M.Ed. / Innovation is not a constraint In education which will disappear if it is ignored. innovation, and for the purposes of this study, curriculum innovation is a means whereby man adapts and survives in a continuously changing society. Curriculum Innovation Is defined by Ceri (1969:13) in the following manner. "We understand Innovation to mean those attempts at change in an educational system which are consciously and purposefully directed with the aim of Improving the present system"...

The general purpose of the research was to do a comparative study of first level library and/or information science (LIS) qualifications offered at South African universities and technikons. These qualifications included the National Diploma: Library and Information Studies (ND: LIS), the Bachelor of Technology: Library and Information Studies (B.Tech.(LIS)), the Post-graduate Diploma in Library and/or Information Science and the Bachelor of Library and Information Science (B.Bibl.) or equivalent four-year university degree. Self-administered questionnaires were used to survey the views of employers, past students and educators in the LIS field regarding these qualifications and their relevance to the LIS services work environment. Descriptive statistics as well as content analysis were used to analyse the data collected. Discussion of findings based on analysis of data and in the context of related literature, resulted in a number of conclusions. The study supports the view that general education as provided by a university bachelor's degree distinguishes between professional and paraprofessional LIS education and training. The study confirms that the university Post-graduate Diploma in Library and/or Information Science and the B.Bibl. (or equivalent four-year university degree) are established professional LIS qualifications in South Africa. While the technikon ND: LIS is generally viewed as a paraprofessional qualification, LIS services employers are not using this qualification in its paraprofessional context with paraprofessional post designations and career progressions. The technikon B.Tech.(LIS) cannot be viewed as a professional LIS qualification as it lacks general education. Furthermore, it is a qualification in the hierarchy of paraprofessional LIS qualifications that runs parallel to the professional LIS career path and thus the B.Tech.(LIS) is not a step in the direction of LIS professionalism. It is part of an alternative career direction. A further conclusion is that in view of the traditional purpose of technikon education and training vis-a-vis university education and training, limited general education and not extended general education is necessary in the technikon LIS curriculum. The study suggests that the professional LIS body, educators, employers and graduates and diplomates in the LIS field in South Africa have specific roles to play in ensuring understanding that LIS professionalism and paraprofessionalism are alternative or parallel career paths each with its own career progressions and with valuable roles to play in LIS services. However, there should be possibilities for articulation between LIS professionalism and paraprofessionalism at the education and training level. / Thesis (M.I.S.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2002.

Background: 'The literature reveals that a large percentage of teachers ask questions aimed at lower cognitive levels irrespective of the underpinning philosophy. They fail to set challenging questions at higher order levels when setting examination papers. Purpose of the Study: This study is aimed at describing and analysing the examination questions set over a four year academic period, at the University of KwaZulu-Natal School of Nursing, in terms of Bloom's levels of cognitive domains. Research Methodology: A quantitative approach and content analysis was used. A total of 1319 questions were examined, SOUTCed from 39 examination papers, from 2003-2007. These questions were independently reviewed by two coders according to Bloom's taxonomy's template. Research Results: The findings revealed that all six categories of the cognitive domains in Bloom's taxonomy were used across the four levels in the Bachelor of Nursing (BN) programme. Overall about 57 % of the questions were aimed at lower level (knowledge, recall and comprehension) whilst only 43.4% were aimed at higher levels (application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation). In the first year lower order questions averaged at 62% with higher order questions at 51 %. In second year the lower order questions took up 51% of the paper \\~th higher order questions at 49%. During third year there was an equal (50/50) split between higher order and lower order questions. In fourth year there was the highest percentage of lower level questions (66%) was seen, with only 34% of questions being of the higher order. Regarding the increase in the complexity of questions within the programme, a change of 13% was seen between first and second year. Whilst there was an increase of 1% reported between second and third year. However, there was a significant drop (16%) in the complexity ofquestions in the fourth year, with lower order questions clearly dominating. Recommendations: The nursing education curriculum, and staff development progranune, should pay special attention towards developing educators in the setting of questions ensuring appropriate examination criteria are met. Exercises during the capacity building initiatives should cover aspects such as how to plan an assessment for the whole programme ensuring the appropriate increases in complexity as the programme progresses, as well as setting, or critiquing, of examination papers and coming up with recommendations to improve the quality of questions. Special attention should be given to how to align teaching and assessment in such a way that the level ofcomplexity increases as the students' progress through the programme. Lastly, further research should be conducted, using mixed methods, to explore the assessment of learning and in order to address certain questions which could not be answered quantitatively; for example questions regarding the construction of questions, because it impacts the nature of the question Also it should be noted that there was a disjuncture between the scenario and the questions in some cases. / Thesis (M.N.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2010.

M.Ed. (Curriculum Studies) / This research focuses on the role the curriculum plays in the existence of certain types of private schools in the RSA. Private schools in South Africa currently number in excess of 500 and the number is increasing every year. The various private schools claim that they offer curricula suited to the specific needs of certain pupils. A structured interview was compiled and used to interview three different schools namely a volkskool (a people's school), a church school and an independent school. The responses received during the interview were then analysed and interpreted to reach certain conclusions and to put forward certain recommendations. It was inter alia concluded that: The volkskool (people's school) attaches importance to religion and ethnicity. The church school stresses the religious principles of a specific church. The independent school considers the economic demands of the world we live in as of importance. For a child to cope in the adult world he must be academically prepared and qualified. It was furthermore established that the processes of curriculum design and development do take place in private schools. This is inter alia evident from the specific subjects that are offered in certain private schools. While a subject like "Volksgeskiedenis" (History of the people) is offered at volkskole, Church History is taught at church schools, and independent schools concentrate on, for instance, Life Skills to prepare their respective pupils towards eventual choices of career. It is then concluded that to effect a stable education environment private schools should be given the greatest amount of freedom to compile their own curricula.

Thesis (M. Ed.) -- University of Limpopo, 2017. / One of the effective ways of teaching science is by developing the thinking abilities of individuals by allowing them to engage in enquiry-based learning. Computer simulation (CS) can help improve understanding of scientific concepts and enhance conceptual development and performance. This study focused on exploring learners’ conceptual development using CS in Grade 10 science class. A pre- and post-test research designs were used. 105 Grade 10 learners participated: 53 from one whole class were assigned to an Experimental Group (EG) and 52 from another class to a Control Group (CG). The EG was taught using CS while the CG was taught using the traditional approach. Data on learners’ performance were collected using a performance test and interviews were employed to collect data on learners’ attitudes towards science. The results revealed that the EG performed better than the CG (t-test, p < 0.05), (ANCOVA, p < 0.01). Girls in the EG performed better than girls from the CG (t-test, p < 0.05), and independent sample t-test revealed that girls in the EG were in the same range with boys after intervention suggesting that CS did not discriminate against gender in this study. Furthermore, the results from interviews indicate that learners from EG exhibited positive attitudes towards science, unlike their counterparts from the CG. This suggests that learners from the EG may have been excited to observe phenomena on the screen of a computer that they would otherwise not do due to lack of laboratory equipment in their school.

The intention of this study was to describe the implementation process of the NQF in nursing education at central and provincial levels in order to explore the change process. It deals with this process as follows: Implementation of NQF in nursing education.; Organizational health at central and provincial levels.; The change strategies used at these levels.; The implementation level reached. It is a qualitative study of an enthographic type to describe and document the implementation of the NQF as it occurred. The researcher who was part of the group that generated the culture of learning in nursing, directly participated in the activities and events as they occurred at this initial stage of implementation of the NQF. A discussion between the researcher and nurse educators took place on strategies used and whether they find the existing environment promoting changes. The research techniques used for gathering information were interviews and documents. With this information the researcher was able to reflect, make inferences and interpretations. The state of nursing education was described within the organizational self-renewal strategies described by Owens (1998). The description of the process of implementing the NQF was viewed against the change strategies as described by Bennis, Benne and Chin (1969), which are the empirical rational, normative re-educative and power coercive. The stage of implementation of the NQF in NE that has been achieved has been assessed using the NQF principles as a yardstick. The data collected is largely qualitative and its analysis has been qualitative. The categories of the theoretical framework which are inputs (organizational health); process (change theories); and outcomes (awareness, planning, use and refinement) of the NQF principles, have been used to analyze the data. The findings on organizational health reveal that nursing education is a healthy organization at both central and provincial levels. It has taken the opportunity presented by the NQF to address some of its organizational problems such as the Scope of Practice for nurses and midwives. There are, however, problems in making final decisions about the planned implementation of the NQF because of differences in vision about the future of nursing education. The movement of nursing education (NE) to higher education (HE) is hampering progress because the National Government is not implementing the Education Act No. 101 of 1997 which has moved NE to HE. Both the South African Nursing Council (SANC) and Natal College of Nursing (NCN) have no coherent human resources development policy. At both the central and provincial levels of NE normative re-educative strategies are ones that have been used extensively rather than power coercive strategies. Empirical rational strategies were also made use of to identify the advantages of the NQF policy and to incorporate them into the planned changes. There is full awareness and planning for the implementation of all the principles of the NQF. The principles of the NQF that are already in use and are being refined are integration of education and training, relevance, credibility and legitimacy.This is because they had already been in use in nursing education and practice before the inception of the NQF policy. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2001.

A comparative analysis was undertaken using descriptive survey and cross-sectional design to explore the effects of two curricular approaches ( Problem-based learning and traditional) used in Comprehensive basic nursing programme on the development of, clinical reasoning abilities of nursing students was undertaken, Triple Jump Exercise as the data collection instrument was used to evaluate students' abilities, in clinical reasoning, Using quota sampling technique, a convenience sample of 87 subjects was selected from two nursing institutions using these two approaches, These were student nurses in their 1st, 2nd and 4th year levels of study, Using individual interviews, subjects were required to think aloud and verbalize their clinical reasoning after being presented with a clinical scenario, Subjects' verbalizations were quantified, based on the criteria specified in the evaluation form of the data collecting instrument, and total scores were obtained, Analysis using computer software package (SAS) was done to provide for descriptive and statistical summarisation, Though descriptive analysis through mean scores of clinical reasoning showed slight differences resulting from the curricular approaches used. this was not confirmed statistically as the two factor ANOVA and Tukey's method revealed no significant differences by approaches nor their interaction with level of study, Only levels of study had significant differences at p=O,OOO I, with senior levels outperforming their juniors, These findings therefore conclude that PBL and the traditional approach perfonn on a similar level in clinical reasoning. Nurse educators are therefore challenged to identify effective strategies to enhance and nurture clinical reasoning, One strategy, which this study recommends, is the use of case-based approaches in CBNP. / Thesis (M.Cur.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2001.

M.Ed. (Educational Linguistics) / This study focuses on the reading proficiency in English of black students who are attending an academic support school. From observations made on the difficulties experienced by many students in successfully completing reading tasks in the classroom., it appeared that many of these students were not proficient readers. As reading is a multi-dimensional research phenomenon, various dimensions of reading, which include bottom-up proficiency, top-down proficiency, metacognition, and affective and socio-cultural factors, have been investigated. While reading proficiency is the focus of the study, the relationship between reading and language proficiency as well as the influence of the sociocultural and educational background of the student on his reading have also been investigated. The research design for investigating the problem included a review of literature on the various reading models and on reading pedagogy, as well as on the relationship between language proficiency and reading proficiency. Literature on the influence of a disadvantaged sociocultural and educational background on reading proficiency was also reviewed. From these readings it was evident that reading is a complex process, the nature of which is still being investigated by reading theorists. Furthermore, the literature reviewed seemed to indicate that there is a relationship between language proficiency and reading proficiency, as well as a relationship between the sociocultural and educational background of the student and reading proficiency. The literature review was followed by a micro-genetic investigation of the research problem by a full participant researcher. Data were collected from nine students and processed. The findings indicate that most of the students are not proficient readers even though their bottom-up proficiency is adequate. Furthermore, it was found that a relationship between language proficiency and between sociocultural status and educational disadvantage and reading proficiency, does appear to exist. To conclude the investigation, suggestions for teacher training in reading pedagogy and for the teaching of reading in secondary schools to English Second Language readers were made. Finally, a model for reading pedagogy, which includes various aspects of the reading process, was devised.

M.Ed. (Curriculum Studies) / The purpose of this study is to determine whether affective considerations have a claim on inclusion in the curriculum and, if so, how these claims may be accommodated. The target group is the adolescents in their secondary school phase. Current research has indicated beyond doubt that curriculum planning can no longer be restricted to the cognitive domain. Feelings and emotions are involved in every learning experience and hamper or enhance cognitive development. Therefore the teacher's responsibility should be extended to include the education of feeling and emotion as well. The study proposes an approach based on sound educational principles and scientifically acquired data. The point of departure is the widely accepted principles and criteria for curriculum design. The relatively new communicative curriculum provides a useful framework, but it has innate weaknesses. Only if care is taken to counter the possible effects of such weaknesses, will the new sillabi have a chance of success. Affective aims should, however, not oust cognitive aims. Intellectual development is the primary goal of the school curriculum. A continuous stream of interaction flows between the affective and the cognitive fields. On all levels of curriculum design the approach should be to take the development patterns of the adolescents as the vantage points, formulate aims to accommodate affective development and only then to choose the relevant cognitive aims. Such an approach will hopefully lead to the achievement of a more balanced education for the volatile adolescent.