ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Constraints to Quality Education and Support for All: A Western Cape Case
Author: Dreyer, Lorna M.
Date: 2017-02-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Educational Quality,Foreign Countries,Access to Education,Student Needs,Student Placement,Poverty,Questionnaires,Semi Structured Interviews,Inclusion,Special Needs Students,Identification,Disadvantaged,Disabilities,Teacher Attitudes,Mixed Methods Research,Special Education Teachers,Focus Groups,Self Efficacy,Elementary School Teachers

In its vision for education, the National Planning Commission (2011:264) of South Africa states that &quot;all children can access and benefit from high quality education&quot; through flexible services which are available, accessible and responsive to the needs of children, and that &quot;specific consideration will be given to the most vulnerable children--those who live in poverty or with disabilities&quot;. As an emerging economy, South Africa is faced with the challenge of implementing the policy aimed at realising this vision. This paper highlights the plight of learners who have been identified as having high-level support needs and who are waiting for special school placement. Data was collected through questionnaires and semi-structured focus group interviews. In total, 371 participants were involved in this research. Forty-one learning support teachers were purposefully selected, and 165 mainstream teachers were systematically selected from within a specific education district of the Western Cape Province of South Africa. The findings imply that the needs of learners on waiting lists are grossly neglected in mainstream classrooms. Teachers generally feel ill equipped to provide adequate support. Various other contextual factors exacerbate this situation. This article offers some practical recommendations in pursuit of moving beyond a discourse of justification to debate the implementation of inclusive education that will benefit all learners, including learners with high-level support needs.
Efficacy of Using Career and Self-Construction to Help Learners Manage Career-Related Transitions
Author: Cook, A.
Date: 2016-02-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Career Change,Intervention,Comparative Analysis,Career Counseling,Adolescents,Experimental Groups,Career Choice,Transitional Programs,Global Approach,Grade 11,Mixed Methods Research,Quasiexperimental Design,Pretests Posttests,Control Groups,Semi Structured Interviews,High School Students,Career Development,Career Exploration,Foreign Countries

This article explores the extent to which an intervention programme helped learners from two contrasting educational settings manage career-related transitions. Forty-two learners from two schools were selected, using convenience and purposive sampling, to take part in an intervention programme. Two comparison groups comprised of 45 learners from the same two schools were similarly selected, and continued to take part in the standard, traditional Life Orientation lessons offered by their schools. Quantitative data on their career adaptability was gathered from the pre- and post-intervention results of &quot;The Career Adapt-Abilities Inventory&quot; (Savickas &amp; Porfeli, 2012). Qualitative data was gathered during in-depth focus group interviews and discussions with the participants, as well as by observing them. Data-gathering techniques included the Collage, the Career Interest Profile and the lifeline technique. Results revealed that career and self-construction helped the participants from both experimental groups manage career-related transitions. It was also apparent that these participants displayed improved career adaptability after they took part in the intervention programme. More research is needed to establish why learners from low resource schools seemingly embrace school-based, career support initiatives without questioning them and/or responding to them without frustration and/or confusion.
A Resilience, Health and Well-Being Lens for Education and Poverty
Author: Ebersöhn, Liesel
Date: 2017-02-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Resilience (Psychology),Health,Well Being,Outcomes of Education,Poverty,Risk,Ethnography,Educational Research,Social Differences,Epidemiology,Case Studies,Interviews,Foreign Countries,Educational Opportunities

In this paper I argue that the health and well-being outcomes of people at different levels of a social hierarchy, as studied by epidemiologists and psychologists has relevance for educational research, especially in unequal societies. When addressing poverty-associated risk, the educational emphasis need not only be on attaining more individual wealth in society, but could rather be to improve the educational, psychological and social well-being. I draw on four ethnographic studies to construct a bricolage of narratives to show how resilience, health and well-being agendas may lead to positive education outcomes given inequality.
&quot;We Are Never Invited&quot;: School Children Using Collage to Envision Care and Support in Rural Schools
Author: Khanare, Fumane P.
Date: 2017-02-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Rural Schools,Foreign Countries,Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS),Qualitative Research,Visual Arts,At Risk Persons,Environmental Influences,Educational Environment,Grade 11,Secondary School Students,Social Services,Art Activities,Competence,Health Promotion,Access to Information,Interpersonal Communication,Cooperation,School Community Relationship

The voices of school children who are orphaned and vulnerable are more often than not missing from conversations about their care and support at school. In a rural ecology this is even more so the case. This article draws on a study with school children in rural KwaZulu-Natal and explores their constructions of care and support in the age of HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) and AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome). A qualitative approach using collage, a visual arts-based method was used with 20 school children from two rural schools in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa to coproduce data with the participants, which was analysed using thematic analysis. A bio-ecological systems theory was used to frame how rural school children understand and envision care and support in a rural school context, explaining their ideas of transforming school care and support provided for vulnerable children. The findings point to the need for strengthened competencies and agency, improved collaboration and inclusion at school level, and enhanced relations and agency at community level. The findings suggest a democratising of care and support, and have implications for systemic programmatic interventions and policy-making aimed at strengthening the relationships of the individual, the school and the community.
Non-Hierarchical Clustering as a Method to Analyse an Open-Ended Questionnaire on Algebraic Thinking
Author: Di Paola, Benedetto
Date: 2016-02-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Grade 10,Questionnaires,Algebra,Mathematical Logic,Statistical Analysis,Secondary School Mathematics,Evaluation Methods,Problem Solving,Classification,Bias,Multivariate Analysis,Mathematics Education,Equations (Mathematics)

The problem of taking a data set and separating it into subgroups, where the members of each subgroup are more similar to each other than they are to members outside the subgroup, has been extensively studied in science and mathematics education research. Student responses to written questions and multiple-choice tests have been characterised and studied using several qualitative and/or quantitative analysis methods. However, there are inherent difficulties in the categorisation of student responses in the case of open-ended questionnaires. Very often, researcher bias means that the categories picked out tend to find the groups of students that the researcher is seeking out. In this paper, we discuss an example of application of a quantitative, non-hierarchical analysis method to interpret the answers given by 118 Tenth Grade students in Palermo (Italy), to six open-ended questions about algebraic thinking. We show that the use of non-hierarchical analysis allows us to interpret the reasoning of students solving different mathematical problems using Algebra, and to separate them into different groups, that can be recognised and characterised by common traits in their answers, without any prior knowledge on the part of the researcher of what form those groups would take (unbiased classification).
Philosophical Enquiry as a Pedagogical Tool to Implement the CAPS Curriculum: Final-Year Pre-Service Teachers' Perceptions
Author: Green, Lena
Date: 2016-02-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Preservice Teachers,Critical Thinking,Creative Thinking,Citizenship Education,Foreign Countries,Communities of Practice,Teacher Attitudes,Educational Philosophy,Thinking Skills,Curriculum Implementation

In this paper, we argue that philosophical enquiry, as practised using community of enquiry pedagogy, is an appropriate implementation strategy for Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) if the principles that underlie the curriculum are to be taken seriously. Matthew Lipman's Philosophy for Children Programme and its community of enquiry pedagogy were intended as a classroom means to enhance children's critical, creative, caring and collaborative thinking and prepare them for democratic citizenship. A previous study suggested that pre-service teachers benefitted from exposure to this pedagogy. The aim of this study was to explore the extent to which pre-service teachers, after a brief experiential introduction to community of enquiry pedagogy, perceived its relevance to the CAPS curriculum. The research was positioned within an interpretivist qualitative paradigm with an emphasis on shared construction of meanings. In 2013 the final-year student group consisted of seventy-four students, of whom 30 volunteered to participate in focus group discussions at the end of the year. Themes were identified within the data and are reported within the following broad categories: perceived relevance to the general requirements of the CAPS curriculum, perceived relevance to specific curriculum areas, and constraints on implementation. Discussion focuses on the insights of participants, potential challenges, some limitations of the research and our plans to address them.
Assessing the Outcomes of School-Based Partnership Resilience Intervention
Author: Mampane, Ruth
Date: 2017-02-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Program Effectiveness,Partnerships in Education,Intervention,Resilience (Psychology),Mixed Methods Research,Academic Achievement,Rural Schools,Teacher Attitudes,Secondary School Students,Educational Environment,Semi Structured Interviews,Scores,Achievement Tests,Grade 9,Grade 10,Grade 11,Foreign Countries,At Risk Students

This study reports on the outcomes of educational psychology school-based intervention. The aim was to determine whether the intervention served as an educational pathway to resilience. Through a concurrent mixed-methods research design interpreted through a pragmatic lens, academic school performance of students in a rural school was used as an outcome variable to gauge educational resilience in relation to educational psychology-rural school intervention. Quantitatively, academic document sampling from two student cohorts were sampled (n = 53). Qualitatively, knowledgeable teachers from the school (n = 2) were interviewed to gain more in-depth knowledge of the perceptions of academic performance and intervention. The data analysis techniques consist of descriptive statistics and t-tests on the sampled data, and thematic analysis of interview transcripts. As evidenced, research findings suggest that partnership intervention to increase pathways to socioemotional competence and educational pathways to influence academic performance of students was not significant. The findings further suggest that partnership intervention certainly holds numerous benefits, yet in this case, they are not directly evidenced in the performance of students. Quantitative academic performance scores are poor indicators of school-based intervention outcomes; we recommend that future research should include qualitative student self-report.
Empowering Principals to Lead and Manage Public Schools Effectively in the 21st Century
Author: Mestry, Raj
Date: 2017-02-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Principals,Empowerment,Foreign Countries,Educational Change,Administrator Role,Administrator Education,Leadership Training,Qualitative Research,Administrator Effectiveness,Faculty Development,Administrator Attitudes,Program Development,Instructional Leadership,Administrator Qualifications

Globally, education systems have been affected by radical social, political and economic changes. Although school principals play a pivotal role in improving student learning and attaining educational outcomes, they work under strenuous conditions to deal with multifaceted transformational issues. Principals experience great difficulty in coping with numerous changes, partly because they are inadequately prepared for their leadership position, or simply lack the necessary skills, knowledge and attitudes to lead and manage schools effectively and efficiently. Fundamentally, principals should be empowered to effectively deal with challenges facing them in the 21st century. Using qualitative research, this study explored the importance of promoting a culture of professional development that will prepare principals to confront education challenges and obstacles facing them. Fifteen principals were selected to determine their perceptions and experiences of how they were prepared and professionally developed to lead and manage schools. Findings revealed that in South Africa, there is no formal preparation for aspiring or practicing principals taking on leadership and management positions, and very few in-service professional development programmes are available. There is a dire need for education authorities to introduce compulsory training and development programmes for aspiring and practicing school leaders to lead and manage their schools successfully.
The Teaching Context Preference of Four White South African Pre-Service Teachers: Considerations for Teacher Education
Author: le Roux, Adré
Date: 2016-02-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Preservice Teachers,Whites,Foreign Countries,Teacher Education,Critical Theory,Race,Qualitative Research,Story Telling,Teacher Education Programs,Interviews,Blacks,Racial Relations,Racial Identification,Advantaged,Power Structure,Females,Teacher Student Relationship

In an attempt to bring about a society in which individuals can realise their full potential, South African (SA) education has undergone fundamental reforms. However, despite these changes, the education system seems to remain hampered by ongoing systematic and institutional racism, and subsequent socio-economic structures of poverty and privilege. Given the national requirement for all teachers to be socially just educators, pre-service teachers need to be guided to first recognise and understand their own worldviews, before they will be able to understand the worldviews of learners in diverse teaching and learning contexts. Framed within Critical Race Theory, this article draws on the interplay between race and whiteness as property to explore four white pre-service teachers' preference for working with black learners. Data generated through an iterative process of qualitative interviewing revealed how the participants' preference is strongly embedded in power and privilege. Based on the assumption that unexamined whiteness will contribute to the continuation of white privilege and teaching premised on a deficit model, storytelling is proposed as a conceptual tool by means of which to decentre whiteness.
The Value of Large-Scale Randomised Control Trials in System-Wide Improvement: The Case of the Reading Catch-Up Programme
Author: Fleisch, Brahm
Date: 2017-02-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Randomized Controlled Trials,Reading Programs,Educational Improvement,Improvement Programs,Educational Change,Outcome Measures,Foreign Countries,Reading Tests,Reading Skills,Reading Achievement,Pretests Posttests,Quasiexperimental Design,Grade 4,Statistical Analysis,Regression (Statistics)

This article illustrates the value of large-scale impact evaluations with counterfactual components. It begins by exploring the limitations of small-scale impact studies, which do not allow reliable inference to a wider population or which do not use valid comparison groups. The paper then describes the design features of a recent large-scale randomised control trial (RCT) evaluation of an intermediate phase literacy intervention that we evaluated. Using a rigorous sampling process and randomised assignment, the paper shows the value of the approach, and how the RCT method prevents researchers from reaching potentially harmful false positive findings. The paper also considers some of the limitations of the RCT method and makes recommendations to mitigate these.
Problem Behaviours of Kindergartners: The Affects of Children's Cognitive Ability, Creativity, and Self-Esteem
Author: Chi, Sung-Ae
Date: 2016-02-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Behavior Problems,Kindergarten,Foreign Countries,Check Lists,Child Behavior,Children,Intelligence Tests,Creativity Tests,Creative Thinking,Self Esteem,Cognitive Ability,Creativity,Correlation,Multiple Regression Analysis,Emotional Response,Predictor Variables,Statistical Analysis

This study investigated the affects of cognitive ability, creativity, and self-esteem on kindergartners' problem behaviour. Participants were 203 children (mean age = 65.8 months) attending kindergartens in Korea. Data collection used the Korean version of Child Behaviour Checklist, the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children, the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking, and the Children's Sense of Self-Esteem Inventory. Pearson's correlations and stepwise multiple regression analysis were used to analyse the data. There were four primary outcomes. First, there were negative correlations between children's problem behaviour (internalising and externalising problems) and cognitive ability. Second, there was a negative correlation between internalising problems and fluency in creativity. No correlation was found between children's externalising problems and creativity. Third, there were negative correlations between children's problem behaviour (internalising and externalising problems) and self-esteem. Fourth, sequential processing, emotional competence, and fluency were revealed to be predictors of children's internalising problems. Social competency and sequential processing were found to be predictors of children's externalising problems.
Educators' Experiences of Their Relationships with Adolescents Involved in Drug Use
Author: Walton, Karen
Date: 2016-08-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Substance Abuse,Phenomenology,Secondary School Teachers,Resilience (Psychology),At Risk Students,Teacher Role,Teacher Student Relationship,Teacher Competencies,Well Being,Interaction,Barriers,Semi Structured Interviews,Qualitative Research

Substance use amongst learners in South Africa has become a significant problem, with relationships between educators and learners being seriously challenged. Educators are often in a position to notice changes in the behaviour of learners and are able to provide support and assistance. A phenomenological, explorative study was undertaken and in-depth interviews were conducted with 16 educators from a secondary school in a high-risk community in the Western Cape. In addition, a World Café group discussion was used in order to tap the participants' collective wisdom. The data was analysed thematically--using positive psychology as a conceptual framework. This focuses not only on what is wrong or pathological, but rather on what is positive, attempting to nurture resilience and strengths in individuals and communities. Two main themes emerged: challenges to the educator-learner relationships, and the educators' skills and strengths in nurturing positive relationships. It was found that educators' personal well-being is important in order for them to deal with these challenging interactions. Educators used a number of skills and strengths in order to overcome challenges and to foster positive educator-learner relationships. A recommendation for future research is to explore the experiences of learners who have used drugs, and sought support from educators, focusing in particular on what aspects hindered and/or facilitated the relationship between them.
The National Benchmark Test of Quantitative Literacy: Does It Complement the Grade 12 Mathematical Literacy Examination?
Author: Le Roux, Natalie
Date: 2017-02-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Numeracy,Grade 12,Mathematics Tests,Mathematics Skills,Mathematics Instruction,Foreign Countries,Secondary School Mathematics,Correlation,National Competency Tests,College Readiness,College Bound Students,Higher Education,Mathematics Achievement,Statistical Analysis,Benchmarking

The National Senior Certificate (NSC) examination in South Africa is a standardised assessment whose main function is to determine whether Grade 12 learners have mastered subject knowledge at the culmination of their secondary education. Alongside this, the National Benchmark Test Project (NBTP) was introduced to develop the National Benchmark Tests (NBTs) that are aimed at assessing the academic readiness of first time entry students to South African universities. This article explores the relationship between these two standardised assessments in the domain of mathematical/ quantitative literacy. This is accomplished through a Pearson correlation analysis of 6,363 test scores obtained by Grade 12 learners on the NSC Mathematical Literacy examination and the Quantitative Literacy test of the NBT in 2012. The results reveal a curvilinear relationship between these two sets of results. This indicates that the two assessments are related but not identical, and the paper argues that their complementarity suggests the value of using performance information generated by both for access and placement.
The Readiness of Schools in Zimbabwe for the Implementation of Early Childhood Education
Author: Mangwaya, Ezron
Date: 2016-02-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Primary Education,Readiness,Program Implementation,Early Childhood Education,Qualitative Research,Case Studies,Semi Structured Interviews,Principals,Administrator Attitudes,Elementary School Teachers,Teacher Attitudes,Training,Educational Resources

This qualitative study focuses on primary schools' state of readiness for the introduction of early childhood education. Adopting a multiple case study design, the article explores, through semi-structured interviews and documentation, school heads, teachers-in-charge and classroom teachers' perceptions of their respective schools' state of readiness for the installation and implementation of early childhood education. The study established that, while classroom teachers were adequately qualified to implement early childhood education, teachers-in-charge were not. Secondly, school heads received limited induction for the introduction and implementation of early childhood education. Additionally, inadequate teaching-learning resources and lack of on-going teacher support contributed to schools' lack of readiness for the introduction of early childhood education. The study recommends interventions that curriculum planners and implementers can utilise in order to create conditions that enable primary schools to be ready for introducing and implementing early childhood education.