The poor academic performance of Engineering Science N3 students at the Port Elizabeth College for Further Education and Training prompted me to conduct this study. The aim thereof was to investigate the influence that a co-operative learning strategy would have on the test results of students who enrolled for this programme. The hypothesis being tested in this study was whether co-operative learning strategies would improve the test results of science students in the N3 Engineering Science class. A literature review on co-operative learning, its principles as well as the role of the lecturer as facilitator was conducted. In addition, the different types of co-operative learning techniques were investigated so that an approach conducive to the needs of students studying at Further Education and Training Colleges could be selected. The Student Team Achievement Divisions (STAD) technique was deemed to be the most suitable approach. Both qualitative and quantitative data gathering techniques are employed in this study. Interviews were carried out with fellow lecturers at the Port Elizabeth College to determine what teaching strategies are generally implemented in the N3 class. Experimental research involving two groups of 30 students was then conducted to determine the results of students. The one group (experimental) was subjected to an intervention, namely the STAD co-operative learning technique while the other group (control) was taught using the traditional method of talk and chalk. This intervention took place over a period of ix two weeks. However, prior to the co-operative learning intervention and before students were divided into groups, they were taught as a single group for a period of two weeks. The total time spent on this experiment was therefore four weeks. Student test scores gathered from the experiment was statistically analysed and reported on in chapter five. These results indicated that the experimental group out-performed the control group by a significant margin. The higher academic achievement of students in the experimental group could only be attributed to the alternative teaching strategy (STAD) which was absent in the teaching of the control group. This proved the hypothesis.

South Africa’s Constitution and the Employment Equity Act have a major impact on the performance of medical examinations within the employment relationship. Health and safety statutes list a number of occupational medical examinations, which an employer must perform. Other legislation permits the execution of medical examinations. After listing the different statutory references to occupational medical examinations, this treatise examines under which conditions medical testing is required or permissible. The fairness of employment discrimination based on medical facts, employment conditions, social policy, distribution of employee benefits and inherent job requirement is analysed through a study of the legal texts, experts’ opinions and case studies. The particularities of the ethical and legal duties of the medical professional, performing the occupational medical examination, are also examined. Finally, a comprehensive analysis of the different forms of occupational medical examinations is compiled by combining legal and policy-related job requirements and is attached as an annexure. This is the practical result of the research in this treatise combined with the personal experience of the author.

Abstract The purpose of this study was to describe the process of learning to perform plain x-ray examinations, and to interpret the learning culture during radiography students’ studies. The aim was to understand how the students learned. Learning was understood as being collaborative and was examined from the perspective of interpretive ethnography. The data were collected during 2004‒2007 from documents, interviews and by observing 17 radiography students as they studied the theory of plain x-ray examinations, performed lab exercises and completed their practical training. The data were analysed using the constant comparison method. A model of the process of learning to perform plain x-ray examinations was created from the results. Based on the results, different learning views prevailed in the contexts of learning how to perform plain x-ray examinations. These governed the formation of five different learning styles, where the link between theory and practice gained different meanings and the learning outcomes varied. In academic studies, learning took place through acquisition of basic professional knowledge. In lab exercises, the students learned by model-based experimentation. In practical training, learning took the form of progress towards expertise through collaboration, active solo work, and working in the background, following instructions. The styles and outcomes of learning were both supported and impeded by factors dependent on the learning contexts and the students. The process of learning to perform plain x-ray examinations was governed by a learning culture that required the ability to interpret and adapt to the learning contexts. Students needed to identify the learning views that prevailed in the learning contexts and adjust their learning style accordingly. It can be concluded that the learning culture provided a varying degree of support to the students' progress towards expertise as they learned to perform plain x-ray examinations. The study produced new information on the learning of health care students from the socio-cultural viewpoint. The results can be exploited when developing the curriculum and the collaboration between Universities of Applied Sciences and trainee job providers towards cooperative learning. Future studies should focus on the learning culture of professional radiographers to develop the education and the field. / Tiivistelmä Tämän tutkimuksen tarkoituksena oli kuvata natiivitutkimusten oppimista ja tulkita oppimisen oppimiskulttuuria röntgenhoitajaopiskelijoiden opinnoissa. Tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli ymmärtää opiskelijoiden oppimista. Oppiminen ymmärrettiin yhteisölliseksi ja sitä tutkittiin tulkinnallisen etnografian avulla. Tutkimusaineisto tuotettiin vuosien 2004–2007 aikana 17 röntgenhoitajaopiskelijan natiivitutkimusten teoriaopintojen, laboraatioharjoittelun ja harjoittelun havainnoinnista, kirjallisista dokumenteista ja haastatteluista. Aineisto analysoitiin jatkuvan vertailun menetelmällä. Tuloksista muodostettiin malli natiivitutkimusten oppimisesta. Tulosten mukaan natiivitutkimusten oppimisen oppimiskonteksteissa vallitsivat erilaiset oppimisnäkemykset. Nämä ohjasivat viiden erilaisen oppimistavan muodostumiseen, joissa teorian ja käytännön välinen yhteys sai erilaisia merkityksiä ja oppimisen tulokset vaihtelivat. Teoriaopinnoissa oppiminen tapahtui ammatillista tietoperustaa omaksuen. Laboraatioharjoittelussa oppiminen eteni oppimisena mallin mukaan kokeillen. Harjoittelussa oppiminen ilmeni oppimisena kohti asiantuntijuutta yhdessä toimien, aktiivisuutta osoittaen yksin toimien ja ohjeita noudattaen taustalla toimien. Oppimistapoja ja oppimisen lopputuloksia tukivat ja estivät oppimiskonteksteista ja opiskelijoista johtuvat tekijät. Natiivitutkimusten oppimista ohjasi oppimiskontekstin tulkintakykyä ja siihen mukautumista edellyttävä oppimiskulttuuri. Opiskelijan oli tunnistettava oppimiskontekstien oppimisnäkemykset ja muokattava oppiminen niiden mukaiseksi. Tulosten mukaan johtopäätöksenä voidaan todeta, että oppimiskulttuuri tuki vaihtelevasti opiskelijan asiantuntijuuteen kasvua natiivitutkimuksia opiskeltaessa. Tutkimus tuotti uutta tietoa terveysalan opinnoissa oppimisesta sosiokulttuurisesta näkökulmasta. Tuloksia voidaan hyödyntää opetussuunnitelman sekä ammattikorkeakoulun ja harjoittelupaikkojen välisen yhteistyön kehittämisessä kohti yhteistoiminnallista oppimista. Jatkossa on syytä tutkia työssä olevien röntgenhoitajien oppimiskulttuuria koulutuksen ja alan kehittämiseksi.

The importance of secondary school education in moulding learners into responsible citizens of tomorrow cannot be ignored or undermined. Secondary school education is the stepping stone for unlimited opportunities for learners to explore the career choices that they have to pursue further in their lives. Every year the performance of secondary schools in the matric examination come under spotlight as soon as the results are published. Many schools in the previously disadvantaged communities perform poorly in the matric examination each year. This research aims at drawing up management strategies that could be used to improve the performance of learners in the matric examination in the poorly performing schools. The literature study reveals that effective management and leadership is an essential characteristic of a successful school. Managers of schools that are poorly performing in the matric examination have to set up proper systems in place to ensure effective teaching and learning. Effective participation of all stakeholders in the management of the education of the learners is essential to improve the academic performance of learners in the matric examination. Quality subject delivery by educators in the classroom is the most important and indispensable factor that can improve the academic performance of learners in the secondary schools. Active participation of parents in the education of their children is essential to improve the discipline of the school as well as the academic performance of the learners. The literature study also reveals that poor socio-economic conditions can negatively influence the academic performance of learners. Schools that are poorly performing require visionary and innovative managers to turn them around into centres of excellence. Managers of schools have to seek the assistance and cooperation of the community and the business people to improve the quality of education provided in schools. Availability of necessary physical facilities enhance the quality of teaching and learning and the academic performance of learners in the various subjects. A questionnaire was used to collect the data required for this research. Forty schools that are poorly performing and forty schools that are well performing in the matric examinations were selected for this research. All these schools exist in the previously disadvantaged communities. Based on the information gathered using the questionnaire, each item in the questionnaire is analysed and discussed. After the factor analysis, the significance of the difference between the factor means of the various groups for each of the factors were analysed and explained. The data obtained suggests that in many schools (66,5% of schools surveyed), there is a lack of effective management structures that are essential for the implementation of quality teaching and learning. Lack of support and active participation of the parents in the education of the learners can be noticed from the information gathered. Poor management of school resources for effective teaching and learning can be also observed from the data collected. Lack of physical facilities is still a major problem in many (54,5% of the schools surveyed) schools. Lack of shared vision and cooperation among the stakeholders of education for the provision of quality education is evident in many schools. Ill-disciplined and non-committed learner bodies are a major challenge to many schools in the previously disadvantaged communities. The research shows that, organisational support and individual support are crucial to the success and the improvement of the academic performance of a school. The management strategies to improve the academic performance of previously disadvantaged schools in the grade 12 examination has two components namely: organisational support and individual support. The SMTs of schools have to set up management systems in place to ensure effective teaching and learning at schools. It is the responsibility of the SMTs to provide a suitable atmosphere needed for effective curriculum delivery at schools. The human, physical and financial resources of a school should be managed most effectively for quality education for all. Management strategies that will provide opportunities for all stakeholders to participate effectively in the school development programmes should be organised by the SMTs of schools. Schools have to introduce and implement strategies to improve the learner attendance and discipline for quality education and to improve the academic performance. The SMTs of schools have to introduce programmes that will increase the participation and support of parents in the education of learners. The academic performance of schools cannot be improved without providing sufficient individual support to the learners and educators. Based on the needs of the educators and learners, schools have to organise various programmes to support them to improve the academic performance in the grade 12 examination. Workshops and in-house training for educators are some of the ways to support the educators to enhance the quality of curriculum delivery at schools. Additional academic support programmes like extra lessons during afternoons and holidays can assist learners to improve their performance. Schools should have necessary systems in place to address the socio-economic needs of learners. In chapter 6, the findings of the research as well as the recommendations of management strategies to improve the academic performance of previously disadvantaged schools in the grade 12 examination are also given. / Prof. T.C. Bisschoff

M.Ed. (Education) / The purpose of this analytical and evaluative study was to establish why certain items of the std 7 English First Language Item Bank did not discriminate well and to make suggestions to avoid similar item failure in future. To do this the item analysis had to be interpreted and the content validity of the failed items and the entire test had to be established. The literature review emphasized the importance of syllabus analysis, test planning, the setting of objectives, item review before the application of a test and the value of item analysis in the creation of item banks. The std 7 English First Language Core Syllabus was analysed according to linguistic principles, educational objectives and skills ...

Education reform in Namibia brought about changes to mathematics education since independence. This has put pressure on the government to provide both resources and qualified mathematics teachers to help drive the reform process in all teaching and learning activities. This included availing reliable and valid national examination results which is a measure of whether the newly introduced programmes are working or not. For the Ministry of Education this meant training more mathematics teachers and ensuring that competent and reliable teachers are appointed for marking national examination every year. The teachers' training process however, has not been going as fast as it was expected and year after year the Directorate of National Examinations and Assessment experienced problems in obtaining competent teachers for the marking of national examination. The purpose of the study was to understand the differences in marking performances of the JSC mathematics national examination markers. Particularly the study was to create a clear and detailed understanding of different factors that could possibly affect the marking performance of different markers. In addition, the study was to investigate the effect the mathematical content knowledge of the markers has on their marking performance. It was evident from the findings that their mathematical content knowledge had influenced their marking performance. Moreover the research findings also gave a strong indication that there are other factors that were influencing the markers marking performance. These were the markers' knowledge of the assessment and marking process, the markers' marking experience, the markers' socioeconomic background. The difference in their moderators' input has emerged as the other factors that have influenced their performance in marking and consequently contributed to the differences in their marking performances.

Please read the abstract in the 00front part of this document / Thesis (PhD (Comparative Pedagogics))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Education Management and Policy Studies / unrestricted

This study researched the nature of tasks used in Grade 10 mathematics tests and end-of-year national examinations. The study was carried out in three, purposively selected, Grade 10 schools in the Ohangwena region in Northern Namibia. For the purpose of this study, a mixed method approach was employed to analyse a combination of both quantitative and qualitative data. A sample of three tests per mathematics teacher from the three participating schools and national examinations question papers for the past three consecutive years (2011-2013) were analysed using Stein, Smith, Henningsen, & Silver’s (2000) framework of cognitive demand. The study was divided into two phases. Phase 1 was the analysis of teacher test items and national examination items in terms of their cognitive demand. Phase 2 involved semi-structured interviews with three selected teachers to probe their views and find out their basis for selecting test items. The findings of this study revealed that there was no substantial difference in the distribution of the levels of cognitive demand in both tests and national examinations items. The study, however, showed that mainly tasks requiring only procedures without connections dominated the tests and the examinations. The number of higher level tasks in both tests and examinations analysed was low. There was no single task coded at level 4 in any of the teachers’ tests. Only 2% of tasks could be classified at level 4 in the examination items. The study also revealed that since tests and examinations assess the same learning objectives from the syllabus, most of the test items set by teachers were extracted from the national examinations question papers. The paper recommends that more tasks at a higher level category need to be included in assessment tasks to promote critical thinking amongst learners.

The No Child Left Behind Act and National Council of Teachers of Mathematics' Principles and Standards both had a significant impact on the format and content of the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) math test. Content analysis of the 2004 TAKS eighth grade math test identified the prevalence of linguistic complexity, mathematical rigor, and visual presentation factors and explored their relationship to student success on individual test items. Variables to be studied were identified through a review of literature in the area of reading comprehension of math word problems. Sixteen variables of linguistic complexity that have been significantly correlated with student math test performance were selected. Four variables of visual presentation were identified and ten variables of mathematical rigor. An additional five variables of mathematical rigor emerged from preliminary study of the 2003 TAKS math test. Of the 35 individual variables, only four reached a significant level of correlation with the percent of students correctly answering a given test item. The number of digits presented in the problem statement and number of known quantities both exhibited a significant positive correlation with the dependent variable. The number of times a student had to perform a multiplication operation had a significant negative correlation with the percent of correct responses, as did the total number of operations required. Stepwise regression of these four variables revealed total number of operations and known quantities to be the best combination of predictors of correct responses. When grouped in categories by problem type and compared, items involving mathematical reasoning but no mathematical operations had a significantly higher percentage of correct responses than those requiring at least one operation. Further categorization revealed problems involving applications only (without computation) associated with the highest levels of correct responses, followed by those involving only computation. Items requiring both applications and computations had a significantly lower percent of correct responses.

Undergraduate enrollment in colleges and universities has grown and changed drastically over the past 2 decades, with a significant portion of this growth coming from the increased number of nontraditional students who have made the decision to make their way onto college and university campuses to pursue a college degree. Due to these changes, many institutions of higher education have had to rethink the way they have historically operated. In an attempt to better meet the needs and demands of adult nontraditional students, colleges and universities have reviewed their existing programs and instituted programs that allow for the awarding of academic credit for prior learning. For those institutions of higher education involved in the prior learning assessment (PLA) process and interested in providing a quality program, an increased emphasis and focus should be on the importance of determining what a learning activity is, and more importantly, what constitutes college-level learning. This study focused on the identification and profiling of prior learning assessment (PLA) processes in Texas public universities offering nontraditional baccalaureate degree programs, the identification of commonalties among such programs, and the determination of program quality based on established standards. The instrument utilized in this study was designed on Urban Whitaker's 10 Standards of Good Practice. The population consisted of those public institutions of higher education in Texas that offer the Texas CIP code 30.9999.40 - Applied Arts and Sciences - baccalaureate degree. A within-stage mixed-model methodology was used. Open-ended questions were used to strengthen the data obtained from the quantitative portion. This research study suggests that, although there are similarities with regards to the types of PLA processes used in the awarding of PLA credit, many of the organizations could benefit from an evaluation of their current policies, procedures, and/or common practices related to the process of awarding credit via prior learning assessment as they relate to overall quality.