This study was primarily intended to ascertain whether there was any test already in existence in South Africa which was entirely suitable as a test of school readiness for Indian children. If there were no such test, could an existing test not be modified to make it suitable for use with Indian children? Or would an entirely new test be indicated? As a secondary, though intimately related matter, it was decided to discover to what extent factors such as schooling, socio-economic status and sex affect an Indian child's readiness for school. An examination of the existing group tests of school readiness in this country, showed that the National Bureau Group Test for Five-and-Six-Year-Olds (N.B.G.T. 5/6) was the one which was most likely to be suitable for use with Indian children. This test was therefore chosen for a more detailed study. In pursuit of the secondary aim it was decided to use two additional tests - the Raven Coloured Progressive Matrices (1947) and the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test - so as to provide a broader basis for the conclusions than the N.B.G.T. 5/6 by itself would have provided. The total sample of 156 six-year-old children, chosen from the Western Area of Durban, comprised three groups: (a) Schoolers (N = 60) : At the time of testing this group had had about six months of formal schooling. (b) Preschoolers (N = 48) : At the time of testing these children were attending a play-centre. (c) Nonschoolers (N = 48) : At the time of testing these children had had no schooling, either formal or of the play-centre type. Each of these three groups consisted of an equal number of boys and girls. In each of these sub-groups there was an equal number of children of each sex from the high and the low socio-economic groups. A random selection procedure was used through- The study of the primary aim involved quantitative and qualitative analyses of the data. Spearman's rank-order correlation coefficients and z-tests were computed. In the case of the secondary aim the statistical procedures included the use of 2 x 2 and 3 x 2 x 2 analyses of variance in addition to t-tests and product-moment correlations. The results of the study were as follows: General Aim (a) : The N.B.G.T. 5/6, unmodified, is unsuitable as a test of school readiness for use with Indian children. General Aim (b) : (i) Experiences related to the classroom learning situation, formal or otherwise, exert an influence on a child's readiness for school. (ii) Socio-economic factors have a marked influence on a child's readiness for school. (iii) A child's sex does not have any influence on a his readiness (or unreadiness for school). It was recommended that every opportunity for the advancement of preschool education among Indian children should be seized. This would compensate to some extent for the missing stimulation of a good home, an important factor for the promotion of school readiness. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of Durban-Westville, 1972.

No description available.

This thesis examines the pre-1900 relationship between the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, a French order of Roman Catholic priests, and the Sto:lo of the Fraser Valley. It considers the effects of the strict and inflexible Oblate system on the Sto:lo. Primary sources for this study were found at the Oblate Archives, the Archives of the Sisters of St. Ann, and from various oral testimonies. Under a regime called the "Durieu System", the Oblates encouraged the creation of segregated, self-sufficient agricultural villages on Sto:lo reserves. Ecclesiastically appointed watchmen recorded the names of transgressors against the Oblate "norms" of behaviour. No deviation was tolerated under this regime of surveillance and segregation. The thesis focuses on the Sto:lo children sent to the residential school at St. Mary's Mission; Sister Mary Lumena's diaries and the reminisces of a Metis student, Cornelius Kelleher, were the main sources of information. There were two schools on the site; the boys' under Oblate control, the girls' under the supervision of the Sisters of St.Ann. The schools were residential because the Oblates sought to isolate the children from Sto:lo elders who adhered to the "old ways". At school, children spoke only English and learned by rote-recitation. Sto:lo cosmology was replaced with the Roman Catholic religion. To prevent "immorality", the Oblates segregated the pupils from outsiders and the opposite sex; even their parent's visits were supervised. The school was self-sufficient so as to keep contact with the outside world at a minimum. The Oblates held a utopian vision of a docile, pious, capable, Roman Catholic peasantry. They hoped former pupils would return to their village and educate others or settle in agricultural villages under Oblate control. However, as this study shows, most pupils were orphans or Metis and did not have much influence in their village. This thesis suggests that the small numbers who attended St. Mary's found the transition between the Oblate and Sto:lo worlds difficult to make. Present-day informants described their reactions (which ranged from negative to ambivalent) to the residential school system and the effects of cultural confusion on their lives. / Arts, Faculty of / Geography, Department of / Graduate

The purpose of this research is to document the visual art production of Indian South Africans who graduated from the University of Durban-Westville (UDW) with a degree in Fine Art, and provide an explanation of how and why their art works are so poorly documented within a post-Apartheid art historical narrative. When South African Apartheid society was designed to promote Black intellectual underdevelopment, this Indian university provided a space for young Indian intellectuals from all fields to engage with the struggle politic of the country to envision a strategy for a liberated and democratic future. While the visual art in this country has provided powerful social commentary throughout the Apartheid years, the voice of the Indian artist has remained silent. Some students managed to complete their degrees and find a little recognition as artists; the majority, however, relegated their art-making to a pastime. Little is known about this body of graduates; hence this research attempts a systematic study about how Indian Fine Art graduates fell into silence upon the completion of their degrees. The rationale of this study is to determine in what ways the constructs of culture, politics and identity, as key environmental factors at UDW, impacted on the virtual absence of Indian artists from South Africa’s art history. To this end, the social history of education of Indian South Africans since their arrival in this country has been provided. The influential and historical location of the University College for Indians (UNICOL) and later UDW as a cultural and political construct is explored against the art production of its Fine Art Department. Thus, the geopolitical space of this university as a site of struggle is contextualised. Against this background, the varied life stories of the forty-three graduates presented in this study are contextualised within the framework of separate and segregated education. These stories illuminate the unfolding dynamics that shaped the directions they subsequently took. The significance of this study lies in its contribution of knowledge to the existing literature on Indian history in South Africa as well as on the art production of this community as students of the Fine Art Department at UDW and subsequently as a small body of practising, but not always exhibiting, artists. Through this study I suggest that some of these graduates became internal exiles, which positioned them on the margins of the art-producing community in this country. This position of marginality impacted on their representation within the South African art historical archive. The study makes a number of recommendations to bring these and other South African Indian artists into the picture again. / Thesis (Ph.D)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2012.

The investigation contributes to a broader understanding of the hegemonic role of teacher organisations and their relation to the dominant structures in society. It also contributes to educational theory since it extends the traditional assertion of an individual teacher who acts as an agent of capitalism and who serves to foster the interests of the State, to teachers who operate through an organisation which becomes more powerful in articulating this hegemony. The historic evidence shows that for much of the period under investigation these teacher organisations have either endorsed, or else have failed to challenge in significant ways, the use of education by the State to ramify the ideology and practice of apartheid. In addition these organisations have had no power to compel action from political and educational authorities. Decades of compliance with State policy, or unwillingness to forcefully articulate the obvious injustices of that policy, have inevitably led to a position whereby established teacher bodies became inward looking. Ultimately, these teacher bodies could not offer a fundamental critique of the apartheid education system and therefore could not empower their members to transform society as they worked within a structural-functional and liberal framework. However, the research also shows that teachers as a collective group became capable of resisting dominant ideologies, especially during the post-1984 period. Progressive teacher organisations, fuelled by the labour movement and African nationalism convicted many conservative teacher bodies to eschew ethnicity and agitate for a unified, democratic non-racial, non-sexist State with a single Ministry of Education. This period saw an escalation in the struggles of resistance by teacher organisations against a newly established Tri-cameral parliamentary system. These empowered members effectively resisted the increasing bureaucratisation and political interference in education through which the State sought to control teachers. The study offers a new way of perceiving teacher organisations as they become involved in long term struggles of transformation which incorporates the reconstruction of a post-apartheid society. / Educational Studies / D. Ed. (History of Education)

The study offers a historico-educational investigation of the extent to which the Teachers' Association of South Africa (TASA) satisfied the educational aspirations of the Indian coIIDllunity in South Africa. The discussion begins with a theoretical exposition of characteristic features of teachers' associations. It considers the origin, nature and purpose of teachers' associations. A brief survey of some teachers' associations in the Republic of South Africa is also made. The development and the organisation of the Teachers' Association of South Africa (TASA) is highlighted. In this regard special emphasis is placed on the role of the Association's forerunners, and the nature and functioning of the various organisational structures within the Association. An elaborate discussion is devoted to the achievements of the Association in satisfying the educational aspirations of the Indian coIIDllunity in South Africa. The researcher also offers recoIIDllendations on the role that teachers' associations may play in the future. / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (History of Education)

This study, in the main, focuses on the racial imbalances and inequities that characterised South African education between 1965 and 1992. A historical background of the South African educational system as well as an account on the apartheid ideology and its impact on education is presented. For the four principle racial groups in South Africa, namely, the Africans, Indians, Whites and Coloureds, a historicaleducational survey of the imbalances and inequities prevalent in pre-primary, school-based and post-secondary education in respect of access to education, financing of education, and human and physical resources is given. As a way forward, some recommendations for the redressing of the imbalances and inequities identified in this study are presented. / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (History of Education)

At the best of times, education policy implementation is a difficult and uncertain process. Taking this as a point of departure, the researcher advanced the hypothesis that education policy implementation in a society in transition: is accompanied by a fragmentation of the pre-transition coherence in interpersonal relations among policy actors; is affected by a heightening of value conflicts and the emergence of competing interpretive schemes; is influenced by the perceived self-interest of policy actors; is affected by changing power relationships and structural adjustments; and reflects a general weakening of interpersonal, cultural, and structural linkages that had evolved in pre-transition years. The Indian education system in South Africa was studied as an exemplar of a system located in a society in transition. The data collated by means of three research strategies - historical report, questionnaire, and structured interview - gave strong support to the hypothesis. In addition, they pointed to the significance of variables such as policy content and policy quality, political interference and pressure, bias and favouritism among senior officials, religious, sectional, and language loyalties of participants, and loss of job satisfaction and morale among policy actors. These findings were discussed against the background of relevant literature. This concluded in the development_gf a theoretical model to explain education policy implementation in a society in transition. Basically, the model suggests that socio-political struggles in the larger society tend. to be replicated in the micro-contexts of the education system, producing fundamental alterations in the interpersonal, cultural, and structural aspects of the system, a general weakening of system linkages, and a progressive de-coupling of system components. All these changes recursively impact on and are impacted on by policymaking and policy implementation processes and outcomes. These impacts, however, tend to occur in a non-standard, nonlinear manner. The theoretical underpinnings of the model emerge from general systems theory, modern social systems theory, chaos/ complexity theory, conflict theory, structuration theory, organisation change theory, and loosely coupled systems theory. Finally, the study concludes with general propositions relating to education policy implementation in a society in transition and a set of research and management-oriented recommendations. / Educational Leadership and Management / D. Ed. (Educational Management)

Recent events have brought about the realization that purposeful advancement in South Africa depends on wide-ranging educational reforms consistent with the demands of a complex multicultural society. This necessitates the development of theoretically-sound policies informed by, and grounded in, the specific historical and cultural milieu in which it is to be conceived. Within this context, a particular concern is that little is known about the educational needs of the Indian community at this juncture. This concern is also evinced by a multitude of interests within this minority group. Al though this investigation focuses on Indian responses to dominant policy orientations, it conceptualizes the South African education dynamics in its entirety and interrelatedness and not as a conglomerate of isolated parts. In sum, this dissertation endeavours to examine some critical concerns as it affects the provision of education for people of Indian origin in a postapartheid South Africa. / Educational Studies / M.Ed. (Comparative Education)

At the best of times, education policy implementation is a difficult and uncertain process. Taking this as a point of departure, the researcher advanced the hypothesis that education policy implementation in a society in transition: is accompanied by a fragmentation of the pre-transition coherence in interpersonal relations among policy actors; is affected by a heightening of value conflicts and the emergence of competing interpretive schemes; is influenced by the perceived self-interest of policy actors; is affected by changing power relationships and structural adjustments; and reflects a general weakening of interpersonal, cultural, and structural linkages that had evolved in pre-transition years. The Indian education system in South Africa was studied as an exemplar of a system located in a society in transition. The data collated by means of three research strategies - historical report, questionnaire, and structured interview - gave strong support to the hypothesis. In addition, they pointed to the significance of variables such as policy content and policy quality, political interference and pressure, bias and favouritism among senior officials, religious, sectional, and language loyalties of participants, and loss of job satisfaction and morale among policy actors. These findings were discussed against the background of relevant literature. This concluded in the development_gf a theoretical model to explain education policy implementation in a society in transition. Basically, the model suggests that socio-political struggles in the larger society tend. to be replicated in the micro-contexts of the education system, producing fundamental alterations in the interpersonal, cultural, and structural aspects of the system, a general weakening of system linkages, and a progressive de-coupling of system components. All these changes recursively impact on and are impacted on by policymaking and policy implementation processes and outcomes. These impacts, however, tend to occur in a non-standard, nonlinear manner. The theoretical underpinnings of the model emerge from general systems theory, modern social systems theory, chaos/ complexity theory, conflict theory, structuration theory, organisation change theory, and loosely coupled systems theory. Finally, the study concludes with general propositions relating to education policy implementation in a society in transition and a set of research and management-oriented recommendations. / Educational Leadership and Management / D. Ed. (Educational Management)