M.Ed. (Psychology of Education) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

M.Ed. / The task of this research report has been to map out the historical experience of the People's Education movement in South Africa from its inception in 1986 to its eventual national closure in March 1995. The People's Education movement under the banner of the NECC had been an endemic part of the education struggles experienced in South Africa, and had played a major role in informing the post-apartheid educational bureaucracy. Its historical role is therefore a significant and essential part of our educational experience. As Wolpe (1991: 77), has said, "the historical significance of People's Education lies in the fact that its conceptions not only challenged all previous conceptions of educational transformations in South Africa, but in so doing, placed on the agenda questions which must constitute the necessary point of departure for the formulation of new policies and strategies under new conditions". The first chapter of this dissertation has demonstrated that the concept of People's Education had been adopted by the oppressed peoples of South Africa in various forms from a very early stage and has therefore not been a new notion. The official launching of the People's Education movement encouraged extreme state repression but despite this, the movement managed to initiate the introduction up of alternative textbooks and the redirection the opposition movement towards a more reconstructive channel. The second chapter of this theses has attempted to trace the experience of the NECC between the years 1986-1990. It was found that the concept of People's Education captured the interests of academics who attempted to make sense of the movement by dissecting and analysing the various terms employed by People's Education. This theoretical analysis did not paralyse the movement in any way. Instead, it revitalised it and enhanced its value. As Carrim (1993) has stated, "Intellectual theorising has been an endemic part of the struggle nationally, as well as within the NECC, and at no time did it paralyse it, rather, it was enhanced and informed by these debates". Theory and practice always compliment each other. The intellectual scrutiny that the People's Education movement experienced was a natural stage in its growth. Without the necessary theoretical debates, many ideas in the People's Education movement would remain unworkable on a practical level. The final chapter of this paper has historisised the People's Education movement during the political transformative years of 1990-1995. It showed that during this time the official banner of People's Education, the NECC, played an instrumental role in the negotiating process and at the same time succeeded in extinguishing numerous crisis situations. Its decision to expand on a national level by incorporating affiliated educational organisations tended to complicate the smooth running of the organisation, and the eventual withdrawal of international

D.Ed. / The hour glass for the existing educational dispensation has run out and planning which has radically changed the face of the South African educational system within a very short period of time, has already been implemented (Mondstuk, 1993: 1). Never before in history have so many changes regarding education, social welfare, economy and politics taken place in a such a short period of time in the Republic of South Africa. The development of a Bill of Human Rights can be seen as the biggest development in the social-political field in the Republic of South Africa. This Bill of Rights can form the basis for a democratic and multi-cultural society where everyone can develop to their full potential. The Bill of Rights will, among other issues, promote the democratic transformation of the community, protect the variety of cultures and languages and maintain the rights of all learners, parents, teachers and principals. Within the framework of the Schools Act everyone who is involved in education will now have the opportunity to play a bigger part in the control, management and development of the school. The principal should thus always take the following entities and /or interest groups into consideration in his decision-making, namely parents; the governing body; learners; teachers; teacher unions or associations; administrative and service personnel; student organizations as well as the Department of Education. To be able to satisfy all these interest groups the principal will have to see to it that he has a workable knowledge of multi-cultural education, democratic and participative management and the Bill of Human Rights. Striving to reach a true democracy has been a vision many have dreamt about. Democracy has become a part of school management. If this change is implemented in schools, the status quo will be upset. Principals will have to take note that non-discrimination and equality are important building blocks of the Bill of Human Rights without which harmonious management will not be possible.

D.Ed. / Since postmodernism according to Von Recum (1990:10) has to do with the dissolution of universal meanings for the world and life, along with the process of egalitarianism, that is, equality for all people, and dehierarchisation, and dismantling of authority, the administration and management processes of colleges of education are invariably influenced by the movement. This investigation therefore seeks to find out the influence of postmodernism, that is, dehierarchisation and dismantling of bureaucratic authority by students and lecturers on the generic processes of administration and the significance of it for educational management. The dehierarchisation process will, in the view of this study, make it possible for the colleges of education to be democratised and to be transformed. It would appear that the colleges of education have difficulties in coping with the demands of the postmodern times that are characterised by democratisation and transformation. This study therefore intends to examine the paradigms or models that may help these institutions to succeed in accomplishing the missions for which they were established which is to nurture and to train teachers.

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 beento understand the policy vision that the post apartheid state has enacted as the basisfor educational reconstruction.<br /> <br /> 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.<br /> <br /> 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.<br /> <br /> The National Qualifications Framework (NQF) and Outcomes-based education (OBE) embody a definite '/ision 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.

A generally untested assumption within the stereotype threat literature is that it is only those individuals who are highly identified with a domain who will be susceptible to stereotype threat. Further, many of the studies on stereotype threat have been confined to artificial laboratory settings and have been conducted on American samples. The current study aimed to develop a measure of domain-identification in order to test this central assumption of stereotype threat theory on a sample of students in a humanities access programme in a South African university. Results indicate that the experience of stereotype threat varies with respect to the combination of 1) the degree of domain-identification, and 2) the degree to which students are aware of negative domain-relevant stereotypes. That is, students who were highly domain-identified and were highly or moderately aware of negative stereotypes performed worse than highly domain-identified individuals who had low levels of awareness of others negative stereotypes about their in-group. / Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2008.

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 beento understand the policy vision that the post apartheid state has enacted as the basisfor educational reconstruction.<br /> <br /> 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.<br /> <br /> 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.<br /> <br /> The National Qualifications Framework (NQF) and Outcomes-based education (OBE) embody a definite '/ision 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.

M.Ed. (Multiculturalism And Education) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

D.Ed. / The past four decades will probably be remembered as revolutionary in South-Africa - years of unrest during which attempts were made to change and reform the system of education in South-Africa, particularly in the black and brown areas. The South-African education system did not respond to the demands and needs of the black and brown pupils. The education system was caught in the web of a political spider spun by the dictates of the apartheid system. The structure and organization of the education system, as well as the influence of political, social and economic factors promoted the development of a system which was primarily aimed at benifitting a minority group (the whites) of the population. The inequality, underlined by the system of apartheid led to the segregation of and rebellion against this system by black and brown pupils, their parents and teachers. The school has been the focus of political-ideological conflict and the black schools became an instrument for revolution. In the past few years and particularly since 1994 a new generation of pupils has emerged to claim equal education for all, where all pupils, regardless of race or colour are entitled to the same quality of education. After the first democratic election on 27 April 1994, South-Africa has chosen to follow a new road where equality for all people has become the most important focus. In the search for "freedom, equality and brotherhood" which promotes integration and non-racism in schools, it has become essential to examine and revise existing educational theory and practice. Creative solutions must be found and applied in order to create a climate of learning in the schools, in order that pupils, irrespective of their colour, heredity, language, religion, sosio-economic background or gender may find optimal benefit.

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