This research focuses on educators' experience of implementing outcomes-based education in grade nine in secondary schools in South Africa. Two schools were chosen as settings for the qualitative research project. Three focus groups with 20 educators, two focus groups with 14 managers and seven personal interviews were conducted. Twelve classrooms were also observed where grade nine learners were being taught. Findings indicated that some educators found the experience of implementing OBE positive in that it improved their repertoire of facilitating and assessing skills. The reasons for citing OBE as a negative experience were given as the following: an increased workload, poor training and lack of follow-up by the Department and the school management team's degree of involvement. Recommendations were made on how to ease the burden on educators implementing OBE in their classrooms and to empower school managers to manage the implementation of OBE within their respective areas of responsibility. / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (Education Management)

This research focuses on educators' experience of implementing outcomes-based education in grade nine in secondary schools in South Africa. Two schools were chosen as settings for the qualitative research project. Three focus groups with 20 educators, two focus groups with 14 managers and seven personal interviews were conducted. Twelve classrooms were also observed where grade nine learners were being taught. Findings indicated that some educators found the experience of implementing OBE positive in that it improved their repertoire of facilitating and assessing skills. The reasons for citing OBE as a negative experience were given as the following: an increased workload, poor training and lack of follow-up by the Department and the school management team's degree of involvement. Recommendations were made on how to ease the burden on educators implementing OBE in their classrooms and to empower school managers to manage the implementation of OBE within their respective areas of responsibility. / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (Education Management)

Mathematics, as a subject, is used in various scientific careers as a selection tool. It is regarded as the cornerstone of scientific literacy. However, since learners in South Africa do not perform optimally in mathematics they do not enjoy international recognition. Education renewal is ongoing, and South Africa currently follows an outcomes-based (OBE) approach. The teaching of mathematics cannot be renewed successfully if assessment methods are not regularly adapted to meet new developments in the field. The incorporation of an OBE approach at school level made it necessary to facilitate assessment renewal in tertiary mathematics at the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT). TUT is engaged in a merger of three institutions, which has made the development of new curricula and teaching material essential. Hence this a perfect time to introduce assessment renewal. The primary purpose of this thesis is to report on the research study and its results, and to make recommendations for improving the practice. The overarching research hypothesis in this study is that a suitable assessment would probably enhance the effectiveness of a student’s learning. The research focused on the following questions: -- To what extent are outcomes-based strategies effectively and regularly introduced in the teaching of mathematics at TUT? -- Will tertiary mathematics facilitators be prepared to implement outcomes-based strategies at TUT? -- To what extent are outcomes-based strategies strategies in subjects supported by mathematics implemented at TUT? -- How does the ecology of TUT affect the implementation of outcomes-based strategies? -- What other factors could influence the level of implementation of OBS at TUT? -- Have any of the mathematics facilitators at TUT received suitable and adequate training in the implementation of outcomes-based strategies? -- What are the possible implications of the study for TUT’s assessment policy? Action research was chosen as the research design because it is ideally suited to improving practice. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected through questionnaires, personal interviews, interviews with focus groups, observations, documentation and a reflective diary. The main findings are as follows:– -- OBE strategies are not being introduced throughout TUT in the teaching of mathematics. -- Group work and peer assessments are rare occurences. -- Some lecturers are convinced that new assessment methods would lower the standard of their teaching. -- Uncertainty about the merger and the varying teaching conditions at the different campuses tend to inhibit lecturers, making them less willing to undertake assessment renewals. -- TUT should review its admission criteria. -- The lecturers cited large class groups, a lack of marking assistance and ignorance about OBE as reasons for failing to undertake assessment renewal. The study prepared respondents for assessment renewal. In the interim, however, TUT has introduced a Policy on Teaching, Learning and Technology, whereby OBE has been selected as the teaching model for TUT. In future, respondents will receive training and guidance in the implementation of OBE. This study has hopefully made a significant contribution to this positive development. / Thesis (PhD (Curriculum Studies))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Curriculum Studies / unrestricted

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / Black South Africans have been exposed to an unequal and divided education system. It has been expected that the basis for an equitable education system would be laid in the post apartheid period. In this thesis I have provided an analysis of education policy development in South Africa between May 1994 and mid-1997. My main aim has been to understand the policy vision that the post apartheid state has enacted as the basis for educational reconstruction. The conceptual framework of this thesis is located in the academic fields of Education and Development and Policy Sociology. I have focused on the interaction between the broad delimitations set by the structural, economic and political dimensions in society on the one hand, and the political and policy dynamics that have given education policy its specific meaning on the other hand. The role of the government in enacting a specific policy vision has been at the centre of my analysis. The government has effected a conservative vision with the adoption of the Growth, Employment and Redistribution (GEAR) macroeconomic strategy. GEAR has targeted the development of an export-based global economy along post fordist lines. Predicated upon an emphasis on fiscal discipline, the dominant policy orientation has supported equity but without an emphasis on redress. This approach has not provided the necessary basis for education reconstruction. The National Qualifications Framework (NQF)and Outcomes-based education (OBE) embody a definite vision in terms of which education policy would be aligned with economic development. This vision is based on the false assumption that education should playa fundamental role in producing the sophisticated labour demands of a globally competitive economy. The logic of both GEAR and the NQF is internally inconsistent and the relationship between these two policy frameworks is unsustainable. By mid-1997 a definitive narrow and conservative education policy vision had been established which would impede the development of an equitable education system. Education policy 'narrowing' has not been achieved easily, nor has its outcome been inevitable. The specificity of the political context and policy processes has shaped the policy outcomes. A moderate constitutional dispensation has impeded the possibility of developing a radical policy vision. The semi-federal powers awarded to the provinces have led to inconqruence between national and provincial policy. Court challenges aimed at protecting historically acquired educational privileges, have been brought by conservative groups against national education legislation. The apartheid-era bureaucrats, whose jobs were protected by the negotiated constitution, have impeded the development of progressive policy. They brought the conservative policy reformism of the apartheid state into the new policy processes. The NQF has been developed on the basis of a policy consensus between labour and capital in support of skills training and upgrading of workers. Participation in policy processes has been determined 0[1 the basis of identified stakeholders This has given rise to a technicist policy approach that bas excluded many interest groups, academics and professional experts. Most teachers felt alienated by the curriculum policy process. Policy has been developed in a reconstituted civil society. The progressive education movement has been demobilised, and its place has been taken by a constellation of conservative forces who have used the moderate political climate to advance conservative policy interests. The government has had to make policy within a constrained political and policy environment. With regard to the main conceptual underpinning of this thesis, i.e. the relationship between equality and (economic) development, it is clear that the government has favoured the development dimension in pursuit of an education framework that would aid the generation of a globally competitive economy. Social equality has thus been sideline. I have advanced the view that where the government has reneged on the delivery of the social welfare and educational demands of an expectant polity, education policy has manifested as, means of compensatory legitimation at the symbolic level to 'signal', rather than give effect to real change. In my analysis of school access and school curriculum policy, I have suggested that policy has been limited to 'signalling' a commitment to a reconstructed and equitable education system. This has masked the conservative framework that has come to underpin education policy by mid-1997.

The National Curriculum Statement (NCS) heralds the beginning of a new curriculum for Grades 10 to 12 in South Africa. Underpinned by the South African Constitution, and based on the tenets of Outcomes-based Education, the NCS seeks to provide contextually-relevant education for all South African learners, so that they are able to embrace inevitable change. Although the NCS highlights the importance of assessment, an analysis of the English Home Language (EHL) NCS reveals tensions between policy and practice. This study attempts to contextualise the role of relevant assessment for the 21st century. It then proceeds to engage in a historical evaluation of assessment within the NSC in terms of how assessment was conducted in the former Natal Education Department, a liberal education department within former apartheid South Africa. The conclusions drawn from the evaluation are used to provide recommendations to relieve the tensions identified within the EHL NSC. / Educational Studies / M.Ed.

The National Curriculum Statement (NCS) heralds the beginning of a new curriculum for Grades 10 to 12 in South Africa. Underpinned by the South African Constitution, and based on the tenets of Outcomes-based Education, the NCS seeks to provide contextually-relevant education for all South African learners, so that they are able to embrace inevitable change. Although the NCS highlights the importance of assessment, an analysis of the English Home Language (EHL) NCS reveals tensions between policy and practice. This study attempts to contextualise the role of relevant assessment for the 21st century. It then proceeds to engage in a historical evaluation of assessment within the NSC in terms of how assessment was conducted in the former Natal Education Department, a liberal education department within former apartheid South Africa. The conclusions drawn from the evaluation are used to provide recommendations to relieve the tensions identified within the EHL NSC. / Educational Studies / M.Ed.

The educational changes introduced by the South African democratic dispensation after 1994 were meant to address the apartheid imbalances. The self-governing regime sought to bring and safeguard quality education for all, and to amend the previous education inequalities among all racial groups. Hence, the new curriculum that was introduced by the National Department of Basic Education was meant to be a drastic departure from the school curricula of the apartheid administration. One critical innovation sought was to replace a teacher-centred curriculum with a learner-centred curriculum. The emphasis of this study, therefore, was to determine the level to which learner- centred teaching has been adopted by rural and underdeveloped schools. The selection of rural schools was informed by the obvious differences that still persist between the former Model C schools and those that were predominantly black and underdeveloped, particularly in terms of resources and the quality of teachers. Given the fact that the main feature of the Outcomes Based Education (OBE) that was introduced from 1996 is that it is resource-reliant, the main research question of the study was therefore: How do educators in rural and underdeveloped schools cope with a learner-centred teaching as part of the curriculum innovation? In order to riposte to the study’s main question, the researcher used qualitative research methods to discern data from Physical Sciences teachers, learners and Physical Sciences Heads of Departments (Hods) from the selected schools. In addition, the researcher conducted classroom teaching observations, analysed relevant documents and interviewed some participants to determine their views and experiences on using a learner-centred approach. The findings of the study revealed many challenges to rural schools in adopting and implementing a learner-centred approach. These include the lack of relevant resources, poor quality of teachers, insufficient and inappropriate teacher-support programmes for teachers as well as the rural environmental challenges. The overall conclusion of the study is that, after two decades since the introduction of a learner-centred approach in South Africa, rural schools have not yet managed to adopt and implement learner-centred pedagogy as an important part of the post-1994 educational innovations. The researcher finds it ironic that apartheid education was demonized for promoting inequality around racial lines. Sadly, the post-apartheid innovations have yet to address equality among the racial groups and areas of resident. The inability of rural schools to adopt and implement learner-centred approach is depriving black and rural learners of quality learning. They are still subjected to a teacher-centred learning which does not assist them to acquire required skills which can help them to compete with those learners who are attending affluent urban schools. / Curriculum and Instructional Studies / D. Ed. (Curriculum Studies)

It is generally agreed that during the apartheid era secondary school History education was perceived as either an indispensible aid toward furthering the National Party’s social and political programme of separate development by some sections of the South African community or as an insidious form of indoctrination by other sections of the community. One of the contentions of this thesis is that this form of apology or indoctrination was less successful than is generally believed. The white English and Afrikaans-speaking sections of the community, although practising very different cultures shared many perceptions, including the perception that secondary school History education was less important than was the study of other subjects. The result was that at least since the 1960s, History was a subject in decline at most South African white secondary schools. History education enjoyed a mixed reception on the part of black secondary school educators during the apartheid era although the majority of black secondary school educators and learners, particularly after the 1976 Soweto Uprising, rejected the subject as a gross misrepresentation of historical record. The demise of History as a secondary school subject during the post-apartheid era is well documented. The case is made that this is due to factors such as poor teaching and the tendency by school administrations to marginalise the subject. My own 2008 and 2012 research indicates that while many South African adults display a negative attitude toward secondary school History education, secondary school learners have a far more positive outlook. The finding of this thesis is that the future for History education in South Africa is not as bleak as many imagine it appears to be. / History / D. Litt. et Phil. (History)

It is generally agreed that during the apartheid era secondary school History education was perceived as either an indispensible aid toward furthering the National Party’s social and political programme of separate development by some sections of the South African community or as an insidious form of indoctrination by other sections of the community. One of the contentions of this thesis is that this form of apology or indoctrination was less successful than is generally believed. The white English and Afrikaans-speaking sections of the community, although practising very different cultures shared many perceptions, including the perception that secondary school History education was less important than was the study of other subjects. The result was that at least since the 1960s, History was a subject in decline at most South African white secondary schools. History education enjoyed a mixed reception on the part of black secondary school educators during the apartheid era although the majority of black secondary school educators and learners, particularly after the 1976 Soweto Uprising, rejected the subject as a gross misrepresentation of historical record. The demise of History as a secondary school subject during the post-apartheid era is well documented. The case is made that this is due to factors such as poor teaching and the tendency by school administrations to marginalise the subject. My own 2008 and 2012 research indicates that while many South African adults display a negative attitude toward secondary school History education, secondary school learners have a far more positive outlook. The finding of this thesis is that the future for History education in South Africa is not as bleak as many imagine it appears to be. / History / D. Litt. et Phil. (History)

Formal state-controlled education has been a central element for social development in South Africa since the formation of the Union of South Africa in 1910. The establishment and promotion of a culture of learning and teaching is regarded as a pre-condition for high educational standards. This thesis is a study of the role of the state in the establishment of a culture of learning and teaching in South Africa from 1910 to 2004. To understand the role that the state played in promoting, or inhibiting, a culture of learning and teaching, a historical review was taken of the state's role in formal schooling in the period of the Union (1910-1947), the era of apartheid (1948-1989), the transitional period (1990-1994) and in the era of the democratic South Africa. As an ideal, the state has a responsibility to ensure the establishment of a culture of learning and teaching. The historical review revealed, however, that the state used its policies to promote political rather than educational ideologies - and in the process, there was a complete breakdown in a culture of learning and teaching. The establishment and promotion of a culture of learning and teaching towards the maintenance of high academic standards in South African state schools was the motivating force behind this study. Therefore, this study concludes with guidelines and recommendations grounded in the historical review that will hopefully promote a culture of learning and teaching in South African schools in future. / Educational Studies / D.Ed. (History of Education)