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

M.Ed. (Psychology of Education) / The political upheavals of decades before the advent of democracy left far reaching consequences to the South African education system. The culture of teaching and learning suffered a severe blow since schools were the battlegrounds of the oppressor and the oppressed. Whilst learners developed an academic attitude, teachers lost sight of their professional ethos. The oppressor’s ultimate aim was largely to create a black labour force mentality that is denied opportunities to creativity and critical thinking approach. A different approach to the training of student teachers was necessary if the integrity of the teaching profession was to be retained. This includes the inculcation of a perspective in which aspirant young student teachers embrace the teaching profession with more positive attitude to their practice. It is significant that diverse institutions such as the University of Johannesburg, with its education faculty, began to conceptualise a framework based on the educational excursion for first year B.Ed Students. The Golden Gate Educational excursion became an outdoor learning experience for realisation of the faculty framework. The framework expresses the commitment to the education and training of caring, accountable, critically reflective educational practitioners who would be able to nurture and support learning in a diverse educational context. The educational excursion curriculum was therefore, tailored to serve both conceptual framework and the professional development. This research report attempted to articulate the views of first year B.Ed students on the professional development after the Golden Gate educational excursion. A generic qualitative study situated within an interpretive research paradigm was applied in the study. Observations, interviews and feedback evaluation forms were vital in the collection of data. B.Ed first year students were the participants in the research process. The premise for the study of their professional development is deduced from Bronfenbrenner’s ecosystemic model. The central view is that development cannot be fully understood unless we view it in relation to various systems in which people are involved. It is therefore, viewed within the social context. Within the social context, students accumulate experience that determines how they attach and construct meaning to reality around their environments. The accumulated experiences as well as their personal reflection on the professional practice provide a learning experience that result in new paradigm about the teaching profession. Feedback evaluation forms completed by first year B.Ed. students served as a reflective exercise on detailed aspects of the excursion. Their views were well articulated and triangulated with interviews and observation data in form of pictures attached in the addendum. The evidence clearly showed a positive change of first year B.Ed. students’ views about teaching profession after Golden Gate excursion.

Orientador: Flavia Medeiros Sarti / Banca: Marina Cyrino / Banca: Rosana Giaretta Sguerra Miskulin / Resumo: Esta pesquisa investiga processos relativos à formação de professores dos anos iniciais da Educação Básica, identificando o conjunto de representações que, a esse respeito, circulam no mercado de formação docente, esse considerado a partir de perspectiva bourdieusiana. As avaliações externas são estabelecidas e consideradas enquanto norteadoras do trabalho docente, com isso, o desempenho insatisfatório de grande parte dos alunos tem fomentado o clima de insatisfação social com relação à escola e, como decorrência, a culpabilização dos professores e o fortalecimento do argumento da incompetência docente. Como tem sido recorrente nas últimas décadas no campo educacional, a solução para problemas desse tipo vem sendo buscada principalmente na formação dos professores, alimentando o já aquecido "mercado de formação docente", que envolve universidades, institutos de pesquisa, editoras, entre outras instâncias. A pesquisa busca identificar representações sociais que circulam no interior desse mercado acerca dos professores que atuam nos anos iniciais da Educação Básica, atualmente formados no curso de Pedagogia. Para tanto, a pesquisa elege como referencial empírico o contexto de atuação de empresas que oferecem formação para redes públicas de ensino. O estudo foi realizado em municípios do interior do Estado de São Paulo e assume perspectiva qualitativa, tendo sido desenvolvido por meio de estudos bibliográficos e documentais, bem como entrevistas semiestruturadas. A partir dos da... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: This research investigates processes related to the formation of Basic Education Teachers identifying on the set of representations, which circulate teacher training Market, that considered from a bourdieusiana perspective. External evaluations are established and considered as guiding teachers, and the unsatisfactory performance of most students on that has fostered a climate of social, dissatisfaction with the school and, as a result, the teachers' blame and the strengthening of the teacher incompetence. As it has been recurring in recent decades in the educational field, the solution to problems of this type has been sought mainly in teacher training, fueling the already heated "teacher training market", involving universities research, publishers, among other instances. The research seeks to identify social representations that circulate within this market about the teachers who work in the initial years of Basic Education, currently trained in the Pedagogy course. To do so, the research selects as empirical reference the context of action of companies that offer training for public teaching networks. The study was carried out in municipalities of the interior of the State of Sao Paulo and assumes qualitative perspective, having been developed through bibliographical and documentary studies, as well as semi structured interviews. From the data investigated, we identify as representations about the teachers: adaptation; stagnation; resistance; disability; not fluent in cur... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

Orientador: Newton Duarte / Banca: Lígia Márcia Martins / Banca: Ana Carolina Galvão Marsiglia / Banca: Claudinei Lombardi / Banca: Francisco José Carvalho Mazzeu / Resumo: A pesquisa versa sobre a formação da concepção de mundo de professores, a partir da perspectiva da pedagogia histórico-crítica. Destacamos as discussões acerca das relações entre a formação da individualidade do professor e o trabalho educativo, apontando a necessidade de uma concepção de mundo emancipatória, cuja finalidade seja a superação das relações sociais alienadas, próprias da sociedade capitalista. Buscamos analisar as contribuições da pedagogia histórico-crítica para o entendimento dos processos de formação e transformação da concepção de mundo de professores e alunos. Para o desenvolvimento metodológico, tomamos como campo de investigação empírica a formação de professores da rede pública municipal de ensino de Cascavel, no interior do estado do Paraná, por meio de entrevistas semiestruturadas com docentes de duas escolas. A educação reflete as contradições, no sentido dialético do termo, da sociedade capitalista. A visão que os professores têm da sociedade, da educação, do conhecimento etc., também reflete essas contradições próprias à sociedade em que vivemos. A análise das entrevistas revelou as lutas existentes, no plano da concepção de mundo, entre as perspectivas críticas e não críticas, hegemônicas e contra-hegemônicas. Consideramos que os pressupostos da pedagogia histórico-crítica estão parcialmente apropriados pelas professoras, pois, identificamos que determinados elementos constituem algumas concepções de mundo das entrevistadas / Abstract: The thesis is about the formation of teachers' conception of the world, from the Critical Pedagogy perspective. We analyze the discussions on the relationship between teachers' formation of individuality and the educational work, pointing out the need for a conception of emancipatory world, whose purpose is the overcoming of alienated social relations, a characteristic of capitalist society. We seek to examine the contributions of Critical Pedagogy for the understanding of the processes of formation and transformation of teachers and students' conception of the world. The field of empirical research is the education of municipal public school teachers in Cascavel, a city in the state of Paraná, by means of semistructured interviews with teachers from two schools. Education reflects the contradictions, in the dialectical sense of the term, of the capitalist society. The teachers' view of society, education, knowledge etc., also reflects these contradictions proper to the society in which we live. The analysis of the interviews revealed the existing struggles, on the world conception' plane, between critical and non-critical, hegemonic and counter-hegemonic perspectives. We consider that the assumptions of historical-critical pedagogy are partially appropriated by the teachers, therefore, we identify that certain elements constitute some interviewees' conceptions of the world / Doutor

Orientador: Luci Pastor Manzoli / Banca: Denise Maria Marognari / Banca: Adriana do Carmo Bellotti / Resumo: Diante das políticas públicas implementadas para a educação de surdos, direitos substanciais são garantidos a essa comunidade, como o surgimento de um novo profissional para a área da educação. Frente a esse contexto, a Resolução SE nº 38 de 2009 dispõe sobre a admissão de docentes com qualificação na Língua Brasileira de Sinais - Libras, nas escolas da rede estadual de ensino. Nesse sentido, a presente pesquisa tem por objetivo analisar o que dizem, teses e dissertações das universidades públicas do estado de São Paulo, referentes à prática do Professor Interlocutor (PI) de Libras no ensino fundamental e médio da rede estadual paulista. Trata-se de um estudo de natureza bibliográfica, de cunho qualitativo. A coleta de dados realizou-se no Banco de Teses e Dissertações da Capes e na Biblioteca Digital Brasileira - IBICT. Foram analisadas 06 produções científicas, nas quais os dados são apresentados mediante Identificação e Análise das Produções e divididos em duas categorias. A primeira mostra que as produções têm investigado a temática por meio de diversos referenciais teóricos, sendo todas de abordagem qualitativa. Os principais instrumentos de coleta de dados foram: entrevista, Grupo Focal e observação. O maior número de participantes desses estudos foi de professores interlocutores, tendo como principais resultados os apontamentos e reflexões sobre a formação, titulação, caracterização, e a prática do Professor Interlocutor. Além disso, foram apontadas questões sobre as p... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: In the face of public policies implemented for the education of the deaf, substantial rights are guaranteed to this community, such as the emergence of a new professional in the area of education. Against this background, Resolution SE No. 38 of 2009 provides for the admission of qualified teachers in the Brazilian Language of Signs - Libras, in the schools of the state school system. In this sense, the present research aims to analyze the theses and dissertations of the public universities of the state of São Paulo, referring to the practice of the Interlocutor Professor (PI) of Libras in the elementary and middle schools of the State of São Paulo. This is a bibliographical study of a qualitative nature. Data collection was done at the Bank of Thesis and Dissertation of Capes and at the Brazilian Digital Library - IBICT. Sixteen scientific productions were analyzed, in which the data are presented through Identification and Analysis of Productions and divided into two categories. The first one shows that productions have investigated the theme through several theoretical references, all of them with a qualitative approach. The main instruments of data collection were; interview, Focus Group and observation. The largest number of participants in these studies was of interlocutors, having as main results the notes and reflections on the formation, titling, characterization, and practice of the Interlocutor Teacher. In addition, questions were raised about public policies for t... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

This study set out to establish and record headteachers’ and teachers’ perceptions of the role of collegial teams in enhancing continuous instructional improvement. The concept collegial teams is based on the collegial model. The model advocates that for instructional improvement, teachers ought to work together as colleagues. The study began by investigating whether the participants had the basic understanding of collegial teams in the first place. It then established whether the teams exist in the selected schools. It proceeded to find out how these teams operate and whether they play any role in enhancing continuous instructional improvement. Furthermore, the study solicited respondents’ perceptions of the obstacles that hinder the operation of the teams. Lastly, the study made effort to obtain respondents’ recommendations on how best to improve the operation of the teams. This study has found that headteachers and teachers perceive collegial teams as playing a very significant role in enhancing continuous instructional improvement. The degree of the role was found to hinge on the headteacher’s attitude and support of the teams. These two elements in turn determined the degree of the teachers’ empowerment by the headteacher. Empowerment in this study is synonymous with treating teachers as professionals. Where empowerment prevailed, professional interaction arid collaboration tended to prevail also. The latter seem to result in the deepening of subject content and increasing diversification of teaching strategies as teachers work together zmd share ideas. The ultimate result of teachers’ working as colleagues was noticeable improvement in students’ performance. However, contextual factors tended to affect some teams negatively more than others apparently depending on each team’s ‘mastery’ of group dynamics. Finally, among others, two key recommendations were made; in school A, working on the master time- table in order to accommodate peer evaluation was recommended. In school B, it was recommended that teamwork be built on the good elements of the teacher assessment form over which teachers have no control.

A thesis submitted in fulfilment for the degree of Masters of Education (M.Ed) School of Education, Faculty of Humanities University of Witwatersrand JOHANNESBURG February 2015 / This is a qualitative research project that draws on Gee’s (2005) and Wenger’s (1999) conceptions on identity, to understand how teaching practice in rural Acornhoek schools of Bushbuckridge municipality (Mpumalanga province) impacted on the identity of student teachers. The study involved ten student teachers in their second and third year of Bachelor of Education (B.Ed) studies at Wits School of Education ((WSoE). The research adopted a case study approach. Data in this study was collected using semi structured interviews with student teachers before and during the teaching practice period and the researchers’ field notes. The most outstanding findings were that, student teachers negotiating their identity in the categories of IDL1, IDL2 and IDL3. IDL1 is when the identity of student teachers shifted as they carried out their teaching practice. IDL2 is when teaching in rural schools could not shift the identity of student teachers and IDL3 is when teaching practice resulted into student teachers compromising their identities. On the basis of these findings, recommendations were made. Student teachers should have a deeper and informed understanding of what to expect in rural schools in order to prepare them for the identity negotiations in rural schools contexts. In the findings it was established that if teacher training institutions prepare student teachers with view of teaching in rural schools, it would minimize identity challenges by student teachers in the rural schools teaching practice because they will have prior knowledge about teaching in rural schools.

This study explores the nature of pre-service Mathematical Literacy teachers' problem solving with a focus on intra-mathematics and extra-mathematics connections, across two years (2011-2012). The pre-service teachers were enrolled into a new three-year Bachelor of Education course, Concepts and literacy in mathematics (CLM), at a large urban University in South Africa. The CLM course aimed specifically at developing the teachers' fundamental mathematical knowledge as well as contextual knowledge, which were believed to be key components in ML teaching. The fact that the course offered a new approach to professional teacher development in ML (pre-service), contrasting the old model (in-service) reported in ML-related literature in South Africa, where qualified teachers from other subjects were reskilled, coupled with the need to grow the pool of qualified ML teachers, provided a rationale for conducting this study. Data relating to the pre-service teachers' responses to assessment tasks within the course, and their school practicum periods focusing on classroom mathematical working, combined with pedagogical orientations, was collected. PISA's (OECD, 2010, 2013) dimensions of the mathematisation process provided the theoretical framework while Graven and Venkat's (2007a) pedagogic agendas were used to make sense of the pedagogic orientations in practice. The results relating to both learning and practice suggest that the teachers' knowledge relating to model formulation, an aspect of extramathematics connections, was weak across the two years. Nevertheless, improvements in ways in which the dimensions ofthe mathematisation process occurred were noted across the two years, with localised errors. In terms of pedagogic agendas foregrounded by the teachers in ML classrooms, results indicate that agenda 2 (content and context driven) and agenda 3 (mainly content driven) featured more than agenda 1 (context driven) which supports the rhetoric in the ML curriculum. Two implications to teacher training have been noted; first the need for a focus on correctly translating quantities from problem situations into mathematical models, and secondly, the need for promotion of provision of solution procedures with pedagogic links. This study offers two key contributions namely; extending knowledge relating to pre-service ML teacher training, and extending theory for understanding steps in problem solving to incorporate aspects of pedagogy.

M.Sc., Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, 2011 / Some teachers perceive radioactivity as a difficult topic to teach due to its abstract nature. This topic is included at senior secondary level in the combined science syllabus and is taught for the first time to learners who study physics. This study was carried out to make explicit two teachers‟ PCK (pedagogical content knowledge) on teaching radioactivity and to investigate the role of experience in the PCK of the two physics teachers. Mr Victor had 19 years while Ms Grace had 3 years of teaching experience at the time of this study. I used pre-observation interviews, video recorded classroom observations, field notes, diagnostic test and post observation discussions as data collection methods. The data was processed using Content Representation (CoRe) and Pedagogical and Professional experience Repertoires (PaP-eRs) as methodological tools to document and portray the teachers‟ PCK in teaching radioactivity. The CoRe that helped to give insights into how the two teachers framed the topic of radioactivity was constructed from the pre-observation interview data and video recorded classroom observations transcripts. The PaP-eRs were constructed from video recorded classroom observation transcripts and field notes and they were narratives of the classroom practice of the teachers. I also used the model of Rollnick et al. (2008) to analyse data. This study has not come out clear on total absence of PCK in Ms Grace as a beginning teacher. There are some very good aspects that have been demonstrated by Ms Grace that have not been demonstrated by Mr Victor with reference to the topic specific strategies. Both teachers showed that they had a repertoire of teaching strategies to suit their teaching context. As Mr Victor did, Ms Grace as a beginning teacher employed some effective strategies to suit her learning demands and this indicated that the teachers were able to manifest their well developed PCK when the four knowledge domains that generate teachers‟ PCK were integrated. Pertaining to knowledge of assessment and curricular saliency, there were no observable PCK differences between the two teachers. The study showed that Mr Victor used a variety of representations to teach radioactivity while Ms Grace‟s use of representations was more limited. Through the use of the model of Rollnick et al. (2008), I indicated that Mr Victor had well developed PCK while Ms Grace‟s was less developed with regard to representations used. The manifested knowledge of various representations for Mr Victor was produced from the integrated knowledge of the four knowledge domains in the model. The diagnostic test revealed that Mr Victor had required subject matter knowledge to teach within the syllabus he was teaching. Ms Grace‟s subject matter knowledge seemed fragile. The existence of PCK in Ms Grace implies that both experienced and beginning teachers can learn from each other to improve their teaching.

A research report submitted in part fulfilment of the requirements of the Master of Education degree (Coursework and Research Report) of the University of the Witwatersrand. / The purpose of this study was to develop a curriculum for the training of literacy teachers using a needs-based approach. Over 15 million adults are illiterate in South Africa and this could seriously hamper the new nations's reconstruction and development if not tackled effectively. To date the focus in the field has .been the development of a national examination and curricula for learners. However little is being done to prepare the teachers who will have to take learners through the new system. It has therefore been the focus of this research project to establish the needs of these teachers and providers and thereafter to develop a training course that would address their needs.(Abbreviation abstract) / Andrew Chakane 2018