The purpose of this study is to explore South African educators’ subjective experiences of school violence within their schools. Educators’ experiences as victims and perpetrators of school violence were examined to gain an understanding of the definitions, contributing factors, impacts and incidents of school violence. An interpretive qualitative research method was used and interviews were conducted with 12 educators selected from two government schools in the low-income community of Alexandra. Participants’ data was then analysed using a thematic content analysis. The findings suggest that current definitions of school violence are too narrow and require expansion so as to include all acts of school violence, victim-perpetrator relationships beyond the confines of the school. Violence in schools was found to increase educators’ dysfunctional coping mechanisms, absenteeism, attrition, burnout and to compromise teaching efficacy and the performance of school. Using Brofenbrenner’s Ecological Approach the principal conclusion of this study was that school violence is a result of the interplay between individual, familial, school, communal and societal factors.

Thesis (M.Ed. (Educational Management)) -- University of Limpopo, 2011 / The purpose of the study was to investigate the experiences of female educators with regard to promotion posts in educational institutions such as schools. The problem which led to the investigation was that female educators allege that they are discriminated against with regard to promotion posts. Hence teaching is predominantly occupied by women but they are under-represented in the management positions. The study was ethnographic and qualitative because the researcher tried to understand the complex settings through the eyes of the informants and assume that, to understand a social setting, one needs to connect the observed behaviour with the rationales for that behaviour. Human life was studied as it was related to education. The literature review highlighted why women do not occupy high positions in management. The study also focused on the perception held by most stakeholders with regard to promotion posts. The study indicated what causes female educators not to occupy higher management posts and strategies that can be employed in addition to the experience of female educators with regard to promotion posts in educational institutions. Data was collected through interviews in order to provide in depth understanding of what is studied. Sample selected was purposeful and non random. Data was analyzed inductively by organizing data into categories and identifying relationships among the categories. Data was selected, categorized, compared, synthesized and interpreted. Data was also analyzed by using descriptive statistical tables. The study discovered some aspects that support what female educators experienced in schools such as discrimination, harassment, negative attitudes, unfair-treatment, inferiority complex and gender-bias which lead to small number of female educators to be in the managerial positions and further research was recommended.

The present study applies early field experience theory and developmental stages theory as the basis of teacher training i n a junior college program in Taiwan. Two hundred sixty-six junior college students from two junior colleges were surveyed in order to ascertain what factors had an effect on the concept of teaching concerns. Comparisons were made among the following : with/ without preschool education background in senior high school, grade, school, age, fathers' educational levels, mothers' educational levels, and fathers' yearly income. The results indicate that early field experiences had a direct effect on teaching concerns. The students' year of study (freshmen vs sophomore) in junior college made a difference depending on whether they had been exposed to an early field experience. The groups that had a preschool education background had higher mean developmental-teaching-stage scores, in first (freshmen) study year, but lower mean scores in the second (sophomore) study year. The mean developmentalteaching- stage scores for both study years of junior college students with preschool education background were very close to each other. Junior college students without a preschool education background in senior high had a higher mean developmental-teaching-stage score in the second year than in the first year.

Thesis (M.ED.) --University of Limpopo, 2007. / Lack of parental involvement in primary schools has been a burning issue to fellow educators, school managers and departmental officials in Mankweng Circuit in Limpopo Province. Parents too were dissatisfied about their children’s performance. The main aim of this study was to investigate causes which hinder learner performance and intend to develop or propose strategies to be used to improve learner performance. Research and practice indicate that parental involvement remains a crucial topic effort to enhance school effectiveness. However, principals in schools still experience a number of problems in this regard and do not succeed in obtaining optimal involvement of parents. The present research therefore investigated the Impact of Parental Involvement on Learner Performance. Although it was possible to isolate factors responsible for non-involvement of parents, it is clear that each of these factors must not be seen in isolation, they cumulatively compound the problem of Parental Involvement. Method used for this study was qualitative and quantitative approaches. Populations were from parents, principals, heads of departments and educators. Questionnaires, interviews, observations and documents were used as instruments to obtain information from respondents. Data was analysed using tables and figures. The major findings of the research revealed that, principals are of the opinion that parents in rural areas and lower socio-economic areas present a special problem as they lack interest in parental involvement in schools for education of their children. / Not listed

It has become a habit of our time to lament about the state of the world and simultaneously profess that there is not really anything we, as individuals, can do about it because there is just too much that needs fixing. In this thesis, I challenge this view on the basis that science teachers in particular are in a unique position to raise students' awareness of problematic issues in relation to the world around them by providing students with necessary knowledge. However, sound knowledge does not equate with a positive attitude, this is why I contend that providing students with factual knowledge might not be enough to enable them to participate in the public discourse on making the world a 'better place' in which to live. Given the pervading influence of science on our daily lives, this discourse necessarily includes a focus on science, scientific research and its uses. However, many science educators traditionally have taught science without addressing ethical questions. I argue that the inclusion of a discourse on ethical science-related issues into science teaching might open an avenue for science educators to offer students opportunity for practising their future engagement in the public discourse about science by learning to reflect critically and collaboratively on their attitudes, beliefs and values. This thesis presents an interpretive case study, situated in the 7th Moment of Qualitative Research, which investigated the planning and implementation of a specially designed 'Ethics in Science' curriculum, in the context of national curriculum reform in Austria. The 'Ethics in Science' curriculum was implemented in two science classes in a public senior high school in Austria by a biology teacher and a mathematics/physics teacher. / The study explored the appropriateness of a science teaching approach that uses dilemma stories as a pedagogical tool for initiating individual reflection and classroom discourse on ethical issues. The study was designed as a 'bricolage', drawing from ethnography, hermeneutic-phenomenology, feminism and biographical research. Autobiography caused me to engage in critical self-reflection on my own attitudes, beliefs and values, bringing to the fore the relationship between my personal history and my own ethical sensitivities. This was helpful as a 'primer' before engaging students in the act of reflection. The use of multiple methods for data-generation served the purpose of crystallisation. Integral philosophy and critical constructivism were theoretical referents for my research on the teaching and learning. The Theory of Transformative Learning and a perspective on moral learning that combines several types of ethics served as a referent for interpreting the analysis of student learning. I have drawn on the multiple perspectives of the students, teachers and myself as the researcher. It was very important to me to maintain the participants' original voices as often as possible in order to establish 'polyvocality'. Findings indicate that the teaching approach using dilemmas led to critical thinking, in some cases to critical self-reflection, and seemed to help with initiating a classroom discourse. Overall, it appears that the dilemma teaching approach can promote rational, social and emotional learning. On the teachers' side, this type of teaching seemed to challenge the teachers' existing skills with regard to facilitation and moderation of class discussion and the self-restraint needed to avoid imposing their opinion on students. / An issue for the teachers concerned their uncertainty about when to intervene in group-processes. The data-analysis also led to seemingly contradictory results which I interpreted using a dialectical 'dilemma' framework wherein the synthesis of two contradictory poles serves as a starting point for a higher level of understanding. I identified seven 'pedagogical dilemmas' - pedagogical because they are related to teaching and learning in the context of a dilemma teaching approach, and 'dilemma' because they require a choice on the side of the educator who intends to use a dilemma teaching approach. These pedagogical dilemmas were related to the dilemma stories, the individual reflection phases, the collaborative discourse phases, the ideal frequency of dilemma units, the teachers' skills, so-called problem students, and the time-requirements in relation to the dilemma units.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

The purpose of this life history study was to identify the experiences that influence the cultural socialization process of teachers and the factors that contribute to the effective instruction of students of color. Six female teachers who are currently assigned to third, fourth, or fifth grade students in elementary schools participated in this research project. Their experiences range from the second year in the classroom to thirteen years of teaching, and they have all had assignments as language arts teachers. Data for this qualitative research was collected from two face-to-face interviews, principals’ written descriptions about classroom environments, and participant observations. The interviews were transcribed from audio cassettes and the data was analyzed using Burke’s Pentadic Analysis, Linde’s Creation of Coherence and features from Spradley’s Participant Observation. Each teacher claimed unique lived experiences, but there were similar threads of high teacher expectation, meeting the needs of students and affirming the cultural differences of the students of colors that were sewn together in all their narratives. The cultural socialization process of the participants was connected to pivotal events that were linked to creation of coherence in their lives. These epiphanies were identified in their earliest recollection and continued into their instructional practices. The findings of this study indicate that there are deep layers that can emerge when teachers reflect on the events that influence their effectiveness with students of color. The conclusions are that effective teachers of students of color are guided by an agenda that includes the multiple roles that they have to assume in order to achieve the goal of success for all their students. Recommendations for further research and implications for theory and practice were also discussed.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 400-482). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

Thesis PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references.

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