ETD Collection
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Item Learning to teach Biology to pre-service teachers: a self-study(2020) Khoza, Hlologelo ClimantDue to the lack of formal training for those who wish to be teacher educators in South Africa and around the world, I did on-the-job training and used a self-study methodology to explore how I, as a novice teacher educator, can learn to teach biology to pre-service teachers. I viewed learning as the “coming-to know” process facilitated by constructive interactions and observations in a community of practice. I was the main participant. The other participants were my 135 pre-service teachers whom I was teaching in the course and six biology teacher educators who were working in the same department. I collected data through journaling, observations of and discussions with the experienced biology teacher educators, audio-and video-recordings of my lectures, discussions with critical friends and interviews with students. Narrative text analysis was used to draw insights. The student interviews and discussions with experienced teacher educators were analysed using both inductive and deductive approaches. This study showed that one can learn to teach pre-service teachers in systematic ways and approaches. These systematic ways include reflecting on experiences accumulated over the years, observing experienced teacher educators as they teach and discussing with them, teaching a topic for a short period with the help of the experienced teacher educators, moving from general observations and discussions to focusing on particular aspects of practice and planning and teaching a full module. In this thesis, I demonstrate how these approaches helped me learn and the knowledge and skills I gained in the process. The findings in this study showed that a novice teacher educator can learn about teaching practice by engaging in critical reflection based on their students’ feedback. I further demonstrate that, for this reflection and learning to be meaningful, the feedback has to be sought continuously from the students being taught. Using the findings from this study, I proposed a model or framework for learning that novice teacher educators can adopt not only to acquire practices of teaching biology to pre-service teachers but also to track their learning. Recommendations for future research are also highlightedItem Learning to teach in a full-service school through a self-study(2019) Zondo, CebolakheThis self-study in which I investigated how to teach Natural Sciences and Mathematics in a Full-Service school (FSS) was motivated by the realisation that the Initial Teacher Education training that I received never prepared me for teaching at such a school. The aim of this study was therefore, to document my experiences of teaching at a FSS as a novice educator with the primary goal of sharing what I have come to learn and the kind of knowledge that one requires to teach in a FSS. Being a self-study, I was the main participant. My Grade 4, 6 and 7 learners became participants by being in the classes that I was teaching. In the study, I employed three ways of data collection: journal entries of trigger incidents, transcribed recordings of discussions held with critical friends and my reflections that followed each discussion. All data collected was in text form. Inductive coding was used to create meaning of what I was experiencing. This study produced two key findings about learners and about teaching in a FSS. The first finding is that most learners in Full-Service School are bodily-kinesthetic i.e. they learn best when they use their bodies and through movements. The second finding is that learners in a FSS are very slow to grasp concepts. Therefore, it is very important for the teachers in FSSs to consider the slow pace of the learners, even though CAPS propose specific content and timelines. These two findings highlight two pieces of knowledge about learners and about teaching in a FSS (that I was not aware of as a newly qualified teacher) that any new educator should be aware of and be trained to deal with. This study therefore, recommends that teacher training institutions must incorporate modules in their teacher preparation programs that prepare new educators specifically for teaching in a FSSs. In addition to the findings above, this study demonstrated that self-study is a very good research methodology that can be used to develop effective teaching practices as it can help teachers to make sense of their own teaching practices and how those experiences can be used to promote better teaching and learning in future.Item The construction, interpretation and presentation of king Shaka: a case study of four in-service history educators in four Gauteng schools(2018) Maluleka, PaulThis study explores and discusses how in-service history educators in four Gauteng schools reinterpret, reconstruct and re-present images of Shaka in light of their individual and collective memories of him, varied academic and popular accounts, CAPS, as well the influence of history textbooks and other teaching and learning materials. It also explores the nature of history, its uses, as well as the development of the history curriculum in South Africa post-1994 in relation to the proposed compulsory history curriculum for the FET phase by the likes of African National Congress (ANC), ANC-led government and South African Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU). The findings of the study reveal that the participants under study did share and/or have similar collective memory of Shaka which was ‘negative’, even though they came from different backgrounds or are informed by different individual memories. This highlights the embeddedness of traditional, liberal and Afrikaner-Christian nationalist, as well Zulu nationalist reconstructions of images of Shaka in our popular as well as institutional imaginations. Furthermore, the findings revealed that although the participants presented themselves as aware of revisionist thinking around images of Shaka and were willing to incorporate these in their teaching; what transpired during the observations were tensions between this awareness and the implementation of such and the practicalities around it. Moreover, it seems that although all participants seemed consciously or subconsciously aware of memories embedded in their own reconstructions of images of Shaka, and sought means to open Shaka to new imaginings and further debates by their learners, this was not easy in practice. It seems that the embeddedness of individual and collective memories (with all their layers – from home to school days to university days and beyond) could not easily be transcended. This was most evident in the educators’ responses to ‘challenging’ questions or comments by their learners. There seemed to be an element of defensiveness and tendency to want to instil views rather than allow open-endedness in interpreting Shaka’s actions. So, while re-interpretation, reconstruction and re-presentation were seemingly allowed, with the exploration of teaching strategies like debates, the choice of textbooks, selection of sources to engage with, themes and topics to cover, questions to post to the learners etc. still reflected this embeddedness. Therefore, the overall findings highlight that the practice teaching of history is a complex exercise. It requires qualified professional educators with a strong subject matter who are innovative in their pedagogical orientations, as well responded to the demands of the curriculum. These, are some of the things that the ANC, SADTU and other interest groups need to take into account when proposing a ‘new’ history curriculumItem Exploring beginner foundation phase teachers' negotiations of professional identity in Johannesburg(2016) Dyosini, Thokozane PrincessThis research study examines the negotiations of two Foundation Phase (FP) beginner teachers’ professional identities within their communities of practice in relation to their initial teacher training. The study was conducted with two FP beginner teacher candidates during their early years of professional teaching. The theoretical framework consists of a triangulation of the following theoretical aspects: initial teacher training and Wenger’s (2009) theory on communities of practice, which is related to the participants’ context of employment and professional identity. The study focused on the negotiations of the professional identities that take place in the two participants’ communities of practice based on the fact that they both received their teacher training at The Wits School of Education, and that they are both currently teaching in Johannesburg inner city schools. A qualitative research method was undertaken in attaining data, through three semi-structured interviews with the two FP beginner teacher participants. The tool of analysis employed was thematic content analysis which served to identify patterns that emerged from the data sets and which related to the research questions. An analysis of the data obtained revealed a total of eight themes, which can be intrinsically linked to the participants’ actual beginner teaching experiences, connections with their learners and parents, and their teaching methods. The analysis of these themes highlighted the multiple aspects that contributed to the participants’ negotiations of their professional identities, such as their emotions, personal identities and their ability to connect the theory and practice of the content learned during their teacher training. The results strongly suggest that it is essential to explore FP beginner teachers’ negotiations of their professional identities, as they will reveal the shortcomings in teacher training, the challenges in transitioning from student teacher to professional teacher roles, and the factors that hinder the teaching and learning process. These include the disjuncture between theory and practice, communicative language barriers, and the lack of support and guidance from leadership.Item Investigating 4th year pre-service teachers’ levels of understanding of the disciplinary nature of Life Sciences as a discipline(2017) Xaba, NomzamoDisciplinary knowledge is recognised as teacher professional knowledge base that is central in promoting effective teaching and learning in science education. Although that is the case, in one of the South African University, that this study was conducted in, the 4th year Life sciences Pre-service teachers’ were not tested on their understanding of the disciplinary nature of their subject of specialisation. As a result, the type of disciplinary gaze that they acquired by the end of the teacher training remained unknown within the institution. Thus, this study then used a case study methodology to investigate the Pre-service teachers’ levels of understanding of the disciplinary nature of Life Sciences as a discipline. The participants of this study consisted of twenty nine 4th year Pre-service teachers’ who were enrolled for a Life sciences Bachelor of Education program and one Life sciences lecturer who was involved in teaching the subject. This research took on a qualitative approach, which yielding both qualitative and quantitative data, through the use of questionnaires as well as semi-focused interviews as research instruments. The outcomes of this study showed that, although the Pre-service teachers’ were not explicitly taught about the nature of the subject, but they still showed a satisfactory understanding of it. Although that was the case, the Pre-service teachers’ still demonstrated a fractured comprehension of the disciplinary knowledge aspects, such as the history, philosophy and the nature of science. On the other hand, the findings of this study also demonstrated that, the Pre-service teachers’ acquired an extensive gaze of understanding of Subject Matter Knowledge, which is another component of Disciplinary knowledge, and this was because, this knowledge base was explicitly taught and assessed with the teacher training program.Item Investigating PGCE pre-service teachers' level of understanding of life sciences as a scientific discipline(2017) Ahanonye, Uchechi AgnesThe aim of this study was to investigate PGCE pre-service teachers’ level of understanding of life sciences as a scientific discipline. The investigation was carried out at a Higher Education institution where Life science is studied. A questionnaire containing a Likert scale section with twenty two items, and open ended section with two statements was administered for this study. The participants were sixteen Postgraduate certificate in Education (PGCE) Life science pre-service teachers at a South African Higher Educational institute. Also, an interview was conducted with the participating students and two teacher educators who teach in the PGCE program. The theoretical framework adopted for this research is built on Bernstein’s legitimation code theory (LCT). The data was deductively analysed qualitatively by using the legitimation code theory (LCT) dimensions to answer the research questions posed for this study. The findings of this study revealed that PGCE Life science pre-service teachers show an understanding of their disciplinary knowledge in terms of its important knowledge content (specialization), diversified nature of the disciplinary knowledge (density) and the emergent and existence of the accumulated knowledge (Temporality). Also in their responses, it was evident that they recognize the place of Nature of science (NOS) as part of their disciplinary knowledge, that is, they have a better gaze of the need for SMK, inquiry based skills, and history of science (HoS). The educational implications as well as recommendations of this study were explained. The recommendation for this study is that, the nature of Life science as a discipline of knowing should be made explicit to students.