Many children are left vulnerable due to circumstances beyond their control, for example, poverty, violence, limited education and the HIV&AIDS epidemic. One way of supporting vulnerable children is by making memory boxes. This study endeavoured to identify the assets during the memory-box-making process with vulnerable children. The aim of the study was to contribute towards an understanding of vulnerable children in South Africa and the memory-box-making process that frames vulnerable children in terms of assets, resources and capacities, instead of deficits. A combination of an interpretive and constructivist paradigm was used within an action research design. The site of the study was a deep rural community in the Limpopo Province, South Africa. Five participants and one helper contributed towards the research process. Primary data was collected within the memory-box-making process – by means of simple and participatory observation, individual and group interviews, audio-visual methods and field notes. Fifteen memory-box-making sessions took place over a period of six weeks. The data analysis consisted of a theme analysis that utilized the asset-based approach as a theoretical framework. The results from the study indicate a wealth of internal and external assets during the memory-box-making process with vulnerable children. / Dissertation (MEd (Educational Psychology))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Educational Psychology / unrestricted

Thesis (M. Sc.(Physiology)) -- University of Limpopo, 2019 / Aim: The purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence and risk factors associated with malnutrition and nutritional status of rural and urban primary school children aged 6–9 years. Literature background: Malnutrition is one of the leading causes of childhood morbidity and mortality in developing countries, affecting 10.9% of people globally, particularly in Southern Asian (15.7%) and sub-Saharan African (23.2%) countries undergoing urbanisation. Urbanisation affects diet, physical activity levels, body fatness, body composition and socio-economic factors. There is currently a shortage of information on the effect of urbanisation on nutritional status, especially in poor areas such as the Limpopo Province of South Africa. It is important to understand the effects that body fatness and associated risk factors have on stunting, wasting, underweight, and overweight/obesity in urban and rural children. Subjects and design: This was a cross-sectional study including rural (n=106) and urban (n=68) primary school children aged 6–9 years. Anthropometric (weight and height) and skinfold measurements were taken and a 24-hour recall dietary assessment was conducted twice to include a week day and a weekend day. A questionnaire was used to gather demographic, health, dietary and physical activity information. Results: The prevalence of stunting, wasting, underweight, and overweight/obese children in this population was 14%, 6%, 20%, and 26% respectively. Furthermore, the prevalence stunting, wasting, and underweight were higher in rural areas compared to urban areas. Meanwhile, the prevalence of overweight/obesity was higher in urban areas as compared to rural areas. Gender, area (urban/rural) (p=0.0001), birthweight, time spent on sedentary activities, monthly household income (p=0.0210), mode of transport to school, and breastfeeding (p=0.0560) were all found to be significantly associated with malnutrition. Weekday dietary intake of Vitamins A and D was significally associated with BF%, whereas weekend consumption of energy, protein, calcium, iron, phosphorus, and zinc were not significantly associated with BF%. The mean energy and calcium intake between the urban and rural vi population only differed significantly over weekends and not during the week, while vitamin D differed significantly between urban and rural populations during the week only. Conclusions: The current study demonstrates that children in rural areas were significantly more wasted than those residing in urban areas, while those residing in urban areas were significantly more overweight/obese compared to rural areas. All indicators used for undernutrition were associated significantly with gender and the prevalence were higher males compared to females, but this significance disappeared for overnutrition. Families with a higher income tended to have children who were overweight or obese compared to families with a lower income. Children spending a lot of time on sedentary activities were more likely to be overweight or obese, and breastfeeding seemed to protect children from becoming overweight or obese, while low birth weight was associated with stunting. The weekaday and week-end diets indicate that school feeding schemes in the rural areas may be effective in increasing total energy intake in children and this should be further investigated. In this population, stunting, wasting, and underweight were not limited to rural areas, and should still be a health concern in urban areas, despite the fact that overweight/obesity is also prevalent in urban areas. Thus, overweight/obesity in this population can be prevented by promoting breastfeeding and physical activity, while at the same time discouraging children from partaking in too many sedentary activities. / National Research Foundation (NRF)

The general aim of this thesis is to illuminate the process of learning as it occurs in formal and informal contexts. The study focuses on South African scholars attending school in rural areas where the contrast between learning in formal and informal learning contexts is more pronounced than that in urban areas. The research draws on rural scholars' local knowledge of formal and informal learning contexts in order to gain a rich insight into how cognition is situated in different learning contexts. This is accomplished through investigating the structure of the respective learning tasks, the mediators involved, the task objectives and the means for achieving these objectives in the different learning contexts. The thesis draws on a socio-cultural approach to the study of cognitive development to probe the activity of learning in a formal and informal learning context. Through the use of a context sensitive methodological methods especially Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) tools and techniques, it was possible to illuminate tacit local knowledge structures and to get participants to actively explicate their understandings related to learning in different contexts The research results illustrate the assertion that the activity of learning is fundamentally situated in the learning context from which it arises. Learning is framed by the community of practice which structures affordances for situated learning, through mediation, within zones of proximal development. Learning in a formal context such as the school is often abstract, rule-based, standardised and theory related. Learners also find it difficult to reflect on the learning tasks and the mediational means used in a formal learning context. In contrast, the learning which takes place in an informal setting is often practical, individualised, flexible and environment based. This learning is structured around everyday activities and is dynamically defined and supported. In a situation where a learner is exposed to dislocated learning contexts, the essential goal of educational initiatives is to bridge the gap between the two. This can be achieved through mediators creating effective zones of proximal development which facilitate the individuals adaptation between learning contexts. Exposing rural scholars' local knowledge of learning in formal and informal contexts allows for a fuller understanding of the cognitive development structured within formal and informal communities of practice. It is this understanding that is necessary to address the situation where learning contexts, drawing on different knowledge bases find ways of thinking, prove challenging and/or conflicting to the scholar.

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No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertacao - Ester Alves Lopes Mendes - 2016.pdf: 5908849 bytes, checksum: a8c82f0fa43829453ffd7780dbd0c529 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-06-20 / Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Goiás - FAPEG / This research, entitled Rural Children Education in the field in the municipality of Bela Vista de Goiás: pre-school for children living in rural areas, linked to the research line “Training, Teacher Professionalization and Educational Work” of the Posgraduate Program of College of Education in the Federal University of Goiás (FE/UFG), composes one of the subprojects integrated to the research "Public Policy and Education of Children in Goiás: history, conceptions, projects and practices" developed by the Studies and Researches Center of Children and your Education in Different Contexts (NEPIEC/FE/UFG), coordinated by Prof. Dra. Ivone Garcia Barbosa. This is an issue of research considered is relatively new in the scenario of research in the area of education, presenting it is important to be debated and studied, in view of the limited number of studies performed and the urgent need to think and give the child education also the children living in the field. Researches have denounced the lack of institutions for this portion of society and pointing to the need for more quality in educational directed children younger than 7 years from rural area. Faced with this problem, the objective of this work understand. was pre-school children education living in rural area in the state of Goiás, Brazil, in order to understand the directions set out in brazilian educational policies and the implementation of education for children aged 4 to 6 years old residents of the countryside. In order to apprehend the social and historical reality of our research object, based on the dialectical materialist method, we developed a theoretical and documentary research, as well as an empirical stage, in which 20 professionals of education were participants in Bela Vista of Goiás. The research results indicated the importance of constituting systematic dialogue among studies on Children Education and Rural Education. Still, we found that the effectiveness of a Rural Children Education policy covers a complex process in so far as pre-school education offered to children living in rural areas take place in urban schools, which do not always articulate a curriculum with the rural reality. In this sense, the root of the discussion about Rural Children Education does not end in the reality of the municipalities, but presents itself as a conjunctural problem that permeates financing discussions, structure, teacher training; and actions and State policies, not only emergency measures coated in government policies. / A presente pesquisa, intitulada Educação Infantil do Campo no município de Bela Vista de Goiás: a pré-escola para crianças residentes na área rural, vinculada à linha de pesquisa Formação, Profissionalização Docente e Trabalho Educativo do Programa de Pós-graduação da Faculdade de Educação da Universidade Federal de Goiás (FE/UFG), compõe um dos subprojetos integrados à pesquisa “Políticas Públicas e Educação da Infância em Goiás: história, concepções, projetos e práticas”, desenvolvido pelo Núcleo de Estudos e Pesquisas da Infância e sua Educação em Diferentes Contextos (NEPIEC/ FE/ UFG), coordenado pela profa. Dra. Ivone Garcia Barbosa. Essa é uma temática de investigação considerada relativamente nova no cenário das pesquisas na área da Educação, apresentando-se importante de ser debatida e estudada, tendo em vista o número reduzido de estudos realizados e a urgente necessidade de se pensar e ofertar a Educação Infantil também as crianças moradoras do campo. Pesquisas têm denunciado a escassez de instituições para essa parcela da sociedade e apontando para a necessidade de mais qualidade no atendimento educacional direcionados as crianças menores de 7 anos advindas de área rural. Diante dessa problemática, objetivamos nesse trabalho compreender as indicações constantes nas políticas educacionais brasileiras e a implementação da educação das crianças de 4 a 6 anos moradoras do campo no município de Bela Vista de Goiás, no estado de Goiás. No intuito de apreendermos a realidade sócio-histórica de nosso objeto de pesquisa, com base no método materialista dialético, desenvolvemos levantamento teórico e documental, bem como uma etapa empírica, na qual participaram 20 profissionais da Educação do município de Bela Vista de Goiás. Constatamos que a efetivação de uma política de Educação Infantil do Campo abrange um processo complexo na medida em que a educação pré-escolar ofertada às crianças residentes na área rural acontece em escolas urbanas, as quais nem sempre articulam um currículo com a realidade do campo. Neste sentido, a raiz da discussão acerca da Educação Infantil do Campo não se esgota na realidade dos municípios, mas, apresenta-se como um problema conjuntural que perpassa discussões de financiamento, estrutura, formação de professores; e ações e políticas de Estado, não somente de medidas emergências revestidas em políticas de governo.

Text in Afrikaans / Die Kerk van God bestaan uit mense wat tot geloof gekom het in Jesus Christus. Volwassenes maak nie alleen deel uit van die kerk nie, maar ook kinders. Die plaaslike gemeente se roeping is om in sy bedieningstrategie te fokus op die behoeftes van die kind (6 - 12 jaar). Die leefwereld van die kind binne die geografiese grense van Nelspoort, Murraysburg, Merweville en Beaufort-Wes word sterk beinvloed deur gebrekkige sosio-ekonomiese en politieke toestande. Die V.G.K., wat daarvoor verantwoordelik is om die kinders (6-12 jaar) in genoemde dorpe te bedien, slaag nie daarin om 'n effektiewe bediening te loods nie. Gebrek aan opgeleide personeel, basiese lesmateriaal en gebrekkige kennis van die ontwikkelingsfases van die kind in genoemde ouderdomsgroep vererger die situasie. Die studie bied riglyne vir die V.G.K. op die platteland om 'n meer effektiewe kinderbedieningstrategie (plattelandse kind) daar te stel, wat die unieke behoeftes en spesifieke omstandighede waarin kinders lewe, asook die ontwikkelingsfases waarin hulle verkeer, uit te lig. / The Church of God consists of people (Adults and Children) who believe in God. The local congregation focus on the needs of the child (6-12 years). The enviroment of the child who lives within the geographic boundaries of Nelspoort, Murraysburg, Merweville and Beaufort West is influenced by retarted sosio-economic and political circumstances. The U.R.C. which serve the child (6-12 years) in the afore mentioned towns, fails to initiate and implement an effective service. Lack of trained staff, basic learning material and insufficient knowledge of the development phases of the child within the mentioned age groups exacerbates the situation. The study offers guidelines for the U.R.C. (rural) to have a more effective child service strategy (rural children) in place which attends to the unique needs and specific circumstances under which the children live as well as the developmental phases they are in. / Philosophy, Practical & Systematic Theology / M. Diac. (Jeugwerk)

This thesis "Pedagogy and Maria Montessori School in the Czech Republic" in the theoretical part describes the life of Maria Montessori, Montessori principles of education and development of Montessori schools with a focus on their development in the Czech Republic. The practical part deals with a case study of a Prague school with Montessori principles and a questionnaire survey with the headmaster of Montessori schools.

The role of natural resources in the lives of rural children impacted by HIV/AIDS remains unexplored. This study highlights wild food use by rural children vulnerable to the impacts of HIV/AIDS as an important and regular activity that supplements their domestic diets. This work found that with an increase in vulnerability to HIV/AIDS, children rely more on wild foods. Through an 18 month project in the Eastern Cape, using a broad quantitative and qualitative school and non-school survey, individual interviews, food diaries, participant observation, interactive photography, and other participatory techniques, a total of 850 children's coping strategies and livelihoods were examined. The quality of children’s domestic diets was, on average, 60% lower than the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) guidelines. However, 62% of the children interviewed were supplementing their diets with wild foods, 30% having over half their diet supplemented with wild foods. Dietary diversity showed a 13% increase when wild food supplementation occurred. While traditionally rural children rely on reciprocal networks during times of crisis, we found that these networks were eroding from the pressures of HIV/AIDS. Begging, for some children, was replaced by wild food collection and a significantly larger proportion of children more vulnerable to HIV/AIDS relied on wild foods more than did less vulnerable children. Considering the heightened nutritional and energy needs of children, combined with the impact of HIV/AIDS on household food access, wild foods represent the last freely attainable food sources available to them. Hunting and collection of wild food is a group activity, which was found to have valuable psychosocial benefits. Commercialisation of wild foods was observed among 38% of the children, with significantly more vulnerable children selling wild foods. The use of wild foods by rural children also had positive influences on the preservation of indigenous ecological knowledge.

Text in Afrikaans / Die Kerk van God bestaan uit mense wat tot geloof gekom het in Jesus Christus. Volwassenes maak nie alleen deel uit van die kerk nie, maar ook kinders. Die plaaslike gemeente se roeping is om in sy bedieningstrategie te fokus op die behoeftes van die kind (6 - 12 jaar). Die leefwereld van die kind binne die geografiese grense van Nelspoort, Murraysburg, Merweville en Beaufort-Wes word sterk beinvloed deur gebrekkige sosio-ekonomiese en politieke toestande. Die V.G.K., wat daarvoor verantwoordelik is om die kinders (6-12 jaar) in genoemde dorpe te bedien, slaag nie daarin om 'n effektiewe bediening te loods nie. Gebrek aan opgeleide personeel, basiese lesmateriaal en gebrekkige kennis van die ontwikkelingsfases van die kind in genoemde ouderdomsgroep vererger die situasie. Die studie bied riglyne vir die V.G.K. op die platteland om 'n meer effektiewe kinderbedieningstrategie (plattelandse kind) daar te stel, wat die unieke behoeftes en spesifieke omstandighede waarin kinders lewe, asook die ontwikkelingsfases waarin hulle verkeer, uit te lig. / The Church of God consists of people (Adults and Children) who believe in God. The local congregation focus on the needs of the child (6-12 years). The enviroment of the child who lives within the geographic boundaries of Nelspoort, Murraysburg, Merweville and Beaufort West is influenced by retarted sosio-economic and political circumstances. The U.R.C. which serve the child (6-12 years) in the afore mentioned towns, fails to initiate and implement an effective service. Lack of trained staff, basic learning material and insufficient knowledge of the development phases of the child within the mentioned age groups exacerbates the situation. The study offers guidelines for the U.R.C. (rural) to have a more effective child service strategy (rural children) in place which attends to the unique needs and specific circumstances under which the children live as well as the developmental phases they are in. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / M. Diac. (Jeugwerk)

The South African schooling system is faced with a number of crisis situations. Of these is the high under resourcing in rural public schools. Macfarlane (2005:5) deduces that despite rapid recent urbanization, half of South Africa’s learners still attend schools in theses rural under resourced areas. The Eastern Cape is one of the provinces that have saturated the media with a discrepancy of having a lot of under resourced schools especially in rural areas. This study, therefore, investigated pedagogical strategies used by teachers in under resourced schools - how teachers teach to ensure that teaching and learning occurs under such dire circumstances. The study followed a qualitative approach under an interpretive paradigm with a case study research design. Furthermore, the data collection techniques involved semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions and documentary analysis. This study revealed that all the respondents from both schools seemed to have a common understanding of what a school resource means though put in different statements. The findings also revealed that all the respondents were silent in mentioning parents as school resources. From the documents analysed, it however, came to view that it is expected of the teachers to use a learner centred approach kind of teaching, where learners are mostly used. Responding on parents the teachers alleged a lack of involvement of parents in their children’s learning and other activities run in their school. The study recommends that the Department of Education officials need to make regular visits on schools for the betterment of teaching and learning standard, regular improvement on school facilities and handling of finances.

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)