A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Education in Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Education in the Department of Educational Psychology and Special Education at the University of Zululand, 2006. / The present study examines the prevailing and preferred learning practices in students support programmes. The aims of the study were: • To determine the nature of learning practices that prevail at the University of Zululand. • To determine the learning practices that student prefer. • To determine the students' perception of the prevailing and preferred learning practices. • To find out if such factors as gender, age, year level and faculty influence the students' perceptions of the prevailing and preferred learning practices. In accordance with these aims, an extensive study on models of support was undertaken. Using purposive sampling to select research respondents, data was collected. A questionnaire was administered to students at the University of Zululand. Qualitative and quantitative data analysis was used in order to draw conclusion about the prevailing and the preferred state of learning practices at the University of Zululand. Research findings led to the following conclusions: • The nature of support that prevail at the University of Zululand is biased towards assisting students with academic matters. Personal support is provided. • The results also show that students had their preference in terms of an ideal support structure. • The results revealed that prevailing and preferred learning practices were viewed differently. Sixty six percent of students held a positive perception towards preferred learning practice. • The findings revealed that the variable of year had an influence on the student's perception. • The results show that males and females differed in their perception of prevailing and preferred learning practices. Another interesting finding however, was that both prevailing and preferred learning had no influence on perception. The factor of faculty only influenced the perception of preferred learning practices. • Findings emanating from additional information revealed that students preferred that intervention should involve more than enhancing content. In other words students preferred an intervention programme that would embrace all their needs. On the basis of the findings recommendations for handling issues of student support were put forward.

This paper explores the influence of Greenpop's “Fynbos for the Future” Environmental Education (EE) programme on learner's knowledge, attitudes and behaviours towards the environment. Although there is vast research on environmental importance and EE programmes specifically, there is very little within the context of South African learners from lower socio-economic areas. Therefore, programme characteristics associated with the most beneficial personal and environmental outcomes are investigated. This study utilised mixed methods and various measures to explore the effect of EE on learners between the ages of 9 and 13, from three schools in the Western Cape. The primary conclusions of the study were that environmental education programmes within this context elicit promising results, such as increased positive attitudes towards and greater awareness of the importance of the environment. However, to facilitate this result, various factors needed to be considered, including consistency, contexts and traditional knowledge systems. This paper further examined the complexity of EE and how various organisations can help play a role in shaping environmental futures - in South Africa and globally. Various recommendations are discussed, some of which include ensuring a greater emphasis on understanding environmental literacy and understandings within specific contexts, as well as putting a greater emphasis on the importance of the influence of teachers on the outcomes. Ultimately, EE programmes play an invaluable role in shaping the future of environmental sustainability and human well-being.

This study focuses on the factors contributing to the lack of emphasis by the Kedah Department of Zakat (KDoZ), Malaysia on the alleviation of poverty among the rural poor through zakat capital assistance programmes and employment opportunities. In this study, seven research questions were outlined. A mixed-methods study was developed to answer research questions 1, 2, 3 and 4. Research questions 5, 6 and 7 were answered using qualitative data. Quantitative data was collected from questionnaire. The sample size was 406 participants from among the capable poor who can work which received annual monetary assistance. Qualitative data was generated from the interviews with KDoZ officers (n=11) and participants for the qualitative method were selected purposefully. The responses to research questions 1, 2,3 and 4 show that the majority of the respondents were not aware of the existence of SHS. Respondents’ awareness towards SHS programme is significantly related with the socio-economic and zakat assistance characteristics which are rate of districts’ collection, number of years respondents receive zakat and distance of respondents’ house from the KDoZ office. 80% of respondents interested to apply for the SHS programme. The factors contributing to apply SHS were current zakat assistance, current income, economic activity, lack of motivation and constraints. Furthermore, the lack of interest in SHS was significantly related to the age of the respondents. In answering research question 5, there were 3 factors leading to this approach by the KDoZ: 1) the KDoZ faces the constraints of low zakat collection caused by two subscales; 2) a high rate of failure among the recipients or the poor in economic activities; and 3) incompetence of members of the KDoZ committee. The answers to research question 6 were difficulties in dealing with the poor, responsibility of the state government, and the committee’s lack of interest. The answers to research question 7 were factors related to politics, the committee and priority in providing financial assistance. There are 5 main findings which hindered the effective use of zakat, which are capitalist thinking, local collection rates, avoiding the query of Sultan, a large number of committee members and limited zakat funds allocated for administration. Finally, recommendations were provided to overcome these problems. Several additional recommendations for future research have emerged from this study and these have been briefly outlined.

No description available.

Science Resource Centres (SRCs) were initiated by an educational non-governmental organisation in various districts of the province of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. These SRCs were intended to assist with professional development of Physical Sciences and Mathematics teachers, and to assist the under-resourced schools of KwaZulu-Natal with science resources, including Physical Sciences experiment kits, physics and chemistry apparatus and other educational resources. Science resources encompassed specialists, objects, policies and facilities to enhance the teaching of Physical Sciences. These science resources were usually coupled with professional development programmes that addressed content knowledge and effective use of science equipment through workshops on specific science topics and classroom support to teachers. Workshops were funded by the SRCs, and the focus was on physics and chemistry topics that teachers found challenging to teach. This study explored the use of the SRC by Physical Sciences teachers of the Empangeni education district in KwaZulu-Natal, and also aimed to determine whether the SRC was serving its intended purpose. In gathering data this qualitative study utilised individual interviews with Physical Sciences teachers whose schools were affiliated to the SRC. Document analysis produced data with regard to the frequency of loaning of science equipment by Physical Sciences teachers. The findings of this study revealed that the level of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) development of Physical Sciences teachers was one of the key factors that influenced the use of science resources in science teaching. This emerged through an analysis of teachers’ PCK, specifically using the frames of Content Representations (CoRes) and Pedagogical and Professional experience Repertoires (PaP-eRs). Lack of support from school management, lack of funding for affiliation and shortage of resources at the SRC were some of the factors that had an impact on use of the SRC by Physical Sciences teachers. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2012.

Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

This thesis examines whether measurement of morbidity prevalence through survey methods provides a suitable alternative to mortality measurement for safe motherhood programme needs assessment. It considers the validity of a survey instrument by comparing results from a questionnaire on near-miss obstetric complications to hospital clinical data. Three groups of women -with severe obstetric complications, mild obstetric complications and with a normal delivery - were identified retrospectively in three hospitals in South Benin and interviewed at home using a questionnaire. The complications of interest were eclampsia, haemorrhage, dystocia and infections of the genital tract. The concept of near-miss death event was used to identify women with severe episodes of morbidity. The aim of the analysis was to find questions with very high specificity for measuring the prevalence of obstetric conditions even at the expense of sensitivity. The questionnaire was able to detect, with sufficient accuracy, eclamptic fits, abnormal bleeding in the third trimester for a recall period of at least 3-4 years, and all episodes of haemorrhage independent of timing within a shorter period of 2 years. The specificity of questions and combinations of questions for dystocia and infections of the genital tract was weak, and generated disappointing results except when information on treatment was included. Overall, better results were achieved for antepartum and acute events than complications defined as such because they are at the extreme end of a continuum. Severity only made a positive difference in the case of eclampsia with an increase in sensitivity. 1 These results are interpreted in the light of methodological constraints and findings from similar studies. Although the study could support the use of individual interview surveys for eclampsia and haemorrhage, this methodology cannot be readily recommended in view of the insufficient specificity reported elsewhere. The way forward in terms of morbidity information as well as the future of the near-miss concept is presented in the final chapter.

Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

The purpose of this thesis is to explore dimensions that relate to the training systems effectiveness in a number of industry categories. The training system is taken as part of the reproducer boundary subsystem within the organisation (Miller 1978). The research has been developed on the assumption that no single criterion is appropriate as a measure of effectiveness of a training system (Campbell et al 1970). An index of criteria based on the different organisational variables that interact within an organisation is employed in the development of the study. In this research the structural variables (independent variables) including industry category, size and formalisation factors of the sample organisations will be related to the effectiveness of training systems in their organisations. This research attempts to formulate hypotheses in the field of training system research to contribute to a theory of training system impact studies. The popular areas of research in the field of training have mainly tended to focus separately on the effectiveness of training programmes, the economics of training, the social impact of training and the dynamics of training. To my knowledge there is no research work that tests the relationship between structure and the effectiveness of training systems.

Les compagnies font face à d'énormes coûts pour maintenir leurs applications informatiques. Au fil des ans, le code de ces applications a accumulé des connaissances corporatives importantes (règles d'affaires et décisions de conception). Mais, après plusieurs années d'opération et d'évolution de ce code, ces connaissances deviennent difficiles à récupérer. Les développeurs doivent donc consacrer beaucoup de leur temps à l'analyser: une activité connue sous le nom de « compréhension du logiciel ». Comme il a été estimé que cette activité accapare entre 50 % et 90 % du travail d'un développeur, simplifier le processus de compréhension du logiciel peut avoir un impact significatif dans la réduction des coûts de développement et de maintenance. L'une des solutions au problème de compréhension du logiciel est la rétro-ingénierie. Celle-ci est le processus d'analyse du code source d'une application pour (1) identifier les composantes de l'application et les relations entre ces composantes et (2) créer une représentation de haut niveau de l'application. Plusieurs approches ont été proposées pour la rétro-ingénierie ; cependant, la représentation abstraite du code source extraite par la plupart de ces approches combine la logique d'affaires de l'application et son architecture (ou son infrastructure). Dans ce mémoire, nous présentons une nouvelle approche qui permet d'analyser le code source d'une application orientée objet afin d'en extraire un modèle abstrait ne décrivant que les règles d'affaires de cette application. Ce modèle prend la forme d'un diagramme de classes UML, présentant les classes d'affaires de cette application ainsi que les relations entre ces classes. Cette approche a été validée sur plusieurs systèmes (écrits en Java) de différentes tailles. L'approche donne de bons résultats pour les systèmes possédant une bonne architecture et un bon style de programmation. Dans le cas contraire, les résultats sont moins convaincants.