The concept of parental involvement has been viewed as an ideal style of leadership and management for school development purposes. In South Africa’s case, it is an educational policy which is expected to reign in all school management bodies. Many theorists envisaged parental involvement as enhancing active involvement of parents and it has been advocated by many scholars who believe it is the best leadership style in implementing democratic values to education, particularly South African rural education, which is still in a transitional stage. The primary purpose of this research was to investigate the extent to which parents contribute towards education of their children. This study involved transformative case study as a research design at one rural school in Waterberg district in South Africa. This research employed three data collection techniques, namely semi-structured interviews, focus groups and document analysis. When formal education was introduced in South Africa schools it was regarded as exceptional environment for teachers, school administrators and learners. To a large extent, parents and the communities regarded themselves as something outside of the education system. The main findings of this study revealed that there is a lack of joint understanding and shared vision between educators and parents in the School Governing Body. This problem underpins other more symptomatic problems, such as lack of accountability in the matter of school finances, differences in understanding the roles of School Board members and lack of parents’ motivation from the school management. It highlighted some of the challenges that hinder the effective involvement of parents in rural school governance, such as poor educational background among parents. The study has also revealed challenges and consequences of non-parental involvement in school governance. The conclusion that could be drawn from the study is that in schools where parent-community involvement is highly visible, teacher effectiveness is apparent and this contributed significantly to the improvement of learner performance while in schools where parent-community involvement is non-existent or minimal, the result is the opposite. / Educational Leadership and Management / M. Ed. (Education Management)

Chapter 1 describes practical theology as a communicative operational science and stresses how important it is that a hermeneutical and narrative approach compliments it. It is shown that pastoral work must be launched from the church community. The premise is that the Enlightenment paradigm causes a reductionistic, individualistic and denominational approach to pastoral work. A holistic, comprehensive and ecologically orientated approach is proposed. Chapter 2 discusses the need for an ecosystemic approach as a metaparadigrn for practical theology in terms of the move away from the Newtonian view of science and the post-modem critiques of a technocratic society. This is supported by developments in systemic family therapy, constructionism and community psychology. Chapter 3 describes an interrelated ecclesiology as a base theory for practical theology and pastoral work with reference to the church's interrelation with society and the need to include an anthropology as part of an ecclesiology. This interrelationship implies that the serving (diakonia) and caring (koinonia) functions of the church should converge, forming a diaconal pastorate. In chapter 4 the secularised modem world-vie\v and the traditional African world-view, both functioning in South Africa, are employed to shed light upon the importance of the concept community for the church's pastoral work. The term community is broadened to include the idea of networking, emphasisingg that community is more than geographical proximity. Chapter 5 is a quantitative investigation. by means of a questionnaire, of the views (ecosystemic/non-ecosystemic) of pastoral workers regarding the church and of pastoral work. Chapter 6 discusses the implications of a community pastoral work approach. Pastoral work has a serving-caring role, but should also function prophetically, to conscientise. sensitise and empower people. The church as a healing community must become the springboard from which pastoral actions can face the challenge of AIDS (chapter 7). This will require the church to shift its paradigm from the reductionist, individualist approach, presently prevalent in society and church pastoral actions, to an all-encompassing. holistic one. / Practical Theology / Th.D. (Practical Theology)

This study examines through autoethnographic inquiry my research journey in the world of childhood cancer. The unfolding research experience eventually led to the focus of this investigation which is exploring stories of coping with childhood cancer in a support group for parents. Using the principles of ethnographic epistemology this study explores the stories of eight parents whose children were diagnosed with cancer and who decided to join the support group for parents called, TOUCH. An overview of the existing body of knowledge on childhood cancer and the family is presented as well as the value of a social support group in parenting a child with cancer. The need of a conceptual shift in order to understand the problem of parenting a child with cancer is propagated. The stories of eight parents within the setting of a social support group are presented. Through the principles of the qualitative method of ethnography the story of the child's cancer is described by means of emerging themes. The coping mechanisms used to cope in this world of uncertainty and ambiguity, follows. Finally the contribution of the support group is discussed in terms of my relationship with the group member, the group members' communication pattern and what was perceived to be helpful to the group member. The eight stories discussed all follow the same pattern. Four hypotheses emerged from the eight stories described and are presented in the final chapter. The strengths and limitations of the study are discussed as well as recommendations for future research. / Psychology / D. Lit. et Phil. (Psychology)

Although it is relatively easy to study and learn about a practice discipline in the safe environment of an academic institution, it is far more complex to make sense of what has been learned when faced with the real world of practice. Practitioners need to think on their feet and have to find new ways of managing complex problems which do not fit directly into the theoretical frameworks learned in a more formal setting. Knowledge of what the various disciplines say is not in itself sufficient, experiential knowledge is necessary. The key to learning in the experiential domain is critical reflective practice and emancipatory learning, which empower practitioners to explicate their implicit theories. If autonomy is the goal of professional education, the key is to help adult learners to distance themselves from their own values and beliefs in order to entertain more abstract modes of perception. The purpose of this inquiry was therefore, to construct a model for facilitation of critical reflective practice, based on thorough analysis of the main concepts (critical thinking and reflection), related viewpoints, models and theories; and the data gathered and analyzed during, the naturalistic inquiry. The inquirer sought to. develop each participant through Socratic & Learning Through Discussion (Dialogical) Technique, Critical Incident Reporting and participation in Critical Reflective Exercises. The constructed model for facilitation of critical reflective practice evolved from empirical observations, intuitive insights of the inquirer and from deductions combining ideas from several fields of inquiry. The model for facilitation of critical reflective practice postulates that practitioners have the inherent potential to change from auto-pilot practice to critical reflective practice. The purpose of the model is the facilitation of heightened awareness of the self, to enable health care professionals to consciously meet community needs and expectations. The desired outcome is transformative intellectuals who will strive to empower others to become critical reflective learners and practitioners. / Health Studies / D.Litt. et Phil. (Nursing Science)

Text in Afrikaans / Die eng definiering van kerkmusiek staan tans in die spervuur vanwee: 1. Ingrypende wendinge binne die praktiese teologie in die afgelope paar dekades, wat pleit om 'n hernieude ondersoek binne die handelingsveld van viering (waaronder himnologie); 2. 'n Verskuiwing in wereldbeskouing weg van modernisme na postmodernisme; 3. Die geboorte van 'n totaal nuwe geslag adolessente, bekend as die 'Verlore Generasie' of 'Generasie X' . Kerkmusiek, in die engere sin, soos dit steeds grootliks verstaan word, hou nie genoegsaam met hierdie tendense rekening nie. Vandaar verloor kerkmusiek sy impak en inspraak in die leefwereld van die hedendaagse tiener. Dit veroorsaak gevolglik 'n groterwordende kloof tussen adolessente en die erediens, gemeente en kerk. In hierdie studie word gepoog om genoegsaam op bostaande tendense ag te slaan, sodat 'n breer def iniering van kerkmusiek tot stand mag kom, wat ruimte vir grater verskeidenheid en aktualiteit tot gevolg sal he, en die spanning random kerkmusiek en die tiener kan probeer ontlont. / The narrow defining of church music today experiences a critical assault on account of: 1. Drastic turns within the development of Practical theology in the past few decades, which ask for a renewed investigation within the field of himnology; 2. a Shift in worldview away from modernism to post-modernism; 3. The birth of a total new generation of adolescents, known as the 'Lost Generation' or 'Generation X' . Church music in the narrow sense, as it is still understood to a great extent, does not take these tendencys serious enough. For this reason it's impact and influence in the life of today's teenagers declines. With this study a thorough acknowledgement of these shifts is attempted, which will result in a much broader defining of church music, and in turn will bring forth a scope for more variety and actuality, so that hopefully the growing gap between teenagers and church music can be bridged. / Practical Theology / M.Diac. (Jeugwerk)

Inclusive education is an international philosophy that places emphasis on the provision of special education services to students with special learning needs within regular classrooms. Teachers, regardless of where in the world they are, require positive attitudes to engage in discussions, adapt curricula, develop strategies and acquire the necessary knowledge and skills for the implementation of inclusionary practices. The aim and rationale for this study was to explore the attitudes of South Africans as expatriates in a foreign country (Oman) at schools where inclusion was recently implemented but where little research was conducted in the area. In addition, the purpose was also to gain more knowledge about the elements that may influence teacher attitudes towards inclusion. A quantitative approach was employed and an online questionnaire was used to obtain data. The small sample (N=35) limited findings to descriptive statistics only. The study revealed that most teachers held positive attitudes towards the fundamental principles of inclusive education but teachers held negative attitudes towards the practical implementation of inclusion within classrooms. Teachers who received training were more positive to supporting inclusion. Male teachers expressed greater negativity than female teachers towards inclusionary practices in schools but then male teachers were more supportive and willing to undertake training, engage in teacher support and work collaboratively. Teachers teaching older groups of students appear to be less knowledgeable and less prepared or equipped to deal with inclusion. Teachers with less teaching experience held more positive attitudes towards inclusive education. Recommendations were made to provide suggestions of ways to eliminate and discourage negative attitudes and research based recommendations for future research were listed. / Inclusive Education / M. Ed. (Inclusive Education)

The aversion to the study of mathematics and the resultant poor performance by students generally cannot be overemphasized and this still poses a great threat to the needed skills in the science, technology and commerce sector in South Africa. This study therefore tends to explore the importance of Mathematics to students and the economy globally by focusing on which contributive psychological factors are responsible for low performance in mathematics among Pre degree students as a case study. In addition also, the teaching and learning strategies used in the classroom that will help curb mathematics anxiety among students will be looked into. Furthermore a test to ascertain if poor teaching methods or pedagogical content knowledge of mathematics’ teachers influence anxiety thereby leading to poor performance in mathematics will be carried out. By utilizing a mixed method approach, an integration of the qualitative and quantitative approaches, the study attempted to provide an insight into the poor performances in Mathematics by Pre-degree students in a Private Institution of higher learning by exploring the following affective domains: 1) Anxiety 2) Motivation (lack of either the Internal & External type) and also considering the teaching strategies adopted on the other hand. The theoretical framework applied to this study was three fold in nature, namely, to investigate the nature of the relationship between mathematics anxiety and mathematics achievement on one side, secondly, to investigate the nature of the relationship between motivational orientation and mathematics achievement on the other side. Finally, it will investigate the relationship between teaching methods and mathematics achievement. The major findings that emanated from this study were as follows: there is a strong impact of the affective factors (anxiety, beliefs, emotions and motivation) on mathematics learning and success rates among Pre-degree students in South Africa. This study shows the importance of affective factors (such as anxiety, negative attitude, lack of motivation) in determining the success and or failure of mathematics learning, with the intention of promoting and encouraging positive traits, attitudes and beliefs in the students. The issue of teaching strategies was however not of a strong impact on success rates in bridging mathematics among the students as their lecturers were commended to be on top of their subject, but only that strategies to teaching mathematics must be dynamic, effective and varied as much as possible to meeting the students diverse learning styles . / Mathematics Education / M. Ed. (Mathematics Education)

有關相對價格離散度之研究，最早源於新古典學派二分法則(Dichotomy Paradigm)， 認為實質因素的變動，與名目因素二者截然劃分。但自Mills(1927) 起，即發現相對 價格離散度和名目的物價上漲率間並不獨立，而呈現正相關的現象。由於相對價格的 變動引起生產、消費決策的變動，因而名目外生干擾是否造成相對價格離散，並進而 影響實質變數，乃成為總體理論一項重要課題。 在過去的文獻中，Vining & Elwertowski(1976)，Parks(1978)，Blejer(1981)，He- rcowitz(1981)，Blejer & Leiderman(1982),及Fischer(1982)的實證研究，與Luca- s(1973)，Barro(1976)，Hercowitz(1981，1982) 及Cukierman(1982) 的理論分析， 大都發現通貨膨脹或非預期的通貨膨脹皆將導致相對價格離散度增加。而大部分的實 證研究皆利用各市場間的資料進行分析。近年來 Domberger(1987)及Hoomissen(1988 ) 則強調市場內通貨膨脹與價格離散度的關係。 本文第一部分利用民國59年至78年台灣地區躉售商品物價指數中的各項商品物價指數 ，根據 Domberger的方法，分析各市場內與市場間相對價格離散度與通貨膨脹的關係 。全部的商品共分為二十四個市場，計量方法為 Nonlinear Seemingly Unrelated Estimation。另外，再根據Saxonhouse(1977)提出的二階段迴歸分析步驟，探討造成 各個市場相對價格離散度與通貨膨脹二者的關係是否受到各產業市場集中度，以及市 場內產品數影響。 本文第二部分利用Blejer & Leriderman(1982) 模型，分析台灣地區相對價格離散度 與國外 (美國) 相對價格離散度二者之間的關係，並探討國際間通貨膨脹的傳遞。

首長特別費事件演變至今，焦點都被導向高度抽象的政治議題，民間失去發言或制衡的空間，讓許多深刻值得探問的價值問題，陷入無法討論的困境，但本文要追問的根本問題是：法律，對現今台灣的民眾來說，所代表的意義是什麼？是把法律看成一種限制他們行動領域的規範，對法律採取一種戰戰兢兢算計犯法後果的策略性態度？還是把法律視為一種具正當性與有效性的行為規範，發自內心對法律採取尊重的態度？算計自己最大的利益，真的就是我們人類追求理性的最終結果嗎？如何縮小這些鴻溝，或許就是我們該戮力的地方。 哈伯瑪斯認為法律取得其正當性，與溝通行動之間具有相似的結構性，所以力主引進「溝通理性」，作為法規範產生及運用的構成基礎。但從法律理論的角度來看，哈氏認為現代法律秩序要從「自決」這個概念獲得其正當性，而且公民應從論述或審議的模式切入，同時把自己理解為所要服從的法律的承受者及創制者。對於裁判理性，哈氏曾針對四種具代表性的不同法律理論見解提出批判，主要為法律詮釋學、法律實在論、法律實證論，以及Dworkin的融貫理論，最後他提出自己所主張的程序法典範的法律觀。哈氏認為現代法制史中，運用得最成功的法律典範，是今日依然相互競爭的兩種法律典範，一是形式法的典範，另一種是實質法的典範，但哈氏認為這兩種典範都有所不足，所以主張要採取言說理論視角的第三種法律典範—程序法典範，來理解與解決二十世紀末出現的社會困境。 在現今充斥「語言暴力」、「策略性語言」、「意識型態扭曲」的社會中，言說的有效檢驗，對現況的釐清確有助益，但問題是如何進行？所以，本文嘗試從理解哈伯瑪斯的言說理論為核心，來討論法律與其同屬之社會文化間的關係。同時，藉由哈氏所提之「生活界與系統界」的概念，探求法律在社會整合中所扮演的媒介角色，探討法律的生成與溝通行動何以密不可分？最後，論證法律的正當性，主要是來自以溝通言說為基礎，所達致的同意與共識。 / Since the broke out of the special funds affair of Taipei mayor, the focus has been on highly abstract political issues; the value questions, which were profound and worth inquiring, fell into difficult position and were unable to discuss. This paper closely examines the basic question: what the meaning of the law ought to be? What significant value the law should represent? Should it be an instrument or an institution; should it be developed in a strategic or communicative way; and should it be rules and regulation laid down by the authority or the normative commitment of the citizens. Habermas thought the law obtains its legitimacy through real communication and therefore the “communicative rationality” is the foundation of the law. From the perspective of legal theory, Habermas thinks modern legal order must “be self determined” to obtain its legitimacy; moreover, the citizen should elaborate and judge the making of the law through participation and communication. Habermas thus criticizes four well-known theories of law, i.e., legal realism, legal empiricism, legal positivism and Dworkin’s coherence theory. He then asserts his own proceduralist paradigm of law. Habermas believes that in the history of modern law, the most successful legal paradigms are still in competition today – one is the paradigm of the positive law, the other is the paradigm of substantive law. However, he believes both paradigms are inadequate, so he asserts the necessity of a third legal paradigm, which emphasizes the discourse theory perspective – the proceduralist paradigm of law to understand and resolve the social difficulties. Reacting to the flooding “language violence,” “strategic language,” “ideological twisting” in the society of nowadays, effective evaluation of discourse can certainly help in clarifying the present situation, but the question is how to carry on? This article attempts to answer the question by studying the discourse theory of Habermas as the core, and discuss the relationship between law and the social culture to which it belongs. At the same time, with Habermasian concept of “the lifeworld and the system”, this paper seeks to evaluate the medium role of law in social integration to assess the reason for the intimacy between legal formation and communicative action. Finally, this paper argues that the legitimacy of law primarily comes from communicative discourse that serves as a basis to reach agreement and consensus. Keywords: mayoral special funds, Habermas, legal validity, legitimacy, communicative reason, the lifeworld and the system , legal validity theory of discourse, Proceduralist paradigm of law

<p>Ovim se istraživanjem na primeru osnovnih predikata (glagola) percepcije ruskog i srpskog jezika odgovara na pitanja vezana za sistemske odnose u oblasti leksike, klasifikaciju jezičkih jedinica, definisanje leksema, međusobnu zavisnost značenja leksema i njihovih morfolo&scaron;kih i sintaksičkih obeležja. Osnovni predikati (glagoli) percepcije ruskog i srpskog jezika pozicioniraju se unutar semantičkih paradigmi, zasnovanih na interakciji diferencijalnih i zajedničkih komponenata značenja svojih članova. Članovi paradigmi izdvajaju se na osnovu kriterijuma određenih u skladu s principima organizacije centra i periferije leksičkog sistema. Pozicioniranje izdvojenih predstavnika vizuelne, auditivne, olfaktorne, gustativne i taktilne percepcije, kao i njihovih vidskih korelata, rezultira utvrđivanjem strukture paradigmi i smerova semantičke derivacije u njima.</p> / <p>This dissertation focuses on systemic relationships among the basic predicates (verbs) of perception in Russian and Serbian. It investigates issues related to the lexicon, the classification of linguistic units, the relationships between the meanings of lexemes and their morphological and syntactic features, as well as the definition of the main members of the analysed lexico-semantic group. The basic predicates of perception in Russian and Serbian are positioned within the semantic paradigms, based on the interaction of differential and general components of meaning of their members. The members of the paradigms are selected based on criteria established in accordance with the principle of the organization of lexical systems into core and periphery. The positioning of the selected representatives of visual, auditory, olfactory, gustative and tactile perception, as well as their aspectual correlates, results in determining the structure of the paradigms and the directions of semantic derivation in them.</p>