Published Article / The aim of this paper is to explore educators' perceptions on the use of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) for curriculum delivery. Perceptions impact on the reality construction of the adoption and utilisation of the technology in disadvantaged schools. Understanding the perceptions of educators is vital when introducing innovation into curriculum delivery, because the way educators perceive the innovation impacts on the intended use of the technology in schools. Using the Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) approach, the study conducted and analysed fifteen one-on-one interviews with purposively sampled educators on their perceptions of, and experience with, ICT in disadvantaged high schools. The results of the study show that some educators perceive themselves as not competent enough to use the technology. Others with relatively high computer self-efficacy reported to have experienced the use of the ICTs in classrooms as an add-on. Meta interpretation shows that besides the lack of motivation to integrate the technology into the classroom, the root cause of some educators' negative perceptions is the IT training they had, which was inadequate to equip them with pedagogical understanding and skills on how to effectively incorporate this technology into their curriculum delivery. Therefore, there is a need to realign ICT innovation and implementation with educators' perceptions, in order to ensure success.

This autoethnographic study presents a narrative of my lifelong yearning to pursue the practice of magic while concurrently managing the frustrations of being a public elementary school teacher. This study also presents sets of facilitating factors that enabled me to surmount personal, professional, and sociocultural challenges to rekindle my direction and purpose in life. The research questions guiding this study include the following: 1) What are the multiple levels of influence that have contributed to my desire to be a magician and leave the teaching profession? ; and 2) In the interrelation of the above context, how do I reignite my artistic passion and purpose? Using the Bronfenbrenner model of human ecology, this study explores multiple levels of influence spanning those from a sociocultural perspective to those of an inter- and intrapersonal nature.

This dissertation, a qualitative case study conducted from a constructivist perspective, focuses on the construction and implementation of strategies of emotional scaffolding by two early childhood educators in a public elementary school. This study finds that emotional scaffolding is an excellent example of a tool that could help teachers reach developmentally appropriate practices for early childhood education in an age of accountability. The primary data consist of participant observations, participant interviews and key documents. The study has two primary interests. The first aims at understanding how young children’s learning experiences are enhanced when early childhood educators integrate emotions into their decision-making and practices. The second aims at enhancing the emerging picture of what emotional scaffolding means in early childhood education contexts. My analysis highlights three major themes that contribute to these participants’ decision-making for emotional scaffolding. The first is the participants’ beliefs about their self-perceived teaching identities. The second is their deep understanding of children. The third involves their assessments and reactions to their school climates. The findings focus on four areas of divergence from the literature. First is the important role that teachers’ personal beliefs about the most pedagogically important emotion play in constructing and implementing strategies for emotional scaffolding. Second, emotional scaffolding is an important part of teachers’ mediated agency in a time of increasing accountability. Third, teachers’ capacity to balance student excitement and engagement through their emotional scaffolding is the key to establishing and maintaining children’s engagement in academic activities. Fourth is that emotional scaffolding carried out in the early childhood classroom involves emotion work, not emotional labor. The study provides several implications. The first is that our perception of the emotional scaffolding process in the early childhood education context can be expanded. The second is the importance of sufficient preservice training. The third is that a principal who respects a teacher’s decision-making and practices can help a teacher provide effective emotional scaffolding. The final and perhaps most important implication is that an awareness of self is the most important element contributing to better decision-making in creating a meaningful and engaging environment for their students. / text

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According to the immigration service forecasts Sweden faces large refugee influxes in the coming years. This means that educators in the kindergarten, preschool and school, will meat children from the war torn countries. In this study, the purpose is to find out the educators different conceptions of war-affected refugee children, because my theory is that their beliefs influence their actions. I wanted to get answers to their beliefs about the difficulties or challengers that children and educators may be faced with. Furthermore, I wanted to know what educators envisioned about their own role’s importance to the war affected refugee children and their perceptions of the Swedish culture, environment, language and school. All children have the right to go to school and usually begin refugee children in preparatory classes, but when one is six years you start directly in preschool. Internationalization requires people for them to see the values of diversity and raising awareness around a common cultural heritage. Performances means to understand the world and to embrace the world in different ways. The view of other people is deeply rooted within us and is influenced by the traditions we carry with us from teaching and education. In my study, I used qualitative interviews in the meeting with the four educators. In the study there is a research study which deals with relevant literature for my study. Educator’s perceptions showed that communications problems, not having a common language, don’t have a knowledge of what the kids have been through, cultural differences, which requires mutual understanding it was seen as a major difficulty. Their knowledge and ideas based on experience, there was no training how to actively work with war affected refugee children. In summery, I can’t make any conclusions about my theory that beliefs affect their behaviours, but about the need for a little extra commitment about these children, such as to convey security in different ways were considered important as the performances was that there are children who have had a hard time. Their beliefs about war-affected refugee children reflects the need for more knowledge in the form of further education.

The aims of this research were to describe the role that coaching plays in the development of educators and to make recommendations for the way in which schools can make use of coaching as an educator human resource development tool at the workplace. According to the findings from the literature review, coaching plays an important role in the success of novice educators. Educators who are coached typically develop a strong self-concept, become consistent in the implementation of policies and procedures, show a greater focus on the teaching and learning purpose within the classroom and display more confidence in themselves, which increases their personal ability and selfefficacy to help and develop learners, and thereby increasing the learners' love for learning and academic achievement. Educators who display the personal traits mentioned in the above paragraph, according to the findings from the literature study, become effective and expert educators who have something to offer to the learners and are recognized as professionals in their field. Various researchers in the reviewed literature stress the need for coaching for its inherent potential of being a panacea for educator attrition and turnover which are always the result of job dissatisfaction. The qualitative research method in the form of focus group interviews was used to elicit primary empirical data from a population sample of eighteen educator participants who were all at post level one. This educator participant population sample was engaged by the researcher on a three-day coaching session in Outcomes-Based Education and Training as a new teaching and learning system in South Africa. After this three-day coaching session, the participants were interviewed to determine the role that coaching plays in the development of educators, with a view to making recommendations for the way in which schools can make use of coaching as an educator human resource development tool at the workplace. The results of the empirical research revealed that educator participants who formed the population sample of this research experienced the three-day coaching session which the researcher conducted as follows: developmental; providing support and guidance; leading to paradigm shifts; setting aside any power differences to offer a relaxed atmosphere; and eventful. Recommendations for educational practice and further research were made. / Thesis (M.Ed.)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2006.

Currently, there is a shortage of professors preparing personnel to teach in high need areas (e.g., special education, English language learners) at institutions of higher education (IHE). The purpose of the present study was to examine the motivations or influencers that impelled individuals to pursue careers in IHEs as professors in personnel preparation. Data were collected using Motivations for Choosing Academia as a Profession (MCAP) and a 10-item Big Five Inventory (BFI-10). Two hundred eighty-nine professors of education representing the four U.S. census regions participated in the present study. The MCAP is a 25-item instrument designed to measure retrospective motivation of faculty decisions to enter the professoriate. The development of the MCAP is described and an exploratory factor analysis was employed to examine the psychometric validity of the instrument. Three factors emerged and implications are discussed. Data were analyzed using logistic regression with the dichotomous outcome variable being the area of education in which the professor works (i.e., general or special education).

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore counselor educators’ perceptions of working with students unwilling to set aside their personal religious beliefs while counseling clients. Purposeful sampling was used in a snowball fashion to select participants with a minimum of one year experience as a counselor educator and who are currently working in the field of counselor education. The participants of this study reported and described perceptions of their lived experiences as counselor educators. The primary research question for my study was what are the perceptions of counselor educators as they relate to working with students who are unwilling to set aside their religious beliefs while counseling clients? The foundation for my study was provided by a review of counselor education literature which focused on areas such as gate-keeping, values conflicts, remediation, referrals, due process, and student dismissal. In this study, the Ward v. Wilbanks et al. and Keeton v. Anderson-Wiley et al. legal cases provided the context within which the question of how counselor educators handle working with students who are unwilling to set aside their religious beliefs was explored. Semi-structured phenomenological interviews including the use of open-ended questions were used to collect data. Taped interviews were transcribed, read and analyzed for key words and descriptive terms. The data was coded into categories, categories were clustered into themes and themes were cross-analyzed to create super-ordinate themes. Super-ordinate themes were then used to address the primary and secondary research questions. Based on the results of my study the one over-arching theme that appeared was gate-keeping. Under the realm of gate-keeping fell three super-ordinate themes: ethical issues, student interventions, and legal issues. Implications for counselor educators are presented along with recommendations for further research. Personal reflections of the researcher were presented.

This study is a qualitative enquiry into the experiences of grade 12 Business Studies educators in the process of compiling school-based assessment portfolios for learners in 2009. It answers the question: “What are the primary challenges in the process of compiling School Based Assessment (SBA) portfolios for FET Business Studies? The literature review covers the strengths and limitations of portfolio-based assessment as a strategy for combining formative and summative assessment purposes, the complexities of curriculum change and implementation, and bureaucratic and professional forms of accountability. In order to understand what is involved in the portfolio assessment implementation processes, I analyzed six assessment policy documents, two circulars and two Chief Moderators’ reports. I also interviewed four teachers and four principals, two each from more and less advantaged schools in Johannesburg. Findings from the document analysis illustrate the incomplete and at times contradictory nature of the assessment policies and circulars, while the interviews highlighted a lack of communication and mutual adaption between stake holders in the compilation of SBA portfolios. The key recommendation is that the concept of mutual adaptation may be useful to overcoming the challenges encountered in SBA portfolio compilation.