Thesis (MTech (Education))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2007 / In this mini-thesis data has been collected and processed to detennine which factors inf1uence effectiv'e classroom management in the intermediate and senior phases at poor rural schools, A Comprehensive review of relevant National and International literature were conducted and farmed the basis for the construction of a questionnaire. The questionnaire was formulated to determine the extent, complexity and reality to which educators at poor rural schools are exposed to on a daily basis. External and internal factors contributing to poor classroom management were identified. External factors include home circumstances and the environment in which learners live. The lack of stimulation at home, low literacy levels of parents, the absence of good early childhood programmes and the shortage of food have a huge impact on learners performance in the classroom. Negative role models in the community and home as well as proper supervision, lead to discipline problems and unmotivated learners. Internal factors refer to the role of the teacher, the curriculum and discipline in the classroom. It is clear that educators play a central role in the provision of quality education. It is not an easy task. Working conditions are difficult and lead to weak motivation and low morale among teachers. It is impossible to implement outcomes based education in large classes. Dejected teachers try to survive by using traditional teaching and classroom approaches. There is however a big group of professional and motivated teachers. This teachers do everything to support and motivate learners. It is clear that poverty in the community is the main reason for the problems in rural schools. It is also clear that this problems need to be addressed. Long-term political solutions are needed to combat poverty. Short-term solutions might include better cooperation between the school and the community. The key to success is sustainable coaching and mentoring of teachers. The excessive emphasis on teaching and demonstration of outcomes are not beneficial for both learners and teachers. A solution to the problem is: ..... adapt the system in the child's best interest rather than the child having to adapt to the education system." Human Rights Commission (2006: 16)

abstract: Background: Childhood obesity is one of the most serious public health concerns in the United States and has been associated with low levels of physical activity. Schools are ideal physical activity promotion sites but school physical activity opportunities have decreased due the increased focus on academic performance. Before-school programs provide a good opportunity for children to engage in physical activity as well as improve their readiness to learn. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of a before-school running/walking club on children's physical activity and on-task behavior. Methods: Participants were third and fourth grade children from two schools in the Southwestern United States who participated in a before-school running/walking club that met two times each week. The study employed a two-phase experimental design with an initial baseline phase and an alternating treatments phase. Physical activity was monitored using pedometers and on-task behavior was assessed through systematic observation. Data analysis included visual analysis, descriptive statistics, as well as multilevel modeling. Results: Children accumulated substantial amounts of physical activity within the before-school program (School A: 1731 steps, 10:02 MVPA minutes; School B: 1502 steps, 8:30 MVPA minutes) and, on average, did not compensate by decreasing their physical activity during the rest of the school day. Further, on-task behavior was significantly higher on days the children attended the before-school program than on days they did not (School A=15.78%, pseudo-R2=.34 [strong effect]; School B=14.26%, pseudo-R2=.22 [moderate effect]). Discussion: Results provide evidence for the positive impact of before-school programs on children's physical activity and on-task behavior. Such programs do not take time away from academics and may be an attractive option for schools. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Physical Education 2014

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M.Ed. (Education) / Conflict is a general phenomenon in social relationships. Due to the fact that the teacher and the pupils are together for about six hours a day, there is a great possibility that conflict can arise in the classroom. There can be a variety of reasons for this conflict. It is very important that the teacher must be aware of the fact that he is going to deal with conflict from time to time. Another important aspect for the teacher is that he must be aware of conflict, must know the different kinds of conflict as well as the reasons for the conflict that arises. Further on he must prepare himself for conflict situations so that he is able to handle it in such a way that the pupil as well as himself will benefit from these situations. The handling of conflict must become part of the teacher's daily task. He must have a positive attitude towards conflict situations and must not evade it. Every conflict situation must be analysed and handled according to the merits of the case. other aspects that need attention is the teacher-pupil relationship, communication between the teacher and his pupils and the management of the classroom. The teacher must endeavour to build a relationship of trust with his pupils. That will encourage pupils to be honest and open with the teacher. This will also enable the teacher to handle conflict situations in a positive manner and eventually both parties will benefit from this. Two-way communication should be present in the classroom. This implies that the teacher will give the pupils the opportunity to participate in classroom decisions and the setting of classroom rules. The pupils will then feel more free to discuss with him any problems they may have. The way the teacher manages his classroom is also going to have an influence on classroom conflict. His conduct towards management and leadership will enable him to limit or prevent classroom conflict or will enable him to cope with the situation.

M.Ed. / Please refer to full text to view abstract

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Magister Educationis - MEd / South Africa has undergone major transformation after the election of the first democratic government in 1994. The acceptance of a humane constitution as well as equal rights for all its citizens necessitated the banning of corporal punishment in all schools under the South African Schools Act 84 of 1996. Accordingly, this change in the education policy as well as a change in society regarding equal rights for all citizens required teachers to adjust and improve their practices related to classroom management and discipline. The abolition of corporal punishment in 1996 (South African Schools Act 84 of 1996) can thus be regarded as such a changed aspect which required teachers to find alternative ways of keeping discipline in schools. It is expected from teachers to manage learning in classrooms, while at the same time practise and promote a critical, committed and ethical attitude towards the development of a sense of respect and responsibility amongst learners. It is with this in mind that one should remember that classroom locations and environments are complex as well as dynamic. Learners can now use their rights in a court of law while at the same time become more unruly, disruptive and at times even violent. Teachers on the other hand are left with limited alternative procedures or guidelines to manage unruly learners. As such, teachers now rely on their own informal learning in order to deal with such learners since alternatives to manage ill-disciplined learners are not included in formative teacher training courses. This study therefore concerns itself with the way teachers acquire classroom management skills in the absence of corporal punishment and learn how to deal with behavioural problems in order to carry on with day-to-day classroom activities. This is essentially viewed as informal learning. Because of the absence of much-needed training and support from educational authorities, teachers adjust and improve their practice, relying on hands-on experience in classrooms since they only incidentally receive opportunities to engage in ongoing formal professional development. This study explores the nature and content of informal/incidental as well as nonformal (courses not leading to formal accreditation) teachers learning related to managing classroom discipline in the absence of corporal punishment and investigates how skills, to manage classroom discipline, impact on the learning and teaching enterprise. A qualitative approach within the interpretive paradigm was followed throughout this study. Unstructured interviews were used to gather data which resulted in the gaining of rich detailed descriptions of participants responses to acquiring classroom management skills. This qualitative investigation included a literature review that explored and analysed different perspectives on the learning process. This study confirms that teachers acquire classroom management and discipline skills through workplace learning, initiated by themselves as well as collaboratively through interaction with colleagues and learners. Learning within the workplace was possible due to the opportunities they were afforded within the working context they found themselves in. / South Africa

This study examines the effects of classroom guidance on personal and social adjustment at the third grade level. The problem in this study is to determine the effectiveness of classroom guidance upon the personal and social adjustment of a group of third-grade children. It is the purpose of this study to compare the effects of a planned program of activities upon the personal adjustment of a third-grade group with a similar group who did not participate in such a program of activities.

The principal contribution of the study is a conceptual account of classroom activities in school science, which incorporates both ethical and conventional science understandings within a single conceptual framework. In order to illustrate and explore the strengths and limitations of the conceptual framework developed, an exploratory case study involving 7 science classes was conducted at 2 schools. The 'classroom practices and understandings' conceptual framework presents a novel approach for understanding activities of students and teachers in the science classroom. According to this framework 'understanding' is a grasp of inferential connections as part of either practical or cognitive types of activity, whereas a 'practice' is a set of activities organized by understandings, rules and characteristic aims, emotions, and projects. On this basis the grounds for a given understanding are described in terms of a unifying structure for both ethical and science understandings. In both cases 'authority in understanding' refers to the specific sources of authority for a given understanding, which may include authoritative individuals in addition to more conventional grounds such as reasons or evidence. Finally, 'richness' of understanding refers to the quality of such connections to sources of authority in understanding, and is thus is a measure of the strength of understanding generally. Classroom lessons developed for the exploratory case study focused on ethical questions of sustainability. These were implemented in the science classroom at two research sites, with the researcher acting as guest teacher. One site focused on study of ecology in grade 11; the other site focused on study of genetics in grade 10. At both sites student interviews were conducted to supplement the findings of the classroom-teaching component. The findings support the integrity of the conceptual framework, while highlighting significant challenges for seeking to make explicit the sources of authority in science students' ethical understandings. Building from the conceptual framework and cases studies, a number of further directions for empirical and theoretical research are suggested. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate

Mindfulness has been defined as having three core aspects: active attention which leads to awareness, a regard for the present rather than the future or the past and an approach that is non-judgemental and accepting (Hooker and Fodor, 2008). Mindfulness has been used to treat adults and children in a clinical setting with presenting issues such as anxiety and difficulties related to poor self-regulation. The current research aimed to explore the effect of mindfulness on self-regulation and the feasibility of using mindfulness in a mainstream primary setting as a preventative, universal measure.The research used an exploratory, mixed methods design and included a comparison group. The intervention was developed collaboratively by the researcher and class teacher and included mindfulness activities taken from Mindfulness for Schools (Cattley and Lavelle, 2009). The children in the intervention group took part in a mindfulness activity 3-4 times a week for 8 weeks, in 10 – 15 minute sessions, straight after lunch.The qualitative data was obtained using semi-structured interviews and researcher observations. The semi-structured interviews, which were transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis, provided information on the pupils’ and teacher’s perceptions of the intervention. Meanwhile, the researcher observations triangulated data on participant engagement as well as providing information on the fidelity of the intervention and formative feedback for the teacher. Observations and semi-structured interviews were also completed with the comparison class to establish the comparability of the two classes. Quantitative data was gathered using a self-regulation measure developed from questionnaires cited in Bandy and Moore (2010). The questionnaire was administered to both classes before and after the 8 week intervention to explore changes in self-regulation within and between groups. The data is reported using descriptive statistics and inferential parametric statistics.Both teacher and pupil interviews highlighted increased feelings of calm and levels of attention immediately following mindfulness activities. Data from the pupil interview suggested that the children involved in the intervention enjoyed many of the activities and were able to suggest times when they might find mindfulness activities useful. Information gathered from the interviews with the class teacher suggested that the development and delivery of mindfulness activities was appropriate and feasible in a mainstream, primary setting. While changes on the self-regulation scale could be considered positive, in that there was an overall decrease in mean scores in the intervention group, the decrease was not significant and so likely to be due to chance. In summary, the qualitative data indicated that mindfulness activities had a small but positive impact on the emotional, behavioural and cognitive awareness in a group of year 3 children in a mainstream primary setting. However, adapting mindfulness activities to make delivery feasible for a teacher in a mainstream primary setting may reduce the effectiveness of the intervention. Recommendations for EPs and future research are discussed.