ETD Collection

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Subject: search.filters.subject.Teaching and learning

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Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    Food gardens and learning: Investigating food gardens as tools for academic instruction in Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa
    (2018) Moswane, Mafule
    Community gardens offer one strategy for responding to food insecurity, poverty and community building, and can involve a wide range of groups. There has however been less research in South Africa to date on institutional food gardens in comparison with 'community' food gardens. Where there has, the focus has been on gardens' relations to feeding schemes and nutritional outcomes. There has been little investigation of the educational benefits offered by school gardens in South Africa. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between food gardens and academic instruction, and how and why that varied across schools in Soweto, Johannesburg. Taking a qualitative and comparative approach, data was collected at two consenting schools using semi-structured interviews with teachers and participant observation. Using thematic analysis, my overall findings were that, while the gardens in both schools were used sometimes to supplement the food scheme or to punish students, the primary school showed some engagement with it for theoretical instruction as well as for recycling and creating compost while the secondary school did not use the garden for teaching and learning. Both schools faced a number of challenges in running their gardens as well as using them for teaching and learning. Despite these challenges, teachers, particularly newer ones, shared many possibilities of how the gardens could equip the learners with alternative skills that classroom education does not offer. With this clear interest in garden-based learning, it is worth investing in these sites through a multi-disciplinary approach and working together across garden coordinators, teachers and other involved stakeholders to realise their pedagogical potential.
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    The role of the principal in leading and managing teaching and learning in Lesotho : a case study of distributed leadership in two primary schools in the distric of Botha-Bothe.
    (2015-05-28) Sefeane, Litlhaka A.
    Education in Lesotho was not available to all children until the year 2000 with the introduction of the Free Primary Education policy. Since then, the huge rise in enrolments, the abolition of school fees, the effects of new policies and the problems of HIV/AIDS have expanded the demands on the principal while limited human and financial resources threaten the quality of education. This study investigates the role of two principals in the Botha Bothe district in the leadership and management of teaching and learning as well as the strategies they employ to overcome the difficulties. Special attention is given to distributed leadership so that accountable, effective and efficient leadership and management can take place. Qualitative methodology has been used through instruments such as questionnaires, followup interviews and observations to obtain data from the principals at the schools, one deputy principal and three to four teachers each. The findings indicate that the perceived main role of the principal at both these schools is managing and leading teaching and learning to the required standard. In both schools, it has been found that principals share their complex managerial duties with teachers and deputy principals, that most teachers willingly give of their time to contribute to the success of the school in this way and understand the need for doing so. By incorporating and respecting teachers’ contributions to leadership, the study shows how both principals cope with their particular leadership challenges. While the strategies used can serve as a guide to others within similar contexts, the researcher suggests that the education authorities in Lesotho need to be more aware of the problems facing schools, should make sufficient human and physical resources available to help principals manage the schools properly, and provide for AIDS orphans adequately. In addition, support for quality education in the form of ongoing professional development for both principals and teachers is needed, and more research needs to be conducted related to education issues in Lesotho.
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    The role of the principal in leading and managing teaching and learning : a case study of distributed leadership in two secondary schools in Gauteng.
    (2013-01-07) Govender, Daryl Richard
    Bush and Glover (2003) argue that, in order for principals and other leaders to focus on the management of teaching and learning, they need to be instructional leaders. Instructional leadership focuses on teaching and learning in a school, with a major emphasis on the man-agement of teaching and learning as a key activity of the principal. This research is, however, underpinned by Lambert‟s argument (2000), cited in MacNiel and McClanahan (2005:1), that one administrator cannot serve as the instructional leader for an entire school and that the par-ticipation of all other educators is necessary. This sharing and participation is necessitated by the fact that the task of management of teaching and learning is too huge a task for one per-son to accomplish. Furthermore, Elmore, cited in Harris (2004), points out that teaching and learning is a „knowledge-intensive enterprise‟ involving many complex tasks that cannot be performed without distributing the responsibility for leadership amongst others in the school. The inception of the new democratic dispensation in South Africa in 1994 has been associ-ated with a move to a decentralized system of schooling – a site-based education system. Thurlow (2003:27) has argued that inherent in this new model is a move towards institutional autonomy, to a more school - based management system (SBM). SBM involves the devolu-tion of power and responsibilities to principals, the empowerment of educators and increased participation of parents in the decision making process. This new system is vastly different from the „control‟ model of school leadership during the Apartheid era (Chisholm 1999), cited in Moloi (2007:466). Within the SBM system it becomes necessary for the school prin-cipal to share and distribute his/her leadership role in order to cope. Rutherford (2006), cited in Khumalo and Grant (2008:3) points out that the decentralizing of management in schools lends itself to the distribution of leadership throughout a school. Distributive leadership in-volves the view that leadership can be distributed or shared among those not only in formal leadership positions but those members of staff not in leadership positions. The movement towards a decentralized or school based management system falls within the transformation agenda of education in the new South Africa, which is committed to building democracy in schools by emphasizing the sharing or distribution of school management. This study entailed a small scale purposeful case study of two secondary schools in Gauteng, investigating the role of the principal in managing teaching and learning. It examined how vi and to whom principals distributed the management of teaching and learning in schools. Various qualitative research methods and approaches were used to collect relevant informa-tion on the role of the principal in the management of teaching and learning, and on how the management of teaching and learning was distributed in the two schools. Questionnaires and structured interviews were used to collect relevant data from Principals, deputies and HODs. The research findings revealed that the principal‟s role in managing teaching and learning is to create the necessary environment that will enable effective teaching and learning to take place. Principals therefore ensure that educators have all the necessary resources to teach, that educators are in class, that discipline is maintained and that educators are prepared to teach. It can therefore be argued, as Kruger did (2003:209), that the principal‟s role in managing teaching and learning is an indirect and supportive role. The study did, however, show that the task of managing teaching and learning was predomi-nantly that of the HODs. They were involved in monitoring of educators‟ work through learner‟s books, conducting class visits on a regular basis to observe educators teaching, en-suring that educators planned for lessons and had the necessary resources to teach. The study revealed that the leadership distribution in both schools was based either on the hierarchy of the school or distributed among staff as a whole. An important criterion for choosing who would be involved in sharing tasks was the skills and knowledge of the staff. Both schools tended to distribute tasks among those staff that had the necessary skills and knowledge to complete tasks successfully.
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    School leadership and teacher professional development in Lesotho : a case study of two secondary schools in Leribe District.
    (2010-03-04T08:57:19Z) Letsatsi, Setungoane
    This study investigates the role of leadership in teacher professional development in Lesotho high schools. The specific variables being investigated include teachers‟ perceptions of teacher professional development; their expectations as well as the principals‟ role in facilitating teacher professional development. Developments in leadership have led to changes in the ways teachers work. These have subsequently increased the need to review teacher professional development programmes as a means to enhance teachers‟ competences and to determine their appropriateness to their work Green (1999) in Blandford (2000) argues that professional development has now become a prerequisite to effective schools. In his view, effective schools don‟t just happen; they thrive because the people in them work hard to make them successful. Blandford (2000) emphasises this in stating that, “in order [for schools] to be effective, managers and teachers will need to engage in professional development.” One of the most influential links to accurate teacher professional development is the active involvement of principals in such initiatives. The objective of this research is to establish how the dual responsibility of the principal and the teachers manifests itself in professional development. So while, the principal is expected to take a lead role, both are expected to take an active part if professional development is to have any impact in their teaching and learning - the core business of schools. Even though, it is very important to know teachers‟ perceptions on the link between leadership and teacher professional development, this is one of the few researches carried out on how leadership contributes to teacher development, This research is iii therefore significant as it examines the voices of teachers on how leadership contributes to teacher professional development. In Lesotho, there is a problem of limited understanding of professional development by teachers and the schools in general. The research was conducted using qualitative methodology. It was based on a case study of two high schools in the Leribe district in Lesotho. Data was collected using questionnaires and follow up interviews which were administered to elicit responses from principals, deputy principals and teachers in both schools. The findings revealed a need for teachers in Lesotho to engage more in teacher professional development programmes so that they may have a better understanding of the concept. Their understanding at the time did not go beyond workshops or at the most induction programmes that are provided at the beginning of their careers. This study also demonstrated that teacher professional development should be core to the work of both the principals and teachers in order to create a learning environment in their schools where both can develop professionally. In addition to this, teachers should be encouraged to initiate some of the professional development activities that can only be accessed if they show willingness. This is consistent with Blandford (2000:4), who asserts that the effective management of professional development depends on individual enthusiasm, not compulsion, and on individuals prepared to take action in addressing their own professional needs. What also emerged as one of the key findings was that teachers felt that principals should take more responsibility in reinforcing the culture of professional development in schools. iv Based on the results obtained in this study, the results suggest that schools in Lesotho need more awareness in teacher professional development and how it is influenced by leadership. There is an overarching need for a properly functioning policy that would guide the implementation of teacher professional development activities both from outside and within the school.