The relationship between Union Representatives and school management teams in the Tsolo District: implications for school management
- Authors: Maqhubela, V
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: School management -- Labour Unions
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , M Ed
- Identifier: vital:18416 , http://hdl.handle.net/11260/d1006573
- Description: This dissertation is a report of the study that was conducted in rural schools of Tsolo district in Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. The study was about the relationship between union representatives and school management teams. The study was conducted because the researcher is a site steward in the present school where the researcher working and is always dealing with conflicts that usually occur between the S.M.T and Union members and has to address these issues regularly. This problem made the researcher to be interested and want to know further from other schools of what is the situation. This was done through focus group interviews and the study was qualitative research paradigm. There were questions that were drafted and participants were asked to respond according to the questions. The participants were as follows 11 SMT members and 18 union representatives. The study findings highlighted the role that SMT could play in the smooth running of the school and in addressing tensions to enhance effective work. The study also illuminated the issue of being bias among the SMT in some unions and dictatorship by S.M.T members. The study findings highlight the role the S.M.T should play and the issue of consultation before any decision should be taken as an integral part. The study also showed that there was a need for schools to know the South African legislation so as to go along with correct rules and regulations when addressing different issues.
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- Authors: Maqhubela, V
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: School management -- Labour Unions
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , M Ed
- Identifier: vital:18416 , http://hdl.handle.net/11260/d1006573
- Description: This dissertation is a report of the study that was conducted in rural schools of Tsolo district in Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. The study was about the relationship between union representatives and school management teams. The study was conducted because the researcher is a site steward in the present school where the researcher working and is always dealing with conflicts that usually occur between the S.M.T and Union members and has to address these issues regularly. This problem made the researcher to be interested and want to know further from other schools of what is the situation. This was done through focus group interviews and the study was qualitative research paradigm. There were questions that were drafted and participants were asked to respond according to the questions. The participants were as follows 11 SMT members and 18 union representatives. The study findings highlighted the role that SMT could play in the smooth running of the school and in addressing tensions to enhance effective work. The study also illuminated the issue of being bias among the SMT in some unions and dictatorship by S.M.T members. The study findings highlight the role the S.M.T should play and the issue of consultation before any decision should be taken as an integral part. The study also showed that there was a need for schools to know the South African legislation so as to go along with correct rules and regulations when addressing different issues.
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The use of Afrikaans-English-Xhosa code switching and code mixing as a teaching strategy in the teaching of Afrikaans additional language in the secondary schools of the Transkei Region of the Eastern Cape Province (RSA)
- Authors: Songxaba, S L
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: Code switching and code mixing -- Teaching -- Afrikaans-English-Xhosa , Education (Secondary) -- Afrikaans language
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , M Ed
- Identifier: vital:18414 , http://hdl.handle.net/11260/d1006565
- Description: This study seeks to report on the investigation into the need to use code switching as one of the language teaching strategies in the teaching and learning of Afrikaans as Additional Language in the FET band, in predominantly Xhosa-speaking environments in the Eastern Cape. The study was conducted in twelve secondary schools of the Transkei where Afrikaans is taught as an additional language. The sample of the study comprised the educators, the learners and the school managers of the twelve researched schools. The research was a case study of the selected schools. The participants were studied in their own environment and the data was collected by means of both the interviews and structured questionnaires. South Africa is a multilingual and multicultural country. This state of affairs calls for a serious re-evaluation of the existing teaching methodologies. Children acquire language skills in and outside the classroom in two different ways in multilingual societies. While children acquire proficiency in languages outside the classroom in a natural way, in the classroom they are constrained by rigid purist rules that compel them to learn languages in artificial ways. This manner of language acquisition in the predominantly Xhosa-speaking environments of the Eastern Cape, often goes hand in hand with code switching from source language to target language and vice versa. These children can be described as compound informal bilinguals (polyglots) as far as the indigenous languages are concerned since they acquire the indigenous languages from early childhood in natural settings. In the context of formal acquisition of European languages and Afrikaans in schools, they can be categorised as coordinate bilinguals. The linguistic disparities between classroom and natural acquisition practices were revealed in this investigation. In the classroom, code switching has two contradictory sides. On one hand code switching provides the teacher with ease of expression, confidence and satisfaction that the learners understand the lesson. Notwithstanding the dynamic attributes of code switching in the classroom, the learners are faced with the dilemma of having to avoid code switching as much as possible in the examinations since there is no room for code switching in the examinations. This investigation showed that despite the fact that non-mother tongue teaching is supposed to take place through the medium of the target language, both the teachers and the learners admitted that they code switch during Afrikaans classes and they perceive code switching as the best way to facilitate understanding. The findings of this study revealed that code switching was a natural and inevitable strategy in teaching an additional language. However, it also surfaced that some teachers resorted to using code switching because of their own lack of proficiency in the target language. Informed by the above findings, the study recommended that code switching be considered as one of the strategies to be used in the teaching and learning of Afrikaans as additional language. It was also recommended that learners be credited if they used code switching in the examinations since all respondents admitted that code switching was every-day practice in the classroom. This, however is to be done with extreme caution and with the sole purpose of assisting the learners achieve full mastery of the target language at the end of their learning career. Since this kind of exercise needs highly-skilled personnel, it was recommended that practising teachers be retrained and resource materials be expanded to all schools that offer Afrikaans as additional language. Although the arguments presented in this investigation do not reject the reality of the impeding effect code switching might have on the learning of an additional language, the study maintains that for purposes of mutual understanding, code switching is an enabling factor that impacts positively on the teaching-learning situation.
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- Authors: Songxaba, S L
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: Code switching and code mixing -- Teaching -- Afrikaans-English-Xhosa , Education (Secondary) -- Afrikaans language
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , M Ed
- Identifier: vital:18414 , http://hdl.handle.net/11260/d1006565
- Description: This study seeks to report on the investigation into the need to use code switching as one of the language teaching strategies in the teaching and learning of Afrikaans as Additional Language in the FET band, in predominantly Xhosa-speaking environments in the Eastern Cape. The study was conducted in twelve secondary schools of the Transkei where Afrikaans is taught as an additional language. The sample of the study comprised the educators, the learners and the school managers of the twelve researched schools. The research was a case study of the selected schools. The participants were studied in their own environment and the data was collected by means of both the interviews and structured questionnaires. South Africa is a multilingual and multicultural country. This state of affairs calls for a serious re-evaluation of the existing teaching methodologies. Children acquire language skills in and outside the classroom in two different ways in multilingual societies. While children acquire proficiency in languages outside the classroom in a natural way, in the classroom they are constrained by rigid purist rules that compel them to learn languages in artificial ways. This manner of language acquisition in the predominantly Xhosa-speaking environments of the Eastern Cape, often goes hand in hand with code switching from source language to target language and vice versa. These children can be described as compound informal bilinguals (polyglots) as far as the indigenous languages are concerned since they acquire the indigenous languages from early childhood in natural settings. In the context of formal acquisition of European languages and Afrikaans in schools, they can be categorised as coordinate bilinguals. The linguistic disparities between classroom and natural acquisition practices were revealed in this investigation. In the classroom, code switching has two contradictory sides. On one hand code switching provides the teacher with ease of expression, confidence and satisfaction that the learners understand the lesson. Notwithstanding the dynamic attributes of code switching in the classroom, the learners are faced with the dilemma of having to avoid code switching as much as possible in the examinations since there is no room for code switching in the examinations. This investigation showed that despite the fact that non-mother tongue teaching is supposed to take place through the medium of the target language, both the teachers and the learners admitted that they code switch during Afrikaans classes and they perceive code switching as the best way to facilitate understanding. The findings of this study revealed that code switching was a natural and inevitable strategy in teaching an additional language. However, it also surfaced that some teachers resorted to using code switching because of their own lack of proficiency in the target language. Informed by the above findings, the study recommended that code switching be considered as one of the strategies to be used in the teaching and learning of Afrikaans as additional language. It was also recommended that learners be credited if they used code switching in the examinations since all respondents admitted that code switching was every-day practice in the classroom. This, however is to be done with extreme caution and with the sole purpose of assisting the learners achieve full mastery of the target language at the end of their learning career. Since this kind of exercise needs highly-skilled personnel, it was recommended that practising teachers be retrained and resource materials be expanded to all schools that offer Afrikaans as additional language. Although the arguments presented in this investigation do not reject the reality of the impeding effect code switching might have on the learning of an additional language, the study maintains that for purposes of mutual understanding, code switching is an enabling factor that impacts positively on the teaching-learning situation.
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User satisfaction in academic libraries: a case study at Walter Sisulu University, Ibika Campus
- Authors: Cingo, Sindiswa
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: User satisfaction -- Academic libraries
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , M Bibl
- Identifier: vital:18419 , http://hdl.handle.net/11260/d1006642
- Description: User satisfaction and library use are multidimensional concepts. The scope of every library as a service institution is to provide satisfaction to its users and to strive continuously for their betterment. The aim of this study is, therefore, to determine the satisfaction of users with library services at the circulation desk at Walter Sisulu University (WSU), Ibika Campus. The specific objectives of the study are as follows: To determine the levels of satisfaction of users, especially at the circulation desk; to determine the reasons for any dissatisfaction expressed by the users; to determine the use of databases by the users, and to determine how the Ibika Campus library is rated in general. In this study, a survey was used to determine the levels of satisfaction of users with library services. Questionnaires were distributed to hundred and twenty users, and ninety users responded to these. From the findings, it was clear that most of the respondents were in general satisfied with the library services at WSU, Ibika Campus. Dissatisfaction was expressed by approximately twenty percent of the respondents, because of various reasons which include library opening hours, noise level, temperature, photocopying facilities, the accuracy of the searches, including the use of OPAC. There were also some suggestions from the respondents that entail more staffing, training, expansion of the library building, twenty-four hour reading room facilities and more cubicles for senior students and staff. The expansion of the library building may reduce the noise level because there will be more space, and that will limit group discussions inside the library. Group discussions will be done outside the library in the suggested twenty-four hours reading room. In one of the recommendations, it is suggested that library management should provide ongoing training for all library staff. This will result in enhancement of services. The training will assist the circulation staff to possess excellent interpersonal skills together with a strong service orientation. Lastly, further research needs to be done on library satisfaction in terms of the problems that have been identified, for example, extension of the library building.
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- Authors: Cingo, Sindiswa
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: User satisfaction -- Academic libraries
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , M Bibl
- Identifier: vital:18419 , http://hdl.handle.net/11260/d1006642
- Description: User satisfaction and library use are multidimensional concepts. The scope of every library as a service institution is to provide satisfaction to its users and to strive continuously for their betterment. The aim of this study is, therefore, to determine the satisfaction of users with library services at the circulation desk at Walter Sisulu University (WSU), Ibika Campus. The specific objectives of the study are as follows: To determine the levels of satisfaction of users, especially at the circulation desk; to determine the reasons for any dissatisfaction expressed by the users; to determine the use of databases by the users, and to determine how the Ibika Campus library is rated in general. In this study, a survey was used to determine the levels of satisfaction of users with library services. Questionnaires were distributed to hundred and twenty users, and ninety users responded to these. From the findings, it was clear that most of the respondents were in general satisfied with the library services at WSU, Ibika Campus. Dissatisfaction was expressed by approximately twenty percent of the respondents, because of various reasons which include library opening hours, noise level, temperature, photocopying facilities, the accuracy of the searches, including the use of OPAC. There were also some suggestions from the respondents that entail more staffing, training, expansion of the library building, twenty-four hour reading room facilities and more cubicles for senior students and staff. The expansion of the library building may reduce the noise level because there will be more space, and that will limit group discussions inside the library. Group discussions will be done outside the library in the suggested twenty-four hours reading room. In one of the recommendations, it is suggested that library management should provide ongoing training for all library staff. This will result in enhancement of services. The training will assist the circulation staff to possess excellent interpersonal skills together with a strong service orientation. Lastly, further research needs to be done on library satisfaction in terms of the problems that have been identified, for example, extension of the library building.
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