This dissertation is not available online. A copy of the dissertation on CD is available in the Music Library at Call number: CD MUSOV 661. The purpose of this study is to write unit standards for a Music Technology Programme in South Africa. The research focuses on the introduction of Music Technology as an integral part of the present South African education dispensation. In answering this question, the researcher also answered the sub-questions: What is technology; What is Music Technology; Will a computer replace the teacher; How will the teacher benefit from using Music Technology; How will the learner benefit from Music Technology? Necessary information and guidance for using Music Technology in Music Education is also offered. This was done to be ‘on a par with the existing formulated curricula’ for Music Education in South Africa. On the other hand this is also ‘a paradigm shift away from the existing boundaries, inherited systems and requirements of traditional examining bodies within which teachers in Music Education have operated to date’. This is in correlation with the Proposal for the MEUSSA (Music Education Unit Standards for Southern Africa) project written by Professor Caroline van Niekerk. Apart from literature review, action research was done as part of the MEUSSA team. The MEUSSA team identified the problem of writing unit standards for Music in South Africa and did something to resolve it (complete their theses and dissertations). By applying action research within the MEUSSA team, first hand experience was gained as to where the gaps are and what needed to be done to fill them. Presenting a dissertation on CD-ROM was very challenging. There were virtually no guidelines because this is a very new concept. The researcher of this dissertation is convinced that presenting the dissertation on CD-ROM should be applicable to the medium. It is important that the dissertation is still academically acceptable, but makes use of the new possibilities that the medium offers. In further studies the author intends researching the best content for a teachers’ training programme, who are willing to use technology in their teaching. Future research is recommended in order to address the problem of national employment requirements in areas of music industry and education. E12/4/210 / Dissertation (MMus (Music Education))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Music / unrestricted

Under 1990-talet uppmärksammade politiker och tekniskt näringsliv att antaletelever på teknisk gymnasieutbildning hade minskat kraftigt. Detta befarades kunna leda till brist på utbildade tekniker och ingenjörer och i förlängningen äventyra landets ekonomi. För att åter öka elevantalet inom teknisk gymnasieutbildning infördes höstterminen 2000 det nya Teknikprogrammet. I denna avhandling analyseras tankarna bakom Teknikprogrammet och hur detkom att utformas på tre olika samhälleliga nivåer. Avhandlingen undersöker hur teknikprogrammets syfte och innehåll förändrades från det politiska initiativet via Skolverkets operationalisering till hur programmet tolkats av lärare på skolnivå. I fokus för analysen står frågor om vad teknisk utbildning skulle innehålla och hur den skulle utformas för att kunna locka fler flickor till tekniken. Detta var nämligen en central tanke bakom reformen. Med hjälp av analys av utredningsmaterial, regeringsbeslut och dokument från Skolverket samt intervjuer av lärare från två gymnasieskolor, diskuteras i avhandlingen hur relationen mellan genus och teknik förstås och uttrycks på de olika nivåerna och vad det innebär för hur man ser på den tekniska utbildningens karaktär. Avhandlingen visar att en traditionellt tudelad bild av pojkar och flickor och deras respektive intressen dominerar berättelserna på den politiska nivån och skolverksnivån, men att en mer differentierad syn på genus framträder på skolnivån. Teoretiska begrepp, som gränsarbete och översättningar används för att visa på de komplexa översättningar av intentioner och perspektiv som sker inom och mellan nivåerna. Genus och teknik samkonstrueras på olika sätt på de olika nivåerna. / During the 1990s a drastic decline occurred in the numberof students at the technology orientation of Swedish upper secondary school. Politicians and representatives of industry reacted strongly and feared a potential lack of technicians and engineers, something which in the long run would threaten economic growth. A new Technology programme was therefore introduced in 2000 to increase the number of students oriented towards a technical education in upper secondary school. This thesis analyses the thoughts behind the Technology programme, and how it was framed as different stories of technology, gender and education at three different levels of society. It examines how the aims and contents of the Technology programme were translated and transformed from the political initiative to the operationalisation of the Swedish National Agency for Education, and finally in the teachers’ interpretations of the programme at the school level. In focus are issues of what kind of technology was relevant within a technical education, and how it should be framed and taught, in order to attract more girls to technology. This was one of the central objectives of the reform. With the help of documentary analysis and interviews with teachers in two upper secondary schools, the thesis discusses how relations between gender and technology were understood and constructed at the three different levels, and what this implied for how the character of the technology programme was interpreted. The dissertation shows that a traditional, dichotomized understanding of boys and girls and their respective interests dominates the stories given at the political level and the level of the Swedish National Agency for Education. At the school level, however, a more differentiated view on gender appears. Using the concepts of boundary work and translation, the analysis shows that complex transformations of intentions and perspectives took place between and within the different levels. Gender and technology were co-constructed in different ways at the different levels.

The thesis is based on eight vocational teachers’ life stories with the aim to provide knowledge about vocational teachers and their work with pupils in teaching in the industrial-technology programme, in the context of both a working life and a vocational education which is continuously changing. The thesis answers two research questions: 1) the themes that recur in vocational teachers’ life stories about how they meet and teach their pupils and 2) the teaching goals and strategies which emerge from vocational teachers’ life stories. All in all fifteen interviews were conducted from which life stories and teacher profiles were constructed. Results show five recurring themes in the teacher profiles.  The themes are; to be a caring adult for vocational pupils, to teach them basic knowledge considered important for the education, to teach them respect and discipline, to teach them the value of fighting and not giving up, and to show them the possibility of international employment. Moreover, the teacher goals and strategies emerging from the life stories show that the teachers can be said to educate different types of industrial workers. In line with these results, vocational education can be seen as more than a preparation for working life. Vocational teachers with different life experiences create different relationships with their pupils in order to create opportunities for them to manage school and to succeed in a life after school. In an industrial-technical education and in a working life which is constantly changing, vocational teachers have received various educations and worked in various industries during different time periods. They both educate their pupils and prepare them for a future working life based on these experiences. / Avhandlingen bygger på åtta yrkeslärares livsberättelser och syftar till att bidra med kunskap om yrkeslärare och yrkeslärares arbete med elever i undervisning på industritekniska programmet. Avhandlingen fokuserar återkommande teman i yrkeslärarnas livsberättelser med avseende på hur de möter och undervisar sina elever, samt olika undervisningsstrategier och mål som kommer till uttryck i det lärarna berättar om sin undervisning. Resultaten visar att yrkeslärarnas tidigare livserfarenheter har betydelse för hur de möter och undervisar eleverna på industritekniska programmet. Detta blir tydligt genom de fem teman som återkommer i deras livsberättelser. Dessa teman handlar om att vara en omtänksam vuxen för yrkeseleverna, att undervisa i viktiga grundkunskaper, att lära eleverna respekt och disciplin, att lära dem värdet av att kämpa och inte ge upp samt att visa på möjligheten arbete i andra länder än Sverige. Vidare visar de olika undervisningsmål och -strategier som framträder ur yrkeslärarnas livsberättelser att industriteknisk utbildning handlar om mycket mer än att förbereda eleverna för en framtida anställning. Förutom detta uppenbara mål visar resultatet att yrkeslärarna, utifrån sina olika livserfarenheter, också använder sig av olika strategier för att hjälpa eleverna att klara studierna, att visa på möjligheterna att läsa vidare samt att utveckla en yrkesstolthet.

In Sweden upper secondary school education is organised in programmes. One of these programmes is the Technology programme that covers five orientations, one of which is Design and Product Development. This thesis is based on the idea that a clearer link between upper secondary school and the demands of professional life in the area of product development is beneficial to both students and industry. Product development is performed in cross-functional teams were understanding of others competences is important. It is therefore argued that, in order to enhance both teaching and learning, interdisciplinary considerations need to be explored. In this thesis, we turn to engineers and industrial designers. The aim of the present study is to get professional actors’ views on knowledge and skills needed within the field of design and product development and to examine whether there are key areas that facilitate an interdisciplinary approach suitable to focus on for educational purpose. As artefacts play a central role in product development the informants’ views on different products/artefacts are also examined. This reasoning results in an a two-part overall research question (a) What thoughts do professional engineers and industrial designers express regarding necessary knowledge and skills, and (b) what relevance does this have for upper secondary school teaching of product development? This overall research question is examined through two sub- studies, both performed at the same time, one conducted as a semi- structured interview and the other using the repertory grid technique. Twelve engineers and industrial designers are interviewed. The first study examines the informants’ thoughts on knowledge and skills required in their work. The same informants’ interpretations and valuations of artefacts are examined in the second sub-study. In sub-study 1 two topics of significance to the informants are identified. These topics are: [1] To act within the team (Figure 4). The ability to navigate and position oneself within a team is, according to the interviewees, a necessary skill in design and product development work. Its character can be described as including specific vocational knowledge and skills as well as issues of general and interdisciplinary nature as collaborating, compromising, communicating, and leadership. The second topic [2], to CAD (Figure 4) includes both skills with CAD software and the ability to understand relationships between a CAD model on screen and the final product. The third topic [3] - a valuation of artefacts - is the outcome of sub- study 2 (Figure 4). This topic was found interesting and further analysed, resulting in the development of a comparison procedure. The result demonstrates how the interviewees interpret and discuss artefacts’ functionality linked to cultural values. These three topics are found to be relevant for technology education at upper secondary school level geared towards design and product development to explore. To act within the team can inspire the development of activities in which project and teamwork are in focus. The purpose of the CAD model in product development is to visualise a product that does not yet exist. To CAD highlights the complexity of this visualisation ability. In the educational context the students can train this ability by developing digital models into physical models or prototypes. Valuations of artefacts, the interviewees associate artefacts’ functionality with certain characteristics. In education students should learn that we are not neutral in our relations to products and other artefacts. In conclusion, a need for teachers to discuss artefacts from different perspectives such as sustainability, usability, identity and so on is also pointed out. / <p>QC 20150212</p>