Pupils acquire skills, knowledge, values and attitudes through the important institution of education. An essential tool used in the transmission of these socially approved attitudes and values is the textbook. Because teacher content knowledge is an ongoing challenge in South Africa, school textbooks are being viewed as an important source of content knowledge. Textbooks used in the apartheid era in South Africa were subjects of numerous studies which found that textbooks were capable of transmitting the dominant ideology of the then apartheid government. Given the important role that textbooks are expected to play in postapartheid South African classroom, it becomes crucial to examine the ideologies being reflected and transmitted through this medium of instruction in the post-apartheid era. This study therefore set out to explore the ideologies that are manifest in Economic and Management Sciences (EMS) textbooks. This study adopted a qualitative research approach and engaged the tenets of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) as its methodological framework. The use of CDA revealed how the content of the selected EMS textbooks represent particular ideologically orientations. The dominant discourses that emerged from the analysis were the stereotypical positioning of gender roles (a subjugation of women; contingency of women‟s success on male support); entrepreneurship leads to wealth creation; the advocacy of a free-market system; reinforcement of the hegemonic positioning of business; deficient service provisioning as a normality; business and production‟s precedence over the environment and finally that globalisation is natural and unproblematic. These discourses disclose that the textbooks under study have profound strains of neoliberal ideology. The content of the textbooks legitimates the values of the free market system and neoliberalism as it reinforces and reifies the normality of personal wealth accumulation and individual endeavour. EMS textbooks were thus found to have potential as hegemonic tools capable of influencing pupils toward assimilating and accepting the ideology of neo-liberalism as being natural, ethical, moral and acceptable. / Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2012.

This dissertation reports case studies conducted at two secondary schools in Durban. With the introduction of the Further Education and Training (FET) curriculum in 2006, learners who terminate their study of Mathematics at the end of grade nine will have to study Mathematical Literacy, an applications-based mathematics course. In South Africa the Mathematics results at the grade twelve exit examination are generally poor and learners are known to underachieve in the field of geometry. This study was aimed at determining the readiness of learners in studying geometry under the Learning Outcome, Space, Shape and Measurement in the Mathematical Literacy curriculum. Questionnaires were administered to grade nine learners who had elected not to study, or were excluded from studying, Mathematics from grade ten onwards. Data was sought to determine what factors influence the decision to discontinue mathematics, and to gauge attitudes to the study of mathematics. Learners were given a test to measure geometry skills and knowledge that they ought to have acquired by the end of the senior phase in geometry. Data was also obtained from focus group interviews with both of learners and educators. This study indicates that learners do not continue mathematics because of the difficulties they experience. Furthermore they do not have the requisite skills and knowledge in Space, Shape and Measurement to cope with the Mathematical Literacy curriculum. Nevertheless, the attitudes of learners to the study of this new subject are positive. It is suggested that educators need to conduct baseline assessments to determine learners' abilities so as to plan appropriate revision measures before continuing with the teaching of Mathematical Literacy. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2006.

The demands of the new curriculum are such that problem solving is foregrounded as one of the core skills in the learning of the Natural Sciences. However teachers in general have difficulties in conceptualizing how this core skill should be incorporated into their everyday teaching of the Natural Sciences. Furthermore there seems to be some confusion in the literature on how the concept of problem solving should or ought to be understood. This is a qualitative case study to explore a grade 8 Natural Sciences educator who involves the learner's context when developing the curriculum, during teaching and learning and assessment. The educator allows the learners to use their context to negotiate during teaching and learning. The learners discuss the context-based activities in their groups and solve problems in their context, produce the portfolio boards by using the resources from their context and present their portfolio board to the class. The educator assesses the learners' activities in context and the portfolio boards. The educator and classroom activities are explored by using semi-structured interview as the main source of the data, unstructured interviews semi-structured obs~rvation schedule and classroom observation. The educator's understanding is explored by using a multifaceted methodology which targets the following key aspects namely, curriculum development, teaching and learning and assessment. In the activity theory the context is the unit of analysis. Activity theory is used as the lens and the conceptual framework in this study to understand how the educator develops the curriculum, teach learners Matter and Materials in their context and assess their context-based activities and the portfolio boards. The findings show that according to this educator he sees himself as the curriculum implementer rather than developer. The curriculum changes are at theoretical level rather than classroom level. Contextual teaching involves construction of knowledge from learners pre-knowledge and interests. Teaching within an Outcomes Based Education is transformative and educator as a mediator of learning. Problem solving needs more time but maximise non-routine thinking. Assessment is for learning, it is continuous and it contributes towards assessment for grading. / Thesis (M.Ed.)- University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009.

This research considers specific strategies that would enhance teaching and learning of fractional concepts in mathematics at a secondary school. The notion of the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) ~ Vygotskian view, is invoked as one of the fundamental frameworks for explaining fractional knowledge. This view is contested on the bases of that "human thinking is inherently social in its origin" (Goos, 2004: 259). Another theory that bears testimony to mathematics education especially abstract concepts like fractions is that of constructivism, drawn from the works of, Lave (1996), Steffe (1990) and others. Learners' informal knowledge is investigated for the purposes of highlighting what learners know and can do. Therefore, the study examined the development of learners' understanding of fractions during instruction with respect to the ways their prior knowledge of whole numbers influenced the meanings and representations they construct for fractions as they build on their informal knowledge. There were 30 participants (15 School A and 15 from School B) that were engaged in worksheets. Thereafter, 6 cases of the participants were carefully selected for clinical interview purposes. The overall methodology of this study is participatory action research (Kemmis & Mctaggart, 2000). / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2006.

The researcher's personal conviction that major problems in the teaching of mathematics are inherited from elementary levels inspired the investigation of the contribution of practical work in the teaching of fraction division in grade seven. The all encompassing approach of the study dictated the involvement of teachers and learners as participants. Teachers' perceptions of practical work and their classroom practices were investigated to confirm or refute existing assumptions and literature claims. Questionnaires in which teachers expressed their views on practical work and fraction teaching were administered to teachers. Lessons on the division of fractions were observed to determine teachers' practices in relation to the researcher's assumptions and claims by literature. Data yielded by these research instruments confirmed or refuted assumptions and literature claims. Learners underwent an experiment and their views were sought to establish the value of practical work in the teaching of fractions and fraction division. Instruments used for the experiment were the pre-test, post-test and worksheets. Data from these instruments gave an indication of the value of practical work in enhancing learners' understanding of fraction division. Learners' responses to interview questions further elucidated and confirmed the valuable role played by practical work in learners ' understanding of fraction division. Learners' responses also provided deeper insight into facets of learners ' cognitive development as they engaged with different aspects of practical work in the division of fractions . Besides confirmation and refutation of some established assumptions and literature claims, previously unknown realities about aspects of practical work and fraction division also emerged from findings. This wealth of the data carried crucial implications for teacher training, the teaching of fractions and fraction division, and further research. A look at these implications hopes to contribute to the enhancement and improvement of the teaching of fractions and fraction division. Teacher training institutions, designers of INSET programmes, policy makers and teachers should all benefit from findings of this study. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of Kwazulu-Natal, 2005.

The study aimed at exploring science student teachers' experiences of teaching practice and in particular, it focussed on five areas related to: (a) the science student teachers' practices and views ofteaching practice; (b) the science student teachers' benefits and skills acquired from teaching practice; (c) the help and support they receive from both the supervisors and the mentor teachers and; (e) the science student teachers' views of how the teaching practice could be improved. A pragmatic, mixed method approach to research was adopted. In order to gather data to answer the research questions empirical research in the form of a descriptive case study was carried out. This case study was conducted on the science teachers' experience of teaching practice for the academic year of2005. Data were collected from participants in the teaching practice programme at Edgewood campus using a questionnaire supplemented by interviews, observations and documents analysis. Sixty science student teachers doing Bachelor of Education 2nd , 3rd and 4th year and the Postgraduate Certificate in Education, completed and returned the questionnaire and seven of them were interviewed. In addition, four mentor teachers and five university tutors were also interviewed and twelve students were visited in their host schools. Among others it was found that: student teachers reported that they felt adequately prepared for the range of activities they were involved in during teaching practice, their expectations of practice teaching were met, and they had a positive view about the general learning and administrative environment ofthe schools. They reported using a number of different teaching methods but the direct teaching method was still predominant with the textbook being used as the main teaching resource but a positive indication was that over half the students indicated that they attempted something different or new during teaching practice mostly on their own initiative. When asked for detail about the skills they gained from teaching practice they reported benefits in terms of improved teaching techniques and methods, dealing with learners and classroom management. There was no one single benefit that stood out but rather a number of different benefits for different students. Generally females were more positive than males, there were very few differences between the year groups and the mentor teachers were seen to be more supportive than the university tutors. However, there were a small but significant number of students who indicated having not been supported or having gained any benefit from their mentor teachers or university tutors. This study also revealed that the critical triangular working partnership involving student teacher, university supervisor, and mentor teacher was problematic and needed to be reviewed. When asked to make suggestions for change, a number of recommendations were made such as: the teaching practice was too short and needed to be increased; the organisation of teaching practice needed to be improved and; the schools need to give better status to students on teaching practice. However, when asked to rate their overall experience of teaching practice experience almost three quarters of the students indicated that they had at least a satisfactory experience. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2006.

This is a case study of the learning of physical science of a high achiever, selected on the assumption that instruction in learning strategies and styles used by successful learners may improve learning effectiveness of less successful learners. Operating in an interpretive paradigm, qualitative data was gathered by participant observation aimed at sensing the complexities of the case. A rich, holistic description is given, enabling readers to form naturalistic generalisations of their own. The data corpus spans three years and is composed of audio-recorded lessons and interviews, field notes and written material. Data collection, analysis and interpretation were done in an inductive, cyclic manner, guided by research questions about learning strategies used by the learner, instructional strategies used by the teacher, and the roles played by intrinsic factors, practical work and problem solving, in contributing to effective learning of physical science by the high achiever. The study implies that effective learning, even by the highly intelligent, involves struggle and requires the use of a variety of strategies. This fits a constructivist, rather than transmissionist, view of learning, and thus supports learner-centered transformations in South African education. The learner is interpreted to be intrinsically motivated by interest and a high regard for knowledge precision, elegance, and transferability, to use a large number of learning strategies, particularly while solving open-ended problems and performing practical investigations, in order to come to a deep understanding of physical science. The study suggests that teaching children how to learn, particularly by addressing their outlook on learning and introducing them to a variety of strategies, should be an aim of physical science instruction, and that interesting, open-ended, learner-centered tasks should be used in attempts to induce self-regulated learning. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2002.

This was a qualitative study carried out with learners from a grade twelve Standard Grade mathematics class from a South Durban school in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The main purpose of this study was to explore learners‟ understanding of the concept of the derivative. The participants comprised one class of twenty seven learners who were enrolled for Standard Grade mathematics at grade twelve level. Learners‟ responses to May and August examinations were examined. The examination questions that were highlighted were those based on the concept of the derivative. Additionally semi-structured interviews were carried out with a smaller sample of four of the twenty seven learners to gauge their perceptions of the derivative. The learners‟ responses to the examination questions and semi-structured interviews were exhaustively analysed. Themes that ran across the data were identified and further categorised in a bid to provide answers to the main research question. It was found that most learners‟ difficulties with the test items were grounded in their difficulties with algebraic manipulation skills. A further finding was that learners overwhelmingly preferred working out items that involved applying the rules. Although the Higher and Standard grade system of assessing learners‟ mathematical abilities has been phased out, with the advent of the new curriculum, the findings of this study is still important for learners, teachers, curriculum developers and mathematics educators because calculus forms a large component of the new mathematics curriculum. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2008.

Research reveals that policy intentions seldom define classroom practice. This research study uses continuous assessment as the 'case' to explore the policy-practice relationship. The research approach adopted involved a critical review of policy documents on continuous assessment; interviews with Department officials; a survey questionnaire on continuous assessment distributed to teachers in ten secondary schools; and a detailed exploration of continuous assessment practice in three institutional settings. The findings show that continuous assessment is rarely implemented as policy intended; teachers at the classroom level have transformed the aims of policy-makers to the extent that implementation proceeds at some distance from the original policy intentions; and teachers are experiencing numerous problems in attempting to implement continuous assessment. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of Durban-Westville, 1997.

The proposed research is about the introduction of Continuous Assessment (CA) in Grade 12 Higher Grade Mathematics, as part of the learner's overall assessment. Schools are required by policy laid down by the Department of Education to implement CA in Grade 12 Mathematics. The introduction of CA is a new development. It is important to study how it is being implemented and the effect it has on the quality of Mathematics Education. The goals of this research are to: • investigate Grade 12 Mathematics teachers' understanding and views of CA; • the strategies that they are implementing in CA; • how CA is impacting on the conceptual understanding of their learners and • to what extent are teachers' assessment practices consistent with the Rationale of Continuous Assessment? The data was collected by means of a questionnaire which consisted of both close-ended and semi-structured questions. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to analyze the quantitative data. The findings show that continuous assessment is not being implemented in terms of a wide range of alternate assessment strategies as it was intended to be, with pen and paper testing still being the more dominant practice. The findings also show that whilst Continuous Assessment is having a measured educational impact on teachers and learners, there are still problems experienced by educators. These problems are hampering its implementation. Teachers require more workshops on the Continuous Assessment strategies. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of Durban-Westville, 2004.