The Foundation Phase in education provides the primary building blocks for young learners’ fundamental intellectual, social, physical and emotional basis of development. Holistic development is critical during the early years of the emergent learner’s life. Research has shown that it is imperative for young learners to make choices of their own accord, as room for independent decision making affords them the right to a “voice” and the opportunity to raise their own opinions which can contribute incrementally to their educational development. Exercising personal choices demands self-confidence and resolution. Indecisiveness implies a lack of taking a stance at all, as passive learners who constantly vacillate cannot succeed in accomplishing the task at hand. Various internal and external factors contribute to young learners’ indecisive behaviour and this, in turn, leads to a lack of self-confidence and fear. One of the main external factors identified is the child-rearing style of caregivers and parents. When learners experience fear and a lack of self-confidence, their educational experiences are also negatively impacted and therefore holistic development cannot take place. Research has indicated that visual art activities benefit young learners tremendously as they endow the learners with a more relaxed approach during activities due to the enjoyable character thereof. The focus in this study is consequently on rectifying young learners’ indecisiveness during visual art activities. All young learners dispose of the inherent potential to be creative and to express themselves through engaging with artwork, but when they lack self-confidence, they will be overcome with fear, hesitance and indecision. Social interaction as teaching strategy, as proposed by Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934) supports learners who have not yet reached their full potential, therefore group work can be introduced where a decisive learner can support indecisive peers to gain self-confidence, giving rise to a more enterprising and venturesome approach. (Van der Veer, 2007: 114–115; Newman & Holzman, 1993: 67). / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / tm2015 / Early Childhood Education / MEd / Unrestricted

The diploma thesis deals with selected issues of self-concept of a primary school teacher. The theoretical part deals mainly with the issue of concepts related to self-concept and their clarification. The empirical part had the task of tracing important moments, people and phases leading to the formation of attitudes and ideas of what teachers have about themselves. During professional development, the construction of teachers' identity and self-confidence was crucial. The survey was qualitatively oriented and carried out through the analysis of the life history of teachers. By open coding, the narration of the respondents was divided into 5 main categories. The research of life stories led to expected and surprising findings and resulted in a draft recommendation for undergraduate teachers' training. KEYWORDS Self-concept, teacher, professional identity, key skills, self-confidence

The context of this study is a street shelter, situated in the inner city of Pretoria. This was the first time that music therapy sessions were conducted at the shelter. This study is conducted within a qualitative research paradigm. The primary data source is five video and one audio excerpt. The secondary data source is session notes. The data is coded, categorised and organised into emergent themes. The emergent themes highlight five aspects of group music therapy that enabled autonomy in a group of children living in the street shelter. These five emergent themes are the basis of the discussion addressing the two research questions of this study. This study shows that group music therapy is an effective and appropriate way in which these sheltered street children are able to experience autonomy, including improved self-esteem and feelings of achievement and mastery. To my knowledge, there has been no music therapy literature published with regards to group music therapy with sheltered street children within the South African context as well as internationally. / Dissertation (MMus)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / gm2014 / Music / Unrestricted

This study examined the effects of steady, graded, and no exercise on stress reduction, and the effects of self-confidence on stress reduction through exercise. Seventy-two male and female volunteers from the Portland area, ranging in age from 19-49 years, served as subjects. Subjects completed pre and post measures of the Tennessee Self-Concept Scale and the state portion of the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Subjects were divided into two experimental and one control group matched according to age and exercise history. The control group kept its exercise at a minimum for eight weeks. Exercise programs for the two experimental groups consisted of twelve minute work bouts on ergometers three times per week, for eight weeks. Work bouts were at a seventy percent maximum heart rate. Due to attrition and a random drop of subjects in the control group, thirty-one subjects remained. Analyses found a significant stress reduction for the steady exercise group (t = -2.81,p = .017), but not for the graded or no exercise group. Stress reduction was negatively correlated with self-confidence, though not significantly, and no significant differences were found between the self-confidence scores. A significant correlation was found between pre-stress scores and preself- conf idence scores (r = -.306,p = .04).

Att uppleva sig som anställningsbar innebär inte en anställning. Syftet med studien var att undersöka hur unga män från Rinkeby med akademisk examen upplever deras anställningsbarhet, vilka eventuella stödjande strukturer de upplever kan öka deras möjligheter till arbete, samt vilken effekt arbetsmöjligheterna har på deras välbefinnande. Det genomfördes 8 semistrukturerade intervjuer som sedan tematiserades, där 8 centrala teman identifierades: fördomar under ytan, områdets begränsningar till önskat arbete, nätverkets betydelse, brist på vägledning, ekonomisk trygghet, känsla av exkludering, hopplösa drömmar och effekten på självförtroendet. Resultatet visade att männen upplever sig vara anställningsbara då de erhåller en examen, samt att de upplever sig ha kontakter, men inte väsentliga kontakter i förhållande till önskat arbete. Arbetsmöjligheterna har påverkat männens välbefinnande, men inte självförtroendet. Resultatet antyder att bristande ekonomi och känslan av exkludering har haft en effekt på välbefinnandet. Samt att de unga männens egen viljan och förmåga har en inverkan på deras anställningsbarhet.

This study was conducted to determine if visualized goal achievement can help enhance East Asian Chinese students‟ motivation in learning and elevate their confidence in reaching their goals thus improving their performance. The goal achievement was visualized on a goal achievement progress chart that was self-created and self-managed by the East Asian Chinese students and the goal creating was under the supervision of their instructor. In this study, literature reviews on the theories, previous research studies in the perspectives of East Asian students‟ motivation in learning, goal setting on motivation, self-determination, self-efficacy, and expectancy theories are conducted to provide theoretical ground and legitimate evidence for this particular research. The researcher conducted an experiment in which students were given a learning task and required to set their own learning goals for that learning task under the supervision of their instructors. In this specific experiment, a total of 106 students from a university that was funded by American Educators in a central province in China agreed to participate in stages one, and two of the study, but some students withdrew from this research and some did not participate in both research stages therefore their data were take out from the data to make research result more consistent. Therefore eventually 72 students were considered eligible to go through the whole process of turning in the questionnaires and participating in the performance test. In this particular goal setting research study, the students were given the freedom of setting their own learning pace iii and managing their own progress on a visualized progress chart. The progress chart was visualized as a climbing/progressing line, which goes from bottom to top (see appendix C) once students achieved their learning goals. At the same time, the instructor provided feedback concerning the students‟ progress. Although some of the research results displayed no statistical significance for motivation and self-confidence during the pre and post session of the research, there is a positive correlation among motivation, self-confidence, and performance outcome. One research result did corroborate the previous research study that goal setting strategy would improve learning outcome.

Boxing has been practiced for thousands of years, yet there is still limited research on how boxing affectsmental health. The primary focus has been physical aspects such as either injuries or health benefits.Previous studies do however indicate that boxing could be beneficial for mental health as well, but dueto the lack of existing evidence further research is necessary. To create a better understanding of thesubject the aim of this study was to identify boxers’ experiences of how boxing affected their mentalhealth, with a primary focus on well-being and self-image. Furthermore, the aim was also to find outwhether the boxers considered the impact from boxing any different compared to other physical activity.Data were collected through seven semi-structured interviews with boxers that had at least three years’experience. The results showed that boxing could provide with higher self-esteem, self-confidence, andwell-being, and it was also shown that coaches and training partners had a certain impact. Though someof the participants gave the expression of sometimes being nervous or anxious before sparring, therewere indications that the sparring elements contributed to a stronger connection among the boxers dueto the vulnerability they share by stepping into a boxing ring. The biggest perceived difference betweenboxing and other sports seemed to be that several of the participants experienced boxing as moremeaningful in a sense that boxing contributed to self-development and not just overall well-being.

Boxing has been practiced for thousands of years, yet there is still limited research on how boxing affectsmental health. The primary focus has been physical aspects such as either injuries or health benefits.Previous studies do however indicate that boxing could be beneficial for mental health as well, but dueto the lack of existing evidence further research is necessary. To create a better understanding of thesubject the aim of this study was to identify boxers’ experiences of how boxing affected their mentalhealth, with a primary focus on well-being and self-image. Furthermore, the aim was also to find outwhether the boxers considered the impact from boxing any different compared to other physical activity.Data were collected through seven semi-structured interviews with boxers that had at least three years’experience. The results showed that boxing could provide with higher self-esteem, self-confidence, andwell-being, and it was also shown that coaches and training partners had a certain impact. Though someof the participants gave the expression of sometimes being nervous or anxious before sparring, therewere indications that the sparring elements contributed to a stronger connection among the boxers dueto the vulnerability they share by stepping into a boxing ring. The biggest perceived difference betweenboxing and other sports seemed to be that several of the participants experienced boxing as moremeaningful in a sense that boxing contributed to self-development and not just overall well-being

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