Quality assurance of dependable embedded systems is becoming increasingly difficult, as developers are required to build more complex systems on tighter budgets. As systems become more complex, system architects must make increasingly complex architecture design decisions. The process of making the architecture design decisions of an intended system is the very first, and the most significant, step of ensuring that the developed system will meet its requirements, including requirements on its ability to tolerate faults. Since the decisions play a key role in the design of a dependable embedded system, they have a comprehensive effect on the development process and the largest impact on the developed system. Any faulty architecture design decision will, consequently, propagate throughout the development process, and is likely to lead to a system not meeting the requirements, an unacceptable level of dependability and costly corrections. Architecture design decisions are in turn critical with respect to quality and dependability of a system, and the cost of the development process. It is therefore crucial to prevent faulty architecture design decisions and, as early as practicable, detect and remove faulty decisions that have not successfully been prevented. The use of Architecture Description Languages (ADLs) helps developers to cope with the increasing complexity by formal and standardized means of communication and understanding. Furthermore, the availability of a formal description enables automated and formal analysis of the architecture design. The contribution of this licentiate thesis is an architecture quality assurance framework for safety-critical, performance-critical and mission-critical embedded systems specified by the Architecture Analysis and Design Language (AADL). The framework is developed through the adaption of formal methods, in particular traditional model checking and model-based testing techniques, to AADL, by defining formal verification criteria for AADL, and a formal AADL-semantics. Model checking of AADL models provides evidence of the completeness, consistency and correctness of the model, and allows for automated avoidance of faulty architecture design decisions, costly corrections and threats to quality and dependability. In addition, the framework can automatically generate test suites from AADL models to test a developed system with respect to the architecture design decisions. A successful test suite execution provides evidence that the architecture design has been implemented correctly. Methods for selective regression verification are included in the framework to cost-efficiently re-verify a modified architecture design, such as after a correction of a faulty design decision. / Kvalitetssäkring av tillförlitliga inbyggda system är en ständigt växande utmaning då utvecklare av sådana system är tvungna att bygga allt mer komplexa system inom allt mer begränsade budgetar. Då komplexiteten av systemen ökar måste systemarkitekter göra allt mera komplicerade beslut om systemens arkitekturdesign. Processen att besluta arkitekturdesignen av ett tilltänkt system är det allra första, och det mest signifikanta, steget att försäkra att det utvecklade systemet kommer uppnå dess krav, inklusive krav på dess möjlighet att tolerera defekter. Då dessa designbeslut dessutom har en nyckelroll i designen av ett tillförlitligt inbyggt system har de en omfattande effekt på utvecklingsprocessen samt den största påverkan på det utvecklade systemet. På grund av detta kommer ett felaktigt beslut om arkitekturdesignen propagera igenom hela utvecklingsprocessen och sannolikt resultera i ett system som inte uppnår kraven, får en oacceptabel tillförlitlighetsnivå, och kostsamma korrigeringar. De är därmed kritiska med hänsyn till kvaliteten och tillförlitligheten av ett inbyggt system, och kostnaden av utvecklingsprocessen. Således är det kritiskt att förhindra felaktiga beslut om arkitekturdesign och, så tidigt som möjligt, detektera och avlägsna felaktiga beslut som inte har lyckats att förhindras. Användningen av språk för arkitekturbeskrivning hjälper utvecklare att hantera den ökande komplexiteten genom standardiserade kommunikationsmedel och förståelsemedel. Dessutom möjliggör en formell beskrivning automatiserad och formell analys av arkitekturdesignen. Bidraget av denna licentiatavhandling är ett formellt kvalitetssäkringsramverk för säkerhetskritiska, prestandakritiska och uppdragskritiska inbyggda system specificerade i arkitekturbeskrivningsspråket ”Architecture Analysis and Design Language” (AADL). Ramverket är utvecklat genom adaptionen av formella metoder, i synnerhet traditionella modellkontrolltekniker och modellbaserad testningstekniker, till AADL, med hjälp av att definiera formella verifikationskriterier för AADL och en formell AADL-semantik. Modellkontroll av AADL-modeller analyserar modellens fullständighet, konsistens och korrekthet och möjliggör automatisk undvikande av felaktiga arkitekturdesignbeslut, kostsamma korrigeringar och hot mot kvalitet och tillförlitlighet. Därutöver kan ramverket automatiskt generera testsviter från AADL-modeller för att testa ett utvecklat system mot den bestämda arkitekturdesignen. En lyckad testsvitexekvering garanterar att arkitekturdesignen är korrekt implementerad. Metoder för selektiv regressionsverifiering är inkluderade i ramverket för att på ett kostnadseffektivt tillvägagångssätt verifiera en, tidigare verifierad, arkitekturdesign som har blivit modifierad, såsom efter en korrigering av ett felaktigt designbeslut.

>Magister Scientiae - MSc / In South Africa, it is estimated that approximately 70% of the population frequently make use of traditional medicinal plants for their health care needs. The use of Lessertia frutescens by the various cultural groups in South Africa dates back to the earlier civilizations and continues to be used today to treat a multitude of ailments. To get the best results from a medicinal plant, one would need to ensure that the crude material is of good quality through interventions like being properly grown, well dried and correctly processed. This would add a measure of quality assurance, which will contribute towards the safety and efficacy aspect of herbal medicine. The aim of this study was to investigate what impact a particular season of harvest and the time in storage would have on the flavonoid and triterpenoid marker levels of Lessertia frutescens. To achieve this, the following was investigated: (1) storage variation of Lessertia frutescens leaves by comparing the results obtained from the High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) analysis of the flavonoids and triterpenoids, (2) seasonal variation of Lessertia frutescens leaves by comparing the results obtained from the HPLC analysis of the flavonoids and triterpenoids, (3) leaf and stem variation of Lessertia frutescens by comparing the results obtained from HPLC analysis of the flavonoids and triterpenoids. The hypotheses were: (1) the stored sample would indicate the same level of the biomarkers for the flavonoids and triterpenoids, as that of the freshly prepared sample, (2) the sample that was harvested during the summer season would indicate higher levels of the biomarkers of flavonoids and triterpenoids than the other three seasons, (3) the leaf sample would indicate the same level of the biomarkers for the flavonoids and triterpenoids, as that of the stem sample. An Agilent 1200 series HPLC was used for the determination of the flavonoids sutherlandin A and sutherlandin D as well as the triterpenoids sutherlandioside B and sutherlandioside D. Results show that for both sutherlandin A (summer: 3.67 ± 2.88 mg/ml; storage: 4.07 ± 2.88 mg/ml) and D (summer: 4.10 ± 1.06 mg/ml; storage: 4.25 ± 1.06 mg/ml) show significantly (P < 0.0001) higher concentrations in the case of the storage samples. For both sutherlandioside B (summer: 3.01 ± 0.39 mg/ml; storage: 2.82 ± 0.39 mg/ml) and D (summer: 5.82 ± 0.42 mg/ml; storage: 4.66 ± 0.42 mg/ml) show significantly (P < 0.0001) higher concentrations in the case of the fresh summer samples. For the seasonal comparison, results show that for sutherlandin A (summer: 3.67 ± 12.49 mg/ml; autumn: 4.75 ± 12.49 mg/ml; winter: 4.23 ± 12.49 mg/ml; spring: 6.56 ± 12.49 mg/ml) show significantly (P < 0.0001) higher concentrations in the case of the spring sample. For sutherlandin D (summer: 4.10 ± 10.32 mg/ml; autumn: 6.37 ± 10.32 mg/ml; winter: 5.25 ± 10.32 mg/ml; spring; 6.08 ± 10.32 mg/ml) show significantly (P < 0.0001) higher concentrations in the case of the autumn sample. For both sutherlandioside B (summer: 3.01 ± 7.19 mg/ml; autumn: 2.15 ± 7.19 mg/ml; winter: 2.89 ± 7.19 mg/ml; spring: 1.47 ± 7.19 mg/ml) and D (summer: 5.82 ± 14.48 mg/ml; autumn: 3.33 ± 14.48 mg/ml; winter: 4.23 ± 14.48 mg/ml; spring: 2.50 ± 14.48 mg/ml) show significantly (P < 0.0001) higher concentrations in the case of the autumn sample. For the summer leaf/stem comparison, results show that for sutherlandin A (leaf: 3.67 ± 8.18 mg/ml; stem: 4.67 ± 8.18 mg/ml) show significantly (P < 0.0001) higher concentrations in the case of the stem sample. For the sutherlandin D (leaf: 4.10 ± 4.81 mg/ml; stem: 3.31 ± 4.81 mg/ml) show significantly (P < 0.0001) higher concentrations in the case of the summer leaf sample. For both the sutherlandioside B (leaf: 3.01 ± 4.24 mg/ml; stem: 3.62 ± 4.24 mg/ml) and D (leaf: 5.82 ± 0.42 mg/ml; stem: 5.80 ± 0.42 mg/ml) show significantly (P < 0.0001) higher concentrations in the case of the stem samples.Results demonstrate that the production of secondary metabolites are influenced by environmental factors like seasonal harvesting, as indicated by the variation in the chemical constituent composition of Lessertia frutescens depending on the season collected in. Moreover, the storage of Lessertia frutescens for a period of one year resulted in an increase of two of the four constituents being monitored. There was slight variations in the chemical constituents, depending on whether the leaf or stem material of Lessertia frutescens was being used. Finally, the type of chemical constituent being monitored was also important in the consideration of this study. Therefore, this study can be seen as a starting point to further investigations of these aspects, which are of clinical, pharmacological and economic importance.

Abstract Electronic industry is developing advanced and versatile products to satisfy customers' needs. It is also creating new needs, which expand the market further. This highly competitive field forces companies to produce continuously better, and hence more complex, products at an increasingly fast rate. This is particularly true of the mobile phone industry, which pursues higher volumes and penetration rates throughout the world. Very high volumes and extreme complexity require intensive research and a commitment to high product quality. Mobile phone manufacturers must commit themselves to strict quality standards and programs, which ultimately enable high customer satisfaction. Both quality assessment and product management generally need a method of feedback to be able to react to the manufactured output. This thesis concentrates on this aspect of feedback. A preliminary customer survey revealed that the information received directly from customers might not be accurate enough to be used as primary feedback data. The quality of the information varies notably and depends entirely on the customers' ability to perceive the relevant parameters. This also affects greatly their ability to communicate the information to the customer interface and then all the way back to the manufacturer. Based on the findings, end customers' average level of knowledge of mobile phone technology is fair [C]. Therefore, it is recommended that more accurate means should be developed for acquiring feedback data. Also, based on other research findings, it would be important to minimize human intervention and to make the flow of information as direct as possible. Based on previous research and the present findings, a concept was designed which satisfies the specific need for accurate feedback from the performance of mobile phones in the field. The interfaces providing data throughout the whole product life cycle were also analyzed in detail. And finally, the concept was implemented and piloted with a mobile phone manufacturer. The pilot studies showed that an improved feedback capability would benefit not only product quality, but also various functions of the company producing mobile devices. The increased knowledge of device performance obtained from the system can be utilized in, for example, testing, design, marketing, and management and also at all customer interfaces in the field.

Abstract The role of higher education as an essential component of the productive economy has been emphasized in the 21stcentury, resulting in a constant need to demonstrate compliance and excellence to various stakeholders. To achieve this, a large variety of internal and external evaluation processes have been developed. However, to connect these evaluations with continuous improvement has often proved challenging due to factors arising from organizational complexity. This compilation dissertation examines how various quality evaluations in higher education could be integrated in a meaningful and synergistic manner. Integration is analyzed both horizontally across the three missions of the university, as well as vertically ranging from external evaluations to self-assessment. The four research articles each support this whole from a different viewpoint. The results of the articles are complemented by a literature review of chosen relevant topics on quality management and evaluation in higher education. The results of this work suggest that a planned process of evaluations starting from the institution level could help evaluations build upon each other and to drive continuous improvement. A holistic view on evaluation and evaluation criteria could be of use in avoiding sub-optimization and ensuring that issues such as stakeholder engagement and societal impact are included in evaluations. The integration of evaluations would constitute a part of integrating an institution’s management system and advance unity of effort. The ubiquitous concept of excellence can be seen as linking factor in integration, and an excellence award model was used as an example of a holistic evaluation framework. The theoretical contribution of this study contributes in the discussion regarding quality evaluation, excellence and the integration of management activities in higher education. For practitioners this dissertation work provides both practical tools arising from the results of the research articles, as well as a synthesis of theoretical and practical issues that should be accounted for when developing quality evaluation approaches in institutions of higher education. / Tiivistelmä Korkeakoulujen rooli tuottavan talouden olennaisena osana on korostunut uudella vuosituhannella. Tästä on seurannut jatkuva tarve osoittaa vaatimustenmukaisuutta ja erinomaisuutta eri sidosryhmille. Tämän seurauksena on kehitetty suuri määrä erilaisia sisäisiä ja ulkoisia arviointiprosesseja. Kuitenkin näiden prosessien yhdistäminen toiminnan jatkuvan kehittämiseen on usein osoittautunut haastavaksi johtuen organisatorisesta monimutkaisuudesta. Tässä kokoomaväitöskirjassa tarkastellaan, kuinka erityyppisiä laadunarviointeja korkeakoulutuksessa voitaisiin integroida mielekkäällä ja synergistisellä tavalla. Integraatiota tarkastellaan niin horisontaalisesti yliopiston kolmen tehtävän läpi, kuin myös vertikaalisesti ulkoisista arvioinneista itsearviointiin. Väitöskirjaan liittyvät tutkimusartikkelit tukevat tätä tutkimusongelmaa eri näkökulmista. Kirjallisuuskatsaus tukee artikkelien tuloksia valittujen laatujohtamisen ja arvioinnin aiheiden tarkastelun kautta. Tämän työn tuloksien mukaan suunnitelmallinen arviointikokonaisuus lähtien korkeakoulutasolta voisi tukea arviointien tulosten kumuloitumista ja edistää jatkuvaa kehittämistä. Holistinen näkökulma arviointiin ja arviointikriteereihin voisi ehkäistä osaoptimointia ja varmistaa, että seikkoihin kuten sidosryhmien osallistuminen ja yhteiskunnallinen vaikuttavuus huomioidaan arvioinneissa. Arviointien integrointi tukisi osaltaan korkeakoulun johtamisjärjestelmän integrointia ja edistäisi yhteisiin tavoitteisiin pyrkimistä. Erinomaisuuden yleistynyttä käsitettä voidaan pitää yhdistävänä tekijänä integraation toteutumisessa, ja siihen perustuvaa laatupalkintomallia käytettiin työssä esimerkkinä holistisesta arviointimallista. Väitöskirjatyön teoreettinen kontribuutio liittyy korkeakoulujen laadunarvioinnin, erinomaisuuden ja johtamistoimien integroinnin tieteelliseen keskusteluun. Käytännön työn kannalta tutkimustulokset tarjoavat käytännön työkaluja artikkelien tulosten kautta, sekä yhdistelmän teoreettisista ja käytännön seikoista jotka tulisi huomioida korkeakoulun laadunarviointia kehitettäessä.

Background and problem: The Enron scandal is one of many audit scandals during the 21st century, which in combination with the global harmonization has led to increased demands on the audit sector and its quality. Due to this the ISQC 1 was designed, which purpose is to control and guide an internal quality control that will achieve and maintain a high level of quality. Research on audit quality has risen with the designing of ISQC 1, where focus mostly have been on how audit firms have managed the implementation of and the work with the standard. However, the research focuses on big international audit firms, which results in audit firms with a lower number of employees being left in the dark. The established field of Total Quality Management can be used to study how audit firms with a lower number of employees work with ISQC 1. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to create an understanding of how non-Big X audit firms use ISQC 1 to assure the quality of their services. Method: This study uses a qualitative method and an inductive approach, with elements of a deductive approach. Empirical primary data has been gathered by longer semi-structured interviews with eight auditors who all works on different non-Big X audit firms. A content analysis has also been executed, which compares ISQC 1 with the cornerstones of TQM. Conclusion: This study indicates that non-Big X audit firms mostly uses meetings, teachings and audit manuals to create a quality culture and work as a basis for the audit process. Furthermore, the study implies that ISQC 1 is experienced as resource-demanding, copious and more adjusted to big international audit firms. To face these issues, this study indicates that a cooperation with audit networks can help. When it comes to audit firms assuring the quality of their services, this study points out that preventing errors is critical for the non-Big X audit firms. Ultimately this study supports that there is an expectation gap, and that customers demand different things than what ISQC 1 advocate. / Bakgrund och problem: Enronskandalen är en i raden av olika revisionsskandaler under 2000-talet, som i kombination med den globala harmoniseringen har lett till ökade krav på revisionsbranschen och dess kvalitet. Till följd av detta utformades standarden ISQC 1 vars syfte är att styra och vägleda en intern kvalitetskontroll för att på så sätt uppnå en jämn och hög nivå på kvaliteten. I och med utformningen av ISQC 1 har också forskning uppkommit där fokus har varit på hur revisionsbyråer klarat av att implementera och arbeta med standarden. Denna forskning fokuserar dock främst på stora internationella revisionsbyråer, vilket gör att revisionsbyråer med färre anställda kommer i skymundan. För att undersöka hur revisionsbyråer med färre anställda arbetar med ISQC 1 kan då det etablerade fältet total kvalitetsstyrning användas.   Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att skapa förståelse för hur non-Big X revisionsbyråer arbetar med ISQC 1 för att kvalitetssäkra sina tjänster i praktiken.  Metod: Denna studie använder sig av en kvalitativ metod och en induktiv ansats med inslag av deduktion. Empirisk primärdata har samlats in genom längre semi-strukturerade intervjuer med åtta revisorer som arbetar på olika non-Big X byråer. Vidare har även en innehållsanalys genomförts som jämför ISQC 1 med hörnstensmodellen. Slutsats: Studien indikerar på att non-Big X revisionsbyråer främst använder sig av möten, utbildningar och revisionshandböcker för att både skapa en kvalitetskultur och ligga till grund för revisionsprocessen. Studien ger vidare antydningar om att ISQC 1 upplevs som resurskrävande, överflödig och mer anpassad efter stora internationella byråer. För att bemöta dessa problem ges indikationer på att ett samarbete med revisionsnätverk kan underlätta. I arbetet med att kvalitetssäkra tjänster indikerar vidare denna studie på att förebyggande av fel är kritiskt för non-Big X byråer. Slutligen stärker studien att ett förväntningsgap finns, då kunderna efterfrågar annat än vad ISQC 1 förespråkar.

The quality of service from a hospital is the number one factor that will either turn a customer/patient away or make one for life. More and more hospitals are competing for greater shares in the market and customer-driven quality management is becoming the preferred method for improving their performance. Awali hospital is a private hospital in the Kingdom of Bahrain. It is a small 35-bed hospital that offers private medical services to the public. The hospital was originally built to serve the Bahrain Petroleum Company (Bapco) refinery workers but later opened its doors to the public. With the introduction of private patients came higher expectations of quality and higher demands on the overall services. A number of service quality shortfalls were identified over the years but never identified quantitatively by a patient evaluation survey. An English and Arabic version of the questionnaire based on SERVQUAL (Zeithaml, Parasuraman and Berry, 1988) was developed and placed in Awali hospital to test these service quality shortfalls. This study intends to evaluate these areas by answering questions about the relevant areas of service provided by the hospital. It measured patient satisfaction by looking at human aspects of service (responsiveness, reliability, empathy and assurance) with only one factor of the instrument being devoted to the non-human aspect of care rendered (tangibles). The SERVQUAL instrument has five dimensions that were measured by 21 pairs of item statements. One statement from each pair reflects perceptions, the other expectations. Measurement was accomplished by subtracting expectation from perceptions resulting in a service quality score. Positive or zero scores would reflect ideal or adequate service quality offered by the hospital. A negative score would be indicative of a service experience that did not meet customer expectations. Using the SERVQUAL questionnaire provided, quantifiable reasoning to the research questions in each dimension could be obtained so that precision, objectivity and rigour replaced hunches, experience and intuition as a means of investigating problem areas. Customers were first asked to supply some additional demographic information, for example gender, number of hospital visits, nationality, patient type (Bapco worker, general practitioner referred or private) and type of visit (inpatient, outpatient or both). They werethen asked to rate the hospital service on a 7-point Likert scale ranging from Strongly Agree (7) to Strongly Disagree (1). At the end of the questionnaire was space to write open comments. In total 600 paper questionnaires were distributed in the hospital, 300 English and 300 Arabic. Another 150 electronic questionnaires via emails were sent to refinery workers. Of the total 750 questionnaires distributed 162 were returned of which 156 (or 21.6%) could be statistically analysed. The empirical data results showed that the perception scores were significantly different at the p < 0.05 level from expectation scores. All the service quality differences (SQ=P-E) were negatively scored. This indicated that patients were not satisfied in all five dimensions of services offered by the hospital. Of the five dimensions responsiveness had the largest difference with assurance and reliability following with no significant differences between them. The demographic information revealed some interesting differences between the groups. Of all the demographic groups the most significant differences were between groups, “patient types” and “types of visit”, which showed differences between private patients and refinery workers and patients who used the hospital only as an outpatient and patients who used both services, outpatient and inpatient. In terms of the managerial implications, it was recommended that Awali hospital look to closing Gaps 1-4 of the SERVQUAL gap model which would result in closing the consumer gap, Gap 5. A process model for continuous measurement and improvement of service quality was recommended that looks at asking questions about how the hospital is performing. By adopting some of the recommendations identified in the research questions, Awali hospital could improve their quality of service, and as a consequence, their customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Magister Public Health - MPH / Introduction Mother to Child Transmission is a significant route of HIV infection in children and in South Africa (SA) the median HIV prevalence rate among pregnant women is 30, 2% and in the Western Cape Province (WCP) it is 18, 2%. lthough Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT) programmes are now available at 100% of all health care facilities and 95% of women attend antenatal care, these programmes are complex and outcome data reveals fluctuations in transmission rates as well as pockets of high transmission within well performing sub-districts. The careful management of programme processes thus requires more than coverage and outcome data. It also requires a clear picture of process indicators related to access to PMTCT services, the quality and continuity of care within the PMTCT programme and integration of PMTCT service into the comprehensive package of health care services. Aims and objectives To develop a tool that will measure the quality of care of HIV exposed infants in the PMTCT programme at primary care setting in Cape Town, by engaging local programme managers in a participatory process to develop a tool that is locally applicable and relevant, and captures local management expertise. To identify the evaluation omains, to develop a set of indicators for each domain and to pilot the tool to assess its feasibility and usefulness of the data generated.

The learners’ results do not only reflect their performance but also depict the quality of learning and teaching that they have received. However, the focus seems to be only on learners’ results particularly, the grade 12 results, without regard to other facets of the Department of Education which have a direct impact on the learners’ results. Amongst others, there are teachers and in-service trainers who need to be looked into to ascertain the quality of service that learners receive. This study focuses on the provision of in-service training through the cascade model of training in the Brits district. There are several factors that have a bearing on the implementation of departmental policies, amongst others there is a question of teachers’ attitude. Teachers with positive attitudes turn out to be more willing in implementing what they learnt from in-service training by cascading the training at school. The selection of teachers who have to attend in-service training sessions relies on a clear plan from the in-service trainers that ought to be supplied well in advance so that the School Management Teams (SMT) can be in a position to selected the appropriate teacher to attend in-service training. On the other hand, the training approaches that are used by the in-service trainers play a vital role too. Reviewed literature in this study has proven beyond reasonable doubt that adults learn differently from the way children learn and therefore their training should be different from that of children. The learning theories are an attempt to give a sound background in terms of adult learning. The study has also found that there are some inconsistencies as far as the in-service trainers are concerned. Whilst their training approaches are varied and enjoyed by most teachers, there are serious inconsistencies in terms of evaluation of the in-service training sessions. Finally, both the in-service trainers and teachers are to some extent satisfied with in-service training in Brits district. However, in-service training in general needs to be reviewed in order to maximise the implementation of policies of the department. / Dissertation (MPhil (Education for Community Development))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Education Management and Policy Studies / unrestricted

This research sought to investigate how appropriate the Continuous Assessment (CASS) and Common Task for Assessment (CTA) are as assessment models for the General Education and Training Certificate (GETC) with specialization in Economic and Management Science. It examined the appropriateness of quality assurance mechanisms that were used in CASS and CTA at Grade 9 level, with specific reference to Economic and Management Science. The research question further examined how valid the CASS tasks are and how reliable the CASS and CTA marks are at Grade 9 level, with reference to EMS? The qualitative research approach was used within a case study research design. Thus purposeful sampling was used to select the five participants of this study, namely; two EMS educators, two EMS departmental heads and the District facilitator for EMS. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews, document analysis and observations, and triangulated to support the conclusions and to make the findings more reliable. The results indicated that teachers lacked the skills to construct tasks of high quality, assessment plans, and assessment tools. As a result, they resorted the use of tests as a dominant form of assessment. The study further revealed that moderation of Grade 9 School-Based Assessment occurred at various levels of the education system, namely at school, cluster and provincial level. The study showed that there was a corroboration of concepts used in the conceptual framework based on the open system theory, as teachers’ qualifications contributed to the effective development and implementation of the learning programmes in Economic and Management Science. However, the procedures used in conducting moderation were not regarded in a favourable light. The difficulty of CTA was attributed to the non-coverage of all assessment standards during the implementation of CASS. Copyright / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Curriculum Studies / unrestricted

The research question addressed in this research concerned the extent to which internally developed quality assurance processes are effective in the promotion and enhancement of quality in education and training programmes in business with special reference to adult literacy. The aim of the research was to explore the presence of and the need for a possible implementation of effective quality assurance processes in education and training in business. It also aimed at seeking for answers to the following questions: -- Do education and training programmes in business have effective quality assurance processes in place for the promotion and enhancement of quality? -- Do education and training programmes in business embrace best practice principles for continuous quality improvement? A literature review, interviews and questionnaires were the instruments employed for the collection of data. Through these research instruments, better insight into the concepts of ‘quality’ and ‘quality assurance’ was obtained. From the literature review, it emerged that the implementation of best practice principles borrowed from industry in education and training programmes can play a crucial role in continuous improvement. In contrast, it emerged from the empirical investigation results that no effective quality assurance processes are applied in education and training in business in South Africa. Business appeared not to be taking a holistic approach to quality assurance and management was found to be ignoring important aspects, such as human resources development, partnership and/or similar issues that need attention if quality is to be holistically promoted and enhanced. In conclusion, a few recommendations that could contribute to quality promotion and enhancement in education and training were made. These were the implementation of a market-related remuneration strategy or competency-based pay, a retention strategy, a quality assurance training programme, Total Quality Management, a Balanced Scorecard, recognition and incentive scheme, a performance appraisal system and the involvement of line managers and union representatives in the management of education and training programmes in business. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Education Management and Policy Studies / unrestricted