South Africa has gone through many recent changes and the impact of these changes was, especially, experienced in the development of the South African Education system. Social Sciences is one of the subjects that was introduced in the Revised National Curriculum Statement (RNCS) for Grades R-9 (Department of Education, 2002). Before the National Curriculum Statement, History and Geography were taught as separate subjects under Social Studies but later combined into one subject, Social Sciences. Teachers in some South African schools are specialist in one of the two disciplines, either History or Geography. The intention of this study was derived from many of the researcher?s personal observations, experiences and challenges in the discipline, Social Sciences. This study identified the challenges experienced by heads of department (HoDs) of Social Sciences and the strategies they use to address the identified challenges. The research approach was qualitative and a case study research design was used. The research participants were identified, using a purposeful sampling strategy. Participants were selected from four schools, two from Quintile 1 (no fee-paying) schools and two from Quintile 5 (fee-paying) schools; each school had an enrolment of more than 350 learners. The participants were HoDs responsible for Social Sciences and teachers who were teaching the subject. Furthermore, HoDs who were selected had had experience of managing Social Science teachers for a period of not less than three years. The teachers also had more than three years? experience of teaching Social Sciences. The findings of this study revealed that the responsibilities of HoDs for Social Sciences seem to focus more on monitoring the work of teachers than developing their effectiveness in teaching the subject. Some of the HoD appointed in the Social Sciences Department did not have the background knowledge and skills related to the subject which limited their ability to guide, advise and develop their teachers in the subject. It was found that HoDs and teachers expect subject specialists and curriculum advisors to be more involved in developing teachers? competency in teaching the subject. It seems that there is a desire for a formal policy for the professional development of teachers of Social Sciences. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2016. / Education Management and Policy Studies / MEd / Unrestricted

Recently I discovered that preschool education has evolved from integration of various subject contents and working methods. The purpose of my study is to investigate preschool teachers' attitudes and ways of working with a theme-oriented approach. I also want to examine their opinions regarding the integration of subject content in terms of mathematics and science subjects (NO) in preschools theme-oriented work approach. My questions for this study are: What is a preschool teacher's attitude and their ways of working to a thematic-oriented approach? What is a preschool teacher's opinions regarding the integration of subject content, especially in mathematics and science subjects (NO) in their pre-schools theme-oriented work approach? I have used myself a qualitative method of investigation to produce materials for my research project. I collected my empirical material for my study from the semi-structured interviews that was done with four preschool teachers in two preschools in Botkyrka municipality. As for my theoretical perspective, I used John Dewey's well-known knowledge theory called “Learning by doing”, which he indicated as learning through practical work. These working methods based primarily on children’s experience and subject integration. My conclusion is that the four preschool teachers worked thematic in the preschool children in a natural way.  In fact, the thematic-oriented approach appeared in two different work situations (planned and unplanned work situations) in the pre-school. The four preschool teachers developed and improved their own professional skills in the working process and also the children's knowledge and learning skills by prioritizing the children's interests, needs and circumstances. It came to my understanding that both mathematics and science subjects content were integrated in a conscious way in these preschools thematic-oriented approach. The preschool teachers integrated the two subject contents through their creative and joyful way of working. The idea was that the children's curiosity, knowledge, experience and awareness can be raised through various activities and experiments. Hence through the subject integrated approach, the children develop both their skills and conceptual understanding of both subjects content.

<p>The aim of this dissertation is to contribute to an understanding of the subject content in Physical Education (PE) foremost from a health perspective. By using an approach deriving from John Dewey’s transactional perspective on meaningmaking (Bentley & Dewey 1949), and a discourse theoretical position, the discourses identified in the dissertation’s studies are consequently regarded as participants in pupils’ meaning-making. This makes it possible to discuss the results of the studies in terms of the institutional content and conditions of meaning-making in PE. The thesis consists of three different discourse analyses, where the institutionalised aspect of meaning-making in PE is examined by analysing local curriculum documents from 72 Swedish compulsory schools.</p><p>The results of the dissertation show that in the study of subject content in PE a dominance of an activity discourse can be identified, although a social development discourse is also identified as being important in the documents. The results, thus, suggest that the subject content of PE can be characterised by a wide variety of activities, where pupils are expected to be active participants in the sense of being physically active. The content is also characterised by actions promoting good relationships, co-operation and consideration for others. Actions privileged within the discourses in PE are movement, physical activity, trying many different activities together, active participation, good relations and enjoyment.</p><p>The results also show that health is explicitly constituted as fitness training, life-long physical activity and knowledge about physical training based on scientific facts from physiology and anatomy. Learning health in PE thus mainly consists of a pathogenic health discourse. But from a salutogenic perspective, health is also constituted as the possibility to participate in movement, physical leisure activities and social relations, and enjoy a life-long engagement in different movement and sport activities. The analysis also shows, however, that within the frame of the subject content of PE, it is also possible to regard health in terms of a commitment to health- and environmental issues, a sense of well-being in ongoing activities and an active involvement in subject content matters within PE. Health can therefore be constituted in different ways within PE, although this is not always made explicit in the local curriculum documents.</p>

Tyrimo aktualumas. Valstybinės švietimo strategijos 2003-2012 m. nuostatose keliamas tikslas suartinti bendrojo lavinimo ir profesinio mokymo kryptis, sukurti lanksčią ir atvirą švietimo struktūrą, sujungiančią bendrąjį lavinimą ir profesinį mokymą. Lietuvoje per pastaruosius du dešimtmečius, siekiant suartinti profesinio mokymo ir bendrojo lavinimo kryptis vidurinio ugdymo lygmeniu, įgyvendinta nemažai priemonių ir šiuo metu tęsiama daug įvairių veiklų: profesinėse mokyklose yra sudaryta galimybė kartu su profesine kvalifikacija įgyti vidurinį išsilavinimą, jose steigiami gimnazijų skyriai, bendrojo lavinimo mokykloms numatyta galimybė į vidurinio ugdymo programą įtraukti profesinio mokymo programų modulius, įvestas technologijų egzaminas, plėtojama nacionalinė kvalifikacijų sistema ir kt. Profesinio mokymo prestižą galima padidinti profesinį mokymą ir bendrąjį lavinimą integruojant – t. y., kurti įvairius ryšius tarp šių sistemų (Koditz ir kt., 2009). Tyrimo problema. Integruotas ugdymas, sudarantis galimybes pasireikšti intelekto daugialypiškumui, kartu sukuria prielaidas visiems dalykams tapti jungiamąja ugdymo grandimi. Kadangi tiek bendrojo lavinimo, tiek profesinio rengimo dalykus galima priskirti tam tikroms mokslo sritims, tai galima atrasti tarp jų bendrų ryšių ir tuos ryšius panaudoti ugdyme, dalykus integruojant. Tačiau kol kas nėra nustatyta, kokie integracijos ryšiai, integracijos raiškos lygmenys ir integravimo modeliai yra įmanomi tarp bendrojo lavinimo ir... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Relevance of the research. National Education Strategy for period of 2003-2012 aims to bring the provisions of general education and vocational training policies, a flexible and open structure of education, integrating general education and vocational training. During the past two decades aiming to bring together the training and direction of general education at upper secondary level in Lithuania is implemented a wide variety of measures and activities: vocational schools are given the opportunity, together with the professional qualification of secondary education, to set up gymnasiums, schools for general education provided access to secondary education curriculum to include vocational training programs, modules, introduced in test technology, the development of a national qualifications framework and others. The prestige of vocational training can be raised by integrating vocational training and general education – that is to create links between these various systems (Koditz and others., 2009). The problem of the research. Integrated education, allowing opportunities for intellectual multiplicity, also creates the presumption for all subjects to become a coupling link of education. As both general education and vocational training issues can be attributed to certain areas of science, it is possible to find common links between them and those links can be used in education by integrating subjects. But there are no studies accomplished which integration, integration... [to full text]

The aim of this dissertation is to contribute to an understanding of the subject content in Physical Education (PE) foremost from a health perspective. By using an approach deriving from John Dewey’s transactional perspective on meaningmaking (Bentley &amp; Dewey 1949), and a discourse theoretical position, the discourses identified in the dissertation’s studies are consequently regarded as participants in pupils’ meaning-making. This makes it possible to discuss the results of the studies in terms of the institutional content and conditions of meaning-making in PE. The thesis consists of three different discourse analyses, where the institutionalised aspect of meaning-making in PE is examined by analysing local curriculum documents from 72 Swedish compulsory schools. The results of the dissertation show that in the study of subject content in PE a dominance of an activity discourse can be identified, although a social development discourse is also identified as being important in the documents. The results, thus, suggest that the subject content of PE can be characterised by a wide variety of activities, where pupils are expected to be active participants in the sense of being physically active. The content is also characterised by actions promoting good relationships, co-operation and consideration for others. Actions privileged within the discourses in PE are movement, physical activity, trying many different activities together, active participation, good relations and enjoyment. The results also show that health is explicitly constituted as fitness training, life-long physical activity and knowledge about physical training based on scientific facts from physiology and anatomy. Learning health in PE thus mainly consists of a pathogenic health discourse. But from a salutogenic perspective, health is also constituted as the possibility to participate in movement, physical leisure activities and social relations, and enjoy a life-long engagement in different movement and sport activities. The analysis also shows, however, that within the frame of the subject content of PE, it is also possible to regard health in terms of a commitment to health- and environmental issues, a sense of well-being in ongoing activities and an active involvement in subject content matters within PE. Health can therefore be constituted in different ways within PE, although this is not always made explicit in the local curriculum documents.

SAMMANFATTNING  I den globala värld vi lever i idag behöver vi geografiska kunskaper i såväl samhället som på individnivå, för att på bästa sätt kunna bemöta en värld i ständig förändring. För att vuxna och framförallt unga människor av vår tid skall kunna se världen ur ett geografiskt perspektiv behöver vi ha en bra undervisning i geografi i vår svenska skola.   Tidigare forskning visar på vikten av att ha en bra balans mellan ämnet (geografi), läraren och eleven, samt av vilken betydelse lärares uppdateringar inom ämnet har för att ämnesinnehållet skall vara relevant i det samtida samhället. För att undersöka lärarnas val av innehåll och syn på framtiden utfördes en kvalitativ intervju med fyra gymnasielärare. En induktiv ansats användes vid intervjuanalysen för att finna det unika i lärarnas svar. När en analys av resultaten utfördes användes en deduktiv ansats för att se hur resultaten förhåller sig till olika geografididaktiska typologier. Analysen visar att geografiundervisningen gått från att, under tidigare kursplaner, ha varit baserad på faktakunskaper, naturdeterminism och delvis samhällsvetenskap, till ett i dagsläget mer sammanhållet geografiämne med dynamik, pluralism och konfliktperspektiv som grundar sig i aktuella händelser och samhällsdebatter. Resultaten i denna studie visar i stor utsträckning att dagens geografiundervisning handlar om att ge eleverna förutsättningar och kunskaper att bemöta framtidens utmaningar och för att möjliggöra en önskad framtid.   Nyckelord  Ämnesinnehåll, curriculum-making, geografiundervisning i framtiden, förmågor. / Abstract In the global world we live in today we need geographical knowledge of society, as well as from an individual perspective to be able to meet a world in constant change. For adults but especially for young people of today to be able to see the world from a geographical perspective there is a need for relevant education of the subject within the Swedish school system.  Previous studies show how important it is to have a good balance between the subject (geography), the teacher and the students, and the importance of the teacher’s up to date practice within the topic to be able to teach relevant subject matter. To study the teachers´ choices of content and their vision about the future, qualitative interviews were completed with four geography teachers at upper secondary level. An inductive approach was chosen for the analysis of the interviews to find unique qualities within their answers. When the analysis was conducted, and results gathered, a deductive approach was used to correlate the findings and how they may relate to different didactical typology within geography education.  The analysis deduces that geography education has moved away from being based on factual knowledge, nature- determinism and partly social science to a more cohesive geographical subject with dynamic, pluralism and conflict perspective that is based on current affairs and social debates. To conclude, the results in this study show that the geography education today, is fundamentally based around providing an education that will give students a clear framework, to build knowledge that will meet the challenges of the future and enable them to achieve a desired outcome. Keywords Subject content, curriculum-making, future geography education, capabilities

This essay has been carried out with the purpose of investigating the differences between teaching in a CLIL program and in a standard program. The results of this research are based on the perceptions of five teachers working in both programs. These teachers participated in a semi-structured group interview where they were asked questions and were given the opportunity to develop the discussions among themselves. The results have shown that there are fewer differences between these two programs than I originally thought, but the differences that do exist were unexpected. All of the teachers who participated in the study had taught English before they started to work in the IB, but are not trained CLIL teachers. Since there were only five participants and these participants are not trained CLIL teachers, this investigation does not show a general result, but instead gives the picture of how working with CLIL and a standard program simultaneously could work.

I samhället uppmärksammas tekniken för sin ökande komplexitet och systemiska karaktär. l vilken mån avspeglar sig detta i skolans teknikämne? Denna avhandling berör undervisning om tekniska system i ett skolperspektiv, med det huvudsakliga syftet att undersöka hur undervisning om tekniska system tas upp till behandling i skolan. Den övergripande frågeställningen är: Hur har skolan hanterat den  didaktiska uppgiften att utveckla ett undervimingsområde om tekniska system? Avhandlingen är en monografi som bygger på delstudier av tre arenor  med relevans för skolan. De tre arenorna omfattar huvudsakligen nationella styrdokument, läromedel respektive lärares arbete. Resultaten pekar bland annat på att tekniska system successivt  förstärkts som undervisningsinnehåll i styrdokument och läromedel sedan slutet på 1970-talet. Denna förändring har skett parallellt med att teknikämnets beskrivning förändrats i grundskolan. I öäverenstämmelse med modern teknikfilosofi har teknik i skolsammanhang i allt högre grad kommit att framställas som en egen kunskapskultur och inte som en del av naturvetenskaperna. Detta har varit förutsättningar för att tekniska system har kunnat etableras som innehåll. Diskursen talet om tekniska rys/em har dock skiftat i karaktär över tiden. Gemensamt för de tre arenorna är att två hegemoniska diskurser har hämmat introduktionen av tekniska system. För det första teknikundervisningens egen fascination för enkla artefakter och, för det andra, en dominant naturvetenskaplig diskurs. Härmed fokuseras undervisningen på systemens komponenter, snarare än mot systemnivån. Så tenderar t.ex. undervisning om energisystem att handla om energiomvandlingar eller kemiska reaktioner, istället för systemens uppbyggnad, funktioner, eller dess relationer till människor och samhälle. Avhandlingen visar även att tekniska system framställs som faktiskt existerande och inte som mentala konstruktioner vars gränser måste bestämmas. Produktions- och transportsystem ges framträdande positioner i teknikinnehållet. Tekniska system belyses snarare som något som påverkar omgivningen, än att de är möjliga att påverka. Överlag finns en brist på systembegrepp. Dock har styr- och reglerteknik nått en viss position. 1 avhandlingen visas även hur människans roll relativt systemen tas upp och, i samband med detta, hur ett etiskt och politiskt tema vuxit fram inom arenornas teknikdiskurs. Temat har medborgerliga förtecken och tar sina motiv från en strävan mot en hållbar utveckling. Utifrån en teknikhistorisk emfas används argument för att eleverna bör studera tekniska systems framväxt och förändring. / In our society technology is becorning increasingly complex. Technological systems are now part of our evetyday lives. To what extent is this reflected in the Technology subject? This dissertation concerns education and has the aim of investigating how technological systems are treated in the Swedish school system. The overarching question is: How has the Swedish compulsory school dealt with the pedagogical challenge of det'eloping miject content about technological systems? To answer this question, the discourse of school talk on technological systems across three different school arenas has been the focus of the study so that pedagogical challenges and historicallayers relating to the discourse can be outlined. The three school arenas are the formulation, mediation, and realisation arena. They mainly encompass national curriculae, text books and teachers work, respectively, from 1980 to 2009. On the realisation arena an interactive method has been used where the researcher collaborated with a team of teachers in a lower secondary school for two years. The results are presented in two ways. First, a set of offered companion meamngs found in the expressions on the arenas are presented. The compamon meamngs emanate from three kinds of rules regolating the discourse: educational focus, system languages and curriculum emphases. Second, each arena is discussed in detail. These discussions were arrived at by feeding the categories of compamon meamngs back into the analysis process as a tool to clarify themes, orders of discourse and changes over time. On the arenas subject content relating to technological systems has successive ly strengthened its position and can be found on several curricular levels. This shift is made possible by new descriptions of technology as a distinct field of knowledge, thus affecting the view of the school subject Technology. In a Swedish context this meant dissociation from the natural sciences. Two hegemonic discourses that make the pedagogical challenge to introduce technological systems more difficult have also been found: the hegemony of the artefact and the hegemony of science. The first relates to the subject's internal interest for small products and components. The second is based on a scientific precedence where Technology is used as an arena for the illustration of scientific laws and rules. Both hegemonies have the effect of directing the educational focus away from the systernic issues around the technology at hand. The search for answers is turned inwards and downwards in the systemic hierarchy. On the other hand, production systems and controi technology have established a position in the discourse. An emerging political and ethical theme concerned with the relation between citizenship, sustainable development and technology has forwarded a systems approach. / <p>Avhandlingen finns även som talbok, TPB-nr: CA01926.</p>

Studien syftar till att genom deltagande observationer undersöka och analysera hur ämnesområden, makt och vetande synliggörs och osynliggörs i förskolans undervisning. Analysen tar en poststrukturalistisk ansats och vi analyserar fyra observationer genomförda med papper och penna. Michel Foucaults tankar kring diskurs, institution, makt samt vetande utgör centrala teoretiska begrepp i analysarbetet. Studiens resultat pekar mot att undervisningens innehåll, arbetsformer, plats, undervisningsgrupp och start beslutas av förskolläraren. Därav kan förskolläraren förstås ha mer makt i undervisningens inledning. Matematik, teknik, språk, tradition och musik synliggörs som innehåll, i undervisningen används ämnesspecifika termer. Skapande i bild och form utgör i samtliga fall arbetsformen, undervisning utan bild och form osynliggörs. Omsorg och lek förekommer som innehåll och aspekter i undervisningen. Maktrelationerna förändras under undervisningsförloppet, barnen tar successivt större utrymme i både handlingar och samtal om vetande. Studien resulterar i en slutsats om att undervisningens maktrelationer är föränderliga och vetandet förhandlingsbart. / This study aims to investigate and analyze how subject content, power and knowledge are made visible and invisible in pre-school teaching through participatory observations. The analysis takes a poststructuralist approach and we analyze four observations carried out with paper and pen. Central theoretical notions in the analysis work has been Michel Foucault's thoughts on discourse, institution, power and knowledge. The study's results indicate that the content of the teaching, the work methods, teaching place, teaching group and start is decided by the preschool teacher. Hence, the role of the preschool teacher can be understood to possess more power in the introduction of teaching. Mathematics, technology, language, tradition and music are made visible as teaching content; in the teaching, subject-specific terms are used. In all cases the work methods was constituted by creation in image and form, hence teaching without image and form became invisible. Care and play occured as content and aspects in the teaching. The power relations change during the course of the teaching, the children gradually take up more space in both actions and conversations about knowledge. The study results in a conclusion that the power relations of the teaching are changeable and the knowledge negotiable.

South Africa has a unique cultural, historical, socio-economic and linguistic contextual complexity that influences the implementation the intended curriculum and educational policies. The contextual complexity continues to result in Science teachers entering into the teaching profession with a wide spread diversity in background and qualifications. The secondary data analysis used a concurrent mixed methods approach (QUAL + quan) to explore the interconnection between teacher characteristics, classroom practices and learner achievement in Physical Science. The primary sample consisted of 18 schools that were stratified by district and quintile. From the available data, nineteen Grade 12 Physical Science teachers with varying levels of qualifications and experience were analysed. A combination of qualitative and quantitative instruments, specifically, Science teacher questionnaires, Science lesson observations and Science teacher interviews, were explored. The data was analysed quantitatively using descriptive statistics, frequency tables and Pearson correlation coefficients. The qualitative data involved content analysis and the presentation of case studies and the themes that emerged. Significant Pearson correlations indicate a positive relationship between years of related experience and pass rates and also pointed to an interconnection between professional qualifications, related experience and learner achievement. Differences in teacher characteristics were also indicators of competency in content knowledge and ultimately influenced classroom practices. Four case studies are offered in an attempt to provide in-depth descriptions of the teacher characteristics and practices for Grade 12 Physical Science teachers in Gauteng. Recommendations for future research, teacher training and policy implementation are presented. The diversity in teacher characteristics, particularly in Physical Science classrooms, influences the classroom practices that teachers select in their day-to-day teaching and impacts learner outcomes in terms of achievement. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / gm2014 / Science, Mathematics and Technology Education / unrestricted