The aim of the research study, Combatting the Downward Spiral: Burnout, Support Networks and Coping Strategies of TESOL Teachers at Private Language Schools in Johannesburg, South Africa was firstly to determine whether TESOL teachers working in private language schools in Johannesburg, South Africa suffered from burnout. Secondly, the aim was to discover which factors caused stress for TESOL teachers inside and outside the classroom, what support structures were available for burned out TESOL teachers and the type of coping strategies TESOL teachers used to manage burnout. Using a mixed method design which consisted of the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Educators Survey and semi-structured interviews, the findings revealed that 46% of the TESOL teachers who participated in the research study were suffering from high levels of burnout. Interviews revealed three main areas that caused stress for TESOL teachers: the job of teaching, relationships at work and organisational and TESOL-related issues. These areas were divided further into various sub-themes. Furthermore, support structures for burned out TESOL teachers were generally inadequate and although TESOL teachers attempted to manage burnout by using a variety of coping strategies, these did not seem to be effective in the long-term. / English Studies / D. Lit. et Phil. (English)

Text in Afrikaans / Gemotiveerde onderwysers speel 'n belangrike rol in suksesvolle onderrig en leer. Die doelwit van hierdie studie was om faktore te identifiseer wat 'n invloed uitoefen op onderwysermotivering. 'n Kwalitatiewe navorsingsontwerp van individiduele onderhoud-voering met agt doelgerig geselekteerde deelnemers is gebruik ten einde antwoorde te kry op faktore wat „n invloed uitoefen op die motivering van grondslagfase-onderwysers. Die doelwitte van hierdie studie was ook om riglyne aan onderwysers te verskaf oor hoe om hulself te motiveer en aan skoolhoofde oor hoe om hul onderwysers te motiveer. Daar is bevind dat faktore wat 'n invloed uitoefen op die motivering van onderwysers verband hou met die spesifieke skoolomgewing, die finansiële vergoeding van onderwysers, die werksverhoudings met ander onderwysers, die invloed van ouers, die verhoudings met die skoolhoof en die gedrag van leerders. As belangrikste motiveringsfaktor geld die onderwyser se eie lewensingesteldheid wat of op 'n positiewe of negatiewe lewensuitkyk gesentreer kan wees. / Motivated teachers play an important role in successful teaching and learning. The aim of this study was to identify factors that have an influence on teacher motivation. A qualitative research design was used. Individual interviews with eight purposefully selected participants were held to get answers to the factors that have an influence on the motivation of foundation phase teachers. The aim of this study was also to give guidelines to teachers on how to motivate themselves and to school principles on how to motivate teachers. The results indicate that factors influencing the motivation of teachers have to do with the specific school environment, the financial reward of teachers, the work relationship with other teachers, the influence of parents, therelationship with the school principal and the behaviour of learners. The most important motivation factor is the teacher‟s own attitude towards lifewhichcanrepresenta positive or negative life view. / Educational Leadership and Management / M. Ed. (Onderwysbestuur)

Problem-based learning (PBL) is an active teaching strategy that could be implemented in the South African educational system to assist in developing problem-solving skills, critical thinking skills, collaborative skills, self-directed learning and intrinsic motivation in students. Even though it is not easy to drift from a teacher-centred strategy to a student-centred strategy, but this drift is supposed to be a paradigm drift for the nation. ‘Physics is difficult’ has been the anthem of students in South African high schools. This has led to lower pass rates in physics and as a result low physics career person in society. Physics students in high schools need to be exposed to the PBL strategy since the PBL strategy focuses on real-life problems to develop problem-solving skills, critical thinking skills and self-directed learning in students which are the skills needed for concept formation in Physical Science. Basically, the education of Physical Science students focused on the ability to acquire skills to solve real-life problems. This study focuses on exploring the experiences of high school physics teachers at Entsikeni cluster, South African, when implementing problem-based learning (PBL) in their physics classrooms. The study uses the mixed-method approach where three different research instruments were used to collect quantitative and qualitative data sequentially. Questionnaires, RTOP and interview protocol were employed. The findings of the study indicate that teachers project positive attitudes toward the PBL strategy but may probably not continue to use it because it requires more time than that which is allocated in the Curriculum Assessment and Policy Statement (CAPS) Physical Science document and as a result may not be able to finish their ATP on time. Teachers are teaching physics with no specialization in physics, which probably could lead to poor, pass rates in Physical Science. Teachers were inexperienced in teaching physics in the FET and could probably affect students’ academic performance. It is recommended they apply the PBL strategy to correct the negative effect of their inexperience on students’ performance. It is evident that if inexperienced trained teachers apply an instructional strategy based on research, they tend to develop students' performance as compared to applying the traditional instructional strategy. / Science and Technology Education / M. Sc. (Physics Education)

This dissertation examines the changing perceptions which black history educators and learners have held toward secondary school history education from 1948 to 2008. The province of Mpumalanga is focused upon, although the perceptions held about history education by black secondary school educators and learners within the wider historical context of South Africa is also examined. It is argued that while the history education offered to black learners in South Africa secondary schools during the apartheid era was unpopular largely due to its pro-government subject matter, post-apartheid secondary school education is in danger of becoming increasingly marginalized within the school curriculum as it cannot successfully compete with a modern, technological and materialistically orientated society. / History / M.A. (History)

Since the discovery of HIV/AIDS in the late 1980s, the pandemic has become the leading cause of death in South Africa and one of the leading causes worldwide. South Africa has the largest number of people infected with HIV/AIDS in the world. South African teachers, in particular, have experienced unparalleled challenges as a result of HIV/AIDS. This qualitative research study was designed to explore how principals handle the sensitive HIV/AIDS-related issues affecting teachers in schools in South Africa’s Gauteng Province. The study was carried out within the constructivist paradigm. The narrative inquiry research design within the qualitative research approach was used with purposive and network sampling of participants. The sample consisted of ten handpicked principals and eight teachers living with HIV/AIDS accessed through network sampling from around the province. Data were collected through narrative interviews and the compilation of a reflective diary. The data were analysed according to the qualitative content analysis method. Consent was elicited from participants with confidentiality, anonymity and trust maintained throughout the study. The participants’ most common responses were that teachers living with HIV/AIDS are faced with the dilemma of disclosure and stigma and discrimination. This research showed that principals are experiencing a range of challenges due to teachers living with HIV/AIDS. The goals of quality education are often defeated because of the challenges surrounding teachers living with HIV/AIDS. Once teachers succumb to the opportunistic illnesses associated with HIV/AIDS, their productivity deteriorates. Principals were clear about the inadequacy that they experience in responding to HIV/AIDS-related issues amongst teachers. They lack the training and management skills to develop long-term strategies to mitigate the impact of HIV/AIDS on teaching and learning. Teacher absenteeism is rife, causing drastically detrimental effects to teaching and learning programmes and posing serious challenges to principals, who are not equipped with the required information and resources. It was evident in this research study that infected teachers often fail to take responsibility or disclose their status; instead, they look to principals for solutions to their HIV/AIDS-related problems. / Educational Leadership and Management / D. Ed. (Education Management)

Over the past five decades, universities across the globe have been subjected to powerful forces of change that have impacted their definition, governance and funding structures, and managerial practices. In South Africa, the reform process was amplified by the country’s apartheid legacy and the political and socio-economic realities. Consequently, the transformation has resulted in the corporatisation of universities and the re-engineering of the academic profession into a managed profession that brought about a changed work environment with less secure conditions of employment, more expectations and increased work pressure, with diminished autonomy. The changed and changing South African higher education environment has had and continues to have its effects on academic employees’ well-being, health and morale. Limited research has investigated the sense of purpose and meaning and psychological health of academic employees. Moreover, there is an absence of empirical studies that have reported on the development and evaluation of a brief group-based meaning-centred intervention that focuses on both the sense of purpose and meaning, and psychological health of academic employees. The primary aim of the study was to first explore the meaning and/or meaning frustration embedded in the academic employee experience, in order to develop and empirically assess a brief group-based meaning-centred intervention in a higher education setting. The intervention was articulated from a logotherapy perspective of Viktor Frankl’s system of psychotherapy. An intervention mixed methods design, consisting of four interdependent phases, was used to pursue the aim of the study. The phase one qualitative single case study was used to explore and describe the sense of meaning and/or meaning frustration embedded in academic employees’ experiences. This was used as a means of developing and supporting the intervention that was implemented in the phase three quantitative quasi- experimental single-group pre/post test study. Phase two was thus an applied phase where the intentional mixing of the qualitative and quantitative phases took place. Likewise, phase four was an applied phase since it was used to draw conclusions based on the integration of the phase one findings and the phase three results. The results of the quantitative study indicated that the majority of academic employees who participated in the study had a sense of definite purpose and meaning (MPIL-post = 114.59, SDPIL-post = 18.04) and psychological health, despite the changed and changing HE landscape. The main finding suggests that a logotherapy brief group-based intervention, with a strong cognitive restructuring component, may have a positive impact on the sense of purpose and meaning of academic employees, whilst reducing the presence of symptoms of depression, post traumatic stress, binge eating and panic. The experience of purpose and meaning in work, and adaptive psychological coping, was related to academic employees’ sense of making a difference in students’ development, the appreciation they have received from students, their freedom of choice, their view of work as a calling, the unique benefits of working in HE, meaning beyond the meaning in the moment (ultimate meaning) and making a difference in colleagues’ (staffs’) lives. Llimitations in the study are noted and recommendations are made to formalise existential analysis as a research method of meaning informed organisational assessment. / Psychology / Ph. D. (Counselling Psychology)

The improvement of throughput rates is a crucial factor at higher education institutions; hence, university departments focus on improving pass rates per module. This study investigated how lecturers in the School of Computing (SoC) at the University of South Africa, use technology for improving throughput rates in an Open Distance Learning (ODL) context. The study sought answers to the main research question on how lecturers in the SoC use technology for improving throughput rates in an ODL institution. A mixed research methods approach was used, where quantitative data was extracted from the university systems and integrated with the qualitative data collected from interviews. Thirteen lecturers for the thirty modules under investigation were interviewed. A thematic analysis was used on the qualitative data, and quantitative data was analysed using rankings and correlation coefficients, leading to the interpretation that the use of myUnisa technology assisted to improve throughput on the modules. / Mathematics Education / M. Sc. (Computing Education)

As unemployment is on the rise in developing economies as the result of a decline in the global economy during the past decade, increased attention is paid to entrepreneurship as generator of global economic growth. It has been noted that sustainable economic development cannot be achieved without entrepreneurship, nor can a country increase its gross domestic product and stock of wealth, or improve its citizens’ quality of life, if entrepreneurship is not increased. In order to increase the prospect of entrepreneurship in a country, it is necessary to introduce secondary school learners to entrepreneurship from the early grades, specifically the Grades 8 and 9 General Education and Training phase years. To stimulate learners’ interest in the subject, it is important to provide them with appropriate resources and textbooks, competent teachers and a well-structured curriculum. The knowledge and skills gained from studying entrepreneurship could influence learners’ future career choices. The unemployment rate in South Africa is high and 70 per cent of unemployed South Africans are youths. This percentage grows annually as learners exit the Further Education and Training (FET) phase. There is a dearth of literature on the attitudes of South African Business Studies learners in the FET phase towards entrepreneurship as a future career. Additionally, the role that entrepreneurship education plays in the potential career choices of Business Studies learners in the FET phase has not been explored extensively. Consequently this study attempted to explore the role of entrepreneurship education in influencing Business Studies learners in the FET phase in choosing entrepreneurship as a career. A qualitative case study research method was used to conduct the study. Three schools were identified and data were collected from them. The data-gathering methods employed were face-to-face, semi-structured interviews with Business Studies teachers; and focus group interviews with Business Studies learners in the three schools. The objective of the interviews was to determine the respondents’ views on the role that entrepreneurship education plays in learners’ career choices. The findings of the study indicate that teachers and learners strongly agree that entrepreneurship education plays a significant role in learners’ choice of entrepreneurship as a career. However, the respondents (both teachers and learners) highlighted challenges that could prevent learners from choosing entrepreneurship as a career. / Namate ʼn insinking in die wêreldekonomie die afgelope dekadewerkloosheid in ontwikkelende lande laat toeneem het, geniet entrepreneurskap as stimulus vir globale ekonomiese groei groter aandag. Dit is alombekend dat entrepreneurs noodsaaklik is vir volhoubare ekonomiese ontwikkeling. Sonder entrepreneurs kan geen ekonomie groei nie, kan geen land sy bruto binnelandse produk en rykdomreserwe vermeerdernie, en bly sy burgers se lewenstandaard onveranderd. Ten einde entrepreneurs te kweek, moet hoërskoolleerders reeds in Graad 8 en 9, in die jare van Algemene Onderwys en Opleiding (oftewel die AOO-fase), met entrepreneurskap kennis maak. Om hulle belangstelling te prikkel, isgeskikte hulpmiddels en handboeke, bevoegde onderwysers en ʼn behoorlik gestruktureerde kurrikulum noodsaaklik. Die kennis en vaardighede wat leerders in die studie van entrepreneurskap opdoen, kan hulle loopbaankeuse bepaal. Suid-Afrika het ʼn hoë werkloosheidsyfer en 70 persent van die land se werkloses is jongmense. Hierdie persentasie styg jaar na jaar namate leerders die fase vir Verdere Onderwys en Opleiding (VOO) voltooi. Daar is ʼn skaarste aan literatuur oor die vraagof Besigheidstudiein die VOO-fase Suid- Afrikaanse leerders se ingesteldheid jeens entrepreneurskapas loopbaan beïnvloed. Ook is die rol wat onderrig in entrepreneurskap in leerders se keuse van ʼn loopbaan speel, nog nie volledig ondersoek nie. Gevolglik poog hierdie studie om te bepaal of onderrig in entrepreneurskap Besigheidstudieleerders in die VOO-fase entrepreneurs van beroep laat word. ʼn Kwalitatiewe gevallestudie is as navorsingsmetode gebruik. Data is by drie skole ingesamel. By hierdie skole is deels gestruktureerde onderhoude van aangesig tot aangesig gevoer met Besigheidstudieonderwysers en fokusgroeponderhoude met Besigheidstudieleerders. Die doel van die onderhoude was om vas te stel of leerders van mening is dat onderrig in entrepreneurskap hulle loopbaankeuse bepaal. Volgens die bevindings van hierdie studie is onderwysers en leerders dit volkome eens dat onderrig ʼn bepalende rol in leerders se keuse van entrepreneurskap as loopbaan speel. Desnietemin het sowel onderwysers as leerders op uitdagings gewys wat verhoed dat leerders hierdie loopbaan volg. / Psychology of Education / M. Ed. (Psychology of Education)

This study aims to explore politeness shown by lecturers during tuition and student support conversations with the objective of promoting polite interactions between IsiZulu mother tongue and non-mother tongue speakers in higher education in South Africa. In particular, the study investigates the way in which politeness in email communication influences learning outcomes within an ODL environment, using quantitative and qualitative research methodologies, a questionnaire as well as interviews to collect data from a cross-section of students from an Open Distance Learning (ODL) institution. All the results drawn from the data sources, namely the questionnaires and interviews, were enumerated according to the data collection tools used. Version 12 of SPSS and Nvivo were used to analyse the quantitative data. The analysis is also based on the politeness strategies of Brown and Levinson (1978) as well as a conceptual framework that links all the variables. Based on the results, the research hypotheses are accepted, thus indicating that politeness in email communication influences learning outcomes within an ODL environment. In particular, the results show that, overall, lecturers who employ politeness contribute positively to student compliance. Accordingly, the study recommends that ODL should recognise both the role of language in communication as well as the power and influence of politeness in communication. / African Languages / D. Litt. et Phil.

Teachers leaving the profession is an ongoing problem; fewer teachers enter the profession each year and the number of teachers leaving the profession has increased. Many teachers listed job satisfaction as a reason for leaving the education profession, whilst citing the lack of mentoring as a cause of job dissatisfaction. Mentoring is known as the planned paring of a more experienced person with a lesser individual to help with the professional development of that individual and reduce teacher turnover. The aim of the study is to explore the impact of an effective mentoring programme at primary schools by developing and implementing such a mentoring programme to support and improve job satisfaction among beginner teachers in the province of Mpumalanga entering the profession for the first time. The following quantitative techniques were used during this study: document analysis and Likert-scale questionnaires, completed by 1 000 male and female teachers (principals, deputy principals, heads of departments, teachers and student teachers) from different races and cultures (20 teachers per school) from 50 randomly selected rural primary schools, private primary schools and Quintile 4 and 5 primary schools in the province of Mpumalanga. The analysis of data enabled me to identify a series of factors that were utilised to develop a mentoring programme that school management can implement in their schools to help beginner teachers to cope in their new work environment in order to improve job satisfaction and improve teacher retention. The factors identified include: aspects of job satisfaction that support leaners in achieving their goals; aspects of school management; the contribution of mentoring programme on the job satisfaction of beginner teachers; the responsibility of a mentor in developing a mentoring programme; the responsibility of a mentee in developing a mentoring programme; the responsibility of schools in developing a mentoring programme and characteristics that should be demonstrated by a mentor. From the data gathered, a mentoring programme was developed, namely the Hugo mentoring model. This model outlined the roles and responsibilities of mentors, mentees and school management throughout the mentoring process. The model also provided steps that should be taken into consideration when organising meetings between mentors and mentees. / Educational Studies / D. Ed.