The purposes of this study were threefold: (1) to test the assumption that a curriculum study produces change in a school faculty in conservatism-radicalism, in anxiety, in leadership behavior, and in attitude toward the curriculum study; (2) to investigate the relationships between effects of a curriculum study on conservatism-radicalism, anxiety, leadership behavior, attitude toward the curriculum study and age, sex, and years of teaching experience of the teachers; and (3) to create a model from which replications can be made by Texas Education Service Centers.

The problem of this study was to evaluate the effects of participation in the Hilda Taba In-Service Education Program on teachers' self concept, attitude, and selected personality characteristics.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether training had an impact on the information technology attitudes of university faculty. The study was twofold. First, it sought to determine whether training changed attitudes toward information technology among faculty at a small, liberal arts university. Secondly, a group of faculty at a similar university was used to compare the differences in attitudes toward information technology among faculty who had received training and those who had not. The research population consisted of 218 faculty from these two universities. The literature review focused on obstacles to information technology use by faculty, instruments currently available for measuring faculty attitude, methods used in training faculty to use information technology, and integration of information technology by faculty.

The purpose of this study was to test a teacher inservice training model which was designed to increase the number and use of hands-on science activities, increase the number of times teachers teach science, and improve students' perceptions of science.

The purpose of this study was to describe factors affecting the use of instructional ideas by secondary teachers in the academic year following a series of staff development sessions designed to present information on effective teaching practices. The research questions addressed the characteristics of information selected for use in classroom practice and the characteristics and relative degree of influence of salient factors affecting the use of ideas. Ten teachers from a large suburban school district in North Texas were selected for this study. Qualitative techniques were used to collect data. Each teacher was interviewed three times and observed in the classroom setting. Documents such as lesson plans were analyzed as a third source of data. Several factors evolved from the data. In varying degrees, these factors predicted teacher use of new instructional practices. Some factors dealt with the teacher's level of understanding and internalization of the information. These factors were labeled as instrumentality, congruence, and analytical thinking. Two other factors which were fairly strong predictors were labeled cost and intrinsic motivation. Cost concerned the amount of time or effort required to implement new ideas versus the perceived benefit to either teacher or student. Intrinsic motivation concerned the personal desire a teacher felt to try new ideas which might improve student learning. Another factor, professionalism, or teacher commitment to the teaching profession, was found to be a less powerful predictor. Two factors were found to be inconclusive predictors of implementation. They were the support felt by the teacher and external pressures, such as legislative mandates and district evaluations and career ladder. The cluster of factors developed in this study offer some possible guidelines for persons concerned with patterns of knowledge utilization among teachers. It is recommended that further studies be conducted to determine if the categories used in this study are consistent predictors of implementation and to verify the research implications in this study.

The problem with which this investigation is concerned is that of analyzing elementary school principals' perceptions of the Individually Guided Education process of staff development. A survey is made of 100 randomly selected principals from 18 states of the United States with regard to the problems of implementing the process in their schools.

This investigation is concerned with determining the extent of inservice education provided for special education personnel by the five pilot programs of Plan A. The two methods of determining this involvement are a case study of the pilot programs' inservice education and its relationship to resource agencies such as the Texas Education Agency and Regional Education Service Centers. The purposes of this study include the following: (1) determining the principles underlying the philosophy formulated by school district personnel in regard to the nature and purpose of inservice training for Plan A, (2) identifying the nature, scope, and assessment of a three-year period of inservice education for the pilot Plan A programs, (3) identifying the successful components of and the problems encountered during the three-year period of inservice education, and (4) describing recommendations for future inservice education. Only the five pilot districts are described in the case studies of Plan A programs. Data is reported in the following sequence for each of the pilot districts: background information; philosophy and goals; pre-, in-, and post-service activities for 1970-1971, 1971-1972, and proposals for inservice education for 1972-1973. Also reported is information concerning the role of the Texas Education Agency and the Regional Education Service Centers in relationship to Plan A implementation and inservice education.

M.Ed. / Science teachers in South Africa had to cope with the implementation of a host of new policies and curricula during the past years. New policies were implemented within a short space of time and teachers struggled to cope. The professional development teachers received during the implementation phase did not provide sufficient support to teachers and manifested in teacher overload, confusion and stress. For science teachers this resulted in lack of content knowledge, laboratory skills and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), to name a few. The consequence was learner underperformance in science during international and local assessments. The aim of this study is to add to current knowledge pertaining to the professional development of science teachers. The lived experiences of the science teachers during implementation of a new curriculum, their problems and needs, as well as the professional development that they received in their community of practice by keystone species were researched. A qualitative case study with a phenomenological flavour was chosen as research design. A single school was selected and data generated using interviews, observations, photos and artefacts. The findings suggest that the needs and problems of the science teachers in this case study are not sufficiently addressed through professional development programmes. No keystone species could be identified amongst the science teachers and the community of practice was found to be a pseudo-community of practice. The science teachers experienced problems with learner-centred teaching methods and practical investigations. In addition, there appears to be a general lack of applying shoestring science. The teachers experienced negative feelings and many of them lacked a sense of agency. To overcome the problems it is recommended that a community of practice be developed and nurtured for the science teachers. This should be supplemented by properly planned professional development programmes offering shoestring science, PCK and personal wellbeing programmes. The establishment of cluster groups (as ecologies of practice), in which Natural-, Life- and Physical Sciences teachers support one another, is also a recommendation of this study.

M.Ed. / The core of this study is to review and analyse the management and effectiveness of induction processes for newly-appointed educators as they adjust to their entry into the teaching profession. The study employed a quantitative research method. The aim of the research study was to investigate the perceptions of educators with regard to the management of induction for newly-appointed educators. The study was prompted by the by the need to address challenges arising from a lack of a rigorous induction programme within the Ekurhuleni West District schools. These challenges are in line with the political changes that have taken place in South Africa. From the literature review it is evident that managers are having difficulties in adequately preparing and equipping newly appointed educators for the realities of the teaching profession which include, limited support for educators, unacceptable discipline among learners, overcrowded classes and poor salaries. This research indicates that it is necessary to support educators in a personal capacity in their absorption into the teaching profession. Furthermore, the literature study revealed that educators who are not properly inducted will experience adjustment difficulties at schools which may lead to frustration and loss of confidence and, in some instances, to resignation. It is thus the recommendation of this study that educators be inducted to avoid these unpleasant experiences as well as to prepare a career development path that is customised to individual needs. The researcher used structured questionnaires to gather data. The questionnaire was distributed to 20 schools in the Ekurhuleni West District to determine educators’ perceptions concerning induction. The finding was that, at present, there is no formal system to induct educators in South Africa and the majority of school management teams lack the capacity to induct educators.The recommendation was that school management teams must be trained on how to provide induction, and the workloads of school management teams need to be reduced. There is a need for further research on the induction programmes for Department of Education officials. / Dr.L.N Conley

D.Litt. et Phil. / The matter of ill-equipped black Afrikaans teachers still remains a topical issue but it appears as though little progress has been made to remedy the situation. In the present research a literature study as well as an empirical investigation, conducted from a number of angles, were undertaken in order to identify the most irksome problems and to accordingly make recommendations towards the development of an in-service program. The literature study serves as the backdrop against which the empirical study was undertaken. The empirical study was conducted in accordance with the principles of the process of triangulation, i.e. deductions were only made after the data presented by each of the empirical components was diagonally compared and verified. The overarching purpose of the empirical study was to pinpoint the shortcomings in the professional outfit of both the teachers and the learning facilitators, and to subsequently determine to what extent the Free State Department of Education succeeds in rectifying them. The study revealed that the teachers experience a number of teaching-related problems and that their interaction with the learning facilitators does not bear much fruit. The learning facilitators are not sufficiently empowered to fulfil their duty as in-service trainers and they consequently experience difficulty in providing effective and purposeful in-service training. It is the duty of the Free State Department of Education to relieve the existing need for in-service training.