Magister Educationis - MEd / The rate at which the spread of human immunodeficiency virus/auto immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is increasing in the world has brought with it the realization that the disease is more complex and extensive than imagined. The alarming increase in the rate of infection combined with the fact that researchers have not found a cure has considerable socioeconomic implications. The peculiarity of HIV/AIDS, has caused almost all countries of the world to introduce different types of intervention programmes for the youth in order to reduce or eradicate the disease. South Africa, being one of the countries in the world that has the highest number of people living with HIV/AIDS, has introduced a Life Orientation Programme (LOP) into the school curriculum as a preventive measure. HIV/AIDS prevention programmes as part of the LOP are designed to increase the knowledge and skills of youths in order to adopt and maintain good sexual behaviours that can virtually eliminate the risks of becoming infected with the HIV. This study evaluates the effectiveness, efficiency, relevance and impact of LOP on the sexual behaviours of the learners in a high school in Cape Town. The study was motivated by the fact that, despite the introduction of different intervention and prevention programmes in high schools, there seems to be no significant reduction in the spread of HIV/AIDS among the youths. In order to make this evaluation worth the while, four instruments, (questionnaires, semistructured interviews, a classroom observation schedule and a test), were used in the study with the consent of the participants and the school authorities. The participants (the teachers and learners) were contacted independently by an educator who was introduced to me by the principal, so that the researcher would not influence the information provided.

D/deaf people typically are not employed, or work in menial jobs, although they have been through high1 school in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. The researcher has not observed them in professional careers. However, there is no empirical evidence why the D/deaf are excluded from the formal labour market after schooling. Understanding the underlying factors influencing such observations was important. The problem manifested in unemployment in the formal labour sector, but the researcher wanted to understand the root cause of this problem in depth. The aim of the study is to explore and critically analyse the D/deaf high school learners' construction of their careers and the supports available to them in constructing and realising their career aspirations. The international literature reviewed identifies knowledge gaps concerning career construction and supportive imperatives of D/deaf high school learners. The theory of career construction by Savickas (2005) frames this study and has been used throughout to guide and inform the study. This is a descriptive qualitative case study of career construction and support (Creswell, 2013). It was conducted in two of the five schools for the Deaf in two districts of the Eastern Cape. The learners came from rural, semi-rural and semi-urban homes. The schools (rural and semirural) were purposefully selected to participate in the study. The study population includes four participant groups; the deaf learners in high school (grade 10 -12), their parents, the teachers involved in the career guidance of the learners and members of the Department of Basic Education who were responsible for career guidance in deaf high schools. The data was collected using multiple methods: focus group discussions, individual interviews and document reviews. The findings indicate that careers are constructed under adverse conditions. These lead to learners' perceptions of limited support. The challenges with learning the school curriculum was a barrier to acquiring basic skills required for their careers. The challenges include an inability to use of South African Sign Language, a critical barrier affecting communication across participants (learners, teachers, Department of Education officials and parents). This impacted on teaching, learning, support, guidance and general communication. The contextual challenges and limited support structures negatively influence the way D/deaf high school learners in the Eastern Cape Province construct their future careers, their parents, the education system and the role played by organisations of Deaf people. The study shows that careers are constructed in a context of both positive and negative influences. The combination of both the negative influences and limited supports impacts more heavily on career construction than do the positive influences. D/deaf people in the Eastern Cape have limited opportunities to obtain employment in professional occupations because of the way the education system and society prepares them for such careers. The issues of colonialism and the previous apartheid regime still influence both the education system and the South African society.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / Background Overweight/obesity is a risk factor for non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and some cancers. Obesity in childhood is known to predict later obesity in adolescence and adulthood. Understanding the factors associated with overweight/obesity among children may present an opportunity for timely and appropriate interventions in the African setting. Aims 1. To describe the prevalence of overweight and obesity and associated factors among school children aged 8 - 11 years in primary schools in Adentan Municipality, Ghana. 2. To review the available literature on childhood obesity in the African context to provide evidence to support the design and improvement of appropriate school-based interventions for the prevention and control of overweight/obesity among African learners. Methodology This was a cross-sectional study design which was conducted in two phases. In Phase I, the available literature on the prevalence of overweight and obesity among learners, school-based interventions to promote healthy nutrition and physical activity (PA), and weight status, and key policy interventions at the national levels to provide supportive environments in the African context was reviewed and synthesised. In Phase II, interviews were conducted to collect individual and family data from 543 learners in 14 schools to assess family socio-demographics characteristics, dietary, PA, and sedentary behaviours, and sleep duration. Body weight, height, and waist circumference were measured. Data on perceived school neighbourhood/ community, school food, and PA environments were collected from school heads/administrators. A sub-sample of 183 children participated in the assessment of body fat using the deuterium dilution method. Multivariable and logistic regressions, multilevel logistic regressions, and multilevel linear regression models were used to examine the associations among child, family, and school level explanatory variables, and overweight/obesity, abdominal obesity and body mass index (BMI). Results The reviews revealed the following: (i) The pooled overweight and obesity estimates across Africa were: (10.5% 95% CI: 7.1-14.3) and 6.1% (3.4-9.7) by World Health Organization; 9.5% (6.5-13.0) and 4.0% (2.5-5.9) by International Obesity Task Force; and 11.5% (9.6-13.4) and 6.9% (5.0-9.0) by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, respectively and differed for overweight (p=0.0027) and obesity (p<0.0001) by the criteria. The estimates were mostly higher in urban, and private schools, but generally similar by gender, major geographic regions, publication year, and sample size; (ii) Although inconsistent, school-based interventions broadly improved weight status and some energy-balance related health behaviours of African learners; (iii) On applying the Analysis Grid for Environments Linked to Obesity (ANGELO) framework, key interventions on unhealthy diets and physical inactivity targeted the school, family and community settings, and macro environments, and broadly aligned with global recommendations. In the school-based study, 16.4% of Ghanaian learners were overweight (9.2%) or obese (7.2%), with the prevalence being significantly higher in children from middle- to high socio-economic status (SES) households, and private schools. In multivariable regression models, attending private school (AOR = 2.44, 1.39–4.29) and excessive television viewing (AOR = 1.72, 1.05–2.82) significantly increased the likelihood of overweight/obesity, whereas adequate sleep (AOR = 0.53, 0.31–0.88), and active transport to and from school (AOR = 0.51, 0.31 – 0.82) decreased the odds. Using deuterium-derived percent body fat as criterion method, the published BMI criteria was found to be highly specific but with moderate sensitivity for diagnosing obesity among Ghanaian children. Moreover, the BMI-for-age z-scores that optimise sensitivity, specificity, and predictive values for obesity were lower than the published cut-off points. Multilevel logistic and linear regression analyses revealed that the school contextual level contributed 30.0%, 20.6% and 19.7% of the total variance observed in overweight (including obesity), abdominal obesity, and BMI respectively. Availability of school cafeteria (β = 1.83, p = 0.017) and shops (β = 2.34, p = 0.001), healthy foods (β = 0.77, p = 0.046), less healthy foods (β = 0.38, p = 0.048), child age (β = 0.40, p = 0.008), school-level SES (β = 1.02, p < 0.0001), private school attendance (β = -1.80, p = 0.006), and after-school recreational facilities (β = 0.89, p < 0.0001) were all associated with BMI. In the mutually adjusted models for all significant predictors, school-level SES, healthy foods, after-school recreational facilities, and PA facility index remained significant predictors of overweight and or abdominal obesity. Conclusions The prevalence of overweight/obesity is significantly higher in urban children attending private or high SES schools, regardless of criteria used to define obesity. A number of individual, family, and school-level factors significantly predicted weight status of school children in Ghana. Given that many African governments have initiated policy interventions aiming to provide supportive environments for healthy choices, it is recommended that resources are made readily available for the implementation of these interventions across the home, school and community.

Doctor Educationis / The language of instruction plays a determining role in students’ academic performance. This suggests that students should be taught in a language they are familiar with in order to enhance understanding of the content subjects. In Rwanda, almost all Rwandans communicate and interact in Kinyarwanda, their mother tongue. It is, thus, expected that Rwandan children should be instructed in this home language. However, the status of English as a global language has also found echo in Rwanda, and this foreign language was adopted as medium of instruction from Primary 4 onwards. This thesis, therefore, aims to determine what role English as a medium plays in delivering quality education in Rwanda. To respond to the above question, the researcher investigated three secondary Third Form schools in the rural Gisagara District of the Southern Province. She wanted to explore the teaching and learning strategies deployed in the English language classrooms and the learning materials and infrastructure available at the schools. The focus was on English language classes as these were the spaces in which Rwandan children were explicitly exposed to English and where their proficiency in the language was developed. However, the researcher also needed to find out the effect that English had on the students’ academic performance, the correlation between their results in English and their results in content subjects, and the students’ and teachers’ perceptions of English as language of instruction. It is in this vein that a combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches was used and various data collection techniques employed to obtain enriched data. Classroom observations and interviews with students and their English teachers were conducted. A questionnaire was also distributed to the students and their results in English and in content subjects were analysed to supplement the data generated by other methods. This study was guided by sociocultural theories of second language learning according to which language is a mediating tool that helps to adjust relationships between people that live in the same community. Language is, hence, a necessary artifact that is worth acquiring. For language learning to take place, learners need to interact with more knowledgeable people. In the classroom, it is the teacher who has to mediate this learning, assuming that he/she is more knowledgeable than the students. Classroom peer interactions in the target language also provide room wherein brighter students may assist their struggling classmates. Language across the curriculum approach and content-based instruction also inspired this study. These approaches suggest that language should be taught in context and especially through the content related to the students’ fields of study. The research findings indicate that the students were not proficient in English, the language of instruction, which hindered their school achievement. In addition, no correlation could be established between the students’ results in English and their results in content subjects. Indeed, despite the students’ poor performance in English they did better in this language than in the content subjects. Furthermore, not all students who fared well in English succeeded in the content subjects, and some students scored good marks in the content subjects whilst they failed in English. The findings also show that the teaching and learning strategies used in the language classrooms, as well as the learning materials and infrastructure at the schools, did not promote English acquisition. Ironically, despite English being a hindrance to the learning of other subjects, both the students and their teachers affirmed that they preferred that this language remain as medium of instruction. They believed that being competent in English could offer them more life opportunities than any other language.

Thesis ( M.A. ( Clinical Psychology )) -- University of Limpopo, 2013 / The aim of the study is to investigate the perceptions of alcohol use and its behavioral impact upon learners at Makgofe Area in the Limpopo Province. Quantitative, descriptive research was conducted to determine if there were any differences between the perceptions and the behavioural impact of alcohol use. Data was collected using a semi-structured questionnaire. A total number of 100 participants, divided into two groups, took part in the study. Fifty (50) learners, who drink alcohol, formed the experimental group, while another fifty (50) learners, who do not drink alcohol, formed the control group. Data was analysed using SPSS. The study has highlighted the perceptions held by learners and the behavioural impact it has on behaviour. The findings revealed that learners using alcohol perceive its usage positively. It was also found that leaners using alcohol perceive alcohol as having a positive impact on their behaviour. The study concludes by advocating psycho education regarding the use and effects of alcohol at schools around Limpopo Province.

Magister Educationis - MEd / Mathematical modelling is gaining extensive interest across the schooling sector worldwide, as it is deemed to develop learners with competencies set to deal with the demands of the fourth industrial revolution and being creative problem solvers. As mathematical modelling has only recently gained momentum across the mathematics curricula for schools in South Africa, many teachers may not be aware of the competencies that are needed to be developed in their learners through solving word problems, and even learners may not be aware of these essential modelling competencies. Hence, this mixed-methods approach study adopted a case-study design located within an interpretative paradigm to explore the levels of mathematical modelling competencies a sample of Grade 10 learners attending a Western Cape School demonstrated as they solved a set of word problems associated with the use of simultaneous equations. Additionally, data collected through observations and limited sets of semi-structured interviews were considered in the data analysis processes, which were largely driven by qualitative content analysis methods and supplemented with elementary descriptive statistical methods. The findings of this study showed that most of the learners demonstrated non-competency in modelling mainly because of their inability to understand the problem as evident in their failure to comprehend the context of a problem, inability to recognise important quantities associated with a problem, and muddled relationships if any. The study conjecture that the use of the English language could have been a barrier to the sample of English second language speakers understanding the problem. However, a very limited number of students showed partial modelling competency, as they were only able to understand the problem and build a correct model to solve the problem. Regrettably, these students lacked the knowledge of the heuristics for solving a system of linear equations correctly and completely and did not check or verify their answers. The extremely small number of learners, who demonstrated sufficient modelling competency, demonstrated sufficient understanding of the problem, built and solved the system of simultaneous linear equations successfully without necessarily checking or testing whether their answers satisfied the conditions of the problem. Hence, this study recommends that adequate focus be given to the role of language in understanding a problem, heuristic competencies to solve a system of linear equations should be strengthened, and the habit of checking the reasonableness of the solution should be encouraged and developed continuously across problem-solving tasks. Studying learners’ modelling competencies requires further work to add to the repertoire of this knowledge domain.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / Substance abuse among adolescents is a Public Health concern globally with approximately 25 million adolescents (aged 13-15 years) who smoke tobacco, one in every ten girls and one in every five boys. In low- and middle-income countries, 14 % of girls and 18% of boys (13-15years old) are engaged in alcohol use. The Global Status Report on Alcohol and Health of 2018, reports that among the 15- to 19-year-olds, greater than a quarter were current alcohol drinkers. Cannabis (marijuana/dagga) is highly used globally with approximately 3.8% between 15 and 64 years, about 188 million people used it once or more times in 2017. The most commonly abused substances are alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis (marijuana/dagga). In South Africa, most adolescents are found in schools and the average age of drug experimentation is 12 years with early onset of use at about ten years of age.

CoordenaÃÃo de AperfeiÃoamento de Pessoal de NÃvel Superior / nÃo hà / Esta pesquisa visa conhecer a HistÃria do Ensino Militar Naval no CearÃ, com Ãnfase na criaÃÃo da Escola de Aprendizes Marinheiros do CearÃ, entre 1864 a 1889 e sua contribuiÃÃo para a sociedade cearense. Nosso campo de anÃlise a inseriu dentro do campo das InstituiÃÃes Escolares, especificamente, a partir discussÃo da histÃria do ensino militar, articulando-a com os campos da histÃria da social, da infÃncia, dos mÃtodos de ensino, dentre outros. Para conduzir essa pesquisa, utilizamos como referencial bibliogrÃfico autores como Fernando Azevedo, PlÃcido Aderaldo Castelo, Primitivo Moacyr, Prado Maia, dentre vÃrios, para sedimentar as reflexÃes sobre esse tema. Como metodologia, utilizamos estudos documentais junto à prÃpria Escola de Aprendizes Marinheiro do Cearà e diversas instituiÃÃes como: Biblioteca PÃblica Governador Menezes Pimentel, Arquivo PÃblico do Estado do CearÃ, Biblioteca Nacional, Arquivo Nacional, assim como, pesquisamos nos estabelecimentos navais como: Biblioteca, Arquivo e Museu da Marinha. Como procedimentos, fizemos o cruzamento das leis da educaÃÃo brasileira, dos documentos institucionais, de revistas militares navais, assim como de reportagens junto aos jornais do perÃodo. De acordo com essa pesquisa descobrimos que as Companhias de Aprendizes Marinheiros surgiram no Brasil a partir de 1840 como projeto de formaÃÃo profissional, tendo como pÃblico alvo menores, ÃrfÃos e desvalidos, sob a guarda das autoridades locais - Presidentes das ProvÃncias, JuÃzes de ÃrfÃos e Delegados de PolÃcia. Entre os anos de 1840 e 1885, foram instaladas companhias de aprendizes marinheiros em diversas provÃncias brasileiras. As companhias de aprendizes marinheiros, portanto, se constituÃram em estabelecimentos profissional e educacional, um quartel-escola. ConcluÃmos que a Companhia de Aprendizes Marinheiro do CearÃ, na medida em que foi se estruturando para formaÃÃo profissional, moral e religiosa, e intelectual dos aprendizes, promoveu a formaÃÃo para o trabalho atendo principalmente os anseios do Estado, da InstituiÃÃo e da sociedade que buscavam a formaÃÃo do novo homem-cidadÃo. De fato a pesquisa nos mostrou que a EAMCE atuou como instrumento do Estado no sentido de controle da camada popular, dando a essa aÃÃo cores prÃprias dentro de um processo de militarizaÃÃo que se efetivou durante o Segundo Reinado.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD (Linguistics, Language and Communication) / At independence, Namibia chose English as its official language and therefore its language of learning and teaching (LOLT). This decision has been well supported and therefore there has been an expectation among Namibians that learning English as early as possible is important because it will open many doors to the future (Harris, 2011). However, since the introduction of English as LOLT, government documents and other relevant literature have revealed poor performance of learners and falling standards of teaching (Iipinge, 2013). Despite this revelation, no study has been done in Namibia to investigate the effects of the current Language in Education Policy (LEP) on the teaching and learning of different school subjects. Therefore, this study focuses on critical questions regarding the effects of the current Namibian LEP on the teaching and learning of English Second Language (ESL) in Northern Namibia, with a special focus on one of the most demanding skills in second language learning: essay writing. Besides this, the study looks at the writing problems of learners and the intervention strategies that teachers are using to help learners overcome or reduce writing problems.

Thesis (M.A. (Clinical Psychology)) --University of Limpopo, 2003 / Refer to document