Doctoral Degrees (Education Studies)

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The importance of primary social groups for health education.
(1959) Steuart, Guy Walter.
No abstract available.
A study of the philosophy and practice in the education of the South African Hindu.
(1959) Rambiritch, Birbal.; Beresford, Harold Beaumont.
Abstract not supplied.
A study of three current problems of Indian education.
(1961) Ramphal, Chanderpaul.; Schmidt, Wilfred H. O.
PROJECT I – Questionnaires answered by a number of suitably experienced Indian teachers revealed that there was a wide-spread conviction that pupils in Indian afternoon schools did not and could not work at their full mental potential because they had lost their morning freshness and were tired and unfit for school work in the afternoon. To check this, 144 pupils of an afternoon school were tested on intellectual tasks in the morning and in the afternoon in order to ascertain whether there were any significant differences in performance between the two sessions. Tests of vocabulary, intelligence, mechanical arithmetic, and paragraph comprehension were used. Performance during the two sessions was compared in respect of actual scores, accuracy, gross output, and variability on the four tests, The data was broken down in several ways on the bases of age, intelligence, and educational level of the pupils for the purpose of making detailed comparisons. In all, 168 tests of statistical significance were carried out. It was found that on none of the measures did morning work show superiority over afternoon work at the .01 level of significance. On the contrary, six of the differences significantly favoured the afternoon. It was concluded that neither the morning nor the afternoon possesses any inherent advantage over the other for work of an intellectual nature in school. The apparent superiority of the afternoon on six of the differences (eleven, if the .05 level of significance was used) was attributed to the fact that the pupils used in the study were conditioned to schooling in the afternoon. It was stressed that motivation was of crucial importance in studies of this kind. It was suggested also that the drawing of a clear-cut distinction between fatigue and impairment would do much to clear the confusion that has characterised work in this field previously. PROJECT II – The purpose of this project was to investigate the relationship between bilingualism in Indian standard six students and their efficiency in English, on the one hand, and their performance in intelligence and scholastic tests, on the other. The following three working hypotheses were formulated:- (1) Indian pupils would score relatively lower than English-speaking Europeans in intelligence and scholastic tests that demanded a greater degree of familiarity with English than in intelligence and scholastic tests that did not require such a high standard of English. (2) Since Indian pupils varied in the amount of English they used in the home vis a vis the mother tongue (i.e., in bilinguality), those children who had a richer background of English would tend to score relatively higher in tests that demanded a high degree of acquaintance with English than those children with a poorer background. (3) Apart from the influence of the home, the varying levels of actual individual achievement of Indian children in scholastic tests of English (i.e., their "achieved" English) would, to some extent, be related to their performance in intelligence and scholastic tests which required knowledge of English. The sample consisted of 697 boys and 355 girls from 20 Government and Government-Aided Indian schools in Durban. A bilingualism scale revealed that degree of bilinguality was associated basically with the religious - mother tongue affiliation of the pupils, with the level of western education of their parents (negatively), and with the level of mother-tongue education of their parents (positively). Hypothesis (1) was consistently borne out. The Indian subjects scored significantly lower in the verbal section of the New South African Group Test than in its non-verbal section, by English-speaking European norms. The gap increased consistently as one went down to standards below six but closed at levels above standard six. In the scholastic tests also the Indian students scored lower in vocabulary and reading comprehension by English-speaking European standards than in problem and mechanical arithmetic, subjects which involved English less directly. Hypothesis (2) was consistently negatived. With age and socio-economic status neutralised, there appeared no significant correlation between either non-verbal, verbal or combined intelligence test scores and degree of bilingualism in both sexes. Similarly, with age, socio-economic status and sex neutralised, no significant correlation was discovered between scores in all the four scholastic tests used and degree of bilinguality. The conclusion was that though the Indian standard six pupils were retarded in English by English-speaking European standards (as indicated in the testing of Hypothesis (1)), their degree of bilingualism had little or nothing to do with such retardation. Hypothesis (3) was confirmed. Ability in vocabulary and in reading comprehension was found to be significantly associated with goodness of performance in intelligence and scholastic tests, suggesting that schools would do well to pay special attention to the development of a good vocabulary and skill in reading comprehension. It was suggested that the reason for the grossly inferior showing of the Indian pupils by European standards in both the intelligence and scholastic tests must be sought in directions other than bilinguality.Figures were quoted to suggest that the key to the problem probably lay in the school-entrance age of the pupils. A full-scale investigation of this possibility forms the subject of the next project. A noteworthy feature of this project was that many items of incidental information of a social, cultural, educational and psychological nature came to light, that were as thought-provoking as the original problem undertaken, if not more so. Some of these certainly merit detailed study in the future. Examples of such findings are:-(1) The girls of the sample appeared to be a more highly selected group than the boys. They were younger in age, higher in socio-economic status, and their parents were more advanced in education both by western and eastern standards than the parents of the boys. (2) Matched for age and socio-economic status, significant sex differences appeared in the non-verbal, verbal and combined intelligence test scores, in favour of the boys. In the scholastic tests also, the sex differences that proved to be significant favoured the boys. (3) The most conservative Indian groups in respect of the adoption of English as the home language and in the provision of western education for their females were the Hindu-Gujurati, the Moslem-Gujurati and the Moslem-Urdu. These three were also the highest in socio-economic status. The most "progressive" were the Christian groups. (4) In spite of the restricted occupational range among Durban Indians, socio-economic status differences were reflected in both intelligence and scholastic test scores. (5) Performance in all the four scholastic tests was more highly correlated with scores in the verbal section of the New South African Group Test than in its non-verbal section, indicating that the former is a superior instrument of educational prognosis in the Indian situation than the latter. PROJECT III – A study of the relationship between the performance level of Indian pupils in intelligence and scholastic tests and their age of school entrance was the subject of Project III. The sample consisted of 1,693 boys from 12 schools in the alluvial flats area of Durban. In socio-economic status, this is one of the poorer Indian localities of Durban. The pupils ranged in age from 8.0 to 20.5 years and were spread out from standard two to six. None of them had ever failed a class before, so that any overageness-for-grade was due solely to the fact that schooling had been delayed because of failure to find accommodation in the congested schools of the area. Besides its immediate, practical relevance for Indian education, the study had a theoretical aspect as well. It was concerned with the nature - nurture problem and sought to show the extent to which a single environmental factor, namely, schooling, could influence performance in intelligence and attainment tests within the same ethnic group. The investigation was undertaken from three angles, each with its own working hypothesis. They were labelled (a) the study of relative retardation, (b) the study of relative educability, and (c) the study of relative progress. The hypotheses, respectively, were as follows:- (a) Of a group of pupils of the same age but varying in school standard, those in the upper grades will achieve higher raw scores in mental and scholastic tests than those in the lower grades, other things equal. (b) Of a group of pupils in the same school standard but varying in age, the older, presumably more advanced in mental age and experience, will achieve higher raw scores in mental and scholastic tests than the younger other things equal. (c) Given a group of late-(older children) and a group of early-starters (younger children) in standard two, the older, by virtue of their advantage in chronological and, presumably, mental age, will show greater progress from grade to grade and finish at standard six at a significantly higher level of mental and scholastic attainment than the younger, other things equal. Hypothesis (a) was tested by the technique of partial correlation and Hypothesis (b) by means of chi-square tests and one-way analyses of variance. It was not found necessary to apply any test of statistical significance in the study of Hypothesis (c). The instruments used were a questionnaire, the Progressive Matrices Test of intelligence, the New South African Group Test of intelligence (non-verbal and verbal), and scholastic tests of vocabulary, problem arithmetic and mechanical arithmetic. A scale for the measurement of socio-economic status was also designed to match pupils for home background (and, indirectly therefore, for parental intellectual level). Hypothesis (a) was confirmed consistently at three age levels. Pupils in the upper grades scored progressively higher in terms of I.Q.'s, raw intelligence-test scores and raw attainment-test scores than those in the lower grades but of the same age. The powerful effect of schooling as a factor in determining performance level in both intelligence and attainment tests was brought out in clear-cut terms. Hypothesis (b) was disproved almost consistently through all the four grades studied, the solitary exception occurring at the standard two level where the older pupils surpassed the younger in problem arithmetic. In many cases, the results were the reverse of what was hypothesized, the younger surpassing the older at significant levels of confidence. In the Matrices Test, no significant differences between the younger and older students appeared throughout all four grades. In non-verbal, verbal and combined I.Q.’S on the South African Group Test, the early-school-starters were consistently and significantly ahead of the late-starters in all the standards. With educational level fixed for all, chronological age became a handicap to the older. What was unexpected, however, was the fact that the younger students proved to be significantly superior to the older even in raw scores in the Group Test at the standard six and five levels from a position of more or less equality at standards four and two. In the scholastic tests also, the younger children in standard six scored significantly better than the older in vocabulary and problem arithmetic, and, in standard five, in vocabulary. There were no notable differences in performance in the other subjects at any grade level except that in standard two, the older boys headed the younger in problem arithmetic, as mentioned above. This evidence, in terms of raw scores, was interpreted as indicating not only that the older pupils were not superior to the younger in educability but that they were actually inferior in this respect in the upper grades of the primary school; that, in fact, the older, because of their delay in schooling, were stunted in mental growth and that this impairment became more and more evident with the growing challenge to the intellect of the higher grades; and that, therefore, the damage must be regarded as permanent. The results of Hypothesis (c) confirmed the conclusions of the first two hypotheses. The early-school-starters, after being somewhat behind the older in standards two and three went on to surpass the older boys by the time standard six was reached. There is some evidence that, below the standard two level, the older pupils are superior in intelligence and scholastic tests to the younger (in raw scores, not quotients) and that this superiority increases as one goes further down the grade scale. The crucial point seems to be standard four. It is at about this stage that the younger children seem to achieve stable parity with the older after which they draw ahead. In the sample of Project III, it was found that although parents higher in socio-economic status secured school places for their children at earlier ages than those of lower status, this factor was not significant in the determination of test scores when matched against the factor of age at school entrance. The investigation revealed that weakness in English was a significant factor, though not as important as believed in the past, in depressing Indian scores relative to Europeans in the upper grades. As one goes down the grades from standard six to standard two, the discrepancy between scores in non-verbal and verbal tests of intelligence becomes greater as command of English decreases. Nevertheless, even at the standard two level where mastery of English is weakest, grossly delayed schooling plays a more important role in lowering intelligence-test scores than does handicap in the language medium of Indian schools. The research confirmed two outstanding generalisations that have appeared in the past as a result of investigations among less-privileged groups, namely, an intelligence level below the national norm and a decline in intelligence quotients with increasing chronological age. It was pointed out that failure of the Natal educational authorities to provide sufficient school buildings to accommodate all Indian children of 5 plus years and above was causing serious and permanent damage to the intellectual growth of those affected and that, in the light of this finding, nothing less than an immediate regularising of the situation would be satisfactory. The study also brought to light how misleading results of interracial comparisons of intelligence levels could be if the factor of schooling, particularly of age of school entrance, is not taken into careful account. It was predicted that if Indian and European school children were matched for age of school entry, quality of educational facilities, language and socio-economic status, all alleged innate, racial differences in intelligence-test scores would disappear.
Some problems in the selection and preliminary training of non-European medical students.
(1961) Branford, William Richard Grenville.; Schmidt, Wilfred H. O.
Abstract not available.
A critical analysis of methods of selecting and streaming secondary school pupils and some suggestions towards solving the problem in Natal schools.
(1963) Shiels, Florence Helen.; Schmidt, Wilfred H. O.
No abstract available.
A consideration of some aspects of general education in the universities of the United States of America.
(1963) Williams, Aston Rowland.
The three major fields of human knowledge are the humanities, the social sciences, and the natural sciences. An undergraduate, whose special interests lie in one of these fields, should be able to understand his own field in the context of the whole of human knowledge. This necessitates some knowledge of the other two fields. This practice is followed in American colleges, and is called in these pages ' general education '. Formal study is required of undergraduates in each of these fields? and the passing of examinations in them is a condition of graduation . The purposes of general education are discussed in the first chapter for the student as undergraduate , and for the man as scholar, for the man in his profession, for the man in the community, and for the man, and the woman, during leisure hours. This analysis raises the question as to what should be the aims of university education? and this is considered briefly in the first chapter, and more fully in the last. The first chapter concludes with an outline, which also is elaborated in the last chapter, of the widest purposes of general studies. These are, in the words of the authors of the Harvard report, to enable students 'to think effectively, to communicate thought, to make relevant judgments, and to discriminate among values ' . A ' liberal education' is defined in the last chapter as one which provides both the values of depth, which arise from specialist studies, and the values of breadth, which are to be found in general 'studies. Specialist studies liberate a man from ignorance and prejudice in his own field. General studies put a man on the road to freedom from ignorance and prejudice in all other fields . In point of fact, in the earlier chapters, the terms ' liberal education ' , 'liberal studies', 'general education', and 'general studies' are used almost as synonyms . This is inevitable, as the many writers quoted on this subject use these terms to mean much the same thing. The content of general education. programs is traced in chapter 2 . The major headings are: 2. 2, Harvard College; 2. 3, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; 2.4, Yale College; and 2.5, Columbia College . In each casethe contributions to curricula of the humanities, the social sciences, the natural sciences, and 'communication' are given. In chapter 3, however, the major headings are: 3.1, the humanities; 3.2, the social sciences; 3.3, the natural sciences; and 3.4, communication. Here, in each case, the uses made of these fields of knowledge in undergraduate curricula are compared with respect to two very different university colleges -- the College of the University of Chicago, and University College in Michigan State University. Communication in general education is such an important subject that a separate chapter (5) is devoted to it; this forms the one component of general studies which is invariably present. Chapter 6 deals with similarities and differences in general education programs in the United States of America. In the General College of the University of Minnesota, the emphasis is as much on social objectives as on academic aims. Next, the curricula of four new colleges are sketched -- and all have strong general studies programs: Michigan State University, Oakland; Monteith College in Wayne State University, Detroit; the University of South Florida; and Harvey Mudd College in California. This leads on to a consideration of the State prescriptions in California, with three examples: the State College of San Francisco, Stanford University, and the California Institute of Technology. A description of two well-known, but atypical liberal arts colleges follows: Amherst and Antioch. Berea College, like Antioch College, has a work-study plan, but of a different kind. Finally the programs of St. John's College, and Sarah Lawrence College are given, and they illustrate the concluding section of this dissertation in chapter 9 on the philosophical foundations of general education. One stands to one side of the Harvard pattern, and the second to the other side. The division of the fields of human knowledge into the humanities, the social sciences, and the natural sciences is obviously an over-simplification. An analysis by Cassidy of Yale at the start of chapter 7 shows the relationship of the liberal arts and sciences to their professional applications on the one hand, and to their philosophical bases on the other. This leads on to details of the requirements of the professions in America in respect of general education in undergraduate studies: engineering, architecture, law, medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, nursing, business administration, journalism, music, and teaching. The opportunity is taken of tracing various methods of arrangement of general studies in section 7.23 on engineering education. Chapter 8 raises the problem of finding time for all the studies which should be included in undergraduate curricula. Should an extra year be provided? Indeed, is one year less a possibility? Opponents of the practice of general education usually avoid its challenge by stressing the time problem, or by saying that its values can be attained at the secondary school level, or after graduation through adult education. A study of examination papers from M.I.T. (page 111), Columbia (page 114), and Keele in England (page 232) will show that work at this level demands a maturity beyond that of the school- boy or school-girl, and requires far more time than the adult, burdened with employment and domestic responsibilities, could find. Other ways of escaping the challenge of general education are to look to possible alternatives~ living in residence, student activities, lecture series, the cultural background of a good home. It is contended in these pages that although these are valuable supplements, they are nevertheless inadequate alternatives. Chapter 4 separates the first three and the last five chapters through comparisons of Great Britain, Canada, and the United States of America. There is much incisive writing in Britain on the value of liberal education, of which, with certain exceptions, there occurs relatively little in practice. The Colleges of Advanced Technology have good programs of liberal studies. The University of North Staffordshire at Keele has a foundation year of general education, and what would be called in America 'distribution requirements', in the following three years. Beyond this, univerSity undergraduate curricula and British sixth form courses are highly specialized, but less so in Scotland than in England. Chapter 4 contains a full portrayal of British practice with respect to special and general studies. This has been given because a statement of British reactions to the challenge of general education, it is hoped, will serve to sharpen thinking on the subject. For the Same purpose Canadian views and practice are described; Canadian universities . in this respect are closer to those of Britain and France than to those of the United States of America. Reference is made also to Germany, Holland, Australia, and India, to show the geographic spread of discussion on these matters. It is hoped that this dissertation may be of value to South African university authorities, who are considering at the moment (1963) the possibility of an extra year at the beginning of the university Bachelor's course, and this point is mentioned in section 8.24 . The extent to which a country can reject the challenge of general education i s outlined in section 4.81; the South African prescripti on for subjects outside the field of specialization is usually framed in terms of not more than rather than not less than . The difficulties of implementing a general education program can be understood best with respe ct to universities where general studies are largely absent; here too South African practice providesin section 8.52 a useful basis for discussion. Finally, South Africa is referred to again in section 9.22 in an attempt to define general education, and to show what, at the very least, a program of general education must include to be worthy of the name. This study was made possible by a Leader Program award of the State Department of the United States of America in 1955, and by a Carnegie Corporation of New York travel grant in 1960. Two stimulating and memorable visits resulted. This analysis of general education has been undertaken in the conviction that 'thinking on this subject, and fundamental thinking, was never more necessary than it is today ' , to use the words of the University Grants Committee of Great Britain. It is hoped that these pages will indicate that the world has a great deal to learn about this matter from the United States of America.
The developing trend towards short-cycle tertiary education.
(1973) Shippey, Theodore Clive.; Niven, John McGregor.
No abstract available.
Planning and provision of school accomodation viewed against the background of the function of the contemporary school with special reference to the future needs of the Indian community in South Africa.
(1978) Nair, Ganesh Kitoony.; Bekker, J. H.
No abstract available.
A study of maladjustment among urban Indian primary school children : a psycho-educational approach.
(1978) Ramphal, Anandpaul.; Behr, Abraham Leslie.
This is a report of investigations carried out into three aspects of the problem of maladjustment among Indian primary school children. For the sake of convenience and clarity, the dissertation is divided into the following parts, each investigating a different aspect of the topic: (a) A study of the Incidence of Maladjustment among Indian Primary School Children. (b) A Study of the Attitudes of Indian Teachers to Behaviour Problems of Children. (c) An In-depth Comparative Study of Sub-samples of Well-adjusted and Maladjusted Indian Primary School Children in respect of Selected Aspects of their Home Environment. The research was carried out in the form of three projects corresponding to the title order given above and referred to in this report as Projects One, Two, and Three, respectively. All three projects are linked together by the common theme of "maladjustment".
'n Empiriese ondersoek na die geskiktheid van 'n prentepersoonlikheidstoets vir Indier-Suid-Afrikaners.
(1980) Swart, Daniel Johannes.; Behr, Abraham Leslie.
In this investigation it is assumed that Indians, who constitute a minority group in this country, are definitely confronted with more complex problems than their White counterparts and furthermore, that their problems are at least as complex of those experienced by Blacks in South Africa. Apart from his race, the Indian in South Africa also differs from his White and Black fellow-citizens in respect of his culture, traditions, customs and sometimes even of his language. This fact means that the TAT tests, which were adapted for Blacks in South Africa, cannot be applied without further ado to the Indian population group. The point of departure in this investigation is to develop a projective technique, similar to that of the TAT-Z, that can be adjusted to suit Indians and to deal with the problems experienced as a result of the new cultural demands that are imposed on this group. A further aim is to determine, by means of a newly constructed picture personality test, the degree of acculturation that still appears to be present among Indian South Africans, as well as to identify some personality characteristics. The latter can be used as a guideline in the choice of an occupation or job. Since Indian women are entering the labour market to an increasing extent, it was considered desirable to involve them in the test programme as well. With this aim in mind, 213 men and 195 women who are representative of the Indian population, were tested with the newly constructed Picture Personality Test for Indian South Africans (PPT-ISA). For the purposes of this experiment, the two survey groups were divided into five biographical variables, viz marital status, age, religion, qualifications and socio-economic status. A frequency distribution of positive, negative and ambivalent responses of all respondents, to all the constructs was determined, according to which the findings were analysed with the aid of various statistical techniques. The investigation reveals, in particular, that older people, as opposed to younger ones of both sexes, perform better in the test. It was also found that married people have a greater sense of duty and responsibility than unmarried persons; that an Indian woman's religion has a considerable influence on her response to certain constructs, whereas this phenomenon is not found in the case of Indian men. A factor analysis which was carried out indicates that three identifiable factors could be found, viz: ? *Men:- Factor I - Attitude towards authority, Factor II - Self-concept, Factor III - Self-assertiveness, ? *Women:- Factor I - Self-concept, Factor II - Submissiveness, Factor III - Attitude towards authority. It was furthermore shown that most constructs possess specificity, with the result that justifiable conclusions can be drawn from constructs. Construct validity investigations that were carried out indicate that the measuring instrument possesses a considerable degree of validity. A rater reliability investigation also revealed that high reliability coefficients were obtained, which implies that the test can be used with confidence. It would therefore appear that the PPT-ISA is a useful instrument that can be applied in the selection and placement of persons applying for vacancies in the labour market.
A critical study of the Senior Certificate Examination of the Division of Indian Education since the introduction of the system of differentiated education.
(1984) Naidoo, Mogambery.; Niven, John McGregor.
Abstract available in PDF.
The training of sex therapists in South Africa : a multidisciplinary approach.
(1984) Fourie, Maria Catharina.; Nel, Berndine F.; Burger, F.
The high incidence of divorce and marital breakdown in South Africa warrants attention and organised prevention. There is no correlation between this high divorce rate and existing facilities or utilisation of these facilities. For the past fifteen years the writer has been involved in training of Marriage Guidance Counsellors and treatment of marital couples in distress. During this time limited facilities, the inability of some couples to utilise existing facilities and the resultant family disruption has become evident. In an effort to assess the most important needs of couples in distress and the ability of consultants in the helping professions to assist these couples this research was initiated. Previous findings that sexual dissatisfaction is one of the main reasons of marital breakdown has been confirmed as well as the fact that it is often a mere symptom of various difficulties and poor marital communication. It was also found that different needs regarding sex education and sex therapy exist in our multicultural society and that thorough recognition of these specific needs is required to offer meaningful assistance. Following this multicultural evaluative investigation which included a multi-disciplinary enquiry, data was summarised and a tentative training programme suggested. Final conclusions are not provided. Qualitative data to assist the practitioner has been summarised and a continuous feedback loop of evaluation and improved programme planning initiated in accordance with the requirements of illuminative action research.
The teaching and assessment of English as second language in schools of the Natal Education Department : an evaluation.
(1984) Lotter, Michael John.; Dobie, Bruce Alexander.
No abstract available.
Teacher education in Transkei : a critical and comparative study of the evolution of selected aspects of its administrative, curricular and course structures as an indicator of future policy and planning in the provision of teachers.
(1984) Ngubentombi, Sidwell Vusumzi Sinda.; Niven, John McGregor.
The development of a teaching practice curriculum : a tertiary-didactic investigation.
(1985) Du Plessis, Monica.; Jardine, R. W.
The broad goal of this investigation was to examine the effectiveness of the practical components in teacher education courses. In order to achieve this goal, it was necessary to find possible solutions to the major problem around which inquiries of this nature tend to revolve, viz. What would be the features of a relevant, practical, democratically - designed curriculum for Teaching Practice? To reduce the complexity of the problem, it seemed realistic to link the research to a particular case. Consequently, an in-depth analysis was made of the Teaching Practice curriculum in use at the University of Durban-Westville. The research consisted of seven phases 1. A literary study of trends in Teaching Practice, Didactics, and Curriculum Development. 2. An examination of historical and current developments of the Teaching Practice course offered at the University of Durban-Westville. 3. A survey of Teaching Practice curricula currently in use at 52 teacher training institutions inside South Africa and abroad. 4. A survey of the views of 65 school authorities regarding Teaching Practice curricula. 5. A survey of the views of 170 final-year student teachers regarding Teaching Practice curricula. 6. A survey of the views of 35 lecturers involved in teacher education regarding Teaching Practice curricula. 7. The design of an effective Teaching Practice curriculum based on a fusion of the data obtained. The preliminary findings of the investigation centred upon the identification of deep conflicts that exist among various groups involved in teacher education. During the institutional survey, for instance, it was found that marked differences exist between the practical components of curricula offered at different institutions. Whereas some institutions lay heavy emphasis on the development of practical teaching skills on campus, most of them apparently concentrate only on theoretical aspects in their campus-based courses. Teaching Practice is mostly seen as that part of the course that takes place at schools. This could obviously cause serious discrepancies between what students are taught on campus and at schools. In similar vein divergent trends were identified in the expressed needs of school authorities, students, and teacher educators. Each group seems to have a different set of expectations regarding teacher education in general, and Teaching Practice in particular. These findings led to the realization that the most important characteristic of an effective Teaching Practice curriculum is that it should be based on a scientific model theory of teaching which both tutors and students should put into practice. The persistent propagation of inconsistent, contradictory theories of teaching was identified as a crippling weakness in many Teaching Practice courses. The study culminated in the presentation of a proposed Teaching Practice curriculum. This curriculum rests on the claim that it is relevant to modern trends in Didactics as well as in teacher education. The expressed views of school authorities, students, and tutors have been incorporated. It promises to have a strong theoretical foundation and seems to be rooted in real classroom practices. The proposals are accompanied by general guidelines for implementation. One might conclude, therefore, that viable solutions to the research problem have been found. And what of the future? The present crisis in education in South Africa must be considered when embarking on the development, and changing of such a curriculum. Are planners really aware of the impact that pupil unrest will be bound to have on school curricula and thus necessarily upon teacher education? I hope so.
An analysis of learners' engagement in mathematical task.
(1988) Winter, Paul August.; Craig, A. P.
The present project is part of a larger research programme focussed on the analysis of change; one aspect being educational transformation and in particular an emphasis on the explication of the contentless processes (eg. logical operations, reasoning styles, analysis and synthesis) which underlie both learning and teaching at university level. The present project is aimed at an analysis of the teaching-learning dialectic in mathematics courses. This analysis has two major focal points, that is, making explicit the often tacit and mostly inadequate and/or inappropriate rules for engaging in mathematical tasks which the under-prepared learner brings to the teaching-learning situation, and secondly the teaching strategies which may enable these learners to overcome their past (erroneous) knowledge and skills towards the development of effecient, autonomous mathematical problem-solving strategies. In order to remedy inadequate and inappropriate past learning and/or teaching, the present project presents a set of mediational strategies and regulative cues which function both for the benefit of the teacher and the learner in a problematic teaching-learning situation and on the meta and epistemic cognitive levels of information processing. Furthermore, these mediational strategies and regulative cues fall on a kind of interface between contentless processes and the particular content of the teaching-learning dialectic of mathematics in particular, as well as between the ideal components of any instructional process and the particular needs and demands of under-prepared learners engaged in mathematical tasks.
A sociological study of the educational and career routes of a group of Indian secondary school students in the Durban area : the transition from school to work.
(1988) Naicker, Subramunian Anand.; Muir, Robert K.
This longitudinal study on the transition from school to work of a group of Indian school-leavers from two co-educational schools in Durban is an attempt to analyse the processes underlying the construction of educational and career routes. It deals with the lived experiences of boys and girls from different social-class backgrounds within the school, the family, and the work situation. This passage from school to work, which also includes the experiences of unemployment, is examined against the background of social interactions in micro settings, as well as the influences of social, structural and cultural forces. In particular, the career pathways are studied within the context of the cultural background of Indians, and their socio-historical location in the South African society as a minority and an intermediate status group in a racially-divided society. As the students proceeded through the last three years at school and into the first few months of work various qualitative, field research methods were used to get some insight into the changing and complex nature of the transitional process. These methods included participant observation, focus sed and unfocussed interviews, and discussions. Such qualitative research methods were valuable for an understanding' of the meanings and values on which the students' actions were based. The structural and interpretive analysis of the family, the school, the labour market, and a patriarchal, capitalist, apartheid society points to the significance of ideological values, hegemony, class relations, racial, gender, and political and economic influences on the construction of educational and career identities. The analysis also indicates the close relationship which exists on the one hand between the cultural interpretations and practices of various social actors; and on the other hand, the structural conditions in which these are located. The findings provide some account of how social-class relations are continued and sustained via related and different inequalities such as race and gender. Race, class and gender exist side by side in this reproduction process. By focussing on the close relationship which exists between the actions and decisions of the students, and the structures of society, this study attempts to bridge the gap between structural and interpretive explanations. The students' interpretations of their educational and career choices are brought into a closer relationship with the structures of society.
An exploratory study of the South African New Era Schools Trust.
(1989) Coutts, Alexander.; Nel, Berndine F.
The focus of this research is the New Era Schools Trust (N.E.S.T.) system of non-racial, multi-cultural schooling,with its first school Uthongathi as an exemplification of its unique approach. In the theoretical component of the research, a thorough study is made of literature relating to multi-cultural education, with the issues of culture, race and socioeconomic class explored as problematics of central concern to the South African context. Selected strategies are analysed, upon which the possible implementation of multi-cultural education in South Africa might be based. A chapter is included on the the socio-political origins of N.E.S.T. Its birth and infancy are set against background events that have impinged on education in South Africa since World War 11. The empirical section of the research is focused on Uthongathi, as it evolved and developed during the period January 1987 to July 1989. Among the most important findings emanating from the research are the following: 1. New Era Schools Trust was established primarily as a reaction to the historically evolved policy of apartheid, which the originators of the endeavour perceived to be unjust. 2. Central to the endeavour is the creation of school communities that are the antithesis of the present, largely ethnocentric, state educational structures. It is hoped to thereby create a vehicle to aid peaceful evolutionary change as an alternative to the violent and confrontational strategies widely current. 3. Uthongathi propounds (and is guided by) policies of nonracialism, multi-culturalism, and access for pupils of various socio-economic classes and both sexes. 4. Some tension is apparent between the policy of a "balance of races" and the school's egalitarian aims, although the racial balance itself appears to be remarkably effective in practice. An impressive level of social solidarity is evident amongst the pupils. 5. A broad, liberal education is offered. It is focussed on university entrance, and is enriched by a wide variety of extra-mural pursuits. Self-help and a comprehensive community service scheme operate. 6. Despite the absence at the present time of academic results gained through public examinations, upon which objective judgements can be based, it is clear that high academic standards are pursued. A comprehensive academic support programme has been mounted in the lower standards in order to assist those pupils who originate from educationally and economically deprived backgrounds. Bursary support is generous. 7. The N.E.S.T. schooling model appears to be malleable to suit regional needs. It appears to have relevance to future policy directions for state and private schooling alike. The costs and fee structures are, however, likely to limit the extent of extrapolation possible. 8. Tentative suggestions have been made for appropriate action. More accurate judgements on the adoption of N.E.S.T. schooling as a proposed model for South Africa will become possible as the system evolves further to incorporate the four schools initially planned. 9. Recommendations have also been made for further research. There is a great need for selected facets of the N.E.S.T. schools to be researched in greater depth than has been possible in this exploratory study.
An evaluative analysis of educational administration in KwaZulu.
(1991) Gabela, Raymoth Vika.; Gounden, Perumal Kistna.
The study deals with administration of education in KwaZulu where the concern is for efficient and effective use of limited financial, human and material resources. The purpose of this evaluative analysis of educational administration is to determine the degrees of efficiency and effectiveness with which the system of education functions. Therefore, the aims of the study were the following: * To describe the KwaZulu educational system: its origin, character, socio-political context and constraints; * To identify the generic functions of educational administration on the basis of which criteria were formulated for evaluation; * To analyse educational administration in KwaZulu and to evaluate it by means of formulated criteria, and * To formulate recommendations regarding the improvement of educational administration in the area. The conceptual framework of the study derived from the development of administrative theories through time and their implication for, and impact on educational administration. This analysis enabled the investigator to extract criteria for evaluating administration of education in KwaZulu. The evaluative analysis had to be carried out in terms of the organisation of education from the school level to the head office. To deal adequately with the problem being examined, detailed discussion was given of the KwaZulu system of education and the broader context in which it functions. The population of the study comprised three categories of education officers, namely, school principals, circuit inspectors and selected administrators from the head office. The instruments for data collection were questionnaires for school principals and circuit inspectors and interviews for the head office administrators. The study identified the following problem areas: preparation for administrative roles, perceptions of work-related skills, work performance in terms of tasks, the process of administration and related problems, and collaboration among education officers as well as with interested parties. The analysis of data was both quantitative and qualitative. In the light of the findings of the study the investigator offered several recommendations.
An evaluation of the provision and future development of professional teacher education in South Africa with particular reference to colleges of education : a public administration perspective.
(1992) Nicholls, Gordon Charles.; Singh, D.
The colleges of education have been the forgotten educational sector in South Africa. At the time of Union, the colleges were belatedly appended to the Education Departments for administrative purposes and they have remained associated with the school sector ever since. In order to aspire to tertiary status, some colleges have linked with universities, in addition to their links with the Education Departments. Although there have been decided advantages in these arrangements, it has also meant that the colleges have never established a raison d'etre in right.

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