D.Ed. / Please refer to full text to view abstract

D.Ed. (Educational Psychology) / Particular prominence has been given worldwide since the 1920's to educational assistance for handicapped pupils. From the 1930's in South Africa attention has been given to the visually, hearing and ,intellectually handicapped by means of specialized teaching, but after the appearance of the Murray Report (1969) specific aid has been given to learning disabled pupils to a greater degree. This assistance has been aimed almost only at the primary school pupil and a good many pupils enter the secondary school with unsolved specific learning problems. Such pupils generally exhibit specific characteristics such as amongst others, a poor self-image, poor interpersonal relations, failure orientation, a high anxiety level and general lack of motivation.. They generally maintain unsound relationships with their parents because such parents often do not understand their child's problems and consequently become disappointed in their apparently normal child's inability to progress scholastically according to his ability. To assist the learning disabled pupil to realise his potential to the best of his ability, a motivation programme has been compiled and used to raise his learning and achievement motivation. This programme is devised with a clear image of the learning disabled pupil in mind and also by applying the essentials of motivation. The motivation programme is devised around the theme: "I am a winner" whereby an attempt is made to raise the self concept to the central variable. are applicable: Additional to this, strategies like the following Realistic setting of goals; A positive attitude to life; The experience and acceptance of success and failure; Correct study methods…

The primary objective of this mini-dissertation was to investigate whether a relationship exists between rewards, intrinsic motivation, work engagement among school teachers in South Africa. A further aim was to determine if work engagement has a moderating effect on the relationship between rewards and intrinsic motivation. The researcher further investigated whether demographic differences occurred across the three constructs studied. The study made use of quantitative research to achieve the above-mentioned objectives. The researcher made use of Ulrechs Work Engagement Scales (UWES), Intrinsic Work Motivation Scale (IWMS) and the Organisational Rewards Scale (ORS) to measure the mentioned relationships. The ORS was qualitatively piloted on a sample of primary school teachers in a Non-governmental institution. After refinement, a composite questionnaire was electronically completed by 207 teachers within South Africa. Data analysis was conducted in the form of descriptive and inferential statistics, including Cronbach’s alpha testing, Pearson’s Product Moment Correlations, t-tests, analysis of variance and structural equation modelling. The quantitative findings suggested that rewards lead to higher levels of Work Engagement, which in turn causes higher levels of Intrinsic Motivation. Thus, there was full mediation of rewards onto intrinsic rewards through work engagement From a demographics perspective, practically significant differences were discovered between NGO’s and Government High Schools for Rewards. In addition to these results, age differences were discovered across Work Engagement and job level differences were discovered for Intrinsic Motivation, together with significant correlations between the three constructs. These results theoretically contribute to the validation of the newly developed Intrinsic Work Motivation Scale. Furthermore, the results make a valuable contribution to the field of rewards management for teachers in South Africa.

Admissions assessment batteries at most South African higher education institutions augment matriculation results with assessment data from cognitive and non-cognitive measures, in order to identify potentially successful students. The Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) is a non-cognitive measure, developed in the United States of America to assess the motivational orientation and use of learning strategies among college students. Numerous international studies have confirmed the reliability and validity of the MSLQ. Presently only three quantitative studies have been conducted in the South African higher education context, and in these, researchers have focused on the predictive validity, construct validity and reliability of the MSLQ when used with multicultural and multilingual groups of test-takers. An overview of these studies revealed a confirmation of adequate reliability of the MSLQ, and whereas it was established that nine of the fifteen subscales of the MSLQ are significantly related to the academic success of undergraduate students, limited support was found for the construct validity of the measure. As a result of these findings, a lack of qualitative methods for confirming or disconfirming the quantitative results was noted. The general aim of this study was to explore the applicability of the MSLQ in a higher education South African context, with respect to aspects related to bias, through assessing the item content with specific reference to language and cultural appropriateness. This was to ensure that items on the MSLQ did not favour or disadvantage any cultural and language groups. Investigations in this regard are a necessity in a country like South Africa in an effort to promote fair assessment practices. In order to achieve the above-mentioned aim, a quantitative and qualitative approach was utilised following an exploratory-descriptive research method. The researcher employed a non-probability, purposive sampling procedure to select post-graduate participants employed at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) to act as expert reviewers. A Bias Review Form was the primary mode of data collection and this enabled the researcher to collect the biographical details of the expert reviewers, their ratings of the language and cultural appropriateness of each item, and their comments, suggestions and recommendations for improving identified problematic items. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the reviewers’ responses to the short biographical questionnaire included on the Bias Review Form, while frequency counts were calculated based on the reviewers’ responses to the language and cultural appropriateness of each item. The reviewers’ comments were analyzed into themes using Tesch’s model of content analysis. Three main themes relating to potential bias were identified, namely, language, culture and item characteristics. Guba’s model was employed for assessing the trustworthiness of the qualitative data and for data verification.

The purpose of this study was to demonstrate how a child's implicit theory of intelligence and perceived competence in self-concept domains deemed important to the child could predict the locus (intrinsic or extrinsic) of that child's motivation to learn.

Denna studie utgår från frågeställningen hur upplever gymnasieelever att lärarna i idrott och hälsa arbetar med motivation i sin undervisning? Syfte Studiens syfte är undersöka hur elever som går sista året på gymnasiet upplever att deras lärare arbetar med motivation under lektionerna i den vardagliga skolverksamheten. För att besvara frågeställningen användes följande underfrågor; Vad motiverar eleverna i ämnet idrott och hälsa? Tror eleverna själva att det går att motivera alla elever i skolan? Tror eleverna att det är ett medvetet eller omedvetet arbete med motivation från lärarna? Upplever eleverna ämnet idrott och hälsa som motiverande?   Metod Studien är av en kvalitativ ansats. Sex elever i gymnasieåldern blev intervjuade där de fick besvara ett antal frågor som berör motivation. Studien användes sig sedan en innehållsanalys vid bearbetningen av den insamlade datan. Resultatet från denna intervjustudie presenteras sedan med hjälp av olika citat från intervjuerna. I studien diskuteras samt problematiseras resultatet samt svaren i diskussionen i relation till tidigare forskning och den teoretiska utgångspunkten self determination theory. Vi är medvetna om att studien inte kan ses som ett underlag för en generalisering eftersom det var dessa sex elevers personliga upplevelse och svar som blev analyserade. Liknande studier på andra skolor eller regioner kan ge andra resultat då personer upplever motivation på olika sätt.   Slutsats Slutsatsen blev således att elevernas upplevelse av motivation skiljer sig väldigt mycket åt utifrån vilken lärare respondenterna hade haft. Enligt några av de tillfrågade eleverna trodde de att några lärare gjorde medvetna val för att strukturera lektionen och dess innehåll för att bygga en motiverande miljö medan andra lärare lade mer vikt på andra faktorer när de strukturerade sina lektioner, exempelvis mer fokus på kunskapskraven enligt respondenterna. Det som var en gemensamt för de lärare som lyckades skapa en motiverande miljö var följande; lärarna ger eleverna valmöjligheter- och frihet till att få påverka innehållet, visar engagemang och energi för undervisningen, lektionsinnehållet upplevs meningsfullt för framtiden, lektioner där man får samarbeta i grupp bidrog till ökad motivation hos eleverna och slutligen där läraren arbetar med att försöka se alla elever. / This study is based on the question how do high school students experience that the teachers in sports and health work with motivation in their teaching? Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate how students who are in their final year of high school experience how their teachers work with motivation during their lessons in everyday school activities. To answer the question, the following sub-questions were used; What motivates students in the subject of sports and health? Do the students believe that it is possible to motivate all students in school? Do the students believe that it's a deliberate and well planned or less systematic work with motivation from the teachers? Do students experience sports and health as motivating? Method The study is of a qualitative approach. Six high school students were interviewed where they had to answer several questions concerning motivation. The study then used a content analysis in the processing of the collected data. The results from this interview study are then presented with the help of various quotes from the interviews. The study discusses and problematizes the results and answers. These are then compared with existing research. We are aware that the study cannot be seen as a basis for a generalization because it analyses only six students' personal experience and answers. Similar studies at other schools or regions can give different results when people experience motivation in different ways. Conclusion The conclusion was thus that the students' experience of motivation differs very much based on which teacher the respondents had. According to some of the students there were some teachers that made conscious choices to structure the lesson and its content to build a motivating environment while other teachers placed more emphasis on other factors when structuring their lessons, such as more focus on the knowledge requirements according to the respondents. What was common to the teachers who succeeded in creating a motivating environment was the following: the teachers give the students choice and freedom to influence the content, show commitment and energy for the teaching, the lesson content is experienced meaningfully for the future, lessons where you can collaborate in groups contributed to increased motivation among the students and finally where the teacher works to try to see all students.

This study examined peer group processes in the classroom that can potentially explain how motivationally "rich" children get "richer" whereas motivationally "poor" children get "poorer." In contrast to research on group processes which focuses on socialization from group to individual, this study focuses on contributions from the individual to his/her group. The viewpoint taken for this study is that children actively choose group members based on their own self-system state, thereby creating their own peer environments in which they develop.Viewed as open complex systems, children's natural peer groups were examined using data collected from students and their teachers at five measurement points across a school year in four grade 4/5 classrooms. Out of 112 students, data were obtained for 94 (51 male, 43 female) children regarding their classroom engagement, peer network affiliations, and associative preferences ("ideal groups" of classmates with whom they would like to hang out). In an effort to overcome some of the challenges that group researchers face, methodologies argued to reliably capture children's networks and to measure the network's psychological characteristics were used. In addition, a hierarchical systems framework was applied whereby the underlying group processes could be examined across time. Two of seven hierarchical perspectives were used to examine influences from the individual to his/her network. Focusing first on the changing nature of a child's network, findings revealed a pattern of robust equilibrium. Networks showed an initial period of rapid change in member turnover (approximately 45%) during the first few months and then evolved quickly toward a stable (attractor) state of approximately 25% turnover the remainder of the year. Focusing next on the proximal processes by which the peer network emerges--selection and elimination--children were found to be more similar to those whom they would like to select than those whom they would like to eliminate. Taken together, the findings suggest that the child creates a peer context in the classroom that is stimulating and compatible to his/her own changes in engagement across the school year, thereby providing a possible explanation for how the motivationally "rich" get "richer" and the "poor" get "poorer".

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