Cette thèse porte sur l’introduction des politiques de transfert de revenu au Brésil. L’objectif central de la recherche est de comprendre comment ces politiques se sont imposées dans le cadre des réformes de la protection sociale brésilienne pendant les années 1990, notamment à partir de 1995 et comment elles ont engendré un changement paradigmatique de troisième ordre de la politique nationale d’assistance sociale. Nous posons deux hypothèses de recherche : la première est que l’introduction de telles politiques au Brésil fut le résultat du rôle historique des intellectuels engagés dans la défense du revenu minimum en tant qu’alternative au modèle de protection sociale brésilien. Cette défense du revenu minimum fut soutenue par des intellectuels, des communautés épistémiques et par des politiciens qui ont inscrit le débat sur le revenu minimum à l’agenda politique brésilien. La deuxième hypothèse suggère que la convergence d’idées, d’institutions et d’intérêts a favorisé l’adoption de ces politiques. Cette convergence d’idées, d’institutions et d’intérêts repose sur le rôle de plusieurs acteurs tels les intellectuels, le président Cardoso et d’autres politiciens qui se sont mis à la défense du social au Brésil depuis 1999, des institutions parlementaires brésiliennes et des organisations internationales, notamment le FMI, la Banque mondiale et la Banque interaméricaine de développement – BID. Nous proposons l’approche des trois i pour rendre compte de ce changement. L’apprentissage social, les processus de diffusion et de lesson-drawing sont les facteurs à l’origine de la formation de la convergence autour des programmes de transfert de revenu. Nous montrerons que l’expérience brésilienne de programmes de transfert de revenu a non seulement engendré un processus d’apprentissage social renversé auprès de la Banque Mondiale mais qu'elle a aussi eu un effet aussi sur les actions de la BID. Nous suggérons que le changement paradigmatique de la protection sociale brésilienne a été amorcé par le gouvernement Cardoso dans un processus d’essais et d’erreurs. Ce processus, qui est à l’origine des réaménagements du programme « Comunidade Solidária », a permis la création du « Projeto Alvorada » et du « Réseau de protection sociale » en 2001. Les programmes de transfert de revenu reliés à l’éducation et aux soins de santé ont été les plus influents dans la construction du consensus qui s’est établi autour des programmes de transfert de revenu comme alternative à l’ancien modèle de protection sociale puisqu’ils procurent le renforcement du capital social en même temps qu’ils fonctionnent comme facteur structurant de la protection sociale. Ce legs du gouvernement Cardoso a permis au gouvernement de Luis Inácio Lula da Silva de consolider le nouveau paradigme avec la création du programme national Bolsa-Família. Le gouvernement Lula a donc bénéficié de l’héritage historique des deux mandats de Cardoso et, ironiquement, a récolté les fruits de l’apprentissage social. Le phénomène du « lulismo » en est la preuve. Par ailleurs, cette thèse met en question la paternité du programme Bolsa-Família puisqu’elle montre la création de ce programme d'abord comme la consolidation du processus d’apprentissage et puis comme conséquence de la création d’un nouveau paradigme pour la politique d’assistance sociale au Brésil qui a eu lieu pendant les deux mandats de Cardoso. / This thesis focuses on the introduction of conditional cash transfer policies in Brazil. The main objective of the research is to understand how these policies have emerged in a context of rethinking social security in Brazil during the 90s, more precisely from 95 and how these changes have caused a third order paradigmatic change in the elaboration of national social security policies. According to the first of two hypotheses presented in this research, the introduction of conditional cash transfer policies in Brazil is the achievement of intellectuals striving to present such policies as a viable alternative to the traditional Brazilian social protection network. Conditional cash transfer policies have been supported by intellectual, epistemic communities and by politicians that brought the debate on minimal revenue on the Brazilian political agenda. On the other hand, the second hypotheses suggests that the adoption of cash transfer policies was made possible by the convergence of ideas, institutions and interests in place. This convergence of ideas, institutions and interests rests upon the many actors in this debate such intellectuals, President Cardoso and other politicians who have been defending the social agenda in Brazil since 1999; Brazilian parliamentary institutions and international organizations such as the IMF, the World Bank and the Inter-american Development Bank – BID. In order to make sense of these changes in Brazil, the iii approach (idea-interest-institution) was used. Social learning, dissemination, lesson-learning and lesson-drawing processes are all factors explaining the convergence of opinions around the idea of conditional cash transfer programmes. It shall be proven that the Brazilian experiment with cash transfer programmes not only became a reversed teaching process with the World Bank, but also had effects on decisions made by the BID. This thesis also suggests that the paradigmatic change in Brazilian social security was initiated by the Cardoso governement as part of an error and trial change process. This process, which would have as a direct consequence the reinvention of “Comunidade Solidária”, also permitted the creation of “Projeto Alvorada” and of the “Rede de proteção social” in 2001. The health and education programmes were the most instrumental in building consensus in support of cash transfer programmes as an alternative to the traditional model of social security, because these programmes reinforce social capital while acting as structuring factors for social security. President Cardoso’s heritage allowed Luis Inàcio da Silva to consolidate the new paradigm in social security with the creation of the national programme Bolsa-Família. The Lula administration directly benefited from the previous government’s two mandates and, ironically, reaped the fruit of his predecessor’s labour. The social phenomena called “lulismo” stands as proof of this. Moreover, this thesis challenges the theory according to which Bolsa-Família is an invention of Luis Inàcio da Silva in showing how this programme was initially created as the result of social learning in Brazil between 1995 et 2002.

Cette thèse analyse le rôle de l’apprentissage dans deux cadres de modélisation distincts. Dans le cas dunouveau modèle canonique avec apprentissage adaptatif, les caractéristiques les plus marquantes des dynamiquesd’apprentissage concernent la capacité des règles de politique monétaire à assurer la convergencevers l’équilibre en anticipations rationnelles. Le mécanisme de transmission de la politique monétaire estcelui de l’effet de substitution associé au canal de la consommation. Dans le cas d’un modèle multi-agentsqui relâche des hypothèses restrictives du nouveau modèle canonique, tout en restant structurellementproche de celui-ci, les variables agrégées évoluent à bonne distance de cet équilibre, et on observe desdynamiques nettement différentes. La politique monétaire influence les variables agrégées de manièremarginale via l’effet de revenu du canal de la consommation. En présence d’un processus d’apprentissagesocial évolutionnaire, l’économie converge vers un faible niveau d’activité économique. L’introductiond’un processus caractérisé par le fait que les agents apprennent individuellement à l’aide de leurs modèlesmentaux atténue le caractère dépressif des dynamiques d’apprentissage. Ces différences entre les deuxcadres de modélisation démontrent la difficulté de généraliser les résultats du nouveau modèle canonique. / This thesis analyses the role of learning in two different modelling frameworks. In the new canonicalmodel with adaptive learning, the most remarkable characteristics of the learning dynamics deal withthe capacity of monetary policy rules to guaranty convergence to the rational expectations equilibrium.The transmission mechanism of the monetary policy is based on the substitution effect associated to theconsumption channel. In the case of an agent-based model which relaxes some restrictive assumptionsof the new canonical model - but is endowed with a similar structure - aggregate variables evolve atsome distance from the rational expectations equilibrium. Monetary policy has a marginal impact onthe agregated variables via the wealth effect of the consumption channel. When agents learn accordingto an evolutionnary social learning process, the economy converges to regions of low economic activity.The introduction of a process where agents learn individually by using their mental models induces lessdepressive learning dynamics. These differences between the two modelling frameworks show that thegeneralisation of the results of the new canonical model is not easy to achieve.

The dissertation is concerned with socializing processes of pre-school children around three years of age. The first theoretical part is globally concerned with personality socialization and highlights the significance of socialization in the healthy psychical progression of human beings, as well as the importance of understanding the problems of socialization for the pedagogical profession. This knowledge is specific and generalized in a situational context when the child comes to the kindergarten for the first time and gets slowly untied from the family, developing new relationships outside the family sphere. Socialization in the kindergarten is influenced by many internal and external factors. These factors matter if the child coming to the new kindergarten environment will incorporate to this society without any complications. If any complications appear during the incorporation, internal and external factors also influence the period how long they will last and also they influence the manner how the child will manage them as well. Adaptation programm can facilitate the entrance to the kindergarten for parents and their children. By means of this support programme, alongside the familiar person, children can gradually get acquainted with the new kindergarten environment even before the start of...

The study examined and explored the psychological significance of shaving hair as a ritual during mourning within the Ndebele culture in Mamelodi, Pretoria. The focus was on rituals performed or conducted during the mourning process that will be useful in an attempt to reach a state of healing and restoration. The study explored what meaning the participants attach to the rituals. Through this exploration; a deeper understanding of the value of rituals was developed. The qualitative research method, particularly Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was used. Snowball sampling was used to identify participants who had lost their loved and who had gone through mourning for more than six months. In total, ten participants were interviewed for this study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted in the mother tongue of the participants in order to allow them to express themselves in the most ultimate way they know and understand. Thematic content analysis was used to extract themes that were dominant across participants. The study was useful as it could be incorporated into the study of psychology specifically from the African epistemological standpoint. Even though the rituals might be practiced amongst the black African community, there is not much literature that focuses mainly on the specific rituals and their significance. This study could also be useful in terms of exposing this knowledge to persons who might not be exposed to this specific ritual of shaving hair due to cultural differences. / Psychology / M. A. (Clinical Psychology)

This study analyses the impact of land registration and certification scheme on sustainable use of farmlands in Debre Mawi and Densa Bahta rural kebeles of Amhara region in northwestern Ethiopia, with a view to contributing to the theoretical debate on tenure security and more realistic policy advocacy on the sustainable use of farmlands. Within the framework of qualitative research methodology, the case study approach helps to observe and understand the relationship between land titling and sustainable use of farmlands in Densa Bahta and Debre Mawi kebeles of the Amhara region in Ethiopia. Specific methods employed were focus group discussions, in-depth interviews and observation, complemented by context analyses of relevant documents. It was found that land titling has contributed to a high perception of security of land tenure among study respondents. However, results show that land titling has both positive and negative impacts on sustainable use of farmlands. The positive impact of land titling is ascribed to its assurance effect and legal obligation imposed on farmers to adopt proper land management practices. The negative impact of land titling arises from its failure to address the existing inequality in possession of farmlands among the village communities. Failure of farmers’ high perceptions of their security of land tenure to translate into sustainable land use practices has implications for the relative importance of productive asset endowments, self-efficacy and risk perception on the sustainable use of farmlands in the Amhara region. Interviewees that follow unsustainable farming practices were endowed with relatively lower pieces of farmland and disadvantaged in possession of other productive assets. They also demonstrated a low level of self-efficacy and a risk-averse attitude to adopting conservation technologies, as they possessed smaller sizes of farmland compared with the village and regional average. The study urges a holistic approach and comprehensive analytical framework to understand the synergy of several factors that affect the sustainable use of farmlands. / Environmental Sciences / D. Litt. et Phil. (Development Studies)

Integrated coastal and ocean management (ICM) requires new management systems where social learning (SL), the joint and collaborative learning trough interaction, is a key element. The occurrence of SL and the factors that affect it were investigated by documentary analysis, observation of ongoing processes and accessment of the perception of people involved with the participatory management of a marine protected area (MPA) in Brazil. The general hypothesis is that SL can qualify participation and improve ICM. To test it, this research characterized the management of the MPA, identifying SL processes and how they were fostered/hindered, with special attention to the role of research and educational institutions and the promotion of knowledge exchange. SL was evidenced by changes in knowledge, perception of the complexity of the system, social context and in the development of new understandings among the stakeholders involved in the processes, leading to strong social organization, social empowerment and institutional changes, promoting social capital. To improve ICM through SL, five strategies are proposed: promote diverse participation, not limited to official membership; promote simultaneous discussions in small groups; favor interaction processes over rapid solutions; explore common interests; explore different roles, especially with reference to research and educational organizations. / A gestão costeira integrada (GCI) demanda novos sistemas de gestão onde a aprendizagem social (AS), a aprendizagem conjunta e colaborativa que ocorre por meio de interação, é um elemento-chave. A ocorrência de AS e os fatores que a afetam foram investigados por meio de análise documental, observação de processos em andamento e levantamento da percepção dos indivíduos envolvidos com a gestão participativa de uma área marinha protegida (AMP) no Brasil. A hipótese central é que AS pode qualificar a participação e aprimorar a GCI. Esta pesquisa caracterizou a gestão da AMP e identificou processos de AS e como eles foram favorecidos/prejudicados, com atenção especial ao papel de instituições de ensino e pesquisa e à promoção de troca de conhecimento. A AS foi evidenciada por mudanças no conhecimento, percepção da complexidade do sistema, contexto social e construção de entendimentos coletivos, fortalecendo a organização social, empoderamento social e mudanças institucionais, promovendo o capital social. Para aprimorar a GCI por meio de AS são propostas cinco estratégias: promover diversidade de participação; promover a discussão simultânea de vários problemas; favorecer processos de interação à soluções rápidas; explorar interesses comuns; explorar diferentes papéis, especialmente considerando as organizações de ensino e pesquisa.

Integrated coastal and ocean management (ICM) requires new management systems where social learning (SL), the joint and collaborative learning trough interaction, is a key element. The occurrence of SL and the factors that affect it were investigated by documentary analysis, observation of ongoing processes and accessment of the perception of people involved with the participatory management of a marine protected area (MPA) in Brazil. The general hypothesis is that SL can qualify participation and improve ICM. To test it, this research characterized the management of the MPA, identifying SL processes and how they were fostered/hindered, with special attention to the role of research and educational institutions and the promotion of knowledge exchange. SL was evidenced by changes in knowledge, perception of the complexity of the system, social context and in the development of new understandings among the stakeholders involved in the processes, leading to strong social organization, social empowerment and institutional changes, promoting social capital. To improve ICM through SL, five strategies are proposed: promote diverse participation, not limited to official membership; promote simultaneous discussions in small groups; favor interaction processes over rapid solutions; explore common interests; explore different roles, especially with reference to research and educational organizations. / A gestão costeira integrada (GCI) demanda novos sistemas de gestão onde a aprendizagem social (AS), a aprendizagem conjunta e colaborativa que ocorre por meio de interação, é um elemento-chave. A ocorrência de AS e os fatores que a afetam foram investigados por meio de análise documental, observação de processos em andamento e levantamento da percepção dos indivíduos envolvidos com a gestão participativa de uma área marinha protegida (AMP) no Brasil. A hipótese central é que AS pode qualificar a participação e aprimorar a GCI. Esta pesquisa caracterizou a gestão da AMP e identificou processos de AS e como eles foram favorecidos/prejudicados, com atenção especial ao papel de instituições de ensino e pesquisa e à promoção de troca de conhecimento. A AS foi evidenciada por mudanças no conhecimento, percepção da complexidade do sistema, contexto social e construção de entendimentos coletivos, fortalecendo a organização social, empoderamento social e mudanças institucionais, promovendo o capital social. Para aprimorar a GCI por meio de AS são propostas cinco estratégias: promover diversidade de participação; promover a discussão simultânea de vários problemas; favorecer processos de interação à soluções rápidas; explorar interesses comuns; explorar diferentes papéis, especialmente considerando as organizações de ensino e pesquisa.

Preservationist conservation created a legacy of national parks and protected areas that were surrounded by local people dispossessed of their land and denied the rights to use the resources they had previously relied upon. Although conservation is now shifting towards a more participatory approach, research gaps still exist in determining the meaning of 'the environment' and the role of local means of conservation in rural communities in South Africa. This study focused on children's cultural environmental narratives from two rural villages in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Children from grades 4, 7 and 10 were involved in the study, and adult family members, local experts and village elders were included in the study to allow for comparison between children's and adult's narratives and to realise what Local Ecological Knowledge (LEK) was being passed on. This thesis considers children's use of the environment for play and their sense of place as key methods in ascertaining children's environmental narratives and perceptions. At both field sites, local experts and community elders possessed a wealth of cultural environmental narratives, but these narratives were not necessarily being passed on. Changing household structures and other socio-economic factors influence cultural environmental practices, which in turn have an impact on the cultural environmental narratives being passed down. In many cases, parents' safety fears strongly impacted upon children's access to the environment, resulting in gendered environmental knowledge. The study compared differing vegetation types and degrees of environmental access. The differing environments produced similar cultural environmental narratives, leading to new understandings in community environment relationships. Children living near the state administered forest had significantly less environmental knowledge, bringing about questions of sustainable bio-cultural diversity in the future. The recognition of cultural environmental values is especially important in the rural areas of South Africa, where unemployment and increased poverty levels have led to greater dependence on natural resources for social, economic and cultural purposes. It is proposed that local cultural environmental narratives and landscape perceptions be included into community conservation and environmental education policies and programmes to provide local solutions to the problem of biodiversity conservation in local contexts.

Cette thèse porte sur l’introduction des politiques de transfert de revenu au Brésil. L’objectif central de la recherche est de comprendre comment ces politiques se sont imposées dans le cadre des réformes de la protection sociale brésilienne pendant les années 1990, notamment à partir de 1995 et comment elles ont engendré un changement paradigmatique de troisième ordre de la politique nationale d’assistance sociale. Nous posons deux hypothèses de recherche : la première est que l’introduction de telles politiques au Brésil fut le résultat du rôle historique des intellectuels engagés dans la défense du revenu minimum en tant qu’alternative au modèle de protection sociale brésilien. Cette défense du revenu minimum fut soutenue par des intellectuels, des communautés épistémiques et par des politiciens qui ont inscrit le débat sur le revenu minimum à l’agenda politique brésilien. La deuxième hypothèse suggère que la convergence d’idées, d’institutions et d’intérêts a favorisé l’adoption de ces politiques. Cette convergence d’idées, d’institutions et d’intérêts repose sur le rôle de plusieurs acteurs tels les intellectuels, le président Cardoso et d’autres politiciens qui se sont mis à la défense du social au Brésil depuis 1999, des institutions parlementaires brésiliennes et des organisations internationales, notamment le FMI, la Banque mondiale et la Banque interaméricaine de développement – BID. Nous proposons l’approche des trois i pour rendre compte de ce changement. L’apprentissage social, les processus de diffusion et de lesson-drawing sont les facteurs à l’origine de la formation de la convergence autour des programmes de transfert de revenu. Nous montrerons que l’expérience brésilienne de programmes de transfert de revenu a non seulement engendré un processus d’apprentissage social renversé auprès de la Banque Mondiale mais qu'elle a aussi eu un effet aussi sur les actions de la BID. Nous suggérons que le changement paradigmatique de la protection sociale brésilienne a été amorcé par le gouvernement Cardoso dans un processus d’essais et d’erreurs. Ce processus, qui est à l’origine des réaménagements du programme « Comunidade Solidária », a permis la création du « Projeto Alvorada » et du « Réseau de protection sociale » en 2001. Les programmes de transfert de revenu reliés à l’éducation et aux soins de santé ont été les plus influents dans la construction du consensus qui s’est établi autour des programmes de transfert de revenu comme alternative à l’ancien modèle de protection sociale puisqu’ils procurent le renforcement du capital social en même temps qu’ils fonctionnent comme facteur structurant de la protection sociale. Ce legs du gouvernement Cardoso a permis au gouvernement de Luis Inácio Lula da Silva de consolider le nouveau paradigme avec la création du programme national Bolsa-Família. Le gouvernement Lula a donc bénéficié de l’héritage historique des deux mandats de Cardoso et, ironiquement, a récolté les fruits de l’apprentissage social. Le phénomène du « lulismo » en est la preuve. Par ailleurs, cette thèse met en question la paternité du programme Bolsa-Família puisqu’elle montre la création de ce programme d'abord comme la consolidation du processus d’apprentissage et puis comme conséquence de la création d’un nouveau paradigme pour la politique d’assistance sociale au Brésil qui a eu lieu pendant les deux mandats de Cardoso. / This thesis focuses on the introduction of conditional cash transfer policies in Brazil. The main objective of the research is to understand how these policies have emerged in a context of rethinking social security in Brazil during the 90s, more precisely from 95 and how these changes have caused a third order paradigmatic change in the elaboration of national social security policies. According to the first of two hypotheses presented in this research, the introduction of conditional cash transfer policies in Brazil is the achievement of intellectuals striving to present such policies as a viable alternative to the traditional Brazilian social protection network. Conditional cash transfer policies have been supported by intellectual, epistemic communities and by politicians that brought the debate on minimal revenue on the Brazilian political agenda. On the other hand, the second hypotheses suggests that the adoption of cash transfer policies was made possible by the convergence of ideas, institutions and interests in place. This convergence of ideas, institutions and interests rests upon the many actors in this debate such intellectuals, President Cardoso and other politicians who have been defending the social agenda in Brazil since 1999; Brazilian parliamentary institutions and international organizations such as the IMF, the World Bank and the Inter-american Development Bank – BID. In order to make sense of these changes in Brazil, the iii approach (idea-interest-institution) was used. Social learning, dissemination, lesson-learning and lesson-drawing processes are all factors explaining the convergence of opinions around the idea of conditional cash transfer programmes. It shall be proven that the Brazilian experiment with cash transfer programmes not only became a reversed teaching process with the World Bank, but also had effects on decisions made by the BID. This thesis also suggests that the paradigmatic change in Brazilian social security was initiated by the Cardoso governement as part of an error and trial change process. This process, which would have as a direct consequence the reinvention of “Comunidade Solidária”, also permitted the creation of “Projeto Alvorada” and of the “Rede de proteção social” in 2001. The health and education programmes were the most instrumental in building consensus in support of cash transfer programmes as an alternative to the traditional model of social security, because these programmes reinforce social capital while acting as structuring factors for social security. President Cardoso’s heritage allowed Luis Inàcio da Silva to consolidate the new paradigm in social security with the creation of the national programme Bolsa-Família. The Lula administration directly benefited from the previous government’s two mandates and, ironically, reaped the fruit of his predecessor’s labour. The social phenomena called “lulismo” stands as proof of this. Moreover, this thesis challenges the theory according to which Bolsa-Família is an invention of Luis Inàcio da Silva in showing how this programme was initially created as the result of social learning in Brazil between 1995 et 2002.

According to the South African White Paper 5 on Early Childhood Development (ECD), the initiative of the Department of Education (DoE), whereby grade R is being implemented as part of compulsory education, is directed at the poorest of the poor. Grade R teachers responsible for the education of 5/6 year old learners will therefore have to possess knowledge and skills to enable them to lead grade R learners from deprived circumstances to optimal development and learning readiness. For under-or unqualified Foundation Phase teachers who work and live in rural areas, distance learning is often the only option for professional development and concurrent increase in compensation. The School of Continuing Teacher Education of the North-West University designed an open distance learning model to provide in the educational needs of under and unqualified teachers. The Foundation Phase Curriculum within the Professional Educator Development programme of the Advanced Certificate in Education presented by the North West University (hereafter referred to as the NWU Foundation Phase ACE programme) is delivered via open distance learning. The National Curriculum Statements (Grade R-9) include grade R to three in the Foundation Phase Curriculum and therefore the NWU Foundation Phase ACE programme will be a financially viable option to train a large number of grade R teachers to provide in the need for qualified grade R teachers. This study investigates the way in which the NWU Foundation Phase ACE programme enables grade R teaching competency as programme outcome. To attain the research aims of the study a literature and empirical study were performed. The research aims of the literature study include the establishment of the knowledge, skills and attitudes to be included in a training programme with the aim of capacitating grade R teachers to facilitate the optimal development of five/six year olds from deprived circumstances. The literature is further researched to determine national and international criteria for effective design and content for training programmes for teachers of 5/6 year old learners. Through the literature study the criteria for effective training programmes for grade R teachers are determined and more specific the criteria for the effective implementation of distance learning for the training of grade R teachers. A comparative study between the NWU Foundation Phase ACE programme and similar distance learning programmes implemented internationally also serves as benchmarking for the evaluation of the NWU Foundation Phase ACE programme. Findings from the literature study serves as benchmark for the evaluation of the NWU Foundation Phase ACE programme and for the designing of questionnaires as measurement instruments for the empirical study. The empirical research has as its first aim to determine how the NWU Foundation Phase ACE programme provides grade R teacher-students the opportunity to develop the necessary knowledge, skills and attitudes to facilitate the optimal development and learning readiness of five/six year olds from deprived circumstances. Secondly the empirical study aims to determine how the design and content of the NWU Foundation Phase ACE programme accommodates the profile and educational needs of the target population namely the teacher who will be responsible for the education of five/six year old learners from deprived circumstances. Although a combination of both qualitative and quantitative statistical methods is used in the empirical study, this evaluation research is primarily seen as a quantitative study grounded in the post-positivist epistemology. The mixed method serves as verification of findings on the data. Empirical data were captured by means of questionnaires comprising structured and open questions. Data captured through structured questions were statistically analysed Iwhile responses in open questions were interpreted qualitatively by the researcher. Data triangulation serves as verification of findings as the researcher gathered data from three study populations namely the NWU Foundation Phase ACE teacher-students, the facilitators who facilitate the NWU Foundation Phase ACE programme at the various contact centres countrywide as well as lecturers presenting a similar Foundation Phase ACE programme at other tertiary institutions in the country. A comparison of responses from the structured questions and open questions with data from related literature further provides for methodological triangulation and verification of findings. Data from the literature study as well as from all three study populations in the empirical investigation converged regarding inadequacies in the way the design and content of the NWU Foundation Phase ACE programme enable the development of grade R teaching competencies as outcome. Deficiencies were identified in the way the programme accommodates the situated and personal circumstances of the teacher student. The opportunity provided by programme design and content for an inexperienced grade R teacher-student to develop grade R knowledge and skills through experience learning, social learning and learning through reflection within the grade R teaching and learning context, was also found to be lacking. Recommendations based on the findings are made for consideration of future programme design. / Thesis (M.Ed.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2010.