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Investigating the role of school principals on Grade 12 learners’ performance in the Eastern Cape
No full textDissertation (M.Ed.(Education Management))--University of the Free State, 2022This study aimed to investigate the role of school principals in managing the Grade 12 learners’ performance in the six selected schools of Joe Gqabi district - Sterkspruit in the Eastern Cape Province (EC). Matric results in the Department of Education have increased by 2,6% between 2016 and 2017. However, by 2017, the Eastern Cape Province’s performance was still rated under 80%. The improvement in the EC can partly be attributed to the intervention programmes implemented by the provincial Department of Education aimed at capacitating principals. These interventions included the temporary appointment of mentors who were former principals in the performing schools. However, the true extent to which these improvements in the results can be attributed to the role of the school principals is unknown. The study was conducted in the Joe Gqabi District - Sterkspruit, in the Eastern Cape, a vast geographical area with scattered schools – some with accessible roads and others without.
An interpretive paradigm and a qualitative design with discursive, exploratory, and narrative methods were used in this study, together with purposeful sampling of six schools. Two schools demonstrated good Grade 12 learner performance, the other two demonstrated significant Grade 12 improvement, and the two schools' Grade 12 learner performance showed a steady decline. The two well-performing schools had the same principal over the past five years. The two improved schools had demonstrated improvement only after the appointment of new principals. Lastly, the two poor-performing schools had only declined after the appointment of new principals.
The selected schools were diverse in many ways: some in deep rural areas, some near towns with accessible roads, and some in town, which were the former model C schools with Afrikaans as a medium of instruction for some learners. All six schools write the same examinations; therefore, comparisons based on the results were generally credible as they indicated the factors leading to poor performance. The principal from these schools, two teachers, and two learners was identified to participate in this study. The instruments used to collect data were interviews, observations, and document analysis. The study showed that principals understand their roles towards Grade 12 learners’ performance, motivation of Grade 12 teachers and learners is essential, and proper management of school resources and curriculum management implementation is paramount.
Recommendations from this study included the professional growth of principals, communication with all the stakeholders within the school, and principals' motivation
The impact of empowering women farmers towards sustainable agriculture in the Gauteng province of South Africa
No full textDespite the South African Constitution emphasising values and gender equality; most women continue to face barriers and commercial restrictions that limit their participation in the mainstream economy. As a result, methods must be devised by the sector to determine whether the policies and strategies they invested in for gender mainstreaming, which were intended to build more equitable, empowering, sustainable and inclusive societies, are effective and producing the desired results. Due to a lack of gender-disaggregated data, women's roles in agriculture and, thus, their opportunities and constraints need to be better understood. This study aimed to quantify the impact of women's empowerment on sustainable agriculture. Even though the Department of Agriculture has been implementing the women empowerment project since 1999, the literature findings show that the impact of agriculture on empowering women in the sector cannot be quantified. The sector's eligibility to request assistance is gender neutral. Descriptive research methodology was used for this study, and quantitative data were collected in the MS Excel package and statistically analysed using the Women's Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI) and Agricultural Integrated Survey (AGRIS). Additionally, the study applied a Logical Framework Analysis (LFA) for problem analysis and translating the causes and effects of the problems that women farmers face into objectives and future strategies. Respondents were farmers who share a common domain category of being classified as commercial farmers. Only those farmers who were classified as commercial farmers who qualified for the Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (GDARD's) commercialisation programme and benefited from the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Female Entrepreneur Awards (DAFF FEA) programme were eligible to participate in the study. Except for the time domain, access to, and decisions about credit indicators, this study found that sufficiency in the production, leadership, assets, income, and time usage categories was more closely associated with empowerment than demographic variables. Within this study, 91% of women and 81% of men reported feeling empowered. The domain in the sample that contributes the most to women's disempowerment, according to the deconstruction of the disempowerment measure, is time. The areas of empowerment that contribute the most to male disempowerment are time (workload) and resources (access to and credit decisions). Under the sub-indicators biodiversity, profitability, and resilience, female and male participants in Gauteng are unsustainable on the environmental and economic dimensions.
Furthermore, the study's findings evaluated the practitioners' willingness to examine and discuss gender issues. The findings revealed that 44% of practitioners have a high willingness to explore gender issues and 86% of practitioners were unable to discuss gender issues. This study also proposed developing a gender policy as a starting point to direct the sector to incorporate the gender dimension into pertinent policies and strategies rather than addressing gender through a separate and isolated process. The inclusion of gender budgeting and sex-disaggregated data administration must be referenced in this policy, which serves as the guiding principle for all programmes, initiatives, and action plans. Effective collection and analysis of gender-disaggregated data are critical to ensuring women are empowered to participate in all aspects of the economy. By doing so, we improve our chances of strengthening our country's economy and advancing the two most pressing global goals of equity and sustainability
Expectations of presiding officers in the South African criminal justice system of the criminologist as an expert witness
No full textDissertation(M.A.(Criminology))--University of the Free State, 2022A criminologist should not be considered a visitor, but rather a permanent resident of the criminal justice system. Among the role players in the legal system, Dumani (2005: 12) cites criminologists as having substantial potential. The view of criminologists in courtrooms has changed since Terblanche (2007: 23) called for the use of penology experts and criminologists in court. However, in his later edition, Terblanche (2016) discusses the role of criminologists as active role players within the criminal justice system. This study broadly aims to elucidate the role and function of Criminologists within the criminal justice system of South Africa, based on an exploration of the expectations of presiding officers. Criminologists are trained social scientists – who specifically focus on crime, offenders, victims, punishment and also the prevention and control of crime. Their expertise makes them one of the central role players in the criminal justice system, and their knowledge base makes them significant role players as well. The criminal justice system includes various actors who interact with one another to meet the need for equitable justice for all actors in society. Talcott Parsons’ theory of structural functionalism maintains that a social system includes actors who interact with one another in their various roles and functions to support the structure of society. In order for a system to survive, it must engage in four sets of activities aimed at meeting its needs; namely, adaptation, goal attainment, integration, and latency. The four functional imperatives were applied to enable the researcher to explain the role of the forensic criminologist as an expert witness in meeting an important information goal of the criminal justice system. This study, therefore, theoretically explored and explicated the position of the forensic criminologist in South African law, as well as the legal identity of the forensic criminologist as an expert witness.
A qualitative approach was followed to collect, analyse, and interpret the empirical data. The methods used included collecting data through semi-structured interviews, selecting participants by purposive snowball sampling, and, finally, analysing data through thematic analysis to interpret and report the results. A sample size of 10 presiding officers was attainable from both the regional and high courts; most participants identified as African, followed by participants who identified as white and the minority who identified as coloured. Reflecting the broader judiciary, most participants sampled for this study were male, while females represented the minority within the selected sample.
The findings obtained during this study indicated that presiding officers perceive criminologists as major role players in reporting the characteristics of the criminal event which include the crime, the offender (individualisation), the interests of society and the victim, and ultimately fulfilling the objectives of punishment, namely, retribution, deterrence, and rehabilitation. Furthermore, criminologists are expected to assist presiding officers in considering vulnerable groups in the criminal justice process, as expert witnesses. Participants in the study highlighted two groups as vulnerable, namely women and children. However, there is still a limited understanding of this complex phenomenon and several grey areas, indicative of a real need to define the various roles of criminologists throughout the criminal justice system and the need for a professional board to manage the participation and actions of criminologists in South Africa.
Using the recommendations of this study as a guideline for future research, it is envisioned that with a greater understanding of the role the criminologist plays in an integrated criminal justice system, forensic criminologists will be more accessible to the court and, ultimately, in various roles in the criminal justice system
Fusion-extraction technique of vanadium(III) using ammonium phosphate salt as flux
No full textThis study presents an alternative fusion method for sample dissolution and extraction of vanadium from an inorganic (V2O3) compound and mineral ore sample (AMIS 0501) using phosphate salts as flux. Complete sample dissolution was achieved at 800 °C within ±20 min using both the sodium and ammonium phosphate flux. The precipitation of vanadium was subsequently achieved after the fusion of the sample using ammonium phosphate flux, and no precipitate was obtained using sodium phosphate flux. The differences in cations between the two fluxes (NH4+ and Na+) influenced the precipitation of vanadium. The XRD analysis of the precipitate from V2O3 using ammonium phosphate showed a monoclinic structure of vanadium (III) tris(metaphosphate) (V(PO3)3) compound, which belonged to the Ic space group with lattice parameters a = 10.6071, b = 19.0871 and c = 9.4230. A remarkable vanadium recovery of 98% was obtained from inorganic compounds, V2O3, and up to 70% from the AMIS mineral ore sample using the ammonium phosphate flux method. The vanadium precipitates from AMIS contained Fe (20.97%) and Ti (44.97%), which occurred as impurities in the recovery of vanadium using the ammonium phosphate flux method.Publisher's versio
Emergence of the Tyndale–King James Version tradition in English Bible translation
No full textIn this essay, it is demonstrated that the inception of the English Bible tradition began with the oral–aural Bible in Old English translated from Latin incipient texts and emerged through a continuous tradition of revision and retranslation in interaction with contemporary social reality. Each subsequent translation achieved a more complex state by adapting to the emergence of incipient text knowledge (rediscovery of Hebrew and Greek texts), emergence of the (meaning-making) knowledge of the incipient languages (Latin, Hebrew and Greek), language change (Old, Middle and Modern English), mode of communication (hearing-dominant and text-dominant), style (literal or word-for-word) and products (oral-aural Bible, handwritten manuscript Bible and printed Bible). Historical sources indicate that there were translations of portions of the English Bible since 700 CE as handwritten manuscript Bibles in Old and Middle English and in print in Modern English – even before the retranslation associated with Tyndale (1526) and despite ecclesiastical opposition since 1408. This version and its revisions (1530–1531, 1534) are followed by subsequent revisions (Coverdale Bible, Matthew’s Bible, Great Bible, Geneva Bible and Bishop’s Bible). The next revision was the King James Version (1611), which replaced all its predecessors, and which was never replaced for the next four centuries – not even by its revisions.
: Contrary to the fragmentation caused by ordering individual English Bibles either by period (e.g. 20th century) or according to their features (e.g. literal), it is demonstrated that the history of English Bible translation emerged rather as a translation complex, and its history must be understood in this way.Publisher's versio
An analysis of municipality management key performance indicator (KPI) and its relation to municipal manager (MM) turnover: comparison between municipalities in Gauteng and Limpopo provinces
No full textDissertation (MGT (Governance and Political Transformation))--University of the Free State, 2022Effective public administration and municipal management are vital for developmental states' functioning, such as South Africa. Without efficient and effective municipal managers committed to clearly outlined and systematically implemented development plans, South Africa may struggle to live up to its developmental objectives. As such, good governance of municipal managers needs to be regularly checked through project management appraisal systems. However, it is due to the goal of good governance, which is consistently checked through regular project management appraisals, that we observe a high staff turnover in local municipalities. Staff turnover can be costly if it results in the loss of human capital investment and intellectual capital, exacerbated by costs to replacing management and a loss of productivity (Mzezewa and Raushai, 2019:5). Hattingh (2020:3) notes that the South African local government invests in the human capital and intellectual development of their senior managers through offering training and other capacity building initiatives while also providing financial assistance to further qualifications while under contract. However, a recent financial audit claims that more than half of the local municipalities are currently labelled as financially distressed, which adds to the high employee turnover rate in municipal management positions. According to the Department of Cooperative Governance, of those employees suspended, 21 were municipal managers (Hattingh, 2020:33). As a response to the current problem, the government has allocated R6.6-billion to support municipalities through building capacity and strengthening municipal administrations (Hattingh, 2020:4; Polity, 2021). Based on the implications of managerialism, this dissertation hopes to add a body of knowledge on any trends of accomplishments, or any entry requirements met, which may predict the capability of good governance of municipal managers and to increase staff retention to prevent further loss of capital.
The problem, however, is that a shortage of research exists on trends of which municipal manager KPI's (competencies), skills and experiences lead to completion of their contractual term and not suspension. This study therefore aimed to identify which Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and core managerial competencies (CMCs) are present amongst municipal managers who complete their contractual terms while also performing well within the human resource management retention theory of job fit. In other words, the objective of this study is to explore and compare descriptively the municipal management turnover and any trends in the managers (MM's) KPI's and experiences that promote completion of managerial contract with the local government. The study is a cross-sectional descriptive quantitative exploration of municipality managers' performance challenges, preventing them from completing their full contractual term as a municipal manager. Information came from multiple sources, including Curriculum Vitae (CVs), KPI, CMCs, audits and exit reviews of managers. Secondary data was thematically categorised into the core competencies and KPI categories required by local government, and lastly, data was analysed and interpreted. This analysis will ultimately assist in the development of guidelines towards determining minimum requirements of managerial positions in municipalities to facilitate greater staff retention
Migrants, migration and migrancy: Migrant experiences of South Africa in contemporary African literature
No full textDissertation (Ph.D. (English))--University of the Free State, 2022Recent years have seen a steady increase in mass migration of Africans within and outside the continent. In the African continent, South Africa is among the top immigrant receiving countries. The post-1994 political dispensation’s notion of the of the “rainbow nation” created an impression of diversity that attracted inward mobilities. However, in recent years, as the South African economy stuttered and anti-immigrant rhetoric by the media and senior politicians increased, the reception and assimilation of immigrants in South Africa has been less than enthusiastic. In the discourse on migration in South Africa, xenophobic violence has become the single most important manifestation of the relationship between the locals and migrants. It is important, therefore, to explore the literary interventions in the urgent process of re-establishing new knowledges about South Africa’s so-called “migrant crisis”. This study enters the conversation on migrant experiences of South Africa, by exploring literary representations of the country as a diasporic space. The primary concern of this thesis is to use a literary critical approach to examine the potential contribution of migrant narratives of South Africa in re-discoursing epistemological methods of knowing, seeing, telling, and reading migrants, migration and migrancy in contemporary South Africa. My analysis invokes a triangulation of migration, space, gender, border and identity theories to explore various ways through which such narratives respond, re-imagine and re-constitute the realities of the current social, political, and economic precarity in the country. I demonstrate how literature is a new site of encountering this precarity, which may help us to understand it in new ways. The study uses a variety of literary genres; novels, short stories, poetry, and auto/biographies to offer different representations of the state of social cohesion and the discourse of African (dis)unity in the context of the recent return of radical nationalism and the discourse of borders. I focus on the narrative strategies, form, motifs, and other forms inherent to literature to analyse themes of belonging, (un)home, abjection, precarity, settlement, gender, Othering, and human rights. A key finding of this study is that through modes of representations, most of the texts deconstruct and radically transform some of the subject matters in the (re)construction of South Africa as a trans-African host space
The (1952) and its revisions as a linear emergence of the Tyndale–King James Version tradition
No full textRevisions of the of 1611 continued into the 20th and 21st centuries as literal or word-for-word translations. This development corresponds with a new age in Bible translation that started in the second half of the 20th century, which involves at least six changes in the philosophy of Bible translation. Firstly, Bible translation is characterised by interconfessional cooperation. Secondly, the plain meaning intended in the incipient texts is made accessible to readers. Thirdly, new critical editions of the Hebrew and Greek incipient texts on the basis of new discoveries of texts are utilised. Fourthly, there is the tendency to remove archaic language to make versions intelligible. Fifthly, there is a tendency to use gendered and inclusive language. Sixthly, the move is from print communication, which can be typified as typographic interpretive culture, to electronic or media communication, which can be typified as digital-media interpretive culture, where sound and visuality become prominent as a contextual supplement to words. In the analysis it will be determined which of these aspects are reflected in the and its revisions as part of the linear emergence of the Tyndale–King James Version tradition. However, unlike the , the and its revisions failed to achieve widespread approval from satisfied readers, thus opening the door to alternative revisions.
: Instead of viewing the and its revisions as new and independent from the Tyndale–King James Version tradition, it is demonstrated that they are a linear continuation of the emergence of the pre-20th century translation complex within this tradition without replicating the success of the King James Version.Publisher's versio
Perspectives of novice teachers about the impact of blended teaching on learning of mathematics
No full textDissertation (M.Ed.(Mathematics Education))--University of the Free State, 2022Teaching mathematics in the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) era offers novice mathematics teachers daunting challenges. Despite using various aids in teaching the learning area, novice mathematic teachers still experience challenges during crises such as during the COVID-19 pandemic era. Such challenges could escalate and confirm the preconceived notion perceived by others that mathematics is a challenging learning area. This study sought to investigate the perspectives of novice teachers on the impact of blended teaching and learning mathematics in Sedibeng West District. The study involved eight novice teachers from four selected schools. Blended Teaching (BT) approaches for novice teachers are intended to ensure that they are effective in their teaching so that learners can gain a deeper insight into mathematics. The researcher adopted a case study design involving thematic analysis of responses from novice mathematics teachers. The researcher conducted semi-structured and focus group interviews due to the origination of discrete ethical defies that do not fully match those fostered by one-on-one discussions on collecting the data. This study was framed mainly within a Social Constructivist theory by Vygotsky (1978).
The study used the Community of Inquiry (CoI) model as its analytical framework to analyse the data. It emerged from the study that there were various perspectives of novice teachers about the impact of blended teaching on learning mathematics. These included the impact of load-shedding, benefits of blended teaching, perceptions of novice teachers, and hindrances of BT. Novice teachers from the selected schools ascribed their perceptions of the challenges associated with blended teaching tools. The anticipated findings of this study will give curriculum designers, district directors, school management teams, and mathematics teachers a clear overview of how these perceptions could be addressed across the board. Thus, the recommendation was that the teacher development division could train novice teachers in the Department of Basic Education to bridge the gap between teacher training institutions of higher learning. Novice teachers should attend classes on time to avoid the misuse of internet connection so that they (novice teachers) can supervise the learning process when using the devices. The development of Data-free blended teaching tools should assist all learners regardless of their location during load shedding
A multi-isotope (S-Sr-Nd) investigation of the Flatreef, Northern Limb, Bushveld Complex: Petrogenetic implications and comparison with the Merensky Reef
No full textThesis (Ph.D. (Geology))--University of the Free State, 2022Historically, research on the Bushveld Complex (BC) in the northern limb mainly focused on the near surface Platreef. The Platreef is well-known for being complicated and erratic due to significant degrees of country rock assimilation and contamination along strike. A correlation of the disrupted magmatic stratigraphy of the Platreef to the Upper Critical Zone of the western and eastern limbs has thus proven difficult. The discovery of the Flatreef, the down-dip, sub-horizontal extension of the Platreef, on the farms Turfspruit and Macalacaskop, opened new avenues for enquiry. The proportion of assimilated country rock within the Flatreef is significantly less than in the near surface Platreef, with a stratigraphy that is less disrupted and affected by footwall interaction than the Platreef, such that Bastard Reef and Merensky Reef correlates may be identified in the Flatreef stratigraphy. In this study Sr, Nd and S isotopic compositions across the stratigraphic units of the Flatreef as intersected by drill hole UMT-393 on the farm Macalacaskop, and to a lesser extent, drill hole UMT-276 on the farm Turfspruit is reported. The initial ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratio (Sri) (also indicated as ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sri) results show a significant shift from about 0.706 to 0.707 in the immediate footwall, to values > 0.709 near the top of the Main Reef. This isotopic shift matches the isotopic shift described for the Merensky Reef of the eastern and western BC. The mineralized units of the Flatreef, namely the Main Reef and Upper Reef, have ³⁴S values ranging between -0.2 to 1.5‰ (with the exception of three outliers), and 0.52% and 11.2‰ in UMT-393, respectively. The S-isotope data for UMT-276 are lighter with ³⁴S values ranging between -0.96 and 2.24‰ for the Main Reef and 3.19‰ was recorded for an Upper Reef sample. These near-mantle ³⁴S values fall within the range of about 0 to 3‰ reported for the Merensky Reef in the eastern and western BC