M.Ed. / This research is aimed at investigating problems that educators are experiencing in grade 8 with the implementation of Outcomes-Based Education in township schools, in the Bethal area. The researcher was confronted on a daily basis by a horde of unwilling and unmotivated teaching staff who claimed that they were unable to find their way through the labyrinth of the Outcomes-Based Education programmes. I thus set out to find the reasons why educators in township schools encounter problems with the implementation of grade 8 outcomes-based education. Summarily, the purpose of this study is to suggest solutions to the problems encountered of the implementation of OBE of the five schools in the township The objectives of the study can be stated as follows: · To analyse and understand the problems educators are experiencing in teaching out-comes based education. · To know how to assess the learners. · To understand the concept out-comes based education. · To be able to assist the educators in solving problems

Please read the abstract in the section 00front of this document / Dissertation (MEd (Education Management))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Education Management and Policy Studies / unrestricted

Mindfulness-based interventions can improve teachers' capacities for attention and emotion regulation, as well as their prosocial dispositions like compassion and forgiveness. The purpose of this set of research studies (including three case studies and a larger non-randomized treatment -- control group quasi-experimental study) was to examine whether or not capacities like these, learned through participation in a mindfulness training (MT) program for teachers, become embodied and show through as changes in teachers' mindful behavior in the classroom -- specifically, their ability to be calm, clear-minded and kind-hearted in their speech and behavior with students in the classroom. These studies used first-person, teacher reports and third-person, observer measures to assess potential MT-program-related impacts on changes in teachers' classroom speech and behavior over time. Results from survey and interview data showed change in teachers' perceptions of their mindful classroom behavior. The case studies showed evidence of change in teachers' calm, clear and kind classroom speech and behavior as rated by observers. Results in the larger study again showed change in treatment teachers' perception of their mindfulness in the classroom over time compared to controls, but no evidence was found for observed changes in speech or behavior in the classroom. Methodological, developmental and intervention-related interpretations and implications of the findings are presented and directions for future research are discussed.

The study analysed the management of disciplinary approaches to classroom management in selected Northern Areas schools in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. The South African education system has historically promoted corporal punishment as a means of maintaining discipline. As a result corporal punishment was an integral part of schooling for most educators and learners in twentieth century South African schools (Morrel, 2001b:292). Since 1994, however, the South African government has implemented principles of equity, redress and social empowerment in broader society and education. Consequently, corporal punishment was banned in schools and new methods of managing discipline were introduced. The study followed a qualitative investigation, which is explorative, descriptive and contextual, using interviews with educators and questionnaires with learners to collect data at selected schools. The study’s aim was to investigate and explore the perceptions and experiences of learners and educators regarding discipline and to make recommendations regarding proactive, positive disciplinary approaches so as to guide educators to facilitate learners towards self-discipline. However, it was discovered that educators were unable to facilitate self-discipline or guide learners as they themselves had not learnt to practise and demonstrate the values and principles of self-discipline. This study thus has as its intention to challenge educators to review and refocus their ways, motives and expected outcomes as they demonstrate and exercise discipline.

Stories are a vehicle through which experiences and events are communicated amongst people. Stories have the potential to influence people’s understandings and beliefs, and essentially, promote a societal and cultural change. Grounded in literature pointing to the value of narrative in supporting learning and the need to explore new modes of communicating science, this study explores the potential of narrative in science education. The aim was to explore the use of a Story-Based Learning Design in a Grade 4 Science and Technology classroom. Using a qualitative case study research design the researcher took on the role of participant-observer. Data were collected through observations, learner verbal and written descriptions of a final product and teacher reflective interviews. The findings of this study illustrate the value of stories, as learning tools, in science education. In this regard pertinent conclusions were derived, namely, that stories attract learners and have the potential to be used as a vehicle for learning scientific concepts and the target vocabulary, that stories enable learners to make meaning of abstract concepts and relate it to their world and finally that the use of the imagination assists learners to visualise concepts making learning relevant.

The purpose of the study was to develop strategies for maintaining discipline among learners in secondary schools in Kenya in the post-caning era. More specifically, the objectives of this study were to: - Examine disciplinary strategies that are revealed in the relevant literature that will assist the Kenyan public secondary schools manage student discipline in the post-caning area; - Examnine the exsisting approaches to discipline that are being adopted by secondary schools in Kenya in the post-caning era; - Develop strategies for managing student discipline in public secondary schools in Kenya in the post-caning era.

This study is concerned with teacher decision-making in the English as a Second Language classroom. Specifically, the study examines the impact of teacher beliefs and perceptions, context factors and second language theory on planning and implementation decisions for the ESL instructional context. Nine ESL teachers in three post-secondary institutions participated in this qualitative study. Data were gathered through classroom observations, postlesson conferences and interviews. These data were examined in terms of what instructional decisions teachers made and the factors that influenced these decisions from the individual teacher's perspective. Second, the data were analysed for internal consistency between stated beliefs and instructional decisions and external consistency between decisions and second language theory. In examining the role of the teacher in the ESL instructional context, this thesis contributes to both research and teaching theory in English as a Second Language. First, while regular classroom research has indicated that the role of the teacher and the ecology of the classroom are central to understanding the instructional context, ESL classroom studies have primarily focused on the learner, the learning process and language learning outcomes in this context. This thesis addresses this gap in the research by investigating the teacher's role in the ESL instructional setting and the factors that impact on teacher decisionmaking. Second, ESL classroom researchers have observed that theoretical ideas are implemented in various ways in the formal setting. While researchers have speculated on the reasons for teachers' eclectic use of theory in practice, there has been little exploratory research conducted to investigate this phenomenon. The findings from this present study indicate that teachers' instructional decisions are centrally influenced by both individually held beliefs about second language learning and teaching as well as experiential knowledge of the ESL classroom. These findings not only contribute to our understanding of the ESL instructional context from the teacher's perspective, but are also significant for the development of instructional theory. / Education, Faculty of / Graduate

This study examined the effects of the supervisory process on classroom teaching. Through examination of the supervisory conference setting, this study examined whether effective supervision required supervisors who practiced certain strategies as they dialogued with teachers in the conference, or whether discussion of research-verified knowledge about teaching and learning alone was sufficient to bring about an improvement in classroom teaching practice. This study also examined the effects of an intervention on school principals in their performance of the supervisory task. That is, the study sought to determine if supervisors transferred the research-verified knowledge and/or process strategies presented in workshop programs to the supervisory task, and, if so, what effect, if any, this had on teachers' classroom teaching performance (classroom management practices). The research design was a case study of three supervision dyads which included two different treatments. Pre- and post-test data sources included supervisee classroom management performance, supervisory post-observation conferences, and conference participants' independent post-conference reactions. Data analysis explored the relationships between classroom observation data and supervisory conference data, in each case, for evidence of improved practice on the part of the teacher in the classroom and on the part of the principal in the supervisory conference. The relationships among the teacher's classroom management practices, the supervisor's process strategies, the substantive content focus of the conference, and the differential treatments (workshops) received careful examination. Through this approach the effects of many variables on teachers' classroom management performance were explored. The supervisory experience appeared to be affected by the experience and/or professional confidence levels of both supervisors and supervisees, the openness of both supervisors and supervisees (as evidenced in the interactive nature of the conference), the level of content knowledge and supervisory process strategies employed by the supervisor in the conference setting, and the facilitating role played by the supervisor. Where teachers were experienced and professionally confident, they appeared to find the supervisory process less threatening, and were more open and interactive in the conference setting, rendering the supervisory experience more effective. Where supervisors were perceived as less threatening (low in experience and/or level of confidence), more knowledgeable, and sincere in their facilitating efforts (process strategies), the supervisory experience also appeared more effective. The effects of the treatments on supervisors also appeared to be related to their level of experience and/or confidence, as well as their degree of openness. While the supervisors in this study transferred the knowledge and/or strategies learned to their performance of the supervisory task, the levels of application differed considerably. The implications for practice, based on the limited findings of this study, suggest that the improvement of current supervisory practice may require a combination of several staff development programs designed to provide both partners involved in the supervisory process with opportunities to develop and/or enhance both the knowledge and/or the skills that appear necessary for effective supervision. / Education, Faculty of / Educational Studies (EDST), Department of / Graduate

No description available.

This thesis presents findings of a study conducted to determine the levels of cooperation that are manifested when disciplinary issues arise in the classroom.