ETD Collection

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    Professional development of educators : an illuminative evaluation of INSET for life orientation.
    (2012-02-29) Shah, Zahira
    In-service education and training (INSET) has become a key vehicle for the professional development of educators in the school context. However, its role and impact has yet to be fully comprehended. This study resulted from the realization that educators often attend short training courses without being tracked or monitored afterwards. Using an illuminative approach to evaluation, this study aimed to establish the impact of INSET on educators’ ability to effectively implement the Life Orientation (LO) curriculum, after attending national INSET in 2005. It was also important to gauge if educators had gained the knowledge and skills to deal with emergent issues not addressed during the training. The field of adult education offered a particular lens through which I aimed to look at both LO and INSET. The sample selected for this study consisted of three teachers teaching at co-educational government schools in Johannesburg, who attended the 2005 Gauteng provincial training in LO for grade 10. Data collection methods included questionnaires, naturalistic observations, semi-structured interviews and document analysis. The findings of this study suggest that the success of this INSET programme depends heavily on the individuals who attend them and their personal experiences and beliefs. The study concluded that for educators to implement LO effectively they would not only have to develop professionally but they should also be committed to lifelong learning.
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    The hole in holism : a critical appraisal of the "holistic development of learners" with specific reference to the emotions
    (2008-06-23T09:20:51Z) Dix-Peek, Dominique
    The National Curriculum Statement argues that it takes all of the different components of the individual into account when attempting to educate each learner. It states that one of the goals of the National Curriculum Statement is to promote the “holistic development of learners”, and within this area to take each learner’s emotions into account. This is a bold statement that has many practical implications for the learner, the educator, and the lecturers in teacher training programmes. There appears to be very little guidance provided in the National Curriculum Statement or teacher training programmes with regards to how one should take the “holistic development of learners”, and specifically the emotions into account. For this reason, this research focuses on whether it is possible to prepare teachers to take the “whole child” into account, with particular reference to the emotional dimension of the learner. The research also focuses on whether educators in schools feel adequately prepared to look at the emotions, and what different factors come into play when attempting to look at the both the emotions and the “holistic development of learners”. In order to do this, the current research focuses on Life Orientation, since it appears to be the subject that is most able to deal with the cognitive, spiritual, physical social and emotional needs of the learners. With the purpose of achieving the abovementioned objectives, the researcher conducted a qualitative research study which involved the interviews of six Life Orientation Educators from six different public schools in the Northern Suburbs of Johannesburg; as well as three lecturers who lecture Life Orientation at the University of the Witwatersrand. The findings of this research report indicate that most of the educators and lecturers who participated in the research feel inadequately prepared to take the emotions, and the holistic development of learners, into account in the teaching /learning process. There are a number of reasons for this. First, many participants felt that both the emotions and holism are implied within the curriculum. However, the participants felt that there is not an explicit explanation for what these elements of the individual are. As a result of the lack of a coherent explanation of the different elements of the individual, the participants felt that it is difficult to teach the non-cognitive aspects of the individual. Second, because the emotions and holism are implicit rather than explicit, it was felt that there are no clear indications provided by the National Curriculum Statement, or in the Life Orientation courses or workshops on how it is possible to teach or assess the whole child, and the emotions specifically.