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Evaluation of intervention strategies for the academic performance of Grade 12 learners in secondary schools in Vhembe District, Limpopo
No full textA thesis submitted in fulfillment of the academic requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Curriculum and Instructional Studies in the Faculty of Education, University of Zululand, 2020.The study adopted a mixed method to evaluate intervention strategies for the academic performance of Grade 12 learners in secondary schools in Vhembe District, Limpopo province in South Africa. Intervention strategies for improving learner performance play an integral part in the school’s endeavour to produce high quality results. The aims of the study were to determine how intervention strategies affect the academic performance of Grade 12 learners in secondary schools; to establish teachers’ concerns about the effect of intervention strategies on academic learner performance; and to establish a model of intervention that could be used to improve the academic performance of Grade 12 learners in secondary schools. Activity theory underpinned this study. The great concern is bad performance by Grade 12 learners. Data for the study were collected through questionnaires and semi-structured focus group interviews from teachers and heads of department.
Forty two teachers were respondents to the questionnaires, 15 heads of department and 16 teachers for semi-structured focus group interviews were purposively sampled from 20 secondary schools. Data for the study were collected and transcribed, categorised and presented as themes with verbatim quotes from participants to support the themes. Data analysis, interpretation and discussion were directed by a mixed method research design, and a pragmatic paradigm that values the objective understanding of the teachers’ views. Findings revealed that extra lessons for individual subjects are of paramount importance because they are geared towards improving performance.
Findings revealed that providing learners with more activities aimed at improving performance, such as formative activities, daily quizzes and weekly tests, is intended to enhance learners’ performance, especially in mathematics. If teachers were to administer these weekly and monthly activities, the learners’ performance could be improved drastically. This study confirms that there is a lack of parental support for academic learner performance. School Management Teams assist teachers with learner-teacher support material in order to enhance learners’ performance. Findings revealed that monitoring learning and teaching is viewed as an important leadership measure for tracing faintness in the process in order to enhance instruction and
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learners academic performance. Learner’ indifference to the offering of extra scheduled lessons as shown in their absence, or late arrival, or the use of drugs, severely hampers the improvement in their performance.
The study is recommended that the Department of Basic Education should safeguard that, teachers implement various intervention strategies effectively to improve learners’ performance. School Management Teams (SMT’s) in secondary schools should strengthen their supervision and monitoring efficiently and effectively. Finally, the study recommends collaborative peer teaching in secondary schools for producing high quality results
Towards a model for mainstreaming psychological support services in primary schools in Swaziland
No full textA thesis submitted in fulfillment of the academic requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Curriculum and Instructional Studies in the Faculty of Education, University of Zululand, 2020.Mainstreaming Psychological support services in primary schools calls for collaboration amongst all the stakeholders. The government should make sure that all the stakeholders are capacitated on psychosocial support. The schools should introduce support teams which will include teachers, learners, parents and other stakeholders. These teams should make sure that everyone understands very well about the psychosocial support that should be given to the learners.
This study aimed at to suggest a model for mainstreaming psychological support services in primary schools in the Shiselweni Region in Eswatini. The model can be employed by Eswatini schools to make the mainstreaming of psychosocial support services effective. The study was conducted using a mixed method approach which was driven by both qualitative and quantitative approach. In this study a sample of 90 teachers, 15 principals and 3 inspectors participated in this study. Both quantitative and qualitative research and data were collected through the use of structured questionnaires and focus group discussions with inspectors, principals and teachers. The SPSS computer software Version 25 and thematic analysis were used to analyse the data collected. The analysis of quantitative data was done using frequencies, percentages, means and standard deviations, while the qualitative data were analysed using themes that emerged from the interviews. The findings revealed that teachers, principals and inspectors had a problem in implementing the mainstreaming of psychological support services in primary schools, particularly the second pillar, which talks about psychosocial support. Despite the challenges they faced, they managed to provide support, although it was not at the level it was expected to be. Most of the schools that participated in the study considered mainstreaming psychosocial support as a concept that was new to them and they were not aware of what they were supposed to do in order to support all the learners who had challenges. The findings also showed that teachers also need to be supported emotionally and be given all the necessary help they need so that they can overcome their problems and also be able to deal with new challenges. The findings
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indicated that a majority of the respondents in this study agreed that there was a need for a model that will integrate psychosocial support into all the activities of the curriculum making sure that all the learners in all the schools can get support for all the challenges they are facing on daily basis. The overall findings of the study showed that teachers’ were not properly trained on providing psychological support and also in implementing the mainstreaming of psychosocial support services; some had stressful experiences whilst others had supportive and conducive environments which enabled them to mainstream psychological support services successfully. Teachers cited certain stressful conditions such as; not being capacitated on psychosocial support, lack of support from the inspectors and the administration, poor provision for policy implementation, teacher training and professional development, all these factors disturbed teachers from effectively mainstreaming psychological support services in primary schools. Children’s psychosocial wellbeing has since become a significant priority for education since a lot of learners’ experience family breakdown, anxiety, and depression and attention difficulties. The following recommendations were made; the government through the Ministry of Education and Training should provide clear policies governing the implementation of mainstreaming psychosocial support services in the primary school curriculum. It should also provide appropriate strategies to raise awareness on the provision of psychosocial support in order to assist learners facing challenges. Senior officials from the Ministry of Education are expected to take the lead by committing themselves and ensuring that all the stakeholders take the mainstreaming process as mandatory. They should also carry the mandate to ensure that psychosocial support is reflected in the policy document, strategic frameworks and plans. There is a need for developing a model for mainstreaming psychosocial support in primary schools. It has been observed that there are some gaps and there is a need for the curriculum in order to develop a model of mainstreaming psychosocial support services in primary schools in Eswatini. This model will, in turn, cater for all the needs of the learners, irrespective of their gender, background or the challenges they face in life. The study is expected to give insight reference to policy makers, scholars and researchers in order to improve the weak areas
Analysing the promotion of indigenous African languages through social networks in South Africa
No full textA dissertation submitted in fulfilment of the requirement for the Degree of Master of Arts in the Department of General Linguistics, Faculty of Arts, at the University of Zululand, 2020.Languages remain a tool that allows human beings to communicate and provides foundation for a vigorous and multicultural interaction. The introduction of platforms that aid communication across different communities caters for languages to flourish. Coming second to emails as the most popular communication tools, social networks remains the most preferred platforms for both informal and formal communication. In South Africa, social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp and other chat-zones, are widely used by speakers of different indigenous African languages. However, it is uncertain if these platforms can be tools of promoting indigenous African languages. Therefore, this study sought to understand the promotion of indigenous African languages on social networks.
South Africa has 11 official languages, however, this study focused on five namely; isiZulu, siSwati, Sepedi, Tshivenḓa, and Xitsonga. The languages selected are spoken in three different provinces. IsiZulu has the most speakers, followed by Sepedi, Xitsonga, siSwati, and Tshivenḓa, respectively. These languages have been equally promoted by the central government of South Africa and there is need to understand the relationship between social networks and indigenous African languages. This dissertation analysed the promotion of indigenous African languages in South Africa using social networks. This study was conducted using qualitative and quantitative approaches. The first objective assessed the growth of indigenous African languages and their use in social networks. The second objective compared the use of isiZulu, siSwati, Sepedi, Tshivenḓa, and Xitsonga languages among each other on the social networks. The third objective investigated the promotion of isiZulu, siSwati, Sepedi, Tshivenḓa, and Xitsonga languages through social networks. Both objectives one and two used cross-tabulation while the third objective used thematic analysis. The sample size of 384 respondents was randomly sampled according to their first language and were tendered with a questionnaire. The study was conducted in KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga and Limpopo provinces of South Africa.
The quantitative research findings revealed that people’s interaction on social networks has become a vital aspect of corpus development. The qualitative research revealed how the respondents’ choice of social networks affects how language is used. While most of the respondents prefer using the English language on social networks, they code mix.
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Access to websites that support indigenous African languages is limited due to irrelevant and insufficient content. Languages, including indigenous African ones, have been redefined and new words have been created. Lexicographers, Terminographers and PanSALB should therefore use social networks to for their research purposes.
The study recommends the use of indigenous African languages on social networks and the continuous integration of words developed on social networks on daily use. Furthermore, government should play its role of promoting indigenous African languag
The impact of non-standard varieties of isizulu language learning on students’ performance at a university of technology in Gauteng
No full textA thesis submitted in fulfillment of the academic requirements for the degree of Doctor of Arts in the Department ofAfrican Languages and Culture in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Zululand, 2020.The impact of non-standard varieties of isiZulu language learning on students’ performance from a University of Technology (UoT) in Gauteng incorporates the investigation of the developments of nonstandard varieties and the interference of non-standard varieties with the correct usage of standard isiZulu language at a UoT, the positivity and negativity of an impact that non-standard varieties may have in isiZulu language learning, the type of non-standard variety that students use in a classroom environment and also the impact that non-standard varieties have in isiZulu language learning.
The researcher purposefully sampled 85 respondents (80 students, 3 lecturers and 2 Department of Arts and Culture workers) at a University of Technology (UoT). She used a mixed-methods approach including both the quantitative and qualitative research approaches. The responses from 60 disseminated questionnaires, 15 interviews and 10 proficiency tests form a sociolinguistic profile of the non-standard varieties at a UoT. The dissemination of questionnaires and interviews and proficiency tests occurred almost simultaneously. The quantitative approach was used to convert the qualitative questionnaire data, based on the frequency of response type into percentage. Relevant sociolinguistic data, in the form of non-standard variety examples and views on impact of non-standard varieties in isiZulu language learning by respondents, for instance, supplemented the sociolinguistic data.
The study revealed that non-standard varieties have both a positive and negative impact in isiZulu language learning and students use code-switching in a classroom environment. They switch to different languages in order to understand each other clearly, because they are coming from different areas. Lastly, the study revealed that non-standard varieties are interfering with the correct usage of a standard language; this interference of non-standard varieties in isiZulu language learning is the cause of students’ poor performance
The inflow of foreign nationals and xenophobic attacks: an assessment of its effect on social relations among residents of the Pietermaritzburg CBD Area, South Africa
No full textA dissertation submitted in fulfillment of the academic requirements for the degree of Master of Commerce in the Department of Public Administration in the Faculty of Commerce, Administration and Law, University of Zululand, 2020The focus of this study was on the effects of migration and the xenophobic attacks on the social relations of residents of Pietermaritzburg CBD area. The study also looks at the measures put in place by the Department of Home Affairs (Immigration Department) and South African Police Services (SAPS) in dealing with illegal immigration and xenophobic attacks.
This study was qualitative in nature and employed the scapegoating, isolation and bio cultural theories as the theoretical framework. According to the findings of this study, foreign nationals come to South Africa with the aim of building better lives for themselves, in search for job opportunities and to study in higher institutions. The xenophobic attacks no doubt have had negative impact on the relationship between South Africans and foreign nationals, hence the constant fear of attacks exhibited by the foreign nationals, while the locals want the government to put strict measures in place to decrease illegal immigration
Effects of school violence on school functionality in the secondary schools of King Cetshwayo District
No full textA thesis submitted to the Faculty of Education in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Education in the Department of Education Foundations and Management at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 2020Violence occurring within South African schools is a concern for all stakeholders. School
violence manifests in different ways; these include bullying, faction or gang-related violence,
shooting, stabbing, racially motivated violence, violence related to drugs and alcohol abuse,
gender-based violence, vandalism and theft, violence through learner protests, racially
motivated violence, any other form of physical violence, emotional violence and murder. Any
form of violence has its harmful effects on the school system such as physical and
psychological effects as well as educational damage. According to a report by the South
African Institute of Race Relations (2008), South African schools are among the most
dangerous in the world. This report followed media reports of school violence and
lawlessness of all kinds engulfing South African schools.
Working within the interpretive paradigm and employing a qualitative methodological
approach, this case study explored the effects of school violence on school functionality in
the secondary schools of King Cetshwayo District. Grounded on Social Learning and Social Ecological Development theories, this study aimed to: determine the causes of school
violence; explore the manifestations of school violence and understand the effects on school
functionality.
All ethical issues were observed before data was generated. Multiple data generation
techniques such as semi-structured interviews, observation and document analysis were
used in a triangulation approach to ensure trustworthiness. Data were analysed using the
approach adopted by De Vos et al. (2011). The study found that causes of school violence
were internally as well as externally influenced. The study also found that bullying, vandalism,
faction fights, stabbings, fist fighting, verbal attacks, cyber-bullying, sexual harassment,
assault using any objects that learners lay their hands on and corporal punishment are
prevalent in schools.
The study further found that school violence harmfully affects all nine domains of school
functionality which are basic school functionality; quality of teaching, learning and teacher
development; curriculum provision and resources; learner achievement; leadership,
management and communication; governance and relationships; school safety, security and
discipline; school infrastructure; parental and stakeholder involvement. Based on findings
and conclusions, this study in its recommendations prioritises the integrated approach by all
stakeholders to addressing school violence
The lessons learnt from the administration of the annual national assessment during implementation in the Umkhanyakude district
No full textA thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Education in the Department of Educational Planning & Administration, Faculty of Education, at the University of Zululand, 2020.The Annual National Assessment (ANA) is the largest roll-out of any standardized test within the South African education system especially at the General Education and Training (GET) phase. Teachers generally appreciated ANA as low stakes and a diagnostic assessment when it was implemented, whiles education officials commended the assessment for making schools and teachers much more accountable. As a result of an increased demand for accountability from policy makers in later years, ANA seemed to have replaced the core teaching and assessment practices of teachers and schools. Teachers through their respect unions bemoaned the assessment for becoming high stakes instead of diagnostic. The assessment was therefore put on hold in 2015 pending further discussions with the relevant stakeholders before re-introduction. This study investigated the lessons learnt from the administration of ANA during implementation in the Umkhanyakude district. Mixed methods approach was adopted for this study. Results from this study indicated that ANA had both positive and negative impacts. Some of the positive impacts were that some teachers understood the ANA administration processes because of the workshops attended, and also appreciated ANA’s contribution to exposing them to current trends in assessment. Education officials agreed that ANA was an effective accountability and diagnostic tool and helped to improve the test construction abilities of teachers. Conversely, other teachers were not favorably disposed towards the effect of ANA on schools. Some of the Issues raised were that, ANA exposed schools negatively, put pressure on teachers and was a waste of time. The lack of parental involvement in the assessment was a sore point for teachers as well. This study acknowledges the substantial impact that ANA has had on teachers, schools and the teaching and learning process. Further, the study recommends stakeholder involvement and ownership of any future assessment process. The need for test and curriculum alignment is advocated, in addition to that, ANA must be recognized as a diagnostic test instead of a high stakes test
Use case-based evaluation of software defined networking controllers
No full text• A dissertation submitted in fulfillment of the academic requirements for the degree of Master of Science in the Department of Computer Science in the Faculty of Science, Agriculture and Engineering, University of Zululand, 2020.The paradigm of Software Defined Networking (SDN) model has arisen as a viable candidate to tackle traffic management and costs based problems in developing markets. At the root of SDN is the control system that responsible for overseeing resource orchestration premised around its global understanding of the existing resource utilization of the network. A significant problem that needs to be resolved in the early implementation of an SDN-based network configuration is where each controller and switches are located to ensure the optimal operational performance. It is critical to note that the placement and size of the data plane devices have a direct impact on the overall performance of the SDN controller. This problem represents conflicting priorities, such as delay, dynamic routing and efficiency. In order to address the controller performance problem and formulate a strategy for the deployment of SDN in emerging markets, the study proposes solutions that provide flexibility, ease of management, traffic engineering and network distribution with the aim of reducing delay and of enabling efficient network utilization. There are important questions that should be answered during transitioning to an SDN solution, and those questions are: Given a legacy WAN, how many SDN controllers and switches are required? How should they be placed? Where are the best locations to place them? And how efficient are they in terms of traffic engineering so that the overall network performance is optimized? Henceforth, we will refer to these questions as the switch-tocontroller performance problem. The average latency was reduced to 15% compared to that of the Optimized K-means. The proposed method was also successful in the throughput (with an improvement of 13%). The studied metrics on RTT and throughput showed improvement in the reliability test equal to averages of 1.182 and 2.166 ms with two and three-controller deployment respectively and a throughput average of 20 GB/s. The results have displayed a positive impact in terms of improved controller performance on the selected use-cases. The tree topology yielded an improved average RTT of 0.4 ms and 0.2 to 0.3. GB/s in transfer speed and 0.2 Gbps in bandwidth utilization in Section 6.2.1. The ring topology resulted in an average of 0.6 ms RTT, the transfer speed of 1.2 GB/s and bandwidth of 0.2 Gbps in Section 6.2.2. The mesh topology resulted in an average RTT test of 0.5 ms, with a transfer speed of 0.9 GB/s and a 0.1 Gbps of bandwidth utilization in Section 6.2.3. The Torus topology in RTT yielded an average of 0.6 ms in Section 6.2.4. The transfer speed improved by 0.1 GB/s and bandwidth utilization was not very efficient at 0.2 GB/s. This study can be used by network engineers as a foundation to start integrating SDN or plan a new SDN deployment, by assisting engineers to make quick decisions about optimal switch placement and SDN deployment.South African National Research
Education Network (SANREN
Ukusetshenziswa Kwezakhi Ma- No Ka- Olimini Lwesizulu
No full textA thesis submitted to the Faculty of Art in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of African Languages at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 2020Lo msebenzi ongaka, owesizwe, nabakukhuthalele ukuba ulimi lungafi. Umnikelo uqondiswe kubo bonke abasenonembeza wokubona isimo sempilo okuphilwa ngaphansi kwaso emihleni
“kaBhejane phum’ esiqiwini.” Imihla ethi: izwe alisalawulwa obusayo kepha selalawulwa oNdunankulu ababekwa iminyaka emihlanu basho abakuthandayo kubekwe abanye nabo basho okwabo. Lo mnikelo uqondiswe kuso sonke isizwe sakwaNzuza esahlahla indlela ekubusweni kwezwe lakwaZulu. Ukuba babengekho oMqalane noMbekelo hleze leli ngabe kalibizwa ngokuthi elakwaZulu.
Uphinde lo mnikelo udambathe kulo lonke elahanjwa nguMafongonyane, ubaba ongizalayo ngithi kuye owakusho kimi kusankeneneza, akusoze kwaphela. Kungumnikelo othi: “Ongungqondongqondo uzama isombululo kuthi isihlakaniphi sivimbe okuzanywayo.” Kulokho kungihola kwakho wena ozalwa:
Unogwaja ozikhundla zikhundla
Esinye esokulala
Esinye esokuthamela
Wake wambona yini unogwaja eyinsengwakazi na?
Ngiyabonga. Ngidlulisa lo mnikelo nakuyo intombi yakwaMdladla umbazi, umdwebi, umbumbi, umphici. Ngithi ngikuhlanganisa nezibongo zikababa “Sophist”:
Zinsizwa zakwaMfonjiya
Ningibukelelani na?
Hambani, ningamagwala.
Tshabuza tshi, tshi, tshi!
Abomndeni wami kubhekiswe kubo ukuba bangalibali ukwazi ukuthi ukuvula kwabo izandla ngokungivumela kupheleliswe lokhu kungumnikelo omkhulu. Bangadinwa nangomuso.
Kungabe ngenza iphutha lokuthi uMdali ongipha ukuphila nentethelelo kokubi engikwenzayo nokuhle akuchumise ngingabongi ngoba yena wanikela ngami ukuba ngibe ngophilayo. Ngingowedlelo lakhe
Evaluating the use of standardized tests in South Africa: case study on annual national assessment at Ilembe district
No full textA thesis submitted in fulfillment of the academic requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Curriculum and Instructional Studies in the Faculty of Education, University of Zululand, 2020.The Department of Education in South Africa implemented Annual National Assessments as a vehicle to address poor learner achievement and to improve the quality of education. The point of departure was learners’ dismal performance in English First Additional Language and Mathematics as critical subjects. Moreover, to improve the quality of education and to ensure that South African learners’ are competitive to the learners of the world and in closing the gap of poor performance, this was transparent and revealed in studies of international standard. South African learners are performing poorly in comparison to those of the world and this is a cause for concern for the stakeholders in education.
The project focussed on evaluating the use of Annual National Assessments in learning and teaching at schools in the intermediate phase; teachers’ understanding of the ability of ANA to determine the performance of learners and in the improvement of quality of education; various stakeholders’ contributions in teaching, learning and addressing challenges in relation to testing and assessment, development of the model that could be used to complement the implementation of ANA and the improvement on performance of learners in ANA English First Additional Language and in Mathematics.
The study was conducted at ILembe District in Kwa-Zulu Natal. It adopted a qualitative research design. Annual National Assessment (ANA) is a form of standardised testing that is used universally. It’s an instrument used to determine learner performance in the foundational subjects within the education systems. The developed and the developing countries are following the same trend to benchmark their education systems and to improve learner performances to be on the same par. When America realized that her system of education was not achieving her desired outcomes, she implemented a “No Child Left Behind” to close the gaps that were identified and improve the quality of education to ensure that she produces citizens that are efficient and productive to the American economy. The Irish Education system also followed the same trend to improve the quality of education for her citizen and learner performance.
Data were gathered through group interviews from teachers and Departmental Heads (HODs) of the Intermediate Phase at rural primary schools. Thirty participants consisting of ten English First Additional Language, ten Mathematics teachers and ten departmental heads from ten primary schools at ILembe District at the Northern Kwa-Zulu Natal. The participating schools were drawn from two hats each representing different circuit to ensure that all schools stand an equal chance to participate in the study with a total of five schools per hat. The purposive sampling was used for the collection of data during the recorded sessions. Information collected was written, categorised and presented in the form of themes with verbatim quotations from the subjects to support the identified themes.
The relevant literature on Standardized Testing or Annual National Assessment was extensively reviewed to understand its context, content and the impact it has on teaching, learning, improvement of learner performance and the quality education provision in various part of the world and SADEC. The relevant documentary analysis was consulted explicitly to determine the South Africa’s position in improving learner performance and quality education in comparison to that of the world and SADEC.
The findings of the study indicate that Annual National Assessment is a very important strategy to improve learner performance, the quality education and positively contributes to assessment of learners but there are loopholes found on the way ANA is conducted and implemented: the lack of an on-going teacher service training, the ineffective communication between stakeholders to understand the purposes of ANA and especially to teachers who are at the grass-root level of implementation. It also revealed that, the lack of content understanding by teachers for English First Additional Language and Mathematics is a grey area that sought attention. It transpired that teachers need to be thoroughly trained on these subjects because what emanated is that some teachers are not qualified on the two specific subjects so they do not have knowledge and the content of the subjects in question. The project therefore validates that, there is inadequate teacher developmental programmes, misplacement of teachers in grades and no training workshops for English First Additional Language and Mathematics to empower them on how to improve teaching strategies, content dissemination as well as learner performance in English First Additional Language, Mathematics in Annual National Assessment.
Curriculum mentors, subject supervisors and School Management should tighten their supervision and monitoring strategies in schools to assist, motivate teachers and learners to work more successfully and productively. The involvement of teachers in policy making, decision taking, effective communication and regular visitation by the Departmental Officials for support is recommended. This will assist and develop teachers on curriculum related matters. The following should be given priority: teacher training workshops on regular basis are of essence, teacher sharing sessions to ensure that changes taking place are understood by every stakeholder especially teachers and parents. Yearly, quarterly and monthly communication to make learners and parents aware of the importance, the value of English First Additional Language and Mathematics should be carried out as well as education in general