This study captures the narrative of the lived experiences of four teachers as they developed effective classroom environments in a high school looping program in an Eastern Tennessee school district. The study examined the stories and reflections of the participants in order to discover teacher perception, behaviors, and attitudes that help to establish teacher-student relational involvement which produces positive academic, behavioral, and socio-emotional student outcomes. The stories collected during the narrative study provide real-life, contextual data with which other practitioners might reflect upon their own teaching experiences and practices. The study also adds to the discussion on the potential impact of looping programs as a structure for improving student-teacher relationships and maximizing responsive teaching in secondary schools in order address student engagement and motivation.

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This is an investigation explaining the relationship between the home environment and mathematics performance of 12 grade eight students from a high school in Durban, South Africa. One of the data collection methods was a 25-question test, based on the TIMSS test, namely a TIMSS equivalent mathematics test. The test was analysed and its relation to the South African syllabus, the students' familiarity with the type of questions and the multiple-choice mode of answer used in the TIMSS study, was investigated. The test scores were also used to identify high performing and low performing students to be interviewed about their mathematical, personal and home backgrounds. A student questionnaire was administered to these selected students as a basis for the interviews. An in depth one on one interview and records of the students' achievements in grade 7 and grade 8 in languages and mathematics, as well as school family records were used for the analysis. The life stories of the six high performing and six low performing students were then constructed and analysed with respect to: their achievements in mathematics and language; their home backgrounds; how their mathematics performance is affected by their home environments; and the effect of parental involvement in their lives. Finally research findings from the interviews on the home lives and experiences of the 12 grade 8 students from a high school in Durban are presented. Implications are put forward and recommendations made. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2006.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal

The study aimed to explore the role of the school in promoting parental participation in education. Parents’ perceptions of their role in education and the benefits of their participation were also explored. Lastly, the study aimed to identify support structures designed and implemented by schools to assist parents overcome barriers to their participation. The study employed qualitative methods. Data was collected in two stages. Firstly, questionnaires were administered to parents and school staff. Returned questionnaires were analysed. The data collected using the questionnaires was used as a springboard for the second stage of data collection. This second stage included semi-structured interviews conducted with educators and school managers. These interviews provided the researcher with in – depth information which built on the information gathered through the questionnaires. The study aimed to explore the role of the school in promoting parental participation in education by exploring various aspects that impact parental involvement within the school. Attitude of school staff, school climate, school policy, communication and management of parental participation were identified as aspects within a school that impact parental participation in education. The research revealed that while parents and school staff agreed that parental participation in education is beneficial, parents’ perception of their participation was limited to assisting their children with homework tasks. In addition, school staff were unclear of their expectations of parents. Findings revealed that the school plays an imperative role in promoting parental participation in education since they have control over factors such as school climate, school policy, home-school communication and management of parental participation which all impact levels of parental participation within a school. The study also found that the school in the study lacked support structures to assist parents overcome barriers to their participation. The study concludes by making recommendations for improved levels of parental participation in education based on the findings of the study. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2012.

This study explores the factors that promote parental involvement at a secondary school in Kwa-Zulu Natal. The study was conducted with twelve learners from grades 10 to grade 12, six educators and six parents. The theories on parental involvement that guided the study were the ecological theory of Bronfenbrenner and the role theory. The methodology used to obtain data were interviews with learners, teachers and parents. The literature review looked at the extent of parental involvement, the barriers experienced by parents and the benefits of parental involvement. The literature also looked at views of how parents can be encouraged to become more active in schools. The qualitative method was utilized to determine the factors promoting parental involvement. The focus group was used with the learners and the semi structured interviews was used with the teachers and parents. Themes were formed using the collected data that was organized and analyzed The findings of the data showed that there is a need for greater parental involvement. Parents and teachers agreed that there are certain barriers that prevent parents from becoming more involved in the education of their children. There is a need for a concerted effort amongst parents and teachers to communicate and work as a team for effective teaching and learning to take place. Schools need to consider that parents face problems and they need to work with parents to overcome these barriers. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2013.

This qualitative case study combined teacher and student interviews with observations of one physical education class to facilitate understandings of physical education learning communities. Watkins’ (2005) definition of a learning community was used as a framework to conceptualise the study. I found that physical education teachers in this study do actively develop their classes as learning communities. Five key findings are discussed. Physical education learning communities exist in a number of different forms that can be related to a learning community continuum. The learning community’s positioning on the continuum is directly related to student agency in learning. It was found that student agency is promoted through a discourse of inquiry. In this study inquiry is a central tenet of a learning community as learning is viewed as a cognitive and socio-cultural constructivist function resulting in knowledge generation (Brown, 1997 cited in Alton Lee 2003; Sewell, 2006; Watkins, 2005). As inquiry learning is a social process in a learning community, it is concurrently supported by a discourse of community, promoting students’ ability to work altruistically and collaboratively, learning together. It was found that the explicit teaching of socio-moral outcomes through socio-cultural pedagogies enhance positive peer relationships and is essential to the promotion of an altruistic discourse of community. The discourses of community and inquiry are dialectically related and communicate clear messages to students about the expectations of behaviour and learning within an altruistic community. The early stages of a physical education learning community are based on the genuine and altruistic student-teacher relationships which provide a springboard to allow opportunities for teachers to have further conversations about learning. Finally, evidence in the study suggests that philosophy plays a significant role in both the growth and oppression of the evolution of a learning community. This study suggests that the relationship between the philosophy of the New Zealand Curriculum (2007), the physical education teachers and the economic neoliberal context influences the development of learning communities in physical education.

Thesis (MTchLn)--University of Canterbury, 2008. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 101-109). Also available via the World Wide Web.

Thesis (M. Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M. Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 95-96).