M.Cur. / Please refer to full text to view abstract

M.Ed. (Educational Psychology) / Leadership in the primary as well as in the secondary schools has for too long been misinterpreted, misunderstood and therefore misused and grossly underscored in far too many ways. It has been too often, and in too many cases, based on personal interpretation and feeling and even, sadly enough, in some cases on personal gain. Instead it should be a well planned, scientifically based exercise based on specific goals. Present day demands require a specific form of education and training in leadership at school level to enable our youth to cope with these requirements. Educational authorities especially school authorities - are therefore compelled to address the matter of training, identification and utilization of leaders in a new light. Leadership development should also therefore be part and parcel of the educational programme. A new structure in most schools - especially in primary schools -is of the utmost importance where leadership is concerned. Leaders should be trained and exercised in such a way that leadership potential can be nurtured and exploited to the utmost. The skills attained in primary school should also form the crux of the leadership program in high school in order to accommodate the important concept of continuity. An integrated program for leadership development for primary, as, well as for secondary schools in this regard, could possibly be a part of the answer. Although schools have the authority to create their own structures of leadership according to their own unique circumstances it still is of the utmost importance that as many pupils as possible - if not all - should be involved in a long term leadership training program. Thus it will ensure that pupil leaders are trained continuously and that high profile leaders are given the attention and opportunities they need and deserve. A school can, in order to obtain optimal participation, make use of various bodies assigned to specific tasks to encompass the total school structure. These bodies can also be united in a student council. In this way acknowledgement is given to the fact that some people are more person (socially) orientated and others more task (job) orientated. Both the above mentioned concepts, imply leadership but each of these ccommodates its own sphere of possibilities concerning leadership. On the one hand it acknowledges the fact that not all children have the same talents and personalities. On the other hand it emphasizes the fact that some children have an advantage over other children (at the time leaders are selected) due to various factors such as maturity, personality development and specific talents to name but a few. It is also frequently found that some children who have not reflected any leadership qualities in primary school proved to be quite exceptional leaders in the community in later life. The opposite however is also found although not that often.

M.Cur. / Performance assessment of academic staff (tutor) at a nursing college is an essential component in the establishment of a well-prepared teacher corps which contributes to quality nursing education. There is widespread 'dissatisfaction with the quality of performance assessment of academic staff (tutor). Factors contributing to the ineffectiveness of performance achievement are linked to the performance assessment system itself, on the one hand, and to the person who performs the assessment, on the other hand. The object ofperformance assessment, namely to facilitate quality teaching by academic staff at a nursing college through personal and professional development and to serveas a basis for management decision-making, is destroyed in general, ifnot totally, by the way in which performance assessment of academic personnel is planned and executed. The purpose of this study was to describe performance assessment standards and guidelines fora performance assessment programme for academic personnel at a nursing college based on a conceptual framework. This aimisjustified by meansofa descriptive, explorative, contextual, qualitative research design. The study was conducted in four phases. Phaseone included exploring job descriptions of academic personnel at nursing colleges. Phasetwo dealtwith exploring and describing job expectations of academic personnel at nursing colleges. A qualitative research method, namely focus group interviews, was used to gather data. In phase three a literature control was done in order to refine the conceptual framework. In phasefour, a final conceptual framework was formulated and performance assessment standards and guidelines for a performance assessment program ofacademic staff at a nursing college were described.

M.Cur. (Professional Nursing) / The overall objective of this study is to describe guidelines for professional nurses as clinical learning facilitators. In view of existing problems such as staff shortages, overcrowded wards, student exploitation in the service situation, lack of supervision, assessment and evaluation, lack of student status, block system and inadequate preparation of professional nurses for the clinical learning facilitator's role, nursing education has to strive for excellence in order to be in line with the Reconstruction and Development Programme, the National Health Plan, the message of the Minister of Education in the White Paper on Education and Training in South Africa, the South African Nursing Council, the South African Nursing Association, and the economical, social and technological changes in South Africa.

M.Cur. / It is a well known fact that the environment plays an important rol in the development of the individual. In an intensive care unit, a child is exposed to an enormous amount of stimuli that is confusing and frightening and also has no meaning for the child. The experience of a child in an intensive care unit, upon whom major procedures are performed, is observed. The purpose of this study is to examine and describe the intensive care experience of children between the ages of 3 and 12 so that guidelines for the nursing of these children can be provided. This is a qualitative study and the phenomenological method of research was used. Interviews were conducted with the help of three photographs. These were shown to the respondents and they were asked to tell a story about the child in the photo. Fieldnotes were taken immediately after each interview to describe the situation and the researchers impressions. A taperecording was made of each interview and was transcribed verbatim. The transcriptions were analised and conclusions were reached. Guidelines can thus be drawn up for the nursing of a child in an intensive care unit.

M.Cur. (Nursing Education) / A National Family Planning Programme was launched during 1974 by die Government in the Republic of South Africa (R.S.A). The rendering of the clinical family planni~g services was assigned to medicalpractitioners and nurses. Special courses were instituted in the main centres of the R.S.A with the aim of supplementing knowledge which wasgained by nurses during their basic training. Since no curriculum can be considered as being perfect, it was intended withthis study to evaluate the present curriculumand to determine whether the methods of presentation are effective. A literature study was conducted and it was found that the family planning programme is directed towards the improvement of health and not population control. Curriculum building was studied in depth and a survey was conducted by means of a questionnaire. The curriculum, teaching methods and techniques implemented to prepare nurses to practice as clinical family planning nurses were researched. The findings indicated that the course content included subject matter that was already known to the nurse. The importance of having training officers to conduct the course who are proficient in adult teaching became evident. It is therefore recommended that only certain aspects of the present course be presented bypersonswho are skilled in adult teaching.

M.Cur. / Over the years the field and scope of the Registered Tutor in South Africa has become more comprehensive. The nurse tutor's activities have extended from just the preparation of school leavers who entered professional training to the formal education of nurses at all levels of basic, post-basic and post-graduate nursing programmes and informal education, to highly experienced professional nurses in in-service and informal continuing education programmes. The nurse tutor's educational duties cover both the classroom and the various fields of nursing practice. She is therefore concerned with the educative process at a variety of levels. In the clinical teaching situation she might have to participate in health education activities for patients, clients and relatives and educate future and newly qualified nurse practitioners to fulfil their role as health educators, as well as instructors of students, pupils and assistant nurses. To some extent she also participates in the education of other health service personnel either at formal or at clinical instruction level. Since 1986 the nurse tutor's scope has further extended with the institution of the comprehensive four-year course. Her administrative functions namely planning, organisation, accompaniment and evaluation contributes to her main function teaching. The new course provides for the opportunity to use a variety of teaching methods besides the traditional lecture method. Also, she participates in curriculum building as well as the planning of her own syllabus. She now also has a greater input in the clinical field by guiding the students.

D.Ed. / Humanity needs to survive both physically and emotionally in a rapidly changing postmodern world, which has numerous problems. Critical thinking, and particularly strong sense critical thinking, could be a powerful enabling factor when dealing with these challenges. Education has long recognised its responsibility of teaching learners to think, but it is doubtful whether this goal has been achieved. The paradigm shift from content-based to outcomes-based education, with critical thinking as one of the twelve essential outcomes, makes this time in the history of South African education a particularly positive period in which to teach critical thinking The problem is however that no research has been done regarding the teaching of critical thinking in History - a subject that can ideally promote critical thinking - in South African primary schools. Two subordinate research questions were posed, namely what repertoire of critical thinking skills grade seven students of multicultural primary schools commanded in the History class and whether grade seven teachers taught their History students critical thinking activities. These questions provided information that assisted in answering the main research question regarding the generation of a possible approach for the facilitation of critical thinking in the History class, that would enable the teachers of grade seven learners in multicultural primary schools in the N5 District to teach critical thinking, and that could be implemented by educational psychologists. The intermediate research objectives were to determine the presence and nature of the critical thinking skills of learners in a grade seven History class of a multicultural primary school in District N5 in Gauteng; and to explore whether the History teacher of the grade seven class in a multicultural school teaches critical thinking to his learners and if this did occur, to describe what methods the teacher follows to achieve it. These intermediate objectives were utilised to achieve the overall purpose of this study, namely to develop and describe an approach for the facilitation of critical thinking in grade seven History classes in District N5, that would enable teachers to teach critical thinking and could be implemented by the educational psychologist. This study comprised prolonged, in-depth observation by means of videorecordings, of the critical thinking activities of the learners in a grade seven History class and their teacher, for a period of ten months. It was found that very little critical thinking was demonstrated in the classroom. The results of this research, along with information gained from a literature study, formed the basis of principles which were developed for an educational psychological approach to critical thinking instruction. The initial group of principles alluded to the general aspects of a critical thinking instruction program; the school environment required for such a program to thrive; and the needs and circumstances of the teachers who are to implement it. The second group of principles referred to the program content and highlighted the importance of teaching for, of and about critical thinking; the need to include the three themes of critical thinking, namely affective critical thinking operations, macro critical thinking operations and micro critical thinking operations; as well as the need to facilitate metacognition, to teach critical thinking for transfer and to assess critical thinking. The third group of principles concerned the role of the teacher and were directed at classroom organisation and climate; the structure of the lessons; and the teaching methods to be considered. The final group of principles focused on the education of teachers, district officials, principals, school management teams and parents regarding critical thinking instruction. An educational psychological approach to critical thinking instruction, which was contextualised for a district based on the principles of project management, was described.

M.A. / The changing circumstances in South Africa up to date can be seen as the inspiration for the investigation of how language teaching, and language learning is affected by this. Dramatic reform is taking place in South Africa regarding changing political and constitutional views on education, with a rapidly increasing trend towards Multicultural education. Multicultural education is a trend that has manifested itself worldwide. The primary goal is to accommodate pupils of diverse and different cultures in one education system. Language teaching must therefore also change in order for it to still be sensible and useful for the learner with regard to future consideration eg. higher learning, career opportunities and everyday communication. This study investigated the possibility that certain relevant aspects from the fields of psychology and sociology have an effect on the way a learner acquires/learns the language, in this instance Afrikaans First Language. Furthermore the study also examines the way which the teacher has to adapt/adjust to these different influences in his/her method of teaching. From an applied linguistic perspective, we find that language skills form part of the language user's communicative competence. This study endeavours to place language teaching within the framework of a communicative approach to language teaching with the emphasis on the needs of the language learner, the functionality of the acquired skills (to eventually eradicate illiteracy and communicative incompetence) and the active participation of the language learner in the teaching activities (discussions, debates, projects etc.).

D. Ed. (Multiculturalism and Education) / This research will look at specific problem areas specifically pertaining to life skills which hamper the disadvantaged pupil in his development in the formal and non-formal educational sector of the school. with these identified factors, I aim to develop an acceptable information base for staff who have no in-service training as to how to assist, handle and participate with the sudden influx of disadvantaged pupils. This study is therefore aimed at gaining information to assist the teacher as well as the pupil. Reasons for the non-performance and thus the high failure rate, will also be noted in this study. One of the aims is to use pupil feedback extensively for the required information. My final aim is to illicit future research in this direction, thus assisting all parties.