Music Education as part of the learning area Arts and Culture is far from satisfactory in South African schools. Reasons for this include a highly sophisticated and complex curriculum (the revised National Curriculum Statement, 2002); the integration of four discrete arts forms into one learning area; and teacher training which is not always reflective of the teaching profession’s demands. The study was based on a mixed method design, investigating how teachers in best scenario schools implement music as part of the integrated learning area Arts and Culture. Interviews were held with various stakeholders in Music Education, including teachers currently involved with the presentation of the Arts and Culture learning area, lecturers at universities training students for Music Education, and policy makers such as subject advisors in the Arts and Culture learning area. Data was also collected by analysing commercially available resources for this learning area. Analysis of the data obtained revealed that few teachers in the Arts and Culture learning area are qualified in more than one art form. A major concern is that music is often omitted from regular classroom activities in the Foundation Phase due to teachers feeling pressurised by multiple assessment standards in learning areas such as Literacy and Numeracy. Another finding in all primary school phases was that the time spent on Music Education was far less than that spent on Visual Arts. Learners are often involved in projects collecting knowledge about music, but seldom involved in active music making experiences. Aspects such as different ways to integrate the arts into one learning area, generalist/specialist teacher training, as well as issues concerning product, process and performance during the delivery of the arts, were also investigated. The researcher drew from all the data to design a course for teacher training in Music Education as part of the learning area Arts and Culture. Recommendations include regular in-service teacher training courses; nationwide co-ordination of teacher training programmes and the establishment of a national council for Music Education. An urgent need for appropriate lesson material in Arts and Culture was also identified, including CDs with songs and backtracks. / Thesis (DMus)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Music / unrestricted

The South African education system has experienced a paradigm shift from content-based education towards an outcomes-based education. The focus of outcomes-based education is a learner-centred approach. The criteria that learners should adhere to at the end of their school career are that they should be productive, successful lifelong learners. To achieve these criteria, learners should be able to maximise their own potential. The world of work requires learners to easily adapt and function effectively in groups and to have the ability to achieve the set criteria. This means that the world of work demands productive, critical, independent learners who are able to express themselves and communicate effectively within social situations. The question that arises is whether learners within the South African context have the ability to create opportunities to claim ownership and take responsibility for their own learning. The focus of this research is therefore on the role of maximising human potential as determined by the need of South African learners to be empowered and well prepared for the demands of the world of work. The literature pertaining to the nature, phenomenon and process of maximising of human potential is briefly examined and the fundamentals are identified. Maximising of human potential is contextualised as a component of the educational phenomenon. An observation study of two classgroups consisting of grade 8 and grade 10 learners respectively from the same school was undertaken in order to identify and determine whether learners within a realistic, diverse school setting are capable of maximising their own potential. Profiles were compiled to underline the socio-economic background of each learner and to serve as a mechanism to indicate and underline diversity in the classroom. Interviews with teachers and learners served as cross-validation of these results. The results revealed that learners from the school were demotivated with regard to maximising their potential. As a qualitative study, the final results indicated trends that may be generalised to similar classrooms. The phenomenon of maximising of human potential is based on the principle of outcomes-based education and should be the focus of learning in every classroom. Guidelines and models for a facilitator training programme in maximising human potential are suggested. The findings of the study indicate that by virtue of the fact that the teaching and learning process is to be approached from a new angle, teachers first need to have a changed perspective or execute a philosophical leap before they are able to maximise the potential of learners in the classroom. Recommendations for the future include, amongst others, that the teacher should be seen as a facilitator of opportunities for learner contributions; that because of the new and exciting demands made on the teacher by this approach, knowledge and expertise regarding maximising of human potential as didactic practice should be made available; that a longitudinal observation study of teachers who received such training, and their pupils, is undertaken as a follow-up study in order to evaluate the results of the training; and that further research is undertaken locally as well as in other countries where the maximising of human potential in language as learning phenomenon is already being practiced. / Dissertation (MEd (Curriculum Studies))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Curriculum Studies / unrestricted

AIM AND OBJECTIVES The investigation aimed to determine how the learning of the life sciences is facilitated (mediated) in special schools for blind learners and to establish how the lessons learnt from this experience could be implemented to the advantage of blind learners in the Senior Phase and Further Education and Training Band in inclusive Outcomes-based education settings. METHODOLOGY Educators and blind learners were interviewed through the use of the Qualitative Inquiry methodology as well as its techniques and strategies for data gathering. Analysis of the transcripts resulted in the development of themes/codes discussed in the research investigation. RESULTS Educators spent a good amount of time and effort with blind learners in the biology and life sciences classrooms. It appeared as if the pastoral role of the educator predominantly exceeded the teaching of biology and life sciences to these learners. Further, it became evident that the emphasis did not fall strongly enough on the achievement of the outcomes envisaged with the biology curriculum but more on the establishment of a caring and supportive classroom environment. CONCLUSIONS Biology and other life sciences subjects have much potential for the blind learners in South Africa but they are not offered at some of the schools or efficiently mediated due to educators’ reluctance, lack of knowledge and resources. Learning mediation strategies to make biology and life sciences more accessible to blind learners could be explored. / Thesis (PhD (Curriculum and Instructional Design and Development))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Curriculum Studies / unrestricted

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / This thesis examines the way in which the recognition of diversity can be applied as a strategy in South African education to erode the bitter legacy of colonial education. The establishment of formal education, built on a western foundation, was set up against a background of colonisation as a process aimed at political subjugation and economic exploitation. It is especially how education was utilised as a tool of colonisation in order to facilitate the above-mentioned subjugation and exploitation through a process of cultural subjugation that will be placed under the spotlight. In chapter three, the process of cultural subjugation outlined in chapter two, is related to the establishment and development of colonial education in South Africa and also how Apartheid was a form of internal colonialism with apartheid education continuing the process of cultural subjugation for political control and economic exploitation. Colonial subjugation was, however, not passively accepted by the subjugated. From the outset, subjugation spawned resistance and would eventually grow into large-scale opposition aimed at the overall casting off of the colonial yoke. This opposition eventually led to the political freedom of 1994. The political freedom of 1994 and the judicial framework for the dismantling of the legacy of colonial education would not, on its own or overnight, be able to dismantle the effects of centuries of subjugation. The dismantling of the inheritance of colonialism, together with colonial education, requires deliberate and constructive action. Such a process will have to include putting an end to the subjugation of the numerous voices characteristic of South Africa. Ending this subjugation does not mean the continuation of a position alongside and beneath a socially constructed dominant, but rather a process (a struggle?) where it can take its place impartially, alongside and equal to other voices in the greater diverse whole. It is against the above background that teaching strategies for the handling of diversity will be critically examined and for which recommendations are made for strategies, within the South African context, through which the dismantling of the colonial legacy of cultural subjugation for political control and economic exploitation can take place.

Current literature on teaching research methodology in the social sciences points to the changing nature of our world in terms of its complexity and diversity and how this affects the way in which we search for answers to related problems. New ways of approaching research problems that relate to the demands of practice need to be explored, which is in contrast with the ‘either-or’ world we coach our students for, that is to be either qualitative or quantitative researchers. Also, educational policy reform in South Africa has sought to address the issue of real-life relevance of curricula, and specifically, reformists have turned to proponents of Mode 2 knowledge to inform initiatives for change. This means that tertiary institutions will have to adjust the way in which they deliver education to future generations of South Africans. The aim of this study was to map the content of undergraduate research methodology courses at South African universities and to explore the beliefs held by some academics that inform the way in which these courses are constructed. Critical theory allowed the researcher to search for unequal distributions of power and is defined in this study in its oppressive role, that is, its productive ability to bring about inequalities and human suffering. As some critical social theorists embrace specific, and at times divergent, methodologies, a pluralistic approach, based on Habermas’ idea of the relative legitimacy of all theories and methods, was used to. The study revealed that there is a heavy reliance on the methods that are traditionally linked to the positivist paradigm. It also revealed that alternate paradigms focusing on philosophies that dictate the use of qualitative methods are increasingly included in methodology courses and juxtaposed against or used to supplement positivist approaches to research. As academics may struggle to let go of traditional paradigms, they may find a compromise in presenting both. By acknowledging the limitations of past curricula, academics actively seek to change these discourses, but by doing so they may be instituting new hegemonies. One of the findings of this study is thus that distinctions about the content of research courses are being made on a methodological level instead of also acknowledging the epistemological and pragmatic grounds for making choices. Moreover, it is argued that the consensus achieved regarding the curriculum for a research course is the result of conversations held between academics in an ideal speech situation that excludes other significant voices. The lecturers' dominance over the students is maintained in the dialogical activities that they undertake with colleagues that confirm their position of authority in academic society. Students recognise this authority and consent to it. It is proposed that the way forward for curriculum construction lies in establishing academic communities of practice that should be viewed as the type of university that Habermas would advocate: where academics need to share power and be open to the challenges that they face such as negotiating what is accepted as knowledge. / Thesis (DPhil (Psychology))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Psychology / unrestricted

Department of Curriculum Studies and Educational Management / PhD (CS)

Text in Afrikaans / This study investigates the opportunities provided in outcomes-based language textbooks to develop learners' full potential. This is done by looking at how learners' multiple intelligences can flourish. Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences, which is used as a framework in the current study, claims that learners have different combinations of intelligences, and that the various intelligences can be developed. By doing so, learners are developed in their totality as knowledgeable, skilful and balanced adults. By giving learners a variety of activities which accommodate the different intelligences, they have the opportunity to use their strong intelligences in the language classroom. At the same time, learners are given the opportunity to expand their less developed intelligences. In this study, selected Afrikaans and English language textbooks are analysed to determine how the different intelligences are covered. Outcomes-based language textbooks are used because outcomes-based education deals with the development of learners' full potential. The assumption can be made that this approach to teaching and learning enables learners to develop their multiple intelligences. The study brings to light that only some intelligences receive attention in language textbooks, namely the linguistic, logical-mathematical, interpersonal, intrapersonal and spatial intelligences. On the other hand, other intelligences get little or even no attention in the textbooks that were analysed, namely the bodily-kinesthetic, naturalistic and musical intelligences. In spite of the important role that music plays in language teaching, it appears that the musical intelligence is afforded the least attention of all the intelligences in seven of the eight textbooks that were analysed. As a result, learners' uniqueness in this regard is not respected, and their total development as knowledgeable, skilful and balanced human beings can therefore be hindered. Recommendations are made regarding the curriculum, teaching practice and teacher training, and are directed to stakeholders in the writing of textbooks. The recommendations make it clear that different aspects of all the intelligences should be taken into consideration in the development of textbooks and other learning materials for language teaching and, by implication, teaching in general. / Educational Studies / D. Ed. (Didactics)

South African educators have experienced problems understanding and implementing various previous curriculum policies such as Curriculum 2005 and the Revised National Curriculum Statement. These problems have made it necessary for the Department of Basic Education (DBE) to introduce the national Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statements (CAPS) in 2012. CAPS was intended to improve teaching and learning, but as with the implementation of any new curriculum it implies the following: The need for educator training; Need for new resources; Change in policy; An increased workload. This qualitative study which was conducted at a primary school in the Imfolozi Circuit aimed to determine how CAPS is implemented and its implications on teaching and learning. Data collected from focus group interviews and document analysis revealed that while educators welcomed the introduction of CAPS for its clarity, structure, clear guidelines and time frames however they experienced challenges related to the quality and the amount of training, inadequate resources, increased workload and the impact of rapid pace of the curriculum on teaching and learning. Based on these results recommendations are made for the improvement of the implementation of CAPS. / Curriculum and Instructional Studies / M. Ed. (Curriculum Studies)

The study investigates Setswana Home Language teachers’ conceptions of assessment and assessment standards and determines to what extent teachers ensure that their teaching, learning and assessment practices are aligned. The achievement of the overall aim is facilitated by the achievement of a number of objectives, mentioned under Chapter 1 section 1.5. In order to answer to these questions; namely, How did curriculum changes influence teaching, learning and assessment practices in South Africa?, What does assessment entail and what are the principles of high quality assessment practices?, What is meant by the alignment of teaching, learning and assessment?, Do teachers understand the new approach to assessment and the role of assessment standards in aligning, teaching, learning and assessment?, To what extent do Setswana teachers use assessment standards to align teaching, learning and assessment in Setswana Home Language and what challenges do they face in this regard?, What can be done to help teachers to ensure that their teaching, learning and assessment practices in the teaching of Setswana Home Language are aligned?, the study utilizes qualitative research methodology specifically sampling and the three data collection strategies, namely, interviews, observations and document analysis, to obtain data from the research participants. The research acknowledges the educational changes that have been implemented in South Africa through Curriculum 2005, which was later revised and led to the development of the Revised National Curriculum Statement for Grades R-9 and the National Curriculum Statement for Grades 10-12. The study highlights that the problems with these curricula led to the development of yet another curriculum, namely the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statements. The study investigates Setswana Home Language teachers’ conceptions of assessment and assessment standards and determines to what extent teachers ensure that their teaching, learning and assessment practices are aligned. The achievement of the overall aim is facilitated by the achievement of a number of objectives, mentioned under Chapter 1 section 1.5. In order to answer to these questions; namely, How did curriculum changes influence teaching, learning and assessment practices in South Africa?, What does assessment entail and what are the principles of high quality assessment practices?, What is meant by the alignment of teaching, learning and assessment?, Do teachers understand the new approach to assessment and the role of assessment standards in aligning, teaching, learning and assessment?, To what extent do Setswana teachers use assessment standards to align teaching, learning and assessment in Setswana Home Language and what challenges do they face in this regard?, What can be done to help teachers to ensure that their teaching, learning and assessment practices in the teaching of Setswana Home Language are aligned?, the study utilizes qualitative research methodology specifically sampling and the three data collection strategies, namely, interviews, observations and document analysis, to obtain data from the research participants. The research acknowledges the educational changes that have been implemented in South Africa through Curriculum 2005, which was later revised and led to the development of the Revised National Curriculum Statement for Grades R-9 and the National Curriculum Statement for Grades 10-12. The study highlights that the problems with these curricula led to the development of yet another curriculum, namely the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statements. The study investigates Setswana Home Language teachers’ conceptions of assessment and assessment standards and determines to what extent teachers ensure that their teaching, learning and assessment practices are aligned. The achievement of the overall aim is facilitated by the achievement of a number of objectives, mentioned under Chapter 1 section 1.5. In order to answer to these questions; namely, How did curriculum changes influence teaching, learning and assessment practices in South Africa?, What does assessment entail and what are the principles of high quality assessment practices?, What is meant by the alignment of teaching, learning and assessment?, Do teachers understand the new approach to assessment and the role of assessment standards in aligning, teaching, learning and assessment?, To what extent do Setswana teachers use assessment standards to align teaching, learning and assessment in Setswana Home Language and what challenges do they face in this regard?, What can be done to help teachers to ensure that their teaching, learning and assessment practices in the teaching of Setswana Home Language are aligned?, the study utilizes qualitative research methodology specifically sampling and the three data collection strategies, namely, interviews, observations and document analysis, to obtain data from the research participants. The research acknowledges the educational changes that have been implemented in South Africa through Curriculum 2005, which was later revised and led to the development of the Revised National Curriculum Statement for Grades R-9 and the National Curriculum Statement for Grades 10-12. The study highlights that the problems with these curricula led to the development of yet another curriculum, namely the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statements. The study investigates Setswana Home Language teachers’ conceptions of assessment and assessment standards and determines to what extent teachers ensure that their teaching, learning and assessment practices are aligned. The achievement of the overall aim is facilitated by the achievement of a number of objectives, mentioned under Chapter 1 section 1.5. In order to answer to these questions; namely, How did curriculum changes influence teaching, learning and assessment practices in South Africa?, What does assessment entail and what are the principles of high quality assessment practices?, What is meant by the alignment of teaching, learning and assessment?, Do teachers understand the new approach to assessment and the role of assessment standards in aligning, teaching, learning and assessment?, To what extent do Setswana teachers use assessment standards to align teaching, learning and assessment in Setswana Home Language and what challenges do they face in this regard?, What can be done to help teachers to ensure that their teaching, learning and assessment practices in the teaching of Setswana Home Language are aligned?, the study utilizes qualitative research methodology specifically sampling and the three data collection strategies, namely, interviews, observations and document analysis, to obtain data from the research participants. The research acknowledges the educational changes that have been implemented in South Africa through Curriculum 2005, which was later revised and led to the development of the Revised National Curriculum Statement for Grades R-9 and the National Curriculum Statement for Grades 10-12. The study highlights that the problems with these curricula led to the development of yet another curriculum, namely the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statements. The study recognizes the new assessment approach as an important component in the teaching and learning process because assessment provides teachers with information that is significant in decision making in the classroom. The study also discusses the launch of the modern standards movement and its roots in the back-to-basics movement and the reasons behind its formation. It also discusses the concept of alignment and its links with the two well-known taxonomies of learning. The study also embarks on data analysis which brings forth findings that help develop recommendations and future research possibilities. / Linguistics and Modern Languages / M. Ed. (Didactics)

The aim of the research was to reflect phenomenologically on the role of the school principal as educational manager and instructional leader in enhancing a culture of teaching and learning in schools, and to reflect critically on this state of affairs in Limpopo Province. A literature study was undertaken to expose problems that deter principals from fulfilling these roles. Qualitative research in the form of ideograms, as well as, unstructured interviews with principles, was used to elicit principals' views concerning how they perceive their roles in an attempt to enhance a culture of teaching and learning in schools. Research findings indicated that principalship is beset with many problems which have to be addressed in order to restore the collapsed culture of teaching and learning in schools. Results revealed among other issues that: - The training of principals for the introduction of Outcomes Based Education in schools was not well carried out. It was incomprehensible for the Education Department to exclude principals from the training when the whole system of teaching and learning was supposed to change with the introduction of Outcomes Based Education - The redeployment and rationalisation of teachers has given rise to many complicated problems in schools, leaving teachers demoralised and being a major cause of job dissatisfaction for principals The research findings revealed that the role of principals as educational managers and instructional leaders in Limpopo Province is not authentically enacted. Recommendations include among other issues that: - The Department of Education in Limpopo Province review the implementation of Outcomes Based Education, particularly the training of principals - Attention should be given to problems arising from the process of redeployment and rationalisation of teachers in schools - There is a need for ongoing, effective and in-service lifelong training for teachers, principals and the School Governing Body with regard to education management. Attention to these issues, amongst others, it is proposed, will contribute to the effective implementation of the role of school principals as educational managers and instructional leaders, particularly in Limpopo Province. This will reinforce the desired culture of teaching and learning in schools. / Educational Studies / D. Ed. (Philosophy of Education)