This study was conducted in order to assess the effectiveness of practitioner training in underprivileged early childhood settings. The quantitative study set out to test a target group of 800 Grade R children, ranging in age from five to six and a half years, in order to determine the impact that practitioner training on early intervention has on young children. A pre-test evaluated the initial level of each child‟s abilities, including physical-motor, language and speech, cognitive, play and social and emotional development. Children were placed into control and experimental groups through random selection of practitioners. The experimental group's teachers (practitioners) underwent an eight-month part-time intervention programme which focused on the importance of early intervention, the domains of development, planning, preparation and assessment as well as encouraging community awareness. The control and experimental groups continued with their normal school programmes, but the practitioners in the experimental group were developing a deeper understanding of early childhood development and activities which enhance development in children. The results indicate that the impact of effective practitioner training and enhancing a deep understanding of stimulation in young children can have positive, long-term results in children's cognitive ability, laying foundational concepts and scope for development. Vast differences were noted in the ability level of children which were stimulated, as compared with those children who were not as stimulated. / Psychology of Education / D. Ed. (Psychology of Education)

This study was conducted in order to assess the effectiveness of practitioner training in underprivileged early childhood settings. The quantitative study set out to test a target group of 800 Grade R children, ranging in age from five to six and a half years, in order to determine the impact that practitioner training on early intervention has on young children. A pre-test evaluated the initial level of each child‟s abilities, including physical-motor, language and speech, cognitive, play and social and emotional development. Children were placed into control and experimental groups through random selection of practitioners. The experimental group's teachers (practitioners) underwent an eight-month part-time intervention programme which focused on the importance of early intervention, the domains of development, planning, preparation and assessment as well as encouraging community awareness. The control and experimental groups continued with their normal school programmes, but the practitioners in the experimental group were developing a deeper understanding of early childhood development and activities which enhance development in children. The results indicate that the impact of effective practitioner training and enhancing a deep understanding of stimulation in young children can have positive, long-term results in children's cognitive ability, laying foundational concepts and scope for development. Vast differences were noted in the ability level of children which were stimulated, as compared with those children who were not as stimulated. / Psychology of Education / D. Ed. (Psychology of Education)

This research programme endeavours to develop, implement and evaluate an effective method of offering psychosocial support to vulnerable children. Vulnerability is defined by trained community members as including children who are experiencing especially difficult lives. The forms of difficulties experienced by the children has usually been a consequence of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, extreme poverty combined with other psychosocial risk factors, child abuse (especially child sexual abuse) and violence. This community based programme incorporates four phases of intervention, only two of which were the focus of summative evaluation. However, due to the integrated nature of the programme it was necessary to implement and document the various phases of the intervention programme: (i) community selection and mobilisation; (ii) the 5-day Sensitisation Programme (SP) sensitises adult community volunteers to the psychosocial needs of vulnerable children; (iii) the 15-session Structured Group Therapy Programme (SGTP) enables children to work through past adversities and to build resilience within small groups of peers in a programme where community volunteers served as apprentice facilitators under the supervision, guidance and ethical responsibility of qualified psychologists; (iv) community based initiatives to offer on-going of PSS activities to vulnerable children in each of the partnering communities. Nine partnering communities were selected, three township, periurban and rural communities. This programme was not effective in the informal settlements as it was not possible for these communities to place children as a priority. A qualitative summative evaluation of the SP took place using post workshop evaluation questionnaires, focus group discussions conducted by an independent researcher and an audit of the community based initiatives that developed as a result of participation in the SP. The SGTP was summatively evaluated using a 4-way Factorial design with one within-subject and three between-subject conditions: to investigate the age of the subjects, the geographic regions and gender variables. The 741 children formed five experimental and control conditions to conduct various combinations of the above-mentioned phases programmes and to adequately control for the many confounding variables. Pre- and post intervention assessments were conducted by trained community research assistants. The dependent variable measures were the Culture Free Self Esteem Inventory (Battle, 1992), the Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children (Biere & Elliot, 1997), the Reynolds Depression Scale for Children (Reynolds, 1989), the Social Support Scale (Beale Spencer, Cole, Jones, and Phillips Swanson, 1997) and the Connor's Parent Questionnaire Connors, 1998). Multivariate analysis evaluated the effectiveness of the various experimental and control conditions. The results indicate that the SGTP, run in combination with the SP, is an effective intervention strategy in that it alleviates symptoms of self-reported depression and other psychosocial manifestations of distress as well as decreased the number and severity of symptoms reported by primary caregivers, and leads to increased access to perceived social support. The SP and the SGTP conducted independently of each other have limited benefits and as such can be considered to be partially effective. The children who had formed part of the non-vulnerable control group felt left out of the programme and report an increase in symptomatology and decreased access to social support. While this community-based programme can be considered to be an effective method of therapeutic intervention and of offering psychosocial support to vulnerable children, further research is needed to consider the cost-effectiveness, the sustainability and ways in which those children who do not participate can still can benefit. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2004.

This research aimed to reflect upon the experiences of children in middle childhood regarding economically unstable circumstances within the family system. The theoretical underpinnings of this study were the ecological systems theory as proposed by Bronfenbrenner, the family systems theory as well as the field theory within the gestalt paradigm. Exploratory, qualitative research design with instrumental case studies was used during this research and data collection was conducted by means of semi-structured interviews with randomly sampled participants and their parents. The researcher interviewed 16 individual children, consisting of seven male and nine female participants. The focus group consisted of seven parents, consisting of two male and five female participants. The researcher arrived at a conclusion that children are indeed influenced by the world wide economic turmoil. The researcher found that children experience the impact of economic instability in various contexts within their field of existence. They experience the effects of economic instability within the household as changes to daily luxuries are visible, conflict between parents increase and they experience an escalation in peer pressure to keep up with the financial expectations of their peers. The researcher is therefore of the opinion that the extent to which the economic unstable circumstances influence and affect children can easily be overlooked. In the absence of voicing the experiences of children, they cannot be fully understood and the researcher recommends that significant role players, such as parents and teachers should be assisted and guided to understand and support their children in a changing world. / Social Work / M. Diac. (Play Therapy)

Many learners failed at school and were often causing over identification of learners with a mild intellectual disability. A national intervention, the Foundations for Learning was regarded as a national curriculum adaptation that addressed many learning needs. The aim of the study was to investigate the responsiveness of the Foundations for Learning in meeting the mathematics educational needs of Foundation Phase learners with a mild intellectual disability who lived in a disadvantaged village in Mpumalanga Province. A survey involving 39 teachers was conducted in the village and data was collected using a questionnaire. The main findings were that the national curriculum adaptation was significantly responsive and promoted mathematics achievement of some of the learners with a mild intellectual disability. The recommendations included that teacher informal identification of learners with a mild intellectual disability needed to be followed by formal assessment by psychologists and support from the District Based Support Team. / Inclusive Education / M. Ed. (Inclusive Education)

Many learners failed at school and were often causing over identification of learners with a mild intellectual disability. A national intervention, the Foundations for Learning was regarded as a national curriculum adaptation that addressed many learning needs. The aim of the study was to investigate the responsiveness of the Foundations for Learning in meeting the mathematics educational needs of Foundation Phase learners with a mild intellectual disability who lived in a disadvantaged village in Mpumalanga Province. A survey involving 39 teachers was conducted in the village and data was collected using a questionnaire. The main findings were that the national curriculum adaptation was significantly responsive and promoted mathematics achievement of some of the learners with a mild intellectual disability. The recommendations included that teacher informal identification of learners with a mild intellectual disability needed to be followed by formal assessment by psychologists and support from the District Based Support Team. / Inclusive Education / M. Ed. (Inclusive Education)

Early childhood development is one of the critical services to support the development of young children from conception to age six. Children raised in vulnerable inner cities, with limited access to quality, well-resourced ECD services, are at risk of perpetuating cycles of disadvantage and exclusion. Even though ECD centres exist in abundance in the inner city of Durban, eThekwini Municipality, KwaZulu-Natal, managers of ECD centres face challenges such as meeting rigorous registration norms and standards, a lack of finances, resources, trained staff and socio-economic factors which affect the wellbeing of children. Using a qualitative approach, this study communicates the role played by the Inner City ECD Forum in the learning experiences of seven ECD managers through their participation in inter-sectoral stakeholder interventions and capacity building trainings. It further outlines the benefits of networking and collective support. Based on the findings, recommendations for practice, policy and further research are made. / School of Social Sciences / M.A. (Social Work)