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No. of bitstreams: 1 SCHERMACK_Vera Lúcia_2015.pdf: 1525041 bytes, checksum: 6fbe639c46adcb3142837538114904fb (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-02-27 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / This study aimed to investigate the meanings attributed by teachers on intensive recovery policy and its implementation in a state school in elementary school in São Paulo.Specific objectives were defined: to know as intensive recovery policy was implemented in school, in relation to the characteristics and forms of organization of educational work as well as understand the challenges faced by teachers in action with students of intensive recovery class and the possibilities of action to deal with the problems encountered in the educational process. The research set up with a case study and was based on the Theory Historical-cultural. Three teachers participated in this study and used procedures involved semi-structured interviews, participant observation and records in field diaries. The results indicated that: a) The intensive recovery policy was perceived positively in terms of their objective, but there were critical especially on the need to do it as soon as difficulties are evidenced learning and not in later years; b) Significant changes in the organization of pedagogical work in school; c) the challenges encountered involved aspects such as heterogeneity of learning difficulties presented by the students, conflicts with the management team, discontinuity in the educational support offered by assistant professors because of high turnover; d) Were observed individual forms of resistance and actions and group that aimed to build strategies to deal with the problems encountered in the process. The teachers evaluated that although students have achieved significant progress in relation to learning, many still could not meet the expected requirements for the year were enrolled. It is concluded that intensive recovery policy, as it is configured, can not achieve its goals, which points to the need to critically examine the many factors involved in the production and perpetuation of not learn in school. / Este estudo visou investigar os sentidos atribuídos por professores sobre a política de recuperação intensiva e sua efetivação em uma escola pública estadual de Ensino Fundamental do interior paulista. Como objetivos específicos foram definidos: conhecer como a política de recuperação intensiva foi implementada na escola, no que se refere às características e formas de organização do trabalho pedagógico, bem como compreender os desafios encontrados por professores na atuação com os alunos da classe de recuperação intensiva e as possibilidades de ação para lidar com os problemas encontrados no processo educativo. A pesquisa configurou-se com um estudo de caso e pautou-se na Teoria Histórico-cultural. Participaram desta pesquisa três professoras e os procedimentos usados envolveram entrevistas semiestruturadas, observação participante e registros em diários de campo. Os resultados obtidos indicaram que: a) a política de recuperação intensiva foi percebida de forma positiva no que tange ao seu objetivo, mas existiram críticas especialmente sobre a necessidade de realizá-la logo que sejam evidenciadas dificuldades de aprendizagem e não em anos posteriores; b) ocorreram mudanças significativas na organização do trabalho pedagógico realizado na escola; c) os desafios encontrados envolveram aspectos como heterogeneidade de dificuldades de aprendizagem apresentadas pelos alunos, conflitos com a equipe de gestão, descontinuidade no suporte educacional ofertado pelos professores auxiliares em virtude de alta rotatividade; d) foram evidenciadas formas de resistência e ações individuais e em grupo que visaram construir estratégias para lidar com os problemas encontrados no processo. As análises ainda mostraram que para as professoras, embora os alunos tenham conseguido avanços importantes em relação à aprendizagem, vários ainda não conseguiam atender aos requisitos esperados para o ano que cursavam. Conclui-se que a política de recuperação intensiva,tal como está configurada, não consegue alcançar as suas finalidades, o que aponta a necessidade de se analisar criticamente os múltiplos fatores envolvidos na produção e na perpetuação do não aprender na escola.

Doctorat en sciences psychologiques / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

The purpose of this research was to examine what relationships existed between selected sociometric variables and measures of academic performance for students in a counselor training program. The sociometric variables included counseling ability, counseling knowledge, and friendship. Academic performance measures included subject GPAs, group counseling participation and final grades, prepracticum grades, and practicum grades. Data was collected from sociometric questionnaires and academic records from the years 1991 to 2004, for 840 subjects who participated in a group counseling class at the University of North Texas. Counseling knowledge had the highest correlations with all academic measures except group counseling final grades, in which counseling ability had the highest strength. The strongest correlations for all three sociometric variables occurred with group counseling final grades; correlations were r = 0.42 for counseling ability, r = 0.40 for counseling knowledge, and r = 0.30 for friendship. The sociometric variable of friendship had the lowest correlations in all academic measures, but was more significant than expected. The friendship sociometric variable may account for likeability as a factor in making sociometric choices. Combined sociometric scores led to increased correlation strength and explained variances that reached the large level of 30% with group counseling final grades. A statistically significant difference was found between A and B grade students in group counseling, on all three sociometric variables. Effect sizes were generally large. Standard deviations for the A and B grade subjects were also large and could limit predictability of grades, based on sociometric scores alone. Results strongly suggested that all three sociometric variables would be a valuable source of information regarding counselor preparation. Results also validated that individual sociometric perceptions of others tended toward agreement. Significant correlations were found over a variety of academic measures and over a time-span of 14 years, suggesting a degree of consistency and stability in sociometric measures.

MA (Psychology) / Department of Psychology / Students enter university with the hope to graduate and become successful one day but those hopes are shattered when their academic results decrease. Despite poor performance and poor results of students’ academics, there has been a need to investigate why students’ performance differs significantly. Students achieve low academic performance due to psychological, social and behavioral problems which arise during academic life. The aim of this study is to explore factors contributing to poor academic performance faced by students at a selected department rural university, Limpopo province. The study was conducted at the University of Venda (UNIVEN), situated in the scenic Vhembe District of the Limpopo Province. A qualitative approach using phenomenological design was used for this study. A sample of 15 students was selected from the target population using non-probability purposive, convenient random sampling method. Data were collected through a semi-structured interview. An interpretative phenomenological approach was used to analyse data. The study findings indicate that revealed that low levels of social support from parents, friends and family contribute to anxiety experienced by students at the university. In addition, Students developed low self-esteem, low self-confidence as a result of poor academic literacy, low marks and lack of social support. The study recommends that Head of the Department to have an open session for students to discuss matters concerning the teaching and learning style offered to them and ways to improve. / NRF

Several children immigrate to South Africa every year and it has been shown that some migrant children experience challenges in their host countries. These challenges have been documented to affect their academic performance in school. A total number of 164 immigrant learners from Gauteng schools, in grade 11 and 12 participated in the study. The study first, determined the positive correlation between academic motivation, academic self-concept and perceived support and academic performance. Second, the study established whether academic motivation, academic self-concept and perceived support would predict academic performance. Third, the study determined whether academic self-concept would mediate the relationship between academic motivation and academic performance. Correlation, regression and mediation analyses were used to address the aims of the study. There was a positive relationship between academic motivation, academic self-concept, perceived support and academic performance. Only academic self-concept predicted academic performance. Academic self-concept significantly mediated the relationship between academic motivation and academic performance. The results from the study demonstrate the importance of psychological factors informing immigrant learners’ academic performance in school. / Psychology / M.A. (Psychology)

This ethnographic study explores how assessments of literate learning are produced in cultural and institutional settings. Focusing on one student, Tony Mitchell, I situate assessments of his literate learning in the sociocultural contexts in which the assessments were embedded. I examine: 1) the assessments of Tony as "unable to read or write" produced in his fourth grade class; 2) the special education evaluation process in which Tony’s abilities were assessed as borderline; 3) the profile of Tony as an able, literate learner I constructed as I worked with him in and out of school between December 1992 and December 1993; and, 4) the assessment of Tony as a reader and writer produced in his fifth grade class. Data included documents, interviews, and fieldnotes accumulated over an extended period of time and from a wide range of perspectives. Analysis of the data was an ongoing process beginning with the formulation and clarification of my focus and continuing into the writing phase of the study. Different cultural and institutional contexts produced discrepant assessments of Tony’s literate learning. In instructional and testing environments emphasizing the accumulation of discrete facts, a linear progression of skills, and the transmission of knowledge, Tony was assessed aS a non-reader and non-writer with borderline ability. In settings that recognized literate learning as constructed by students as they work with others in supportive environments, Tony was assessed as an able, literate learner. Tony’s story makes visible the often invisible social processes of classroom life and the education policies in which assessments of students’ literate learning are embedded. It establishes that assessments of students’ literate learning are constructed. It illustrates the relationship between instructional, curricular, and testing practices and assessments of students’ learning. Through Tony’s story it is clear that to be adequately understood assessments of students’ literate learning must be examined in the sociocultural contexts in which they are produced. / Ph. D.

The knowledge-driven, network society is founded upon technology. Educators need to implement technology effectively into the three main pillars of education, namely teaching, learning and assessment. This would assist students to become independent, confident and motivated life-long, self-directed learners that can use technology effectively in an educational environment. It would also ensure that graduates are able to become change agents, transferring their knowledge, skills and values to others in their communities. Alternative assessment methods that are technology driven could enable both educators and students to become more effective in a network society. This study advocates the use of alternative assessment methods by using technology driven assessment tools for possible replacement of traditional, paper based and "one size fits all" assessment methods within the subject field of Theology. Document analysis was used in a broad sense to evaluate technology-based multimedia documents. Ten documents were identified and evaluated as possible alternatives for traditional assessment methods. Inter-rater reliability ensured that the investigation provided constant estimates and results. The SECTIONS model used for this evaluation provided opportunities to include criteria important for higher education, the use of technology and subject relevant information to ensure that the evaluation was done with a specific purpose and scope in mind; to find technology-based tools that can substitute traditional assessment tools in order to enhance effective education to students. / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (Open and Distance Learning)

The knowledge-driven, network society is founded upon technology. Educators need to implement technology effectively into the three main pillars of education, namely teaching, learning and assessment. This would assist students to become independent, confident and motivated life-long, self-directed learners that can use technology effectively in an educational environment. It would also ensure that graduates are able to become change agents, transferring their knowledge, skills and values to others in their communities. Alternative assessment methods that are technology driven could enable both educators and students to become more effective in a network society. This study advocates the use of alternative assessment methods by using technology driven assessment tools for possible replacement of traditional, paper based and "one size fits all" assessment methods within the subject field of Theology. Document analysis was used in a broad sense to evaluate technology-based multimedia documents. Ten documents were identified and evaluated as possible alternatives for traditional assessment methods. Inter-rater reliability ensured that the investigation provided constant estimates and results. The SECTIONS model used for this evaluation provided opportunities to include criteria important for higher education, the use of technology and subject relevant information to ensure that the evaluation was done with a specific purpose and scope in mind; to find technology-based tools that can substitute traditional assessment tools in order to enhance effective education to students. / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (Open and Distance Learning)

Background: This study derived from the concerns raised by nurse educators, clinical preceptors, and some nursing students in public nursing colleges in Gauteng following the implementation of the provincial selection criteria and processes. While these criteria could be seen as a means of standardising the admission into the Basic Nursing Diploma Programme at public nursing colleges, anecdotal reports from nurses in education institutions and clinical practices indicated a lack of professionalism, high attrition rates among these cohorts of students. The researcher believed that any meaningful selection criteria and processes should be on the views expressed by people who have been through the process as students or educators. Aim: The aim of this study was to analyse the selection criteria and processes followed by nursing colleges in the Gauteng Province to admit students into Basic Nursing Diploma Programme with the view of proposing selection criteria and processes that would secure the admission of the best candidates to this programme in public nursing colleges in Gauteng Province. Design: Quantitative descriptive survey design with self-completion questionnaire was used to generate data for this study. Out of 571 questionnaires distributed, 492 were returned and considered for analysis. Summary descriptive statistics were performed using SPSS version 21. Results: Four of the 13 items analysed were viewed by more than 70% of the respondents as less important and irrelevant to the selection of best candidates for nursing professional education. Proposal for changes supported by the rational for these changes were made by the respondents. Conclusion and Recommendation: The study proposed a framework that could guide the provincial authority in developing admission criteria that will ensure the selection of best candidates for Basic Diploma Nursing Programme in the province. / Health Studies / M.A. (Nursing Science)

This study was conceptualised within a social-constructivist ontological orientation and, further, uses an interpretive epistemological lens to extract information from the participants who are coming from different life worlds. This thesis, Effective assessment in open distance and e-learning: using the Signature Courses at the University of South Africa as a model for future practice, investigated how emerging information communication technologies (ICTs) can be used to transform, enhance and influence student assessment practices in Open Distance and e-Learning (ODeL) contexts. The ultimate objective of the study was to establish assessment guidelines for effective student assessment in distance education using technology as an enabler. To achieve the objectives of this study, a mixed methods research methodology was adopted in which Unisa lecturers’ and first-year students’ experiences, perceptions, attitudes, and beliefs regarding the use of ICT as a tool to enhance and influence student assessment were sought. Despite some limitations, the study was able to reveal that technology has the potential to influence student-lecturer, and student-peer interaction thereby bridging the isolation gap that normally exists between them. Further, these potential benefits also include the identification of teaching strengths and weaknesses, the indication of areas where instructional change or modification is needed, and the application of more effective means of interacting with students. A key function of this study, therefore, is to help the lecturers involved in higher learning assessment to use technology effectively and efficiently to enhance assessment practices as a means of maintaining both the academic standards and enhancing the quality of the student learning experience. In addition, the study has shown that technology has the potential to enhance and influence student learning and motivation. Furthermore, this study made theoretical and practical contributions to the literature on information communication technology implementation on lecturers’ and students’ pedagogical and technological readiness to online learning and assessment in open distance and e-learning. / Curriculum and Instructional Studies / D. Ed. (Curriculum Studies)