The aim of this study is to provide an account of the policy-making process in South African education since the coming to power of the Nationalist Party in 1948. The intention will be to a) better understand the nature and extent of the influence of different groups and individuals on the policy-making process, and b) to explain how and why educational change has occurred. Given the very large area of possible research implied by a topic of this nature, the study will concentrate on one area of education policy, namely schooling, although reference will be made to other areas where relevant. Primary sources in the form of policy documents and selected interviews with key policy actors have been used in conjunction with the secondary literature. Chapter one will locate the present study in relation to the existing literature. The chapter will focus on how different scholarly traditions conceptualise the education/society relationship and the nature of educational change. This will provide a necessary basis for the development, in chapter two, of a suitable theoretical framework for this study. An attempt will be made to combine a liberal emphasis on interest group interaction in policy making with a more neo-marxist concern with how such interactions are linked to wider economic and political interests. Further, an attempt will be made to integrate a structuralist concern with economic and political processes with a post-structuralist emphasis on the discursive construction of policy. Consequently three distinct but related levels of analysis will be developed, each one informing the approach of the remaining chapters. Thus chapter three will use the work of the French Regulation School to analyse the changing relationship between schooling and the accumulation process in the apartheid economy. Also drawing on the work of Gramsci, educational change will be understood as an aspect of a basic contradiction between capitalist accumulation strategies and the hegemonic project of apartheid.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the initial teacher education programme which is specifically offered by four Omani colleges of education to prepare "scientific field" female teachers to teach science and mathematics subjects for pupils in Basic Education schools (Grades 1-4), ages of students from (6-10). This evaluation questions the adequacy of this programme to prepare qualified teachers to teach these subjects in a changing school system implementing a reformed Basic Education curriculum and programme. This system tends to transfer the teaching and learning process from the traditional learning environment to one that is a constructivist teaching environment. This study focuses on this programme's defined teaching competencies and to what extent the participants perceived themselves properly trained with respect to these listed competencies in their professional practices. The study also spotlights student teachers' and practicing teachers' attitudes and motivation towards the teaching profession, and towards aspects of science and mathematics teaching in primary schools. The study tried to examine the extent of the constructivist approaches by student teachers and practicing teachers in their science and mathematics lessons. The evaluation framework of the study was designed to conduct the research plan and to achieve its purposes. Several evaluation models were examined and they were critically reviewed. The review concluded that there is no one specific model which can be considered (the most) outstanding in terms of excellence, the selection of the evaluation model depends on factors such as the aim of the study, the nature of the programme, its context, and the targeted population, Thus the study constructed of three stages with findings from conducted evaluation instruments of each stage leading consequently to the next stage. In the first stage both questionnaires and semi-structured interviews are implemented. while observations with a checklist followed by follow-up interviews are conducted to gather information during the second stage. In the third stage, conversational open interviews are proceeded. Although the group focused upon for the study are the first stakeholders (the student teachers and practicing teachers), the research was extended to get information from other participants, educators from different positions, such as curriculum advisors, college lecturers, inspectors, head teachers and senior teachers. The findings from this study indicated that in general, participants' considered of the importance of the some of the listed competencies. Even though there is some consensus of the importance for these competencies, there are some un-ignorable critics who view these competencies as being far away from the goals for the preparation of scientific field teachers for the reformed Basic Education schools, most of the listed competencies are supposed to be the foundations of the programme's components, and thus the colleges of education's courses are far too general. Findings from the questionnaire show that student teachers and practicing teachers amplified their self-rating of competence in the listed competencies because responses from the face-to-face, semi-structured interviews with them found divergence views. These differing views were supported by interviewed teacher educators and principals, and their opinions towards the insufficiency of the graduates of the colleges of education. The study found from the observations of some of the practicing teachers and student teachers observed while teaching science and mathematics lessons, and from the follow-up interviews, that there is very little sign of constructivist teaching approaches used in these lessons. The study proposes recommendations which can improve and strengthen the preparation of cycle one scientific field teachers at the pre-service level and to future in-service so that teachers might better meet the range of work and responsibilities they are facing in the reformed Basic Education schools. Finally, it recommends areas for further research.

Research into L2 reading is well developed. Most of this research, however, views reading within a cognitive and linguistic theoretical framework. It may be argued, however, that an understanding of the reading process can no longer be achieved if restricted to linguistic and cognitive activities. This thesis attempts to draw on sociocultural perspectives to describe ESL academic reading development. A longitudinal approach is adopted to explore the perceptions and experiences of academic reading of a group of Malaysian undergraduates studying in a British university over a period of two academic years. Using multiple case study design and phenomenography as guiding principles, data collection methods include individual interviews and reading diaries. This research has been conducted in a university in the United Kingdom with five male and six female Malaysian undergraduates. All the participants were fluent English as a Second Language (ESL) speakers. Data were analysed based on phenomenographic and thematic analysis principles, using qualitative data processing software, Nvivo10. The findings suggest that these participants’ perceptions of academic reading are influenced by their perceptions of the role of English in the UK, by the complexity of the texts they read and by their lack of academic language proficiency. Their reading strategies consist of support, cognitive and metacognitive strategies. The dynamic nature of their reading strategies is characterised by their reading strategy reinvention and reading strategy adjustments, influenced by a range of text and reader factors. Text factors include the linguistic features in discipline-specific texts and the text medium. Reader factors include motivation and background knowledge. This research has made a contribution to the understanding of the sociocultural elements that influence ESL academic reading development in the UK.

This thesis contributes to the understanding of the instructor-student relationship construct, and social media adoption in higher education systems that are generally characterised by a formal quality, and that of Saudi Arabia in particular. The potential impact of social media, as it leaks into higher education practice globally, is of great concern and cannot be overlooked by research. A formal education system, such as that of Saudi, is a convenient case study for examining two overarching aims of this thesis. The first is to explore the resilience of established instructor-student interaction practices and the character of the relationships within a Saudi university classroom context. The second aim is to explore the ways in which evolving social media reconfigures the formal quality of instructors’ interaction practices within the Saudi culture in a social media context. These two aims are explored in a mixed methods case study consisting of two inter-related studies: Study 1 and Study 2. The mixed method Study 1 surveyed students about their perceptions of the classroom environment, and through questionnaires collected both instructors' and students’ perceptions of the quality of their interpersonal relationships. Instructors were interviewed and students participated in focus groups to illuminate the quantitative findings. The findings paint a general picture of traditional, formal teaching traditions and instructor-student relationships that are a result of several contextual factors mainly related to the Saudi educational system. Participants’ views of optimum interpersonal positive behaviours are hindered in becoming apparent, not only by the physical place where teaching and learning within this traditional cultural educational system is played out, but also the stable, traditional, pedagogical paradigm that has been exercised and maintained over the years. The study suggests that many ‘unrevealed’ informal behaviours from instructors constrained by the system could be released within other enabling environments, such as social media. Study 2, exploring interaction practices of students and instructors through social media, was achieved by examining instructors’ conversations with students, via social networking applications, for any existing, informal, interpersonal texts and the ways in which they emerge over time. A mixed methods approach through statistical trend and content analysis was conducted to explore this investigation. The findings reveal a discrepancy between instructors’ formal practices in a classroom context and their discursive practices within social media. All interpersonal behaviours that appeared to be restricted in a face-to-face context, such as humour, self-disclosure, reassurance and many more, are seen to be gradually released within a social media context. Although instructor variations exist, the tendency towards increased informality over time was evident in the text of most participants. Thus, interaction through social media may set the conditions for revitalized relationships within such an educational ecology in both social media exchanges and face-to-face classrooms.

Background: the aim of this study is to bring a better understanding of the theory of interactive regulation. This is done by examining how learning is regulated by the teacher at a fine-grained micro level during whole class discussion. The study investigates the processes involved with the construct of ‗micro regulation‘. The decision to focus on micro regulation arose from an initial interest in formative assessment which, in its broadest sense, is concerned with how teachers elicit, interpret and use evidence of student understanding to better meet the needs of learners. The literature identifies a number of weaknesses in both the conceptualisation of formative assessment and in its provision. For example, despite an investment of £150 million pounds over three years to promote formative assessment (DCSF, 2008) it has been recognised that there remains a ‗comparative weakness in provision‘ (OFSTED, 2009) whilst in the words of Professor Paul Black, formative assessment is ‗not happening‘ (TES, 2010). Regarding how formative assessment is conceptualised, Wiliam (2011) notes the way in which formative assessment has begun to be seen (wrongly in his view) as an assessment tool rather than a continuous process. Further reading in the field led the author to begin to view the more immediate and responsive process of micro regulation as being of primary importance, especially given his perspective as a classroom teacher. The review of the literature therefore led to a shift in focus from formative assessment to micro regulation. The construct of micro regulation is conceptualised as preceding formative assessment which is more concerned with making decisions about the next steps in instruction. The view was taken that it makes sense to examine the regulation that occurs prior to formative assessment as it is this initial regulation that may serve to inform decisions regarding whether or not subsequent instruction needs to be adjusted. Whilst some studies have been carried out into this more immediate form of regulation, there remains limited understanding surrounding this level of regulation as a continuous process, hence the need for this research. The literature review comprises two chapters. The first chapter attempts to make sense of formative assessment by examining the way in which it has evolved conceptually in the literature and the second chapter examines how regulation is conceptualised and highlights the main issues that this study addresses. Research questions: the main research question asks ‗What is the nature of the teacher-led regulation that takes place during whole class discussion?‘ Subsidiary research questions are asked about (i) the mechanisms that teachers use to regulate learning (ii) the way in which these mechanisms interact with other elements of the instructional activity (iii) the extent to which regulation is a continuous feature of the instructional activity and (iv) the perceived strengths and weaknesses of the regulation that takes place during the instructional activity. Results and analysis: a qualitative methodology was developed in order to comprehensively describe the structure of both the whole class discussion activity and the regulation that exists within this activity. Teacher – student discourse that took place across 20 lessons (involving five teachers and three different curriculum subjects) was audio recorded and transcribed in full resulting in over 100,000 words of transcribed text. A qualitative content analysis was carried out using ‗analytic induction‘, an approach to data analysis that involves the initial development of an analytic scheme (i.e. coding) followed by its subsequent modification (Znaniecki, 1934). A number of ‗analysis-guiding‘ secondary research questions emerged inductively as the data analysis unfolded. During data analysis, the research literature was also been drawn upon with the result that the findings that emerged are both grounded in the data and validated by the literature. There were two distinct stages to the data analysis: descriptive and interpretive. Descriptive coding was used to describe the structure of whole class discussion activities and interpretive coding was carried out in order to identify the nature of the regulation that was evident within this structure. Findings and discussion: it was found that the structure of whole class discussion may be described in terms of a series of three-part and extended question-response-feedback (QRF) cycles. Validation for these QRF cycles was found in the literature. From a comprehensive description of the whole class discussion activity, it has been possible to identify the nature of the regulation that takes place. Micro regulation was found to comprise both regulatory questioning and regulatory feedback. In answer to the first subsidiary research question, it was found that regulatory questioning involves the use of modifiers and probes, whilst regulatory feedback involves teachers in confirming, rejecting, reformulating, providing answers to their own questions and finally by prompting students to help one another to solve a problem. In answer to the second subsidiary research question, it was found that regulation is a significant part of what a teacher does: an enlarged concept of regulation has developed in which regulation takes place both at the point at which evidence of student understanding is elicited (through teacher questioning) and also at the point at which this evidence is used to move learning forward (through feedback); regulation is both fully embedded in, and at the same time is an identifiable part of, the instructional activity. In answer to the third subsidiary research question, it was been found that regulation is a continuous feature of the whole class discussion activity. Finally, in answer to the fourth subsidiary research question, it was found that the strength of the regulation that takes place during whole class discussion activities varies greatly. Regulation remains weak if it takes place only during the three-part QRF cycle in which it is restricted to regulatory feedback alone. There is a stronger regulatory influence in the extended QRF cycle where teachers modify their questioning, however there is also evidence of a number of weaknesses in teacher questioning including the ‗guessing game‘, the ‗poorly worded question‘ and the ‗premature modifier‘. Strongest of all is the regulatory influence exerted in extended cycles through the use of probing questions. The outcome of this study is a conceptual model that shows how experienced teachers regulate learning during whole class discussion as well as a definition of the construct micro regulation. Conclusion: after summarising the main findings to come out of this study, this chapter discusses how teachers adjust the cognitive complexity of their questioning. Two further constructs emerge as a result of this discussion: regulatory questioning that has a ‗constructive‘ function and regulatory questioning that has a ‗deconstructive‘ function. A call is made for future research to focus less on regulatory feedback (which is often evaluative) and more on regulatory questioning which may be conceptualised in terms of these two functions. Such research would likely focus on emerging patterns of the adjustment of the cognitive complexity of questioning. In furtherance to this notion, a practical tool is proposed – the Regulatory Questioning Matrix – with which teachers might examine their own regulatory practice. Finally, this study draws to a close by taking a step back in order to consider the relationship micro regulation may have to other dimensions of interactive regulation.

Often modern institutionalised notions of the educative connect less to education as a means through which individuals and society can improve, but more with education as the conduit by which to achieve a particular career. Both these notions are of equal importance because of the dynamics in which modern day education exists. Wilhelm Heinrich Otto Dix (1891–1969) was an individual who learnt much through his life, but in a continuous democratizing effort he also shared his experiences with those that surrounded him. In this study I will explore the educational influences in the life and artwork of this artist and the formation of his self from a broader notion of the educative. This is achieved through the combination of Bildung (a German concept that concentrates on self-formation, education and cultivation), traditional biographical and art historical analysis, and Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of the habitus. The result, as exemplified by the artists life is to show that Otto Dix was in a state of Bildung and thus his self was constantly forming and reforming. The study brings together, for the first time, notions of Dix’s bildung and self-­regard.

No description available.

In-service teacher training programmes, which is mentioned as INSET in this thesis, is considered by the different educational policies around the world as one of the most important and sensitive factors which has the potential to support and improve schools performance in a visible scale (Almazkoor, 2009; Alwan, 2000; Bayracki, 2009; Burns, 2005; Rakumako & LaugKsch, 2010; and Yigit, 2010). However, there is a need of designing and producing sustainable INSET programmes which are practical to the demands of specific contexts. The purpose of this research is to explore current INSET programmes provided to teachers in the public schools in the State of Kuwait and understand the perceptions of the respective teachers, heads of departments and head teachers. The nature of this research can be fallen under the pragmatic paradigm because it tries to connect the perceptions and reflections of teachers and school members to perceive a holistic picture of the targeted educational practice. Mixed methods approaches were used in this descriptive study, and one questionnaire and forty-five semi-structured interviews were conducted to explore the research participants’ perceptions on the quality, contributions and suggestions on present INSET programmes in Kuwait. Thirty sets of questionnaire were delivered to the teachers of the fifty primary, intermediate and secondary public schools of all six districts of Kuwait namely Alasema, Alfarwanya, Aljahra, Alahmadi, Hawalli and Mubarak Alkabeer. Teachers responded to the questionnaire and shared their opinions using both the Likert scale statements and open ended questions. Interviews were conducted with teachers, head of departments and head teachers to examine their perception in more elaborately about current INSET programmes in order to understand and explore their wider views and opinions. The sample was selected as a randomly selection in order to obtain a representative sampling and the reason for that was to gather a representative findings that can describe the population fairly. The data analysis procedure was completed through three phases. Firstly, quantitative data were collected via questionnaires from participants and questionnaires were then revised and treated by the SPSS system. The quantitative data were divided in a thematic way based on the research questions, and each theme has its own items that were set to answer that theme. The quantitative findings were then presented in tables as counts and percentages for each theme and its items. Secondly, qualitative data were collected from interviewees who were given coded in order to illustrate each one is voice. Data were then transcribed and categorized in a thematic way based on the research questions and literature review. Finally, each of the two methods was presented in a thematic manner with its findings and results and supported by each method. The aim is to combine and match the two methods as one theme and that support each other. The responses of the interviewees were allocated to the six major themes namely programme design PD, trainer competency TC, identifying and meeting needs IMN, impact I, feedback F and teacher willingness and rewards TWR. Analysis of the words, views and ideas from teachers, head of departments and head teachers were given full consideration based on the six themes. The interviewees showed deep and wider picture for current INSET programmes that support and enrich the questionnaire responses along the overall study. All the data from teachers, head of departments and head teachers indicated that there is a need to improve and reconstruct INSET programmes and the way they are designed and delivered. The findings of this research study showed agreement across all data collection tools concerning teachers and schools strong willingness to contribute and participate in plan and design INSET programmes. In addition, the findings also showed clear indications to the deficiencies and weakness of the current INSET programmes policy and practice in Kuwait and to provide teachers and schools with the authority to plan and design their own INSET programmes. It is also discovered that INSET programmes do not have a systematic follow up and evaluation by those who deliver it in Kuwait. Furthermore, there was no systematic rewards and incentives system for INSET programmes in Kuwait. This study reflects that in order to plan and design effective INSET programmes there is a need to allow teachers and their schools to contribute and participate in plan and design such programmes and to provide them with power.

No description available.

This study employs both biographical and autobiographical approaches in order to develop an understanding of the complex and developmental nature of adult learning as a way of being and becoming a teacher in further education. Learning as a way of 'being' provides a substantive and lasting learning which is essential in today's constantly changing and challenging world (Vaill, 1996). The process of 'becoming' is narrated in the autobiographical stories of the three trainees and highlighted as part of their transformative learning process. These stories written by each trainee provide insight into the interactional moments and perspective transformative changes experienced by the trainees. Data analysis comprised of a hermeneutical interpretation of the trainee's autobiographies, using Denzin's biographical method, and a mapping of Mezirow's Ten Phases of Transformative Learning. In addition the personal voices of each trainee as generated through in depth interviews were analysed using Mezirow's Five Stages of Perspective Transformation and Brookfield's Affective Domains of Adult Learning. This detailed analysis revealed the complexities of the transformative learning processes experienced by the three trainees. Thereby enabling conclusions to be drawn as to the extent to which they each followed Mezirow's stages of perspective transformation and Brookfield's affective domains.