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This essay investigates sami thematics within the national school curricula of Sweden, Norway and Finland. It is a comparative essay with a focus on how the Sami are represented, using Olsen’s (2017) theoretical concepts of absence, inclusion, and indigenization. The essay is limited to studying sami representation within the subjects of social science, religion and history. Furthermore, the study aims to find possible causes of variation in the result. The results show that the Norwegian curricula have a broader inclusion of sami thematics compared to the Swedish and Finnish curricula. Additionally, the Norwegian curricula show more content of indigenization than that of the Swedish and Finnish curricula.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2011. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study focuses on the effect of a reading strategy instruction research intervention on teachers and learners in Grade 4 to 6 at a primary school in the Western Cape. Literacy levels for South African Intermediate Phase learners remain at a disturbingly low level and Systemic Evaluation Assessments performed by the Department of Education show that reading, and more specifically reading comprehension, is a serious area of concern. A closer look at the Revised National Curriculum Statement and in-service as well as pre-service teacher training courses reveals that while teachers are trained to teach reading, very little, if any, focus is placed on training them how to teach comprehension. With a growing trend towards English as language of instruction for multilingual, non-English first language learners, the need to equip learners with ways of constructing meaning from texts becomes ever more crucial. This study addresses the need for reading comprehension through the use of reading strategies – conscious tools that readers can be taught to improve their individual meaning-making efforts during the reading process. The study implements reading strategies through an intervention based on pre-selected reading strategies set within a structured teaching approach which aims to provide teachers (and learners) with adequate guidance and support for implementing reading strategies. Through a case-study design this study utilises a mixed-method methodology for gathering both quantitative and qualitative data. The quantitative data serve to provide baseline data of selected reading-related abilities for learners before the start of the intervention, and to provide comparative data for specific measurements taken before and after the intervention. The qualitative data, gathered through classroom observations, unstructured interviews and obtaining samples of learners‘ work, provide rich, in-depth data about how teachers and, to a lesser extent, learners took on reading strategy instruction, and what factors influenced them in the process. This study found that a multitude of factors affect the uptake of strategy instruction as part of everyday teaching practice, and, furthermore, that teachers and learners move through distinct phases in their uptake of reading strategy instruction. While the study highlights a number of issues that are important to reading strategy instruction in Grades 4 to 6 in South Africa, a few of the more pertinent issues are the following: (1) teachers seem to need specific basic knowledge of language and texts for effective reading strategy instruction to take place (and very little, if any, research seems to address this issue), (2) the frequency of reading strategy instruction seems crucial to its success – the more often, the better, (3) engagement with teachers over a longer period is necessary for effective change in their instructional methods to take place, and (4) the gap between research and practice (that which is taught in classrooms) remains considerable. The findings of this study, while specific to reading strategy instruction, contribute to the rapidly-growing body of knowledge on reading comprehension instruction, (particularly within a multilingual environment) and teacher development from the basis of research that is focused on changing teacher practice. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie fokus op die uitwerking van ‗n intervensie oor die onderrig van leesstrategieë op Graad 4 tot 6 onderwysers en leerders by ‘n Wes-Kaapse laerskool. Die geletterdheidsvlakke van Suid-Afrikaanse leerders in die Intermediêre Fase bly kommerwekkend laag, en Sistemiese Evalueringstoetse wat deur die Departement van Onderwys gedoen is, toon dat lees, en meer spesifiek leesbegrip, ‘n ernstige bron tot kommer is. Wanneer in meer detail gekyk word na die Hersiene Nasionale Kurrikulumverklaring, asook na die opleidingskursusse van diensdoenende onderwysers en onderwysstudente, blyk dit dat hoewel onderwysers geleer word hoe om lees te onderrig, daar min, indien enige, fokus geplaas word op die onderrig van leesbegrip. Met die toename in die gebruik van Engels as taal van onderrig vir meertalige, nie-Engelssprekende eerstetaal-leerders word dit al hoe meer belangrik dat leerders weet hoe om betekenis uit tekste te skep. Hierdie studie maak gebruik van leesstrategieë om die behoefte aan leesbegrip aan te spreek – leesstrategieë is metodes wat leerders kan aanleer om bewustelik toe te pas om hul individuele pogings tot betekenisskepping te verbeter. Die studie implementeer leesstrategieë d.m.v. ‘n intervensie wat van voorafgeselekteerde leesstrategieë gebruik maak en waarvan die opleiding sodanig gestruktureer is dat onderwysers (en leerders) die gepaste leiding en ondersteuning gebied word vir die implementering van leesstrategieë. Die studie gebruik ‘n gevallestudie-ontwerp tesame met ‘n ‚gemengde-metode‘ metodologie wat vir die insameling van beide kwantitatiewe en kwalitatiewe data voorsiening maak. Die kwantitatiewe data verskaf basisdata oor geselekteerde leesverwante vermoëns vir leerders voor die aanvang van die intervensie, en dien as vergelykbare data vir spesifieke metings voor en na die intervensie. Die kwalitatiewe data, wat ingesamel is deur klaskamerwaarnemings, ongestruktureerde onderhoude en voorbeelde van leerders se werk, verskaf ryk, diepgaande data oor hoe onderwysers en, tot ‘n mindere mate, leerders die onderrig van leesstrategieë aangeneem het, en watter faktore hulle in hierdie proses beïnvloed het. Hierdie studie het bevind dat ‘n verskeidenheid faktore ‘n invloed het op die aanvaarding van strategie-onderrig as deel van alledaagse onderrigpraktyk, en veral dat onderwysers en leerders deur spesifieke fases beweeg in hul aanvaarding van leesstrategie-onderrig. Hoewel die studie lig werp op verskeie belangrike kwessies vir die onderrig van leesstrategieë in Graad 4 tot 6 in Suid-Afrika, is ‘n paar van die meer pertinente kwessies die volgende: (1) dit blyk dat onderwysers spesifieke basiese kennis van taal en tekste nodig het vir effektiewe onderrig van leesstrategieë (en dat min, indien enige, navorsing skynbaar hierdie kwessie aanspreek), (2) die gereeldheid van leesstrategie-onderrig blyk kritiek tot die sukses daarvan te wees – hoe gereelder, hoe beter, (3) betrokkenheid by onderwysers oor ‗n langer tydperk is nodig om te verseker dat hulle hul onderrigpraktyk verander, en (4) die gaping tussen navorsing en realiteit (dit wat in klaskamers onderrig word) blyk steeds aansienlik te wees. Hierdie studie se bevindinge, hoewel spesifiek gerig op die onderrig van leesstrategieë, dra by tot die snelgroeiende kennisveld oor die onderrig van leesbegrip (veral in ‘n meertalige omgewing) en die ontwikkeling van onderwysers vanuit die oogpunt van wat vereis word om onderrigpratkyk te verander.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2013. / Bibliography / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: During the past number of years, the pressure on universities worldwide, including universities in South Africa, has increased to bridge the gap between higher education and society. This includes becoming active partners with its communities. Therefore, the importance of community engagement as one of the three pillars of higher education, alongside teaching and learning, and research, has gained considerable momentum. Higher education institutions in South Africa are also increasingly challenged to elevate the status of their teaching and to raise their levels of community engagement. This also pertains to the area of postgraduate education, which points to the need for a close relationship between teaching, learning and research. The aim of this study was to develop a contextualised and integrated curriculum framework for community-engaged teaching, learning and research in a postgraduate Play Therapy programme. This was done using a contextualised perspective on higher education with reference to current higher education legislation in South Africa as well as curriculum development in general. A literature review of community engagement provided a perspective on the current state of community engagement - nationally, as well as internationally. The study used a qualitative single case study design and an interpretive paradigm to generate empirical data. The first phase of the empirical part of the study focused on determining the current state of community engagement within the postgraduate Play Therapy programme. Data was generated using questionnaires completed by current students and lecturers. In the second phase of the empirical study, semi-structured interviews were conducted with lecturers from 13 national as well as international higher education institutions to review curriculum frameworks and content from other higher education community engagement models. The last empirical phase included two focus groups, one with current students and one with current lecturers in the postgraduate Play Therapy programme under investigation. From the findings of the study, a curriculum framework emerged which outlines community engagement within the postgraduate programme. The emerging framework points to the need for a stronger integration of teaching and learning with community engagement (service component) through service learning. In the South African context and within the programme that was investigated, service learning provides for engaged learning which includes experiential learning and opportunities for students to engage in interactive and experiential processes. The study has also pointed out that research within the postgraduate programme should reflect, in a much stronger way, links to community-based research. Such links may benefit a scholarship of engagement. Also, the research component of the programme needs to be linked more closely to teaching and learning in order to better inform the curriculum in terms of trends, needs and priorities. These activities need to take place within community partnerships with a reciprocal benefit to both the programme and the communities involved. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Universiteite wêreldwyd, asook in Suid-Afrika, het gedurende die afgelope paar jaar druk ervaar om die gaping tussen hoër onderwys en die gemeenskap te verminder. Dit sluit in om aktiewe vennote van gemeenskappe te word. Die belangrikheid van gemeenskapsbetrokkenheid as een van die drie pilare van hoër onderwys, saam met leer, onderrig en navorsing, het dus aansienlik toegeneem. Hoëronderwysinstansies in Suid-Afrika word ook uitgedaag om die stand van hul leer en onderrig te verhoog en die vlakke van hul gemeenskapsbetrokkenheid te versterk. Dit geld ook vir nagraadse opleiding, wat neerkom op 'n hegter verband tussen leer, onderrig en navorsing. Die doel van hierdie navorsing was om 'n gekontekstualiseerde en geïntegreerde kurrikulumraamwerk vir gemeenskapsgerigte leer, onderrig en navorsing binne 'n nagraadse program in Spelterapie te ontwikkel. Dit is gedoen deur 'n kontekstuele oorsig van hoër onderwys te gee met verwysing na die huidige hoëronderwys-wetgewing in Suid-Afrika asook 'n oorsig oor kurrikulumontwikkeling. 'n Literatuuroorsig van gemeenskapsbetrokkenheid het perspektief op die huidige stand van gemeenskapsbetrokkenheid landwyd én wêreldwyd verskaf. Hierdie studie berus op 'n kwalitatiewe enkelgevallestudie-ontwerp en benut 'n interpretatiewe paradigma om die empiriese data te genereer. Die eerste fase van die empiriese gedeelte van die studie was gerig op die bepaling van die huidige stand van gemeenskapsbetrokkenheid in die meestersprogram in Spelterapie. Data is gegenereer deur die gebruik van vraelyste wat deur huidige studente en dosente ingevul is. In die tweede fase van die empiriese studie is semi-gestruktureerde onderhoude met dosente van 13 nasionale asook internasionele hoëronderwysinstansies gevoer om die kurrikulumraamwerke en inhoud van ander hoër instansies se gemeenskaps-betrokkenheidsmodelle te verken. Die laaste empiriese fase sluit twee fokusgroepe in - een met huidige studente en een met huidige dosente in die meestersprogram in Spelterapie, wat die onderwerp van hierdie studie uitmaak. 'n Kurrikulumraamwerk het vanuit die bevindinge van die studie ontstaan wat 'n uiteensetting van gemeenskapsbetrokkenheid in die meestersprogram in Spelterapie verskaf. Die opkomende raamwerk dui op die behoefte aan sterker integrasie van leer en onderrig met gemeenskapsbetrokkenheid (dienskomponent) deur middel van diensleer. In die Suid-Afrikaanse konteks en in die program wat ondersoek is, bied diensleer die geleentheid vir betrokke leer wat die volgende insluit: ervaringsleer en geleenthede vir studente om betrokke te raak by interaktiewe ervaringsprosesse. Die studie het ook uitgewys dat navorsing in die meestersprogram op 'n baie sterker wyse die verband met gemeenskapsgerigte navorsing moet reflekteer. Hierdie konneksies kan ook die vakkundigheid van betrokkenheid versterk. Daarby moet die navorsingskomponent van die program nader aan leer en onderrig beweeg sodat die kurrikulum altyd die jongste tendense, behoeftes en prioriteite weerspieël. Hierdie aktiwiteite moet in gemeenskapsvennootskappe plaasvind om voordele vir die program sowel as die betrokke gemeenskappe te bied.

Thesis (MEd (Curriculum Studies))--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / The numerous changes to the South African education system since January 1998 have had far reaching effects on schools and the training of educators (Government Gazette, 31 May 2002:13). Changes in subject content have occurred in various subjects, and the General Science (now Natural Science) syllabus is no exception. The General Science syllabus previously catered mainly for Chemistry, Physics and Biology, but the Curriculum 2005 (C2005) Natural Science syllabus includes subject matter on Physical Geography (Climatology, Astronomy, and Geomorphology) (Department of Education, 2002b:6). The problem with this is that educators that previously taught General Science are not necessarily qualified to present the Physical Geography component of the new syllabus. This study investigates the impact of the changes in the new curriculum. The review of existing literature on curriculum development in Natural Science education in South Africa emphasises key changes made in the development and implementation of C2005 and the Revised National Curriculum Statement (RNCS). It also explores the characteristic features of misconceptions, before considering specific misconceptions in Natural Sciences. The first part of the two-tiered empirical investigation is based on the results of questionnaires and interviews completed by different groups of Natural Sciences educators. The questionnaires, which drew in part on existing questionnaires used in similar studies, were based on information used for the literature review. The second part of the empirical investigation consisted of interviews conducted with Natural Sciences Departmental Heads at randomly selected schools. An attempt was made to determine how these senior educators experienced the implementation of C2005 and RNCS and what their attitude to the new curriculum were. The data obtained from the questionnaires and the subsequent interviews were categorised, interpreted and coded for statistical processing.

Human rights education is a much-investigated area of research; however, what teachers understand about human rights and the Life Skills explicit, enacted and supplementary curriculum seems to be vague. The vagueness related to the understanding of human rights emanated from multiple understandings of human rights that could be adhered to. Meta-theoretical underpinnings for the understanding of human rights have been discussed in the human rights body of scholarship. These meta-theoretical underpinnings of human rights were philosophically clustered to develop an analytical construct to guide this inquiry. This inquiry was focused on a contribution regarding teachers’ understanding of human rights education to augment the infusion of a human rights culture in diverse educational contexts. This inquiry was done, firstly, to explore the [in]consistencies between the meta-theoretical underpinnings of human rights and how they were reflected in the explicit, enacted and supplementary curriculum. Secondly, it was to explore how these influenced the way in which human rights were enacted in the curriculum. These consistencies and inconsistencies were deemed to be important because they affect the way human rights are understood and dealt with in the classroom directly. The aims of the research were to determine the meta-theoretical underpinnings of human rights in the intermediate phase Life Skills explicit, enacted and supplementary curriculum; the language(s) that emerged regarding the meta-theoretical underpinnings of human rights in the Life Skills enacted curriculum; and how the enacted and supplementary curriculum of human rights were influenced by teachers’ understandings of the meta-theoretical underpinnings. A qualitative study situated in an interpretivist paradigm was undertaken, using a shadowing methodology. Participants were purposefully selected. Data were generated by means of a document analysis as data generation strategy of the National Curriculum Statement Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement document, as well as the accompanying learning study materials, classroom observations through silent shadowing and a semi-structured one-on-one interview with each teacher. Data were analysed by means of discourse analysis. It was empirically found that the supplementary curriculum directly related to the explicit curriculum. The enacted curriculum revealed consistencies and inconsistencies within the explicit curriculum. Regarding teachers’ understanding of the explicit Life Skills curriculum, it was found that the teachers participating in this inquiry experienced limitations and restrictions regarding their own interpretations of the explicitly provided curriculum. Even when the teachers understood human rights slightly differently from the explicit and supplementary curriculum, they still only enacted what was provided in the explicit curriculum. My recommendations highlight the need to inquire about the way(s) in which teachers could be effectively supported by the Life Skills curriculum in terms of human rights enactment. A future essential study should inquire about the responsibility of each teacher with regard to human rights education and the ethical implications and considerations thereof. / MEd (Curriculum Development), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

In this study I explored depictions of diversity in the Curriculum Studies programme of the BEdHons degree course at North-West University in South Africa. South Africa was and is still is facing the challenge of inequalities such as getting access to higher education institutions that were previously dominated by a white Christian Afrikaans-speaking group. The first democratic election in South Africa in 1994 brought about structural changes in society. These structural changes included the merging of tertiary education institutions such as colleges of education, technikons and universities. In view of South Africa’s history of divisions and injustices such as patriarchy, mono-religiosity and mono-ethnicism, it therefore seemed valuable to explore how diversity is depicted in higher education institutions. In 2012 a task team was set up by the dean of the Faculty of Education Sciences at the Potchefstroom Campus of North-West University. This team investigated how diversity was expressed in selected study guides of the undergraduate BEd degree programme offered at the Potchefstroom Campus to contact mode students. This study identified the need to explore how diversity is depicted at a postgraduate degree level. The primary purpose of my research was to explore empirically the extent to which diversity nuances of gender, religion and ethnicity are depicted in the Curriculum Studies programme of the BEdHons degree course. This involved exploring the depictions of diversity in study guides of the modules presented in the Curriculum Studies programme of the BEdHons degree course. In addition, I also looked into the depictions of diversity by lecturers presenting modules and students enrolled for the Curriculum Studies programme of the BEdHons degree course. The study was situated in a critical theory paradigm and utilised a qualitative research design with a critical ethnographic methodology. Three sets of data generation methods were employed: document research, semi-structured one-on-one interviews and focus group interviews. The two campuses of North-West University offering this programme were purposefully selected as my research environments. I employed purposeful sampling, and study guides utilised by lecturers and students in the Curriculum Studies programme of the BEdHons degree course formed the sample. Lecturers presenting modules and students enrolled for the Curriculum Studies programme of the BEdHons degree course were participants. Critical discourse analysis, underpinned by Fairclough’s (1992) three-dimensional conception of discourse, was the method of analysis. The conclusions were derived predominantly from the diversity nuances acculturation and rationality. Some of the conclusions were also derived from diversity as a nuance but to a limited extent. The conclusions vary from depictions on the chosen discourse of diversity, depictions relating to curricula and the multifaceted aspect of diversity. With regard to the depictions on the chosen discourses of diversity, it was evident that some lecturer participants were only fostering the aspects gender, religion and ethnicity of certain cultural groups, which caused some groups to be invisible. Student participants’ depictions were ideologically embedded as they preferred not to engage with diversity to eliminate certain issues. Lecturer participants also tended to include disadvantaged minority/majority groups to such a limited extent that they were almost non-existent. Furthermore, it appeared that lecturer participants excluded diversity to foster inclusion. Separation was also emphasised by student participants in that they were being forced to engage with diversity rather than wanting to or having a choice to engage with diversity or not. Reflecting on the conclusions arising from my study, I put forward a theoretical stance focusing on curriculum-making for social justice. / MEd (Curriculum Development), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Human rights education is a much-investigated area of research; however, what teachers understand about human rights and the Life Skills explicit, enacted and supplementary curriculum seems to be vague. The vagueness related to the understanding of human rights emanated from multiple understandings of human rights that could be adhered to. Meta-theoretical underpinnings for the understanding of human rights have been discussed in the human rights body of scholarship. These meta-theoretical underpinnings of human rights were philosophically clustered to develop an analytical construct to guide this inquiry. This inquiry was focused on a contribution regarding teachers’ understanding of human rights education to augment the infusion of a human rights culture in diverse educational contexts. This inquiry was done, firstly, to explore the [in]consistencies between the meta-theoretical underpinnings of human rights and how they were reflected in the explicit, enacted and supplementary curriculum. Secondly, it was to explore how these influenced the way in which human rights were enacted in the curriculum. These consistencies and inconsistencies were deemed to be important because they affect the way human rights are understood and dealt with in the classroom directly. The aims of the research were to determine the meta-theoretical underpinnings of human rights in the intermediate phase Life Skills explicit, enacted and supplementary curriculum; the language(s) that emerged regarding the meta-theoretical underpinnings of human rights in the Life Skills enacted curriculum; and how the enacted and supplementary curriculum of human rights were influenced by teachers’ understandings of the meta-theoretical underpinnings. A qualitative study situated in an interpretivist paradigm was undertaken, using a shadowing methodology. Participants were purposefully selected. Data were generated by means of a document analysis as data generation strategy of the National Curriculum Statement Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement document, as well as the accompanying learning study materials, classroom observations through silent shadowing and a semi-structured one-on-one interview with each teacher. Data were analysed by means of discourse analysis. It was empirically found that the supplementary curriculum directly related to the explicit curriculum. The enacted curriculum revealed consistencies and inconsistencies within the explicit curriculum. Regarding teachers’ understanding of the explicit Life Skills curriculum, it was found that the teachers participating in this inquiry experienced limitations and restrictions regarding their own interpretations of the explicitly provided curriculum. Even when the teachers understood human rights slightly differently from the explicit and supplementary curriculum, they still only enacted what was provided in the explicit curriculum. My recommendations highlight the need to inquire about the way(s) in which teachers could be effectively supported by the Life Skills curriculum in terms of human rights enactment. A future essential study should inquire about the responsibility of each teacher with regard to human rights education and the ethical implications and considerations thereof. / MEd (Curriculum Development), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

In this study I explored depictions of diversity in the Curriculum Studies programme of the BEdHons degree course at North-West University in South Africa. South Africa was and is still is facing the challenge of inequalities such as getting access to higher education institutions that were previously dominated by a white Christian Afrikaans-speaking group. The first democratic election in South Africa in 1994 brought about structural changes in society. These structural changes included the merging of tertiary education institutions such as colleges of education, technikons and universities. In view of South Africa’s history of divisions and injustices such as patriarchy, mono-religiosity and mono-ethnicism, it therefore seemed valuable to explore how diversity is depicted in higher education institutions. In 2012 a task team was set up by the dean of the Faculty of Education Sciences at the Potchefstroom Campus of North-West University. This team investigated how diversity was expressed in selected study guides of the undergraduate BEd degree programme offered at the Potchefstroom Campus to contact mode students. This study identified the need to explore how diversity is depicted at a postgraduate degree level. The primary purpose of my research was to explore empirically the extent to which diversity nuances of gender, religion and ethnicity are depicted in the Curriculum Studies programme of the BEdHons degree course. This involved exploring the depictions of diversity in study guides of the modules presented in the Curriculum Studies programme of the BEdHons degree course. In addition, I also looked into the depictions of diversity by lecturers presenting modules and students enrolled for the Curriculum Studies programme of the BEdHons degree course. The study was situated in a critical theory paradigm and utilised a qualitative research design with a critical ethnographic methodology. Three sets of data generation methods were employed: document research, semi-structured one-on-one interviews and focus group interviews. The two campuses of North-West University offering this programme were purposefully selected as my research environments. I employed purposeful sampling, and study guides utilised by lecturers and students in the Curriculum Studies programme of the BEdHons degree course formed the sample. Lecturers presenting modules and students enrolled for the Curriculum Studies programme of the BEdHons degree course were participants. Critical discourse analysis, underpinned by Fairclough’s (1992) three-dimensional conception of discourse, was the method of analysis. The conclusions were derived predominantly from the diversity nuances acculturation and rationality. Some of the conclusions were also derived from diversity as a nuance but to a limited extent. The conclusions vary from depictions on the chosen discourse of diversity, depictions relating to curricula and the multifaceted aspect of diversity. With regard to the depictions on the chosen discourses of diversity, it was evident that some lecturer participants were only fostering the aspects gender, religion and ethnicity of certain cultural groups, which caused some groups to be invisible. Student participants’ depictions were ideologically embedded as they preferred not to engage with diversity to eliminate certain issues. Lecturer participants also tended to include disadvantaged minority/majority groups to such a limited extent that they were almost non-existent. Furthermore, it appeared that lecturer participants excluded diversity to foster inclusion. Separation was also emphasised by student participants in that they were being forced to engage with diversity rather than wanting to or having a choice to engage with diversity or not. Reflecting on the conclusions arising from my study, I put forward a theoretical stance focusing on curriculum-making for social justice. / MEd (Curriculum Development), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015