South Africa is currently undergoing a process of change from a segregated education system to a more democratic system of education. The country is characterised by drastic policy shifts in the social, economic and political arenas. The problem that called for this research is that education managers at national, provincial, district, and circuit levels are facing challenges in the understanding, interpretation and implementation of education policies as they apply to support staff, educators, learners and their parents or guardians. Lack of access to and knowledge of acts, policies and procedures in educational leadership and management seem to impact negatively on the effective functioning of public schools in the provisioning of quality education in Limpopo province of South Africa. A qualitative research methodology coupled with ontology and epistemology theories were used in a phenomenological interpretive perspective. The rationale for choosing the qualitative approach was that the subject of this research study required data on the experiences, perceptions and views of the research participants. Three research instruments of data collection were employed, namely participant observation, document analysis and interviews. Purposive sampling was chosen to select the education managers as participants who were likely to be knowledgeable about and experienced in the phenomenon under study. Focus group and individual interviews were conducted with educators, education managers, and educator union representatives. I used content analysis method to catergorise data into themes. The findings in this study revealed that knowledge of the education policies is a pre-requisite for the implementation of such policies for quality education. It was evident that education managers have inadequate understanding of the formulation, interpretation and implementation of policies. Education managers had contrasting perceptions of education quality and divergent interpretationsof education policies. The deployment of circuit managers undermined the value of management qualifications, experience and expertise in such management posts. The absence of a policy enforcement agency and a lack of coordination within different levels of education management in the province have led to unresolved cases of misconduct and non-compliance with education policies. The researcher recommends that induction of newly appointed education managers, continuous training of the serving education managers, mentoring and monitoring of the implementation of education policies should receive priority for the provision of quality education in public schools. / Educational Leadership and Management / D. Ed. (Education Management)

Submitted by ANA LUCIA GARCIA PARRO null (analucia_caf@yahoo.com.br) on 2016-03-28T01:52:29Z No. of bitstreams: 1 TESE FINAL.pdf: 1002789 bytes, checksum: edb68337424275e5acba23f3d23a58d3 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Juliano Benedito Ferreira (julianoferreira@reitoria.unesp.br) on 2016-03-28T17:55:30Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 parro_alg_dr_mar.pdf: 1002789 bytes, checksum: edb68337424275e5acba23f3d23a58d3 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-28T17:55:30Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 parro_alg_dr_mar.pdf: 1002789 bytes, checksum: edb68337424275e5acba23f3d23a58d3 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-03-01 / Como parte das pesquisas que estudam o cotidiano da escola e as ações construídas por seus diferentes integrantes, esta tese teve por objetivo identificar, analisar e tencionar as concepções veiculadas pela política educacional dos dois últimos governos paulistas (2007 a 2014) e as concepções vivenciadas pelos diferentes integrantes de escolas públicas paulistas a respeito da avaliação externa em larga escala, gestão da escola e qualidade da educação escolar. O referencial adotado compreende a escola como produtora de políticas, apesar de inserida em um contexto de implementação de programas marcados pela valorização do controle e dos resultados de aprendizagem. Dentre os procedimentos metodológicos, destacam-se a observação de escolas públicas com maior e menor índice de desempenho na avaliação externa em larga escala do estado de São Paulo (IDESP de 2011) e entrevistas semi-estruturadas com diferentes integrantes das escolas (pais, professores, diretor de escola, vice e professor coordenador). São analisadas, também, propostas oficias da Secretaria da Educação paulista destes dois últimos mandatos governamentais. A pesquisa apontou, entre outros elementos, que, embora sejam criados espaços para construção de acordos e formas de organização próprias de cada escola, as concepções presentes nas escolas se aproximam daquelas que são propostas oficialmente. As relações e contradições entre as concepções veiculadas pelas diretrizes governamentais e o que é concebido e vivenciado no cotidiano escolar, apontadas por esta pesquisa podem contribuir com a discussão das reais possibilidades de a escola vir a desenvolver uma formação de qualidade, no seu sentido social. / Introduced in the scope of researches that study the school routine and the actions set up by its different members, this thesis had as objective to identify, analyze and intend the conceptions conveyed by the school politics of São Paulo State government of the last two administrations (2007 to 2014) and the conceptions experienced by the different members of São Paulo public schools concerning the large-scale external assessment, school management and quality of school education. Starting from a referential that understands the school as policies producer, despite inserted in a context of implementation of programs marked by the valorization of control and the learning results. Among the methodological procedures, stands out the observation of public schools with higher and lower performance index in the large-scale external assessment of São Paulo State (IDESP of 2011) and semi-structured interviews with different school members (parents, teachers, school principal, vice school principal and coordinator teacher). We also analyzed official proposals of the São Paulo State Secretary of Education in the last government mandates. The research indicated, among other elements, that, while the guidelines and official proposed goals head the school pedagogical work, the institutions routine is marked by the building of rules and own agreement of each group and of the school management. The relations and contradictions between the conceptions conveyed by the government guidelines and what is built and experienced in the school routine, indicated by this research, can contribute to the discussion of the real possibilities of the school to develop quality education , in its social meaning.

O objetivo da dissertação é analisar o custo-aluno/ano e as condições de qualidade em duas escolas do campo da rede estadual de ensino do Rio Grande do Sul. As escolas visitadas se localizam na zona rural de Bento Gonçalves. A pesquisa constou de um levantamento dos custos educacionais das escolas, do custo-aluno/ano, dos custos e condições do transporte escolar do município e das condições de oferta educacional das escolas, no ano de 2016. Também foram contemplados conteúdos da evolução do Direto à Educação no Brasil, do ordenamento normativo do financiamento público da educação e delimitações de educação rural e educação do campo, por meio da análise de legislação educacional federal e estadual. Também foi feita uma sucinta discussão sobre o conceito de qualidade na educação básica e condições necessárias para uma Escola do Campo ofertar uma educação com qualidade social. O custo-aluno/ano é definido como um conjunto de recursos materiais e humanos objetivamente calculados. Os itens de custo considerados na pesquisa foram: instalações (prédio e terreno), salário do pessoal (docente e não docente); material de consumo; equipamentos e material permanente; outros insumos (água, energia elétrica, telefone, internet, gás, serviços terceiros e manutenção); e transporte escolar. Os dados de salários de pessoal foram coletados nas escolas e no site do portal da transparência do RS. Os dados de material permanente, material de consumo e outros insumos foram coletados diretamente nas escolas em visitas realizadas e conversas com a equipe diretiva Os dados sobre transporte escolar foram coletados em visita à Secretária Municipal de Educação. Os valores monetários dos custos educacionais foram somados, calculados e comparados através da unidade custoaluno/ ano. Foram analisadas as condições de oferta educacional das escolas e dos custos e condições do transporte escolar. O texto está organizado em três capítulos. O primeiro capítulo apresenta uma breve revisão do Direito à Educação e Educação do Campo na legislação federal e estadual do Rio Grande do Sul. O segundo capítulo apresenta uma revisão do financiamento da educação na legislação federal e estadual. O terceiro capítulo trata da pesquisa de campo, apresentando a discussão sobre conceito de qualidade para a educação do campo, questões metodológicas da pesquisa, descrição das escolas e transporte escolar e análise dos custos educacionais das escolas e do custo-aluno/ano. A análise dos dados coletados revelou que as escolas pesquisadas se identificam como Escolas do Campo e possuem importância para organização, história e memória coletiva das comunidades rurais onde estão localizadas. Portanto, foi verificado que as escolas possuem condições parciais para ofertar uma educação de qualidade, necessitando de maior apoio da Secretaria Estadual de Educação e 16ª Coordenadoria Regional de Educação. A pesquisa pretende contribuir para a discussão da área de financiamento da Educação Básica do Campo e para a construção do Custo Aluno Qualidade Inicial e Custo Aluno Qualidade, previstos no Plano Nacional de Educação 2014-2024. / The objective of this dissertation is to analyze the cost-student/year and the quality conditions in two rural schools of the state education network of Rio Grande do Sul. The schools that were visited are located in the rural area of Bento Gonçalves. The research consisted of a survey of the educational costs of schools, the cost-student/year, the costs and conditions of the municipal school transportation services and the conditions of the schools educational offer, in 2016. Contents on the development of the Right to Education in Brazil, on the normative order of the public financing of education and delimitations of rural education and education of the field were also included, through the analysis of federal and state educational legislation. There is also a brief discussion about the concept of quality in basic education and the necessary conditions for a School in the Field to offer an education with social quality. Cost-student/year is defined as a set of objectively calculated material and human resources. The cost items considered in the survey were: facilities (building and land), staff salaries (teaching and non-teaching staff); consumables; equipment and permanent materials; other inputs (water, electricity, telephone, internet, gas, third party services and maintenance); and school transportation. The data on personnel salaries were collected in the schools and on the website of the transparency portal of RS. Data on permanent material, consumables and other inputs were collected directly from the schools on visits and conversations with the management team Data on school transportation were collected during a visit to the Municipal Secretary of Education. The monetary values of educational costs were summed, calculated and compared through the unit cost-student/year. We analyzed the educational offer conditions of the schools and the costs and conditions of school transportation. The text is organized in three chapters. The first chapter presents a brief review of the Right to Education and Field Education in the federal and state legislation of Rio Grande do Sul. The second chapter presents a review of the financing of education in federal and state legislation. The third chapter deals with the field research, presenting the discussion about the concept of quality for the education of the field, methodological questions of the research, description of schools and school transport and analysis of the educational costs of schools and cost-student/year. The analysis of the collected data revealed that the surveyed schools identify themselves as Field Schools and are important to the organization, history and collective memory of the rural communities where they are located. Therefore, it was verified that the schools have partial conditions to offer a quality education, needing more support from the State Department of Education and 16th Regional Education Coordination. The research intends to contribute to the discussion on the issue of funding of the Basic Education of the Field and to the construction of the Cost Student Initial Quality and Cost Student Quality, foreseen in the National Plan of Education 2014-2024. / El objetivo de la disertación es analizar el costo-estudiante/año y las condiciones de calidad en dos escuelas rurales de la red de enseñanza del estado del Rio Grande do Sul. Las escuelas visitadas se localizan en la zona rural del municipio de Bento Gonçalves. La investigación constó de un levantamiento de los costos educativos de las escuelas, del costo-estudiante/año, de los costos y condiciones del transporte escolar del municipio y de las condiciones de oferta educativa de las escuelas, en el año 2016. También se ha realizado una revisión de la evolución del Derecho a la Educación en Brasil, a través del análisis de la legislación educativa federal y provincial. Una revisión de los conceptos de Educación Rural y Educación del Campo, en la legislación educativa federal y provincial. También se hace una revisión del financiamiento de la enseñanza básica en la legislación educativa federal y provincial. También se hizo una breve discusión sobre el concepto de calidad en la enseñanza básica y de las condiciones necesarias para que una escuela rural ofrecer una educación con calidad social. El costo-estudiante/año se define como un conjunto de recursos materiales y humanos objetivamente calculados. Los elementos de costo considerados en la investigación fueron: instalaciones (edificio y terreno); salario de personal (docente y no docente); material de consumo; equipos y material permanente; otros insumos (agua, energia eléectrica, teléfono, internet, gas, servicios terceros y mantenimiento); y transporte escolar. Los datos de salarios de personal fueron recolectados en las escuelas y en el sitio del portal da transparencia do RS. Los datos de material permanente, material de consumo y otros insumos fueron recolectados directamente en las escuelas en visitas realizadas y conversaciones con el equipo directivo. Los datos sobre transporte escolar fueron recolectados en visita a la Secretaria Municipal de Educación. Los valores monetarios de los costos educativos se han sumados, calculados y comparados a través de la unidad costo-estudiante/año. También se analizaron condiciones de oferta educativa de las escuelas, de los costos y condiciones del transporte escolar. El texto está organizado en tres capítulos. El primer capítulo presenta una breve revisión del Derecho a la Educación y Educación del Campo en la legislación federal y estadual de Rio Grande do Sul. El segundo capítulo presenta una breve revisión del financiamiento de la educación en la legislación federal y estadual. El tercer capítulo trata sobre la investigación de campo, presentado la discusión sobre concepto de calidad para educación del campo, cuestiones metodológicas de la investigación, descripción de las escuelas, transporte escolar y análisis de los costos educativos de las escuelas y del costoestudiante/ año. El análisis de los datos de la investigación, reveló que las escuelas estudiadas, se identifican como Escuelas Rurales. Poseen importancia para la organización, la historia y la memoria colectiva de las comunidades rurales donde están ubicadas. Por lo tanto, se verificó que las escuelas poseen condiciones parciales para ofrecer una educación de calidad, necesitando de mayor apoyo de las Secretarias Estadual de Educación y 16ª Coordinadora Regional de Educación. Esta investigación desea contribuir a la discusión del área de financiamento de la enseñanza básica rural y para la construcción del CAQI y del CAQ, previsto en el PNE 2014-2024.

From April to June 2016 a new and exclusively virtual teaching format – the international STEM1 Summer School – was provided at the University of Mining and Technology in Freiberg. The paper presents the approach, didactical design, and results of evaluation. The international STEM Summer School was developed and tested within the project „Holistic International STEMs - Learning with case studies and real-life industry experiences“. The aim was to better prepare STEM students for challenges in the current professional world that are characterized by in-ternationalization and digitalization. The project offers some ideas on how to teach the currently re-quired skills and competencies by industry in higher education. The conceptualization of the project was made possible with funding from the Donors\' Association for the Promotion of Humanities and Sciences in Germany2. The exclusively virtual collaboration is due to the different geographical distances and locations of the participating students, which generates specific challenges. On the one hand, technical conditions at the particular places of residence have an impact on virtual collaboration. On the other hand, cultural, lingual, and occupational differences, as well as the differing media literacy, play an important role. In addition, the setting of objectives and provision of incentives is decisive for the shared virtual work. The results of the first round of the international STEM Summer School indicate possible solution strategies based on the three areas of media use, interaction, and task orientation. During the Summer School, students from ten different countries solved real-life job case studies in small interdisciplinary teams. The exchange took place with the help of various e-learning tools like the virtual classroom, wiki, forum and e-portfolio. The participants were mentored by national and international industry partners, STEM professors, and e-tutors. After nine weeks work in intercultural teams they presented their results and learning outcomes during a web conference. The following article focusses on the evaluation results as well as selected insights and challenges.

Thesis (M. Ed. (Curriculum Studies)) -- University of Limpopo, 2022 / The effective delivery of quality education depends, to a greater extent, on the quality of teachers. These teachers need to keep pace with the continuous growth of professional knowledge, skills and competences. This study evaluates teacher development programmes in Siyabuswa Circuit, Mpumalanga Province. Professional Learning Communities (PLC) is one of the initiatives that support and improve teacher knowledge and competences. Hence this study seeks to obtain teachers’ perspectives of the PLCs as a teacher development programme. This will probably shed more light into challenges faced by teachers in participating and benefitting from these developmental programmes. Scharmer (2009) states that when a new development unfolds, people may respond to it in two ways: they muddle through or fight back. Scharmer’s Theory U is thus reflected upon in this study as well to help explain and clarify these perspectives so that appropriate strategies can be found to improve teacher development and quality performance in turn.

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Using the University of Durban-Westville as an illustrative case study, the study examines quality assurance policies and their implementation in the South African higher education system. The scope of the study covers a wide-ranging analysis of discourses underpinning quality assurance and a focused analysis of institutional policies. As one of its central aims, the dissertation investigates the tension between quality assurance as it is conventionally understood and quality assurance conceived as continuous organizational improvement based on the principles of total quality management. The study has two fairly distinct dimensions: a literature survey focusing on global trends and practices, and an empirical investigation focusing on the University of Durban-Westville. The literature study looks global systems, trends and practices, and provides a suitable point of departure for a contextual analysis of quality management in the South African higher education system. Relying on a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews as research instruments, the study's empirical component investigates the attitudes and perceptions of academic managers at UDW towards national and institutional quality assurance policies and mechanisms. The study's findings all point to a preference for a decentralised system of quality management with the government playing a peripheral monitoring role rather than a central policing role . This study also demonstrates that the distinction between academic development and quality assurance is a spurious one and should only be made for analytical purposes. / Educational Studies / M.Ed. (Educational Management)

In recent years, the South African education system has experimented with different appraisal systems in an attempt to evaluate the performance of educators in public schools. Educator appraisal is receiving attention throughout the world as governments become aware of the need to examine educational provision critically to ensure that it is both relevant for and appropriate to, the needs of the youth. Before 1994, the appraisal of educators was mainly based on traditional approaches to evaluate their performance. For instance, it was the responsibility of the inspectors from the Department of Education (DoE) to evaluate the performance of educators in schools. Consequently, a great deal of criticism was levelled at this appraisal system such as the prevalence of political bias in the system, the unchecked power that the inspectors wielded, the incompetence of inspectors and irrelevance of some evaluation criteria and absence of contextual factors. After 1994, there was a paradigm shift from the traditional to the developmental approach to evaluate the performance of educators in public schools. That is, there was a need to develop educators through appropriate appraisal schemes with a view to enhancing their continued professional growth. Therefore, the present education system calls for a decentralised appraisal system, which places greater emphasis on the professional development of educators. Stakeholders such as educators and teacher unions have also made higher demands for improved educator evaluation and professional growth. In 1998, at the Education Labour Relations Council (ELRC), the Department of Education (DoE) agreed to introduce the Developmental Appraisal System (DAS) followed by the Whole-School Evaluation (WSE) in 2001. Both these policies were rejected by educators and their teacher unions since they regarded these appraisal systems as summative, judgmental and that failed to offer opportunities for further development. In August 2003, the DoE and the unions signed two collective agreements, which led to the Integrated Quality Management System (IQMS) and it was intended to integrate and strengthen various components of DAS, WSE and performance measurement (PM). The IQMS was first implemented in South African schools in 2005 with the aim of enhancing the continuing professional growth of educators. Furthermore, the National Department of Education (NDoE) introduced the National Policy Framework on Teacher Education and Development (NPFTED) in 2006. This policy aimed to equip educators to undertake their essential and demanding tasks and to enable them to enhance their professional competence and performance on a continuing basis. Even though the IQMS was introduced as a new system to evaluate the performance of educators and to enhance their professional growth, it does not actually serve its purpose since it is not properly implemented and monitored in schools. Instead of using it as a tool to enhance the professional growth of educators, its emphasis is on getting assessment scores, which are directly related to remuneration. As a result, the ultimate aim of professional development for educators is neglected. This means that the IQMS is regarded as a separate entity that is not linked to the continuing professional growth of educators and its developmental programmes are criticised for being traditional since they are only confined to class visits, which are conducted once or twice a year for PM purposes. Therefore, since the introduction of the IQMS in 2003 and its implementation in 2005 in South African schools, no empirical research has been conducted on the need to link appraisal to professional development in the IQMS in South African schools. The study conducted by Bisschoff and Mathye (2009) focusses on the advocacy of an appraisal system for teachers. Another study conducted by Dhlamini (2009) concentrates on the role of the IQMS to measure and improve teaching and learning in the South African further education and training (FET) sector. Furthermore, the study by Rabichund (2011) focusses on the assessment of the IQMS and its implications for whole school development. Furthermore, the study by Mahlaela (2011) investigates the IQMS as a transformational strategy for teacher development in South Africa. Accordingly, this study builds on these studies and it seeks to investigate how appraisal and professional development can be linked in the IQMS in South African schools. / Educational Leadership and Management / D. Ed. (Education Management)

Many schools in South Africa face challenges of poor teacher performance as a result of implementing performance evaluation systems that are not developmental. In an attempt to resolve the current implementation challenges of the South African Integrated Quality Management System (IQMS) which is theoretically aligned to the TQM principles, the focus in this study is on the perceptions of school-based managers and educators regarding the effectiveness of the developmental supervision model as a possible tool for improving the quality of teaching. A mixed methods research design characterised by the explanatory sequential design was used to address the research questions. Out of the 350 randomly selected participants in all 15 districts of the Gauteng Province responded to the quantitative phase in the form of questionnaires. This was followed by analysis of the qualitative data from three focus group interview sessions that were conducted in Sedibeng East, Sedibeng West and Johannesburg North districts of the Gauteng Province in order to get in-depth explanations on perceptions of school-based managers and educators. Each of the three focus group interviews comprised of ten purposefully selected participants embracing two principals, two vice principals, two HODs and four educators per district. The results indicate that school-based managers and educators strongly believed that the developmental supervision model is an excellent tool for improving quality of teaching by applying implementation strategies comprising of the clinical supervision, self-directed supervision, peer supervision and connoisseurship strategies. These results were based on the opinion of the participants that the characteristics of the developmental supervision implementation strategies align with the Total Quality Management principles which were perceived to have a positive influence on improving the quality of teaching. The same supervision strategies were also found to match different levels of teacher development according to their levels of expertise and commitment. In contrast, the IQMS performance evaluation process, which also involves self-evaluation and peer evaluation, was believed to lack compliance with the developmental supervision strategies and the TQM principles during practical implementation because of characteristics related to the traditional inspection approaches to professional development. It is therefore recommended that the developmental supervision model should be introduced in South African schools to effectively implement the IQMS in order to ensure improved quality of teaching. / Educational Management and Leadership / D. Ed. (Education Management)

The purpose of this study was to examine the role played by Development Support Groups (DSGs) in implementing the Integrated Quality Management System (IQMS) in the secondary schools of Circuit 03 of Libode district of Eastern Cape Province. The scope of research was restricted to three secondary schools in circuit 03. The research methodology was qualitative in which multiple case study strategy was employed. The sampling strategy was purposive sampling and it included principals, educators serving in DSG and educators who have been evaluated in the previous years. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews to get information from principals. Questionnaires with open ended questions were used to obtain information from educators serving in DSGs and educators who have been evaluated in the previous years. The findings of this study were that; the DSGs did not receive training that specifically explained their role. Timing is a problem in evaluation of educators as it is performed in the fourth term when educators are busy preparing for final examinations and planning for the next coming year. The infrastructure condition cripples the performance of DSGs. The interpretation of evaluation instruments for educators poses a challenge to DSGs. The awarding of scores by DSGs tends to be more subjective. DSGs mainly have to use their discretion in awarding scores. Analysis of information received from participants indicated that the role of DSGs in implementing IQMS could be improved with intensive training of DSGs on IQMS. Summative evaluation of educators has to be conducted in the third term as many activities take place in the fourth term. Learner performance has also to be a deciding factor in awarding educator scores. Subject advisors should form part of DSGs. This research is likely to benefit school principals, policy makers, educators and IQMS coordinators as it provides clarity on the role of DSGs in implementing IQMS. / Educational Management and Leadership / M. Ed. (Educational Leadership and Management)