The purpose of this study was to investigate how instructional leadership manifests itself and can be strengthened in a Namibian rural school. As a teacher, head of department and later an education officer, I have long held the view that committed school leadership is essential for the school’s instructional and academic success. Equally, I have always been aware of the impact of the past segregation and the unequal education provided by the colonial government in South Africa and South West Africa/Namibia. The inferior education provided to Africans posed a serious challenge to the leadership and management of schools, as would be principals were not adequately trained to provide the necessary “ingredients” relevant for instructional success. Given this background, I attempted, using a case study of one secondary school, to investigate how instructional leadership is manifesting itself and could be strengthened in a rural school in the Omusati region of Namibia. Research questions that framed the study were: firstly, how does the leadership approach in the school promote teaching and learning; secondly, what is the role of external players in enhancing instructional leadership and thirdly, what are the strengthening and inhibiting factors of instructional leadership. The population of the study was composed of an Inspector of Education, a school principal, a head of department (HOD) and four teachers from a secondary school, located in the Omusati region in Namibia. Data were collected through interviews, document analysis and observation. With regard to data analysis, I first immersed myself in the data. I developed themes that formed the basis of my discussion with my research questions in mind. The analysis revealed that instructional leadership is strongly evidenced at the case study school. However, it emerged that despite the existence of strong instructional leadership at the school, as with all other organisations, there are several challenges that limit the effective implementation of the teaching and learning programme. These challenges vary from indiscipline, poor time management, to lack of teaching and learning resources. Participants also provided a number of possible solutions to the problems identified, including that the principal should be a good role model for the staff and that an enabling environment for both teaching and learning should be created. The study also strongly suggested that participative leadership and management is a cornerstone to the academic success of the school.

This study was conducted in order to understand to what extent Grade 2 teachers use books (or other forms of extended text) in their reading lessons in Oshindonga where very little published material is available, and, if so, whether they engage in shared reading with these materials or not. The study also explored ways to introduce more books (or other forms of extended text) into Oshindonga classrooms. The study took the form of an interpretive case study. It was conducted in two primary schools in Otjiwarongo district in the Otjozondjupa region of Namibia. Two qualified Grade 2 teachers were selected. The purpose of this sampling was to gain an in depth understanding of how these two selected teachers taught reading in Oshindonga. The data was gathered by using semi-structured interviews with open-ended questions, as well as lesson observations and stimulated recall with each individual teacher after each lesson. The purpose of this was to gain clarity in areas that were not clear during lesson presentations. A focus group interview was also conducted in order to generate ideas about how to introduce more extended texts into the classroom. The key fmdings are that both schools in the study lacked books in Oshindonga, and the teachers lacked an understanding of the importance of using books (or other forms of extended text). Other key findings are that teachers had a problem in choosing appropriate texts to read with their learners; teachers understand reading more as decoding than reading for meaning and pleasure; children were not asked any comprehension questions and the two teachers had different views on the value of shared reading. The research data revealed that there are problems in teaching literacy in Namibian African languages.

Though research has been conducted on many issues since Namibia's independence in 1990, none of these studies has investigated how English Second Language (ESL) teachers teach and support struggling adolescent readers (SARs) to read. Utilising qualitative research techniques such as classroom observations, semi-structured interviews and document analysis, this case study looked at strategies, methods, and resources used by five ESL secondary school teachers to teach SARs to read in two regions in Namibia, Caprivi and Otjozondjupa regions. Two of the five participants were male teachers. The presence of SARs in the classes observed was established by using informal methods such as the ESL teachers' experience (Caprivi region), while a sample of questions from PIRLS 2001 (Mullis, Martin, Gonzalez, & Kennedy (2003) was compiled to form a test used in the Otjozondjupa region. The findings show that despite undergoing initial teacher training and majoring in English, the five ESL secondary school teachers were not trained to teach SARs either how to read or how to support them. In addition, the study found that there was a shortage of reading materials in all five selected schools.

This study focuses on the implementation of a thematic approach in the Namibian Lower Primary Phase of schooling. The purpose of the study is to investigate teachers’ perceptions and understanding of the thematic approach and also to explore how teachers plan and implement a thematic approach in their classrooms. It is argued that a thematic approach allows for a combination of subjects that integrate content across the curriculum in such a way that learners can see the relations among concepts and so build up their knowledge in a more meaningful way. The work was done in a qualitative paradigm using a case study approach. Findings reveal that the majority of teachers have a shallow conceptual understanding of the principles of a thematic approach and this causes difficulties in their practice. The investigation concludes that in order for teachers to deepen their conceptual understanding of the thematic approach, follow-up workshops are necessary to help them develop appropriate strategies for their classrooms.

The question of gender in leadership continues to be a contentious and poorly understood phenomenon. There seems general agreement that women do lead differently from men, and this study begins from that premise, focusing on a case in which leadership has traditionally been the domain of females. The case was chosen for its uniqueness, the assumption being that in these circumstances leadership may have developed particular characteristics. Following a qualitative approach (drawing on phenomenology), the study seeks to investigate how women leaders experience their roles as leaders. In-depth interviews made it possible for me to capture the perceptions and experiences of the three women leaders I interviewed. The study reveals that women are more inclined to use interactive styles of leadership. Women use leadership that is more participative, negotiative, cooperative, shared and collaborative. These characteristics are in line with the features of transformational leadership which differs from the more traditional transactional leadership that is more controlled and directive. The study has also shown that leadership develops from within the person of the leader as the leader is the one who spearheads the organization through vision, ideas, beliefs andassumptions. The findings of this study suggest thus that unless women are given chances to prove how they can lead, this new approach of leadership within them and that is required by modern organizations would be lost and leadership would remain relatively unchanged and undesirable. In the context of Namibia, this study should be of potential significance because of the rapid change that is taking place in the inclusion of women in leadership and management positions in education.

Post independent Namibia adopted a decentralization policy which involved the transfer of decision-making powers and administrative authority from central government to government institutions, including schools, with a view to improving quality. However, despite new educational policies, Namibian educators continue to operate in a non-participatory manner and are unprepared for their role as change agents. This has created tension between the espoused benefits of decentralizing and the reality in schools. In such a turbulent situation schools need to be helped to understand the complexity of change in order to adapt, and OD plays a crucial role in this regard. OD is a consciously thought of and systematically implemented organization-wide improvement effort which aims at increasing organizational effectiveness and health through action research. Rather than a top-down change approach, the OD practice adopts a bottom-up approach to change. This study introduced and investigated an OD intervention in a Namibian rural school in Ohanguena Education Region, with the purpose of exploring participants’ perceptions and experience of the process and of the possible short-term outcome of the intervention. Its findings could be of significance to educators, organizations and future OD esearchers. The study is an action research case study located in the interpretive and critical paradigms. Multiple data collection tools were used during this study, namely observations, structured one-to-one interviews and focus group interviews. Interpretive analysis was used as the data analysis approach. The study found that despite OD being new to participants, it was embraced as a change strategy as it made significant impact on their understanding of organizations and conception of change which is radically different from the common top-down approach to change. The intervention further empowered participants with new skills of initiating change and problem-solving strategies. Apart from that, the intervention yielded a positive short-term outcome which motivated participants to adopt and apply OD in the future without underestimating challenges associated with the process.

The purpose of the study is to investigate how mother tongue instruction influences the learner performance in the acquisition of reading and comprehension skills of Khoekhoegowab speaking learners in Grade 2 in comparison with foreign medium of instruction. (p. 1)

Quality mathematics education relies on effective pedagogy which offers students appropriate and rich opportunities to develop their mathematical proficiency (MP) and intellectual autonomy in learning mathematics. This qualitative case study aimed to explore and analyse selected effective mathematics teachers' proficiency in the area of geometry in five secondary schools in five different Namibia educational regions. The sample was purposefully selected and comprised five mathematics teachers, identified locally as being effective practitioners by their peers, Education Ministry officials and the staff of the University of Namibia (UNAM). The schools where the selected teachers taught were all high performing Namibian schools in terms of students' mathematics performance in the annual national examinations. The general picture of students' poor performance in mathematics in Namibia is no different to other sub-Saharan countries and it is the teachers who unfortunately bear the brunt of the criticism. There are, however, beacons of excellence in Namibia and these often go unnoticed and are seldom written about. It is the purpose of this study to focus on these high achievers and analyse the practices of these teachers so that the rest of Namibia can learn from their practices and experience what is possible in the Namibian context. The mathematical content and context focus of this study was geometry. This qualitative study adopted a multiple case study approach and was framed within an interpretive paradigm. The data were collected through individual questionnaires, classroom lesson observations and in-depth open-ended and semi-structured interviews with the participating teachers. These interviews took the form of post lesson reflective and stimulated recall analysis sessions. An adapted framework based on the Kilpatrick, Swafford and Findell's (2001) five strands of teaching for MP was developed as a conceptual and analytical lens to analyse the selected teachers' practice. The developed coding and the descriptive narrative vignettes of their teaching enabled a qualitative analysis of what teachers said contributed to their effectiveness and how they developed MP in students. An enactivist theoretical lens was used to complement the Kilpatrick et al.'s (2001) analytical framework. This enabled a deeper analysis of teacher teaching practice in terms of their embodied mathematical knowledge, actions and interactions with students. procedural fluency (PF) and productive disposition (PD), were addressed regularly by all five participating teachers. Evidence of addressing either the development of students' strategic competence (SC) or adaptive reasoning (AR) appeared rarely. Of particular interest in this study was that the strand of PD was the glue that held the other four strands of MP together. PD was manifested in many different ways in varying degrees. PD was characterised by a high level of content knowledge, rich personal experience, sustained commitment, effective and careful preparation for lessons, high expectations of themselves and learners, collegiality, passion for mathematics and an excellent work ethic. In addition, the teachers' geometry teaching practices were characterised by making use of real-world connections, manipulatives and representations, encouraging a collaborative approach and working together to show that geometry constituted a bridge between the concrete and abstract. The findings of the study have led me, the author, to suggest a ten (10) principles framework and seven (7) key interrelated factors for effective teaching, as a practical guide for teachers. This study argues that the instructional practices enacted by the participating teachers, who were perceived to be effective, aligned well with practices informed by the five strands of the Kilpatrick et al.'s (2001) model and the four concepts of autopoesis, co-emergence, structural determinism and embodiment of the enactivist approach. The study concludes with recommendations for effective pedagogical practices in the teaching of geometry, and opportunities for further research.

Thesis (MPhil) -- Stellenbosch University, 2000. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study is aimed at determining whether the Port of Walvis Bay has what it takes to become a future hub port on the south-western coast of Africa. An equally important aspect of this study is to promote Walvis Bay as an economically viable option for trade in and out of Central and Southern Africa, and what proportion of traffic Walvis Bay could expect to capture from competing regional ports, especially the ports of Durban and Cape Town. The conclusions arrived at in this study indicate that the prospects for transforming Walvis Bay into a future hub port will depend on the increased involvement of the private sector, political and industrial stability, as well as regional integration to mention just a few. It is clear that Walvis Bay does not pose a competitive threat to the ports of Cape Town and Durban, and can only perform a complementary role. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die doel van hierdie studiestuk is om te bepaal of die Hawe van Walvisbaai oor die vermoë beskik om ‘n sentrale hawe vir die suidelike en weskus van Afrika te wees. ‘n Belangrike aspek van die studie is om Walvisbaai te bevorder as ‘n ekonomiese alternatief vir handel na en vanaf Sentraal en Suidelike Afrika, en om die verhouding van verkeer te bepaal wat gewen kan word vanaf kompeterende hawens in die streek, veral die Durbanse en Kaapse Hawens. Die resultate bewys dat die moontlikhede om Walvisbaai te omskep in ‘n toekomstige sentrale hawe, alleenlik deur die deelname en samewerking van die privaatsektor, politieke goeie wil, die industriële stabiliteit van die land en integrasie met buurstate bewerkstellig kan word. Walvisbaai hou geen kompeterende bedreiging in vir die hawens van Kaapstad en Durban nie, en kan slegs ‘n komplementerende rol speel.

Thesis (MSc)--Stellenbosch University, 2005. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The northeast-trending south Central Zone (sCZ) of the Pan-African Damara belt in central Namibia is structurally characterized by kilometer-scale, northeast-trending dome structures developed in Neoproterozoic rocks of the Damara Sequence. A number of different structural models have been proposed for the formation of these domes in the literature. This study describes the structural geology of the Usakos dome. The study discusses the structural evolution of the dome within the regional framework of the cSZ that represents the high-grade metamorphic axis of the Damara Belt, characterized by voluminous Pan-African granitoids. The northeastern part of the Usakos dome is developed as an upright- to northwestverging anticlinorium containing a steep southeasterly-dipping axial planar foliation. The northeast fold trend persists into the southwestern parts of the Usakos dome. However, this southwestern core of the dome is inundated by synkinematic granitic sheets. Distinct marker horizons of the Damara Sequence outcrop as screens within the granite, preserving a ghost stratigraphy. These screens illustrate the position and orientation of second-order folds. Significantly, most of the stratigraphy of the Damara Sequence is overturned in these folds. For example, some second-order anticlines developed in the northeastern parts of the Usakos dome can be followed along their axial traces into the southwestern hinge of the dome, where they appear as synformal anticlines, i.e. synformal structures cored by older strata, plunging towards the northeast. The inverted stratigraphy and northeasterly fold plunges suggest the northeast-trending folds are refolded by second-generation, northwest-trending folds, thus, forming kilometer-scale Type-2 interference folds. The resulting fold geometries are strongly non-cylindrical, approaching southwest-closing sheath folds indicating a top-to-the-southwest material transport. Lower-order folds in this overturned domain show radial fold plunges, plunging away from the centre of the dome core, as well as a shallowly-dipping schistosity. The close spatial and temporal relationship between granite intrusion and the formation of the southwest-vergent, sheath-type folds, radial distribution of fold plunges and the subhorizontal foliation confined to the southwestern hinge of the Usakos dome are interpreted to signify the rheological weakening and ensuing collapse of the developing first-order Usakos dome immediately above the synkinematic granite intrusions. Orogenparallel, southwest-vergent sheath folds and top-to-the southwest extrusion of the southwestern parts of the Usakos dome and northwest-vergent folding and thrusting characterizing the northeastern extent of the Usakos dome are both responses to the northwest-southeast- directed contractional tectonics recorded during the main collisional phase in the Damara belt. On a regional scale, the Usakos dome represents the link between the foreland-vergent northeastern part of the sCZ and the southwest-vergent, high-grade southwestern parts of the sCZ. The results of this study illustrate how dramatic variations in structural styles may be caused by the localized and transient rheological weakening of the crust during plutonic activity. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die noordoos-strekkende, suidelike Sentrale Sone (sSS) van die Pan-Afrikaanse Damara gordel in sentraal Namibië word karakteriseer deur kilometer-skaal, noordoosstrekkende koepel strukture, ontwikkel in die Neoproterozoïkum gesteentes van die Damara Opeenvolging. 'n Aantal verskillende struktuur modelle is voorgestel in die literatuur vir die vorming van hierdie koepels. Hierdie ondersoek beskryf die struktuur geologie van die Usakos koepel. Die ondersoek bespreek die strukturele ontwikkeling van die koepel in die regionale konteks van die sSS, wat die hoë graadse metamorfe magmatiese as van die Damara Gordel verteenwoordig, en karakteriseer word deur omvangryke Pan-Afrikaanse granitoïede. Die noordoostelike gedeelte van die Usakos koepel is ontwikkel as 'n antiklinorium met 'n vertikale- tot noordwestelike kantelrigting. wat 'n steil hellende, suidoostelike asvlak planêre foliasie bevat. Die noordoos-strekkende plooiing kom voor tot in die suidwestelike kern van die Usakos wat ingedring is deur sinkinematiese granitiese plate. Die posisie en oriëntasie van tweede-orde plooie is afgebeeld in die graniete deur 'n skimstratigrafie wat preserveer is deur duidelike merker horisonne van die Damara Opeenvolging. Die stratigrafie van die Damara Opeenvolging is opmerklik meestal omgekeer in hierdie plooie. Byvoorbeeld, tweede-orde antikliene ontwikkel in die noordoostelike gedeelte van die Usakos koepel kan gevolg word langs hul asvlakspore tot in die suidwestelike skarnier van die koepel, waar dit voorkom as sinforme antikliene, d.w.s. sinforme strukture met ouer strata in die kern wat na die noordooste duik. Die omgekeerde stratigrafie en noordoostelike plooi duiking impliseer dat die noordoosstrekkende plooie weer geplooi is deur tweede-generasie, noordwes-strekkende plooie, wat dus aanleiding gegee het tot die vorming van kilometer-skaal, tipe-2 interferensie plooie. Die gevolglike plooi geometrieë is uitdruklik nie-silindries, en toon 'n oorgang na skede plooie met 'n sluiting na die suidweste, wat dui op 'n bokant-na-die-suidweste materiaal vervoer. Laer-orde plooie in die omgekeerde domein vertoon radiale duiking van die plooie, weg van die middelpunt van die koepel kern, sowel as 'n vlak hellende skistositeit. Die noue ruimtelike en temporele verwantskap tussen graniet intrusie en die vorming van skede-tipe plooie met 'n kantelrigting na die suidweste, die radiale verspreiding van plooi duiking, en die subhorisontale foliasie wat beperk is tot die suidwestelike skarnier van die Usakos koepel, word interpreteer as 'n aanduiding van die reologiese verswakking en die gevolglike ineenstorting van die ontwikkelende eerste-orde Usakos koepel, onmiddellik aan die bokant van die sinkinematiese graniet intrusies. Die orogeenparalleie skede plooie met kantelrigting na die suidweste en bokant-na-die-suidweste ekstrusie van die suidwestelike gedeelte van die Usakos koepel, en plooiing met kantelrigting na die noordweste en stootverskuiwing wat kenmerkend is van die noordoostelike gedeelte van die Usakos koepel, is beide 'n reaksie op die noordwessuidoos- gerigte vernouings tektoniek opgeteken gedurende die hoof botsings fase in die Damara gordel. Op 'n regionale skaal verteenwoordig die Usakos koepel die verbinding tussen die noordoostelike gedeelte van die sSS met 'n voorland kantelrigting. en die hoë graad suidwestelike gedeelte van die sSS met 'n kantelrigting na die suidweste. Die resultate van hierdie ondersoek toon aan hoe dramatiese variasies in struktuur style veroorsaak kan word deur die gelokaliseerde en kortstondige reologiese verswakking van die kors gedurende plutoniese aktiwiteit.