Thesis (M.Ed.)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2005.

Adolescence can be described as a period of heightened vulnerability. The transition between childhood and adulthood encompasses challenges associated with the changes experienced in the various domains of development. Risk and opportunity are associated with adolescence and education with regard to dealing with these aspects of adolescent developmental change is critical. Life Skills Education promotes the acquisition of appropriate non-academic skills and behaviour that will empower the adolescent to lead a meaningful life. Life Orientation is South Africa's interpretation of Life Skills Education. This learning area is one of eight within the structure of Curriculum 2005. This study focuses on this specific learning area. The aim of this study was to determine the specific Life Orientation needs of Grade 9 learners and to assess whether the current Life Orientation curriculum meets these needs. The study also set out to establish whether the Life Orientation needs differed according to race and gender. The research consists of a literature and an empirical study. Primary and secondary literature resources, as well as, the Internet, were studied in order to achieve the aims of the study. Information studied was used to design a measuring instrument in the form of a survey. This measuring instrument is statistically valid and reliable. The empirical study was primarily descriptive and quantitative. The sample population comprised of Grade 9 learners from two mainstream English-medium schools in the Vaal Triangle. The findings of this study show that the Life Orientation needs of Grade 9 learners in this sample are largely met by the current curriculum, although a number of deficiencies do exist and recommendations with regard to the relevance of the curriculum have been made. No significant differences between gender and racial groups were found. Furthermore, the Life Orientation needs are practical and future-orientated. These needs reflect the skills required to cope with the socio-economic reality of modern day life in South Africa. / Thesis (M.Ed.)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2005.

Adolescence can be described as a period of heightened vulnerability. The transition between childhood and adulthood encompasses challenges associated with the changes experienced in the various domains of development. Risk and opportunity are associated with adolescence and education with regard to dealing with these aspects of adolescent developmental change is critical. Life Skills Education promotes the acquisition of appropriate non-academic skills and behaviour that will empower the adolescent to lead a meaningful life. Life Orientation is South Africa's interpretation of Life Skills Education. This learning area is one of eight within the structure of Curriculum 2005. This study focuses on this specific learning area. The aim of this study was to determine the specific Life Orientation needs of Grade 9 learners and to assess whether the current Life Orientation curriculum meets these needs. The study also set out to establish whether the Life Orientation needs differed according to race and gender. The research consists of a literature and an empirical study. Primary and secondary literature resources, as well as, the Internet, were studied in order to achieve the aims of the study. Information studied was used to design a measuring instrument in the form of a survey. This measuring instrument is statistically valid and reliable. The empirical study was primarily descriptive and quantitative. The sample population comprised of Grade 9 learners from two mainstream English-medium schools in the Vaal Triangle. The findings of this study show that the Life Orientation needs of Grade 9 learners in this sample are largely met by the current curriculum, although a number of deficiencies do exist and recommendations with regard to the relevance of the curriculum have been made. No significant differences between gender and racial groups were found. Furthermore, the Life Orientation needs are practical and future-orientated. These needs reflect the skills required to cope with the socio-economic reality of modern day life in South Africa. / Thesis (M.Ed.)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2005.

This dissertation explains how and why some American artists investigated visual phenomena and heightened perception during the 1960s and 1970s. As an analytical account grounded in the perceptual experience of artworks and in archival research of the claims artists made for their creations, this study is centered around the themes of re-sensitizing one’s body and perceptual faculties, the process of empirical discovery, and the ultimate inability of language to satisfactorily describe sensory phenomena. In Chapter 1, I establish a brief intellectual history of research concerning the sensory faculties from fields in the humanities, including psychology, philosophy, and art history. In Chapter 2, I analyze Judd’s art-critical concept of optical phenomena and consider the art about which he wrote, including his own, on the basis of this tentative classification. In Chapter 3, I evaluate John Chamberlain’s lacquer paintings in terms of the visual phenomena generated by his innovative paint mixtures and application techniques, then consider his provisional separation of intuition and intellect. In Chapter 4, I examine Robert Irwin’s efforts to refine his visual attentiveness and, in the course of doing so, I also test the accompanying artworks he made that demand such unusually acute observation. In Chapter 5, I argue that distinguishing physical, pictorial, and reflected visual phenomena in Larry Bell’s pieces proves to be an exceptional challenge, a problem compounded by the inefficacy of trying to communicate visual discoveries using language. In the Conclusion, I demonstrate that by restoring the role of heightened perception and sensory discovery to the history of art of the 1960s and 1970s, this dissertation helps to preserve the complexity and variety of works made during that time. / text

This thesis aims to study the role, function, and responsibility of municipalities in the Swedish total defence during periods of heightened preparedness. The method used in this thesis is a qualitative text analysis, and the material consists of public documents from state actors. The research question formulated is as follows: What role, function, and responsibility are municipalities expected to have within the future total defence during periods of heightened preparedness? To answer the research question, resilience has been used as a theoretical framework. The results show that municipalities are expected to take on a proactive role by working with anticipation and identification, as well as by preventing, mitigating, and preparing for crises. Additionally, municipalities are expected to have an adaptive capability and act reactively by implementing measures and restoring society to normalcy. Furthermore, although the concept of resilience is not explicitly mentioned in the analyzed documents, it is evident that municipalities are expected to have a role, function, and responsibility characterized by resilience within the framework of future total defence. By contributing new knowledge and insights in this area, the study aims to fill the knowledge gaps that previous research has not addressed, while also aspiring to provide ideas for further research and development in the field of total defence and municipal resilience.

Syftet med denna studie var att studera hur förskollärare upplever sin roll inom totalförsvaret och hur deras försvarsvilja ser ut. Totalt har tio förskollärare intervjuats genom semistrukturerade intervjuer och en tematisk analys utfördes på intervjumaterialet. Detta resulterade i två teman och sju subteman som redogör för gynnsamma samt ogynnsamma aspekter för förskollärares syn på sin roll inom totalförsvaret och deras försvarsvilja. Slutsatserna från denna studie var att förskollärare anser att de har en viktig roll inom totalförsvaret och att det finns en hög försvarsvilja. Studien visar dock att kunskapen och informationen om vad deras roll innebär är bristande, inte bara internt utan även stort i samhället och att ledare utgör en viktig roll i att sprida den kunskapen. Slutligen visadestudien på att den mest ogynnsamma aspekten är det som står oss närmast - familjen. Behovet att skydda sin egen familj och veta att den är trygg är det viktigaste och det visar i sig hur viktig förskolan är som aktör inom det civila försvaret för att tillgodose det behovet. / The aim of this study was to study how preschool teachers perceive their role within the total defence and what their willingness to defend one’s own country looks like. A total of tenpreschool teachers have been interviewed through semi-structured interviews and the interview material has been data-processed through a thematic analysis. This resulted in two themes and seven subthemes that included favorable and unfavorable aspects of preschool teachers view of their role in total defence and their willingness to defend. The conclusions of this study were that preschool teachers think that they have an important role in the total defence and that there is a high willingness to defend, but that the knowledge and information about what their role entails is lacking, not only internally but also widely in society and that leaders plays an important role to spread this knowledge. Finally this study shows that the most unfavorable aspect, for the willingness to defend one’s country, is what we have closestto us - the family. The need to protect the own family is the most important thing and that itself shows how important preschool is as an actor in the civil defence.