The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact that globalisation has on the professional roles and work of the office-based educators (subject advisors). It was conducted as a case study in one of the districts at Ethekwini region. It involved eleven advisors that belong to the Teaching and Learning Support (TLS) section. As a theoretical foundation, I used critical theory as a lens to examine the neo-liberal agenda that globalisation has imposed upon South Africa’s new education system, particularly the impact on the role of subject advisors. The research was conducted within a qualitative approach and took the form of a case study. The data collection techniques included a questionnaire and an in-depth semi structured focus group interview. The data collected was analysed using thematic analysis to identify codes, categories and themes. These were not defined prior to analysis, but emerged during analysis. The findings revealed that advisors are frustrated by the roles that they are expected to perform. They find themselves giving less professional support to educators and spending more time administering monitoring tools to schools. The feeling is that they are de-professionalised because they no longer work as subject specialists most of the time. Finally, recommendations and limitations of this study are discussed. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2008.

This study highlights the contribution of activists from Durban and Cape Town in the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa in the early nineteen seventies. Historians tend to generally disregard this period, that followed the state crackdown on black political organisations and leaders, especially when writing on the 1960s Defiance Campaign and the 1976 uprising. The respondents in this study developed their political consciousness during the period when internationally there was growing popular resistance to the Vietnam War, coupled with the emergence of the militant Black Power Movement in the USA. This was also the period of the development of the Black Consciousness Movement among 'black' university students in South Africa. The emergence of the dynamic Black Consciousness Movement gave young individuals the ammunition to explore a new identity that could help them discard the shackles of the oppressive consciousness drummed through apartheid schooling. The thesis of this study is about the significant impact the deconstruction of racial identities had on the lives of young activists who resisted racial and class oppression, during the period incorrectly described as The Fifteen Year Night After Sharpeville2 '. It contends that revolutionary zeal evoked spontaneous learning. Powerful learning occurred when it was linked to the struggle against oppression. Under such conditions groups and individuals took responsibility for their own learning and developed skills and strategies that has largely stayed with them for the rest of their lives. This study presents the oral stories of some activists from the Durban and Cape Town areas and explores the activities of these two groups, hundreds of miles away from one another who pursued activities that were largely similar. The focus is on the learning that emerged through the consciousness raising and the conscientisation processes that helped activists psychologically liberate themselves from racial indoctrination. It traces the 2 Jaffe, 1994: 182 development of their consciousness during their youth and examines how that consciousness impacted on their lives as well as their understanding of their social identities in the present. The Black Consciousness philosophy drew individuals away from the preconceived notions rooted in the oppressive ideology of apartheid and created a new identity that promoted 'black' pride and solidarity. Although the groups operated almost 1700 kilometres apart, this study found that those activists who were exposed to philosophies like Freire's 'Education for Liberation' converged towards a common goal for revolutionary social change. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2007.

This study explores the perceptions of the first formal cohort of Extended Curriculum Programme (ECP) students in the Somatology Department to determine the effects it has had on the social identity of these students. The Somatology ECP was one of the pioneer extended programmes offered in higher education in South Africa. The aim of the programme is to assist under-prepared students and to attend to the transformation of the programme. It is hoped that the insight gained from investigating how these ECP students perceive their situation, opportunities and experiences in relation to their full curriculum peers, can provide relevant awareness in future curriculum development of any programme using this type of extended curriculum model. In curriculum design, the focus is frequently on the academic sphere, with minimal attention to the social development of the student. In recent years there has been a movement in academia to understand the students’ experience holistically in order to develop curricula which successfully improve their academic performance. Although some research has been conducted into foundation provision offered predominantly to address the concern of low throughput rates, few studies have been conducted to determine the effects of these types of programmes on the students’ social identity. Thirteen students that were currently registered in the Somatology Extended Curriculum Programme were interviewed using semi-structured interviews, and content analysis was used to identify the main themes from the data. The two main themes that emerged were that students believed the ECP programme had assisted them with the transition from high school to University. They had also constructed and adopted a particular group identity but still become fully integrated with the Full Curriculum students in their second year. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2009.

The study sought to investigate challenges faced by school level women managers and the extent to which they coped with such challenges. To collect data the study used a triangulation of three instruments: interviewing, observation and document analysis. The findings of the study revealed that the barriers that retard women's progress in management include the endocentric bias and patriarchal nature of the society which 'make it difficult for women to be accepted as managers, the traditional stereotypical perceptions of women's abilities and attitudes towards women's family roles. The study concluded that although women education managers still face many barriers in their job, they are working hard to try and cope with them. As managers they are more inclined towards contemporary approaches to management such as participative engagement of those they lead. The researcher recommended that the following seemed to be possible strategies to address the challenges: induction programmes, mentoring, women networks as well as training programmes. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2007.

The School Management Teams (SMTs) in South African schools hold formal positions of leadership within the school's organizational structure. Because of this, the SMTs carry the responsibility of ensuring that leadership is distributed to other colleagues irrespective of status or authority in the hierarchy. On the other hand, level one educators do not hold any formal leadership position, yet the Norms and Standards for Educators (2000) expects teachers to take on leadership roles, among others, that of a leader, manager and administrator. The aim of this study was to explore the roles of the SMTs in developing teacher leadership in their schools, and to examine how the SMTs and teachers understood and enabled teacher leadership. This study was conducted in two primary schools in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa and was qualitative in nature. The study used different data collection techniques, that is, the semi-structured interviews with the SMT members at both schools and focus group interviews with all level one educators at both schools. The findings of this study indicated that it is true that the concept of teacher leadership is relatively new to the majority of researchers and educators in South Africa. The concept was also understood differently by different educators and the concept was associated in the first school with a discourse of delegated leadership as opposed to distributed leadership. In this school the SMT delegated unwanted duties to teachers, not with the aim of developing teachers as leaders, but with the intention of getting administrative assistance for technical and mundane tasks. Findings in the second school revealed that although the participants understood the concept in diverse ways, teacher leadership was indeed happening. In this school it was clear that although educators were not familiar with the concept, teacher leadership was happening within a context of dispersed distributive leadership. Using Grant's (2007) model of teacher leadership, in the first school in this study teacher leadership was restricted to Zone One where the teacher is only concerned with what is happening in his or her classroom. In the second school teacher leadership was understood to operate in Zone One, within the classroom but also operated within Zones Two, Three and Four as well. Policy silence on the roles of the SMTs in developing teachers as leaders was also evident from the responses of the SMT members at both schools. The issue of training of SMT members and teachers on the areas in which teachers want to become leaders and the lack of support programmes for teacher leadership was evident in this research study. Recommendations include the need to move away from the traditional way of thinking about leadership as a one-man task and realize that leadership should be distributed to other colleagues in order to develop them as leaders. By so doing, teachers in their schools can develop a sense of ownership since they will be working collegially and collaboratively towards whole school effectiveness and school improvement. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2008.

Studies by different academics (Marsh 1997; Allen 2004; Dunn 2006; Austin, 2010 & Stears & Gopal, 2010) reveal that outcomes and assessment strategies cannot be divorced. Outcomes and assessment strategies are meant for various purposes in education, ranging from establishing the starting point, to monitoring and evaluation of the outputs of what have been planned for the lesson. The study investigates the experiences and practices of Form Three integrated science teachers with regard to the outcomes and assessment strategies. The motivation behind this study is related to the problem that teachers are trained on discipline base while they are expected to teach integrated science in the junior level (form one - form three). Integrated Science plays a major role in the Lesotho education system because it prepares learners at Secondary School level (Form One - Form Three) to study specialised science subjects namely: Biology, Chemistry and Physics at High School level (Form Four – Form Five) and this resulted in learners‟ interest in science at higher education being clearly oriented (Oludipe & Oludipe, 2010). This study was achieved by investigating teachers‟ experiences and practices of outcomes and assessment strategies in the way they do, through the use of the following data gathering instruments: document analysis, observation and semi-structured interviews. This study is mainly qualitative, interpretive case study of two schools and is informed by two theories namely: social constructionist theory and Bloom‟s Taxonomies. Social constructionist underpins social practices and practitioners‟ views on them. On the other side, Bloom‟s taxonomy provides details of construction of assessment tools towards attaining outcomes at the end of the learning period. In terms of analysing the data from the field, the data are presented using the themes and categories generated from the interviews. In addition, in presenting the data, the study would ensure that the voices of the participants were not lost. Therefore, verbatim quotations are infused in the data presentation. The emerging trends and patterns from the presented data are then outlined. According to the findings, the teachers are more interested in their areas of specialisation from the universities and colleges and this resulted in some other parts of the syllabus being sidelined. The study also revealed that teachers still lack knowledge of stating or writing observable and measurable learning outcomes even thought they are aware of theimportance of stating learning outcomes at the beginning of each and every Integrated Science lesson. The research concluded with a set of recommendations to ensure the effectiveness of the teaching of Integrated Science in Lesotho. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Edgewood, 2012.

This study set out to investigate how the use of a Smart Board impacts on the teaching and learning of algebraic functions. The research took place in a school equipped with Smart Boards in each Mathematics classroom. Data collection involved lesson observations in three classes over three lessons each. The teachers and learners were interviewed post observation and the data obtained were analysed according to Sfard‘s three-phase model framework to determine if the learners had a procedural or object view of a function after having been taught on a Smart Board. The findings show that by using a Smart Board learners had both procedural and object view of functions however, much of the teaching occurred in a way which would have been possible without the use of a Smart Board, indicating that teachers did not fully utilise the potential of such a technological tool. However, it emerged that visualisation played an important role in allowing learners to operate on functions as objects. So while the visualization that technology enables encouraged reification or allowed teachers and learners to operate on functions as a whole or even on families of functions, this appeared simply to 'speed up‘ the normal teaching-learning process rather than promote the explorative and investigative aspect of learning. Still, it must be acknowledged that this kind of practice is bound to strengthen these learners‘ function concepts as was evident in the ways they appeared to operate confidently on the objects as shown in the study. It must be acknowledged that teachers were extremely enthusiastic about the possibilities of the technology and were inspired to use technology more in their lessons to allow learners‘ visualisation of concepts. Positive comments made by learners showed that they too, were also motivated by the use of the Smart Board. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2011.

This study was undertaken to explore curriculum change from the General Certificate in Education (GCE) Ordinary Level (O-Level) to the International General Certificate in Secondary Education (lGCSE) with regard to English language teaching in four high schools in the Manzini region of Swaziland. The study investigated teachers' perceptions of the curriculum change and how they implemented it. The impact of the training teachers received in preparation for the introduction of the IGCSE English curriculum was also explored. An interpretive research paradigm using qualitative methodology was chosen for the study and was driven by the following critical research questions: 1. How do teachers experience curriculum change from GCE O-Level to IGCSE with regard to English language teaching? 2. How was this change implemented in the Form 4 English language classrooms? Qualitative methods comprising semi-structured interviews and non-participant classroom observations were used for collecting data. Data from interviews with teachers were analysed thematically through the use of the constant comparison method, while classroom observations data were qualitatively analysed by using themes that emerged from the observation schedule designed for the study. The data from classroom observations were triangulated with data from interviews with teachers to ensure validity of the study. The study used the body of literature that relates to second language acquisition (SLA) and learning, with specific reference to social constructivism, bilingualism, communicative language teaching and task-based language teaching approaches, literacy and the genre approach as the theoretical framework. The theoretical framework facilitated an understanding that knowledge or meaningful learning is constructed by the learners as they interact using the target language. The results revealed that the teachers used a constructivist approach towards teaching which comprised the communicative language teaching and task-based language teaching and learning approaches. The IGCSE curriculum emphasizes the use of these approaches. The findings also indicated that teachers were inadequately prepared for teaching the IGCSE English curriculum as some of the workshop facilitators were less informed than some of the participants; and that they were only given guidance for conducting assessment in the oral skill without training them how to teach it. Also, the language aspects such as grammar, writing and reading were left out when the curriculum was reviewed, as a result teachers reverted to using the structural approach when teaching grammar, as opposed to the constructivist approach. Findings showed that as much as the IGCSE English curriculum was said to be good, the reading skill was inefficiently taught. IGCSE does not give learners quality education since the tasks learners did were cognitively unchallenging. In view of the theoretical framework of the study, the IGCSE English curriculum produces skills-based, vocationally inclined learners who are not geared towards pursuing academic university education. Listening comprehension was found to be the most problematic language aspect since the learners could not understand the English native speakers' accent when they listened to passages from tapes and CD's during examinations. Using the genre approach to essay writing findings showed that teaching essay writing was not well grounded. The study recommended that the curriculum be reviewed and teachers be taught more effective approaches to teaching essay writing as well as reading comprehension. It was also recommended that the Ministry of Education should assist teachers with additional resources and multimedia for teaching listening skills including CDs and listening to talk shows and in teaching essay writing. The study further recommended that localisation of the curriculum to SIGCSE should be postponed until a suitable curriculum is identified and that further research be conducted which would include a larger study that would be a true representation of all high schools in the four regions of the country.

In the South African educational landscape curriculum transformation since Curriculum 2005 (C2005) to the now prevailing National Curriculum Statement (NCS) has been dramatic. In fact in the Foundation Phase and in Grade 10 a revised Curriculum and Assessment Policy (CAPS) document introduced in 2012 is presently being implemented. The continuous revision of curriculum policies is the background to the purpose of this research study, which is to understand how four experienced teachers of English Home Language (EHL) engage with changes in EHL policy and the impact this has on their identity/identities as teachers. The National Education Department often hopes that teachers are highly regulated by policies, and will thus change their practices in accordance to curriculum policy. My research project seeks to understand the complexity of the ways in which external regulations, embedded in the changing curriculum, govern teachers’ practices and consequently impacts on the identity of professionally qualified teachers. The study is framed by two critical questions: a) To what extent are the practices of experienced teachers governed by external regulation (in the form of the curriculum policy)? and b) To what extent does external regulation shape their identity as teachers? To this end, lesson observation and unstructured interviews were the data collection methods that were employed. This research is located within the interpretive paradigm. Data is gleaned from the stories told by four experienced teachers of English about their everyday classroom practices and the ways in which they translate and implement EHL policy from changing curriculum documents, as well as through observations of their teaching. These teachers work in four diverse South African educational contexts. The analytical framework that is used in this study suggests that teacher practice and identity is shaped by external regulations (such as policy requirements); internal regulations which are the contextual factors such as institutional school culture as well as core regulations such as their beliefs and values. Teachers’ sense-making of changing policy entrenched in curriculum documents; their translation of policy and its impact on teaching practices and consequent influence on a teacher’s identity are important for the answering of the research question. The findings reveal that these teachers find curriculum changes challenging and are reluctant to implement them entirely. Instead they select and adapt from the document what can fit with minimal change into their present repertoire of pedagogical practices. The impact of this on the identity of a teacher is minimal as teachers’ definition of who they are and the role they play is strong. Therefore the impact of curriculum changes on teacher identity appears to be minimal. I discovered that the four teachers in this study are resilient beings who adapt an externally regulated curriculum to fit their frame of classroom practices based on their beliefs of what constitutes effective teaching. To ameliorate the disjuncture between policy and practice would be an ideal situation. But realistically strongly regulated national policies will never be implemented as policy makers intend. Perhaps the lesson is looser regulations are thus more useful. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2012.

This study sought to explore power dynamics between school male managers and female teachers. This is a qualitative study located in the interpretivist paradigm. This study adopts a case study research design that utilises interviews to generate data. The data was analysed using qualitative thematic approach. The study is underpinned by two theories, namely, political theory and gender and power theory. The study’s findings suggest that the relations between male managers and female teachers are not good in the researched schools. Traditional Zulu culture is used by male managers to sideline female teachers. Male managers seem not interested in the programmes that are meant to improve their managerial skills. The study recommended that both the female teachers and the male managers work together to improve their relations, amongst other things, by attending workshops that are designed to encourage communication, tolerance, trust and respect between them. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2012.