Magister Educationis - MEd / The purpose of this project was to determine the status and value of physical education at primary schools as well as the extent to which it is offered. It is also hoped that this study will be useful in putting forward an argument for the inclusion or re-inclusion of physical education as a compulsory subject in the curriculum of schools. There appears to be a decline in the teaching of the subject at primary schools. Time tables afford little or no time to the teaching of physical education. This has implications for the holistic development of pupils and for providers of physical education teachers. Such institutions would find it difficult to provide opportunities for in-service experiences in physical education for prospective teachers and may come to perceive such courses as not viable.

In this exposition, the writer has attempted to give a clear idea of the origin, organization, and curricua of the three types of schools of the Mexican public educational system. The information was gathered from first-hand knowledge, from careful study and analysis or publications of the department of Education, visits to schools, Interviews with school pen, and from various earler works on the subject of Mexican education.

The motive for conducting this study was to determine the extent in which aspects of transformational leadership identified during literature study are practiced in the sampled primary schools in Limpopo. The study was divided into seven interlinked chapters. Chapter one introduced the investigation. Chapter two presented the definition and description of the notion transformational leadership and its five constituting elements, namely shared vision, commitment, motivation, job satisfaction and participative decision-making. A transformational leadership model was also presented in chapter two. Chapter three focused on the primary education systems of Republic of South Africa and the three selected Southern African Development Community member states, namely Malawi, Lesotho and Namibia. The discussion focused on the structure, organization, objectives and the challenges facing each SADC member state. Chapter three further identified the challenges facing primary schools in Limpopo and compared these to the challenges of the three selected SADC member states. The details of the research design and methodology were presented in chapter four. The empirical study took a two-pronged approach. Phase one of the empirical study was conducted through the administration of questionnaires to sampled principals and educators. In the second phase, sampled principals, educators and circuit managers were interviewed. The empirical study was intended to give answers to the following research questions:  To what extent are primary school principals as leaders involved in: • initiating visions that are shared and owned by other role players? • making sure that educators remain committed to their profession? • ensuring that educators are kept motivated? • ensuring that educators remain satisfied in their profession?  To what extent do principals involve other role players in the decision-making processes? iv In addition to that, the following research hypothesis was tested: • There is a significant relationship (in terms of descriptive statistics) between identified leadership emphasis in Limpopo primary schools and the key features of transformational leadership. And conversely the null hypothesis tested was: • There is no significant relationship (in terms of descriptive statistics) between identified leadership emphasis in Limpopo primary schools and the key features of transformational leadership. In phase one, data was quantitatively collected through questionnaires (principals and educators). Data was further gathered through semi-structured interviews and observation in phase two. To give a clear and a logical presentation of the data analysis and interpretation, both quantitative and qualitative data were presented separately in chapters five and six. This study produced the following findings: The majority of primary school principals do: • involve other role players in the development of their school visions. • ensure that educators are committed to their responsibilities. • ensure that educators remain motivated. • ensure that educators are job satisfied. • create opportunities wherein role players are involved in decision-making processes. The views of respondents from the survey data (both principals and educators) indicated that there is a significant relationship (in terms of descriptive statistics) between identified leadership emphasis in Limpopo primary schools and the key features of transformational leadership. Based on the findings above, the conclusion deduced was that the majority of primary school principals exhibit transformational leadership attributes. / Education Studies / D. Ed. (Education Managment)

The UK government, under the Primary Capital Programme, is planning to rebuild or refurbish approximately half of all primary schools by 2022/23. The aim is to create primary schools that are equipped for 21st century teaching and learning. Around £7 billion will be invested in the scheme with £1.9 billion of the budget being spent 2008-11, £650 million for all local authorities in 2009-10 and £1.1 billion in 2010-11. However, this substantial investment will only meet the target of providing a 21st century educational environment, with opportunities for exemplary teaching and learning, if the design of new and refurbished schools is fit for this purpose. The research set out to answer the question ‘How can all user groups be involved in the evaluation of newly built primary schools?’ This question was addressed by achieving the aim of developing a post-occupancy evaluation toolkit specifically for primary schools which accounted for the views of all stakeholders. The research focussed on primary schools in the city of Coventry in the UK West Midlands and was conducted in two phases: an examination of schools built before the introduction of a model brief in 1996 and an evaluation of schools that were built using its guidance. The findings from the initial case studies indicated issues to be addressed in the design of the toolkit. Following the initial case studies in pre-1996 schools, the research focussed on five recently built primary schools that were constructed according to the guidelines contained in Coventry’s model brief. At the time of commencing the research, six primary schools had been built using this framework. However, there had been no attempt to evaluate the schools to establish whether they met the needs of all stakeholders. The post-occupancy evaluation toolkit that was developed took a multi-stakeholder perspective on primary school builds and resulted in findings which indicate the variability in responses between different stakeholder groups and schools. The research concluded that the post-occupancy toolkit can provide information on school buildings, from a multi-stakeholder perspective, which may be useful architects and designers. It also proposes an approach to primary school design which accounts for the variability in the needs of diverse stakeholder groups and the individuality of each school, including their geographical location.

The theme of this thesis is the financing of the elementary and the secondary schools in the Czech Republic. I introduce the process of the educational system's financing as an integrated unit, that is consists of revenue and expenditure. This process is determinated not only by the educational system in the Czech Republic, but also by the public service and the local administrative, that managed schools and the other educational organizations. I focused on the development of the financing of schools in years 2001 - 2009, with the help of graphes, to show and describe also the today's face of the whole process. I use the international comparison. In the end of this thesis I mentioned the basic problems of this financing.

Title: The interest in outdoor activities of students from selected primary schools in Kladno district, by gender and residence Objectives: To find out which outdoor activities students from selected primary schools in Kladno district are interested in, specifically which outdoor activities they do and which they would like to learn. Furthermore, to find out what experience with outdoor activities students have and to compare results by gender and place of residence. Method: The research has been performed by quantitative method. To support gathering and collecting necessary inputs specific questionnaire was compiled for students of the 9th grade of primary schools. The research sample consisted of 204 respondents. Gathered inputs have been graphically processed and evaluated. Results: Primary schools offer to teach their students outdoor activities more during sports courses, school in nature and school trips than in physical education classes. Most of these students have experience with outdoor activities from school events, mainly with hiking, alpine skiing and motion games in the natural environment. More students have experiences with outdoor activities from outside the school than from the school. Most of the students do outdoor activities, the main performed activities are hiking and biking....

This thesis is focused on the formation of problematic and critical situations during physical education lessons at primary schools. Its task is to examine how teachers progress in their solution making and how they draw recommendations for practice from it. The theoretical part defines the concepts and theoretical basis og the area of discipline, safety and physical education for children. The research was conducted by questionnaire form which was sent to 22 primary schools. 72 filled forms were sent back for evaluation. Then I conducted additional individual interviews with two teachers from the elementary school Kunratice. The practical part analyzes the results of a survey and interviews with teachers. The results of this work show that problematic and critical situations within physical education classes occur. Keyswords Physical education, problematic situations, critical situations, teaching, primary schools

M.Ed. / In current times, the increasing demands of principalship and the complex challenges facing schools have led to the emergence of distributive forms of leadership in schools. The dissatisfaction with traditional models of leadership has resulted in a paradigm shift where leadership focus on the position of individuals in the hierarchy has been rejected in favour of collective leadership practices. In an era of democracy, distributive leadership continues to attract attention as a relevant model for the twenty-first century school. This study investigated teacher experiences and perceptions of the practice of distributive leadership in South African public primary schools in the Soweto region. The study was framed within a pragmatic paradigm using a mixed methods research design. An exploratory sequential strategy was used where the qualitative phase of data collection and analysis preceded the quantitative phase. The sample comprised teachers who were not formally appointed as leaders and did not belong to the school management teams. In the qualitative phase focus group interviews were conducted in three schools. Document analysis was conducted to support the interview findings. The quantitative phase tested the findings from the qualitative phase using a standardised questionnaire. Various themes and sub-themes emerged from the qualitative study. The first theme, leadership styles, revealed that principals practiced autocratic rather than participative styles of leadership. The autocratic style restricted principals from redistributing power to teachers and excluded teachers from decision-making processes. The second theme, school climate, indicated that the present leadership style led to a negative school climate which in turn had an adverse impact on staff relationships, teacher morale and motivation, job satisfaction as well as teaching and learning. The third theme that emerged was communication with teachers expressing the need for openness and transparency in decision-making. The fourth theme identified was barriers to teacher leadership. This was supported by sub-themes which pointed to the lack of opportunities for teacher leadership, teacher isolation in lesson planning, a heavy teacher workload, the need for power sharing and the need for the professional development of teacher leaders. Finally, the benefits of distributive leadership were identified as the fifth theme and teachers perceived that distributive leadership would have a positive impact on job satisfaction, encourage delegation and give them a voice in decision-making.

Research into indoor environment has shown that schools are buildings with high- levels of particulate matter concentrations. This is especially the case of schools situated in high-density traffic or in industrial areas. Several studies have also proven the impact of PM on the teenage generation's health. So far no detailed study has been performed to cover the environment of school gyms where the PM dynamics are different from other indoor microenvironments. This different dynamics relates to the gym environment heterogeneity and to the human activities taking place in it. Due to higher pulmonary ventilation, the exposure of the exercising pupils can reach levels possibly noxious to their health. Size resolved mass concentrations of aerosol were measured in three elementary Schools in Prague. One school was situated in the city centre with high traffic density. The second school was situated on a plateau on the periphery with a medium level traffic. The third school can be found in Prague south-western suburbia, in an open landscape, with low traffic density. PM concentrations were measured simultaneously in naturally ventilated gyms and outdoors ajacent to the particular school building. Two pairs of monitors were used throughout the study: A DustTrak Aerosol Monitor and a Personal Cascade...

La présente recherche vise à analyser et à comprendre les freins au développement de comportements écocitoyens dans les établissements d’enseignement primaire au Togo. Pour ce faire, plusieurs méthodes ont été mobilisées pour la recherche. Il s’agit d’abord, de l’exploitation de l’offre d’éducation environnementale présente dans les manuels scolaires en cours d’usage. Ensuite, l’enquête par questionnaire auprès de 358 enseignants de l’école primaire a permis de collecter les données relatives à la prédisposition des enseignants à la préservation ou à l’utilisation de l’environnement. Enfin, l’observation de 21 classes pendant les cours d’éducation environnementale suivi d’entretiens individuels approfondis avec chaque enseignant dont la classe est observée.Ainsi, il ressort de la recherche que le curriculum formel préconise d’éduquer les élèves à deux valeurs environnementales fondamentales. Il s’agit d’une part, de la tolérance, ce qui veut dire avoir conscience des menaces qui pèsent sur l’environnement et d’autre part, de l’autonomie qui est le fait de participer aux actions de lutte pour la préservation de l’environnement. Quant aux enseignants, ils sont favorables à la préservation de l’environnement ; cependant, cette prédisposition des enseignants à la préservation de l’environnement s’amoindrit quand entre en jeu la satisfaction des besoins immédiats de l’homme. S’agissant du curriculum implanté, il se limite à éduquer les élèves à la tolérance.L’offre d’éducation environnementale à l’école primaire au Togo reste inefficace et inadéquate, d’où la nécessité de prendre des mesures en vue de développer le savoir-être environnemental dans les écoles primaires. / The present research aims at analyzing and understanding obstacles to the development of eco-citizenship behavior in primary schools in Togo. Thus, several methods were mobilized for the research. First, it is about exploring the educational curriculum present in textbooks, in order to analyze formal education programs. Then, survey by questionnaire of 358 primary school teachers help to collect the data relative to teachers' predisposition to the preservation or use of the environment. Finally, observation of 21 classes during environmental education courses followed by in-depth individual interviews with each teacher were made to appreciate the implemented curriculum.Thus, research shows that the formal curriculum advocates to educate the pupils using two fundamental environmental values. On the one hand, it is about tolerance, being aware of threats to the environment and, on the other hand, the autonomy that is involving in the actions of fight for the preservation of the environment. As for teachers, they are in favor of preserving the environment; however, this predisposition of the teachers in the environmental protection decreases when the satisfaction of human immediate needs comes in play. Concerning the implemented curriculum, it is limited to educating pupils to tolerance (to be aware of the danger).The environmental educational offer in the primary school in Togo remains ineffective and inadequate, hence the need of taking measures to develop the environmental skills in primary schools.