M.Ed. / The introduction of School Based Management (SBM) in South African Schools ushered in School Management Teams (SMTs) whose responsibilities include, among others; planning, organizing, leading and control. These fundamental day-to-day duties also relate to school branding which is a new concept in South African Schools. School branding is a new concept that warrants empirical research so that school management teams can thoroughly understand and implement it professionally. Branding a school cannot be left to the ad hoc devices of the layman. School Management Teams need to be factually conversant and knowledgeable about cultivating a knowledge substrate of school branding for application by school management teams. Understanding and implementing the concept school branding stands to benefit schools in this era where learner mobility is determined by school choice. School choice in turn is a crucial aspect of the supply and demand of learners. These two market forces have a direct impact on the survival and existence of a school. Schools in this day and age are compelled to market and transform themselves into winning, compelling and powerful brands. In the past schools enjoyed the geographic and racial monopoly over parents and learner choice of a school. With the advent of the democratic dispensation the survival of a school needs a scientific and commercial praxis of concepts like branding. Branding itself holds a host of benefits for all the stakeholders in a school.

D.Ed. / Contemporary attempts to maximise the potential of ICT in the classrooms broadly seek to move away from conventional didactic instructional approaches, in which teachers do most of the talking and learners listen (Peter Cuttance, 2007: [Online]). ICTs are purported to have the potential not only to cause a shift or change but also a means for achieving it (Rai, 2006:2). This thesis describes how the introduction of Information and Communication Technology (ICTs) has necessitated this paradigm shift in pedagogical practices of the participants. Three of the participants in this study are teaching at a former advantaged school while two are teaching at what is generally regarded as disadvantaged school. The thesis examines, by way of an integrated research methodology that incorporates activity theory as a theoretical framework, ethnography and collective case study research methods, participants’ emerging practices and also concomitant epistemologies or beliefs regarding engagement with mediational tools of ICT in the classroom. The research tools that were formulated from activity theoretical concepts of the Eight Step Model; the Activity Checklist; historical types of activity; contradictions; and boundary crossing are utilised to examine the teachers’ emerging practices, beliefs and attitudes. Data was obtained from fieldwork, interviews, and video recordings by means of the aforementioned activity theoretical tools. Additionally, activity theoretical tools, blended with content analysis, were utilised in the data analysis. As a result, this study demonstrated that without effective use of a variety of research methods at appropriate times, the quality of evidence on this inquiry would have suffered, and interpretations of causality would also been constrained (Chatterji, 2004:9). The essence of the findings in this study, which is the visible changes in the pedagogic practices of the participants revealed that it is not only the mediational tools of ICT that have an effect but also the way they are used that brings about the change in their teaching practices. This thesis, therefore, adds to the body of literature that considers the potential of Information and Communications Technology in the transformation of teaching practices.