Good communication and maintaining effective relationships within a school community are essential for achieving high academic standards. The aim of effective communication between teachers and learners is to elicit and ensure behaviour that will enhance the learning process. It is therefore important that teachers relate to learners in a sensitive manner when they communicate their knowledge (Bingham and Sidorkin 2004, 5). Sotto (2007, 96) further contends that teachers‟ communication styles reveal their core attitude towards learning and that the success of their teaching will be partially determined by how effectively they communicate. Many schools are experiencing disciplinary problems, low teacher and learner expectations, a breakdown of the social order, and a high incidence of academic failure. Bingham and Sidorkin (2004, 5) explain the above-mentioned problems as symptoms of a breakdown in communication between educators and learners. Once relationships in a school have been jeopardised, it becomes increasingly difficult to achieve high academic standards. It is therefore essential that educators create meaningful interactions in an environment in which all individuals can develop to their full potential. The National Education Policy Act No. 27 of 1996 (Education Labour Relations Council 2003, A- 4) advocates the enhancement of quality education and innovation through systematic research and development. The principles contained therein are directed towards enabling the education system to contribute to the full development of each learner, respecting each learner‟s right to freedom of thought, opinion and expression within a culture of respect for teaching and learning. The establishment and strengthening of relationships in a school will contribute to improved academic achievement.

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

The significant energy consumption of non- domestic buildings has led to renewed interest in natural ventilation strategies that utilise the action of the wind, and the buoyancy of hot air. One natural ventilation element is the Windcatcher, a roof mounted device that works by channelling air into a room under the action of wind pressure, whilst simultaneously drawing air out of the room by virtue of a low pressure region created downstream of the element. A significant number of Windcatchers are fitted in UK schools where good indoor air quality is essential for the health and performance of children. The performance of a ventilation system in a school classroom is determined by its ability to provide ventilation in accordance with UK government ventilation, air quality, and acoustic requirements. However, there is only limited performance data available for a Windcatcher, particularly when operating in-situ. Accordingly, this thesis investigates the performance of a Windcatcher in three ways: First, a semi-empirical model is developed that combines an envelope flow model with existing experimental data. Second, measurements of air temperature, relative humidity, carbon dioxide, and noise levels in school classrooms are assessed over summer and winter months and the results compared against UK Government requirements. Finally, air flow rates are measured in twenty four classrooms and compared against the semi-empirical predictions. The monitoring reveals that air quality in classrooms ventilated by a Windcatcher has the potential to be better than that reported for conventional natural ventilation strategies such as windows. Furthermore, an autonomous Windcatcher is shown to deliver the minimum ventilation rates specified by the UK Government, and when combined with open windows a Windcatcher is also capable of providing the required mean and purge ventilation rates. These findings are then used to develop an algorithm that will size a Windcatcher for a particular application, as well as helping to improve the ventilation strategy for a building that employs a Windcatcher.

This study is influenced by phenomenological approaches, and is an inquiry into secondary mathematics teachers’ lived experiences with ephemeral assessment opportunities such as observations of, and conversations with, students. This phenomenon is explored through the use of reflective journals, semi-structured interviews, and focus group interviews. Two layers of analysis were used to better understand the phenomenon. The first layer focuses on emergent themes of what and how teachers think and do in the moment. The emergent themes were interrelated and categorized into eliciting, interpreting, and acting. The second layer focuses on the emergent factors that contribute to what and how teachers think and do during the ephemeral assessment process. The emergent factors were interrelated and categorized into teacher, student, relationships, and contexts. Through the two layers, the complexity of the ephemeral assessment process has been developed.

The main objective of this diploma thesis is to introduce the concept of public virtual educational portal (VEP) as a centralized system giving an easy way to spread information and knowledge among users for their lifelong progress. The partial objectives of this thesis are: - introduction to the problems of virtual education, - analysis of e-learning courses supply, their providers and tools used in the field of education in the Czech republic, - overview of selected learning tools and their utilizing within design of the VEP, - design of a feasible way of realization and evaluation of the VEP plan. Contribution of this thesis is, on the first place, to get the reader introduced into the problems of virtual education. Subsequently the reader is given a helpful overview of brokers and providers of educational courses in the Czech republic. Another benefit of this work is to provide readers with the most exploited tools for educational purposes. The main part of this thesis presents an overall concept of the public virtual educational portal including its realization feasibilities and benefits for the users. Finally this thesis is focused on investment plan evaluation in which the benefits and risks of the VEP project realization are described.

The diploma thesis is divided into a theoretical and a practical part. The theoretical part begins with explanation of basic concept of educational videos. The following chapter discusses advantages and possible barriers to using videos in education and presents examples of using videos in the classroom. The next chapter offers introduction to educational portals, selected YouTube channels, video tutorials and an example comparison of self-study versus university degree in a particular specialization. The practical part is divided into two chapters - Analysis of selected videos and Recommended steps for video production. The analytical part examines successful educational videos on YouTube in order to compile the recommended steps for creating quality video content in the last chapter. Included in the last chapter is also an educational video created by the author according to the previously recommended steps. This video was shown to students during a lecture at University of Economics, Prague. The students then filled in a short questionnaire as a feedback about the video. The conclusion summarizes the goals, results and benefits of the thesis.

Prior to the advent of the new democratic political dispensation in 1994, South African education had laboured under racially motivated discriminatory practices of active exclusion of the majority of learners. The authoritarian system located educational problems in the perceived deficiencies of the learner rather than in the repressive, top-down, non-participative, unreflective and uninclusive practices of the prevailing educational orthodoxy of the time. After 1994, the broader reconceptualisation of South African education sought to redress the imbalances of the past by creating equal opportunities for all learners, irrespective of race or creed. However, the difficult conundrum was how such a complex systemic change could be driven by teachers who had not only been trained in a heavily segregated educational system but formed part of it. Therefore, the aim of the thesis was to determine how teachers conceptualised inclusive teaching, explore the teaching practices that were believed to be effective in promoting inclusion in the South African secondary classrooms, and determine how they could be developed. The two-dimensional research study firstly took the form of a qualitative collaborative action research project conducted with a team of fifteen teachers at a single South African secondary school. The project was non-positivistic, critical, emancipatory and allowed the participants jointly to define the constructs of inclusive education, inclusive teaching and inclusive class; to identify practices of inclusion through observation; to adopt other practices in their classes; to determine the effect of such practices on inclusive teaching and learning; and finally to draw conclusions about the specific practices that were clearly effective in the context of their school. Secondly, an inductive analytical framework was used by the researcher to determine the theoretical contribution the study would make to the notion of developing inclusive teaching practices and determining the way this could be achieved within the South African school context. Data were collected through a series of meetings, participant observations, focus-group interviews, and one-on-one semi-structured interviews during the action-research stages of planning, action and reflection. Limitations were the teacher-researchers' lack of experience in conducting research and the limited time the research team had to complete the research tasks. The findings indicate that, at the time of the research, the conceptualisations of inclusive teaching and inclusive pedagogy were varied and continued to be influenced by the former special-needs education system. Moreover, the findings show that, while the inclusive practices identified by the teachers in this study are popular in the international literature, they need to be contextualised in and made relevant to the South African situation. However, it is clear that the teachers' experience of participating in the action-research process had raised their awareness of the importance of inclusive teaching, promoted a sense of emancipation, and held out the prospect of successful and possibly lasting change. These findings clearly imply that the reconceptualisation of inclusive pedagogy should always take place within a specific context, and that South African teachers in particular should form communities of inquiry to reflect on and develop their inclusive practices. The study has captured the essence of inclusion within the South African school context and has identified areas that need further research, for example the impact of different cultural beliefs on both teachers and learners in relation to inclusion. In conclusion, the study has demonstrated the unique contribution of action research in promoting continuous reflection, revision and intervention as indispensable procedures in the process of improving inclusive teaching and learning.

Current evaluations in science education research of discovery based science programs give no clear indication of the merit of these new science programs. Getzels and Jackson's studies in creativity suggest that permissive and authoritarian family environments may influence development of creativity and IQ respectively in children. It was reasoned that findings relating family and school environments to creativity could have relevance in science education where discovery based science programs are having a profound effect on altering science classroom environment. It was hypothesized that permissive science classroom environments would produce significantly higher posttest creativity means than the control. Since a current science education goal is to enhance student question asking skill (e.g. Inquiry Training) and since findings indicate question asking styles are related to aptitudes, it is hypothesized that high creative and high permissive groups will have significantly higher factual and yes-no question score means whereas high intelligence and low permissive groups will have significantly higher explanation question score means. Creativity tests used in this study include Guilford's Uses Test and the Question Test from Torrance's Ask-and-Guess Test. The Question Test also yields factual, yes-no, and explanation question scores. To assess classroom environment, the Classroom Environment Scale was developed. Item choices were classified by seven judges into the three environmental categories. The sample consisted of four grade seven classes, three experimental and one control. Experimental groups were taught the ESS unit, Batteries and Bulbs. The experimental groups included a semipermissive group which was taught the unit according to suggestions in the teacher's guide, and the permissive and authoritarian groups which, respectively, had less and more teacher control of classroom environment than the semi-permissive group. Experimental groups were shown to have significantly different classroom environment means in the direction expected. Data for testing hypotheses of this project came from a field experiment and a field study. For the field experiment a before and after design was used, analysis of covariance being employed on the group post creativity means with significant covariates derived from step-down regression analysis of pretest data. All significance levels are at the 5% level. Results of the field experiment indicate that for the more valid creativity test, the Uses Test, the group post creativity means of the permissive and authoritarian groups were significantly larger than the control group post mean. With the Question Test, which lacked discriminant validity in regard to intelligence, only the authoritarian group post creativity mean was significantly larger than the control post mean. For the field study high and low groups were formed using medians of creativity, intelligence and classroom environment as cutoffs, with analysis of variance and the F-test used to detect significant differences in means of question scores or question gains of these high and low groups. When question gain data showed non-normality the Chi-square test was used with significance at 1%. Field study results show that the high creative group had significantly higher mean yes-no and factual question scores than the low creative group, whereas the high intelligence group had a significantly higher mean explanation question score than the low intelligence group. Chi-square analysis revealed significant divergence in factual and explanation question gains for low and high permissive groups. For aptitude-environment interaction low aptitude-low permissive interactions contribute most to divergence of factual question gains and high aptitude-low permissive interactions contribute most to divergence of explanation question gains. Strongest divergences in group question gains came from intelligence environment interaction. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department 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