10 research outputs found
The Circuit Managers as the weakest link in the school district leadership chain! Perspectives from a province in South Africa
The role of circuit managers is an essential component of school district leadership, which provides a necessary bridge between schools and government. School districts play a vital role in continuously collaborating, guiding and leading, and challenging schools to raise standards. In this paper, we draw on a subset of semi-structured interviews with education leaders in the Eastern Cape province, on their perspectives on the circuit management role. From these interviews, circuit managers were labelled as the ‘weakest link’ in the educational leadership chain. We explore the cause, nature and the extent to which circuit managers are perceived to be the weakest link and the implications thereof. Our discussion engages various factors that lead to Circuit Managers being considered the weakest link in the education leadership chain and these include: poor circuit office structure, the high vacancy rate of Circuit Managers and external interference. We argue for the strengthening of the Circuit Offices and suggest ways in which they could be utilized to add more value in the efforts to improve the quality of basic education in the public schools
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Evaluation of the programmatic support grant intervention for existing science centres
Report commissioned by the Department of Science and Technology, MarchThe crisis of skills shortage in South Africa, which is attributed to a decline in the numbers of learners pursuing mathematics and science subjects, especially in the previously disadvantaged communities, has necessitated some government departments, including the Department of Science and Technology (DST), undertaking drastic measures to resolve the situation. The DST recently launched the Youth into Science strategy to enhance science and technology literacy among the youth and nurture youth talent and the potential for science, engineering and technology-based careers. The Youth into Science Strategy comprises several intervention programmes, one of which is the establishment of a network of science centres. The network of science centres was identified as a crucial infrastructure for the delivery of the youth into science strategy
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Youth into science strategy tracking studies report: final
Commissioned by the Department of Science and Technology, AprilThe DST's Youth into Science Division has identified a number of projects under the auspices of the Youth into Science Strategy (2004-2009) to enhance participation and performance of school-going youth and under-graduates in Science, Technology,
Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). The outcomes of the Strategy, is thus, to improve science and technology literacy and recruit more school-going youth and under-graduates to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The YiSS strategy is underpinned by several interventions projects that target both the learners and educators viz. (a) DST/Thuthuka Mathematics and Science Development Camps. (b) National Science Week. (c) Network of Science Centres. (d) Educator Support Program workshops and (e) Camps, Competitions and Olympiads for the educators. The DST has commissioned the HSRC to set up a tracking and monitoring system to determine the impact of the intervention programmes. The HSRC set up tracking systems
for the two programmes which intervened at the level of the learner (DST Camps Programme and NSW Programme). In the DST Camps Programme we collected information about the programme from 2005 to 2008 and from individuals we collected
baseline information from the 2007 cohort. This cohort was tracked and information was collected in 2008 and 2009. We analysed the 2005 cohort participants and collected further information about them in 2008. For the National Science Week programme we
collected information about the programme from 2005 to 2008 and from individuals we collected baseline information from the NSW 2007 cohort. This cohort was tracked and information was collected in 2008 and 2009. The DST has not started the Network of
Science Centres programme. Two programmes intervened at the level of the educator (Educator Support Program; and Competitions and Olympiads for Educators). While these programmes were scheduled to take place for the five years, we found that these programmes did not take place in any systemic way. The programmes were affected by the Public Servants strike in 2007; it was not clear who was responsible for the delivery of the programmes, these were not held and in cases where the same teachers were to attend in subsequent year, this did not happen. We will report on data we received for 2008
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Science and the publics: a review of public understanding of science studies
Commissioned by the South African Agency for Science and Technology Advancement (SAASTA), JulyScience and technology touches the lives of all - we meet science and technology in our roles as citizens, workers, consumers, policymakers and researchers - and is key to individual, social and economic development. The public understanding and engagement with science has been measured quantitatively and monitored over time in many countries. South Africa does not have a systematic, comprehensive and nuanced assessment of the relationship between science and the public.
South Africa aspires towards being a knowledge-based economy for its development. The ingredients for that trajectory are a public that is educated and informed about the developments in science and technology. In South Africa, both those areas are of concern. We have undertaken this scoping exercise to outline the debates related to the publics and science, to review the studies related to the publics and science conducted internationally and in South Africa and to propose how we study the publics relationship with science in South Africa, a stratified country.
This scoping exercise outlines why the relationship between the publics and science is important and why it needs to be studied and monitored; it outlines the frameworks by which this relationship has been studied and uses this framework to suggest how we study the relationship in South Africa. We propose that in South Africa, a stratified society, we frame these studies under the rubric of publics' relationship with science. Given South Africa's diversity we need to recognise the different publics. We also recognise that the public's relationship will be shaped by the culture in which that public is located and a study of the relationship must report on both attitudes, views, knowledge etc. and on the science communication received.
We review the international and national studies around the publics' relationship with science and in these we include studies conducted through household surveys and studies conducted at schools. We also review the literature on how the relationship between science and the publics get shaped. We then propose a framework for how the publics' relationship with science could be studied in South Africa to provide a comprehensive and nuanced picture. This information would then drive the development agenda and would be at the heart of policy formulation and programmatic interventions
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Pre-service teachers' perceptions of co-teaching of professional development school teachers and university faculty
Co-teaching in teacher preparation is viewed as a promising practice for fostering collaborative skills, increasing student participation, improving classroom instruction, and professional growth for all participants. Using focus group interviews as a unit of analysis, this article explores pre-service teachers' perceptions of co-teaching used in their urban education option cohort during fall 2010. The co-teaching was conducted by University professor's and professional development school teachers who taught college courses at a professional development school. Findings revealed that co-teaching was positively received although challenges also existed. The article discusses how challenges identified by pre-service teachers could be addressed and recommends additional co-teaching strategies.
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Differentiating through problem-based learning: learning to ExploreMore! With gifted students
Because gifted students are often overlooked and thus become frustrated when working at the same level as other students in a mixed ability classroom, PBL provides an avenue for teachers to infuse characteristics of gifted education into the curriculum. In this regards, differentiation develops from students' diverse ideas and responses.
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Guidelines for a human capital development strategy in the biodiversity conservation sector
Research report produced for the Lewis Foundation and the SA National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI), NovemberThe proposed human capital development strategy is part of a broader government and national Endeavour which paces investment inequality education and in skills development. The research done by the HSRC aimed to provide a comprehensive statistical and contextual picture of the key trends in human capital development in the biodiversity sector as well as best practice lessons from selected interventions while outlining key challenges for the way forward. The research process are summarised here and reported on in more detail in separate chapters of this report