Thesis( Master of Education(Education)-- Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2010 / I decided to undertake this study because as the RPL specialist, I noticed a discrepancy between the interpretation of knowledge presented as part of a RPL application and the interpretation of that knowledge claim by the academic staff members involved in the assessment. Knowledge claim is the phenomenon that this study is about and I am attempting to answer these two questions: 1. What are the similarities and/or differences in the knowledge claims made by RPL applicants and the knowledge claims recognised by the academics in the RPL process for access into the BTech in Project Management at the institution? 2. How valid is RPL as a means of access to the BTech: Project Management programme at the institution? For my study I developed a theoretical framework that consists of two components: the knowledge claims made by the RPL Applicants before they were given access to the University and the academics’ interpretation of the RPL assessment. The second component is the knowledge claim made by the RPL applicants as students after they were admitted to the University and the academics’ interpretation of their performance. These two components were further developed using concepts such as recontextualization, tacit and explicit knowledge, the usefulness of theory and cognitive ability.I analysed the RPL theories within the context for before Higher Education and after Higher Education. I then proceed to discuss the development of knowledge in the workplace and in the academia using the same breakdown.

M.Ed. (Educational Management) / The veld school is one of the most recent developments in the educational provision of the Transvaal Education Department. The effectiveness of the veld school is determined by the quality of education and the enthusiasm manifested by the veld-school teacher as the pursuer of a profession. The professional development and in-service training of the veld-school teacher, therefore, deserves the attention of the Transvaal Education Department, as well as the active measures of the veld-school principal. The rapid technological development of today has caused change and innovation to become an indissoluble part of the daily structure of life. The two most important educational bodies, namely the family and the school, are experiencing problems in keeping pace with this constant change and innovation. The problem of keeping pace with change and innovation may lead to voids in the most important educational situations. It, therefore, concerns the family as well as the school as educational bodies. These voids manifest themselves especially when it comes to the commitment of values and norms to the child. In this study the attempts made by the Transvaal Education Department to overcome these voids in the education of the child have been probed. Initially the subject Youth Preparedness was introduced in an attempt to achieve this goal. The ambitions set for the subject could not be realized within this framework.

M.Ed. (Education) / The research was structured to determine the present state of inservice education and training (INSET) in South Africa with regard to teachers' centres. It addressed the present education system in South Africa as well as the underlying philosophy of teachers' centres. The hypotheses were formulated to determine whether teachers' centres meet the needs of the teachers they serve; whether domestic circumstances have any influence on a teacher's usage of a teachers' centre; and how teachers perceive a good teachers' centre to function. The history of in-service education and specifically teachers' centres was traced through 13 countries, including South Africa, and factors determining the nature of teachers' centres were discussed. Five possible types of teachers' centres were identified and the Johannesburg Teachers' Centre, as being representative of the majority of the centres in South Africa, was analized...

M.Ed. (Adult and Higher Learning) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

The research presented in this thesis is a case study, based on ethnographic principles, located in the interpretive paradigm of qualitative research. The focus is specifically on the development of a collaborative approach ro teacher professional development: an approach that recognises and celebrates teachers themselves as resources for their own and other teachers' professional development. The study was carried out over a period of four years with a group of twelve teachers who had recognised the need and expressed the desire to develop their teaching. The research evolved in two main phases. The initial phase was based on the implementation and evaluation of a project designed to encourage a collaborative approach to teacher development based on mutual peer support. This led to a second phase, the main focus of the research, aimed at gaining a greater understanding of the teachers' situation and situating their practice in the wider context generated by this understanding. Conversations with the teachers led to the identification of dimensions and tensions characterising their experience. The research presented here, represents an attempt to understand, interpret and make recommendations relating to the professional development of teachers. The understanding is linked to the teachers' educational biographies and experience of the culture in which they are situated. The interpretation is based on what may be viewed as a dynamic ongoing construction of meaning - a journey of negotiation. The text, described as a narrative collage, a tapestry of voices interwoven by threads of negotiation, represents a collaborative accomplishment. The teachers' words have been interpretively framed and these constructions validated in an interpersonal construction of social reality. The reader is invited to engage in an act of complicity, to collude with the text in the construction and negotiation of shared meaning, possibly finding resonance with their own situations. Reflections on the teachers' experience reveal journeys which resonate with that of the society in which the school is located - 'a case in transition' - situated between an environment characterised by constrained cooperation and an environment characterised by freer collaboration. The overall tension may be viewed metaphorically as a 'Tug o' War'. On one end of the rope is a cultural legacy of authority, isolation, social division and conservatism, while on the other end there is a pull towards greater autonomy and interaction, to adapt rather than conserve and to work together in mutual collegial support: a struggle between cooperating with what is and collaborating towards what could be. The main contention of this thesis is that we ought strongly to support and encourage collaborative approaches to professional development based on mutual peer support. We need to look towards a future of open professionalism where the teachers are regarded as key persons in the process. The attainment of such an ideal needs to be seen as part of systemic changes in management, policies and structure geared towards greater inclusivity and democratic practice; it necessitates a coherent approach that is based on relationships of mutual respect and appreciation.

It is clear that the concept of inclusive education implies that learners experiencing barriers to learning should, wherever possible and with suitable support, be educated with others in a regular school setting and through a regular curriculum. It is assumed that suitable facilities, resources and assistance, where needed, will be available. An adaptable curriculum that accommodates the specific learners who experience barriers to learning is also essential for inclusive education. The focus on providing equal educational opportunities for learners experiencing barriers to learning means that the traditional roles and responsibilities in education will inevitably change. Teachers have to modify their views of themselves, their teaching methods and the roles that they have to play during the implementation of inclusive education. Teachers will have to be adequately trained to effectively and confidently provide appropriate education to learners experiencing barriers to learning. The primary goal of the study is to explore the experiences, perceptions and needs of teachers regarding inclusive education. The secondary goal is to develop a training model to equip in -service teachers better for inclusive education. The research process was structured by the application of a qualitative research approach within a theory generative design, utilising five steps of theory generation in order to reach the objectives of the study. The qualitative approach was selected, as it is exploratory in nature. Founded in this exploratory research, a central concept was identified, with the aim of developing a model to assist teachers in implementing inclusive education. ABSTRACT (xvii) The research was conducted in two phases. The first section of the research comprised an exploration of the experiences, perceptions and needs of teachers regarding inclusive education. It embraced several decisions relating to data collection and analysis processes, such as defining the population and selecting the sample procedure and the data collection method, namely personal interviews with teachers, in order to determine their experiences, perceptions and needs. Concepts in the transcripts were categorised into themes and sub-themes and were verified by a literature review. A central concept was identified ( of the theory-generative research design) that can be further analysed in the second section of the research. The second section of the research was based on the findings of the research and the work of Chinn and Kramer (1995) in order to develop a training model to assist teachers in implementing inclusive education. The following additional steps of model design were employed: - Step Two : Concept definition and classification - Step Three : Construction of relationship statement - Step Four : Description and evaluation of the model - Step Five : Model operationalisation After data analysis was completed, the research established that the participating teachers were not in favour of inclusive education and therefore perceived it negatively. They also viewed themselves as not suitably equipped to work in inclusive settings. They were also discontented and experienced an intense feeling of incompetence. The researcher identified the in teachers as the central concept, which served as the foundation of the design of a model for teachers with regard to inclusive education. The essential criteria of the concept were identified and linked to each other by means of relationship statements. The model was described and evaluated according to the five criteria of clarity; simplicity; generality; accessibility; and significance, as proposed by Step One revitalisation of competence Chinn and Kramer (1995). The researcher also reflected on the limitations inherent to this research study and presented guidelines and recommendations for the operationalisation of the model in practice, to guide future research and in-service training programmes.

D.Phil. / This research will focus on a description and exploration of the management principles, procedures and processes in a university-based, in-service training programme for unqualified practicing teachers in community schools in the Orange Farm area. It is aimed at the construction of a theoretical framework, illuminating the evolving management model in such a way that it could be conceptually transferred to similar organic training programmes. The conceptual framework, which will be constructed from a literature investigation, will be complemented and integrated with a problematised and interpretive documentation of the management structures as they evolved in the project. Main theory concepts that will be investigated are community education, inservice teacher education, educational management and adult education. The research report commences with an orientation to the study in which the groundedness of the design is presented and discussed. It includes a brief presentation of the researcher's presuppositions and assumptions as well as a - description of the context of the research. The main research question is of an open and ethnographic nature and states the problem as being the unknownness of management structures in organic community education programmes. The need for an ecologically or conceptually valid management model is expressed concisely in the literature on NGO education programmes. Management models that function successfully in formal education are assumed to fail in community programmes, which often reveal highly idiosyncratic characteristics. The literature study is presented subsequently. General management principles are explored and discussed. This is followed by a detailed discussion on educational management and its relation to general management. A discussion of the function of INSET and the management of change conclude this section. In the following section of the research report the design of the field research is discussed against the background of the paradigm of qualitative research, describing the case format as mode of exploratory descriptive research. The analysis of the written documentation as major research activity is emphasised. The data of the report are then presented in the format of examples and description of the various management activities in the programme. The final categories of data are emphasised with a view to support the construction of the envisaged management model. The report is concluded with the interpretation and validation of the data.

M.Ed. (Curriculum Studies) / The subject of this thesis is the female primary school teacher as adult learner. The characteristics of the female primary school teacher as adult learner have been discussed, with particular attention paid to probable underlying reasons why the female primary school teacher does not involve herself in further studies. Furthermore, careful consideration has been given to the importance of study by the female primary school teacher, and in what way the desire to learn can be induced in the female primary school teacher. The main objective of the thesis was to investigate factors, from an educational perspective, which could be responsible for the female primary school teacher not taking up further studies. For this purpose, a questionnaire was distributed to female primary school teachers in Pretoria, who are currently in the teaching profession yet not involved in present.

M.Cur. / The student nurse is primarily an individual undergoing personal and professional development towards becoming a competent and creative professional nurse. The presence of the student nurse in the clinical practice during her term of training is aimed at the realisation of this development. Consequently it appears essential that the student nurse be granted the opportunities for gradual personal and professional growth. This constitutes the basis for the advancement of her status as student. On the basis of a literature study a conceptual framework has been developed to serve as the basis for granting student status in South Africa. A descriptive, exploratory survey was undertaken by means of a questionnaire submitted to student nurses registered with a nursing college in the Transvaal. The purpose of the survey was to determine to what extent o student status is being advanced in the clinical practice, and o the service component of the student's training programme possibly obstructs advancement of her student status. From the survey it appears that frequently much of the sparkle attached to being a student is not realised in the clinical practice. This can be ascribed to the dominant utilisation of the student nurse as the primary service unit in the clinical practice. The research results indicate that in the clinical practice student status is only advanced to a limited degree due to the fact that the service component, which requires the student nurse to act as primary service unit during her term of training, greatly obstructs the advancement of her student status. Based on these results certain recommendations have been made.

M.Ed. (Tertiary and Adult Education) / At this time of transition in South Africa, the key to creative and pro-active change is education. In this sphere, as in many others in South Africa, there is a large developing sector juxtaposed with a small developed one. The majority of teachers, especially those in the junior primary phase, are unqualified or under-qualified and in urgent need of systematic inservice education. In response to this need the Subject Advisory Service of the Department of Education and Training (DET) was established in 1990 with the specific aim of improving the quality of classroom competence of teachers. The objective of this study is to explore the perceptions which a group of junior primary advisers have of their work in the Subject Advisory Service. To attain this objective a sample is used consisting of all the junior primary advisers in one of the eight regions of the DET who consented to participate at a specific time. An investigative approach is used to explore the perceptions which these junior primary advisers have of their work. This is done' by means of qualitative research which includes detailed descriptions of the context and manner of responses as well as analysis of the content. Qualitative research is believed by the researcher to be the best means of reflecting and recording the complex phenomena of human thought and behaviour. Data are obtained by requesting participants to write a n.live sketch based on a stimulus, and later to participate in a focus group interview based on the same stimulus.