Curriculum Base in the contexts. The chosen period is states. It is a case study with both qualitative and quantitative elements and a multidisciplinary research, with a main focus on Political Science, and supported by the bibliography of Sociology and Education. Among the results found in the investigation, it is observed that Brazilian federalism, practiced from the 1990s onwards, is still uncooperative, although the advent of Fundeb was an initiative in this direction, and often puts its federated entities in a heavy state competition. In this environment, the problems of secondary education in the country persist, which makes it difficult to implement the discipline of Sociology. The Union could collaborate more not only with greater financial transfer to subnational units, but also by expanding public policies that directly or indirectly help school sociology, such as teacher training, PNLD, PIBID, PROFSOCIO, among other government actions. Despite the efforts of the state education networks in Brazil to universalize access to secondary education, there is little fiscal autonomy on the part of some of the states of the federation, including Rio de Janeiro, and this problem affects the financing of the offer of school sociology, an aspect that has worsened in the past decade and imposes itself as one of the great challenges of a structural nature.

[pt] Este estudo teve como foco investigar como se dá o processo de formação de conceitos científicos, especificamente no ambiente de uma sala de aula, utilizando como metodologia a Teoria Geral da Atividade do psicopedagogo russo Alexei Nikolaivich Leontiev (1903-1979), apoiado pela Teoria Histórico-Cultural do bielo-russo Lev Semienovich Vigotski (1896-1934), com interlocução com a Teoria da Assimilação de Piotr Yakovlevich Galperin (1902-1988). Orientou-se pelo pressuposto de que o ensino estruturado, segundo os princípios da Teoria Histórico-Cultural, converge para o processo de formação dos conceitos científicos, promovendo o desenvolvimento das funções complexas, da estruturação da consciência e da constituição da personalidade. Partiu-se da seguinte questão: como se dá o processo de construção dos conceitos científicos, especificamente no ambiente de uma sala de aula? A parte empírica da pesquisa foi desenvolvida na cidade de Corumbá (MS), numa escola estadual, com três turmas do primeiro ano do ensino médio e suas respectivas professoras. Foram acompanhadas e analisadas diversas sequências didáticas na disciplina de biologia. O método empregado foi o dialético. Os instrumentos de coleta de dados foram: entrevistas semi estruturadas, questionários e diário de campo. A pesquisa trouxe evidências de que as questões relativas à motivação, à contextualização dos conceitos, à função da avaliação e ao papel do ensino médio na educação básica compõem aspectos fundamentais a serem considerados no processo ensino aprendizagem dos conceitos científicos. Também demonstrou que a Teoria Geral da Atividade constitui um valioso recurso para a análise do processo educativo, especialmente aquele relacionado à formação de conceitos científicos. / [en] The main objective of the study was to investigate the process of building scientific concepts, specifically in a classroom environment, using the methodology of the General Theory of Activity from the Russian psychopedagogist Alexei Nikolaivich Leontiev (1903-1979), supported by the Historical-Cultural Theory from Byelorussian Lev Semienovitch Vigotski (1896-1934), with interlocution with the Assimilation Theory from Piotr Yakovlevich Galperin (1902-1988). The assumption that conducted the research was that structured teaching, according to the principles of Historical-Cultural Theory, favors the process of building scientific concepts, by promoting the development of higher psychological functions, the structuring of consciousness and the formation of personality. It started with the following question: how does the process of constructing scientific concepts, specifically, in the classroom environment, take place? The empirical part of the study was developed in the city of Corumbá (Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil), in a state school, in three first-grade secondary school classes and their teachers. Some teaching sequences where accompanied and analyzed during the Biology classes. The method used was dialectical; the data collection instruments were: semi-structured interviews, questionnaires and field diaries. The study provided evidence that the issues related to motivation, contextualization of concepts, evaluation function and the role of secondary education in basic education are fundamental aspects to be considered in the teaching-learning formation process of scientific concepts. It also demonstrated that the General Theory of Activity constitutes a valuable resource for the analysis of the educational process, especially the one related to the formation of scientific concepts.

周富鴻. / "2013年8月". / "2013 nian 8 yue". / Thesis (Ed.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2013. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 316-338). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstract in Chinese and English. / Zhou Fuhong.