The research interest is in the area of leadership and gender, with specific reference to promotion prospects of female educators in predominantly black schools. I seek to establish internal and external factors that contribute to women educators being marginalised. The investigation is carried out in the uMgungundlovu region of the KwaZulu-Natal's Department of Education. This region covers the rural areas of Vulindlela and the urban and peri-urban circuits of Pietermaritzburg. I made use of qualitative methodology to obtain data from a random sample of twenty one out of twenty five deputy principals from the two circuits. This was followed by a detailed interview of seven of the twenty one who formed the purposive sample The central thesis of this study is that constitutional laws which outlaw unfair discrimination and academic qualifications play a subsidiary role in the upward mobility of women. The study will seek to confirm or refute this claim. A major finding in this study indicates that hindrances to promotion among married women include family responsibilities of being mother and wife; disruption of career advancement as a result of husband relocating. Low self-esteem among some women also acts as a hindrance to promotion. However, the more intractable hindrances turned out to be external. Cultural conditioning and tradition both combine to relegate women to domestic responsibilities. There is the issue of unequal power relations between men and women in the work place and, in some instances, the failure to apply anti-discriminatory legislation during interview processes. It therefore made little or difference whether the research was carried out in an urban area like Pietermaritzburg or a rural environment like Vulindlela. Hindrances to female promotion were very similar. This study concludes by suggesting that women should form lobby groups to challenge unfair labour practices. They should also increase their visibility by placing their curriculum vitae in the hands of people of influence. A further suggestion is that they take an active part in professional bodies and publish academic articles. At the school level, they should resist all attempts at being treated in a condescending manner. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2007.

This mini-dissertation reports on a case study of teachers' perceptions of the performance appraisal system used at an independent school in the greater Durban area in Kwa-Zulu Natal. As the system was implemented at a time when appraisal was only mandatory in government schools and not in / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2005.

This study was conducted to investigate what the perceptions of Career Guidance Counselors were toward young girls and High Status Subjects. The study was underpinned by the work done by a number of researchers in other countries. These researchers all proved that the subjects Mathematics and Physical Science were not gender biased and girls could do as well as boys. The subject packages girls chose at the end of their grade 9 year would have an impact on possible career choices they could make after the completion of grade 12. The study also seeks to explore reasons why girls were not choosing these subjects and if the Career Guidance Counselors were actively encouraging the girls to take these subjects. The study was a qualitative one using interviews based on questionnaires. The answers were carefully recorded and decoded. The Career Guidance Counselors were interviewed at their schools in the central Durban area. The schools selected were those fortunate enough to have counselors on their staff. Many schools do not have Career Guidance Counselors as they are unable to accommodate them with their limited resources. The study found that at many schools there was little if any encouragement from the Guidance Counselors to enter these subjects in grade 10. The two schools that did encourage their female learners to select these subjects found that their learners achieved very well. This study will show that urgent intervention needs to be made if our young girls are to take their rightful place in our society in a number of high status occupations. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2004.

This research explores the experiences of African learners in a school in which they constitute the minority. The aim of the study is to investigate how African learners perceive of their day to day experiences in an ex-House of Delegates school that still has a predominantly Indian learner population. The study was conducted in a primary school situated in a small suburb south of Durban. Ten African learners from grade seven were interviewed through semi-structured interviews in this qualitative study. This was followed by a focus group discussion with the ten respondents to further investigate specific issues and to serve as a debriefing since strong emotions had surfaced. Interviews were recorded on audiotape, and non-verbal indicators were recorded in the form of written notes. Non-participant observations were also conducted on the playgrounds. The content analysis method was used to analyze the data. Themes were identified and related to the conceptual framework of the study. The analysis revealed that learners experienced various exclusionary pressures as African learners in a predominantly Indian school. Unequal power relations are perpetuated through the intersection of race, class and ability as well as through a hidden curriculum. Racism as a form of oppression was evident in the racist name-calling and racist stereotyping. There appears to be a lack of a caring pedagogy as African learners feel marginalized. The findings reveal the need for a whole-school policy on anti-racist education. In addition, educators need training to help them interrogate the cycle of socialization to which they have been exposed. The implications are specific to the context. The formulation of a whole-school policy on anti-racist education and an educator intervention program are some of the recommendations. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2004.

The principle of quality education for all learners is embedded in all policy documentsand legislation and this emphasis on quality education for all suggests that schools have to meet the diverse needs of all learners. However, throughout South African schooling contexts, there are many learners who face barriers to learning and participation in view of the fact that schools are unable to respond to the diversity of needs in the learner population. The issue is not how the learners adjust to the learning environment but whether the learning environment is flexible enough to accommodate the diverse needs of all learners. The responsibility of achieving the goal of a non-discriminatory education system lies heavily on the shoulders of classroom teachers. The purpose of this study is to examine how teachers at a primary school experience diversity within the classroom. The research was undertaken in a historically Indian boys' only state primary school in KwaZulu-Natal, with a learner population of almost 95% African, 4% Indian and the other 1% comprising White/Coloured learners. The focus of the study was the teachers. I sought to investigate how teachers construct and respond to diversity in their classes. Within the context of the post apartheid South Africa, the classroom has become a microcosm of the 'rainbow nation', with teachers having to deal with many differences at varying levels within the classroom. How teachers interpret and respond to differences is likely to be subjective. In light of the fact that teachers' interpretations are subjective, for the purpose of this study, symbolic interactionism was used as a theoretical framework. Qualitative research , methodology, which took the form of a case study was used. Teachers experiences were examined through semi-structured interviews, observations and document analysis. Throughout the study, there emerged the "them" and "us" syndrome in teachers. The study shows that while the teachers did not treat African learners unfairly, there are numerous exclusionary practices at the school. Very little attempt is made by the teachers to change their teaching behaviours in ways that make the curriculum responsive to their learners. In fact, very little was done to change the ethos of the school, and African learners where expected to 'fit in' and become part of the existing culture of the school. There emerges from the study, a definite need to train teachers to think and work within a new frame of reference, that is, a human rights framework which constantly interrogates unequal power relations and inequalities that schools perpetuate. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2004.

This research project investigates the ways in which six Indian boys who have been officially proclaimed failures in grade 11 construct their masculinity in Meadowlands Secondary School, a predominantly Indian technical secondary school in a working class area of Chatsworth. The way in which failing Indian boys construct their masculinity is under-researched in South Africa. When boys are officially declared academic failures by the school, they often take other ways to validate their masculine identities. This study focused on the complex relationship between their academic failure and the formation of their masculinities. Drawing from semi-structured in-depth interviews with six boys who failed grade 11 in 2003 and are currently repeating grade 11 in 2004, the study shows the complex relationship between school failure, and the formation of boys' masculinities in three areas. These areas are the formal academic dimension of schooling, the informal social dimension of schooling and outside school activities. The major fmdings from the interviews indicate that boys construct their masculinity by resisting the demands placed on them in schools and engage in disruptive activities. They find alternate power and prestige in wearing brand name clothes, wearing jewellery, carrying cellular phones, having girlfriends, clubbing, taking drugs and joining gangs. They find school boring and equate academic achievement with being feminine and thus being gay and resist doing school-work. They are thus able to construct their masculinities in ways that are anti-school and anti-authority. The study concludes by suggesting that failing boys at MSS are in trouble and that schools and teachers must be more alert to why failing boys behave in the ways that they do. At MSS it is suggested that the school encourages the development of sport as a way of exposing boys to different ways of being a boy. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2004.

This study examined the family literacy practices of ten adult participants who attend the Tembaletu Adult Basic Education (ABE) Centre in rural KwaZulu- Natal. The aim was to explore the influence of the ABE programme on these practices? The concept of family literacy in this rural context was interrogated. This is a qualitative case study, and the data collection techniques included individual interview, focus group interviews, observation, and document analysis. Findings revealed that women engaged in varied literacy practices in their homes. Story telling was more common than reading to children. The participants in the study for the first time are able to engage with their children in school related literacy activities. The extent to which the participants and their children supported each other in their literacy development was dependent on the levels of literacy. The Adult Basic Education programme had a direct impact on the literacy practices in the families of the participants. The benefits reported by the participants included personal empowerment, enhanced self-image, and the acquisition of literacy life skills that are crucial to the health and well being of their families. The study highlights tensions between the content of adult programmes and family literacy practices valued by the participants. Other key issues that emerged in the study are: the link between family literacy and culture; gender and family literacy; family literacy in the context of HIV/Aids. The findings in this study valuable perspectives on emerging family literacy in a rural context - an area of study that is in its infancy in South Africa. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2005.

This small-scale study was designed to investigate post-corporal punishment disciplinary strategies used by level one educators in an ex-HOD secondary school in South Durban. This qualitative study gathered data through the case study approach for the following key questions : 1. What are the challenges being faced by educators in maintaining pupil discipline? 2. What strategies do educators employ to cope with post apartheid reforms such as large, multiracial classes, abolition of corporal punishment and the removal of a guidance counsellor? 3. What are the educators' perceptions of the support they receive from the school and the community, if any, in dealing with pupil indiscipline? As this research examines educators' perceptions on pupil discipline, it naturally lends itself to the qualitative research design. Within the qualitative design the case study provides the opportunity to obtain first hand information which can be used to do an in depth analysis of how educators relate to various factors and processes regarding learner discipline in the school under study. In order to obtain a full picture of discipline in the school under study the investigator obtained data through semi-structured interviews, observations of managers', level one educators' and pupils' behaviour as well as review of documents such as the staff minute books and the educators' discipline records. In response to the numerous post apartheid reforms that schools find themselves experiencing, schools need to develop strategies such as teamwork, collaboration, delegation and open communication. The collective creativity and energy generated as a team is what is needed to face the reforms that schools are constantly being bombarded with. It is these reforms which can adversely affect the discipline of learners if not anticipated timeously by monitoring mechanisms in the school. These monitoring mechanisms such as regular networking can result in improvement to present policies and procedures so that they can align themselves with these post apartheid educational reforms. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2004.

This study investigates the work that is currently being done to promote contact between home and school at a residential school situated in a rural area of KwaZulu- Natal. The school serves primary school children with physical disabilities between the ages of five and seventeen years. The subjects in this study were twenty five parents, teachers, learners, and support staff. The research methodology was in the form of a qualitative case study. Individual interviews, focus group interviews, observation as well as document analysis were used to investigate the nature and extent of parental involvement, the areas in which parents participated, and how the school supported parents and the learners. The results revealed that the school acknowledges the value of parents a partners, and has initiated a parent involvement programme. Parents are involved in structures created by the school, namely, a parent teacher association, parent groups in the communities, learner adoption scheme. However, findings revealed that in a number of important areas parents are not equal partners. These are school governance, curriculum decisions regarding their children, choice of school placement, and admission and discharge of their children. An important finding was that in residential schools, because parents are not part of the immediate school community the concept of "parents as partners" is difficult to achieve. Most rural parents live great distances away from the school. Time, distance, work commitments, family commitments, and financial constraints make participation almost impossible. An implication of this study is that if residential schools continue to exist there is a need for the school to take cognisance of the various contextual factors that influence parental involvement in such a setting. Schools should find creative ways to overcome barriers that may exist. Schools need to be aware of recent policy developments regarding the rights of parents, for example, the South African Schools Act. Issues such as parent participation in school governance, their right to choice, and their rights regarding educational decisions on their children, enshrined in policy documents need to be, addressed collaboratively with parents. Another important implication is that policy makers need to review the role of large residential schools in meeting the educational needs of children with disabilities, in particular the long term goal of children gaining full citizenship in their communities. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of Natal, 1996.

The prevalence of gender-based violence in South African schools has been identified by the research and the Department of Education has acknowledged its existence. However, little has been done to alleviate the problem. Female learners are continually victimized by male learners at school. The purpose of this study was to examine the factors that explain gender-based violence amongst learners from three secondary schools in the Inanda area. Inanda is a predominantly informal settlement area on the outskirts of Durban, in South Africa. This study has largely focussed on female learners as victims of gender-based violence perpetrated by male learners. Both quantitative and qualitative methods had been adopted through which data was collected. School records were reviewed and one perpetrator and the victim were chosen from each school. The two participants were then, interviewed in order to get both perspectives. The data collected revealed that there are other kinds of gender-based violence besides those that were identified from the records review. The findings from the interviews outlined the factors that explain gender-based violence in schools. In conclusion, some recommendations were made in the light of the findings. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2006.