Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / I address the relevance of quality learning and teaching in South African high schools’ as it relates to the strategic direction provided by high school leadership for the benefit of knowledge economies and higher learning institutions. The main research question is: “How does educational leadership influence the quality of learning and teaching of high school mathematics?” The research was framed within a confirmatory study viewing quality learning and teaching from a doing mathematics perspective, within the context of a community of practice acknowledging that school leadership can also be situated within the same practice, i.e. doing mathematics. The research was qualitatively designed to employ unstructured, semi-structured and focus group discussion interviews with the school leaders, teachers and students respectively. These enquiries were conducted within six high schools’ representatives of all previously South African demographical perspectives. The analysis was conducted through interpretive phenomenological analysis for sensemaking of situational leadership within a mathematical practice. The findings of the research lacked “doing mathematical” depth, beyond students and teachers. Explanatory findings of a grounded theoretical analysis yielded a school leadership’s silence on quality learning and teaching of mathematics contrary to the literature review’s expectation. The significance of the study lies in the possibilities associated with an under-research stakeholder to the development of quality learning and teaching of mathematics and meeting the expectations of knowledge economies and higher educational institutions.

This study is predicated on the belief that there does not now exist, nor will there ever exist, any single theory of learning that is broad enough to account for all types of learning yet specific enough to be maximally useful in practical application. Perhaps this dichotomy is the reason for the apparent gap between existing theories of learning and the practice of instructional design. As an alternative to any supposed grand theory of learning—and following the lead of prominent thinkers in the fields of clinical psychology and language teaching—this study proposes a shift toward principles. It presents a principle-based conceptual framework of learning, and recommends use of the framework as a guide for creating domain-specific theories of learning. The purpose of this study was to review theories of learning in the behavioral, cognitive, constructive, human, and social traditions to identify principles of learning local to those theories that might represent specific instances of more universal principles, fundamentally requisite to the facilitation of learning in general. Many of the ideas reviewed have resulted from, or been supported by, direct empirical evidence. Others have been suggested based on observational or practical experience of the theorist. The ideas come from different points in time, are described from a variety of perspectives, and emphasize different aspects and types of learning; yet there are a number of common themes shared among them regarding the means by which learning occurs. It is hypothesized that such themes represent universal and fundamental principles of learning. These principles were the objective of the present study. They have been sought through careful review and analysis of both theoretical and empirical literature by methods of textual research (Clingan, 2008) and constant comparative analysis (Glaser & Strauss, 1967). By way of textual research a methodological lens was defined to identify general themes, and by way of constant comparative analysis these themes were developed further through the analysis and classification of specific instances of those themes in the texts reviewed. Ten such principles were identified: repetition, time, step size, sequence, contrast, significance, feedback, context, engagement, and agency. These ten facilitative principles were then organized in the context of a comprehensive principles-of-learning framework, which includes the four additional principles of potential, target, change, and practice.

Diploma thesis focuses on effect of positive reinforcement and it's application in the learning process. The thesis is divided into two parts - theoretical and analytical. Theoretical part describes importance of positive reinforcement in a learning process and behavior overall. How organisms acquire new skills and how effective teaching methods look like. Analytical part provides practical use of positive reinforcement in an effective teaching method called Discrete Trial Teaching. It's application, use, and correct implementation is provided through an example of teaching a motor imitation behavior. KEYWORDS Applied Behavior Analysis; Effective teaching methods; Positive Reinforcement; Principles of learning and behavior; Discrete Trial Teaching