ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
The Appraisal and Enhancement of Resilience Modalities in Middle Adolescents within the School Context
Author: Kruger, Lenette
Date: 2008-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Middle School Students,Resilience (Psychology),Adolescent Development,Emotional Development,Social Development,Qualitative Research,Statistical Analysis,Measures (Individuals),Foreign Countries,Case Studies,Urban Schools,Secondary School Students,Developmental Tasks,Likert Scales,Questionnaires,Student Attitudes,Intervention,Teaching Methods,Outcomes of Education,Self Disclosure (Individuals)

Middle adolescents are exposed to environments riddled with potential adversities which pervade their lives, adding to the challenges inherent in their developmental stage. They spend a significant time in school and therefore it is an appropriate context to foster, enhance, and develop emotional, social, and cognitive resilience competencies. There are limited psychological assessment instruments for the South African population that can be used to appraise the level of resilience modalities in middle adolescents. Our aim was to describe and explore the process of appraising, developing, and enhancing the modalities of resilience through the newly developed Resilience Enhancement Kit and the Resiliency Scale. The research was conducted from a combined qualitative and quantitative approach. The results indicated that there was an increase in the level of resilient functioning after administration of the Resilience Enhancement Kit and it therefore appeared to be successful in enhancing resilience modalities. The Resilience Enhancement Kit and Resiliency Scale could be administered by educational psychologists and teachers to assess and enhance resilience modalities and could be incorporated into the school curriculum.
Educators' Selection and Evaluation of Natural Sciences Textbooks
Author: Lemmer, Miriam
Date: 2008-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Natural Sciences,Textbook Evaluation,Textbook Selection,Grade 7,Constructivism (Learning),Qualitative Research,Phenomenology,Questionnaires,Selection Criteria,Teacher Surveys,Educational Practices,Educational Strategies,Foreign Countries,Structured Interviews

Due to the central role of textbooks in the teaching and learning of science, it is imperative that textbooks provide correct content and instructional support. We investigated how 16 South African Grade 7 natural science educators selected their textbooks and how they evaluated these textbooks. The results were analysed according to the constructivist paradigm, as implemented in the Revised National Curriculum Statement, as well as selection criteria found in the literature. The selection criteria that the educators listed in interviews were isolated ideas that were not embedded in a constructivist framework. The educators also lacked the necessary scientific and pedagogical content-knowledge to effectively evaluate the textbooks. Recommendations are made for improvements in educator training, departmental guidance, and textbook writing. Experience in textbook evaluation during their training courses could boost educators' competence in selecting the books and detecting and compensating for their deficiencies. This would contribute to filling South African educators' need of hands-on examples that can be applied immediately in their classrooms.
Teacher Learning about Probabilistic Reasoning in Relation to Teaching It in an Advanced Certificate in Education (ACE) Programme
Author: Gierdien, Faaiz
Date: 2008-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Probability,Thinking Skills,Inservice Teacher Education,Intuition,Teacher Competencies,Mathematics Instruction,Mathematical Logic,Mathematical Concepts,Concept Formation,Questionnaires,Teacher Certification

I report on what teachers in an Advanced Certificate in Education (ACE) inservice programme learned about probabilistic reasoning in relation to teaching it. I worked &quot;on the inside&quot; using my practice as a site for studying teaching and learning. The teachers were from three different towns in the Northern Cape province and had limited teaching contact time, as is the nature of ACE programmes. Findings revealed a complicated picture, where some teachers were prepared to consider influences of their intuitive probabilistic reasoning on formal probabilistic reasoning when it came to teaching. It was, however, the 'genuineness' of teacher learning which was the issue that the findings have to address. Therefore a speculative, hopeful strategy for affecting teacher learning in mathematics teacher education practice is to sustain disequilibrium between dichotomies such as formal and intuitive probabilistic reasoning, which has analogies in content and pedagogy, and subject matter and method.
Typing Speed, Spelling Accuracy, and the Use of Word-Prediction
Author: Herold, Marina
Date: 2008-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Keyboarding (Data Entry),Spelling,Accuracy,Special Needs Students,Reading Difficulties,Courseware,Prediction,Word Study Skills,Time on Task,Grade 4,Grade 5,Grade 6,Computer Uses in Education,Word Lists,Teaching Methods

Children with spelling difficulties are limited in their participation in all written school activities. We aimed to investigate the influence of word-prediction as a tool on spelling accuracy and typing speed. To this end, we selected 80 Grade 4-6 children with spelling difficulties in a school for special needs to participate in a research project involving a cross-over within-subject design. The research task took the form of entering 30 words through an on-screen keyboard, with and without the use of word-prediction software. The Graded Word Spelling Test served to investigate whether there was a relationship between the children's current spelling knowledge and word-prediction efficacy. The results indicated an increase in spelling accuracy with the use of word-prediction, but at the cost of time and the tendency to use word approximations, and no significant relationship between spelling knowledge and word-prediction efficacy.
Followership in Higher Education: Academic Teachers and Their Formal Leaders
Author: Billot, Jennie
Date: 2013-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Learning Experience,Qualitative Research,Constructivism (Learning),Content Analysis,Leadership,Personal Narratives,College Faculty,Interpersonal Relationship,Leadership Styles,Teacher Attitudes,Teacher Administrator Relationship,Leadership Effectiveness,Higher Education,Foreign Countries

The concept of followership in higher education has been given limited attention despite the fact that followers are key players in the follower/leader equation and that leadership is increasingly seen as vital to improving the student learning experience. This paper explores this concept, reporting on the findings of a qualitative study underpinned by a socio-constructivist framework. Thirty-eight narratives describing the experience of being a follower and interacting with a formal leader were collected from academic teachers in seven institutions worldwide and analysed using inductive content analysis. The richness of the narratives collected illustrates the intricate relationship formed by the followership/leadership interaction. The results affirm the premise that, just as teachers are defined by their students' learning, leaders are defined by their followers' engagement. However, some teachers also display a strong reluctance towards the very idea of being a follower in academia where critical and independent thinking form the backbone of all practices. Negotiation, responsibility, and mutual respect appear essential aspects of any form of followership/leadership interaction as it directly or indirectly influences student learning and personal development. The research presented suggests that, in challenging times, academic leaders must attend to the characteristics and needs of their followers.
Support Services Perceived Necessary for Learner Relationships by Limpopo Educators
Author: Mashau, Samuel
Date: 2008-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Questionnaires,Teacher Surveys,Administrator Surveys,Teacher Student Relationship,Rural Areas,Disadvantaged Schools,Educational Resources,Educational Practices,Educational Quality,Instructional Improvement,Instructional Effectiveness,Change Strategies,Elementary Secondary Education,Foreign Countries

After more than a decade of democracy, based on rule of law and human rights in South Africa, some parts of the education system are still lagging far behind others. Following reports that the provincial departments of education are neglecting schools, especially in the far-flung rural areas of the country, a survey was undertaken on the core pedagogical function of educators. The survey focused on their perceptions of the need for creating and improving their relationships with their learners and the availability of support services to help them improve these relationships. A questionnaire was submitted to a sample of relatively experienced school managers and educators in Limpopo province. Most respondents felt the need to establish and improve such relationships, but a relatively large percentage also perceived such support services to be either non-existent or unavailable to them.
Access to Mathematics versus Access to the Language of Power: The Struggle in Multilingual Mathematics Classrooms
Author: Setati, Mamokgethi
Date: 2008-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Multilingualism,Language of Instruction,Language Usage,Foreign Countries,English,Mathematics Instruction,African Languages,Political Issues,Mathematics Teachers,Grade 11,Secondary School Teachers,Interviews,Teacher Attitudes,Student Attitudes

In this article I explore how teachers and learners position themselves in relation to use of language(s) in multilingual mathematics classrooms. I draw from two studies in multilingual mathematics classrooms in South Africa. The analysis presented shows that teachers and learners who position themselves in relation to English are concerned with access to social goods and positioned by the social and economic power of English. They do not focus on epistemological access but argue for English as the language of learning and teaching. In contrast, learners who position themselves in relation to mathematics and so epistemological access, reflect more contradictory discourses, including support for the use of the their home languages as languages of learning and teaching.
The Experience of and Need for Training of School Governors in Rural Schools in South Africa
Author: Tsotetsi, Stephen
Date: 2008-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Rural Schools,Educational Needs,Governing Boards,Board Candidates,Governance,Incidence,Management Development,Fidelity,Educational Opportunities,Qualitative Research,Elementary Secondary Education,School Surveys,Educational Resources,Barriers,Scheduling,Access to Information,Time Factors (Learning),School Support,Educational Experience

The concept of decentralisation originates from the belief that the state cannot alone control schools, but should share its power with other stakeholders, particularly those closer to the school, on a partnership basis. The South African Schools Act (Act 84 of 1996) mandates the establishment of school governing bodies that allow stakeholders--such as the state, parents, educators and learners (in secondary schools)--to play an active role in taking decisions on behalf of the school. However, this can only happen if participants in school governance are trained to decide on matters affecting their schools. With this in mind, qualitative research was undertaken to determine what training school governing bodies had received in selected rural schools in the Free State and to what extent this had assisted them in fulfilling their tasks. Findings indicated perceptions of training and its effectiveness. Based on the findings, detailed recommendations for the improvement of practice are made.
Conflicts and Configurations in a Liminal Space: SoTL Scholars' Identity Development
Author: Simmons, Nicola
Date: 2013-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Scholarship,Instruction,Learning,Identification (Psychology),Higher Education,Conflict,Professional Identity,Teacher Role,Foreign Countries,Teacher Attitudes,College Faculty,Personal Narratives

Although academic identity has received attention in the literature, there have been few attempts to understand the influence on identity from engagement with the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL). In this paper, we (a group of eight scholars from five different countries) describe how our interactions with SoTL have impacted the shaping of our academic identities. We have struggled to define the value, purpose, outcomes, and meanings of being a disciplined SoTL scholar, sometimes in addition to and sometimes in opposition to being a disciplinary scholar. Through analysis of our own 100-word reflective narratives, we identify common conflicts and configurations around our experiences of developing a SoTL identity. We describe how navigating among conflicting identities can lead us into a troublesome but deeply reflective liminal space, prompting profound realizations and the reconstruction of academic identity. Drawing on this notion of liminality helps us to understand our journeys as moving through a necessary and important transformational landscape, and allows us to suggest ways to support those engaging with SoTL to develop an integrative SoTL identity
Narrative Experiments and Imaginative Inquiry
Author: Gough, Noel
Date: 2008-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Inquiry,Personal Narratives,Story Telling,Narration,Science Education

In this semi-autobiographical essay I explore the representation and performance of imaginative inquiry practices in educational inquiry and other disciplines, with particular reference to &quot;thought experiments&quot; in the natural sciences and comparable practices in the arts, humanities, and social sciences. I share a number of experiences of writing as a mode of educational inquiry, with particular reference to narrative experiments inspired by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari's figuration of the rhizome--a process characterised as &quot;rhizosemiotic play&quot;--and demonstrate the generativity of intertextual readings of selected fictions in catalysing them.
Home Schooling as an Open-Learning Educational Challenge in South Africa
Author: Brynard, Susette
Date: 2007-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Educational Legislation,Home Schooling,Qualitative Research,Parent Attitudes,Teacher Attitudes,Educational Opportunities,Cooperation,Foreign Countries,Semi Structured Interviews,Religious Factors,Audio Equipment,Reliability,Validity,Economic Factors,Academic Standards,Special Needs Students,Social Development,Models,Social Change

Despite current legislation which makes provision for collaboration between the public school sector and home schooling, it appears that much can still be done to move towards a closer partnership. Consequetly I investigated the possibilities of such a liaison. A literature review on the nature of home schooling in general was conducted as background to a qualitative investigation on the views of parents, educators an d other role players of home schooling within the South African context. The findings showed that home schooling was an open learning educational system which provided opportunities to those learners who wished to participate, irrespective of the possible disadvantages. In conclusion it was found that co-operation between the education authorities and home schoolers was in the best interests of the individual's right to learn, and a symbiotic relationship between the two could benefit both of them.
The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in an Age of Accountability: Building Bridges
Author: Hutchings, Pat
Date: 2013-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Scholarship,Instruction,Learning,Accountability,Higher Education,Educational Quality,Quality Assurance,Educational Assessment,Educational Improvement,Educational Change,Interprofessional Relationship,Cooperation,Information Dissemination,Student Participation,Faculty Development

In recent years, as pressures for accountability have increased in higher education, some members of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) community may worry that the inquiry-based, improvement-focused practices they advocate could be put at risk by easy-to-administer, one-size-fits-all forms of assessment, quality assurance, and administrative control. But while acknowledging both real and perceived tensions between these two movements, we also examine some of the ways and settings in which they are converging, featuring a number of international examples in which external quality and assessment mandates have been employed to support SoTL-like work. We look, too, at the roles that scholars of teaching and learning can play as mediators and brokers between the two movements, helping to translate accountability requirements into opportunities for improvement. In short we argue that these two movements present opportunities for each other. SoTL can contribute to what is, or should be, the central goal of accountability: ensuring and improving the quality of student learning. The accountability movement, for its part, can provide a new context for integrating and valuing SoTL as a force for positive change on campuses and beyond. Taken together, the two approaches can make meaningful contributions to higher learning today. The paper concludes with recommendations to the SoTL community for building bridges between the two movements.
Public and Private Further Education and Training in South Africa: A Comparative Analysis of the Quantitative Evidence
Author: Akoojee, Salim
Date: 2007-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Vocational Education,Comparative Analysis,Educational Policy,Public Policy,Postsecondary Education,Public Colleges,Private Colleges,Enrollment Trends,Demography,Racial Composition,Gender Differences,Age Differences,Employment Level,Student Characteristics,Educational Quality

Public and private provision of vocational education and training (or Further Education and Training in the South African usage) exist in a relationship with each other but are rarely considered together. An analysis is provided of recent quantitative evidence on both sectors in South Africa in order to advance the case for further policy and research work on the inter-connectivities of the two sectors. This particularly emphasises the need for better conceptions of qual ity and a more serious focus on equity in both sectors.
Personality Development of the Adolescent: Peer Group &quot;versus&quot; Parents
Author: Bester, Garfield
Date: 2007-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Personality Traits,Peer Influence,Parent Child Relationship,Parent Influence,Gender Differences,Self Concept,Adolescent Development,Role,Correlation,Comparative Analysis,Questionnaires,High School Students,Student Attitudes,Item Analysis,Foreign Countries

The aim was firstly to determine if peers and parents had a different impact on the personality development of the adolescent. A second aim was to determine if gender played a role in this regard. An empirical investigation was carried out involving 98 learners from Grades 8 to 11 (53 boys and 55 girls). The respondents completed instruments measuring parent-child relationship, relationship with peers, self-concept, and personality characteristics. The results indicated that the peer group, when compared with parents, had a stronger relationship with the personality development of the adolescent. This stronger relationship was more prominent in boys than in girls. Gender did, therefore, play a role.
Adhering to the Assumptions of Invitational Education: A Case Study
Author: Steyn, Trudie
Date: 2007-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Educational Change,Elementary Education,Educational Theories,Educational Practices,Educational Environment,Qualitative Research,Success,Data Analysis,Interpersonal Competence,Trust (Psychology),Academic Aptitude,Empowerment,Cooperation,Principals,Administrator Attitudes,Educational Objectives,Instructional Leadership,Case Studies,Semi Structured Interviews,Focus Groups

South African schools are constantly faced with evolving needs and challenges characterised by change. As in other countries, schools in South Africa encounter pressure to &quot;produce more for less&quot; and at the same time to achieve certain goals and standards. Transforming schools into inviting institutions requires a paradigm shift among the principals and staff. The International Alliance for Invitational Education views invitational education (IE) as a means of changing classrooms into inviting places and altering the climate at schools. I focus on the way in which a primary school in Gauteng province, which received the prestigious Invitational Education award for being inviting, succeeded in adhering to the assumptions of IE. In a qualitative investigation I explored the principal and educators' perceptions of the way in which the school adhered to the four IE assumptions.
Successful Principals: Why Some Principals Succeed and Others Struggle When Faced with Innovation and Transformation
Author: Prew, Martin
Date: 2007-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Principals,Educational Innovation,Foreign Countries,Success,Administrator Role,Leadership Styles,Case Studies,Interviews,Questionnaires,Elementary Schools,Secondary Schools,Transformational Leadership,School Community Relationship,School Districts

I explore the role and skills a principal needs to succeed in a transforming South African township school environment. I looked in detail at four principals and schools exposed to innovation. Two were successful in transforming their schools and two were not. The successful principals were able to seize innovations and make them work for the school. They were selective in the innovative practices they accepted but, compared with principals of less successful schools who opposed many of the innovations, they were able to explain why they opposed the ones they rejected or modified. The successful principals were particularly effective at working with the surrounding community on its own terms and with the local education district office, and in making these interfaces productive, allowing the school to play a key role in improving the community and supporting changes in the district office.
Getting the Picture and Changing the Picture: Visual Methodologies and Educational Research in South Africa
Author: Mitchell, Claudia
Date: 2008-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Visual Aids,Research Methodology,Educational Research,Freehand Drawing,Photography,Social Action,Qualitative Research,Films,Video Technology,Film Production,Culture,Advertising,Social Change,Participatory Research,Ethnography,Semiotics

At the risk of seeming to make exaggerated claims for visual methodologies, what I set out to do is lay bare some of the key elements of working with the visual as a set of methodologies and practices. In particular, I address educational research in South Africa at a time when questions of the social responsibility of the academic researcher (including postgraduate students as new researchers, as well as experienced researchers expanding their repertoire of being and doing) are critical. In so doing I seek to ensure that the term &quot;visual methodologies&quot; is not simply reduced to one practice or to one set of tools, and, at the same time, to ensure that this set of methodologies and practices is appreciated within its full complexity. I focus on the doing, and, in particular, on the various approaches to doing through drawings, photo-voice, photo-elicitation, researcher as photographer, working with family photos, cinematic texts, video production, material culture, advertising campaigns as nine key areas within visual methodologies.