published_or_final_version / Language Studies / Master / Master of Arts

Assessment is the single most powerful influence on student learning, and if it is not designed well, it can easily undermine the positive academic benefits of our teaching and learning. It is therefore important to regularly review and reflect on our teaching, learning, and assessment, especially, conventional individualistic conceptions of assessment practices taken for granted in institutions of higher learning. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether involving students in assessment practices in higher education would help them acquire some understanding of how assessment and grading work, thereby influencing their approaches to learning. Self and peer assessment are used in this study as instructional strategies to support student learning, and are integrated into essay-writing, one of the conventional methods of assessment used in an academic course. The objective was to evaluate the impact of self and peer assessment on students’ learning. The study’s rationale was to involve students in the assessment of their own work and work of others in order to improve substantive acquisition of subject knowledge and understanding, thereby improving their academic performance and achievement. Qualitative data were collected using mainly questionnaires and interviews to solicit students’ perceptions about the impact of self and peer assessment. Quantitative data were used to supplement and complement the questionnaire and interviews methods. Results showed that in the initial involvement in assessment practice students demonstrated inexperience, uncertainty, and deficiency in assessing. There was observable overmarking and undermarking in self and peer assessment, respectively. However, the research study indicated that there were some academic benefits if students are involved in assessment practice over time. There was an overall approval and appreciation of self and peer assessment by students. Furthermore, self and peer assessment promoted interactive, collaborative and cooperative learning among students as opposed to competitiveness. Given the small-scale nature of this research study, there was limited improvement in the development of assessment skills, but a marked improvement in writing an essay. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2010.

The study investigated aspects of self-rated autobiographical memory between young and middle-aged adults, as well as examined sex differences. A Swedish version of a self-rating questionnaire was used online to assess autobiographical memory. The Survey of autobiographical memory assesses autobiographical memory abilities in episodic, semantic, spatial, and future domains. Forty-one healthy volunteers were included. The youngest group (Mage=26), had 70% women and middle-aged adults (Mage=44) had 50 % percent women. The mean age for women was (M= 30, range = 30) and the mean age for men was (M=34, range= 30). Univariate General Linear Model was performed to determine whether there is a significant mean difference between the age-groups and sex, while a repeated-measures multivariate analysis of variance assessed the interaction between age group and memory type. It was hypothesized that there would be no difference between young and middle-aged adults in semantic autobiographical memory, but that episodic autobiographical memory would be rated lower by the middle-aged adults. The two dependent variables were semantic and episodic scores. No significant effects were found for age-group or sex on the total, episodic, and semantic scores. The age-group by memory-type interaction showed that semantic and episodic memories were not rated differently by the two age-groups. One reason for these non-significant outcomes could be the overall small sample sizes. Further elaboration is needed to assess the aspects of self-rated AM changes from young to middle adulthood, including sex differences in the self-assessment since not many studies have addressed such questions. / Studien undersökte aspekter avsjälvskattat självbiografiskt minne mellan unga vuxna och individer i medelåldern samt även könsskillnader. En svensk version av ett självsskattningsfrågeformulär användes online för att undersöka självbiografiskt minne. Frågeformuläret bedömer autobiografiska minnesförmågor inom episodiska, semantiska, rumsliga och framtida domäner. Fyrtio friska deltagare medverkade i undersökningen. Den yngsta gruppen (M ålder=26), hade 70% kvinnor, medan medelålders vuxna (M ålder =44), hade 50% kvinnor. Medelåldern för kvinnor var (M = 30, intervall = 30) och mäns var (M = 34, intervall = 30). Univariata allmänna linjär modeller utfördes för att bestämma om det finns en signifikant genomsnittlig skillnad mellan åldersgrupperna och kön, medan en multivariat variansanalys med upprepade mätningar bedömde interaktionen mellan åldersgrupp ochminnestyp. Det antogs att det inte skulle finnas någon skillnad mellan unga och i det semantiska självbiografiska minnet, men att episodiskt självbiografiskt minne skulle skattas lägre efter medelåldern. De två beroende variablerna var semantiska och episodiska poäng. Inga signifikanta effekter hittades för åldersgrupp eller kön på den totala, episodiska och semantiska poängen. Interaktionen mellan åldersgrupp och minnestyp visade att semantiska och episodiska minnen inte bedömdes annorlunda av de två åldersgrupperna.

The purpose of this study was to determine from successful middle school principals what significant or key life events seem to have made a difference in the manner in which the principals work and lead their schools. A similar study of executives in business, conducted by the Center for Creative Leadership, was utilized as a model for this study. The research included interviews with six successful middle school principals in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The six principals were identified using a reputational selection procedure with professors, association executives and state department of education officials serving as the nominators. The criteria for selection was that these middle school principals fit the nominating individuals' perceptions of a successful principal. The six principals were interviewed to gather data on significant life events and the lessons learned from these events. Five of the principals were interviewed in the work setting. The interviews were recorded. The questions asked in the interviews were sent to the subjects two weeks before their scheduled interviews. A software package, The Ethnograph, was utilized to assist with the coding and analysis process. Two assistants to the researcher analyzed the data independently. The researcher and these assistants determined the event categories and the lessons learned from these events. The research was based upon the belief that there is a missing "piece" to the body of knowledge regarding effective school leadership. The research has shown that the principal is crucial to the success of a school. The literature speaks to academic preparation programs, training, mentorship and other factors, but does not address the impact of life events on the work of school administrators. There were nine event themes and twenty lesson categories identified through this study. The results indicated that the middle school principals attributed their success mainly to job-related experiences, role models and colleagues, and personal (non-job) influences, although conferences and divine intervention were also noted as being Significant. Academic preparation programs and training were not considered to have made a difference in the manner in which these successful principals lead their schools. / Ed. D.

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

The aim of the research reported in this document was to explore the ways in which first year Journalism students at a South African University construct themselves as learners. The research adopted a case study approach of purposively selected first year journalism students. In exploring this area, focus group and individual in-depth interviewing were employed which illuminated important aspects of learner identity construction. In order to make sense of these self-constructions, the research was located in the larger debates on discourse as espoused by Michel Foucault who argues that discourse constructs subjectivities. The research demonstrated that there were various discourses at play which influenced how these learners spoke and behaved. The influence of these discourses on learners' experiences varied at different times of the year. For example, the awarding of the Duly Performed (DP) certificate for students who met the minimum attendance and work requirements of a particular course, the giving of tests, exercises and examinations were some of the technologies that 'forced' students into compliance. In terms of identity formation, the heterogeneous nature of 'being' a journalism 'student' revealed that the different discourses at play influenced learner behaviour and that their identities continued to change over the year. Doing additional subjects such as Sociology, Drama, Art History and others at the same time as Journalism and Media Studies also meant that the learners had to negotiate the differing role requirements.

The Namibian education system is at the crossroads as a result of the demands of the Education and Training Sector Improvement Programme (ETSIP), a programme initiated by the Government to address shortcomings in the education and training sector. ETSIP requires that school principals play a much more significant role to realize the goal of quality education, which is one of the major goals of education reform. In view of the ever-increasing responsibilities of the principals for ensuring the quality of education, the need for management development has become more apparent. Although management development for principals in the African context is a recent phenomenon, it has been a subject of extensive research over the years in many developed countries. The findings of these studies suggest that it has the potential to improve the quality of school leadership and ultimately lead to school improvement. In Namibia, literature suggests that little has been done to determine the needs of school principals with regards to their management development. This study therefore seeks to address that need. The study is situated in the interpretive research paradigm whose central purpose is to interpret and understand the phenomenon through the perceptions and experience of the participants. Data were collected by means of semi-structured interviews and document analysis. The findings generally suggest that principals perceive management development as vehicle to empowerment and capacity building. The findings further suggest that principals would prefer management programmes that are more experienced-based and offer opportunities for reflection. The findings also brought to light the aspect of monitoring and support as a critical element in the success of management development programmes. As far as the management development needs of school principals are concerned, the findings highlighted the following needs: the need to be trained on how to manage change which include the new curriculum and policies, training in information communication and technology and training in the management of human and financial resources which include instructional leadership and budgeting.

The aim of the work will be to determine used and preferred methods and forms of assessment among teachers of czech language and literature at the 2nd grade of primary school. The theoretical part will deal with school rating, types, forms and methods of assessment in relation to their possible use in the evaluation of Czech language teaching at the 2nd grade of primary school. The empirical part of the work will consist of a case study examining how teachers at the 2nd grade of primary school assess pupils in Czech language lessons and the problems which they encouter in the evaluation. The method used will be observation of teaching and consequently interview with teachers will be conducted.

This dissertation is a narrative account of a self-study undertaken with the primary aim of positively influencing the morale of colleagues in my school department. It addresses an area of personal and professional concern where my values were being denied in my practice. As a Head of Department, I was worried that the low morale of my colleagues would negatively impact on the quality of teaching and learning at school, and on their own mental health. Situated within self-efficacy theory, my study reflects the values I attach to human dignity, respect, fairness, honesty perseverance and caring. These values were applied as the living standard by which I judged the quality of my leadership practice. I describe how I used an Action Research methodology as a living transformational process to reflect on my own leadership in terms of how I could influence the development of positive morale in the department. My findings offer new conceptualisations about how teachers can take action to improve the emotional climate of the school. I am claiming that the significance of my research is grounded in my ability to facilitate an improvement in the low morale of myself and my colleagues in order for us to ultimately contribute to self and school improvement.

The problem with which this investigation is concerned is that of determining perceived attitudes of self-concept of educationally disadvantaged students in special vocational environments, other vocational students, and academic students as measured by the Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale. The hypotheses formulated to carry out this study included: 1. There is no significant difference in the mean attitude self-concept score of vocational education students, academic students, and educationally disadvantaged students (CVAE) as measured by the Piers-Harris ChildrenIs SelfConcept Scale. 2. There is no significant difference in the mean attitude self-concept scores as measured by the Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale between vocational education students, academic students, and CVAE students and number of years of placement in a vocational program, academic program and CVAE program. The Piers-Harris Children1s Self-Concept Scale was administered to 311 students from the CVAE, vocational, and academic programs in the Birdville Independent School District, Fort Worth, Texas and Denton Independent School District, Denton, Texas.