This study has investigated `How does the effective execution of the management tasks assist the District Foundation Phase First Education Specialist to promote quality teaching and learning in Gauteng schools?' This study has considered the concepts `leadership' and `management'. Importantly, it has provided for discussion on the four vital management tasks, for effective management, towards the promotion of quality teaching and learning in Gauteng schools. Quantitative research methodology was employed. The findings suggest that the District Foundation Phase First Education Specialist does perform the four management tasks and does employ strategies for the promotion of quality teaching and learning, but that these need to be improved on, sharpened and enhanced, for effective management, and for the promotion of quality teaching and learning in schools. This study has also revealed that development and professional support of the District Foundation Phase First Education Specialist is called for too. Through use of a basic management model, in this study, suggestions and requirements are presented, and recommendations are made, for the effective execution of the management tasks towards the promotion of quality teaching and learning. Provision is therefore made for an illustration and description of the model, the suggestions and requirements envisaged, critical challenges and recommendations, as well as a motivation for the model. The study has recommended the piloting and implementation of this management model, with District First Education Specialists, in the Gauteng Department of Education. It has further recommended, that with the phasing-in of the Revised National Curriculum Statement, that this management model be trailed. Suggestions have been provided for in this regard. Review of this management model has been accommodated too. Its wider value and meaning for the Gauteng Department of Education, in the contexts of policy revision and educational transformation, has been briefly explored too. The management model suggested clearly seeks to champion effective management practice, and it also seeks to bring about improvements in existing management practice, for the promotion of quality teaching and learning in Gauteng schools. The recommendation made is aimed at contributing towards the promotion of quality teaching and learning in Gauteng schools. / Educational Studies / D. Ed. (Education Management)

The primary aim of the study was to design a model for changing teachers' attitudes towards the value of teaching critical thinking skills. Currently, information regarding the conceptualisation of this topic is inadequate and vague. In this study the nature of the complexities involved in the management and implementation of the teaching of critical thinking skills were researched through a literature study and an empirical investigation. A model was then designed for the effective management of the implementation thereof. The findings from the research indicated that teachers' attitudes towards the value of teaching critical thinking skills to learners are negative. It also became evident that the school principal should manage the implementation of the teaching of critical thinking skills to learners. The focus of the proposed model is on how teachers' attitudes towards the value of teaching critical thinking skills can be changed to ensure quality educative teaching and learning in and outside of the classroom. The study therefore serves to present a useable model for the management of the implementation of teaching critical thinking skills to learners. The study is further based on a well balanced opinion as experiences of teachers in the senior phase (grades 7, 8, & 9) were investigated by means of structured questionnaires. Recommendations regarding research findings were made for stakeholders and education departmental officials to note. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Education Management))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2010.

The primary aim of the study was to design a model for changing teachers' attitudes towards the value of teaching critical thinking skills. Currently, information regarding the conceptualisation of this topic is inadequate and vague. In this study the nature of the complexities involved in the management and implementation of the teaching of critical thinking skills were researched through a literature study and an empirical investigation. A model was then designed for the effective management of the implementation thereof. The findings from the research indicated that teachers' attitudes towards the value of teaching critical thinking skills to learners are negative. It also became evident that the school principal should manage the implementation of the teaching of critical thinking skills to learners. The focus of the proposed model is on how teachers' attitudes towards the value of teaching critical thinking skills can be changed to ensure quality educative teaching and learning in and outside of the classroom. The study therefore serves to present a useable model for the management of the implementation of teaching critical thinking skills to learners. The study is further based on a well balanced opinion as experiences of teachers in the senior phase (grades 7, 8, & 9) were investigated by means of structured questionnaires. Recommendations regarding research findings were made for stakeholders and education departmental officials to note. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Education Management))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2010.

This thesis presents an ethnographic account of the everyday meanings and processes associated with the idea of ‘community’ within the London neighbourhood of Kilburn. In policy and popular discourse, community is cast both as somehow able to unite people across difference, and as under threat from the proliferation of difference, which is seen as impeding mutual understanding, cooperation and belonging. Within scholarly writing, ‘community’ is often challenged as too archaic, too rigid or too ambiguous a concept to provide sufficient analytical leverage or to work as a normative ideal. Against this background, my PhD takes a look the neighbourhood of Kilburn, where amidst significant diversity, tropes of community are still widely used. I investigate how residents imagine various forms of community in relation to diversity, as well as the connections and discontinuities between these various imaginings. I draw on 16 months of ethnographic fieldwork, following over a dozen community projects and groups, tracing informal local networks and getting to know residents individually. My ethnography ranges from community cafes, to religious youth groups, to urban ‘gangs’, to government-led urban regeneration projects. Despite the variation in how different individuals imagined ‘community’, there was a shared view of community as a space which facilitated the bridging of difference and the construction of shared moral projects. These spaces did not exist sui generis. Rather they were opened up through the balancing of two traits: fixity and fluidity. Fixity involved defining community in terms of a clearly identifiable and familiar set of boundary markers, which serve to give it an ‘objective’ existence. Fluidity involved suspending this attempt to define community in terms of the familiar, once people were involved, in order to allow for new, shared understandings and values to emerge. The first two chapters unpack this balancing of fixity and fluidity. Chapter 1, traces inclusion and exclusion in a range of community projects, and Chapter 2 looks at tropes of race and ethnicity, examining how such ideas might be treated as simultaneously fixed and fluid. . The two chapters unpack the transformational power of community. Chapter 3 looks at a community centre for young Muslims, as well as at a local community radio station, and argues that community spaces have the potential to foster an ethic of continual openness to difference. Chapter 4 looks at a group of ‘street youth’ and their diverse views of success, and argues that community can act as a collective repository of future potential, allowing community members to transform their ethical trajectory within their own lives. The final two chapters look at contestations over community. Chapter 5 looks at clashing uses of public spaces and argues that such spaces are often read in highly fixed ways, and as lacking the potential for community-like negotiations. Chapter 6 looks at local regeneration projects and contrasts the ways in which community is valued locally, to the ways in which it is valued by state and market actors. The thesis concludes by emphasizing the necessarily plural, dynamic, contested and grounded nature of the idea of community described here.

Submitted by Márcia de Freitas Duarte (marcia.freitas.duarte@gmail.com) on 2015-06-09T09:18:35Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese - Márcia Duarte - Versão Final - Biblioteca.pdf: 21203549 bytes, checksum: 148d1658abe20953b0be2ce861bb3858 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Pamela Beltran Tonsa (pamela.tonsa@fgv.br) on 2015-06-09T13:02:54Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese - Márcia Duarte - Versão Final - Biblioteca.pdf: 21203549 bytes, checksum: 148d1658abe20953b0be2ce861bb3858 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-06-09T13:41:03Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese - Márcia Duarte - Versão Final - Biblioteca.pdf: 21203549 bytes, checksum: 148d1658abe20953b0be2ce861bb3858 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-05-11 / This thesis aims to understand the practices and actions of organising necessary for production /organization of a musical theatre show in São Paulo, in order to explore how materially heterogeneous relations and articulations sustain it and allow their presentations. The focus on practice and organising is aligned to the concern of Organizational Studies (OS) about how 'organizations happen' and in the understanding of the everyday organizational processes and practices, referring to the comprehension of organizations as a process (organizing) in constant state of (re)constitution. The literature in creative industries presents a lack related to the organization of creative goods or services, considering it focuses its attention more in the consumption of these products than in their organization or production. The notion of creativity is also pointed as just a human attribute, a talent or ability without emphasizing some creative or cultural goods or services only can happen or are produced considering the relations and actions between human and non-human elements. In organizational literature, theatre is studied as metaphor or as a sort of intervention/tool in processes of organizational changes or learning and not as a particular form of organization. Musical theatre, a creative industry, seems to be a consolidated activity in Brazil, mainly by the increase of large musical montages from Broadway shows and its increasing professionalization, particularly in the last decade and especially in São Paulo, SP. Its production differs from other theatrical genres by the number of professionals, the amount of investments and presence of technology highlighted in its sound, light and set design and stage management department, making it a fertile field for the exploration about how these actors get together and form the visible show (seen on the stage by the audience) and the invisible one (hidden behind the scenes). About this aspect, Actor-Network Theory (ANT), here used as theoretical and methodological framework , is an approach which provides an analytical repertoire for understanding the organization as the effect of a network of heterogeneous elements, with a stability temporarily achieved. This is a qualitative research and to achieve the aim of exploring the organization of a musical I carried out a fieldwork inspired in ethnographic principles along ten months in one company whose show was being presented in São Paulo between 2013 and 2014. From what was observed in the field, I described the associations and articulations between human and non-human actors, which are permeated by efforts to generate a stabilized order, even if precarious, which is here understood the musical itself (macro-actor or network-of-actors) and its more than three hundred performances during the season, resulting from actions in continuous (re)constitution. Negotiations concerning copyright acquisitions, particular aspects of the Portuguese language, the Brazilian audience, the bodies and voices of the Brazilian cast, the structural constraints of the theater, the production of documents, marking the rehearsing room, the articulation of the show via sound and image systems, the acquisition of specific equipment and the ‘calling system’ which allows to 'call the show' during the presentation are some of the themes I explored. In conclusion, with this research, I attempted to link the growing interest of OS field in relation to organising and some of the possibilities offered by ANT on the understanding of the multiplicity and heterogeneity inherent to organizational practices, in order to enrich the discussion of the organization and production of creative goods and services highlighting how the organization 'musical theatre show' is multiple and materially heterogeneous, and not only an idea related to human agency or creativity as production input, as emphasize the most descriptions related to creative industries. / Esta tese tem por objetivo compreender as práticas e ações de organizar necessárias à produção/organização de um espetáculo de teatro musical em São Paulo, a fim de explorar como as relações e articulações materialmente heterogêneas o sustentam e permitem suas apresentações. O foco nas práticas está alinhado à preocupação dos Estudos Organizacionais (EO) acerca de como ‘as organizações acontecem’, e na compreensão dos processos e práticas de organizar do cotidiano organizacional, remetendo ao entendimento das organizações como processos (organising) em constante estado de (re)constituição. O campo das indústrias criativas apresenta ainda lacunas pouco exploradas, referentes aos bens e serviços criativos. Seu foco de estudos está mais voltado para o consumo de tais bens e poucas pesquisas dedicam-se à sua produção e/ou organização. A própria noção de criatividade é entendida apenas como um atributo humano, talento ou habilidade, sem se enfatizar que alguns bens e serviços criativos e culturais apenas são possíveis a partir das relações e ações entre humanos e não-humanos. Na literatura organizacional, o teatro é amplamente estudado como uma metáfora ou como uma ferramenta de intervenção em processos de mudança ou aprendizado, sendo ainda raros estudos dedicados a explorar um espetáculo teatral como forma particular de organização. O teatro musical, inserido nas indústrias criativas, parece se consolidar no Brasil, principalmente pelo aumento de montagens de grandes musicais oriundos da Broadway, NYC, EUA, e sua crescente profissionalização, sobretudo na última década e, especialmente, na cidade de São Paulo, SP. Sua produção difere de outros gêneros teatrais pelo número de profissionais, investimentos e presença da tecnologia evidenciada em seus projetos de som, luz, cenografia e gestão de palco, tornando-o um campo fértil para a exploração sobre como atores se reúnem e formam o espetáculo visível (visto pelo público no palco) e o invisível (oculto nos bastidores). Sobre tal aspecto, a Teoria Ator-Rede (TAR), aqui utilizada como referencial teórico-metodológico, fornece um repertório analítico para a compreensão da organização como efeito de uma rede heterogênea de elementos, com uma estabilidade temporariamente alcançada. Para concretizar meu objetivo de explorar a organização de um musical, realizei uma pesquisa qualitativa, com inspiração etnográfica, na qual permaneci em campo durante dez meses junto a uma companhia cujo espetáculo esteve em cartaz em São Paulo entre os anos de 2013 e 2014. Descrevo, assim, como ocorreram as associações a articulações entre atores humanos e não-humanos, permeadas por esforços no sentido de gerar uma estabilização, um ordenamento, mesmo que precário, o qual é aqui entendido o musical (macro-ator ou rede-de-atores) em si e suas mais de trezentas apresentações durante a temporada, resultantes de ações em contínua (re)constituição. Negociações referentes a aquisições de direitos autorais, aspectos particulares da língua portuguesa, do público brasileiro, dos corpos e vozes do elenco brasileiro, as restrições estruturais do teatro, a produção de documentos, a marcação na sala de ensaios, a união do espetáculo via sistemas de som e imagem, a aquisição de equipamentos específicos e o sistema que permite ‘chamar o show’ durante a apresentação são alguns dos temas que exploro. Com esta pesquisa, busquei assimilar o crescente interesse dos EO em relação organising e algumas das possibilidades oferecidas pela TAR quanto à multiplicidade e heterogeneidade inerentes às práticas organizativas, com o intuito de enriquecer a discussão acerca da organização e produção de bens e serviços criativos, destacando como a organização ‘espetáculo de teatro musical’ é múltipla e materialmente heterogênea, e não apenas uma ideia exclusiva à ação humana ou criatividade como insumo de produção, tal como apregoa a maior parte das descrições referentes às indústrias criativas.

This study has investigated `How does the effective execution of the management tasks assist the District Foundation Phase First Education Specialist to promote quality teaching and learning in Gauteng schools?' This study has considered the concepts `leadership' and `management'. Importantly, it has provided for discussion on the four vital management tasks, for effective management, towards the promotion of quality teaching and learning in Gauteng schools. Quantitative research methodology was employed. The findings suggest that the District Foundation Phase First Education Specialist does perform the four management tasks and does employ strategies for the promotion of quality teaching and learning, but that these need to be improved on, sharpened and enhanced, for effective management, and for the promotion of quality teaching and learning in schools. This study has also revealed that development and professional support of the District Foundation Phase First Education Specialist is called for too. Through use of a basic management model, in this study, suggestions and requirements are presented, and recommendations are made, for the effective execution of the management tasks towards the promotion of quality teaching and learning. Provision is therefore made for an illustration and description of the model, the suggestions and requirements envisaged, critical challenges and recommendations, as well as a motivation for the model. The study has recommended the piloting and implementation of this management model, with District First Education Specialists, in the Gauteng Department of Education. It has further recommended, that with the phasing-in of the Revised National Curriculum Statement, that this management model be trailed. Suggestions have been provided for in this regard. Review of this management model has been accommodated too. Its wider value and meaning for the Gauteng Department of Education, in the contexts of policy revision and educational transformation, has been briefly explored too. The management model suggested clearly seeks to champion effective management practice, and it also seeks to bring about improvements in existing management practice, for the promotion of quality teaching and learning in Gauteng schools. The recommendation made is aimed at contributing towards the promotion of quality teaching and learning in Gauteng schools. / Educational Studies / D. Ed. (Education Management)

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the impact of implementing capacity building strategies on the provision of health services in the central region of Malawi. The study intended to determine why a lack of quality services is still prevailing in the health services in the central region despite implementing capacity building strategies aimed at improving the delivery of health services. In addition to this, to come up with recommendations to improve the implementation of the existing capacity building strategies so that the implementation results in the intended impact, that is efficient and effective provision of health services in the central region of Malawi. The studies reviewed what various scholars have written on capacity building in order to ground capacity building in Public Administration and provide the study with a conceptual, theoretical and legislative framework. This enabled the researcher to describe the nature and place of capacity building in Public Administration. It was evident from the review that the implementation of capacity building strategies is a systematic process which requires that chief officials follow all the steps in order to effectively and efficiently implement the capacity building strategies so that the intended impact is achieved. In this regard, capacity building is a management function which requires that chief officials play an enabling role by providing the necessary resources (both human and financial) and policies that support the implementation of capacity building strategies. The study used both quantitative and qualitative research methods whereby thirty-five respondents composed of political office-bearers and chief officials from Lilongwe, Dedza, Mchinji and Dowa districts and Ministry of Health Headquarters in the central region of Malawi were given self-administered questionnaires to complete. Face-to-face interviews and document analysis were also used as research methods. The intention was to determine the problems that are being experienced in the implementation of the existing capacity building strategies and find out if the strategies are resulting in the intended impact. The study findings confirmed that there are indeed problems being experienced in the implementation of the existing capacity building strategies, namely: inadequate human and financial resources, corruption, political interference, lack of consultation with stakeholders and lack of political will to make sure that the implementation of the capacity building strategies is effectively and efficiently done. It was also revealed that the implementation of the existing capacity building strategies is impacting negatively on the provision of health services in the central region of Malawi, hence indicating a need to change in approach. The study concludes that in order for the capacity building strategies to achieve the intended impact there is a need to broaden the scope of the legal framework on health capacity building strategies in Malawi, enforce the use of performance standards and improve the operational framework to gain efficiencies and effectiveness from current investments in capacity building.

Lithological core logging is a subjective and time consuming endeavour which could possibly be automated, the question is if and to what extent this automation would affect the resulting core logs. This study presents a case from the Zinkgruvan Zn-Pb-Ag mine, Bergslagen, Sweden; in which Classification and Regression Trees and K-means Clustering on the Self Organising Map were applied to X-Ray Flourescence lithogeochemistry data derived from automated core scan technology. These two methods are assessed through comparison to manual core logging. It is found that the X-Ray Fluorescence data are not sufficiently accurate or precise for the purpose of automated full lithological classification since not all elements are successfully quantified. Furthermore, not all lithologies are possible to distinquish with lithogeochemsitry alone furter hindering the success of automated lithological classification. This study concludes that; 1) K-means on the Self Organising Map is the most successful approach, however; this may be influenced by the method of domain validation, 2) the choice of ground truth for learning is important for both supervised learning and the assessment of machine learning accuracy and 3) geology, data resolution and choice of elements are important parameters for machine learning. Both the supervised method of Classification and Regression Trees and the unsupervised method of K-means clustering applied to Self Organising Maps show potential to assist core logging procedures.

This research study sought to understand “how the implementation of universal primary education (UPE) policy in Ugandan primary schools is managed”. Furthermore, in exploring the challenges faced as they relate to UPE planning and organising, the research sought to provide evidence-based solutions in form of recommendations to address the planning and organising challenges identified. Considering the above, in order to understand how the implementation of UPE policy in Ugandan primary schools is managed, as part of the methodological procedures, the research process adopted by the researcher followed a qualitative study approach using a case study research design (collective) as the research design or strategy, and constructivism (interpretivism) as the research paradigm. As part of the triangulation of data, a review of relevant literature was conducted in combination with semi-structured individual interviews and focus group discussions with the purposively selected UPE stakeholders responsible for the management and implementation of the UPE programme in Uganda. The participants included: UPE school principals (school or implementation level); UPE policy makers (Ministry of Education and Sports officials at national level), and district education officials and local government representatives (district level). Inductive thematic analysis was used for data analysis of this research. The main findings concerning the strength of the current UPE planning and organising framework, among others, were: UPE management and implementation is executed at the national, district and school levels and each UPE stakeholder has a role; UPE implementation management is decentralised and authority is delegated to local governments; and UPE management and implementation constitutes of guidelines and directives. On the other hand, the findings concerning the UPE planning and organising weaknesses (challenges), among others, were: inadequate financial resources in form of low UPE capitation grants; the misuse and misallocation of UPE funds; the lack of consultation and involvement of frontline UPE stakeholders and the civil society in the planning and formulation of UPE policies and the lack of qualifications and skills of the UPE stakeholders responsible for the management of the implementation of the UPE programme. Considering the research findings, under decentralisation, the top-down UPE management and implementation framework that constitutes the current UPE planning and organising framework, has failed to address key UPE management and implementation challenges especially at the school level. Therefore, based on empirical and literature review findings of this research study, the management of the implementation of the UPE programme in Uganda, although it has registered some successes, it is still constrained, faces both monetary and nonmonetary challenges and is, therefore, internally and externally inefficient. In this regard, in order to address the challenges, the researcher proposes recommendations for the national, district and school levels for consideration and adoption by the Ministry of Education and Sports in order to address the bottlenecks impeding the efficient management and implementation of the UPE programme in Ugandan primary schools. In determining the recommendations and what constitutes a successful UPE planning and organising framework, the researcher considered among other things, the participants’ suggestions, and trends or lessons from international best practices. / Educational Management and Leadership / D, Phil. (Education Management)

Studiens syfte är att bidra med kunskap om huvudmannens uppfattning av vetenskaplig grund och beprövad erfarenhet och huvudmannens beskrivning av organisering enligt uppdraget med en utbildning som vilar på vetenskaplig grund och beprövad erfarenhet. Essän utgår från två övergripande frågeställningar; Hur uppfattar huvudmannen innebörden av vetenskaplig grund och beprövad erfarenhet? och Hur beskriver huvudmannen arbetet med att planera, genomföra och följa upp en utbildning som vilar på vetenskaplig grund och beprövad erfarenhet? Teoretiska utgångspunkter är fenomenografin, där uppfattningsbegreppet är centralt, och en teori om organisering som bidrar till att utforska organisering genom att identifiera organisationens handlingsnät. Semistrukturerade intervjuer har genomförts utifrån ett målstyrt urval med informanter vilka representerar huvudmän som samtliga har en pågående samverkan med akademin. Vetenskapsrådets etiska principer för forskning utgör grund genom hela processen. Huvudmannens uppfattningar av vetenskaplig grund och beprövad erfarenhet omfattar lärande och förbättringsarbete hos enskilda professionella och verksamheter, lärande och förbättringsarbete mellan professionella och mellan verksamheter och ett stöd för det systematiska kvalitetsarbetet. Huvudmannens berättelser om planering, genomförande och uppföljning av utbildningen beskrivs vara en system- och organisationsfråga där chefer ger service genom att producera organisering. Identifierade handlingsnät omfattar utvecklingsarbete på styrkedjans olika ansvarsnivåer, samverkan med akademin och dokumentation baserat på det systematiska kvalitetsarbetet vilket bidrar till huvudmannens skolförbättringsprocess. / The aim of the study is to contribute with knowledge about the accountable authority´s understanding of scientific knowledge and proven experience and organising for leadership towards education based on scientific knowledge and proven experience. The essay is based on two overarching questions: How does the accountable authority perceive the meaning of scientific knowledge and proven experience? and How does the  accountable authority plan, implement and follow up the work with an education based on scientific knowledge and proven experience? Theoretical startingpoints are phenomenography where the concept of perception is central and a theory of organization that helps to explore organization by identifying the organization's action nets. Semi-structured interviews have been conducted based on a goal-oriented selection with informants who represent the  accountable authority who all have an ongoing collaboration with the Academy. Vetenskapsrådets (The Swedish Research Council's) ethical principles for research constitutes basis throughout the process. The accountable authority's understanding of scientific knowledge and proven experience include learning and improvement work among individual professionals and school units, learning and improvement work between professionals and between school units and a support for the systematic quality work. The accountable authority's stories about the planning, implementation and follow-up of the education describes as a system- and organizational issue where managers provide service by producing organization. Identified action nets include development work at the different levels of responsibility in the chain of command, collaboration with the academy and documentation based on the systematic quality work that contributes to the accountable authority's  school improvement process.