A report on a research study presented to The Department of Social Work School of Human and Community Development Faculty of Humanities University of the Witwatersrand In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts in Social Work March, 2016 / The annual Conference of Parties (COP) held on the 7th-8th of December 2015 made it obvious; the environment is changing and urgent action is needed globally. Globally for the reason that damage done to the environment in one region, may have impacts in other regions. In regards to Africa and in specific South Africa, water as a finite resource is no more available as it was decades ago. This fact needs to be addressed with urgency, as human survival heavily depends on water – especially in Africa (UN Water, 2006). A part of the literature review will be dedicated to challenges related to water and its consequences for the African continent. The core of this study will be to highlight the importance of water for human beings and what can be done to raise awareness. Further, a quantitative study in Kliptown (a suburb area in Soweto suffering from water scarcity); by means of a survey was undertaken to understand more about children’s behavior in regards to water. The purpose of the research was to raise the knowledge of 10-13 year old learners and members of the Kliptown Youth Program (KYP) on the value of water and to assess their awareness on environmental friendliness as well as their daily water management. The intervention took place at Kliptown, with members of the KYP; a nongovernmental organization supporting in lifting children out of poverty. A pre and a post questionnaire was conducted as well as short video clips shown to KYP members, explaining water scarcity and climate change; supported by some recommendations on how to save water in their current environment. Random sampling has been applied to 24 members out of the population of 119 grade 5-7 members, ranging between 10-13 years of age. Respondents were of mixed genders. Data collection of the survey was cross-sectional and has been performed by means of pen-andpaper. The whole intervention with the filling out of the questionnaires, including the video clips and short presentation took about 90 minutes. Data has been interpreted by using descriptive statistics. The outcome provided information on the environmental friendliness of KYP members aged 10-13, their knowledge on the importance of water as well as their pro activeness in regards to the environment and water. Further the study tried to find out whether there is a difference of responses in regards to gender. The outcome of the study will be shared with the Director of KYP to be informed and probably implement recommendations of the study. The outcome of the study revealed that children do not know much about water, however, are interested in knowing and doing more to get acquainted to the topic. / MT2017

Community Based Learning (CBL) is a pedagogy that h as been fast tracked by the South African government as a means to make universities more relevant to local communities and assist with development initiatives sorely need ed across the country. The approach is also gaining popularity in its own right in institu tions of higher education in South Africa. But the issues of entering and working with communities are complex, and become even more complex when the students placed in local communities are international students. The purpose of this study was to explore the CBL programme of the School for International Training (SIT) in Wentworth, Durban and to identify the benefits and challenges to the community from the perspective of the community. A qualitative, descriptive design was used to garner rich informat ion of the perceptions and experiences of community members involved in the CBL programme. The study employed purposive, convenience sampling to select community members wh o have been involved as community workers or homestay families so as to ‘illuminate’ the research question. Personal interviews and focus groups were conducted with these community members. Content analysis was done on the data generated and to ensure credibility, data triangulation was done using a field journal and st udent reflection papers from selected semesters of the CBL programme. The overall findings indicate that the Community Ba sed Organizations (CBOs) and the homestay families did benefit from the programme. T he organizations did not want the ‘help’ of the students, and found their dwelling on service as patronizing. The community appreciated its dual roles of being teachers and le arners: with organizations in particular having their experience and knowledge affirmed as t eachers of Community Development (CD). The community believed that students could be strong role models for local youth. The presence of the students within the community a lso led to an increased interest within the community of Coloured history, culture and iden tity. In terms of CBL the presence of the students led to an increase in volunteerism amo ngst homestay families and other families wanting to host students in the future. The programme also led to a substantive, if brief, increase in the goodwill between the often feuding community organizations of Wentworth. Finally, there was also lingering hope t hat the students and SIT as an institution would deliver better prospects for families and organizations such as funding, building networks and lasting personal relationship s. The community also noted costs to the interactions, mainly in the form of inappropriate behaviour of some students, both in homestays and within the community in general. These included ethnocentric behaviour as well as the use of drugs and alcohol. These were cited as negatively affecting the impressionable youth of Wentworth. The study concludes that benefits do accrue to the community, but the relationships within the programme need to be nurtured and the whole initiative viewed as a process. International CBL programmes can be fraught with intercultural concerns and misunderstandings and thus take significant time to nurture must be approached with great caution. Attention must be paid to power differenti als that may exist, and visiting universities must be honest with communities in the ir needs and what they are prepared to give. These programmes, if not managed properly, have the potential to become extractive and follow patterns set by failed development projects. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2010.

Research in the area of service-learning has been steadily growing over the past decade, with an interest in the benefits for all parties involved in its implementation. However, research into the impact that service learning has on the community has been severely under-researched remaining practically absent from the service-learning research agenda. This qualitative study attempted to gain in-depth knowledge on the impact of service learning on two school communities. The research made use of participatory research techniques as they allow the researcher to access the ‘community voice’ and ‘hand over’ the research process. As the focus groups involved children, participatory techniques were used to elicit information regarding what element of the service-learning programme affected the learner’s experiences of participating in the service-learning programme. Ranking activity was the participatory technique used (Theis and Grady, 1991). The study had interesting results relating to what elements affect the community experience of service-learning programmes. Main findings include student characteristics, relationship development and how the students gain from service-learning. It gained insight into many areas that require further study relating to community experiences, and illustrates the complexity that characterises the community experience. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2009.

The demands of the new curriculum are such that problem solving is foregrounded as one of the core skills in the learning of the Natural Sciences. However teachers in general have difficulties in conceptualizing how this core skill should be incorporated into their everyday teaching of the Natural Sciences. Furthermore there seems to be some confusion in the literature on how the concept of problem solving should or ought to be understood. This is a qualitative case study to explore a grade 8 Natural Sciences educator who involves the learner's context when developing the curriculum, during teaching and learning and assessment. The educator allows the learners to use their context to negotiate during teaching and learning. The learners discuss the context-based activities in their groups and solve problems in their context, produce the portfolio boards by using the resources from their context and present their portfolio board to the class. The educator assesses the learners' activities in context and the portfolio boards. The educator and classroom activities are explored by using semi-structured interview as the main source of the data, unstructured interviews semi-structured obs~rvation schedule and classroom observation. The educator's understanding is explored by using a multifaceted methodology which targets the following key aspects namely, curriculum development, teaching and learning and assessment. In the activity theory the context is the unit of analysis. Activity theory is used as the lens and the conceptual framework in this study to understand how the educator develops the curriculum, teach learners Matter and Materials in their context and assess their context-based activities and the portfolio boards. The findings show that according to this educator he sees himself as the curriculum implementer rather than developer. The curriculum changes are at theoretical level rather than classroom level. Contextual teaching involves construction of knowledge from learners pre-knowledge and interests. Teaching within an Outcomes Based Education is transformative and educator as a mediator of learning. Problem solving needs more time but maximise non-routine thinking. Assessment is for learning, it is continuous and it contributes towards assessment for grading. / Thesis (M.Ed.)- University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009.

The training of agricultural extension graduates is an important contributor to agricultural / The training of agricultural extension graduates is an important contributor to agricultural development in both developed and developing countries. Extension workers help small holder farmers uplift their food production. In most African countries, the curriculum of agricultural extension institutions has been adopted from other countries. This causes higher education institutions to produce graduates with inadequate skills to meet the needs of African countries. With the transformation in South Africa, and the resultant unification of the extension system, the curriculum needs to be reviewed to meet the current needs of the employers. This research explores the potential of including structured experiential learning into the curriculum with the aim of bridging the gap that exists within the extension training systems in South Africa. The alumni from two institutions, one with an unstructured experiential learning programme and the other with a structured experiential learning programme were interviewed to find out the skills that they feel are needed and whether those skills can be effectively taught during the academic training of students. A convenience sampling method was used. The employer’s perceptions regarding the skills for effective extension work were also solicited. Both the alumni and the employers indicated that well planned and supervised experiential learning would help students acquire practical agriculture skills, and also orientate them to the new work environment. The educators indicated that the curriculum structure at times impedes the effective implementation of an experiential learning programme due to semester system and demands from other courses The research revealed that for effective experiential learning, it is important that universities work with communities in development programmes and to forge links with the industry. Although service providers may be willing to offer experiential learning to students, they are also limited in terms of resources. They cannot always accommodate students from tertiary institutions as there are number of them requiring experiential learning opportunities. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2010.

The White Paper on education states that students should be employable after graduation / Thesis

The Skills Development Act (97 of 1988) introduced a new approach to the development of workrelated skills in South Africa. This Act provided the legal underpinnings for learnerships, which include both structured work experience (Le. a practical component) and instructional learning (i.e. a theory learning component). Learnerships are offered in an accredited workplace environment and culminate in a qualification that is registered on the National Qualifications Framework (NQF). Research studies support the view that informal learning accounts for over 75%-90% of the learning that takes place in organizations today. Although the majority of learning that occurs in the workplace is informal, little is, however, known about how such learning is best supported, encouraged and developed in a learnership programme. The impact of informal learning on learnerships must be seen as an essential ingredient for effective workplace skills programmes and the advancement of skills acquisition leading to qualifications and career planning resulting in a highly skilled workforce. This research study was prompted by the perception that the majority of workers in the footwear industry have a low formal educational level and are either non-skilled or semi-skilled, financial sustainability of the footwear industry and global competition. Learnerships are perceived to be a creative vehicle whereby workers are able to acquire basic production and manufacturing skills in the workplace through a Clothing, Textiles, Footwear and Leather (CTFL) learnership programme. This research study explores the factors in an education and training environment that enhance or inhibit informal learning opportunities and how these factors shape or impede informal learning, thus impacting on the performance of learners in a footwear learnership programme. Although no single theoretical framework of informal learning exists, this research study was informed and underpinned by the theoretical models of various experts in the field of informal 7 learning. Using an interpretivist paradigm the researcher opted to study the implementation of learnerships at one accredited training provider in the footwear industry. Data collection instruments provided rich, detailed qualitative data using semi-structured interviews, observations and document analysis within a case study approach. The findings of this study identified a number of overarching factors that enhanced or impeded informal learning in a footwear learnership programme that also impacted on the performance of learners. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2006.

This case study examines the pedagogy of early reading in a South African Basic Education Centre. Existing literature shows that illiteracy among adults in South Africa is a great concern. The acquisition of reading competence in adults is under - researched in South Africa and previous research has tended to focus on literacy/reading in relation to health issues or the acquisition of reading in children. This study attempts to contribute to understanding poor reading conditions in adult classes by providing a description of beliefs and practices of three Adult Basic Education and Training teachers of reading. The study captures the beliefs and practices of the teachers of reading in ABET Level 1- 4 with respect to the teaching of reading in Zulu and English. Data is examined using constructivism and dialogic space as theoretical frameworks. Data was gathered from teacher interviews and classroom observations. The findings of this paper include that these teachers lack pedagogical knowledge to inform their practice and are often influenced by their own experience of being taught to read. The dominant instructional practice was a focus on pronunciation while reading aloud as opposed to text comprehension. Recommendations are made regarding the support that could be offered to the teachers of reading in this centre. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2012.

This study is intended as a contribution to the debate and quality assurance activity which in South Africa is following the South African Qualifications Authority's recommendations that better quality co-operative education work experience be provided for higher education students. This study focuses on the perceptions and experiences of a cohort of Durban Institute of Technology students involved in co-operative education work programmes. Through a process of random sampling twenty students each were selected from the faculties of Arts, Commerce, Engineering Science & Built Environment and Health Sciences. The students comprised both male and female students in various years of study. Questionnaires articulating the research enquiry as well as the purpose of the study and questions to be answered for the study were mailed individually to each selected student. Forty six of the total selected sample of students returned completed questionnaires. The instrument comprised open and closed ended questions. With the aid of a statistical database programme the data was analysed. Findings of the study indicated that students' perceptions and experiences vary from positive to negative. Issues of racial discrimination, inadequate or no salaries and lack of support from mentors and lecturers emerged as concerns articulated by many students. On the contrary students perceived themselves as the greatest beneficiaries of the work programmes. Students also noted the relevance and value of the work programmes in developing the students' and preparing them for the workplace. The recommendations for co-operative education practitioners, in terms of listening to the voices of the students' in this study, is invaluable. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of Durban-Westville, 2004.

The purpose of the study wass to describe the professional and personal development of nursing students who were placed at the Saartjie Baartman Centre for Abused Women and Children for the service-learning trial run of this Gender-Based Violence module i