Bibliography: pages 177-183. / The dissertation is concerned with the production of a systematic analysis of HSRC research reports into mathematics education in South Africa between 1970 and 1980. Drawing on the theoretical language of Dowling (1995), the analysis focuses on the (re)production of voice and message in the reports. This entails an analysis of positioning strategies that il1ark out voices in the texts and distributing strategies that distribute message across voices. Voices include bureaucratic, academic, teacher and learner voices and knowledge and practices that constitute message distributed to voices relate to mathematical knowledge, pedagogic knowledge and curriculum innovation practices. Positioning and distributing textual strategies with respect to learner and teacher sub-voices are related to the (re)production of theories of instruction that constitute models of acquirers, transmitters and pedagogic contexts and define pedagogic competence in particular ways. The (re)production of theories of instruction in turn are related to the reproduction of social relations in the broader society. It is hoped that the analysis illustrates the generality of Dowling's language for analysing texts. The substantive focus of the study is the analysis of the reports and the language developed in the analysis is used to make some suggestive comments about current mathematics curriculum development in South Africa. It is hoped, in particular, that the focus in this study on discourses in mathematics education in South Africa in the 1970s will contribute to the documenting of the history of mathematics curriculum development in South Africa.

Bibliography: leaves 196-201. / The empirical survey of Xhosa amongst Standard 10 pupils in Cape Education Department Schools (CED) sought to verify or negate two central concerns which surf aced in a pilot study of five Western Cape schools. This thesis contends that little has changed throughout South Africa's colonial and apartheid history with regard to the status of African languages within South Africa and particularly in CED schools. The second contention is that various factors, including the lack of second language expertise and contact with mother tongue speakers, continue to undermine the potential development of pupils' communicative competence in Xhosa. Separate questionnaires which included categorical and open ended questions were posted to Xhosa-teachers, Standard 10 non-mother tongue Xhosa pupils and their parents. The Xhosa teachers administered the questionnaires. There was an 80% response from the total population of CED schools offering Xhosa. The number of subjects included 169 Xhosa pupils, 154 parents and 26 Xhosa teachers. STATGRAPHICS and BMDP were the statistical packages used in the analysis. Chi-Squared tests with the Yates correction for continuity were used to compare frequencies between categorical variables. ANOVA and t-tests were used with continuous variables. Findings indicated the deteriorating status of Xhosa in schools. The low number of CED schools ( 13. 0%) offering Xhosa and a 0. 5% growth rate in Standard 10 pupils doing Xhosa between 1988 and 1991 are an indication of this. The lack of encouragement and support for Xhosa from schools and the CED, coupled with problematic subject choice options, the Xhosa syllabus and the examination system, has affected the status of Xhosa and the motivation of pupils adversely. In the survey, pupils had low communicative competence in Xhosa levels of perceived due to the lack of informal, natural acquisition environments and the over- emphasis of grammatical aspects in the classroom and in examinations. Furthermore, the lack of quality primary and secondary education based on negatively affected pupils' second language theory has attitudes, motivation and communicative competence levels in Xhosa. The recognition of the importance of African languages in a future non-racial South Africa in the current language debate has highlighted the contradiction that exists today. This contradiction necessitates the urgent re-assessment of language and education policies, strategies and teaching methodologies in order to uplift the status of African languages and improve the levels of competence in the target language amongst school pupils.

Thesis (PhD)--University of Stellenbosch, 2004. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Effective use of thinking skills and processes affects every aspect of our lives. This study investigates the nexus between an alternative approach to science teaching with an emphasis on teaching thinking skills, and the special needs of learners in two South African classrooms. Two cycles of intervention programmes with an emphasis on thinking skills were introduced to learners with special needs and evaluated. The aims of this study are to critically explore whether and to what extent teaching science to learners with special needs using selected Instrumental Enrichment instruments can: • Contribute to the development of basic and science thinking skills and the transfer of these thinking skills and processes to other disciplines; • Provide learners with special needs with an interactive science programme that is suitable for their special needs; and • Increase student engagement in the science classroom as well as positively influence the classroom learning environment. The study was conducted using action research as a method for teachers-researchers to investigate the teaching-learning situation in situ for the purpose of improvement and change of practice as well as for the benefit of the learners who participate in the intervention. Cross-referencing triangulation was used, in which different perspectives obtained from different sources - the teacher's, the observer's and the learners' -were combined as a way to increase the validity, credibility and dependability of the findings. This research report offers insights into science instruction, the acquisition of science content knowledge and the improvement of thinking skills in learners with special needs. The research also deals with the transfer of thinking skills taught in one discipline into another, and raises questions about the assumptions regarding this issue in Curriculum 2005. It also throws light on the inclusive approach, underpinning the South African educational policy of inclusive education and its suitability for learners with special needs. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die effektiewe gebruik van denkvaardighede en -prosesse het 'n invloed op elke aspek van ons lewens. Hierdie studie ondersoek die verband tussen 'n alternatiewe benadering tot wetenskaponderrig met 'n klem op die onderrig van denkvaardighede en die spesiale behoeftes van leerders in twee Suid-Afrikaanse klaskamers. Twee siklusse van intervensieprogramme, met 'n klem op denkvaardighede, is aan leerders met spesiale behoeftes bekendgestel en geëvalueer. Die doel van die studie is om krities ondersoek in te stelof, en tot watter mate die gebruik van geselekteerde Instrumentele Verrykking in wetenskaponderrig aan leerders met spesiale behoeftes: • 'n bydrae kan maak tot die ontwikkeling van basiese en wetenskaplike denkvaardighede en die oordrag van hierdie denkvaardighede en prosesse na ander dissiplines • 'n interaktiewe wetenskapprogram, gepas vir hul behoeftes, kan voorsien • leerderbetrokkenheid in die wetenskapklas kan verhoog en ook die klaskamerleeromgewing positiefte beïnvloed. Die studie is gedoen deur aksie-navorsing te gebruik as 'n metode vir die onderwysernavorsers om ondersoek in te stel na die onderrig-leer situasie in situ met die doelom praktyk te verbeter en te verander en om ook tot voordeel te wees van die leerders wat aan die intervensie deelneem. Kruisverwysende triangulasie is gebruik waarin verskillende perspektiewe wat verkry is uit verskillende bronne - van die onderwyser, die waarnemer en die leerders - gekombineer is as 'n manier om geldigheid, geloofwaardigheid en betroubaardheid van die bevindings te verhoog. Die navorsingsverslag bied insig in wetenskaponderrig, die verwerwing van wetenskapinhoudkennis en die verbetering van denkvaardighede by leerders met spesiale behoeftes. Die navorsing handelook oor oordrag van denkvaardighede wat in een dissipline onderrig is na 'n ander en bevraagteken die aannames rakende hierdie kwessie in Kurrikulum 2005. Dit belig ook die inklusiewe benadering wat onderlê word deur die Suid-Afrikaanse onderwysbeleid oor inklusiewe onderwys en die geskiktheid daarvan vir leerders met spesiale behoeftes.

<p>This study explored the effects of a teacher development programme based on Philosophy for Children. One of the challenges facing education in South Africa is that the school curriculum has to promote the development of values, such as respect for life, equality, protection of freedom and the right to an opinion, through creative and critical thinking. The theorists, Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky inform our understanding of cognitive development with the important notions of active involvement, mediated learning and the development of thinking skills. Many programmes have been developed to assist learners in this regard. One such programme is Philosophy for Children. This study located Philosophy for Children and the locally developed material, Stories for thinking, in Vygotskian theory and explored its application within a South African context.</p>

The study aimed to investigate the status and practice of life orientation in South African schools. Life orientation is a quintessential new learning area, introduced as part of curriculum transformation in South Africa, and is intented to equip learners with the knowledge, skills, values and attitudes for successful living and learning. Preliminary observations suggested that life orientation has not been optimally implemented in schools, and the low status legacy of life orientation's constituents added further impetus to the rationale for the study.

M.Ed. / Democracy is the focal point of this discussion. South Africa is a new democracy and its success depends on the quality of the contribution that her citizens will make. Enthusiasm alone will not work, but if coupled with a knowledge about democratic principles, it can make a difference. This study focuses on participation and co-responsibility as democratic principles. The school is seen as a place where these principles can be taught in a systematic way. The problems which are therefore addressed in this dissertation are, whether children are sufficiently informed about participation and co-responsibility by the time they reach Std. 10 and whether there are any aspects with regard to these principles about which children have almost no knowledge.

M.A. (Applied Linguistics) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

A research report is submitted to the School of Education, Faculty of the Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education by combination of coursework and research Johannesburg, 2016. / This qualitative study aimed to understand teachers’ identities and teaching practices in the Gauteng Primary Literacy and Mathematics Strategy. The research, which is a case study, was conducted with six Foundation Phase teachers, which included two Heads of Department (HODs). The setting of the study was a primary school that was declared underperforming in 2013, after the low performance in Annual National Assessments. The prescriptive syllabus type of curriculum known as the Gauteng Province Literacy and Mathematics Strategy (GPLMS) was implemented due to the low Grade six Mathematics results. Semi-structured interviews were the primary research instruments used to generate data on how teachers understood their identities and teaching practices in a GPLMS school. A major finding was that teachers renegotiated their identities in order to deal with the changing teaching context that came with GPLMS. The study identified three groups of teachers who dealt with the changes in different ways: their learning trajectories and communities of practice, along with their personal identities shaped the ways in which they responded strategy. The teachers had a good sense of teacher identity before being declared underperforming. Another major finding was that teachers changed their pedagogical approaches order to teach according to the detailed, prescriptive lesson plans. What is problematic is that some teachers resorted to skipping some parts of the content, prescribed in the lesson plans, in order to finish the syllabus on time. Of great concern is that none of the participants received training on using the GPLMS or even CAPS from their district: teachers ought to have sound pedagogical knowledge that can ultimately afford epistemological access to the learners. Research on teachers’ identities and understanding teaching practices cannot be ignored since they teachers at the forefront of knowledge delivery. / LG2018

In this dissertation, I present a narrative curriculum inquiry that grew out of a personal teaching experience in an independent Durban school in 2001. A grade seven creative writing project in English turned out to be an experience that was emotionally as well as intellectually intriguing to me. After carrying out the teaching work of my grade seven Teen Stories project, I was left with a strong desire to know what it was about this particular experience that was so important to me. The focus of my research, therefore, became my personal curriculum experience in the context of the Teen Stories creative writing project. In the course of this thesis, I describe how my desire to come to a deeper understanding of my curriculum experience led me to search within my life story to discover fruitful truths about myself as a teacher and a researcher. I illustrate my research journey from the fieldwork in the classroom through to the construction of my narrative research text. Drawing on the conceptual work of scholars such as Dewey (1916; 1934; 1963), Denzin (1989), Clandinin and Connelly (2000), and Conle (1999; 2000), I endeavour to share, make sense of and theorise my personal story of a significant curriculum experience. The study moves outwards from my personal experience to a conceptualisation that I believe has the potential to contribute to the development of new modes of curriculum practice for me and other members of my South African teaching community. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of Natal, 2003.

The study aimed to investigate the status and practice of life orientation in South African schools. Life orientation is a quintessential new learning area, introduced as part of curriculum transformation in South Africa, and is intented to equip learners with the knowledge, skills, values and attitudes for successful living and learning. Preliminary observations suggested that life orientation has not been optimally implemented in schools, and the low status legacy of life orientation's constituents added further impetus to the rationale for the study.