This study focuses on illuminating Kenya's urban high school teachers' perceptions of students' diversity and how these differences influence their curriculum implementation, pedagogy, and students' classroom interactions in the learning process. Located within theoretical frameworks of intersectionality and critical pedagogy, the study shows how multiple layered identities and differences identified by teachers interplay and intersect to influence their performance and students' academic success. The theoretical debate over critical pedagogy in diverse contexts shows how Kenya's high school teachers effectively develop classroom environments that address differences and acknowledge arrays of factors that create inequalities. Findings also show that teachers' work continue to be informed by government and institutional policies that favor uniformity and conformity creating contradictions and dilemmas for them. The study applies a mixed qualitative methodology based on interpretive and descriptive phenomenology to inform the study. Participants were selected based on purposive sampling from urban high schools in western Kenya. Data for the study were generated through baseline questionnaires, field interviews, classroom observations, and analysis of archival documents. Findings highlighted arrays of factors identified by participants as contributing to students differences in their specific context. Differences identified by teachers that were common across institutions were academic abilities, entry behavior, primary education backgrounds, proficiency in English language, socio-economic status, and students' motivational status. Some of the factors perceived to influence teaching and learning differed across disciplines, gender of the participants, and the nature of the schools. It was concluded that the impact of these differences on teaching and learning needs to be addressed if high school access, quality, and subsequent academic performance is to be realized for all students in Kenya's high schools.

The aim of the study was to investigate affirmative action as a mechanism for education reform in South Aftica. This investigation was prompted by political changes, which took place after the democratic elections of April 1994, impacting on the provisioning of education in South Africa. The South African education system and its institutions were confronted by many new laws and policies, including affirmative action programmes that had to be implemented. Structural changes like a unified and racially integrated education system came into being. Through literature and empirical studies it was found that race and gender discrimination was observable in all the education institutions in the RSA. Literature study revealed that neither arguments for, nor arguments against affirmative action should be overemphasized at the expense of the other. Both approaches supplemented and enriched each other. Applied correctly and managed well, the disadvantages of affirmative action can be overcome in the main. In this manner most of the injustices of the past can be corrected. It was established through literature study that, like in the USA, affirmative action in the RSA seems to be an option to eradicate the imbalances of the past in terms of race and gender. In the USA success was achieved by affirmative action programmes: The American population became more representative in terms of race and gender. On the other hand it was also established that the previously disadvantaged groups were over-represented. This led to the claim of reverse discrimination. The empirical method, namely using questionnaires, was successful in obtaining information about how education participants, especially at school level, were affected by the implementation of affirmative action policies. It also established how education participants felt and thought about their experiences and perceptions about the affirmative action mechanism for education reform. The study established that factors aimed at the equality of opportunity (also known as the soft approach) enjoyed preference to factors aimed at the equality of result (also known as the hard approach). In order to bring about the smooth education transformation it also established that for observable and radical changes to occur in the education system, factors aimed at the equality of result (the hard approach) should enjoy more attention than factors aimed at the equality of opportunity. Thus it was concluded that both the soft and the hard approaches were necessary to understand the controversial nature of affirmative action. A number of recommendations were made with regard to the research findings for stakeholders and officials to note. / Thesis (M.Ed.)--Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education, 2003

The aim of the study was to investigate affirmative action as a mechanism for education reform in South Aftica. This investigation was prompted by political changes, which took place after the democratic elections of April 1994, impacting on the provisioning of education in South Africa. The South African education system and its institutions were confronted by many new laws and policies, including affirmative action programmes that had to be implemented. Structural changes like a unified and racially integrated education system came into being. Through literature and empirical studies it was found that race and gender discrimination was observable in all the education institutions in the RSA. Literature study revealed that neither arguments for, nor arguments against affirmative action should be overemphasized at the expense of the other. Both approaches supplemented and enriched each other. Applied correctly and managed well, the disadvantages of affirmative action can be overcome in the main. In this manner most of the injustices of the past can be corrected. It was established through literature study that, like in the USA, affirmative action in the RSA seems to be an option to eradicate the imbalances of the past in terms of race and gender. In the USA success was achieved by affirmative action programmes: The American population became more representative in terms of race and gender. On the other hand it was also established that the previously disadvantaged groups were over-represented. This led to the claim of reverse discrimination. The empirical method, namely using questionnaires, was successful in obtaining information about how education participants, especially at school level, were affected by the implementation of affirmative action policies. It also established how education participants felt and thought about their experiences and perceptions about the affirmative action mechanism for education reform. The study established that factors aimed at the equality of opportunity (also known as the soft approach) enjoyed preference to factors aimed at the equality of result (also known as the hard approach). In order to bring about the smooth education transformation it also established that for observable and radical changes to occur in the education system, factors aimed at the equality of result (the hard approach) should enjoy more attention than factors aimed at the equality of opportunity. Thus it was concluded that both the soft and the hard approaches were necessary to understand the controversial nature of affirmative action. A number of recommendations were made with regard to the research findings for stakeholders and officials to note. / Thesis (M.Ed.)--Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education, 2003

This study focuses on illuminating Kenya's urban high school teachers' perceptions of students' diversity and how these differences influence their curriculum implementation, pedagogy, and students' classroom interactions in the learning process. Located within theoretical frameworks of intersectionality and critical pedagogy, the study shows how multiple layered identities and differences identified by teachers interplay and intersect to influence their performance and students' academic success. The theoretical debate over critical pedagogy in diverse contexts shows how Kenya's high school teachers effectively develop classroom environments that address differences and acknowledge arrays of factors that create inequalities. Findings also show that teachers' work continue to be informed by government and institutional policies that favor uniformity and conformity creating contradictions and dilemmas for them. The study applies a mixed qualitative methodology based on interpretive and descriptive phenomenology to inform the study. Participants were selected based on purposive sampling from urban high schools in western Kenya. Data for the study were generated through baseline questionnaires, field interviews, classroom observations, and analysis of archival documents. Findings highlighted arrays of factors identified by participants as contributing to students differences in their specific context. Differences identified by teachers that were common across institutions were academic abilities, entry behavior, primary education backgrounds, proficiency in English language, socio-economic status, and students' motivational status. Some of the factors perceived to influence teaching and learning differed across disciplines, gender of the participants, and the nature of the schools. It was concluded that the impact of these differences on teaching and learning needs to be addressed if high school access, quality, and subsequent academic performance is to be realized for all students in Kenya's high schools. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate

The purpose of the research documented in this report was to consider the tensions that exist between a change in curriculum policy and the resultant methodological and assessment practices. An input-process-output model (Shavelson and Taylor, 1999) was used to identify the elements of the educational system pertinent to the study. These were identified as: policy as an input and teaching methodology and learning and assessment as the process of the educational system. Thereafter a single-respondent case study was selected to focus the purpose of the research by considering how the perceptions, understanding and experience of the changed curriculum policy of teaching towards outcomes has affected the nature and purpose of assessment, as viewed by an educator teaching at Grade 9 level in the General Education and Training (GET) band. An educator teaching at Grade 9 level in an Independent secondary school in South Africa was selected as the single-respondent case study. The study was defined as an instrumental case study operating within the Interpretive paradigm. An educator teaching at the Grade 9 level was selected as a result of Grade 9 becoming a possible exit point in education as well as being the final year of the senior phase of the GET band. For this reason, the impact of a changed curriculum is felt most acutely at this point due to the implementation of the Common Tasks for Assessment (CTAs). In addition, an Outcomes-Based Education (OBE) teaching methodology as well as an Outcomes-Based Assessment (OBA) methodology is required at this level because of the portfolio of evidence that is required to be gathered for each learner in Grade 9. The study is referred to as policy-orientated as it seeks to understand educational change by examining an educational model of provision and operation without the intention to generalise the results. The results indicate that the change in curriculum policy does not necessarily alter teaching methodology. However, in the instance of this research, teaching methodology and assessment, relating to the respondent’s teaching process, are linked and can be seen as aspects of the learning process. Lastly, the research does not clarify to what extent assessment methodology influences the outcome of learning; however, it does seem that assessment impacts on the learning process. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Curriculum Studies / unrestricted

This research is intended for studying the management of Music Teaching Institutions of ¡§Yamaha Music education System¡¨ and ¡§Ju Percussion Music education System¡¨ were focused for study. In the process of research, the author collected related literatures and data to study the backgrounds of music teaching institutions. Then interview were made with institution operator and teachers to find out the problems involved to the operation of music teaching institution. Finally, a questionnaire survey was conducted among parents of students to analyze and compare the view and thinking of parents with regards to different teaching system. The findings are analyzed and reduced into conclusion as well as drawn into suggestions for the reference of music teaching institution in building their programs and guidelines, as well as the possible directions of their operation modes. Went through literature and data research, interview and questionnaire survey, the following conclusions were obtained: 1. Dimensioning the teaching belief of music teaching institution is an important direction of the operation of the organization. 2. Music teaching institution shall have completed and systematic organization. 3. Music teaching institution must have systematic development program. 4. The professional capacity and personality of teacher have great effects on the results of learning of children. 5. ¡§Providing children with fundamental music ability or understanding¡¨ is the prime factor for parents to enroll into music teaching system. 6. Music learning requires regular practices and patience. 7. Attending music concert can agitate the interest of students, and it is recommended that children are encouraged to participate. 8. The roles played by parents are the key to success. 9. Music teaching institution can play the role of culture promotion media. 10. It would be recommendable to establish Appraisal scales and revision mechanisms of music teaching institution. It is expected that our results of research will do certain good in the effect of music learning of children, enrich and develop potential of children in music. Offer children with a happy music learning experience will allow them to gain much more happiness and achievement.

De la maternelle à la terminale, la population scolaire française fait de plus en plus usage des deux secteurs d’enseignement (public, privé) : deux élèves sur cinq effectuent au moins une année dans un établissement privé. Pourtant, les deux secteurs de scolarisation ont fait l’objet de rares études comparatives sous la focale d’enquêtes de terrain. Par une démarche ethnographique et statistique, cette recherche souhaite contribuer à la compréhension (caractérisation, ifférenciation, évaluation) des « effets de contexte » sur la scolarité des élèves de collèges publics et privés. Notre analyse de ces effets a eu pour objectif initial d’enrichir le champ de recherche sur l’efficacité des établissements sous l’angle d’une construction progressive des carrières scolaires dans les secteurs d’enseignement et des contextes différents. Pendant deux années scolaires, l’enquête est menée dans quatre collèges (deux publics et deux privés) d’un territoire rural de forte implantation du secteur privé. Les résultats obtenus montrent d’abord la nécessité de distinguer dans l’analyse du contexte d’établissement, ce qui relève des performances scolaires et ce qui concerne l’orientation des élèves. Ensuite, les effets de territoire et les effets de secteur d’enseignement ne peuvent être analysés indépendamment des effets de contexte. Ainsi, le secteur privé privilégie une mobilisation collective que l’on pourrait qualifier de communautaire et deterritorialisée, dans le sens où elle prend sa référence dans un réseau et un espace au niveau local. Du côté du secteur public, la dynamique d’établissement serait "extraterritorialisée", en s’appuyant sur un référent national. L’enjeu porte sur la formation de citoyens et l’avenir des élèves est pensé sur une plus longue échelle temporelle (orientation scolaire). Si le public et le privé conservent des spécificités, on peut se demander à la lumière de nos résultats si le secteur d’enseignement ne tend pas à s’effacer au profit des logiques d’établissement et du travail de plus en plus déterminant des acteurs. En ce sens, cette recherche participe à la réflexion sur les configurations contextuelles, leur construction et leur pertinence, et conjointement, sur les effets de l’appartenance sectorielle d’un établissement scolaire / From nursery school to high school, the French resort more and more to both educational systems – state or private schools. Indeed, two pupils out of five spend at least a year in a private school. Yet, the two systems have rarely been the targets of comparative surveys as far as their efficiency is concerned. Thanks to an ethnographic and statistical approach, this study aims to analyse the background impacts on pupils’ schooling - characterizing features, oppositions, assessment - in state and private secondary schools. Our analysis of these impacts was initially intended to enrich the field of research on the effectiveness of schools in terms of a progressive construction of school careers in different education systems and backgrounds. The survey was carried out over two years in two private and two state secondary schools, in a rural area in which private schools are the more dominant than state schools.Firstly, the outcomes of our survey have shown the need to distinguish academic results from careers guidance in the analysis of the background of a school. Secondly, the impacts of the area and education system must be jointly analysed with the background impacts. So, the private school system favours a collective commitment which might be said to be community-based and territorial as it is locally based. Private schools are highly dependent on a local area. As for state schools, this collective commitment is alleged to be independent of local areas since they have a national reference. State schools allow pupils to become citizens and the offering of 'careers guidance' encourages them to make long-term plans. If state and private schools still have specifics, one can wonder, in the light of our study, if the education system does not tend to fade in favor of some school logics and an increasingly decisive work from its actors. In this sense, this study thus highlights the contextual configurations, their construction and their relevance, and together, the impacts of the sector affiliation of a secondary school

This study investigates and describes the development of an instrument named the Electronics Laboratory Environment Inventory (ELEI), which is used to measure students' perceptions of the electronics laboratory class as a learning environment. The sample consisted of 353 of 708 Computer Engineering active students from eight classes in Bina Nusantara University, Jakarta, Indonesia. Bina Nusantara University which has the largest number of computer engineering students in Indonesia. Students' learning outcomes were measured using z-scores in electronics subjects and students' attitudes in laboratory classes were measured by using the Attitude Towards Electronics Questionnaire (ATEQ). Directed by the research questions, numerous statistical analyses were performed. These included item analysis, inter-item correlation analysis, one-way analysis of variance for establishing reliability and validity of the laboratory class environment instruments in the present study; descriptive statistics for investigating the nature of the learning environment in electronics subjects; simple and multiple correlation analyses for investigating associations between laboratory class environment and students' outcomes. In all cases, electronics laboratory classes have played a major role. The scales measured Student Cohesiveness, Open-endedness, Integration, Technology Adequacy, and Laboratory Availability. The results showed that all five scales have a reasonable alpha reliability with low mean correlations. / The study discovered that, generally, students perceived their electronics class learning environments as favourable. It was found that students' perceptions of electronics laboratory class environment were associated with students' learning outcomes. The results of this study make important and unique contributions to students' learning outcomes, suggesting that the instruments are useful for assessing laboratory class environment in the other studies.

This study examined the different types of mathematical errors exhibited by primary level pupils in Brunei when working with fractions. In addition, the study examined pupils' attitudes towards the learning of fractions and investigated if there were gender differences among Bruneian pupils' performances with fractions and with their attitudes towards fractions. The study was longitudinal in nature and its two phases involved a single cohort of Primary 5 pupils followed through a full year period in four government-funded primary schools in Brunei Darussalam. Pupils' mathematical errors were assessed by means of researcher-developed paper-and-pencil tests, while pupils' attitudes towards the learning of fractions were measured by means of an adapted version of attitude questionnaire that has been used previously with Bruneian pupils. Guided by six research questions, a number of statistical analyses were carried out to ensure the validity and reliability of the instruments used. These included piloting and revising the instruments, the use of Cronbach's alpha with the items in the attitude questionnaire, and the calculation of the Pearson Product Correlation Coefficient between scales of the questionnaire. The data was analysed by calculating the percentages and means of occurrences of each type of error. Paired and independent sample t-tests were carried out in order to investigate gender differences in pupils' errors and the impact of further instruction on fraction at the P6 level, while the GLM test was administered in order to investigate if there were significant change in pupils' attitudes towards fractions from the pre- to the posttests. Qualitative information obtained through pupils' interviews, field notes and lesson observations was used to support the quantitative data. / The study revealed that though pupils' achievement in the post-test improved, their performances on fraction work remained generally unsatisfactory. Many pupils in the study continued to have difficulty with the basic operations on fractions and resorted to the use of keyword strategies in dealing with word problems. Despite the pupils' unsatisfactory performance in the diagnostic tests, they generally held very positive attitudes towards the learning of fractions. No significant gender differences were observed either in pupils' performance in working with fractions tasks nor with their attitudes towards the learning of fractions. The findings of this study also highlight a number of issues for mathematics teachers to consider when dealing with fractions, and the findings also have implications for the quality of the instructional activities provided by the teachers, for the impact of language transfer in the medium of instruction - that is, from Bahasa Melayu to English at the pupils' Primary 4 level- and for the quality of the teacher training program in Brunei.

Kann die Schule demokratisch sein? Wie kann in einer demokratischen Gesellschaft – d.h. in einer Gesellschaft, die sich vom modernen Staat Rechte in jahrhundertelangen Kämpfen erstritten hat – Bildung so organisiert werden, dass am Ende der Schulzeit die Schüler den Weg aus ihrer Unmündigkeit gefunden haben und somit tatsächlich zu demokratischen Bürgern geworden sind? Der Staat spielt hierbei als Bildungsträger in der Betrachtung dieser Frage eine entscheidende Rolle, denn er ist es, der Herrschaft ausübt, womit auch die Schule – als Institution des Staates – automatisch in den Prozess von Herrschaftsausübung miteinbezogen wird und ihr eine signifikante Rolle in der Erziehung und Formung künftiger Herrschaftsempfänger zukommt. Daher kann sich die Frage nach einer demokratischen Schule nicht auf Regeln des Miteinanders beschränken, sondern muss sich jenen komplexen Strukturen annehmen, in die die Schule eingebettet ist. / Can school be democratic? How can education be organized in a democratic society, a society which has fought for rights from the modern state for centuries, in a way that allows students to find out of their nonage and thus become democratic citizens by the end of their schooldays? Here, the state plays a significant role as an educational institution, since it is this state that is in authority. Consequently, school as a state institution, is drawn into the process of wielding power and takes over an essential role in the education and shaping of future recipients of authority. Thus, the question of a democratic school system cannot be limited to communal rules but has to consider those complex structures the school system is embedded in.