A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters in Communication Science in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 2004. / This dissertation uses a combination, of qualitative and quantitative research methodologies to present an objective analysis of conflict between aggrieved educators and their employer, the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Department of Education, set against current theories of how narrative analysis, informed by semantic roles analysis, can be used according to the principles of organisational communication to discern underlying causes of conflict, and current approaches to conflict transformation The major findings of this study are that conflict is endemic at all hierarchic levels of the KZN Department of Education, that intermediate forms of dispute resolution are not working effectively, with the consequence that a high number of disputes are referred for arbitration, and finally that arbitrators are performing their duties effectively in terms of the dispute resolution procedures of the Education Labour Relations Council (ELRC).

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Campus mediation programs (CMP's) experienced a rapid growth in higher education institutions from 18 programs in 1990 to more than 200 programs in 1998 (Warters, 2000). During that period, CMP's became a widely accepted approach for addressing conflict within US colleges and universities. However, recent data indicate that there are just over 100 programs which points to a decline and raises questions as to the value of campus mediation programs to higher education institutions. A hindrance to addressing the questions raised has been the limited amount of empirical research and published data on evaluation use within campus mediation programs. Accordingly, the purpose of this study was to gather information from US campus mediation program directors regarding their use of program evaluation in order to suggest ways to improve their evaluation efforts. Campus mediation program directors were surveyed on their perceptions of evaluation use in their respective programs. This study was conducted over a period of six months using a web-survey and follow-up telephone interviews. The web-based survey used in this study was adapted from an online campus mediation program survey developed by Rick Olshak and modified. The web-survey consisted of four sections: Demographics, Description of Services, Evaluation and Program Profile. The population consisted of 108 campus mediation program directors in US higher education institutions who were solicited for this study and agreed to participate. Of the 108 directors, there were a total of 59 respondents representing a 55% response rate. There were nine respondents who participated in a follow-up telephone interview. Data analysis for the research questions utilized rank order, frequencies, and averages; supplemental analyses utilized an independent samples t-test, one-way ANOVA's and Pearson correlations. Results indicated that evaluation received one of the lowest priority ranking as a program goal, however, most of the directors indicated that they would be very interested in learning different ways of improving their evaluation methods and having a standard evaluation process. The most prevalent concerns and recommendations from the telephone follow-up interviews focused on acquiring buy-in of administration and campus affiliates, improving program surveys, addressing budget cuts and decreasing high staff turnovers. / Educational Psychology

School safety is one of the most important issues facing administrators, teachers, and parents. Several risk factors have been identified as antecedents to aggression including poor social skills, difficulty dealing with anger and frustration, and inadequate problem solving abilities. No Child Left Behind requires all schools receiving Title IV funds to implement research based violence interventions. Second Step, an internationally recognized violence prevention curriculum published by Committee for Children was implemented in an urban elementary school with 66 African American students in grades 3 through 5 for 9 weeks. This study employed a randomized control group design with two treatment conditions; Second Step instruction and Second Step instruction with digital role-playing, an adaptation of digital storytelling, to increase program effectiveness and intensify student motivation. The School Social Behavior Scales-2 (Merrell, 2002) was used to assess differences in aggression and prosocial skills. MANOVA indicated significant differences for grade only. Older students had higher prosocial behavior scores and younger students had lower scores on the program's content assessment. Results indicated that the Second Step curriculum did not affect behavior. Although the benefits of teaching students to respond empathetically to others, solve problems, and control anger have been documented in the literature, the use of Second Step to accomplish these goals has not been supported. / Educational Psychology

In this thesis I deal with mediation as a method of social and educational work. Due to their professional teaching practice is a mediation in schools, particularly at primary school. It also focuses on the issue of adequate use of mediation in solving problems and conflict situations. In the practical part of the thesis proposes a project that can be implemented at the elementary school Stoliňská. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

This research project explored teachers’ beliefs of violence prevention approaches and self-efficacy. Relevant research indicates the value of violence prevention and conflict resolution education as well as the importance of teacher support of such programs. Theories of decision-making and self-efficacy provide the foundation for the variables that were examined through use of a survey instrument developed by Dr. K. King and Dr. T. Kandakai. Participants were sampled from two Florida school districts. Independent variables included teacher background and experience indicators including demographics and teaching/training experience. Dependent variables were comprised of multiple indicators of outcome value, efficacy expectation, and outcome expectation. MANOVAs and ANOVAs were utilized to identify relationships between the independent and dependent variables. Among the statistically significant findings a theme emerged: training history including variety of training, specific topics, and the interaction effects of combinations of training impacted perceptions of self-efficacy and outcome expectation more significantly than other demographic and background characteristics. The results suggest that the provision of a variety of training for teachers may benefit violence prevention practice by increasing perceptions of efficacy which may lead to an increase in consistent and effective utilization of various conflict resolution education programs and strategies.