After the first democratic elections in 1994 the South African government was faced with the enormous challenge of blending a sophisticated First World education system for the minority with an underdeveloped Third World education system for the majority. The government committed itself to the principles of an inclusive education approach in order to provide equal quality education for all learners. The focus of the inclusive education will be to provide education for all learners (not only for the disabled) who for one or more reasons were discriminated against under the previous education policy. The aim of this study was to investigate the educators’ perceptions and experiences of inclusive education in schools where it is being implemented in Pietermaritzburg. The study also looked at the nature of concerns and attitudes held by these educators. Both a literature and empirical study were executed. The quantitative and qualitative approaches were used and data were collected by semi-structures questionnaires administered to thirty educators from schools where inclusive education is being implemented. Quantitative data was analysed using the descriptive statistics. A thematic analysis technique was used to analyse qualitative data. The results were presented against the central themes that emerged and include: inclusive education is challenging by its very nature; negative attitude towards inclusive education and learners with barriers to learning; negative perception towards adapting the curriculum to learners with barriers to learning; availability / lack of resources and support needed in inclusive classrooms; areas of needs in working with learners with barriers to learning; and many learners’ needs are not being met, while educators’ workload and stress have increased. A general sense of negativity was found with regard to the educators’ perceptions and attitudes towards inclusive education. They indicated that they were not well prepared for inclusive education. Recommendations were made to facilitate improving the preparedness or readiness of the educators, for inclusive education in inclusive schools in the Pietermaritzburg area. / Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2008.

Despite a national and international focus on the effective implementation of inclusive education, there remains a discrepancy between the desire to provide inclusive education and the realities of providing such an education. Whilst there has been wide-scale teacher development workshops offered by the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education, the ability of these workshops to provide teachers with meaningful insight into how to implement inclusive education practices in their classroom has been limited. This training has been criticized for being too theoretical and providing teachers with few practical strategies to deal with learners who have barriers to learning. In addition to this, much of the training that has taken place has been aimed at primary school teachers and there is much confusion amongst the teaching body as to how inclusive education can be implemented in the high school. This research studies the state of inclusive education in 6 affluent schools, both government and independent, in the greater Durban area, in terms of the teacher development that has taken place and the level of confidence amongst teachers in providing support to learners with barriers to learning, especially those learners who have learning disabilities. The schools researched are of the privileged few who can afford to invest in teacher development programmes over and above what is offered by the provincial department of education. In spite of this, teachers in these schools have been poorly prepared to meet the needs of learners with barriers to learning in their schools and they have little confidence in their own abilities to teach these learners. Subsequent interviews with senior staff members in these schools reveal that in reality, learners are not receiving the level of support that is being marketed by the Department of Education. Through this research it becomes clear that schools which have successfully implemented inclusive education are those that have taken the initiative to embark on teacher development within the school. The research conducted and an extensive literature review is used to suggest ways of narrowing the divide between the theory of implementing inclusive education and the actual practice thereof. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2012.

A qualitative case study of critical consideration for the SMT in developing inclusive schools is reported in this study. The study was conducted in one rural district in the south coast area in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. The aim of the study was to determine the SMT’s understanding of inclusive education and to establish what they consider as important in ensuring that their schools are inclusive. Lastly, it sought to identify the challenges that they faced in making their school inclusive. This was a single case study. The study targeted 5 SMT members who were involved in a focus group interview. Data analysis in the study influenced by systems theory. The two concepts defined are inclusive education and school management teams. Both the theoretical framework and the theory were used as lenses to understand the critical considerations for the SMTs in developing inclusive schools. The findings gathered from the study indicate that the SMT had very limited and often distorted understanding of the policy of inclusive education. It was also clear that they are not sure of what they consider critical for them as the SMT in the process of developing inclusive schools. At the same time they were able to indicate many challenges that they are faced with in their school. The findings suggest that this might be lack or inappropriate training on inclusive education as well as misunderstandings on inclusive strategies. The study concludes that the introduction of policy processes that requires implementation should ensure that all stakeholders involved are brought on board. It is important to get buy in from other educators to embrace diversity and understand the purpose. The process of paradigm shift is difficult to individuals especially when there are so many changes in the system, people tend to resist change. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2012.

Geography faces several challenges in a changing South Africa. These include the challenge to initiate a primary curriculum that helps to provide a foundation for sustainable living in a society that faces serious problems of unemployment, violence, irreparable damage to the environment and the lack of housing, water and basic services for the majority of the population. This thesis attempts to provide a case for geography in the primary school by examining the value of the subject for pupils' development and by reviewing the strengths and weaknesses of an integrated approach in view of the possible introduction of an integrated primary curriculum in South Africa. The second aspect of the study is concerned with a survey of teachers in the Natal Education Department to evaluate the perceived value of geography as a subject and support for geography as a discrete subject. The main thrust of geography in the primary school is to develop concepts, skills, values and attitudes that allow pupils to be more understanding and caring about the local and global environment, about people, communities, species and the natural environment on which we all depend. The results of the survey reveal that teachers support geography as a discrete subject with an intra-curriculum approach. The introduction of an integrated core curriculum in South Africa would prove problematic as teachers are not in favour of an integrated approach across the curriculum. The lack of teacher support in Kenya for an integrated curriculum was one of the main reasons for its failure. Hopefully South Africa will learn from other countries experiences with introducing an integrated curriculum. Teachers value the role of geography in the education of the child and suggest the introduction of environmental and development themes to make the subject more relevant to children's lives. The syllabus analysis revealed that a unified pnmary curriculum is required which is influenced by the needs of society in South Africa. Recommendations are made regarding ideas for a future primary curriculum.

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This study examines the perceptions of a small group of primary school teachers from Gugulethu in Cape Town, of the various exhibitions and education services currently offered at the South African Museum. Their perceptions of proposed services are also examined in order to find out which of these proposals, as well as existing services, best meet the needs expressed by this group of teachers. An attempt was also made to determine their level of understanding of environmental education and awareness of environmental issues. This study suggested the need for greater emphasis to be placed on the 'hands-on' components of the Museum's education programmes. The need for syllabus related and enriching educational programmes and resource materials was also identified. In this regard, the exhibits perceived to be of greatest benefit to the pupils were those relating either to the syllabus or their culture, whilst exhibits seen to be 'out of the pupils' experience' (eg. Fossils) were perceived as unimportant. The teachers also epressed a strong desire for training sessions to be held at the Museum that would help them improve their knowledge of the displays and programmes. It was found that the teachers understanding of environmental education ranged from syllabus-related definitions to more holistic views. The environmental issues perceived to be of greatest importance were mainly social issues such as poverty, violence, child abuse and street children as well as water pollution and cruelty to animals. The production of posters and resource materials, drama, story-telling and programmes for parents were seen to be among the choices most favoured for the Museum to adopt in promoting environmental awareness in the community.

There are few female teachers who hold principal positions in schools, especially in secondary schools. This study investigates teachers' perceptions of secondary school female principals' leadership abilities and styles.It also investigates whether teachers' perceptions are influenced either by their sexes or experience or lack of experience of working with female principals. The reseacher hopes that this research findings will help to either: develop and improve female leadership (where it is found to be wanting); and or influence authorieties to appoint more female teachers to head secondary schools. The literature surveyed revealed that the appointment of principals in seconday schools is discriminatory against female teachers. It further revealed that principals (mainly male) do not prepare female teachers for management and leadership positions. As a result female potential leaders become demotivated. This is unfortunate as research has found that female principals are as effective as leaders as male principals are. One disadvantage of having a small number of female leaders in education is that this results in an education that only reflects the male perspectives and values. This in turn alienates girls' perspectives from education. In order to establish teachers' perceptions of female secondary school principals a survey of the percptions of teachers in the Maphumolo circuit of female principals in this area was first carried out by means of a questionnaire. This was followed by a case study of one female principal. In depth, semi-stuctured interviews were undertaken with the principal and three teachers working with her in order to establish this principal's leadership style and the teachers' feelings towards her. A statistical analysis of the survey and a conten~ ~alysis of the case study were carried out. These revealed that the majority of teachers perceive female principals as effective and transformational leaders. These perceptions were found to be minimally influenced by either the teachers' sexes or experience of working with female principals. The..majority of those teachers who perceived female principals negatively tended to be males and to be from a group of teachers who had never worked with female principals. Recommendations for the increase of the number of female principals in secondary schools and for the improvement ofleadership in these schools are made.

M.Ed. (Tertiary Education) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

M.Ed. / Unfortunately, many teachers seem not to be aware of the role played by emotions, especially the negative ones, in the teaching and learning situation. As a result, many teachers attribute poor scholastic performance indiscriminately to either laziness or stupidity ( Pringle, 1986: 77) and other factors that are exclusive of emotional problems. Because of these negative attitudes, children with emotional problems may find it difficult to learn effectively. If teachers are, therefore, not trained to teach children with emotional problems, children's learning and overall development may continue to suffer. A secure emotional base is a pre-requisite for effective learning (Winkley, 1996: 1-2 ). A learner whose emotional life is taken care of, stands a better chance of making academic progress over those who are emotionally deprived or abused.Teachers, therefore, need to be equipped with knowledge of the children's emotional life, especially the strategies for teaching children with emotional and behavioural problems. This knowledge is of vital importance if their attitudes towards children with emotional and behavioural problems is to be changed to the benefit of these children, because knowledge forms part of beliefs and beliefs are the cornerstone of attitudes ( Hewstone, Stroebe, Codol, & Stephen, 1988: 143 ). Successful learning may be enhanced by identifying the unproductive attitudes held by teachers and by inculcating positive ones by equipping them with knowledge about the emotional states of children with emotional and behavioural problems. Against this background, the problem to be researched in this study can be stated as follows : What knowledge do teachers have with regard to emotional and behavioural problems of learners? What are the perceived causes of emotional and behavioural problems in learners, and what are the attitudes of teachers with regard to these learners? What guidelines can be developed for teachers in order to enhance their teaching of these learners?

Submitted in fulfilment of the requirement of the Degree of Doctor of Technology: Language Practice, Durban University of Technology, 2011. / In response to the alarmingly low literacy rates in South Africa and to improve reading instruction in schools, the National Department of Education introduced the National Reading Strategy (NRS) in primary schools in 2008. The NRS was developed for educators from grades R to 9 to facilitate reading literacy but foundation phase educators are faced with many challenges in implementing the NRS which include among others: teaching or facilitating reading in English in their multicultural, multilingual classrooms where the majority of their learners do not speak English as a first language; catering for different levels of understanding and proficiency in the language of instruction and reading within time-table and resource constraints; and adapting to changing curricula and requirements without receiving training to do so. In the absence of training, educators are left to interpret the NRS on their own. Recognising that the above factors impact on performance in the classroom this study investigated foundation phase educators’ knowledge and attitudes towards implementation of the NRS. Grounded within a social constructivist paradigm and underpinned by Vygotsky’s theory of the zone of proximal development, this study used a mixed methods approach to gather both qualitative and quantitative data from foundation phase educators and learners in the Phoenix-North region in northern KwaZulu-Natal. Questionnaires were administered to foundation phase educators to gather data to determine their knowledge and attitude towards implementing the National Reading Strategy. Focus group discussions were conducted with learners to establish the effect of educators’ implementation of the NRS on their “actual level” of development in terms of reading. Analysis of data revealed that despite a relatively positive attitude towards teaching reading, educators’ level of confidence to implement the NRS was low as many of them were teaching reading in their second language. In the absence of training workshops and professional development, there was conflict between educators’ existing knowledge and the requirements of the NRS. This study also found that educators’ knowledge and attitudes towards implementation of the NRS had a direct impact on learners’ reading progress as they are dependent on the educator for guidance and assistance within their zone of proximal development. Based on the findings, this study developed a training framework towards vi improving foundation phase educators’ knowledge and attitudes in order to facilitate reading and implementation of the NRS.