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In a rapidly changing and competitive world organisations need to develop and improve their performance continuously to ensure a competitive advantage. Organisations need to determine their current status of performance constantly and identify organisational strengths and areas where improvements can be made. Periodic organisational self-assessments are therefore required to measure current management and operations policies, practices and procedures, in order to enhance overall business performance rather than solely concentrating on the quality of products or services. Traditionally, external inspections were more commonly used by educational and training institutions for the evaluation of institution and learner performance. These institutions are today taking part in a growing drive for internal self-evaluation, arising from the desire of institutions and Education, Training and Development (ETD) practitioners to assess their own performances. Self-assessment as part of an endeavour to sustain continuous improvement is therefore also appropriate for ETD providers in the South African National Defence Force (SANDF). A new defence dispensation and a changing ETD environment in South Africa have created new demands on ETD providers in the SANDF. Although training units within the SANDF may function in a unique military context, national legislation relevant to ETD and the latest approach of openness and transparency into matters of the Department imply that military as well as non-military ETD in the SANDF is to be closely aligned with national training and development initiatives. As legislation does not make a distinction between military and private ETD providers in South Africa, most traditionally assumed differences are no longer relevant. A case study explored the appropriateness of conducting organisational self-assessment as component of a Continuous Performance Improvement Strategy and Quality Assurance within the SANDF. The study also investigated the usefulness of a Total Quality Management approach to quality assurance in the ETD environment and the impact of the frameworks used, available assessment instruments and the selected assessment methods on the significance of organisational self-assessment by ETD providers. This study's investigation of the appropriateness and significance of regular organisational self-assessments by training units in the SANDF thus has broader implications, as recommendations are also applicable to other ETD providers. / Educational Studies / D. Ed. (Education Management)

In a rapidly changing and competitive world organisations need to develop and improve their performance continuously to ensure a competitive advantage. Organisations need to determine their current status of performance constantly and identify organisational strengths and areas where improvements can be made. Periodic organisational self-assessments are therefore required to measure current management and operations policies, practices and procedures, in order to enhance overall business performance rather than solely concentrating on the quality of products or services. Traditionally, external inspections were more commonly used by educational and training institutions for the evaluation of institution and learner performance. These institutions are today taking part in a growing drive for internal self-evaluation, arising from the desire of institutions and Education, Training and Development (ETD) practitioners to assess their own performances. Self-assessment as part of an endeavour to sustain continuous improvement is therefore also appropriate for ETD providers in the South African National Defence Force (SANDF). A new defence dispensation and a changing ETD environment in South Africa have created new demands on ETD providers in the SANDF. Although training units within the SANDF may function in a unique military context, national legislation relevant to ETD and the latest approach of openness and transparency into matters of the Department imply that military as well as non-military ETD in the SANDF is to be closely aligned with national training and development initiatives. As legislation does not make a distinction between military and private ETD providers in South Africa, most traditionally assumed differences are no longer relevant. A case study explored the appropriateness of conducting organisational self-assessment as component of a Continuous Performance Improvement Strategy and Quality Assurance within the SANDF. The study also investigated the usefulness of a Total Quality Management approach to quality assurance in the ETD environment and the impact of the frameworks used, available assessment instruments and the selected assessment methods on the significance of organisational self-assessment by ETD providers. This study's investigation of the appropriateness and significance of regular organisational self-assessments by training units in the SANDF thus has broader implications, as recommendations are also applicable to other ETD providers. / Educational Studies / D. Ed. (Education Management)

Career Academy instructors’ technical literacy is vital to the academic success of students. This nonexperimental ex post facto study examined the relationships between the level of technical literacy of instructors in career academies and student academic performance. It was also undertaken to explore the relationship between the pedagogical training of instructors and the academic performance of students. Out of a heterogeneous population of 564 teachers in six targeted schools, 136 teachers (26.0 %) responded to an online survey. The survey was designed to gather demographic and teaching experience data. Each demographic item was linked by researchers to teachers’ technology use in the classroom. Student achievement was measured by student learning gains as assessed by the reading section of the FCAT from the previous to the present school year. Linear and hierarchical regressions were conducted to examine the research questions. To clarify the possibility of teacher gender and teacher race/ethnic group differences by research variable, a series of one-way ANOVAs were conducted. As revealed by the ANOVA results, there were not statistically significant group differences in any of the research variables by teacher gender or teacher race/ethnicity. Greater student learning gains were associated with greater teacher technical expertise integrating computers and technology into the classroom, even after controlling for teacher attitude towards computers. Neither teacher attitude toward technology integration nor years of experience in integrating computers into the curriculum significantly predicted student learning gains in the regression models. Implications for HRD theory, research, and practice suggest that identifying teacher levels of technical literacy may help improve student academic performance by facilitating professional development strategies and new parameters for defining highly qualified instructors with 21st century skills. District professional development programs can benefit by increasing their offerings to include more computer and information communication technology courses. Teacher preparation programs can benefit by including technical literacy as part of their curriculum. State certification requirements could be expanded to include formal surveys to assess teacher use of technology.