The re-structuring and re-conceptualization of the South African Education System after 1994, necessitated a transformation of the evaluation process. The emphasis was now on enhanced performance at school level. This is clearly stipulated and documented in the South African Schools Act 84 of 1996. Thus, it was with such policy initiatives that the Developmental Appraisal System of South Africa (DAS), was designed, developed and implemented at school level. The rationale focussed on improving the quality of teaching and learning and organizational growth and development. This research explores how the Developmental Appraisal System has moved from being entrenched with inflexible characteristics to a more educator-friendly approach of evaluation. The appraisee is the principle role player in the whole process. The purpose of this research is to undertake a case study to evaluate the implementation of the Developmental Appraisal System (DAS) at a single secondary school in the North Durban Region. The main finding was that due to multi-faceted reasons, this school has not been able to complete the implementation of the DAS. A small percentage of educators have been appraised. However, this is not sufficient to improve organizational growth and ensure that teacher development is taking place. The research makes recommendations based on the findings which if implemented could change the educator's perception of DAS. The emphasis is on developmental rather than criticism. In this way the culture of teaching and learning can improve. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2002.

This study sought to investigate factors that enable high pass rates at Cambridge Overseas School Certificate (C.O.S.C.) level at Botha-Bothe High School in Lesotho. The focus of the study has been on three broad possible factors, namely the nature of leadership within the institution, the relationships between administration and teachers, amongst the teachers and between the teachers and learners, as well as resources available in the school. The study used a triangulation of three instruments: interviewing, observation and document analysis to collect data. These three instruments helped the researcher to collect proof-checked information and arrive at concretized conclusions. The Principal, Deputy-Principal, HODs and teachers who participated in interviews, handed to the researcher the necessary documents and took the researcher around to different teaching centres. Having investigated and correlated all the results, the researcher concluded that the following are possible factors that could improve pass rates. The first factor is a sound leadership that allows interaction, that manages time, that motivates other stakeholders, and that includes its subordinates in decision-making. The second factor is warm relationships between management and staff, amongst the academic staff and between teachers and students. The third factor is the availability and good management of resources (human and material). / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2004.

The purpose of this study was to investigate how the process of induction was managed at Zenon High School, in Berea, Lesotho. To this end, a case study approach was employed and an attempt was made to identify what passed for induction, in this school, as this has a bearing on the management approach that may be adopted. The next step was to address three important questions: the nature of provision for induction made in the school; what experiences teachers had of induction; and the needs teachers believed could be addressed through induction, as well as how better these might be addressed, all of which reflect the question of what passes for induction in the school. Lastly, the issue of what is generally or commonly regarded as the purpose of induction, and the 'best' practice in the management of this process, was considered. Analysis of data, in this connection, indicated that there were considerable differences between the management of induction in the school, as reflected by the nature of provision for induction made in the school and the experiences of teachers with regard to the process of induction in the school, and what is commonly argued to be the 'best' practice in the management of this process. The findings further indicated that the induction programme in the school was organised by the local university for recent graduates with a teaching qualification; that participation of the school in decision making was limited only to implementation aspect of induction management, with the planning and evaluation aspects remaining the sole responsibility of the university; that, based on their experiences of the process of induction and their believes of what needs should be addressed through induction, teachers felt that their induction in the school was inadequate. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2002.

This study investigates the nature and extent of teacher's understanding of assessment in the context of an outcomes-based education system at a Hammersdale Farm School. The study also investigates the nature of assessment techniques used by educators at the school and whether these techniques were implemented in a manner that enhances learner performance. The educator level of assessment literacy or illiteracy was also examined. Learner's experience of assessment was also investigated. The subjects in this study were eleven educators and twenty-two learners. The research methodology was in the form of a qualitative case study. Individual interviews of educators, learners questionnaire as well as document analysis were used to investigate educator's assessment, literacy or illiteracy, learner's experience of assessment and whether assessment (there) techniques are implemented in a manner that embraces principles of outcomes-based education. The results revealed that educators show an understanding of assessment in an outcomes-based education system. There has been a shift from the traditional way of conducting assessment, which was by means of tests and examination only. Educators conduct assessment continuously and employ a variety of strategies, which help educators collect data about learner's performance. The data collected enables educators to give constant feedback to learners and also report to parents about their children's performance. However, findings also revealed that there is some illiteracy with regards to assessment planning and implementation. (Educators attempts are dwarfed by the tradition of summative type of assessment that educators have been exposed to all their lives. The study has also revealed that though educators engage in continuous assessment and employ various assessment strategies; examinations are still considered as the strategy to be used for making decisions and public judgments due to lack of clearly formulated school assessment policy. There is minimal participation of parents in their children's learning, which is due to illiteracy with regards to transformational policies and curriculum issues. Some parents, because of work commitments, financial constraints and not living with their children, makes participation almost impossible. The implication of this study is that the school needs to have a clearly formulated assessment policy, which reflects OBE principles. The policy should state clearly how assessment is to be planned and implemented in an outcomes-based education system. The school also needs to have a staff development programme which is an ideal platform for sharing meanings and interpretations with regards to assessment implementation in an outcomes-based education system. The development programme will also help educators revisit and review their assessment policy to ensure that assessment implementation is on track. Parent participation in their children's learning could be made a reality through workshops. Parent's workshops would help develop parents on transformational policy and curriculum issues. This will ensure maximum parent participation in their children's learning and also ensure that parents provide necessary support to sustain effective learning. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2003.

In this study I am aiming to improve my practice as a Social Justice Educator of educator-students, basing my methodology primarily on Jean McNiff's (2002) approach to self-reflective action-research. The self-reflective action-research requirements mean that the study is necessarily an iterative process. I construct tools from within my praxis that has informed my work as a social justice educator. I apply these tools to the work of students (that has been informed by my praxis) to evaluate how well this same praxis lives up to its purpose. Through the same process I seek to improve the tools with which to better frame and name the praxis, for its improvement. From my own and collective writing, working, learning and reading experiences I have aimed to do this by constructing a Trajectory Model describing an understanding of social justice education to apply to the Self-Reflective Action-Research (SR-AR) Reports of our Advanced Certificate in Education (ACE) students. I use this process to draw conclusions about the Trajectory Model and indications of social justice educator practice. The Trajectory Model - containing the Critical Elements for indicating social justice education-praxis - is the model I construct for and in this research - for use in our ongoing developmental praxis as social justice educators. The Trajectory Model, for social justice education, is constructed - and hence understood through - a series of layered models of informing concepts and theories. The Trajectory Model is my attempt to describe the standing; yearning-imagining-dreaming; gazing; seeing; thinking-naming and framing; and doing subjective being for social justice - in a way that is communicable and usable to articulate indicators of what I - in this contextual space, time and community of practice - understand to be critical in being a social justice educator 1. The trajectory Model discussion focuses particularly on three Critical Elements: Position and Stance; Indigenous Knowledge Construction; and Agency and Praxis. They are to be 'read' as being embedded within 'imagination and yearning' for a socially just, non-oppressive society - and they all imply self-reflexivity as an integral aspect of their existence. Thus while there are six numbered elements or aspects in the Trajectory Model, it is the three 'intersecting circles' (of the model diagram) that I name to be the central or Critical Elements - the other three being contextualising or 'embedding' 'aspects' rather than 'elements'. Through this process I came to the following primary conclusions: The method of researching the reports was inadequate for the purpose of drawing any but the most tentative conclusions about growth of social justice practice from the work contained in the reports. However, they proved of some value in students' self-reflections on their own social justice praxis. Through the process of engagement and analysis, indications emerged that the constructed tools have value for the purpose of facilitating analysis and articulation of social justice educator praxis through the provision of a conceptual structure to name and frame the work. This has beneficial implications for social justice educator pedagogical development with regard to both praxis and research possibilities for our community of practice as social justice educators at UKZN in the future. The self-reflexivity and collective engagement of the research process in this study has helped to strengthen my practice as an educator of social justice educators, primarily through improving definition and mapping of critical elements in educating for social justice, as I understand it, in relation to current understandings and practiecs in the literature. 1. The discussion in the Introduction to this study, on the reason for using an alternative set of words to the "dreaming, seeing, being" terminology, pertains. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2006.

Abstract not available. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, PIetermaritzburg, 2004.

Parent-teacher relationship and support to children are essential for effective education to be functional. Sound parent-teacher relationships influence teaching and learning. Hence it was evident from literature review that so many studies were conducted in parent involvement in schools to enhance teaching and learning, this study focused on the dimension of the perceptions of both teachers and parents on their relationship to accelerate parent involvement in schools. The study focused on how parents and teachers view their relationship, how they raise problems encountered in the relationship, what enhances and/or aggravates the status of their relationship, and the issue of policies pertaining parent-teacher relationship. The objectives of the study were to examine and define the concept of the parent-teacher relationship, to investigate the perceptions of parents and teachers about their relationship with a focus on their obligations and responsibilities, to understand what enhances and/or impedes the parent-teacher relationship in rural Black communities, and to discuss possible solutions towards enhancing parent-teacher relationship. The research questions were: a) How do parents and teachers describe their relationship? b) What factors do parents and teachers suggest impede and/or enhance their relationship? c) What school policies and practices are in place that facilitate or hinder the relationship? The outline of the dissertation took this shape: Chapter One provides a background to the study explaining the motive behind it, and discussing the rationale of the study. The main objectives of the study and the research questions are explored in this chapter and the chapter has further furnished readers with the description of the setting of the schools under study. Chapter Two defines terms used in the study, and then reviews relevant literature adopted in this study. The contextual and theoretical framework of the study is explored in this chapter. Chapter Three deals with the methodological aspects and procedures. A justification on the use of qualitative approach is given and the choice of research instruments is also discussed. How access was gained from high structures to the parents on the ground level is also discussed. Experiences and methods used during interviews are also explored. Chapter Four embarks on the clear milieu of the two schools, the initial visits and the description of respondents. Chapter Five present, analyses and discusses the findings and implications of the study employing literature reviewed. Chapter six concludes the entire study and makes recommendations. The briefing of the study is of two schools that were selected purposively and then three teachers per school including the principal and six parents per school community that resulted in eighteen respondents in all. The study opted for a qualitative approach and for a case study. The findings of the study were that there is poor or no parent-teacher relationship. Teachers and parents admitted the need for each other. Though parents admitted their deficiency in supporting schools and in making good relations with teachers, however, they shifted more blame to teachers who do not initiate the relationship whilst they stand a good chance. The study revealed that there are factors that impede parent-teacher relationship and those that are supposedly to enhance the relationship. Both parents and teachers raised a need for empowerment on how to deal with each other. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2004.

No abstract available. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of Natal, 1999.

Abstract not available. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of Natal, 1990.

Though the political unrest in African schools has been broadly viewed as arising from the power struggle between the state and the liberation forces, in rural areas the question of violence should also be looked into in the context of the emergence of conflicting views between Inkatha and the African National Congress (ANC). Political contradictions have emerged for various reasons. One of the reasons has been the desire to preserve the traditional political system, the tribal authority system. The liberation forces view the present forms of traditional political structures as parts of apartheid political organs, in that, since the introduction of the Bantu Authority system in the early 1950s and later on the formation of homeland governments in the early 1970s, they have been performing the functions assigned to them by the state. However, despite the reality that traditional political structures are functional to the state, they, at the same time, remain the authentic and legitimate political organs representing the aspirations of a significant fraction of rural communities. What needs to be taken seriously into consideration in analysing the rural political situation is the fact that the apartheid policy was ingeniously designed and predicated upon a tradition which was still held in esteem when it was subordinated by the colonising nations. This tradition was then enshrined in the apartheid programme, or, put differently, apartheid was camouflaged by it. Therefore it is a simplistic view to over emphasise the functional role of the traditional political system. The desire to preserve the present form of political system could be attributed either to the success of the policy of separate development or the fear for the annihilation of traditional structures in the new political dispensation or both. This study looks at the political dynamics and how it has precipitated violent confrontation among the oppressed people. It focuses on how schools in rural areas of KwaZulu have been affected. Principals were asked to express their views on their perceptions of violence. The conclusion drawn from respondents is that pupils are defiant because parents and teachers have been unable to fight for the rights of their children. For example they have been unable to provide them with adequate education. The author ends by recommending that parents and teachers should take up their rightful places in society. That is they should take upon themselves the responsibility of providing adequate education for the children. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of Natal, 1992.