D.Ed. / Professional skills development is an important aspect in the professional life of Information Technology (IT) teachers. The use of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) in South African schools brought about the possibility of using web-based education (WBE) for the purpose of bettering continuous professional teacher development (CPTD) for IT teachers in Further Education and Training (FET). This study aims at developing an online learning ecology embedded by a programme that facilitates the continuous professional development focussing on IT teachers. The rationale for this study argues about the Internet and WWW as alternative means of communication with and training of IT teachers. Theory on adult education, web-based pedagogy, and the available web-technologies, assist in creating the theoretical framework for this study. Subsequently, theory on instructional design (ID) is applied in developing the online learning ecology, online programme, as well as developing a community of practise (CoP) for IT teachers. A qualitative study guided by a partial design experiment methodology constructed the research. Therefore, the design and development in this study have secondary reference to methods for ID. A needs analysis was done by conducting a document analysis on government policies, curriculum design as well as the National Curriculum Statement (NCS) for FET. Consequently, the thesis was constructed by following the design, development and evaluation of a learning ecology. Hence, the online learning ecology was validated using constructed rubrics by research participants against the instructional design, online programme and community of practice efficacy, aimed at continuous professional development of IT teachers. Findings of this research have shown that an online learning ecology, populated by virtual tools, effectively hosts an online programme and likewise hosts a community of IT teachers. The validation further claims that the ecology was effectively designed and that interaction among IT teachers occurs on a high level against the principles of good _______________ Table of Contents iii teaching practice, classroom practices, methodology and ultimate professional development. Furthermore, the level on which knowledge transfer and skills development of IT teachers have been applied to pedagogy, became evident in applicable online teaching principles in a web-based environment for adult learning. Conclusions deduced from the study claim for face-to-face interaction to be utilised with an online programme. This assists cluster meetings to be conducted more effectively and retains influences such as time constrains and transport problems. Consequently, this leverages better facilitation during shorter time periods and delivers more concise cluster meetings. Moreover, suggestions have been made for online moderation possibilities, access to more, relevant study material, collaborating ideas, sharing experiences and having more social presence from a professional perspective. The virtual tools used in the learning ecology were found to be highly effective with ease. Further conclusions brought about a suggestion for generalising such a learning ecology that hosts CPTD to other learning areas. A final conclusion reveals that the online programme shows to be aligned with professional teacher development at various levels and complied with critical- and developmental cross-field outcomes to enhance generalisability and generic application within the South African educational context.

"Meaning is given to a philosophy not through the mere acquisition of facts but in addition to facts, a certain spirit of open-mindedness of work and a search for causes. In the attempt of school personnel in Walton County to achieve democratic cooperation, attention has been focused on leaders in the educational field who, through experience, have learned that certain patterns are more conducive to use of initiative and cooperation than others. From them and through our own experiences we have learned that to achieve democratic cooperation the group must understand the nature of the process itself and be willing to take the necessary steps to achieve it. The group as a whole must realize that the well-being, happiness, and growth of each individual within the group are the basis of its strength and progress. The group members must be willing and ready to serve and to make necessary sacrifives in order that the welfare of the individual may be insured. Also, the group must be convinced that the conditions of human living can be bettered through intelligent cooperation supporting the efforts for improvement"--Introduction. / "August, 1948." / Typescript. / "Submitted to the Graduate Council of the Florida State University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts under Plan II." / Advisor: W. Edwards, Professor Directing Paper. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 33).

No description available.

The aim of establishing the Transkei Teachers’ In- Service College (Trinset) in 1986 by the former Transkei Department of Education, was to alleviate the problem of inappropriately qualified teachers. This problem was seen as impacting negatively on the performance of matriculation candidates in the final examinations. In the twelve years since the college’s inception there has been no formal evaluation, this despite the perception of the importance of evaluation as an integral part of planning and implementation for any educational endeavour (Mc Naught, Taylor & O’Donoghue, 1990). This study analyses the courses offered at Trinset with particular reference to the subject of Geography. The aim is to explore how best these courses can support educators in the light of the current changes in South African education. The analysis of the in-service courses used a multifaceted approach guided by the participatory principle underlying Fourth Generation Evaluation. The analysis of the in-service courses offered by Trinset, in particular by the Geography Department, has served to raise questions and to highlight issues that are seen as particularly valuable in the reconfiguration of Trinset that is part of the current educational transformation process in South Africa in terms of the provision of in-service education.

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

Text in Afrikaans / Hierdie studie is onderneem omdat daar groat verskille tussen buitengewone en gewone onderwys bestaan en omdat hoofde van kindersorgskole self verantwoordelik is vir personeelontwikkeling en indiensopleiding in hul skole. Die studie dui aan dat kindersorgskole en dus die indiensopleiers eiesoortige doelwitte en metodiek moet he omdat die pedagogies verwaarloosde kind 'n unieke benadering en behandelingsprogram verg. Benewens die orienterende inleiding hieroor, word die mikpunte van sommige bepalings van die Wet op Kindersorg (Wet 7 4 van 1983} uitgelig. Onderwysbestuur as opgawe van die hoof en ander beheerpersoneel is deurgrond en in verband gebring met die verskillende personeelbestuurstake en -funksies. In hierdie studie is gepoog om aktuele onderwyskundige probleme insake personeelontwikkeling en indiensopleiding ln die kindersorgskole te identifiseer en die implikasies daarvan vir onderwysbestuur in hierdie skole aan te toon. Laastens is enkele riglyne verskaf om die praktyk van personeelontwikkeling en indiensopleiding in die kindersorgskole te verbeter. / This study was undertaken because of marked differences between specialized and conventional education and also because principals of schools constituted under the Act on Child Care are themselves responsible for staff development and in-service training. The study indicates that child care schools, and therefore in-service trainers, must develop their own aims and methodology, because the pedagogically neglected child requires a unique approach and treatment In addition to an introductory orientation in this respect some objectives incorporated in the Act on Child Care (Act 7 4, 1983} are highlighted. Educational management as a function of the principal and his control staff, is probed and brought into context with the different staff management tasks and functions. This study endeavours to identify burning pedagogical problems re INSET in child care schools and indicates the implications thereof for their educational management Finally, some guidelines are given to alleviate or solve the problems in practice. / Educational Leadership and Management / M. Ed. (Onderwysbestuur)

This is a study about teacher learning in a case school. In this context, the study concentrates on teacher learning in groups. In the literature, there is a lot of attention to teacher learning in groups, community, and networks; however, many researchers indicate the necessity of understanding the processes of teacher’s interactions and obtaining concrete evidence of such interactions. This points to the need to secure quantitative data as well as qualitative data. This study is a step-wise exploration of teacher learning in the school. Step 1: The study began by understanding the pattern of teacher’s professional interactions using Social Network Analysis (SNA). Step 2: In order to delineate teacher learning in the school, the study then borrowed the concept of Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) from Karen Seashore Louis (2006). Hence, Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was used to confirm that the chosen Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) constructs are suitable for this study. Step 3: Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was adopted to link the pattern of teacher’s professional interactions to the confirmed PLCs constructs. Step 4: Interviews were conducted to triangulate with and to interpret the quantitative findings. While Social Network Analysis (SNA) provides a general pattern and relative positions of teacher’s professional interactions, Structural Equation modeling (SEM) helps identifying the types of professional activities and their intensity in the networks. Hence, it provides a 3-D picture of relations among teachers in the case school. This integrated analysis leads to the comprehensively understanding of learning activities that occurred among teachers in this school. In this study, the concept of PLC is seen as a combination of Professional Community (PC) and Organizational Learning (OL). It is found that, in this school, teachers themselves have high capacity for learning through networks. The major way of interactions among teachers is through discussions to exchange resources and ideas. The findings are in two dimensions: The first is about professional community. The framework of professional community comprises reflective dialogue (which is how teachers engage in deep discussions about instructions) and deprivatized practice (which is how teachers exchange their practices through classroom observation and coteaching). Teachers in the school are found to be strong in the former and weak in the latter. Second, because of the lack of practice sharing and because of the lack of a whole-school system to promote collective practice (which can be IT platforms, regulations, policies, mechanisms, and so forth), the school is yet to demonstrate full capacity of organizational learning. In relevance to theory, while there is a vague, ambiguous, and overlapping meaning of professional community and organizational learning in the literature, the study points to the possible distinction between the two. Empirically, it can be concluded that professional community emphasizes on the interactions among teachers, whereas organizational learning emphasizes on collective actions in the whole school. The study leads to the reinterpretation and modification of Louis (2006)’s framework. To become a learning school, three elements are essential: (1) Teachers engage in professional discussions (i.e. reflective dialogue), (2) Teachers exchange and share professional practices (i.e. deprivatized practice), (3) There must be systemic efforts to facilitate collective action (i.e. shared social construction). / published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Education

China has a long history of charitable practices. However, in the first four decades since the Communist Party of China (CPC) came into power in 1949, charitable practices experienced little development under a planned economy and collectivist ideology. It was not until 1989 that the state began to promote state-led charity on a national scale with the iconic Hope Project which was in response to market transformations and social turbulences. Over the past decade, the Chinese charity sector has experienced rapid development, with a growing number of innovative charitable practices delivered by grassroots organisations. This research uses the ‘Shanghai I-Fly Project for Training Rural Teachers’ case study to investigate how these grassroots charitable practices for rural education are emerging in China nowadays, as well as how they reshape individual-society-state relations by launching innovative charitable projects for rural education. This research combines qualitative research methods, including secondary literature review, policy analysis, participant observations, semi-structured interviews and self-administered questionnaires. The fieldwork research was conducted during three consecutive periods: between May and October 2012, January and August 2013, as well as December 2013 and February 2014 in three places, including Shanghai, Liming County and Lankang County. The research finds that there are three trends in the emerging charitable practices for rural education. First, charity spaces have shifted from rural to urban areas. Second, philanthropic targets have changed from rural students to rural teachers. Third, benevolent projects have shown increasing interest in promoting ‘soft’, instead of ‘hard’ aspects of rural education. Both the state and social elites have promoted these transformations. On the one hand, state policies for social organisations, charitable practices and rural education have exerted a large influence over various forms of philanthropy. On the other hand, local elites have been playing an active role in promoting innovative charitable practices in order to rebuild the social morality of the next generation and reproduce existing hierarchical structure in the non-profitable world. Emerging innovative benevolent acts seem to have been promoted for urban people more than rural participants. / published_or_final_version / Sociology / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

The purpose of this descriptive study was to investigate whether or not there was any change in behavior on the part of teachers who participated in a university graduate level course which used an inservice format. The course in question was on the effective construction of elementary school language arts curriculum. The subjects were those who had taken the course and who volunteered to participate in the study. Ten of the twenty who finished the course volunteered. The data was collected by conducting two interviews and administering two questionnaires. During the interviews, the research technique of stimulated recall was used to help the subjects remember past experiences. The first questionnaire determined to what extent the subjects were likely to distort their self-reporting on the second questionnaire. The second questionnaire was used to collect data in reference to how the subjects saw their roles within the framework of the inservice course. Instrumentation consisted of: Interview quides, Part I and Part II; the Reynolds Social Desirability Scale; and the Role Perception Scale. All but the Reynolds Social Desirability Scale were developed by the researcher. An analysis of the data provided ample evidence to support the following conclusions: (1) A university level graduate course in language arts curriculum development can be regarded as inservice education. (2) A positive change in the way teachers think about the influence of effective curriculum development on student growth can occur within the framework of a graduate level course in elementary school language arts curriculum construction. (3) Teachers actually implement their personal language arts curriculums constructed as a course requirement for a graduate level course in elementary school language arts curriculum construction. (4) The university instructor plays a prominent role in bringing about change in thinking and behavior on the part of teachers taking a university graduate level course in elementary school language arts curriculum construction.

D.Ed.