3. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - All submissions
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Item The relative merits of different methods of teaching experimental work in a township secondary school in the Republic of South Africa(1993) Mabuya, Mavis BuyisiweThe purpose of this study to determine which of the methods of teaching experimental work, namely; demonstrations filmed-experiments or illustrating experiments using the chalkboard, is the most effective method of teaching pupils at the secondary school level. Forty-two Standard Eight Physical Science pupils from a township secondary school, registered under the Department of Education and Training and situated on the East Rand served as the subjects for this study. Pupils were divided in to three equivalent groups, each with similar marks in science and each group was exposed to three different teaching methods for three different topics. The pupils wrote a test for each topic after the exposure to one of the methods. The research data were statistically analysed, using non parametric statistics ( viz., the t-test). The analysis of the data indicates that none of the methods was consistently superior to the others.Item Worker education in South Africa 1973-1993.(1994) Vally, SalimWith the rise of the independent trade union movement since 1973, immense importance has been attached to worker education. The growth of the union movement created the space and provided the resources for workers to ascertain independent cultural practice in which worker education plays a pivotal role. Abbreviation abstract)Item Black parents' perceptions of open schools.(1993) Umlaw, NtombifuthiThe purpose of this research is to investigate and describe black parents' understanding and experiences of the private open school system in the Witwatersrand. Using a framework of multipluralism, the intention of the study is two-fold. Firstly, it explores the various factors which enhance or inhibit the open school choice. Secondly, it establishes the role of black parents within the open school community, as well as their role within their own black communities. The information required to develop the comprehensive survey questionnaire was elicited through a pilot study. The research data was generated using structured interviews from a sample of Belgravia Convent parents. The results show that the reasons which parents give for the choice of open school education are informed by a number of identities. The study identifies these as: social class, racial, religious and geographic identities. Gender identity was found to have no influence. The motivators for the open school choice are not restricted to the economic discourse, but are also extended beyond the economic boundaries to include aspects which are located within the political, racial, religious and geographic discourses. These multifarious identities are found to articulate with one another in complementary and contradictory ways when motivating the parents' choice of open school education. An example of such a contradictory relationship is when the motivators for the open school choice - the escape from the inferior standard of township education, and the need for better education, the latter being driven by the middle class aspiration of upward mobility - contradict the need to maintain racial unity within the black communities, as well as with the desire of not losing their cultural heritage. In other words, the low standard of township education together with the social class status of parents stands at a tension with both the political and cultural identities of parents. Hence contradictions should be taken into account when analysing issues of choice.Item The needs of black farm school teachers in relation to using English as the medium of instruction.(1992) Taitz, LynetteThe research, conducted as part of a project aimed at improving teachers' English .skills, set out to answer the question: What are the needs of farm school teachers in relation to the use of English as the medium of instruction? Clarification of this question involved the examination of teachers' English proficiency, the teaching of English as a subject and the.observation of the learning/teaching situation in the farm school classroom. The research raised questions concerning the underlying assumption that an English language intervention could bring about major change in the classroom. As a result, further enquiries into the socio-economic context-of the schools were instituted. In addition, the learning/teaching situation was examined in the light of theories of cognition and change. A range of research methods involving both quantitative and qualitative approaches were utilized to penetrate this highly complex situation. The findings indicated a clear need on the. part of ihe teachers for an English proficiency course. At the same time. the findings also indicated most strongly that a fundamental change is needed in tne teachers' understanding of their role if they are to become agents of significant change.Item Worker education in South Africa 1973-1993.(1994) Vally, SalimWith the rise of the independent trade union movement since 1973, immense importance has been attached to worker education. The growth of the union movement created the space and provided the resources for workers to assert an independent cultural practice in which worker education plays pivotal role. Intense debate has raged within the union movement over the content, of this education, the way it is to be provided, who the recipients should be and whether it fulfils its perceived aim. There exists general consensus though that worker education has been integral to the development of the labour movement. Yet, there is no comprehensive study of worker education in South Africa. Such a study is even more necessary today as attempts are made to address the historical deficiencies in the South African education system, This report therefore is a small contribution toward understanding worker education and the importance of its role not only for the Labour: movement but for society at large. (Abbreviation abstract)Item The community of the resurrection's involvement in African schooling on the Witwatersrand, from 1903-1956.(1994) Winterbach, HeidiTHE COMMUNITY OF THE RESURRECTION'S INVOLVEMENT IN AFRICAN SCHOOLING ON THE WITWATERSRAND, FROM 1903 TO 1956 This research project is an historical reconstruction of the schools established and run by the Community of the Resurrection (CR) on the Witwatersrand from 1903 40 1956. The aim of this research is to contribute to knowledge and understanding of missionary education in South Africa, through a study of the educational work of this particular missionary body, as embodied in their schools. The report examines key aspects of the schools, including their financial and organizational structures, the education they offered and their ethos. The CR schools varied in physical size, numbers of pupils and level of sophistication, from the well established St Peter's Secondary School, to numerous one-roomed wood and iron shacks. Similarly, the products of these schools varied from well-known African leaders and academics to domestic servants. Although a definitive judgement on the merits of missionary education is not the focus of this study, the project concludes that the initial Eurocentric attitude of the CR towards Africans and their education was transformed to one of genuine sympathy and the CR brethren became leaders in the fight for equal education for Africans in the face of Government opposition. This project is based on primary source material located in the Church of the Province Archives of South Africa at the University of the Witwatersrand and is influenced by secondary sources such as historical works and theories on missionary education. as well as works by CR members themselves.Item An examination of the position and role of history in black secondary schools, with particular reference to the period since the introduction of bantu education.(1991) Zwane, Isiah Erich'Ihis research report examines the position and role of South African history thought to pupils in Black Secondary schools between 1953 and 1988. This includes the perceptions of those who were pupils in Black secondary schools from 1954 to 1975, and the views of teachers who offered South African history at these schools during the period examined. (Abbreviation abstract)Item The 1989 black matriculation failure rate : what were the classroom practices?(1994) Zimba, Maoto DavidThis research is an attempt to reveal aspects of History teaching concealed in conventional or popular beliefs about the Black Matriculation pass/fail statistics. The classroom practices of two History teachers are described. One comes from an "achieving" Soweto secondary school. The school is popularly contrived as an "achieving" school because it is known in the community for producing better than average DET Matriculation results. The classroom practices of another teacher. from an "underachieving" school. are also described. This school is known in the community for producing lower than average DET results over a number of years. These classroom practices are illuminated against the backdrop of the high pass/low failure rate during the eighties, with particular reference to the year 1989. This is the year in which the DET matriculation pass/failure rate was the worst in the decade of the eighties. (Abbreviation abstract)Item Early lateral preferences and mental processing trends in black preschoolers.(1998) Jansen, Carmel PatriciaThe current study adopts a developmental neuropsychological perspective, an approach which does not imply brain dysfunction but rather the principle of understanding the general relationship hetween brain growth and behavioural changes and the effect of environmental factors in children. A neuropsychology of normal development would seem to be an appropriate initial prerequisite if we are to understand the effects of brain insult or disease in the developing child. A modest aim was to acquire a fundamental understanding of emerging skills in black preschool children, starting with the most basic, the development of lateral preferences. This area was selected (a) as a departure point because of its location within the broad area of cerebrallateralization and (b) the opportunity it provided to explore the children's mental processing skills within the same theoretical perspective. The purpose of the present study was the longitudinal investigation of lateral preferences in a sample of Soweto children at three and five years.and information processing skills in the same sample at five years. Three hundred and thirty-five children, 170 girls and 165 boys, were sampled with the assistance of the Birth to Ten project.a longitudinal study of growth, health and development of children living in the Johannesburg Metropolitan area over a ten year period, 1990 to 2000. The children were assessed prior to starting school in January, 1996. A descriptive approach was adopted in explaining the patterns of handedness, footedness and eyeness. The findings showed that the patterns for handedness reflected the expected rightward direction at both ages although the degree to which preference has oeen established was weaker at five years than that reported in other studies with children of similar ages. Thirty-nine percent of the sample were mixed-handed at five years,only 3% were mixed-footed and 5% showed mixed-eyeness, At five years Simultaneous and Sequential information processing skills were assessed with the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (K-ABC). Factor analysis revealed a two factor solution broadly supporting the presence of the two processing styles. However the two coding processes were differentially distributed throughout the sample showing significant differences. More specifically.it was found that 34% of the children presented profiles of both processing styles that were below the group mean;31 % showed profiles where one or other coding style was below the group mean;23 % of the children portrayed processing profiles above the group mean. Thirty-nine children (12 %) presented patterns of processing that were above the group mean but were highly developed in one or other processing style. Each of the profiles that emerged were grouped and considered separately. Cognitive tasks involving verbal fluency, naming skills,draw-a person,basic perceptual knowledge,basic literacy.plus lateral preference information such as handedness direction, handedness consistency and handedness skills were appended to all the groups. Low scores in processing styles were found to be associated with poor verbal skills, low mental age,poor perceptual and basic literacy knowledge,poor hand skill performance,and greater (but nonsignificant) numbers of mixed-handers. The lowest scoring group also contained the majority of male left-handers. One of the highest scoring groups showed the strongest lateralizing patterns although the numbers were small (n= 11). Girls with above average sequential skills also scored highly on verbal fluency (p < .05) and hand skills (p < .05). Boys in this group showed the strongest degree of right-handedness (p < .05). In the four lower performance groups,background variables such as type of preschool experience (p <.001),the presence of books in the home (p < .05) and mothers level of education (p <.001) were found to be significant. A regression model which incorporated environmental, epigenetic, cognitive and motoric factors was found to be the most viable in predicting processing skills.Item Shack schools for shack settlements : a study of DET policies relating to the provision of school facilities in shack settlements in the PWV area.(1991) Jacklin, Heather JoanThis report examines the policies of the Department of Education and Training (DET) regarding provision of school facilities at the end of the eighties. It focuses specifically on the implications of these policies for legal freestanding shack settlements in the Pretoria-Witwatersrand- Vereeniging area. The report sets out to unravel discursive trends at the level of senior officials within the DET related to the provision of schools in shack settlements as well as the policies and practices which emanated from these discourses. These are related to broader state strategies and particularly population movement and settlement policies. The effects of these practices are assessed in terms of equity.(Abbreviation abstract)