The study population for the research comprised Grade 9 learners attending three co-educational, independent schools in KwaZulu-Natal in order to determine factors influencing the selection of business studies for FET phase. Methodology involved qualitative and quantitative approaches with closed and open-ended questionnaires plus one-on-one interviews. Descriptive statistics were produced and opened ended questions and interviews were examined for trends and influences. Findings reflected wide divergence in factual information, attitudes, and opinions on significant issues such as expected level of difficulty, influence of educators, parents and peers on selection, amount of work required and value of subject for future studies or careers. Conclusions were that there was a lack of completed research indicating a need for future research, greater preparation was required pre-FET level to assist decision making about selection of the subject which should involve parents, educators and input from the business world. / Curriculum and Instructional Studies / M. Ed. (Curriculum Studies)

The National Senior Certificate Examination results for Physical Sciences have recently declined, particularly in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. This study identified the causes of poor learner performance in Physical Sciences in grade 12 in the Further Education and Training (FET) phase in public schools in the Pinetown District, KwaZulu-Natal. The study employed a quantitative as well as a qualitative approach. Two public schools in the Pinetown District participated in this study. The identities of all respondents were protected. Upon analysis of the results, several contributory factors for poor performance were identified; no single factor was accountable for poor performance in Physical Sciences. Recommendations for improvement in the areas identified were provided and topics for future research on the curriculum of grade 8 and 9 Natural Science were suggested. / Education / M.ED (Curriculum Studies)

The purpose of this research was to determine teachers’ perceptions of the degree to which research-based characteristics exist in alternative high schools and programs in the Commonwealth of Virginia and the importance of these characteristics to effective education. In addition, this research investigated whether or not these perceptions were related to the teachers’ perception of efficacy. These seven characteristics were (a) clearly identified enrollment criteria, (b) low ratio of student to teachers, (c) one-to-one interactions between staff and students, (d) social skills instruction, (e) effective academic instruction, (f) parental involvement and parental support programs, and (g) specific training for teachers who are working with at-risk youth. Alternative school teachers were also administered the short form of the Tschannen-Moran and Woolfolk Hoy (2001) Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy Scale that is specifically designed to assess the respondents’ perceptions of their self-efficacy as teachers. The data show that alternative school teachers in Virginia ranked “low student to staff ratio” as the most important and “parental involvement and parental support programs” as the least important research-based characteristics for the academic focus of their schools. It was also evidenced by the data that none of the research-based characteristics were shown to have “strong evidence” of existence in Virginia’s alternative schools and programs. Finally, the data showed that there is a positive correlation between the existence of the research-based characteristics and the reported self-efficacy of the alternative school teachers.

過去關於父母參與效果的研究發現：父母參與有助於提升子女的學習成就。由於父母參與被視為一種社會資本或文化資本的延伸，父母參與的愈多，其子女學習效果也愈好。有鑑於此，本研究主要在探討父母參與在家庭社經地位和子女學習成就之間所扮演的角色，並將研究目的細分為三個研究議題。首先，根據智力發展理論與認知能力成長曲線相關研究，第一個議題探討臺灣青少年學生學習成長軌跡的發展與變化情形為何？接著，運用 Bourdieu 的文化資本與 Coleman 的社會資本的概念說明父母參與的重要性，其它兩個議題則探討家庭社經地位對子女學習成長軌跡的影響歷程中，父母參與扮演著中介效果還是交互作用效果？ 原始資料來源取自臺灣教育長期追蹤資料庫（Taiwan Education Panel Survey）公共使用版中的第一波到第四波國中長期追蹤樣本，使用潛在成長曲線模型進行次級資料分析。研究結果發現：1.就整體學習發展型態來看，臺灣青少年學生學習成長軌跡的發展是一種非線性遞增減速的成長曲線，年級愈高，學習成長速率愈慢；2.就個別學習成長軌跡而言，學生間起始狀態與成長速率有個別差異現象，進一步透過潛在成長混合模型的分析，發現學生學習成長軌跡的發展型態並無類別上的差異；3.學生的起始能力會影響學習成長速率的變化而產生馬太效應；4.隨著時間的遞移，高起始能力組的學生，其學習成長速率高於低起始能力組的學生，兩者的學習成就間差距會逐漸擴大而產生扇形擴散效應；5.父母參與對子女學習成就表現有顯著正向的短期立即效果與長期延宕效果，但波段與波段之間的延宕效果則沒有顯著差異；6.在家庭社經地位對子女學習成長軌跡的影響歷程中，父母參與扮演著部份中介而不調節的影響效果。 最後，依據上述研究發現，就研究結果與研究方法兩方面，將提出相關研究建議以供實務參考及後續研究之用。 / The previous research has shown that parental involvement produces measurable gains in student achievement. Since parental involvement is seen as a form of social capital and cultural capital, it is possible that the more a student owns parental involvement, the bigger the effect is. Thus, this study explores what role parental involvement plays between parents’ social-economic status and their children’s academic performance. The major purpose is further categorized into three specific questions. Based on the intelligence developmental theory and growth curve analyses of cognitive ability, the first is to inquire what patterns the development and change of academic growth trajectories of Taiwanese teenager’s academic performance are. Using the concepts of Bourdieu’s cultural capital and Coleman’s social capital to explain the importance of parental involvement, the other two purposes are to explore whether the effects of parental involvement on adolescent academic growth trajectories are mediated or moderated by family socioeconomic status. Using the data from the public released core panel data of the Taiwan Education Panel Survey (TEPS) in 2001, 2003, 2005, and 2007, this study employs the method of the latent growth curve modeling to address research questions. The results are the following: (1) Academic growth trajectory of Taiwan adolescence’s achievement reveals a nonlinear de-accelerating growth curve; (2) There are significant individual differences in both the initial status and growth rate of achievement among students, but further employing different latent growth mixture models shows no individual differences in the patterns of academic growth trajectories; (3) The Matthew Effects occur in the academic growth trajectories of Taiwanese teenagers; (4) Students with lower initial status learn more slowly over time than those with higher initial status do, and the “fan-spread” effect is found; (5) There are positive short-term and longer term effects of parental involvement on the Taiwanese adolescents’ academic achievement performance, but no significant difference among patterns of longer term effects over 6 years; (6) The effects of parental involvement are partially mediated, but not moderated by family SES. Finally, the study discusses the implications of parental involvement and suggests directions for future research.

本研究主要的目的在探討父母教養信念與方式、孩子內在動機資源、以及孩子成就之間的關係，即本研究所假設之「父母教養信念與方式影響孩子成就模式」是否成立。其中父母教養信念與方式是以父母重視學習、父母正向知覺、父母投入、以及父母自我效能為測量變項；孩子內在動機資源是以能力感、自主性、以及連繫性為測量變項；孩子成就是以期末成績、以及老師所評定之五育表現為測量變項。 本研究以雲林縣及台中市共15班的七年級孩子與他們的父母為研究對象。測量工具有三種分別為，測量父母教養信念與方式之「父母教養信念與方式問卷」，測量五育表現的「老師評比問卷」，以及測量孩子內在動機資源的「自我信念領域量表－中文版」。前兩個測量工具為研究者自編，以110份預試問卷，進行選題，建立信、效度，並以正式施測的521個研究樣本考驗問卷之有效性。後者則是譯自學校衡鑑研究工具(Institute for Research and Reform in Education、Inc.、IRRE、1998)的「自我信念領域量表(Beliefs about Self Scale)」。 結構方程模式考驗的結果顯示，「父母教養信念與方式影響孩子成就模式」與觀察資料達到良好適配，表示父母對孩子學習的正向觀感、父母本身認為學習對孩子的重要性、父母參與孩子學習活動的頻率、以及父母認為自己擁有幫助孩子發展的自我效能這四項父母教養信念與方式，能構築成支援性後天環境，除了直接影響孩子成就外，也會經由孩子產生掌握學習活動的能力感、主動參與學習的自主性、以及與環境建立安全連結的連繫性，幫助孩子在學校的表現。 根據逐步迴歸分析，本研究也發現，不論是預測孩子的期末成績是由老師所評定的五育表現，父母認為學習對孩子的重要性、父母對孩子表現的正向知覺、以及孩子所擁有的能力感相對上是較重要的父母教養信念與方式與孩子內在動機資源變項。因此對於七年級孩子的學習，父母較有效介入方式，並非直接的課業教導或監督、安排課後補習或才藝訓練、或對孩子不時的耳提面命，而是秉持重視學習的態度，正向樂觀地看待孩子的表現，這種態度上的潛移默化，孩子就容易建立正向的自我概念或能力感，進而表現得好。 除了上述結果，本研究也提出實務、以及未來研究上的建議，期望能作為家庭與親職教育領域的參考。 / This research is to examine a process model of relations among parental beliefs/practices、child inner resources and child achievement、namely、to validate the proposed 『Model of Influences on Parental Beliefs/Practices and Child achievement』. The parental beliefs/practices are composed of four observed variables: parents』 valuing learning、positive perception、involvement and self-efficacy. The child inner resources includes three observed variables: perceived competence、autonomy and relatedness. The child achievement comprises two observed variables: grade point average (GPA) and school performance. Participants were children in 15 classes of Grade 7 and their parents. Three self-report questionnaires、including 『Parental Beliefs/Practices Questionnaire』,』Teacher Ratings Questionnaire』 and 『Beliefs about Self Scale』 (Institute for Research and Reform in Education、Inc.、1998)、were utilized to measure the observed variables of parental beliefs/practices、child inner resources and child achievement respectively. The former two instruments、designed by the researcher、were established by a process of item selection and testing of reliability and validity based on the data of 110 participants in a pilot study. The factor structure and validity of these two instruments were further validated by 512 participants. The latter one was translated from the Belief about Self Scale (IRRE、1998) of Research Assessment Package for Schools developed by Institute for Research and Reform in Education、Inc. The test result of SEM suggested that the proposed 『Model of Influences on Parental Beliefs/Practices and Child Achievement』 fit the collected data well. That means、besides enhancing children’s achievement directly、all of the four parental beliefs/practices are able to generate a supportive environment to influence the children’s achievement、mediated by child inner resources. By the results of stepwise regression、we found that parents』 valuing learning、parental positive perception and perceived competence are important variables in predicting either GPA or school performance. This finding implied、to children in 7th grade、the effective ways in helping children may not be guiding or monitoring their learning activities、arranging additional training or providing advice、but to emphasize learning and appreciate children’s performance positively. This kind of attitude will enhance children’s positive self-concept or perceived competence so as to improve their performance in school. Besides above results、we raised several advices for parents and school for the sake of parental practices and education. Suggestions were also made for further research.

本研究主要透過回溯方式探究幼兒弱勢因素、家庭社經、學前經驗、家長參與對幼兒就學準備度之影響；另，探究就學準備度對日後學習成就之影響及就學準備度對日後學習成就預測之重要領域能力，並比較弱勢及非弱勢幼兒之差異。 本研究透過問卷調查法，以弱勢幼兒為主要探究對象，以立意取樣方式選取南投縣草屯鎮及信義鄉352位三年級學童樣本回收率為71%。將教育弱勢幼兒定義為：偏遠地區、原住民、新移民子女及中低收入戶，樣本中弱勢學童占60.8%。研究工具分為三部分：(一)學童一、二及三年級學業成績，其中一年級學業成績採計五科作為就學準備度五領域之替代指標；二年級及三年級上學期成績則作為幼兒日後學習成就短及長期之替代指標。(二)兒童自評之生活適應問卷作為長期學習成就之另一替代指標。(三)透過自編之幼兒背景問卷、幼兒及小學時期家長問卷了解幼兒之基本資料及家長參與情形。本研究所使用的統計方法包含：描述性統計、交叉表分析、卡方分析、Pearson相關分析、T檢定、單因子變異數分析、線性迴歸及多元階層迴歸分析。 研究主要結論如下：(一) 弱勢因素對幼兒就學準備度有顯著之負項影響其影響可延伸至小學三年級。(二) 曾就讀幼兒園、就讀私立幼兒園對幼兒就學準備度及其日後學習成就有顯著正向影響，其影響可延伸至三年級。(三) 家庭社經、家長參與對幼兒就學準備度及其日後學習成就有顯著正向影響。(四) 就學準備度及學前因素為影響就學準備度之主要因素；弱勢因素及就學準備度為影響幼兒就學準備度及幼兒日後學習成就之主要因素。(五)弱勢幼兒就學準備度對日後短期及長期學習成就之預測力，較非弱勢幼兒高。(六) 弱勢幼兒就學準備度之數學及語文領域能力，能有效預測其日後二年級及三年級上學期之整體學業表現。(七) 非弱勢幼兒之幼兒就學準備度數學及語文領域能有效預測其二年級上學期之整體學業表現。 / The main purpose of this study is trying to figure out how disadvantaged factors, family Social Status, preschool experience and parental involvement will affect children’s school readiness and their later achievement. And try to find the connection between school readiness and later achievement, looking for the important school readiness area that can predict later achievement. Also try to compare the difference of above answers between disadvantaged and advantaged children’s. Ex-post-factor research and questionnaires investigate are used. Using purposive sampling, choosing Sinyi and Caotun 2 township of Nantou County, 352 3rd grade student are involved, and Effective response rate is 71%.There are 60.8%of sample are educational disadvantaged student. 3 main research tools are used：1. 1st grade’s academic score of 5 subject are using as the substitutes of school readiness performance;2nd grade’s academic score of all subject as substitutes of short-turn later achievement; 3nd grade’s academic score of all subject as substitutes of long-turn later achievement. 2. A children answered life adaptation questionnaire as another substitutes of long-turn later achievement.3. Using a self-edited student background and 2 parental involvement questionnaires. Data were analyzed by descriptive analysis, Crosstabs, Chi-square test, Pearson’s product-moment correlation, Spearman's rank correlation, t-test, linear regression, and multiple hierarchical regression analysis. The main finding of the study： 1. Disadvantaged factors have negative effects toward children’s school readiness and their later achievement. 2. Having the experience of preschool and going to private preschools have positive effects toward children’s school readiness and their later achievement. 3. Family social status and parental involvement have positive effects toward children’s school readiness and their later achievement. 4. Disadvantaged and preschool factors can and strongly predict children’s school readiness; disadvantaged factors and school readiness can strongly predict children’s later achievements. 5. School readiness can effectively predicts short and long-turn later achievements, and the effect is more significant on disadvantaged children. 6. Disadvantaged children’s school readiness of math and reading can strongly predict their short and long-turn later achievements. 7. Advantaged children’s school readiness math and reading can strongly predict their short-turn later achievements.

The purpose of this study was to explore the causes of low Grade 12 pass rate in two Umlazi District Schools, KwaZulu-Natal. It is hoped that the study would contribute to the understanding of the causes and factors of low Grade 12 pass rate and provide solutions of improving learners’ performance. This is qualitative study conducted in the area of Umbumbulu focusing on exploring the causes of low Grade 12 pass rate in two Umlazi District Schools, KwaZulu-Natal. The methodology used was qualitative. A case study method was adopted. Data was gathered through focus group interviews with two principals, twelve Grade12 learners aged between 18 and 21, and six teachers between 15 and 22 years teaching experience in secondary schools. Drawing from the findings of the interviews conducted, the study highlights the factors that have negative impact to low Grade 12 pass rate, and it revealed the possible solutions to alleviate the trend of low performance. The data reveals that there are numerous factors that affect the performance of Grade 12 learners such as poverty, child headed families, sporadic absenteeism, questionable assessment methods, overcrowded classes, lack of discipline in schools, corporal punishment, violence in schools, teenage pregnancy, curriculum reforms, lack of parental involvement, and cultural background. In this study I argue that the trend of low Grade 12 pass rate is not only limited to Umbumbulu Circuit in Umlazi District, but is the overall trend in most rural schools in South Africa. Therefore, the study recommended that all stakeholders should play their roles to overcome the crises of low Grade 12 performance. Again, it was recommended that the introduction of an advanced integrative approach in training programmes of future teachers is needed in which attention to rural -FET band schools will be considered as an integral part of the training, whereby teachers will be trained to teach inclusive education. / Inclusive Education / M. Ed. (Inclusive Education)

With the quality of our South African public education system internationally in question we need to look into supplemental ways to improve the education of our country’s children. Numerous studies have shown that parental involvement has a positive effect on student academic achievement. This study aimed to quantitatively determine the current extent and types of parental involvement in the education of their school-going children, in single-parent/guardian and two-parent/guardian households in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal. This included General Education and Training (GET) and Further Education and Training (FET) levels. The method of time-space sampling was used to administer a researcher-created questionnaire ‒ based on Epstein’s (2009) framework of six types of involvement ‒ pertaining to parents/guardians in the Durban CBD. The findings of the study resulted in recommendations pertaining to: the aspects of parental involvement that elicited low levels of involvement such as significant numbers of parents from single-parent households indicating that they would attend parent days at school if they were given a choice of possible attendance days; the need to identify and support parents that are unable to participate as much as they would like to by offering transportation for school meetings or activities, including school governing body and budget meetings; and the requests from parents/guardians regarding the use of technology in the form of sms communication in helping them to stay more informed regarding the progress etc. of their child at school. / ABET and Youth Development / M. Ed. (Adult Education)

The study investigated parents’ involvement in managing primary schools in Oromiya National Regional State, Ethiopia. The main concern of this study revolved around the challenges that lead to the decline in parental involvement in their children’s schooling, low stakeholders’ participation in the management of primary schools, lack of awareness of students and their families on the school context that leads to increased rates of learner achievement. Furthermore, the study investigated the existence of conflict in role perception manifested in assuming that schools could play their roles in children’s education without parents’ interference, and both parties working together for their children’s achievements. In the study, a qualitative research methodology was employed. This qualitative study examined parental involvement in their managing primary schools through semi-structured interviews with five primary school principals, five parent –student teacher association chairpersons and 12 parents who had children in elementary school through focus group discussions. The findings of this research were centred around families’ participation in their children’s learning, understanding how parental involvement enhances learners’ achievements, views of schools and teachers on parental involvement, school assistance of parents in their parenting tasks and strategies to allow parents to take part in their children’s schooling. The conclusion drawn from this study is that the Ethiopian educational policy tries to advocate parental involvement in managing primary schools for improving educational quality at its level and through obtaining better family school governance experiences. School principals and PTA chairpersons did not seem to appreciate the possible advantages that could emanate from complete parental involvement in managing elementary schools. The study recommends approaches to manage and use schools, human and material resources, ways to involve uneducated parents in school management to use their indigenous knowledge in their children’s schooling, and parental involvement in managing primary schools in rural and semi-urban areas differs from other situations. / Educational Leadership and Management / D. Ed. (Educational Leadership and Management)

Truancy is one of the problems that exist in schools and affect learners' performance. The aim of the current study was to determine how truancy manifests and also to explore the life world of truants in secondary schools. From the literature review, the two types of truancy, namely blanket truancy and post-registration truancy were described. Various programmes and approaches used in truancy intervention were explored. An empirical investigation was undertaken with a sample of 758 Grade 10 learners from three secondary schools. The results indicated that significantly more males than females engaged in truancy. There is also a significant dependency between learning problems and truancy. The results of the study were analysed and recommendations for intervention and for further study were made. / Educational Studies / M.Ed. (Guidance and Counseling)