Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2000. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The purpose of this research was to identify staff development needs of teacher educators in the Northern Province regarding the implementation of the National Qualifications Framework. It also aimed at providing guidelines for staff development that could be used to meet the identified needs. In order to achieve this purpose, the researcher consulted both primary and secondary sources to gather information on the topic, that could also provide background for the construction of data collecting instruments, which are the interview and the questionnaire. According to the literature research, South African teacher education is facing a lot of changes. Government, industry and education community is concerned about the state of teacher education, and have been involved in various initiatives to improve its quality. The introduction of the NQF is an attempt to improve the quality of education and training. It shed new light on concept concepts like qualifications, curriculum design and development, quality of education, assessment of the work of learners and the governance of national qualifications. It also introduced new perspective on concepts like the phases of education, quality assurance, allocation of credits and outcomes. Staff development is mentioned as a strategy that can be used to implement the changes that the NQF came with. Factors that can support or hinder the implementation of the change are highlighted through models. The models are explained and their relevance to the study are interpreted. Methods and strategies for staff development are also mentioned. The methodology used to collect data, and the processes of analysis and interpretation of data are also outlined. The interviews showed that colleges have started to implement COTEP. The department of education disseminated information about the changes, held workshops to ensure a common understanding, and left the colleges to implement the changes. Teacher educators experienced problems in the following areas: compilation of unit standards, quality assurance, determining admission criteria according to the NQF and implementation of the programmes they have designed. The questionnaires indicated that there is a lack of clear policies on how to equip the staff with skills to implement change. Although some of the staff members are aware of the changes, the information is not passed on to others. Lecturers are not familiar with basic aspects of the NQF like bands, levels, aims, credits, notional hours,accreditation and quality assurance. The link between COTEP and the NQF is not well understood. The needs identified are listed, conclusions and recommendations as to how the implementation could be more effective are made. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die doel van hierdie navorsing was om die personeel-ontwikkelingsbehoeftes van onderwyseropleiers in die Noordelike Provinsie te identifiseer in die lig van die Nasionale Kwalifikasieraamwerk. Dit wil riglyne verskaf vir personeelontwikkeling, wat gebruik kan word om die geïdentifiseerde behoeftes aan te spreek. Om hierdie doel te bereik, het die navorser primêre en sekondêre bronne geraadpleeg om inligting in te sameloor die onderwerp, sodat In basis daargestel kan word vir die ontwerp van meetinstrumente, soos die gebruik van onderhoude en vraelyste Gesien teen die agtergrond van heersende literatuurstudie, kan groot verandering te wagte wees op die gebied van onderwyseropleiding in Suid-Afrika. Die regering, nywerheid- en onderwysgemeenskap is besorg oor die toestand van onderwyseropleiding en is by verskeie inisiatiewe betrokke om die gehalte daarvan te verbeter. Dit werp nuwe lig op konsepte soos kwalifikasies, kurrikulumontwerp en -ontwikkeling, die gehalte van onderrig, die evaluering van leerders se werk en die beheer van nasionale kwalifikasies. Dit stel nuwe konsepte bekend soos onderwysfases, gehalteversekering, toekenning van krediete en uitkomste. Personeelontwikkeling is 'n strategie wat moontlik gebruik kan word om veranderinge wat deur die toepassing van die NKR teweeggebring word, te implementeer. Faktore wat hierdie ontwikkeling kan ondersteun of belemmer, word deur modelle geïllustreer. Hierdie modelle word verduidelik en hul relevansie vir die navorsing word geïnterpreteer. Metodes en strategieë vir personeelontwikkeling word genoem. Die navorsingsmetodologie wat gebruik is om data te versamel, en die prosedure wat gebruik is om die data te analiseer en te interpreteer, is beskryf. Die onderhoude dui aan dat kolleges begin het om COTEP te implementeer. Die Departement van Onderwys versprei inligting oor veranderinge, het werkswinkels gehou om die algemene begrip te verbeter en het die implementering van veranderinge aan die kolleges oorgelaat. Onderwyseropleiers ondervind probleme op die volgende gebiede: • samestelling van eenheidstandaarde; • gehalteversekering; • bepaling van toelatingskriteria na aanleiding van die NKR; en • die implementering van programme wat ontwikkel is. Die response op die vraelyste het aangedui dat daar 'n gebrek aan duidelike beleid is oor hoe om die personeel toe te rus met vaardighede om veranderinge te implementeer. Alhoewel sommige personeellede bewus is van veranderinge, word inligting nie aan almaloorgedra nie. Dosente is nie vertroud met die basiese aspekte van die NKR nie, soos byvoorbeeld bande, vlakke, doelwitte, krediete, akkreditering en gehalteversekering. Die onderlinge verband tussen COTEP en die NKR word nie goed verstaan nie. Die geïdentifiseerde opleidingsbehoeftes is ook aangedui, en gevolgtrekkings en aanbevelings word gemaak om die implementering meer effektief te maak.

This descriptive study was undertaken for the primary purpose of identifying attitudes and beliefs of secondary teachers toward staff development. Participants in the study included the total population of teachers in two high schools in a southwestern school district. The objectives of the study were to identify the attitudes and beliefs of teachers toward staff development as an important part of their professional growth, and toward the organization, processes, and personnel involved in staff development. Also to be identified were the level of knowledge and interest teachers have of specific topics for staff development programs, and similarities/differences in teachers' attitudes based on school, department, number of years teaching experience, education level, participation in a career ladder program, and gender. The data was collected using a two-part, modified Likert scale questionnaire. The findings of the study suggest that the teachers from the school itself should plan staff development, including the content which should be based on the teachers' needs as determined from an open-ended questionnaire, and that the instructors should be teachers from the school or the school's administrators. Staff development programs should incorporate a variety of teaching methods, although lecture was rated as the least desirable single method by the teachers. Staff development should be regular and on-going, with quarterly sessions receiving the most agreement from the teachers. It should be held at the school itself, during released time, and job-related. The teachers agreed that staff development should be evaluated throughout the school year, by the teachers, assessing whether its objectives had been met. Participation should not be mandatory, but depend upon the content of the program and the needs of the individual. Incentives to participate should include the intrinsic value of improved teaching ability, salary increases, university credit, and increased student achievement. Finally, over seventy percent of the teachers agreed that staff development is an important part of their professional growth.

This ethnographic study describes events and interactions that occurred between a group of teachers involved in a Teachers' Study Group in order to examine the process of transformation and essential transformative conditions. Data collected over a two year period includes field notes from participant observation, audio tape transcriptions, video-tapes, interviews, and written reflections by teachers and the researcher. An analysis of reflective dialogue and assessments by participants determined the transformations, the process of transformative learning that occurred for the participants and the formation of the collective group. Findings from an integrative analysis of discourse determined transformative events and conditions which were socially constructed and facilitated the transformation of individual teachers and the group as a whole. The paradigms underlying research and implementation models on teacher learning and change was examined and challenged. Two major directions were taken in this study. First, the transformation of an individual teacher as she engaged in inquiry through the cyclical progressions of the study group process is presented in a case study. This case study focuses on the construction of meanings and ideologies and the internalization of these meanings and their effects on learning, change and transformation for the teacher. Second, the process of transformation within the context of the study group is explored. This is presented as a case study which examines the transformation of the group showing how the participants constructed "transformative social events" whereby they could "live" and experience transformative learning through critical personal and collective reflection. The data suggests that transformative learning occurs through the process of face-to-face interaction between participants (teachers and researcher) in social contexts designed for the purpose of reflection, learning, and change. In order to understand the process of transformation, it is essential to examine the interrelationship between context and activities that participants use to constitute the culturally, socially, and historically organized social worlds they inhabit. From this view the relationship between context and product (ie. language) is considered a process that emerges and changes. Participants are situated within contexts which are capable of rapid and dynamic change as the event they are engaged in unfold.

There is no abstract available for this dissertation.

M.Ed. (Didactics) / The beginning teacher doesn't start his teaching career as an educational expert. Although he is professionally qualified, his professional training doesn't fully equip him with all the required attributes necessary for an error-free start to his teaching career. The objective of this study is to scientifically acquire, by way of a literature study, information concerning individual shortcomings and lack of expertise attributable to the beginning teacher in practice. Attention has been given to the problems experienced by the beginning teacher when starting his teaching career in practice. His initial experience of the educational environment, as well as his development as person, educator, teacher and his position in the educational management situation are discussed. Due to the fact that he as an adult student exposes himself to an informal study situation to improve his teaching abilities, attention has been given to the specific qualities and problems the beginning teacher will be exposed to. The study also emphasised the importance of the support by more experienced teachers to the beginning teacher...

The problem of this study was to determine the effect of the use of Flanders' system of interaction analysis on the verbal behavior of an elementary school faculty and on their attitudes toward in-service education.

The problem of this study was the identification of effective and efficient means of providing quality staff development for reading instruction within a school-district setting. The study investigated the comparative effectiveness of two staff development delivery systems measured by 1) a cognitive test of a school district's reading program and 2) an affective measure of teacher attitudes toward staff development. The sample was drawn from the teacher population of a large urban school district. The 46 subjects were elementary school teachers in grades K-5 randomly divided into two groups: Group A (videotape with a trained on-site facilitator) and Group B (face-to-face live presenter). Participants in the study received training using "The Fort Worth Reading Program," a staff development program designed by the researcher. In addition to the presentation of content information, which is the central component, the program features small group discussions, off-line activities, and question and answer periods. Both groups received the same treatment with the following exception. A central component to the Group A training was the presentation of content information in a videotape format. Group B did not view the videotape, but received the same information via live presenter. Two instruments developed by the researcher were used in the study: 1) The Teacher Staff Development Questionnaire, a Likert-type survey to obtain teacher attitudes toward staff development, and 2) The Cognitive Test of Reading Knowledge, an instrument designed to measure cognitive objectives of the district's reading program. A multivariate analysis of covariance revealed no statistically significant differences between the groups. It was concluded that elementary classroom teachers, regardless of their attitudes toward staff development, learn content material equally well with either of the two delivery systems explored in this study. Specific suggestions and recommendations for further studies are addressed and discussed. Examples of the measurement instruments are included.

D.Phil. / Schools are sites of values education. This thesis argues that teachers need to be prepared systematically in a programme for the infusion of values into the curriculum. The inquiry investigated such a programme of teacher development in which teachers‘ participation was examined with a view of examining the design of the programme and to make recommendations for revision and refinement of the programme. The main research question that guided this inquiry was, ―How do teachers engage with the ACE programme and how is this engagement1 made visible in their practice and their discourse?‖ This research question addresses both teachers‘ understanding (personal meaning making) or ―internalisation‖ in Vygotskian parlance (Vygotsky, 1986), their transfer from their own understanding to action in learning environments and the activation of specific values that they hold dear. Ultimately this research question pertains to how design principles are activated in the programme for teacher development and also how they may need to be amended as a result of the understanding that comes from the inquiry. The object of the inquiry was thus the teachers and their interaction with this ACE programme, the design principles of which were the elements of the ACE programme that were ultimately examined as they played out in the teachers‘ learning and practice. I employed a design-based research process, using both quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection. The sources of data included questionnaires, observations, interviews, journals and photographs.

This mixed methods study investigated the self-reported frequency of professional development experiences mentors have had with their mentees and with other mentors and identified the self-reported beliefs they hold about mentoring. Quantitative data were collected through an online survey of teachers from one school district that had mentored at least one time within the past 2 years. Specifically, mentors were asked to report how often they engaged in specific activities with their mentees and with other mentors. Mentors were also asked to report the degree to which they believed given statements were true about mentoring (a) as a professional development experience for the mentors themselves; (b) as a way to improve mentors' own classroom teaching practice; and (c) as an avenue for leadership roles in schools. Qualitative data were collected through face-to-face interviews with mentors to better understand the quality of their experiences and to identify those experiences that were more powerful in terms of shaping their beliefs. In addition, data were analyzed to determine the relationship between the frequency of mentors' experiences and their beliefs. The results show that the frequency of experiences mentors have had with their mentees and with other mentors was positively and significantly related to their beliefs in 5 out of 6 cases. Mentors reported strong beliefs about mentoring as professional development for themselves, as a way to improve their own classroom teaching practice, and as a vehicle for leadership in schools. This study sought to put mentors in the forefront by exploring their experiences and their beliefs about mentoring. This focus on the mentor teacher and not just the mentee places this research at the core of improving teaching practice and viewing mentoring as an educative experience for veteran and novice alike. / by Tammy L. Bresnahan. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2011. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2011. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

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