While career development is viewed as a lifelong process, there are numerous limitations regarding existing career theories and research pertaining to the adolescent population. Further, insufficient longitudinal research represents one of the major obstacles for a more holistic understanding of career development across the lifespan. Thus, the present longitudinal project of which the current study forms a part was initiated to address the lack of research and theory concerning adolescent career development. The larger longitudinal project intended to make information available regarding the occupational aspirations and perceptions of a sample of South African children and adolescents, from early childhood into their adolescent years. The current study investigates the occupational aspiration development of 15 to 16 year old South African adolescents. It is argued that the South African knowledge base on career development behaviour still requires extensive development, especially with regards to adolescent career development. The current longitudinal study aimed to explore and describe possible developments and changes over a two year period in the interest typology, occupational status level and occupational gender stereotypes of the 43 adolescents. Additionally, the study aimed to explore and describe the adolescents' reflections on their own occupational aspiration development. The findings of this study will provide necessary baseline information on the development of South African adolescents' occupational aspirations and will offer valuable recommendations for the future development of adolescent career education programmes. Adolescent and career development theories were used to provide a context for the current study. Semi-structured interviews and biographical questionnaires were utilized to record verbal data which was transposed into nominal data for analysis. Thus, the current study was quantitative in nature. The semi-structured interview comprised four general aspects that included: the adolescents' occupational aspirations, the number of occupations they knew about, how much they knew about the expressed occupations, and the extent to which they held gender stereotypes concerning fourteen different occupations. The data gained was coded according to Holland's (1985) classification system of interest typologies. Also, the adolescents' occupational aspirations were coded according to their status levels. The coded data was subsequently analysed using both descriptive statistics in the form of frequency counts and percentages as well as inferential statistics in the form of chi-square analysis. Content analysis was also conducted on the adolescents' reflections on their own career development as a means to extract themes. The results indicated that adolescence was an important phase of career development and the findings supported adolescent and career development theories. The results of the study also indicated that the majority of adolescents aspired to Investigative type occupations across both years of the study and most adolescents consistently aspired to high status occupations. In addition, adolescents do not appear to gender stereotype in terms of occupations. Lastly, it was found that most adolescents could reflect on their career development, predominantly attributing changes in their occupational aspirations to changes in their interests. The present study has made available important information regarding the occupational aspiration development of a group of South African adolescents, which can be utilized in further research and as a foundation on which to develop career education programmes.

The recent increase in the number of children orphaned and rendered vulnerable by HIV and AIDS in South Africa has placed an added burden on schools as sites of care and support. Education policies mandate schools to develop strategies to support such children, but this is no easy task in contexts where teachers are already struggling to fulfill instructional requirements. Literature reveals that teachers in under-resourced schools, where the problem is more severely experienced regard this increased pastoral role as an added responsibility that they do not feel competent to execute. Since there is unlikely to be any significant improvement in the circumstances of these children in the near future, there is a need to discover creative ways to address this problem. I was led to ask how teachers could support children to better cope in the face of adversity in a way that could be easily integrated into the academic curriculum, so as to minimise the perceived burden of providing care and support. Based on my knowledge of the value of bibliotherapy in promoting resilient coping in individuals, I was interested to see if folktales could be used in a similar way with groups of children. Working from an asset-based perspective, and proceeding from a transformative and participatory epistemology, I adopted an action research design to explore the potential of traditional folktales to enhance positive coping responses in children orphaned and rendered vulnerable by HIV and AIDS. My choice of traditional folktales was influenced by the importance that resilience theory attaches to cultural variables in the resilience process. The participants were isiXhosa speaking children who were orphaned and rendered vulnerable by HIV and AIDS (OVC) between the ages of nine and fourteen years (n=30) in Cycle One who lived in a children‟s home or with foster parents. In Cycle Two, the study was conducted in a school setting with thirty (n=30) participants. I conducted two cycles of reflective action research enquiry to ascertain how folktales could be used to enable teachers to meet both pastoral and academic requirements. In the first cycle, I used a pre-post time series design to explore if merely telling the stories would enhance the resilience of the children. Although this use of the stories was teacher-centred, I knew that it would be an easy and time-saving way for teachers to provide support, if it proved to be effective in enhancing resilience. Drawings and accompanying explanations were used to generate data pre-and post-intervention. The thematic analysis of the data revealed that, post-intervention, there appeared to be an increase in two resilience-enhancing indicators: the children appeared to have a more positive sense of self and improved positive relations with peers/friends. Critical reflection on the process also revealed ethical and methodological concerns and problems when working with vulnerable children. The findings from this cycle informed my second cycle, in which I adopted a more participatory approach to engage the children in making meaning of the stories and explore how they related to their own lives. I used participatory arts based methods such as drawings, collages, drama and more usual qualitative strategies, such as focus group discussion and observation, to generate data. The findings from this cycle suggest that using such strategies will equip teachers with tools to enhance the resilience of OVC in a way that also promotes the attainment of instructional outcomes. This study has contributed important theoretical, methodological and pedagogical insights. Theoretically, this study has contributed to the social ecological perspective of resilience by confirming that cultural resources, such as indigenous African stories (folktales) can enhance the resilience of vulnerable children. Lessons learnt from this study had a methodological contribution to the ethics of working with children and the use of culturally appropriate resources in the field, which were folktales. This study has also contributed to the meaning making implications of using folktales, which can aid the pedagogical strategies that teachers use. Although this study was meant to be small- scale research and was not intended to be generalisable, the findings do suggest that teachers could have a resource that is time efficient, effective and could assist them to reach both their pastoral and academic goals.

While the field of career psychology has shifted its attention to the study of career development, the developmental stage of childhood has often been neglected. Similarly, there is an absence of career research of a longitudinal nature, despite consistent calls to focus more on longitudinal methods when studying career development. The present study forms part of an existing longitudinal project which investigates the career development of South African children. This study, initiated in 1998, attempts to explore the occupational aspirations and gender stereotypes of a group of 39 children in the Nelson Mandela Metropole. The results from this study will provide much needed baseline information on how South African children become aware of careers, as well as provide useful suggestions on how to develop career education syllabi, particularly within the Life Orientation curriculum. The present study aims to explore and describe the changes that may occur in the participants’ occupational aspiration interest typology, status levels, and gender stereotypes over a five year period. Both developmental and career developmental theories were used to provide a theoretical context from which the participants’ career development could be explored. The study is quantitative in nature as it made use of semi-structured interviews and a biographical questionnaire in order to quantitatively transcribe the data. The questionnaire consisted of four broad questions which asked for information regarding the participants’ occupational aspirations, how much information the participants had about the chosen occupation, the number of occupations the participants knew about, and the extent to which the participants held gender stereotypes regarding fourteen different occupations. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the findings of the data which had been coded according to Holland’s typology of occupations. In addition, content analysis was performed to elicit themes regarding the participants’ own reflections on their career development. Results from the data analysis revealed that the majority of participants aspired to Social type occupations throughout the five years under study. Furthermore, most participants consistently aspired to high status occupations throughout the five years. Similar results were found for girls and boys. The results also demonstrated that the participants’ gender stereotypes tended to decrease over time, particularly as their occupational information increased. Lastly, most children were able to reflect on their career development and attributed changes in their occupational aspirations to changes in their interests. The results from this study offer insight into the development of occupational aspirations and perceptions of South African children which can be used as a foundation for future research and which should be valuable in the development of relevant career education programmes for South African schools.

A lack of fundamental movement skill (FMS) proficiency in children can contribute to decreased physical activity (PA) levels, increased adiposity and poor acquisition of specialised sport specific movement skills. To prevent the latter, the identification of FMS status in early and middle childhood years is needed for targeted and specific interventions. Against the backdrop of physical education being omitted from the South African school curriculum, the presence of a patriarchal society, gender sporting stereotyping, high levels of unemployment and low education levels; the assessment of FMS status is particularly warranted. Aim of Study: The primary aim of this study was to assess the FMS proficiency of girls aged 9-to-12 years from previously disadvantaged communities within Nelson Mandela Bay. Methodology:A descriptive-exploratory-contextual study design, employing quantitative assessment techniques, was utilized. The sample comprised of 227 girls. Convenience sampling was employed. Testing consisted of FMS proficiency tests in the 20m and 40m sprint, standing long jump, throwing for distance, catching, static balance and throwing for accuracy. FMS process scores were assessed with the body component (BC) and Test of Gross Motor Development II (TGMD II) approaches. Anthropometric measurements of the standing and seated height, mass, arm span and leg length were additionally measured. Microsoft Excel® and Statistica® were used for descriptive and inferential statistical analysis. In the case of significant ANOVA results, the Scheffe post hoc test was used for pairwise comparisons. Statistical significance was set at p<.05 and practical significance (Cohen’s d) was set at d>.2. Pearson Correlation Coefficient identified statistical and practical correlations between two variables and chi square was applied to indicate differences in frequency distribution tables. Cramer’s V values were applied to determine practical significance in the case where statistical significant differences were identified between sets of frequency distributions.

M.A (Clinical Social Work) / The Department of Health and Social Development (DHSD) has the crucial mandate of protecting the vulnerable groups within society. These include women, children and people living with disabilities. In order to attain this, DHSD has employed social workers and other social service professionals to render the required services. Sexual abuse is a violent crime that is committed on children, who form part of the vulnerable groups. This study aims to determine social workers’ perception of their role in the management of child sexual abuse in the West Rand, Gauteng. It further aims to make recommendations that will enhance social workers’ intervention with sexually abused children. Kantrowitz and Okun’s (2008) framework of the roles of social workers was considered when analyzing participants’ perceptions of their roles in intervening with sexually abused children. The concepts relevant to the study included social workers’ perceptions and social work roles. The research approach of the study was qualitative, as the goal was to describe and analyse social workers’ perceptions of their roles. The findings indicated that social workers were not clear on their roles when rendering services to sexually abused children. They do not utilise evidence-based tools, and they end up doing tasks that are supposed to be done by other service providers, such as parents or care givers. They furthermore do not feel confident to render therapeutic services, and require training and support in this regard. Recommendations made to DHSD included providing continuous training and debriefing sessions to social workers.

M.Ed. (Educational Psychology) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

M.Ed. (Educational Management) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

M.A. (African Languages) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

Please read the abstract (Summary) in the section 00front of this document / Dissertation (M Occ Ther)--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Occupational Therapy / unrestricted

Thesis (MPH.) -- University of Limpopo, 2016 / Background: Disabled children with different conditions such as cerebral palsy, traumatic brain injuries, developmental delays, severe orthopaedic impairment, hydro and micro-cephalous are brought to Elim Hospital for rehabilitation therapy. Most of these disabled children stay with caregivers who are responsible for their care including rehabilitation therapy at home to avoid complications. The aim of the study was to establish factors that contribute to development of complications in disabled children. Methods: The quantitative descriptive study design was used and convenience sampling method was used to select 52 caregivers out of the population of 60. Questionnaires and observation checklist were used for data collection at the rehabilitation therapy clinic during their rehabilitation therapy visit. Data were analysed using SPSS version 22. Results: The results show that there is no association between diagnosis and the development of complications. There was an association between availability of resources which is one of the caregiver factors and the development of complications. Conclusion: The study concludes that, availability of resources to provide the rehabilitation therapy on the disabled children is the contributing caregiver factors on the development of complications in disabled children at Elim Hospital.