Submitted in the fulfillment of the requirements of a Masters of Applied Science in Food and Nutrition, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa, 2017. / Aim: The main aim of this study was to profile the primary school children`s household socio-economic status and evaluate their nutritional status for a healthy and active live in Chesterville, outside Durban in KwaZulu-Natal. The sample comprised of 250 children (147 girls and 103 boys), aged between 4 to 8 years and 9 to 13 years who volunteered to participate in the study and school was randomly selected. Methodology: A quantitative research method was applied using various nutrition security assessment tools complemented by the socio-economic household profile to determine household`s ability to acquire food. Anthropometric status using WHO growth indicators assessed stunting, wasting and underweight status of the children. This was followed by the 24-hr recall and food frequency questionnaire to probe children`s diet diversity. Descriptive statistics was used to analyse data. Result: The anthropometric indices showed that 10.3% of the children were severely stunted (<-3SD height-for-age), 33.5% were stunted (<-2SD), 2.9% were severely wasted (<-3SD BMI-for age), 5.3% were wasted (<-2SD) with 68.5% at possible risk of overweight (>+1SD), 24.3% of the children were overweight is (>+2SD) and 5.6% were obese (>+3SD) according to the WHO z-scores. The results indicate the prevalence of obesity which could be a result of the high consumption of carbohydrate dense food in the group surveyed. The parents/ caregivers and the children need nutrition education on healthy eating habits to improve their lifestyle. The socio-demographic profile of the households indicated that 61% of the parents/ caregivers were unemployed and 39% were employed. Seventy three percent of the households were headed by women, 50% of the parents/ caregivers owned their homes, 63.6% had a tap inside the house and 94% had access to a flush toilet/sewerage system inside the house, 38% had passed grade 8 – the highest level of education, 14.4% of the parents/caregivers earned less than R2000 per month, and 10.4% earned less than R2500 per month. The low-income level, lack of post matric qualification in some of the parents /caregivers and the high unemployment rate of 61% could be a contributory factor to malnutrition in this community. Most of the parents/caregivers resided in the township and 94% lived in brick houses, while 35.6% lived in a shack that was built outside the house as an extension of the house. Most of the parents/caregivers (88%) purchased their food from a supermarket. Thirty-five-point two percent of the parents/ caregivers indicated not having enough money to spend on food, 32.8% indicated that often there is not enough money to spend on food, and 15% indicted that there is always not enough money to spend on food. Seventy-five-point two percent of the parents/ caregivers purchased their food once a month while 12.4% purchased their food once a week. Township South Africans tend to purchase food instead of growing their own food because of the lack of vegetating space. The lack of buying power and food shortages eventually leads to malnutrition. The lack of higher education in this community decreases the chances of permanent employment as a result the low-income bracket and the inability to purchase food in some occasions. The food group diversity score showed that 64% of the respondents consumed food from nine food groups. The carbohydrate group had the highest score (6.08±1.322) followed by the vegetable group (4.76±1.383) and the meat group (4.51±1.269). The mean carbohydrate intake was higher than the Dietary Reference Intake (DRI) for girls and boys (>100% of the DRIs). The intake of fruit was lower than the >400g goal as recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO). The consumption of fibre was low with both girls and boys consuming <100% of the fibre requirements. Iron was consumed by 54.6% of the girls in the required amount of 100% of the DRIs. The energy intake for both girls and boys was 7025.8±16278 and 7205.4± 1860.834 respectively. The girls’ consumption of protein was 11.9% and boys’ consumption was 11.4% and this is within the recommended 10-15% of the WHO. Conclusion: The results indicate both overnutrition and undernutrition in children that were part of the survey. The top 20 food intake indicated inadequate eating patterns and that diets consisted of energy dense foods, such as carbohydrates and fats which could be responsible for obesity in the children. The high unemployment and low-income rate and inadequate money to spend on food can contribute to the prevalence of stunting and wasting in the children. Nutrition education and nutrition interventions such as focus on healthier foods, healthier methods of preparing food, a balance diet and physical activity are necessary to improve quality of life and improve health. / M

This study focuses on the financial management role of principals of Section 21 schools. The research reports on principals working within such a regime. The South Africa Schools Act makes provisions for schools, through their school governing body, of which the principal is a member, to obtain funds from the community. Therefore the acquisition and spending of such funds has to be managed effectively and efficiently. This mini dissertation endeavours to study the changing role of principals with regard to the effective management of school finances and whether they have the necessary skills to perform these duties. Reference is made to similar situations of principals of schools in the United States, England, Australia and certain developing countries. The qualitative research method was used to elicit the perception of Section21 school principals. The research concludes with an attempt to make some recommendations for this new role of Section 21 principals. / Educational Studies / M.Ed. (Education Management)

In this critical evaluation of the National Policy on Religion and Education (Republic of South Africa 2003) , I will invite a multiplicity of voices and opinions from various disciplines and discourses - a Bakhtinian carnival of heteroglossic play . As opposed to the official feast, one might say that carnival celebrated temporary liberation from the prevailing truth and from the established order; it marked the suspension of all hierarchal rank, privileges, norms, and prohibitions. Carnival was the true feast of time, the feast of becoming, change, renewal. It was hostile to all that was immortalised and completed (Bakhtin 1984:10). In this time of postmodern carnival, official 'Truth' is constantly questioned and treated with suspicion and replaced by new and unofficial truths (Scott 1986; Hiebert 2003). God (if not religion) has been proclaimed dead and yet at the same time seems to be more alive than ever. This is a time when 'all the conventional norms and protocols are suspended, as the common life is invaded by a great wave of riotous antinomianism which makes everywhere for bizarre mésalliances' (Scott 1986:6). And the presiding spirit of blasphemy finds its quintessential expression in the ritual of the mock crowning and subsequent decrowning of the carnival king - who is the very antithesis of a real king, since he is in fact often a slave or a jester. In short, everything is topsy-turvy, and the disarray thus engenders an uproarious kind of laughter (Scott 1986:6). In his presidential address to the American Academy of Religion in 1986 titled 'The house of intellect in an age of carnival: some hermeneutical reflections', Scott (1986:7) explores the impact of the "multiplicity and fragmentation and diversity" facing 'the house of intellect', and identifies the challenge of not resorting to the safety of 'any sort of reductionism, [but] how to understand and interpret the multitudinous messages and voices that press in upon us, each clamouring for attention and for pride of place'. After acknowledging the polyphony surrounding Religionswissenschaft on the one hand and on the other hand rejecting any hermeneutical attempts at a 'totalistic' synthesis, Scott proposes moving among the different 'modalities' of interanimation between [the various] modes of discourse' (Ricoeur quoted by Scott 1986:11). Scott (1986:15) closes his address by appealing for continued conversations and dialogue among discourses and 'scatterings' of truth (1986:15) as a hermeneutical method that would take the plurality and heteroglossia of this time in history seriously. This thesis is an attempt - a personal but also a scholarly and academically responsible attempt - to plot many of the voices and contexts that would help to evaluate the specific understanding of the role of the study of religion in the broader contexts of citizenship in a postmodern age where nationalities, nation states and allegiances are constantly in flux and complex. This thesis is also submitted as proof of the validity of my own voice as one of many voices in and surrounding the house of intellect in an age of carnival. / Religious Studies and Arabic) / D. Litt. et Phil. (Religious Studies and Arabic)

This research project, using a qualitative case study methodology, reports on the appropriateness and implications of using group work in promoting cooperative learning in science. In this study, group work is seen as providing a social support mechanism for learning through interactive "hands-on" activities, designed to give learners opportunities to discuss and share ideas so that they can grasp science concepts. The Science Olympiad Project class composed of approximately thirty-six (36) learners formed the case study for this unit. The Science Olympiad Project is a project concerned with the promotion of science in the primary schools in Grahamstown. From this group, twenty two (22) learners (12 girls and 10 boys) were interviewed and kept journals. The Science Olympiad facilitator (a science teacher from one of the schools involved in the project) and two teachers who attended the science classes and whose learners are part of the project were interviewed. Semi-structured interviews, journals kept by the learners and the researcher (who was a participant observer and a co-facilitator), observations and discussions constituted sources of data for the research project. The analysis of data indicated that the learners found science during the Science Olympiad Project classes interesting and challenging. There were many benefits reported by the learners including the use of group work, the effect of "hands-on" activities, their attitudes and perceptions towards science and the role of excursions. Teachers found the learner-centred approaches adopted helped to encourage the learners to be actively involved in their own learning. One concern raised by the teachers was what would happen to those learners who have been identified as enthusiastic in science when they go to secondary schools. The implications of the results to improve and sustain the project are discussed.

The 1820 Foundation INSET Farm School Project is described in order to set the context in which this illuminative evaluation of a Teacher Development course took place. The concepts of training, education and development are discussed and it is suggested that the term 'education' encompasses a training-development continuum. The design and implementation of the Teacher Development course, which attempts to promote both personal and professional development, are presented, and the facilitator discusses i) her attempt to encourage teacher control of the course and, ii) the factors which mitigate against teacher control. The decision to use the illuminative evaluation method is placed in the context of interpretive research methodologies, and the methods of data collection are discussed. A wide range of data sources is used, but primary importance is attached to i) a questionnaire administered to the five teachers involved and ii) a group interview and individual interviews with the teachers. Factors which emerge in the illumination of the data indicate that teacher control of development courses in farm schools in the Eastern Cape is problematic, that the teachers' preference is for professional development, and that development seems to take place through implementation of training strategies.

This thesis is based on research aimed to develop and test a systematic framework to describe and analyse dysfunctions in underperforming schools in South Africa, the Explanatory Model of School Dysfunctions. The theoretical foundation of the model was created by synthesising the literature from various disciplines and conceptualising dysfunctions in relation to their antecedents, motivations, and consequences. The model was then applied and refined on three different data sets. The three data sets included data from principals, teachers, and learners. The principal data consisted of 80 essays written by principals or their representatives, the teacher data of 40 essays from teachers in the Gauteng area, and the learner data of 1,500 open-ended responses from recent high school graduates in South Africa. Content Configuration Analysis explored how school dysfunctions varied in degree, kind, and interconnectedness. Four groups of dysfunctions were identified: dysfunctions relating to rules and rule breaking, issues of competence, resources, and issues extrinsic to the school context. After application and refinement, the Explanatory Model of School Dysfunctions was found to be a suitable model to account for the problem sets experienced by these three actor groups. The goal of this model is to provide a theory-based approach to analyse dysfunctions within schools and to invite researchers to explore these and other problems within this framework. / Psychology / M.A. (Psychology)

Rural education in South Africa, particularly within the black communities, has suffered neglect under Apartheid education policies. This has resulted in an array of problems which continue to beset the country's education system. The community, through its various institutions, has a major role to play in the whole education renewal process. The business sector is one such a community institution, which is directly affected by the quality of school education. Countries such as Britain and the U.S. provide excellent examples of close co-operation between business and schools in an effort to prepare pupils in accordance with the needs of the workplace. The qualitative study conducted in schools, within the Dzumeri community, showed that there is a dire need for business involvement with schools in order to address important areas of mutual concern. It is finally recommended that the government must formulate enabling policies, which will promote business education partnership activities and ensure proper coordination at all administrative levels / Educational Studies / M.Ed. (Comparative Education)

This study focused on school governing bodies in the rural schools in Ngcobo. In this study, the researcher established that in rural schools, parent members of school governing bodies are still reluctant, or ill equipped to do their duty as governors of the schools. They rely on what the principals ask them to do. They need more training and empowerment to fulfill their duties as members of the school governing bodies. Most of the parents who are members of school governing bodies are older and their level of education is generally low. The principals are complaining that not enough training was being given to parent members to fulfill their task as school governors. However, it remains the principals’ responsibility to coach SGB parent-members in order for the school functionality to go on. The findings of this study show that much more need to be done to empower parental-members of SGBs in the rural areas of the Eastern Cape and most probably in most, if not all, rural areas of South Africa.

M.Ed. / This research aims at the description of a therapeutic approach relevant to the adolescent underachiever in whose case the cause of the problem is often overlooked because it is not self-evident. In this specific case there seemed to be no clear reason why the adolescent was not achieving academically according to his potential. An in-depth study was necessary, involving also the family of the respondent. From conversations with educational psychologists, the history of the adolescent and the literature, it seems as if the focus of the intervention in cases where there do not seem to be overt reasons for the underachievement, was on the adolescent only. Courses in motivation and study skills were offered, but were not effective. Because the adolescent is a member of a family, the research is aligned to a systems approach. I wanted to explore the the possibility that the cause of the problem could be found in the style of parenting and resulting family dynamics. A qualitative, investigative, descriptive and contextual design was used. One adolescent was deliberately chosen according to set criteria, and subjected to the utilisation of multiple data-gathering sources and methods. These included interviews, document analysis and observation. The parents of the underachiever as well as his register teacher, were also interviewed. A case study report was compiled according to the processed data. A cross-validation report was compiled, using notes which were taken when I was dealing with the cases that first aroused my interest. Hereafter literature control was applied to compare the results of this study with other available research, and to point out new insights into a family's educational style as a cause of underachievement, gained from the study. All data were submitted to an independent consultant for analysis. After the data were analysed, I concluded that the educational style of parents can be a cause of underachievement. From an integrative systemic perspective, an educational psychological therapeutic programme was described. It is hoped that, aided by this programme, the educational psychologist may make a contribution towards helping the underachieving adolescent and his/her family to overcome their problems so that he/she may realise his/her full potential.

Ph.D. (Education) / Please refer to full text to view abstract