This study is situated within a poststructuralist paradigm and uses qualitative methods to examine how teachers map and make sense of intersecting barriers to basic education embedded in their specific schooling contexts and communities, in particular, in a context in which HIV/AIDS prevalence is high. The study examines how teacher constructions of their experiences of teaching in a particular context shape their taken for granted understandings of the intersecting barriers to basic education. In other words, it explored how teachers position themselves within historically constructed discourses about their learners and the community in which they teach, and how these shape their understandings of barriers to basic education. The participants were thirty-six teachers (ten males and twenty six females) from five schools in the Richmond Municipality. Focus group interviews were used to access participants understanding and experiences' of barriers to schooling in the context of HIV and AIDS. Within the focus group sessions, participatory techniques were used as a means of drawing out sensitive information from participants, namely, a ranking exercise and the vulnerability matrix. The findings in the study suggest that the teachers relied on a deficiency framework as a basis for understanding the intersecting barriers to basic education in an HIV and AIDS context. Five key themes relating to this framework emerged: a discourse of detachment; silences; difference as deficit; normalisation discourse; and a discourse of caring. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2006.

This study sets out to examine the process through which gender is constituted in the English classroom in relation to the teaching of one comprehension lesson at Springfield Model Primary School in KwaZulu-Natal. The study looks at one lesson in-depth and delves into the representations of gender in the lesson. Using qualitative methods and drawing from a comprehension passage entitled, "Shining moon and his toy canoe" (Appendix 1) the study examines the ways in which boys and girls in a grade 7 classroom made sense of the comprehension passage and how that sense-making relates to their understanding of what it means to be male and female. The study shows how resource materials (like the prescribed comprehension, for instance) used in the English classroom articulate young children's knowledge about gender and how they position themselves in the discourses of gender. An analysis and examination of how the learners understood the passage is undertaken, to see how gendered messages were generated within the English lesson. An interview with the teacher was conducted to examine how gender is constructed in the teaching of the comprehensions lesson. Two important findings are highlighted in this study. The text is an important tool through which gender is elaborated. The boys and girls in this study positioned themselves in contradictory ways to dominant perceptions about gender. However, largely they draw on dominant ideas about gender and maintain the status quo. The research also demonstrates further the ways in which the teacher reinforces notions of 'masculinity' and 'femininity', despite her best intentions. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2004.

This small-scale study was designed to investigate post-corporal punishment disciplinary strategies used by level one educators in an ex-HOD secondary school in South Durban. This qualitative study gathered data through the case study approach for the following key questions : 1. What are the challenges being faced by educators in maintaining pupil discipline? 2. What strategies do educators employ to cope with post apartheid reforms such as large, multiracial classes, abolition of corporal punishment and the removal of a guidance counsellor? 3. What are the educators' perceptions of the support they receive from the school and the community, if any, in dealing with pupil indiscipline? As this research examines educators' perceptions on pupil discipline, it naturally lends itself to the qualitative research design. Within the qualitative design the case study provides the opportunity to obtain first hand information which can be used to do an in depth analysis of how educators relate to various factors and processes regarding learner discipline in the school under study. In order to obtain a full picture of discipline in the school under study the investigator obtained data through semi-structured interviews, observations of managers', level one educators' and pupils' behaviour as well as review of documents such as the staff minute books and the educators' discipline records. In response to the numerous post apartheid reforms that schools find themselves experiencing, schools need to develop strategies such as teamwork, collaboration, delegation and open communication. The collective creativity and energy generated as a team is what is needed to face the reforms that schools are constantly being bombarded with. It is these reforms which can adversely affect the discipline of learners if not anticipated timeously by monitoring mechanisms in the school. These monitoring mechanisms such as regular networking can result in improvement to present policies and procedures so that they can align themselves with these post apartheid educational reforms. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2004.

There is a concern in Lesotho about inequalities in different sectors including inequalities that exist between females and males in schools. Closing the gender gap between males and females, girls and boys is the government's priority, hence the recent Gender and Development Policy, 2002. The project was conducted with the purpose of exploring the reasons that contribute to pupils' gendered performance in mathematics. In this regard, the focus was put on reasons behind girls' poor performance in mathematics. This report presents and discusses the results of a research which was conducted in Qacha's Nek - Lesotho. The project made some observations based on the questionnaire data gathered from four primary schools. The data provided some useful insights into girls' attitudes, behavior and perceptions towards mathematics, and it also provided insights into teachers' attitudes, expectations and perceptions about girls and their learning of mathematics. The research also provided evidence that there are different social factors that contribute to girls' poor performance in mathematics. Some of those factors concern parents, teachers, classroom process, peers and girls themselves. The analysis of the results and subsequent discussion suggests reasons that may be useful in terms of helping to explain pupils' gendered performance in mathematics and in the continued search for strategies that could improve girls' poor performance in this subject. Schools could be creative in the strategies that they can adopt to tackle gender differences. With this in mind, teachers and pupils were asked to suggest possible solutions that could be employed in trying to combat the problem of the gendered performance in mathematics hence noticeable improvement in girls' performance in this subject. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2002.

Substantially more power has been devolved to schools than ever before and schools are being held more accountable in variety of ways. It is imperative that all stakeholders involved in education including School Governing Bodies and School Management Teams must develop new skills and styles of working. This is a case study of a rural primary school in the Toyota Teach Primary Schools Project (TTPSP). This study examined the extent to which the School Governing Body and School Management Team members of RSP understand their roles and responsibilities and the impact it has on the functioning of the school. Data was collected over a period of several months through observation, conversations and interviews. Collected data was analysed continuously throughout the research process. The responses were grouped into themes and were then checked to ensure the relevance of the emerging patterns. First, findings related to the SGB were presented followed by data related to SMT. This data formed the basis for discussion about the role of SGB and SMT members in the management of schools. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2004.

The aim of the study was to gain an understanding of the motivational styles that learners display when engaging in their schoolwork. The study was conducted with 132 grade seven learners at a primary school in KwaZulu-Natal. The five variables examined were extrinsic motivation, intrinsic motivation, attributions, self-efficacy, and self-regulation. Learners had to respond to a self-report questionnaire adapted from The Academic Self-Regulation Questionnaire (Ryan and Connell; 1989), and Morgan and Jinks Self-Efficacy Scale (Morgan and Jinks; 1999). Items were related to learner's involvement in classwork, homework, and participation in lessons, and based on the five motivational variables mentioned previously. The Likert Scale with response options of Very True, Sort of True, Not very True, and Not at all True were used. In favourable statements Very True was scored four, Sort of True three, Not very True two, and Not at all True one. The scoring was reversed in the case of reversed coding. Emanating from the study, the findings reveal that learners reported doing their work for fear of punishment, and adherence to rules (extrinsic motivation), value their work (intrinsic motivation), have strong internal attributes (attribution), understand the work (self-efficacy beliefs), and can work on their own to achieve personal goals (self-regulation styles). The implications is that Curriculum 2005 may be having a positive effect in developing learners who are motivated to achieve academically. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2004.

Violence in schools is an everyday occurrence and, for the most part, it tends to be regarded as a male issue. There is little indication in media or research reports that female learners perpetrate violence in schools. Research suggests that school violence is caused by male teachers or learners, takes place amongst males and tends to be of a physical or sexual nature. There is, however, a less prominent body of international work, which has begun to explore female aggression and violence at schools. Thus far, there has been little comparable research in South Africa. The thesis is an exploratory study of female violence in schools. The subject is approached by examining the perceptions of male as well as female teachers in primary and secondary schools in Durban. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2004.

This small but in-depth comparative study sought to explore the extent to which a rural ex-farm school and an urban ex-model C school were in a position to implement C2005. It was acknowledged that a small-scale study could not address the question of whether the two schools actually were implementing the new curriculum. The question was rather whether their circumstances were conducive to C2005 implementation. Bernstein's (1971) definition of curriculum as comprising content, pedagogy, and evaluation was found to be useful categories for analysing classroom practice in relation to C2005 design features, namely the outcomes based approach, an integrated curriculum, and learner centred teaching. The social relationships associated with weak classification (or the Integrated Code) directed the study towards forms of school organisation that would be necessary for the reception of C2005. Bernstein's concept of framing was useful in that its related concepts of sequencing and pacing of lessons provided a means of analysing classroom practices. Data collection tools included semi structured interviews and observations in the two schools. While both schools experienced difficulty in implementing C2005 in grade 9, findings indicated that the rural ex-farm experienced significantly greater difficulty. Historical disadvantage, poverty, lack of resources and lack of adequate departmental support seemed to combine with a lack of will on the part of educators to develop the kinds of lessons and materials on which C2005 depends. While teachers at this school supported the idea of C2005, they felt it could not be implemented in their context. The former model C school was advantaged by its relatively favourable situation with respect to both human and physical resources, and was making impressive progress towards C2005 implementation. Despite the fact that C2005 aimed at achieving equity, the evidence from this study suggests that the gap that had previously existed between these different schools was in fact widening. The gulf separating policymakers and their planners on the one hand, and teachers and their classrooms on the other, was particularly great in the case of the ex-farm school. Implications arising from this are discussed in terms of forms of teacher development that might alleviate the difficulties experienced in disadvantaged schools. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2004.

The purpose of this thesis is straightforward: to survey the development of a 'private' school over a period of a little more than half a century. In the survey, I hoped to indicate the way in which the school developed as an institution: the main elements in its government and the way it was affected by changing conditions; to describe the main features of its educational programme: curricular and extra-curricular activities; and to attempt an assessnent of its achievement and an analysis of its distinguishing characteristics. The period covered is from the foundation of the school in 1896 to the resignation of F.R. Snell in 1952, the latter date being chosen chiefly because the distance proper to a thesis did not seen possible in a survey of this kind for the succeeding period. I have, however, also included a chapter on the precursor of Michaelhouse as relevant background infomation; and I have taken the story of the Old Boys up to the present, since most of them had been at school before 1952. Athough I have included an assessment of the school's achievements in the list of purposes, it soon became apparent that my aim should be more modest. The interaction of home, school and society is so complex that a proper study of the school's role, even in so obvious a matter as academic achievement and particularly in relation to such aims as leadership or religious development, would require a careful sociological analysis which would have made the thesis extremely unwieldy and for which sufficient information, especially on the earlier stages, was in any case not available. My more modest aim was therefore to place the development of the school and the education it provided in perspective. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 1968.

Academic Support Programmes in South Africa are confronted with the seemingly impossible task of producing "programmes" which will assist growing numbers of Black students in their adaptation to the academic tasks. These tasks are demanded of Black students within tertiary institutions with a largely westernized cultural form of education. Despite the existence of institutions such as the Medical School of the University of Natal which has been training Black medical students for over thirty five years, little substantive research has been conducted into the processes of adaptation which Black students have undergone in coming to terms with the cognitive demands of academic tasks within universities. Instead, institutions such as the Medical School have found themselves embroiled in long ,standing controversies which essentially attempt to apportion blame for high failure rates on either students or staff members. This research adopts a dialectical approach to the learning teaching situations and focuses specifically on Black medical students' adaptation to the cognitive task demands of Physiology. The research uses a rational reconstructive paradigm to instantiate Feuerstein's "deficient cognitive functions" in the cognitive manifestations of second year medical students. This instantiation lays the groundwork for an investigation into the "content less cognitive processes" (cf. Feuerstein) underlying the learning-teaching dialectic in Physiology. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, 1990.