Social Work / M.Diac. (Play Therapy)

D.Ed (Educational Psychology) / It is a well known fact that, especially in the developed and industrialised countries the child can not but attain adulthood and independence via the school and school learning. The child's progress at school depends largely on his readiness to learn. Because it is no longer acceptable for the school to receive school beginners with a take-it or leave-it attitude and practice, the Transvaal Education Department adopted the policy that all school beginners be subjected to a school readiness programme to ensure that they will in fact profit from formal learning. Because application of the prescribed procedures which underlies all these programmes had not yet been investigated empirically, an intensive evaluation was conducted in 1977 at the RAU. The findings indicated certain deficiencies in the existing programme. It appeared, for example, that differentiation was not applied sufficiently and that more emphasis should be laid on certain aspects of cognitive development. An attempt was therefore made in this study to redesign the existing programme. Firstly it was necessary to arrive at a pedagogical view of school entrance which implied a close examination of the school beginner's development and learning, whi~h also emphasised the importance of the teacher's becoming acquainted with the child's level op development on school entry as well as with its learning in order to know how, where and how much she can, may and ought to intervene in the child's development and learning.

M.Ed. (Educational Psychology) / Please refer to full text to view abstract.

Up to 2005 early childhood education in Zimbabwe was organised, directed and run by non-governmental organisations, churches and private individuals. Such an arrangement meant that the curriculum, personnel and strategies used to implement the programme were varied. In 2004 the Ministry of Education directed that all primary schools attach two classes of children aged between 3 and 5 years with effect from 2006, thus effectively making early childhood education part of the formal primary school structure. The research presented in this thesis focuses on teachers' perceptions of primary schools' state of readiness for the introduction of early childhood education in Zimbabwe. Located in the interpretive paradigm of qualitative research the study draws on a wide range of research methods. In particular a multiple case study was used to explore teachers' perceptions of primary schools' state of readiness for the introduction of grade zero/early childhood education in a former government group B school, a church run school, a rural school, a former government group A school and, a council run school. Some of the key findings of the study are: • School heads who are the principal gate keepers in primary schools were not provided with any preparation for the introduction of grade zero/early childhood education. • School reliance on fees and levies, without direct Ministry of Education financial assistance, meant that resource conditions - hence state of readiness - greatly differed from one school to another. • No ongoing support was provided to school heads, teachers-in-charge and early childhood education teachers. • The quality of teaching and learning at the early childhood education level, in the multiple case study, depended on the nature of teacher preparation, availability of appropriate resources, adequacy and appropriateness of teacher support, and teacher state of preparedness. The study recommends interventions that curriculum policy planners and implementers can use to create conditions that enable schools to be ready for installing, implementing and institutionalising the early childhood education innovation.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of teenage motherhood on the school readiness, literacy skills, and parental involvement of children participating in the Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY) early intervention program, as well as make recommendations for optimal outcomes. Study children were participants in HIPPY at five diverse, urban school districts. Using a mixed method design, this study examined the results of quantitative measures of children's school readiness, literacy skills, and parent involvement along with qualitative data collected through mothers' responses to two, open-ended questions related to their satisfaction with HIPPY. According to results of independent samples t-test, mean scores on school readiness and parent involvement measures were not statistically significantly different for the children of teenage mothers and the children of traditional age mothers. However, there were moderate effect sizes for parent involvement and physical development indicating some practical significance. Chi-square results of literacy skills indicated that the children of teenage mothers were almost twice as likely [c2 (1, N = 36) = 4.21, p < .05] to have literacy skills that were "not on grade level" according to scores on the TPRI/Tejas. Descriptive discriminant analysis (DDA) indicated that the multivariate relationship of the four parent involvement variables statistically significantly contributed to whether children born to teenage mothers had literacy skills on grade-level, but it was not significant for the children of traditional-age mothers. DDA analysis conducted on the school readiness variables did not yield any significant results. In addition, odds ratios conducted between literacy level and each of the parent involvement and school readiness variables indicated an increased probability of a child's literacy skills being on grade level when scores were high, but these increases were not statistically significant. While there were differences in literacy skills, teen mothers indicated, through their responses to two, open-ended questions, their desire to for more support for their children in this area.

Thesis (M.Ed.(Educational Psychology))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Education, 2013.

No description available.

Preschool Attainment Record Attainment Quotients and Category scores were compared to determine whether there were significant differences between the way parents and teachers evaluate 5-year-old children. The subjects were 20 Head Start and 20 middle-income children as well as their mothers, fathers, and teachers. A total of 120 Preschool Attainment Record interviews were collected, 40 with teachers and 80 with parents. Attainment Quotients and Category scores were calculated by computer. A repeated measurement design was used to test for significant differences in Attainment Quotient and Intellectual, Social, and Physical Category scores. No significant differences were found for mothers', fathers', and teachers' Attainment Quotients. There was a significant difference between parents' and teachers' ratings for Intellectual and Social Category scores for lower-income boys. Attainment Quotient means were grouped and analyzed for differences in ratings within and between the five preschool centers used in the study. Attainment Quotient means were highest in the two middle-income centers. Attainment Quotient means were also compared for first and later-born children. No significant difference existed between ratings by mothers, fathers, and teachers. / Master of Science

This study examined the relationship between teachers' assessment of children's overall school adjustment and children's self-esteem, behavioral styles, and the valuing styles of parents. Subjects were 75 third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade children from middle-class families in the metropolitan Washington, D.C., area who were subjectively rated by teachers (n=8) as best adjusted (n=38) or least adjusted (n=37) in terms of overall psychosocial and academic functioning in the classroom. The Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory was used to measure children's self-esteem, Dimensions of Temperament Survey to measure their temperament, and Matthews Youth Test for Health to measure their Type A behavior pattern. The Little Parental Valuing Styles Scale was the instrument used to measure parents' self-reported valuing styles. One-factor multivariate analysis of variance was used to evaluate mean score differences for either best and least adjusted children, or their parents for each instrument. The best adjusted children were found to have higher self-esteem, were more rhythmic, less reactive, more competitive and less impatient-aggressive than least adjusted children. Parents of best adjusted children were more accepting and less overprotective and rejecting than parents of least adjusted children. / Master of Science

The purpose of this study was to investigate the problem of early school entry as it affects the criteria of achievement, self-concept, and social maturity. The research design was a comparative associational design. The statistical procedure used was the two-way analysis of variance. The level of statistical significance was noted at .05. The subjects in this study were sixty-two kindergarten children in six schools in the.school system. The six schools were chosen as representative of the racial make-up of the school population. There was stratified random sampling to include children with early and not early birthdates. Race, sex and birthdates were the independent variables. Several instruments were used to measure achievement, social maturity, and self-concept. The Wide Range Achievement Test R-1, Level 1, The Standards of Learning Objectives, and the Metropolitan Reading Test, Level II, were used to measure achievement. The Burks' Behavior Rating Scales, Preschool and Kindergarten edition, were used to measure social maturity, and the Self-Concept and Motivation Inventory Pre-School/Kindergarten Form (SCAMIN) assessed self-concept. The following conclusions were formulated based upon critical analysis of the data. There was a statistically significant difference (p<.05) in achievement and age, race and sex in a few of the variables studied such as the following: 1. the WRAT math across age and race. The not early groups scored higher than the early groups and the white groups scored higher than the black group. 2. the Metropolitan Readiness test and race. The white children scored higher than the black children and the not early children scored higher than the early children. 3. the SOL reading objectives, age and sex. The not early group scored higher than the early group. The white children scored higher than the black children. The girls in the early group scored higher than the boys, and the boys in the not early group scored higher than the girls. 4. the SOL math objectives across age and race. The early groups scored lower than the not early group and the white children scored higher than the black children. There was also a statistically significant difference (p<.05) in poor ego strength and race. The white children had higher ego strength than the black children. / Ed. D.