Showing items 1 - 5 of 5

Your selections:

'n Ondersoek na onderwysers se persoonlike en professionele identiteit in die veranderende milieu van gespesialiseerde onderwys

  • Authors: Homan, Edie
  • Date: 2012-06-08
  • Subjects: Identity (Psychology) , Teachers - Professional relationships , Special education teachers , Competency-based education
  • Type: Thesis
  • Identifier: uj:8740 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/5092
  • Description: M.Ed. , The focus of the study is aimed at the personal and professional identity of the educator in the ever-changing milieu of specialised education. Since 1994, numerous changes have started to take place within the South African teaching profession, resulting in far-reaching implications for all educators. These changes include: the introduction and implementation of outcomes based education, a newly structured curriculum, modified assessment practices, the redefinition of the roles of educators and renewed educator appraisal systems. All of these impacted on educators in specialised schools. With the announcement of the Education White Paper 6: Special Needs Education – Building an Inclusive Education and Training System, the education system changed to one National Inclusive Education System, which would henceforth acknowledge the fundamental right of each person. The Medical Model, used in the past as relevant classification model for learners with special needs, was replaced with a bio-ecological system theory with several new support structures. Educators in special education, having to redefine their personal and professional identities, experienced a sense of insecurity and personal frustration. Erik Erikson‟s psycho-social theory was used as literary reference, in order to determine whether the shaping of identity was influenced by the transformation process. The relevant study was approached from a qualitative, phenomenological basis, to ensure that the life experiences of the individuals in specialised education can be understood and interpreted. Selected educators and managers with a long-term commitment to specialised teaching, and involved with in-practice teaching institutions, took part in the study. Their descriptions, interpretations and critical self-reflection were captured using structured interviews, participatory education and personal journals. Autobiographical narration was used as a form of story-telling, in order to verbalise the deepest thought processes and feelings of the participants. Four alternating identity dimensions that influenced the shaping of the personal and professional identities of specialised educators, were identified. It was established that the fundamental , developing and transformative identity dimensions alternatively function as integral dimensions, while still promoting a certain personal and professional educator identity within the unique context. The argument, however, has arisen that the optimal ecosocial identity dimension has not been achieved. Hope, competence – which includes an v active caring for a fixed community – and the proficient concern to lobby for the survival of a certain group, has not been accomplished. Due to the fact that the unique group of educators can no longer function optimally in the social community and framework, and as a result of a disturbed and changing support network within the specialised education milieu, it has in conclusion been established that the disintegration of relationship structures has impacted negatively on the optimal shaping of identity.
  • Full Text:

Attitudes of special school teachers towards inclusion.

  • Authors: Kubyana, Kgaugelo Daphney
  • Date: 2008-08-26T06:35:52Z
  • Subjects: Special education teachers , Limpopo ( South Africa ) , Inclusive education
  • Type: Thesis
  • Identifier: uj:3971 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/932
  • Description: The study focuses on the attitudes of teachers towards inclusive education that is phased in according to White Paper 6 on inclusive education. Since the first democratic elections in South Africa in April 1994, a general feeling of optimism and a common commitment to improving the quality of education has emerged and many changes have taken place. The basis of this change is laid by the constitution of the country and the Bill of Rights that ensures the rights of all civilians including those of learners towards education. Furthermore the rights of all learners towards their education is categorically emphasised in White Paper 6. White Paper 6 is a policy document which upholds inclusive education and is in accordance with international trends whereby all learners including those with barriers to learning have a right to an education of their choice wherever its practicable. White Paper 6 of 2001 makes reference to the need to remove these barriers in favour of effective learning for all learners irrespective of their barriers to learning. In the process of learning, teachers always play an important role. In much local and international literature where inclusion and teachers’ attitudes have been studied it has been found that positive attitudes in teachers towards inclusive education play an important role in the implementation process of inclusive education. It was also clear from the literature that negative attitudes makes teaching in an inclusive educational setting negative. In South Africa inclusive education is in the process of being implemented. Therefore, it is important to determine what the attitudes of teachers are towards inclusive education. Furthermore, the purpose of this study is to gain insight into teachers’ attitudes towards inclusive education. The data gathered will be helpful in training teachers, policy implementation towards facilitation of the development of positive attitudes and process of inclusive education. In achieving this of identifying the attitudes of special school teachers towards inclusive education, one focus group and two individual interviews were conducted at two special schools. From the analysis of data, it was apparently clear that teachers demonstrated negative attitudes towards inclusive education. The transcribed data of the interviews were analysed through the constant data analysis method as a “process whereby data gradually evolves into a core of emerging theory” (Merriam, 1998:191). In the dynamic and complex process of meaning making of data, five themes were eventually identified among the separate sub-themes to establish the main patterns for the data. In an effort to establish more positive attitudes in general towards inclusive education it would probably be advisable for government to take note of these negative attitudes and train teachers towards a more accepting changing of roles. , Prof. J. Pillay
  • Full Text:

Facilitating responsible and self-directed behaviours in learners with special educational needs in the intermediate phase: teacher's perceptions in a private LSEN school in South Africa

  • Authors: Bekker, Tanya Lee-Anne
  • Date: 2011-06-22T10:38:49Z
  • Subjects: Self-culture , Adjustment (Psychology) , Special education schools , Special education teachers
  • Type: Thesis
  • Identifier: uj:7104 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/3699
  • Description: M.Ed. , Internationally in countries such as the United States of America and Australia, there has been a shift in focus over recent years from essentially content based education curricula towards education curricula which offer the opportunity for all individuals to realize their potential, and that are capable of producing productive, contributing members of society. According to the United States Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory's most recent regional needs assessment (www.nwrel.org/planning/rna2000.html), "helping students become self-directed learners who take responsibility for their own academic performance" was ranked near the top of identified priorities. The focus on developing responsible and selfdirected learners extends beyond application to learning as cultivating responsible and self-directed behaviours is clearly intended to equip learners with responsible and self-directed behaviours and skills that in time will translate to their emergence as responsible and self-directed adult members of society. This is significant when considering the South African educational context, which also forwards educational goals that reflect the values of the society and that encapsulate the type of member of society that the educational system envisages producing. Given the legislative framework of South Africa, the resulting educational policies, as well as the importance of preparing learners to participate and contribute to a democratic society, it becomes clear that the development of responsible and self-directed learners is relevant to the South African context. Self-directed learning encourages individuals to take control of the learning experience. This means that learners are given choices and encouraged to make decisions as well as accept responsibility for associated consequences. Various characteristics, attitudes and behaviours of self-directed and responsible learners have been forwarded by various researchers in the field. Jones, Valdez, Nowakowski, and Rasumssen (1995) suggest that responsible learners exhibit behaviours such as setting goals and choosing tasks, and have the ability to plan effectively and think ahead. Responsible and self-directed learners have been identified by Long (in Hiemstra,1994 ) as having typical, common internal personality traits or characteristics as well as characteristic external behaviours, attitudes and responses. In addition to certain personality traits, specific kinds of cognitive skills are identified by Long (in Hiemstra, 1994) as being particularly important in successful self-directed learning. Self-directedness in learning is then a term recognizing both external factors that facilitate a learner taking primary responsibility, and internal factors that predispose an individual to accepting responsibility for learning-related thoughts and actions, which are characterised by particular traits, and skills that are demonstrated by responsible and self-directed behaviours.
  • Full Text:

Teachers' input regarding remedial work in schools

The impact of psychosocial camps on the psychosocial and educational development of vulnerable children

  • Authors: Bester, Claudia
  • Date: 2019
  • Subjects: Children with disabilities , Special education teachers , Educational psychology , Inclusive education
  • Language: English
  • Type: Masters (Thesis)
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/437943 , uj:38045
  • Description: Abstract: This study investigated the outcomes of a psychosocial camp that was conducted to address the well-being of vulnerable children in the North West Province. A mixed method sequential explanatory study was employed in three specific phases. The first phase included a quantitative method, with 120 learners in a control and intervention group. Questionnaires were used in order to complete the randomised pretest-posttest design. For the quantitative data analysis the IBM SPSS Statistics Version 25, which included tests like ANOVA, t-tests and correlations was used. The second phase of the study consisted of a qualitative design, whereby the participants participated in semistructured interviews, essay writing and a focus group. Qualitative content analysis was employed to analyse the data. The third phase integrated the findings from the first two phases in order to draw up recommendations and guidelines for future camps. .. , M.Ed. (Inclusive Education)
  • Full Text:
  • 1
  • Disclaimer
  • Privacy
  • Copyright
  • Contact