M. Ed. (Education Management) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

M.Ed. / Met hierdie kort navorsingsprojek is beoog om samewerkende bestuur en die moontlike implikasies daarvan op geheelskool evaluering te bereken. Die konseptuele raamwerk waarbinne hierdie navorsingsprojek beoordeel moet word is deur middel van 'n literatuurondersoek na samewerkende bestuur en die moontlike implikasies daarvan op geheelskool evaluering, daargestel. Een van die hoofbevindinge was dat geheelskool evaluering aanleiding gee tot kunsmatige samewerking van die opvoeders se kant af. Die persepsie van opvoeders met betrekking tot die evaluering van die ge¿dentifiseerde aspekte van samewerkende bestuur is deur die gebruik van 'n vraelys bepaal. Data was versamel in 'n poging om die persepsie van opvoeders rakende die belangrikheid van ge¿dentifiseerde aspekte van samewerkende bestuur in skole te ondersoek. Die bekwaamheid van die opvoeder se skole in die implementering van hierdie ge¿dentifiseerde aspekte van samewerkende bestuur, is tergelykertyd bepaal. In die analise van die data het dit aan die lig gekom dat daar 'n verskil in persepsie tussen opvoeders betreffende die belangrikheid en bekwaamheid van die ge¿dentifiseerde aspekte van samewerkende bestuur in skole bestaan. Die verskil tussen die gemiddelde belangrikheidstelling en die bekwaamheidstelling met betrekking tot samewerkende bestuur is die gevolg van kunsmatige samewerking vanaf opvoeders kant. Dit is soortgelyk aan Argyris en Schon (1974:7) se sogenaamde voorgestaane- en gebruiksteorie. Daar is aangetoon dat hierdie kunsmatige samewerking belangrike implikasies ten opsigte van geheelskool evaluering het. Die navorser het die literatuur en empiriese bevindinge gebruik om aanbevelings met betrekking tot die assessering van samewerkende bestuur en die moontlike implikasies wat dit vir geheelskool evaluering inhou, gedoen. / Prof. B.R. Grobler

M.Ed. / Please refer to full text to view abstract

M.Ed. (Education Management) / As a managerial leader the principal 􀀆s responsible for a comprehensive SPt of tasks. It is, therefore, not possible for one person to punctually and timorously give attention to all the pertinent matters which may arise. This dilemma has given rise to mechanisms of identification, design and description which would ultimately lead to a refined school management system ...

Special needs education has always provided special challenges to school administrators, policy makers and teachers. The world-wide move towards inclusive education as an alternative to exclusive education or casual mainstreaming has resulted in significant developments in Namibia in the past decade. Global educational reforms have focused on education for all as well as inclusive education and Namibia is signatory to several conventions and declarations in this regard. Research in this field has largely focused on the role of the inclusive teacher, and of course the special needs of the learners. Little or no attention has been paid to possible managerial and organisational challenges which accompany the move to inclusive education. This thesis seeks to critically investigate the managerial implications of inclusive education. The focal point of this research is to gain a clear understanding of the managerial implications in an inclusive school for learners with visual impairment, chiefly through an exploration of the experiences of management members of the inclusive process. The research is located within a qualitative research paradigm, which is subsumed by a phenomenological model. The data gathered through in-depth interviews include many anecdotal accounts that provide insight into the ways respondents reacted to experiences at the inclusive school. The main findings of the research are highlighted and discussed. Recommendations arising from a critical analysis of these main findings are presented.

M.Ed. (Education Management) / The purpose of the study is to investigate the origin and function of informal personnel groups in the school and the identification of the opinion leaders. During the investigation special attention has been given to the role of the opinion leader in the informal group as well as how the opinion leader may be guided by the school principal towards meaningful involvement. Information has been obtained mainly through the study of literature and such information has been interpreted, evaluated and explained. This study led to conclusions and recommendations. Much of a principal's time is taken up by his involvement with a group of people the school personnel. The school personnel as a group consists of two other groups - formal groups and informal groups. Formal groups are formed consciously or intentionally to realise the objectives of the school, while informal groups are created spontaneously. Informal groups institution, as positive, that manner. have an important influence on the school or such groups may act towards Goal-realisation in a is supportive, or negative, that is non-supportive It is apparent that the principal determines to a great extent whether the informal groups of the school personnel are to be positive factors with regard to formal objectives. Informal groups may be a great advantage provided the principal understands how such groups originate and function.

This quasi-experimental, concurrent mixed methods study investigated whether less-proficient readers in seventh-grade language arts classes using the Reading VITALS supplemental curricular intervention exhibited improved reading comprehension. VITALS is an acronym for Visualizing, Interacting, and Thinking while Applying Literacy Strategies. VITALS used a balanced approach of explicit reading instruction and collaborative classroom discussions in which the teacher shifted to the role of facilitator and students became the constructors of knowledge. Participants included students of varying achievement levels, including a large percentage of minority students as well as those labeled economically disadvantaged. Tested in two seventh-grade language arts classes taught by the same teacher, the full intervention consisted of nine, forty-five minute lessons that introduced students to five levels of comprehension and stressed three key reading strategies: visualizing, questioning, and summarizing. The Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) protocol acted as a tool to engage students in discussions of scaffolded texts. Because VITALS had two major components, reading strategy instruction and class discussions of scaffolded texts, two additional intervention strands, focusing on only one of the components, were tested, as well as a Comparison group. Ten of eleven quantitative outcome measures focused on differences in change scores for different reading measures across the intervention and comparison groups. The first four quantitative outcome measurements were classroom measures assessing students' reading of an image and students' reading of a poem for the entire sample of students and specifically, the less-proficient readers. This allowed for analyses of the overall effects of the interventions as well as disaggregated results focusing on the lower readers. The next six quantitative outcome measurements were Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) - Reading Sunshine State Standard (SSS) measures. Using the same strategy of overall effect of entire sample and then disaggregated effects for less-proficient readers, students' reading comprehension was assessed on three different FCAT Content Cluster measures: main idea and author's purpose, comparisons and cause/effect, and reference and research. The last quantitative outcome measurement focused on differences in learning gains for less-proficient readers' on the FCAT SSS across intervention and comparison groups. An additional question, using the qualitative phenomenological approach, complemented the test of the VITALS intervention by exploring students' perspectives of participating in the intervention. Using a maximum variation sampling, six key informants were identified and their perspectives analyzed across data sources, especially student reflections and transcripts from the focus group interview. Descriptive analyses, Repeated Measures MANCOVA, One-way ANOVA, post hoc analyses, and Chi Square tests revealed three important findings. First, the students participating in the full Reading VITALS curriculum evidenced significant growth (p < 0.05) on both classroom measures: reading an image and reading a poem when compared to students in the comparison group. Second, this significant difference on both classroom measures was true for less-proficient readers as well as proficient readers when compared to students of similar proficiency in the comparison group. Results suggested that Reading VITALS might be an effective curricular intervention in classrooms where less-proficient students are homogeneously grouped as well as in classrooms where students are heterogeneously grouped, as the proficient readers' performance was not negatively impacted by the intervention. Third, regardless of their proficiency level, students in the Reading VITALS curriculum did not perform significantly better on any of the FCAT Reading SSS measures. In terms of students' perceptions of the value of participating in the Reading VITALS curriculum, three findings emerged. The first was less-proficient students viewed learning as a process whereas proficient readers viewed learning as a product. A second finding that emerged was less-proficient readers situated learning in the social context whereas proficient readers situated learning in within the personal realm. A third finding was less-proficient readers were willing to take risks in responding throughout the lesson whereas proficient readers demonstrated a resistance acknowledging the fear of being incorrect. Implications included the impact educational policy structures have on students' literacy identities, ability tracking, and remedial curricula; the need for curricular reform, which calls for paradigmatic shifts in focus from individuals to contexts and from deficit to enrichment; and the support necessary to make such philosophical and pedagogical shifts. / A Dissertation submitted to the School of Teacher Education in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2010. / February 23, 2010. / Visual Literacy, Middle Grades, Reading Comprehension, Literacy Instruction, Reading Instruction / Includes bibliographical references. / Susan Nelson-Wood, Professor Directing Dissertation; Judith L. Irvin, University Representative; Pamela Sissi Carroll, Committee Member; Diana C. Rice, Committee Member; Stacey Rutledge, Committee Member; Kathleen Blake Yancey, Committee Member.

Supervision is interpreted in various ways by teacher principals as a result of the differences in their background training, and experience. Some realize that good supervisory activities involve the stimulation of professional growth; others give a sigh of relief at the end of their teaching day and have little time for supervisory activities; and still, other teacher-principals look upon the goal of supervision as a perpetuation of their personal teaching blueprints. This diversity of interpretation is in itself evidence of need for a better understanding of the true supervisory obligations of the teacher-principal. It is the function of good supervision to be concerned with the efforts of all persons who help children to grow in educational stature. It is further the obligation of the teacher-principal to provide good supervision in addition to his classroom teaching. Accordingly, it is desirable to isolate, examine and evaluate common supervisory activities of the teacher-principal.

The aspect of supervision that is particularly challenging to me is the problem of the present day. Our curricula have been so constructed, interpreted and planned that a high degree of integration and correlation should result, both vertically and horizontally. To realize these aims, teachers must have a great many conferences, both in groups and individually with the supervisor, who is usually the principle of the school The conferences are needed not only to discuss the possibilities of integration and correlation, but to teach many of the teachers methods, objectives, devices, and projects for teaching the modern courses of studies most effectively. No conscientious, wide awake principles, who is forced back into the classroom routine, is willing to fold his hands and try to shun the responsibilities of helping his teachers with their ever increasing teaching load and problems. It is, therefore, very evident that there is an increasing need for a supervisor to help his teachers, and, since the time of many principles is taken up in part or entirely with classroom teaching, there is only one way to solve the problem. Certainly the answer is a new technique of supervision, which can be administered without class visitations by the principal; and which will require the minimum of the teachers' and principal's time. Certainly the answer is a new technique of supervision, which can be administered without class visitations by the principal; and which will require the minimum of the teachers' and principal's time. This problem is of such paramount importance to public education I have prepared the following thesis concerning it and I have endeavored to show how supervision can be carried on by the conference method, as is the practice in the school of which I am principal and three-fourths' time teacher. This thesis is a relatively personal report, it is based on actual experiences in most cases. Naturally, marks of identification have been substituted to make the thesis as impersonal as possible. The purpose of the author is to give the reader definite principles, ideas and constructive examples of how supervision can be conducted to a creditable degree of success, by the conference method. Real or likely discussions have been used to make the thesis ring true and be practical. The ideas should be of greater use to the reader, because of their purely theoretical nature.

Understanding science teachers' beliefs is important for science teacher educators, because such understanding is a prerequisite for promoting change within the framework of educational reform. The worldview model developed by Graves (1981) and Beck and Cowan (1996) provides a holistic approach to understanding teachers' beliefs and values and it also provides a framework for understanding how people's worldviews change. In this study, worldviews of four science teachers were investigated within the framework of Beck and Cowan's model. Two of these teachers were high school science teachers, while the other two were middle school science teachers. One of the teachers held National Board of Professional Teaching Certification and she had18 years of teaching experience. Another teacher was a relatively new teacher with three years of teaching experience. The third teacher had nine years of teaching experience, but when this study was conducted, it was her first year of teaching science. The other teacher had 26 years of experience with certification in all science areas. During this study, interpretative qualitative methods of data collection and analysis were used which included interviews, observations, and the use of a survey developed by Beck and Cowan (2000) called the Values Test. The results show that differing values and experiences among science teachers leads to different strategies for making sense of science teaching. The assertion that the worldview perspective provided by Beck and Cowan is a useful tool in understanding teachers' beliefs and values is made in the conclusions. Teacher educators can utilize this tool in research about teacher beliefs, in promoting change for reform, or in developing curriculum for teacher education programs. Teachers can utilize it in self-reflective practices to better understand their own beliefs, their context, and their students and ultimately improve the teaching and learning process they engage in. / A Dissertation Submitted to the Department of Middle and Secondary Education in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester, 2004. / April 27, 2004. / Teacher Education, Teacher Beliefs, Worldview, Science Education, Interperative Qualitative, Educational Reform / Includes bibliographical references. / Nancy T. Davis, Professor Directing Dissertation; Kenneth A. Goldsby, Outside Committee Member; Penny J. Gilmer, Committee Member; Karen Monkman, Committee Member.