M. Tech. Language Practice / Using the narrative essays of undergraduate students, this study aims to understand certain linguistic relations for text construction; namely, the discourse constructs of cohesion, coherence, content, grammar, and text length in English writing. A greater emphasis in this study is given to the understanding of cohesion and coherence as discourse markers. With this in mind, their relation to other salient components of language, such as content, grammar, and text length, are also investigated. This study tries to investigate the features of cohesion and coherence in relation to content, grammar and text length of the English narratives of a personal experience written by sixty-four first and second year students of two South African Universities in the Gauteng province.

Over the past years geometry has posed a challenge to most learners in South African schools. The Government, in particular the Department of Basic Education (DBE), have tried and are still trying to implement new innovations and strategies for teaching mathematics more effectively. South Africa has experienced many changes in mathematics curriculum with an aim of placing the country on an equal footing with countries globally. This study was conducted while there was the implementation of the new Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS), which reinstated the geometry section within the curriculum. Geometry was relegated to an optional paper in mathematics in 2006, 2007 and 2008 in Grades 10, 11 and 12 respectively. This study is framed within the theoretical framework lens of social constructivism and situated learning, and is located within the qualitative research paradigm. It takes the form of survey research in one of the universities in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. This university is referred to as the University of Hope (UOH) in this study to protect its identity. The main aim of this study was to explore the pre-service teachers' (PSTs) knowledge of proof in geometry. The study used qualitative analysis of data generated through a survey questionnaire, task-based worksheets and semi-structured interviews for both the focus group and individual interviews. In total 180 PSTs completed task-based worksheets. Within this group of 180 students, 47 were 4th year students, 93 were 3rd year and 40 were 2nd year students. After the analysis of a task-based worksheet, a total of 20 participants from the 3rd and 4th year were invited to participate in focus group interviews. The findings of the study exhibit that the PSTs have very little knowledge of proof in geometry. The study revealed that this lack of the knowledge stems from the knowledge proof in geometry the PSTs are exposed to at school level. / Thesis (M. Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2012.

The last decade has seen an increase in the institutionalised professionalisation of the White teachers in the Republic of South Africa. In 1981 the de Lange Commission called for the professionalisation of teacher educators and this was accepted by the Government in the White Paper of 1983. Subsequently teacher educators have been compelled by the National Education Policy Amendment Act (House of Assembly), 1986 (Act 103 of 1986) to register with the Teachers' Federal Council and financial pressure was brought to bear under the Act for teacher educators to associate with recognised teacher organisations. The outcome of this requirement appears to be greater control of the profession by the Government. It is timely to investigate precisely what is understood by professionalisation vis-a-vis teacher educators, as the professionalisation of teacher educators cannot be accomplished by statutory fiat alone. Nor have teacher educators held a particularly professional position within education. The colleges of education have been hemmed in by the provincial authorities on the one hand and by the powerful university lobby on the other. Colleges of education have historically been associated with secondary education and still are, in that they are controlled by the provincial authorities and have not been accorded full tertiary status and standing within the educational organisational structures. The colleges of education per se have no representation and no direct input into policy making and planning for education in South Africa. It is relevant and urgent to ask questions such as "What is meant by the professionalisation of teacher educators?", "What process is involved in professionalisation?" and "How can the increased professionalisation of teacher educators be realistically accomplished in the Republic of South Africa?" To this end, a full exposition of the concept of professionalisation is derived from the literature. The phenomenon and process of professionalisation are thoroughly considered, mainly from a theoretical sociological perspective. A relatively recent history of important events in Education within the Republic of South Africa is considered in the light of the possibilities for furthering the process of the professionalisation of teacher educators in this country,. In particular, the implications of the recommendations of the De Lange Commission (1981) and the Government's reaction to this Commision, as contained in the White Paper (1983), are considered. The South African Teachers' Council for Whites and its impact is assessed, and the implications of the 1983 Constitution are considered, as they affect teacher education in the Republic of South Africa. All the facets and factors implicit in the process of the professionalisation of teacher educators are critically reviewed via the attributive and process paradigms of professionalisation as explicated by Ozyga and Lawn. Recommendations are generated based on the insights obtained. In particular two facets of paramount importance emerged : (i) The need for an organised professional teacher educator association, to promote professional concerns and to represent professional interests in educational provisioning, is essential; and (ii) The need for the Government to reorganise its educational structures, so as to afford teacher educators a channel of professional representation, is evident. These facets would be of mutual value to the profession and the Government alike. Current education structures are sketched and futuristic idealistic models of organisational structures are proposed. On the basis of these studies a number of recommendations are proposed, including, inter alia, the following primary facets : Teacher education should be occupationally delineated, its members should be incorporated in a distinct and discrete professional registration category and statutory recognition should be given to this profession and its members; Teacher educators should form a fully developed national professional association to promote individual and corporate interests and to negotiate on matters of interest and concern; The teacher education profession should be rationalised and coordinated nationally, be accorded a greater degree of professional autonomy and be formally involved in national policy making in a unitary general affairs body; Teacher education should be upgraded to a fully degreed profession, with specialised post graduate degrees being made available with a specific bearing on teacher education, including the opportunity for research; and The courses offered by colleges of education should be upgraded via establishing the option of degree courses at colleges, concentrating all teacher training at colleges of education, providing enhanced facilities for serving teachers to upgrade their qualifications at colleges, promoting a wider acceptance and implementation of integrated teacher training degree courses and promoting the esteem of teaching degree and diploma courses as professional and academic qualifications of repute. / Thesis (M.P.A.)-University of Durban-Westville, 1987.

No abstract available. / Thesis (M.Med.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2010.

This thesis investigated the role that folklore can play in contemporary environmental problems. This research was prompted by people living around the Mantrombi nature reserve in the Nebo region of Limpopo province who showed and interest in reviving folklore as an education model to combat their existing environmental problems.

In the past, non formal education in South Africa was committed to supporting the Mass Democratic Movement (MDM) in opposition to apartheid. Such non-formal political education was concerned with education for democracy, that is, preparing people for democracy. Post 1994, adult education policy has focused on vocational training, which has shifted the focus away from education for social purpose. My concern was that democracy is a process and a system that constantly needs to be nurtured. This requires citizens that know their constitutional rights and responsibilities, and how to put them into action. In view of this, I decided to enquire what kind of education exists that aims to build civil society by promoting social justice and social reconstruction in the new democracy. My research critically investigated and analysed the political education programmes in three organisations in Cape Town, Western Cape: an NGO, a trade union congress and a social movement registered as an NGO. They focused on supporting the efforts of people who are unemployed (Alternative Information and Development Centre), shop stewards (Congress of South African Trade Unions) and HIV positive people (Treatment Action Campaign). These programmes aimed to develop an „active. and „critical thinking. new layer of „leadership.. This thesis explores how participants in three organisations understand their roles and identities as participants, activists and as citizens; the spaces and dynamics through which they engage and participate to express their interests, the learning that happens in these spaces through education and collective action, and the participants. relationship to issues of democracy, participation, rights and accountability. This qualitative study employed a case study methodology. It used observation, document review and semi-structured interviews to gather data. The study used concepts drawn from citizenship education and popular education to analyse data. The education offered by these three organisations was popular education in theory, but not always popular education in practice. The participants started: acquiring knowledge and skills for campaigning: learning about the constitution; seeing that the personal is political; becoming more active; showing signs of critical thinking; evidencing active emancipation; and evidencing signs of critical emancipation. Due to a compromised facilitation process, my recommendations are that the facilitators start: putting process in focus; avoiding banking education; making follow-ups of report backs a priority; putting a sexist free education environment in focus; eradicating intimidating facilitator behaviour; and developing practical material. My study has shown that critical citizenship education, which raises participants. awareness about injustice and oppression, can help them voice their most immediate felt needs through solidarity and action. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2010.

This dissertation explores the potential of theatre studies to develop a pragmatic and relevant pedagogy for South African students and adults. The contention is that the dominant paradigm as conceptualized in the discipline ‘Speech and Drama’ is outdated. Section One offers a critique of this paradigm and an analysis of the premises that supported its foundation and consolidation in English-language South African Universities. Following this a search is instituted for a methodology of theatre studies which is both appropriate to present circumstances and which could encompass all South Africans. In Section Two, a survey of theories of performance is undertaken because a methodology of theatre studies is, of necessity, linked to performance theory. The pioneering contributions of some South African scholars are explained and evaluated as part of a larger body of theoretical analysis in both the humanities and the social sciences. In Section Three, the search for a methodology is approached from a different angle. The researcher offers a detailed descriptive analysis of her own work in the Department of Speech and Drama at the University of Zululand both among students and in a nearby rural community. This serves to explore the kinds of learning that occur through practical involvement in drama, theatre and specifically playmaking. These learning processes are related to the distinctive functions in drama and theatre, namely the heuristic, communicative and interpretative functions. The work is connected to progressivist trends in education and participatory research in the field of adult education. One of the intentions behind the work was, indeed, to challenge commonsense perceptions and discover the extent to which individuals are ‘victims of their own biography’. This challenge is specifically related to anti-feminist, racist and class perceptions. The dissertation concludes with recommendations for a learner-centred approach to theatre studies that is rooted in personal experience and consciously mediated through refined and extended conceptual categories. The tension between the development of students’ analytical powers and communicative skills is explored and a semiotic approach to analysis is posited. The importance of extending university work into the wider community is discussed and related to a rural development project involving playmaking, undertaken to research the potential of learning through drama for adults. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1987.

The purpose of this study was to initiate integration of HIV and AIDS curriculum in / Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2008.

Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2007. / This study explores the coming into being of a new Learning Area called Arts and Culture in the school curriculum in South Africa since 1997. The critical questions ask why Arts and Culture was deemed necessary in the new curriculum (Curriculum 2005); what factors influenced its design and did the Review process of 2000/1 effect significant changes to the Arts and Culture curriculum? The study draws its methodology from narratology, heuristic theory, discourse analysis and literary criticism in various ways. It uses narratology as the basis for analysis and as a representational device. As I was part of the policy development, the study commences with a personal narrative that sets the scene for the research. The primary data derive from interviews with policy makers, arts curriculum developers and arts practitioners and detailed analyses of relevant arts education policies. The first level of analysis entailed a narrative analysis of the interviews, focussing on the point of view and voice of the speaker. Documents were similarly analysed using a narratological lens developed for this study. The second level of analysis brought together the two sets of data and their individual stories to produce two differently focalized stories about the Arts and Culture curriculum: a curriculum of the Heart and a curriculum of the Head, both in the service of social transformation in South Africa. A third story, representing an unseen character - resistance arts, was introduced as pivotal in the Arts and Culture story. The third level of analysis dealt with abstractions from the group stories, arguing that nation building and identity formation and the potentially transformative role of the arts were central to this Arts and Culture curriculum. Discontinuities in the socio-political context and the curriculum discourse between 1997 and 2001 resulted in shifts in focalization of the curricula and may do so in the future. Current discourse allows for the creolisation of the arts and a re-imagined cultural identity.

This study's aim was to solicit the beliefs, attitudes and perceptions of the teachers to the implementation of the road safety education programme in the context of curriculum change in five primary schools in the Pietermaritzburg Region. It is the beliefs and the attitudes of the teachers that imply assumptions about curriculum change and implementation that was the major focus of this study. The implementation of the road safety education programme was studied in the context of curriculum change. This was done by using a qualitative research methodology. A case study research method was employed to gather data. Through semi-structured teacher interviews, classroom observations and learner administered questionnaires, the researcher was able to answer the three critical questions of the study. For the analysis of the data, interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) was used. The analysis of the data revealed that despite the teaching and learning constraints that teachers experience in the classroom with implementing curriculum change, they do the best that they can. They implemented the road safety education programme in very innovative and interactive ways. Feedback from teacher interviews regarding the implementation of the road safety education programme, indicated that it was a good programme which was well developed and aligned to the Revised National Curriculum Statement. It was informative and provided learners with a wide range of age appropriate knowledge and expertise to make them safe and responsible road users. This study also revealed the gaps in the literature where road safety education and its implementation, is concerned. This study makes a number of recommendations for successful curriculum implementation in the context of change. Because of the qualitative nature of the data collected it was difficult to establish whether there was, in fact behavioural changes regarding safe and responsible road user behaviour. Therefore the study recommends that more research must be carried out on the implementation of the road safety education programme because this study only represented five primary schools. This study also emphasized the importance of implementing road safety education from grade R to Grade 12 to enhance safe and responsible road user behaviour. This may be useful in reinforcing safe and responsible road user behaviour. Twelve years of road safety education will definitely have a cumulative effect which will be beneficial to the learner. A permanent space must be found in the CAPS school curricula to deliver appropriate and effective road safety education from Grade R to Grade 12. The basic epistemological approach of the research reflects the importance of moving beyond universal truths about implementation as a complex and highly contingent enterprise in which variations is the rule rather than the exception. This study subsequently concluded that the successful implementation of the road safety education programme was dependent on the teacher‟s beliefs, attitudes and perceptions of the innovation. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2012.