M. Ed. (Educational Psychology) / This study explores the experiences that multiple stakeholders have of learner participation in an independent school in Johannesburg. The school’s policy documents were reviewed, both in order to establish the school’s suitability for the study, and in order to provide some context for understanding. The participants were selected by both their involvement in learner participation bodies at the school in question, and their willingness to participate in the study. To this end, the school’s principal, educational psychologist and two learner leaders agreed to be interviewed in order to try and describe their experiences. It was hoped that the exploring, and rich describing, of the participants’ experiences would be helpful in terms of finding solutions or providing recommendations for the school itself when facing challenges, and for any other school that may benefit from the findings of the study. The researcher embarked on a process of Content Analysis of the transcribed interviews and relevant policy documents to uncover primary themes of experience as described by the participants. It was found that the participants’ experiences could be categorised into themes of difficulty with training; support; feedback; and clarity of roles. Recommendations were made regarding the facilitation of learner participation at both the participating school and other schools in general. These recommendations included: i) Schools communicate clearly the purposes of training programmes and initiatives to learners; ii) Schools utilise multiple training programmes, which are relevant to their own school context; iii) A staff member is formally available as support for each learner participation body in a school; iv) All meetings be scheduled suitably in advance; v) Learner participation bodies schedule regular meetings with their constituencies for feedback purposes - regardless of the length of the agenda; vi) Measures be instituted to hold staff accountable to their commitments without learner initiation; vii) All people who are affected by policies should play a role in their construction (UNCRC, 1990; SASA, 1996); viii) Policy review be seen as a continuous process, including legislated periods of review. Furthermore, conceptual inconsistencies in the design of the Representative Council of Learners (RCL) were suggested - specifically conflicting mandates in terms of representing learner voice and implementing teacher directives - resulting in a suggestion of legislation review.

D.Phil. (Education) / Transformation policies in South Africa have seen higher education come under increasing pressure to broaden participation of historically under-represented groups. Recently, student enrolments have become increasingly diverse in terms of cultural, socio-economic and linguistic backgrounds, as well as the levels of preparedness that students have for traditional higher education programmes. This places new and challenging teaching demands on lecturers and peer tutors. Whilst peer tutors may find themselves in an ever increasing teaching role, so might those who are responsible for guiding and developing them. This research focuses on offering holistic support to junior lecturers, via mentorship, who have the responsibility of developing and advising student tutors, so that they are able to engage in sound pedagogical practice. The purpose of this study is to investigate the responses to a mentorship programme designed to assist junior lecturers to develop tutors at The University of Johannesburg. These junior lecturers are referred to as tutor coordinators. The research aims to identity what kind of identity shifts, if any, the tutor coordinators experienced as a result of the mentorship programme. It also aims to understand how tutor coordinators engaged with collaborative mentorship and to what extent the mentorship programme influences pedagogy. Several theoretical perspectives have informed the research. These include ideas on collaborative mentorship and interdependence as well as reflective practice, as a tool for professional development in combination with insights from post structuralist theory on discourse, social organisation, power and in particular, identity. The study is framed by the understanding that the research participants construct multiple identities rather than report on an existing identity, and that identity is linked to power relations in a particular context. Broadly this research is a qualitative study. More specifically, it uses emancipatory action research as the research design. This is because the participants were provided with an opportunity to critically engage with their own practice via self-reflection and the recursive relationship offered by the mentorship programme. Questionnaires, observations and interviewing were used to collect the data. Interviews gave in-depth insight into participant subject positions and responses to the mentorship programme. Initially, the data was analysed thematically, using global analysis. Once the themes had been extracted, CDA (critical discourse analysis) was used to allow for a social analysis of language. The findings suggest that the research participants’ experiences in the role of tutor coordinator, shaped their identities in different ways and that in several cases they experienced considerable fragmentation of identity. This fragmentation is evident in the multifaceted and differentiated responses to various features of the mentorship programme. In addition, in some cases notable pedagogical shifts were made and personal sites of development were positively facilitated. This research brings to the fore issues that could determine professional staff development programmes as it considers South African academic identities framed by their current professional and educational challenges.

The following dissertation considers the ways in which we have come to perceive of our post-apartheid South African urban spaces. It focusses on the representation of our contemporary urban spaces as I posit that they are re-imagined in the works of Phaswane Mpe, K.Sello Duiker, Nadine Gordimer and Lauren Beukes. In particular, it is concerned with the representation of Johannesburg, and specifically Hillbrow, in relation to the space of the rural, the suburban enclave and the city of Cape Town. I argue that while so-called urban ‘slums’ such as Hillbrow have been denigrated in the local imaginary, the texts that I have selected draw attention to the potentialities of such spaces. Rather than aspiring to ‘First World’ aesthetics of modernity then, we might come to see such spaces as Hillbrow anew, and even to learn from them as models, so as to better create more fully integrated and dynamic African cities.

M.Cur. (Professional Nursing) / The shortage of professional nurses necessitates the optimal utilisation of the professional nurses and auxiliary staff available to unit managers in academic nursing units. The optimal utilisation of human resources, funds, stock and methods constitutes effective management. The unit manager is responsible for the achievement of objectives means of effective management enabling the optimal utilisation and productive functioning of her staff in the provision of quality nursing. Retaining auxiliary staff is often as difficult as retraining nurses and they will not be attracted to hospital work if there is no clear occupational structure. This study questions the expectations (knowledge and insight) of uni t managers as well as ward clerks regarding the duties and responsibilities of the ward clerk in an academic hospital nursing unit in Johannesburg. The value of a structured educational programme for ward clerks in order to improve their capabilities profile (knowledge and insight) was also examined. The objectives with this study were: to determine the expectations (insight and knowledge) of unit managers as well as ward clerks regarding the duties and responsibilities of the ward clerk (in an academic hospital nursing unit): to design, implement and evaluate an educational programme for ward clerks: and to determine the effect of that programme on the capabilities profile (knowledge and insight) of the ward clerk.

M.Com. (Investment Management) / The study investigates the effects of final dividend announcements on the share prices of the FTSE/JSE Top 40 Index for the period 2003-2012. A classical event study methodology was applied to test the data. Over the sample period the Abnormal Returns (AR), Average Abnormal Returns (AAR) and Cumulative Average Abnormal Returns (CAAR) were calculated. The final sample consisted of 13 companies that included 144 dividend announcement events. The results indicated that although dividend announcements seem to have a positive effect on share prices, the returns yielded from these effects are not significant and close to zero. Evidence relating to the dividend signalling hypothesis was also present in the South African market.

With rapid economic growth and urbanization, solid waste generation and management is becoming a major social and environmental issue in Johannesburg. This rapid growth coupled with new consumption patterns has resulted in the over utilisation of natural resources. Consequently, there is more land being used for waste disposal and both pollution and environmental degradation are on the rise. These by-products of economic growth are not compatible with the principles of waste minimisation, which sees reuse and recycling as means for sustainable development. The concept of sustainable development is defined as “the development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of the future generations to meet their own needs” (Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development Report, 2002). Sustainable waste management advocates for the integration of environmental matters with economic and social issues. It is within this sustainable environmental management context that the research work is undertaken to fulfil the principles of sustainable waste management practices. Recycling traditionally involves the recovery of plastics, glass, paper, cardboard, metal and rubber from the waste stream. The recovery of these materials will achieve significant volume reduction, on average according to Lombard (1990) between 30-40 per cent of domestic refuse. But, this should be economically viable and produce marketable goods. This option provides opportunities for salvagers to reclaim recyclable materials to sell and generate an income. Salvaging on landfill sites is strongly discouraged by the Minimum Requirements for Waste Disposal by Landfill (Department of Water Affairs and Forestry, 1998) and by the National Waste Management Strategy (Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, 1998) as it interferes with the site operations and places salvagers at a high health and safety risk. The main aim of this mini dissertation is to determine whether or not recovery of recyclable material by salvagers contributes to the reduction of waste quantities to be handled by the landfill sites. The methodology used to obtain data for this research was the questionnaire interview approach where there was an interviewer who asked predefined questions and an interviewee who responded and answered questions as posed. In the discussion of both qualitative and quantitative data analysis, the research followed Dey’s (1993) approach, which seeks to combine different approaches such as the descriptive, classification and connection methodologies to gain a deeper understanding of qualitative data. The research findings are that white paper, clear plastic, newspaper, scrap metal, cardboard boxes and common paper are some of the waste components that are being recovered from landfill sites. But some recyclables are more sought after commodities than the others due to their monetary value and availability, white paper being the most popular and common paper the least popular. The results also illustrate that the recovery percentage does not contribute to a significant reduction in quantities of waste to be disposed at a landfill site, but it does benefits financially the salvagers through the resale of the recovered recyclable commodities. / Dr. L.G.C. Scheepers

We do not see, to learn effectively from our past mistakes and, similarly, we do not seem to learn from the opportunities that architecture, beyond its utility, presents. The old Johannesburg gasworks site expresses the development of a city that originated from industrial sprawl. The massive post-industrial edifices of Johannesburg are canvases that portray years of production processes and reflect the Avant-garde of the time. However, the mono-functionality of the architecture of the Gasworks precinct, used for capital gain, has now left the site deserted after decommissioning in the late 1990’s. The site is an empty frame, privately bounded with no interaction with the surrounding context, or the city beyond. It is now a wasteland encroached by nature, infused with the remnants of human-made pollutants. But the critically located site oozes latent potential that, if managed appropriately, can transform the critical Empire Perth corridor, which stretches through the city of Johannesburg, a critical urban framework for the future development of the city. It is time that we learn from our past mistakes, using the memories of place, to produce an expressive and didactic architecture, educating people through a non-linear non-destructive space. This expressive architecture will create new memories and ideas, through encouraged dialogue. Where this architecture and process coincide in the urban context, it will deal with immediate environmental issues in spaces where constructive engagement with the public is encouraged. / Mini Dissertation MArch(Prof)--University of Pretoria, 2018. / Architecture / MArch(Prof) / Unrestricted

ABSTRACT Urban Consulate is an exploration of urban exchange and growth within the 21st century paradigm. This dissertation investigates the potential of reclaimed civic space within the city as urban catalyst for participation and growth – a platform with which to regenerate meaningful participation within the urban environments and ensure densification without negation and destruction. The suburb of Brixton is one of the oldest suburbs in Johannesburg. Located to the west of Braamfontein and viewed as a compartmentalized fragment within the city of Johannesburg, this urban suburb forms the laboratory of investigation for the dissertation. Currently in flux, the area is rezoned for urbanisation and densification within the Johannesburg City plan. There are various proposals to relink the suburb back to the city. The chosen site of investigation is concerned with harnessing both the local condition and its potential to connect to the city of Johannesburg. In an attempt to redefine concepts of territory and boundary in civic architecture, the investigation is contextually located between urban fragments of suburbia, urban conditions and veld (natural environment). The site is a lost urban asset on the edge of Brixton next to the Sentech Tower. The urban intention is to reprogram the site as part of a productive public landscape, while the programmatic intentions are to enable the urban condition of city growth through facilitating local needs and desire lines. The dissertation therefore blurs the present day distinctions of ‘public’, ‘social’, ‘productive’, and ‘natural’ space while at the same time placing focus on local and socio-economic conditions. It investigates how the support of community and local conditions enables the urban. The architectural intentions are to “blur” the physical and perceived boundaries between the dweller and the city, the suburban and the urban. The scheme seeks to find how architecture as an enabler of “structures of enchantment” – the ordinary and extraordinary that make up a city – can facilitate individual and collective memory and couple the idea of city and the fantastical with that of home-finding and the everyday. In short, the 21st century approach to design and city-making must shift towards a participative approach in terms of urban exchange and place-making. / Mini Dissertation MArch(Prof)--University of Pretoria, 2018. / Architecture / MArch(Prof) / Unrestricted

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Bibliography: pages 227-250 / The research intended to explore the narratives of coping and resilience relating to the socio economic and emotional difficulties of a group of Zimbabwean migrants residing in Johannesburg. Through a technique of social constructionism and dialogue between the researcher and the six (6) participants, the co-construction in accordance to subject matters was used, supported by way of a qualitative research strategy and the case study method. The exploration of the themes was based on the participants’ narratives. Thereafter, the thematic analysis methodology was undertaken to analyse the data and connect it to supportive literature. The sample generated a full and rich account of the participants’ experiences and this yielded awareness of the common themes, such as the challenges and coping in trying times of migration, as well as an in-depth interpretation of their resilience. A qualitative research method was employed. Purposeful sampling was used and semi-structured in-depth personal interviews were conducted with each of the six (6) participants. Three (3) male and three (3) female Zimbabwean migrants were chosen. The case study included a description of Zimbabwean migrants’ coping and resilience with socio-economic and emotional challenges. It is anticipated that the results from this study will influence the progress of a unique review and support programme for the migrants who have endured socio-economic and emotional challenges. The results disclosed the reasons for migrating to South Africa, the challenges in the country of resettlement, socio-economic and emotional challenges, and the strategies used to cope and become resilient. Additionally, the analysis concluded that the participants in the study experienced similar narratives. The female participants left their families to seek greener pastures economically, but emotionally it affected their well-being. The Zimbabwean migrants coped with resilience utilising social networks, religion, self-regulation and mobile technology. / Psychology / D. Phil. (Psychology)