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The rationale and motivation for this study was based on my personal need to try and understand the relationship between theory and practice (praxis) and the normative and empirical variables (hermeneutics) evident in my research, so as to contribute to the body of literature around learner centredness and learners' experiences of pedagogy and schooling. Review of educational studies conducted in South Africa reveals that most research is driven by 'common sense' understandings of learner centredness or what constitutes 'good teaching practice'. These studies illustrate that well intentioned but simplistic acceptance at the level of policy is hazardous and that we need to know more about practices within the classroom. Similarly, within South African policy documents, a paradox exists around the pedagogic discourse for learner centredness. The majority of education policy documents implemented after 1994 advocates a learner centred approach to teaching and learning, which is associated with weak framing over the instructional and regulative discourse while the National Curriculum Statements calls for a strongly framed pedagogic discourse. This paradox has significant implications for policy implementation at the classroom level. The objective of my study was to capture and analyse learners' experiences of Grade 3 teaching within one school context by focusing on control and regulation within the pedagogic relationship. Consequently, the research focused on the 'how' of pedagogic practice i.e. how do learners experience the transmission of knowledge through the educator's pedagogic practices? The case study involved non - participant observation to illustrate how different modalities of pedagogic practice provide for acquirers the principles for the production of what counts as a legitimate text. Bernstein's concept of framing was used to understand and analyse the locus and relative strength of control of how knowledge was transmitted, how it was received and of what may or may not be transmitted in the pedagogic relationship. The methodology employed in the research was based on developing an external language of description derived from Bernstein's internal language of description. The internal language of description was drawn from Bernstein's theory of pedagogic discourse. The external language of description provided textual pointers of specific characteristics relating to the internal framing of educational knowledge. It provided the means to identify specific pedagogic practices of educators and teaching strategies employed in the transmission-acquisition process. The findings depicted a mixture of pedagogic practices within one school context with one being based on a mixed pedagogic mode and the other on a performance pedagogic mode. The study revealed the possibility of extrapolating findings reliant on interaction with relevant literature around the framing of pedagogic discourse and the data obtained in the study. The conclusions reached in the study revealed strong framing over evaluation criteria, selection and sequencing of educational knowledge. While research has shown that weak framing over the pacing of knowledge is more likely to promote learning, the study revealed differential pacing of knowledge ranging from weak to strong. However, it was evident that learners had adapted themselves to the educators' modus operandi. Both educators in the study attempted to cater for differential learning needs of learners by the utilising different teaching strategies. The study revealed strong framing over hierarchical rule in terms of learner-learner interactions and educator-learner interactions. The research illustrated that giving learners control at the level of hierarchical rule posed a significant challenge for both educators. Both educators would make use of school and classroom rules as a means of maintaining social control. The study contributes to a better understanding of pedagogy and schooling. It makes clear that for learners to acquire the competencies and knowledge laid down in policy documents, the educator would need to make a pedagogic assessment in terms of the level of difficulty of the lesson, concepts and knowledge to be acquired and the differential needs of learners. This is more likely to increase the success of learners so that their enhancement, inclusion and participation in schooling does not become an existence of virtual reality. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2006.

Mathematics has been seen to act as a ‘critical filter’ in the social, economic and professional development of individuals. The Island of Mauritius relies to a great extent on its human resource power to meet the challenges of recent technological developments, and a substantial core of mathematics is needed to prepare students for their involvements in these challenges. After an analysis of the School Certificate examination results for the past ten years in Mauritius, it was found that boys were out-performing girls in mathematics at that level. This study aimed to examine this gender difference in mathematics performance at the secondary level by exploring factors affecting mathematics teaching and learning, and by identifying and implementing strategies to enhance positive factors. The study was conducted using a mixed quantitative and qualitative methodology in three phases. A survey approach was used in the Phase One of the study to analyse the performance of selected students from seventeen schools across Mauritius in a specially designed mathematics test. The attitudes of these students were also analysed through administration of the Modified Fennema-Sherman Mathematics Attitude Scale questionnaire. In Phase Two a case study method was employed, involving selected students from four Mauritian secondary schools. After the administration of the two instruments used in Phase One to these selected students, qualitative techniques were introduced. These included classroom observations and interviews of students, teachers, parents and key informants. Data from these interviews assisted in analysing and interpreting the influence of these individuals on students, and the influence of the students’ own attitudes towards mathematics on their learning of mathematics. / The results of Phases One and Two provided further evidence that boys were outperforming girls in mathematics at the secondary level in Mauritius. It was noted that students rated teachers highly in influencing their learning of mathematics. However, the teaching methods usually employed in the mathematics classrooms were found to be teacher-centered, and it was apparent that there existed a lack of opportunity for students to be involved in their own learning. It was also determined that parents and peers played a significant role in students’ learning of mathematics. After having analysed the difficulties students encountered in their mathematical studies, a package was designed with a view to enhance the teaching and learning of the subject at the secondary level. The package was designed to promote student-centred practices, where students would be actively involved in their own learning, and to foster appropriate use of collaborative learning. It was anticipated that the package would motivate students towards learning mathematics and would enhance their conceptual understanding of the subject. The efficacy of the package was examined in Phase Three of the study when students from a number of Mauritian secondary schools engaged with the package over a period of three months. Pre- and post-tests were used to measure students’ achievement gains. The What Is Happening in This Class (WIHIC) questionnaire also was used to analyse issues related to the affective domains of the students. An overall appreciation of the approaches used in the teaching and learning package was provided by students in the form of self-reports. / The outcomes of the Third Phase demonstrated an improvement in the achievement of students in the areas of mathematics which were tested. The students’ perceptions of the classroom learning environment were also found to be positive. Through their self-reports, students demonstrated an appreciation for the package’s strategies used in motivating them to learn mathematics and in helping them gain a better understanding of the mathematical concepts introduced.

This thesis examines the potential of experiential education as a 'best practice' pedagogy for pre-service teacher education in environmental education. The study involves forty pre-service teachers working collaboratively with the researcher in 1998 to test the assumptions of two previous groups of beginning teachers (1996 and 1997) who indicated in their course evaluations that experiential education may provide an effective teaching and learning approach for environmental education. This study combines two approaches to participative inquiry: action inquiry and cooperative inquiry. Both research approaches promote reflection-in-action and involve groups of individuals working collaboratively together as reflective practitioners. The data sources included reflective journals, a researcher diary, pre and post course questionnaires, individual interviews and group interviews. The environmental education course is a single case study and reflects the experience of three groups of students. The first group completed a 20 hour course in experiential education before starting the environmental education course, the second group completed both courses concurrently, while the third group only completed the environmental education course. The purpose of the literature review in experiential education and environmental education in teacher education is to provide a rationale for using a transformative teaching and learning approach in pre-service teacher education for environmental education. Contemporary best practice pedagogical approaches for environmental education are supported by many of the core principles of experiential education highlighting compatibility between theory and practice. The findings show that a transformative teaching and learning approach in environmental education was achieved by combining four key characteristics of experiential education in a holistic process. The four characteristics included reflection, connection to personal experience, emotionally engaged learning and student-centred teaching and learning. The impact of combining these four characteristics resulted in higher interest, motivation and enthusiasm for achieving the social action outcomes of environmental education. Thus, the pre-service teachers confirmed a synergy emerged between the outcomes of environmental education and the pedagogical process of experiential education. The experiential approach allowed the pre-service teachers to engage in the role of the critical reflective practitioner. Consequently, the pre-service teachers were able to identify the potential and possibilities for implementing experiential education strategies in environmental education and also recognise and challenge the barriers that confine and constrain its use in teacher education and formal schooling. As a consequence the pre-service teachers identified that working in collaborative groups of reflective practitioners was essential to continue developing effective facilitation skills and also to help them challenge traditional practice that limited their professional development. They also identified significant changes to the pre-service environmental education course to ensure a higher quality experience for subsequent groups of beginning teachers. The study highlights the need for more research into how well beginning teacher implementing environmental education function as reflective practitioners in their first few years in teaching and are able to challenge the barriers that limit transformative pedagogical approaches in schools.

This research presents a case study at a South African University, involving students who had studied mathematics in a pre-undergraduate Foundation Programme (FP) and who were currently in their first year of study in Information Technology (IT) at the same institution. The study investigated a possible relationship between the teaching approach used in the FP mathematics classroom and the extent of students’ abilities to use important mathematical practices, such as using procedures flexibly; using representation; understanding/explaining concepts; questioning; justifying claims; disagreeing; strategising; and generalising, in an undergraduate IT context. Focus group interviews and task-based interviews were used to answer three related questions: “To what extent are students aware of differences in teaching approaches between FP mathematics and undergraduate study?”; “To what extent do students believe that their experiences of the teaching approaches in the Foundation Programme mathematics class have helped them in undergraduate study in other courses?”; and “In what ways are the mathematical practices taught in the Foundation Programme used in undergraduate study in IT?” A bricolage of learning theories was used as a framework for understanding the possible relationships between teaching approach, development of mathematical practices and learning transfer. The students in the focus groups described the teaching approach used in the FP mathematics classes as studentcentred, whereas many of the undergraduate IT lectures and tutorials were described as teachercentred. The students felt that the approach used in the FP mathematics classroom was beneficial to further study, in that it taught them how to become responsible for their own learning and brought about deep understanding of the mathematical concepts learned in the FP. The task-based interviews showed that all students used mathematical practices to solve IT problems to a greater or lesser extent. The use of these mathematical practices was best understood as being influenced by all past cognitive, social and cultural experiences, and was therefore not a case of “transfer” in the traditional sense of the word. Instead, the use of mathematical practices could be described as an extreme case of “cognitive accommodation” from a cognitive constructivist perspective, or a case of “generality” from a situative perspective. Furthermore, an inter-relationship emerged between student-centred teaching, students’ productive disposition towards mathematics, and the extent of “transfer” of mathematical practices to the IT domain. This interesting relationship warrants further investigation.

This action research study examines the learning experiences of Year 8 students and their teacher as they negotiate aspects of their English classes. The study takes place in a regional Catholic co-educational secondary college in Victoria, Australia. The question of understanding the lived experience of ourselves and other is fundamental to this study, which is situated within an holistic, enactivist view of the world. From this perspective learning is a shared activity in which students participate in creating their own interpretation as they interact with others to bring forth understanding. The study focuses on classroom practice which aims to include all participants, through negotiation, in the actions that take place in the classroom. I have used a narrative approach to describe the way in which three action research cycles were implemented in the English classroom during one academic year. A variety of data gathering techniques was used and these included: classroom questionnaires, classroom meetings, journals, partnership observation and interviews. The main sources of data were the interviews that I undertook with each of the twenty five students in the class. The three action research cycles allowed both the students and me to reflect upon classroom activities and make appropriate changes as the cycles progressed. In addition, negotiating in this English class has helped me to better understand my students and, through reflection, to improve my teaching practice. Analysis of the data suggests that students experience greater commitment and motivation when they are given opportunities to be actively involved in contributing to their own learning. The data also supports research that recognises the importance of collaboration, positive relationships within the classroom, the importance of metacognitive skills and student voice. In addition, the findings point to the value of action research as a method of improving teaching practice.

In this paper we elaborate on a framework, a set of guidelines, for teachers when designing project based courses. The emergent framework presented in this paper will focus on six themes: (1) overall course design, (2) project task, (3) project group, (4) examination, (5) feedback and (6) course evaluation and improvement and is initially grounded in theory and practice. The framework elaborated in this paper should support teachers' development of a professional autonomy within the norms of a professional group and an active curriculum.