This study examines the design and implementation of Common Task Assessment as a Grade 9 summative assessment specifically of Economic Management Sciences. The main focus is on understanding how the quality of the design and implementation thereof at Sedibeng-West and Sedibeng-East schools are managed. The research was undertaken in response to the researcher’s personal observation and experience of how educators were struggling to implement Common Task Assessment, due to lack of resources and the challenges they faced in implementing new policies introduced by the Department of Education. From an international perspective, the literature reveals that Common Task Assessment is problematic in other countries as well, so it is not abnormal to discover similar problems emerging at South African schools during implementation. This thesis presents an overview of the relevant literature which was studied in order to validate the research problem: gaining a perspective on how the design and the implementation of Common Task Assessment concerning the Economic Management Sciences are presently managed at Sedibeng-East and Sedibeng-West schools. Attention was focused on aspects such as the conceptual framework on which the study was grounded, namely that there is a very specific societal relationship within a school which should be honoured at all times. The research paradigm was based on a positivist and post positivist worldview and the empirical investigation comprised of quantitative research, combined with a small dimension of qualitative research. The strategy of inquiry was non-experimental, descriptive survey research carried out with the participation of on Grade 11 learners who had completed the Common Task Assessment of Economic Management Sciences in 2009 and Grade 9 educators who teach this subject. Two structured questionnaires (one for learners and the other for educators) were used, consisting of Likert scale and open-ended questions. Key issues were identified, bolstering strengths and combatting weaknesses in managing the design and implementation of school-based assessment. Educators and learners‟ data revealed far-reaching implications for Common Task Assessment, which should be taken into consideration in order to improve this type of assessment instrument. In everything ethical principles were strictly adhered to. The results from the data analyses were organized into themes concerning the design of Common Task Assessment, as well as the implementation and management thereof. Challenges put forward by learner participants, as well as those put forward by educators, received prominence and the urgency of training educators in the implementation of school-based assessment was accentuated. Findings made from the literature study were compared with those which emerged from the questionnaires, simplifying the task of highlighting the contributions of the study to the theory and the practice of managing school-based assessment and the logic of the recommendations. The thesis suggests numerous guidelines toward a management intervention plan to improve the quality of the design and implementation of school-based assessment. These guidelines were compiled in line with the aims and principles of the New Curriculum Statement (CAPS). The main thrust of the research is therefore not the negative aspects which were identified, but the positive assurance that managing school-based assessment professionally while keeping it CAPS relevant, is not an insurmountable task. / "PhD awarded posthumously."--p.22, Autumn Graduation Ceremony, North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2013

This study examines the design and implementation of Common Task Assessment as a Grade 9 summative assessment specifically of Economic Management Sciences. The main focus is on understanding how the quality of the design and implementation thereof at Sedibeng-West and Sedibeng-East schools are managed. The research was undertaken in response to the researcher’s personal observation and experience of how educators were struggling to implement Common Task Assessment, due to lack of resources and the challenges they faced in implementing new policies introduced by the Department of Education. From an international perspective, the literature reveals that Common Task Assessment is problematic in other countries as well, so it is not abnormal to discover similar problems emerging at South African schools during implementation. This thesis presents an overview of the relevant literature which was studied in order to validate the research problem: gaining a perspective on how the design and the implementation of Common Task Assessment concerning the Economic Management Sciences are presently managed at Sedibeng-East and Sedibeng-West schools. Attention was focused on aspects such as the conceptual framework on which the study was grounded, namely that there is a very specific societal relationship within a school which should be honoured at all times. The research paradigm was based on a positivist and post positivist worldview and the empirical investigation comprised of quantitative research, combined with a small dimension of qualitative research. The strategy of inquiry was non-experimental, descriptive survey research carried out with the participation of on Grade 11 learners who had completed the Common Task Assessment of Economic Management Sciences in 2009 and Grade 9 educators who teach this subject. Two structured questionnaires (one for learners and the other for educators) were used, consisting of Likert scale and open-ended questions. Key issues were identified, bolstering strengths and combatting weaknesses in managing the design and implementation of school-based assessment.Educators and learners‟ data revealed far-reaching implications for Common Task Assessment, which should be taken into consideration in order to improve this type of assessment instrument. In everything ethical principles were strictly adhered to. The results from the data analyses were organized into themes concerning the design of Common Task Assessment, as well as the implementation and management thereof. Challenges put forward by learner participants, as well as those put forward by educators, received prominence and the urgency of training educators in the implementation of school-based assessment was accentuated. Findings made from the literature study were compared with those which emerged from the questionnaires, simplifying the task of highlighting the contributions of the study to the theory and the practice of managing school-based assessment and the logic of the recommendations. The thesis suggests numerous guidelines toward a management intervention plan to improve the quality of the design and implementation of school-based assessment. These guidelines were compiled in line with the aims and principles of the New Curriculum Statement (CAPS). The main thrust of the research is therefore not the negative aspects which were identified, but the positive assurance that managing school-based assessment professionally while keeping it CAPS relevant, is not an insurmountable task. / "PhD awarded posthumously."--p.22, Autumn Graduation Ceremony, North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2013

This study examines the design and implementation of Common Task Assessment as a Grade 9 summative assessment specifically of Economic Management Sciences. The main focus is on understanding how the quality of the design and implementation thereof at Sedibeng-West and Sedibeng-East schools are managed. The research was undertaken in response to the researcher’s personal observation and experience of how educators were struggling to implement Common Task Assessment, due to lack of resources and the challenges they faced in implementing new policies introduced by the Department of Education. From an international perspective, the literature reveals that Common Task Assessment is problematic in other countries as well, so it is not abnormal to discover similar problems emerging at South African schools during implementation. This thesis presents an overview of the relevant literature which was studied in order to validate the research problem: gaining a perspective on how the design and the implementation of Common Task Assessment concerning the Economic Management Sciences are presently managed at Sedibeng-East and Sedibeng-West schools. Attention was focused on aspects such as the conceptual framework on which the study was grounded, namely that there is a very specific societal relationship within a school which should be honoured at all times. The research paradigm was based on a positivist and post positivist worldview and the empirical investigation comprised of quantitative research, combined with a small dimension of qualitative research. The strategy of inquiry was non-experimental, descriptive survey research carried out with the participation of on Grade 11 learners who had completed the Common Task Assessment of Economic Management Sciences in 2009 and Grade 9 educators who teach this subject. Two structured questionnaires (one for learners and the other for educators) were used, consisting of Likert scale and open-ended questions. Key issues were identified, bolstering strengths and combatting weaknesses in managing the design and implementation of school-based assessment. Educators and learners‟ data revealed far-reaching implications for Common Task Assessment, which should be taken into consideration in order to improve this type of assessment instrument. In everything ethical principles were strictly adhered to. The results from the data analyses were organized into themes concerning the design of Common Task Assessment, as well as the implementation and management thereof. Challenges put forward by learner participants, as well as those put forward by educators, received prominence and the urgency of training educators in the implementation of school-based assessment was accentuated. Findings made from the literature study were compared with those which emerged from the questionnaires, simplifying the task of highlighting the contributions of the study to the theory and the practice of managing school-based assessment and the logic of the recommendations. The thesis suggests numerous guidelines toward a management intervention plan to improve the quality of the design and implementation of school-based assessment. These guidelines were compiled in line with the aims and principles of the New Curriculum Statement (CAPS). The main thrust of the research is therefore not the negative aspects which were identified, but the positive assurance that managing school-based assessment professionally while keeping it CAPS relevant, is not an insurmountable task. / "PhD awarded posthumously."--p.22, Autumn Graduation Ceremony, North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2013

This study examines the design and implementation of Common Task Assessment as a Grade 9 summative assessment specifically of Economic Management Sciences. The main focus is on understanding how the quality of the design and implementation thereof at Sedibeng-West and Sedibeng-East schools are managed. The research was undertaken in response to the researcher’s personal observation and experience of how educators were struggling to implement Common Task Assessment, due to lack of resources and the challenges they faced in implementing new policies introduced by the Department of Education. From an international perspective, the literature reveals that Common Task Assessment is problematic in other countries as well, so it is not abnormal to discover similar problems emerging at South African schools during implementation. This thesis presents an overview of the relevant literature which was studied in order to validate the research problem: gaining a perspective on how the design and the implementation of Common Task Assessment concerning the Economic Management Sciences are presently managed at Sedibeng-East and Sedibeng-West schools. Attention was focused on aspects such as the conceptual framework on which the study was grounded, namely that there is a very specific societal relationship within a school which should be honoured at all times. The research paradigm was based on a positivist and post positivist worldview and the empirical investigation comprised of quantitative research, combined with a small dimension of qualitative research. The strategy of inquiry was non-experimental, descriptive survey research carried out with the participation of on Grade 11 learners who had completed the Common Task Assessment of Economic Management Sciences in 2009 and Grade 9 educators who teach this subject. Two structured questionnaires (one for learners and the other for educators) were used, consisting of Likert scale and open-ended questions. Key issues were identified, bolstering strengths and combatting weaknesses in managing the design and implementation of school-based assessment.Educators and learners‟ data revealed far-reaching implications for Common Task Assessment, which should be taken into consideration in order to improve this type of assessment instrument. In everything ethical principles were strictly adhered to. The results from the data analyses were organized into themes concerning the design of Common Task Assessment, as well as the implementation and management thereof. Challenges put forward by learner participants, as well as those put forward by educators, received prominence and the urgency of training educators in the implementation of school-based assessment was accentuated. Findings made from the literature study were compared with those which emerged from the questionnaires, simplifying the task of highlighting the contributions of the study to the theory and the practice of managing school-based assessment and the logic of the recommendations. The thesis suggests numerous guidelines toward a management intervention plan to improve the quality of the design and implementation of school-based assessment. These guidelines were compiled in line with the aims and principles of the New Curriculum Statement (CAPS). The main thrust of the research is therefore not the negative aspects which were identified, but the positive assurance that managing school-based assessment professionally while keeping it CAPS relevant, is not an insurmountable task. / "PhD awarded posthumously."--p.22, Autumn Graduation Ceremony, North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2013

M. Tech. (Human Resource Management, Faculty of Management Sciences), Vaal University of Technology. / The primary objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between perceived organisational support, frustration with work and occupational commitment among public secondary school educators in the Sedibeng West District. The social exchange theory, expectancy theory and side-bet theory constituted the bedrock in this study. In order to achieve the primary objective, a quantitative research approach was adopted, and a descriptive survey research design was utilised. The reliability of the measuring instrument was confirmed satisfactory, and thereafter the questionnaires were self-administered to three hundred and seventy-three educators, HODs, deputy principals and principals at nine public secondary schools using a convenience sampling technique. Two hundred and forty questionnaires were retrieved, constituting 64.3 percent response rate, and the data obtained was analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) 25.0 and the Analysis of Moment Structures (AMOS) 25.0 for statistical analysis. The statistical analysis performed include descriptive statistics using frequencies, mean and standard deviation. Inferential statistics was utilised to determine the relationship between the two factors of perceived organisational support, frustration with work and occupational commitment. The inferential statistical methods used include Pearson product moment correlation coefficient, confirmatory factor analysis, path analysis and structural equation modelling. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted to confirm the factor structure of the constructs in the study, and to determine if the data fit the model. Six model fit indices were used to assess the measurement and structural model fit assessments, which include Chi-square value over degree of freedom (χ2/df), Goodness-of-fit index (GFI), Root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA), Norm fit index (NFI), Tucker Lewis index (TLI) and Comparative fit index (CFI). The results of the model fit indices indicated a satisfactory fit of the data with the measurement and structural models. Thereafter, path analysis was performed on the research model to measure the path coefficients in the research model. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was applied to test the hypotheses and the results revealed that there was a significant negative relationship between the job-related factor and frustration with work; a significant negative relationship between the relationship factor and frustration with work; a significant negative relationship between frustration with work and occupational commitment; a significant positive relationship between the job-related factor and occupational commitment; and a non-significant positive relationship between the relationship factor and occupational commitment. The correlation analysis also showed that there was a moderately significant negative correlation between the job-related factor and frustration with work; a moderately significant negative correlation between the relationship factor and frustration with work; a strong positive correlation between frustration with work and occupational commitment; a moderately significant positive correlation between the job-related factor and occupational commitment; and a moderately significant positive correlation between the relationship factor and occupational commitment. The reliability of the measuring instrument in the main study was tested using Cronbach alpha coefficient and composite reliability, while the validity tests were confirmed using face validity, content validity, construct validity, convergent validity, predictive validity and discriminant validity. Based on the findings, recommendations were proposed to enhance the perception of organisational support among educators, HODs, deputy principals and principals; reduce the level of frustration with work; and foster increased level of commitment to the teaching profession.