Natural sciences teachers’ continuous professional development through a Community of Practice

Years of research on teacher quality indicate that the quality and effectiveness of teachers have a significant influence on learner achievements. The quality of teachers and their teaching practice is widely debated where quality may depend on the teacher having acquired sound and relevant knowledge and skills to ensure effective teaching. The continuous professional development of teachers is a key element in ensuring the required quality in teaching to enhance learners’ achievements. Utilising Wenger’s construct of a Community of Practice (CoP) as theoretical framework, with the investigation reported on here, we aimed to understand how natural sciences teachers, from a specific rural school district in the Western Cape province, South Africa, experienced a CoP as a continuing professional teacher development (CPTD) strategy. This investigation was informed by a naturalistic case study method where open-ended questionnaires, semi-structured interviews and observations were utilised for data generation during CoP sessions. Thematic data-analysis revealed themes (words/phrases) for interpretation and discussion. Preliminary findings highlighted some emerging characteristics that influenced the effective operation of a CoP and suggested that participants acknowledged the importance of a CoP, indicating that their natural sciences knowledge and skills had notably increased. We argue that emerging CoP characteristics can assist in the advancement of motivation, effectiveness and professional development of natural sciences teachers in rural areas, affording quality teachers and teaching practices

Determining the Managerial Skills’ Training Needs of Retail and Wholesale Industry in Tshwane Area of Gauteng

The paper determines the managerial skills training needs of Retail and Wholesale industry in Tshwane area of Gauteng. Several researches identified range of problem with retail and wholesale businesses emanating from lack of managerial skills without identifying the lacking skills. Survey research method was adopted. The population of study was the retail and wholesale businesses in Tshwane area of Gauteng from which sample were selected using multistage and convenience sampling technique. Questionnaire was used as research instrument, validated through content validity while reliability was done through test-re test method .The Cronbach alpha value was 0.836. Descriptive analysis was employed to analyze data and make decisions. The paper identified business management, financial management, marketing and sales management together with access to funds and adequate financial record keeping as the major challenge as well as the managerial training needs of the retail and wholesale. In effect the big challenge is the conceptual skills that is lacking. The paper concluded that management effectiveness of the retail and wholesale industry will strongly depend on adequate managerial skill in the business. By implication, business operators are exposed to relevant managerial training required of them while the various support servicesto small and medium scale enterprises are to focus on the conceptual needs of theretail and wholesale industry for ultimate effective performance and contribution to economic development

Organisational culture of the South African construction industry

Constant change and globalisation of the construction industry has prompted an international query into the understanding of organisations’ culture, highlighting its impact on effectiveness and performance. Assessment of the likely culture type of the South African construction industry has been conducted. The aim of this article is to investigate the organisational culture of the South African construction industry by utilising the Competing Values Framework, with its measurement scale, the Organisational Culture Assessment Instrument. This model will identify the industry as either one of the following dominant cultures, namely the clan, adhocracy, market or hierarchy. The systematic sampling method was used and every third participant from a list of quantity surveyors and contractors was selected for the sample group. Each participant was emailed a standard questionnaire. From a sample of 235 quantity-surveying firms a total of 39 valid responses were received. From the 270 contractors that were emailed, 32 valid responses were received. The results revealed the market culture to be the predominant organisational culture in the South African construction industry, followed by the clan, hierarchy and, lastly, the adhocracy cultures. Understanding of their own and other firms’ organisational culture could reduce conflict and misunderstanding between stakeholders, and enable managers to make business decisions that could improve competitiveness and create a more harmonious working environment

A discussion of access to credit in South Africa with specific reference to reckless lending and over-indebted consumers.

Master of Law in Business Law. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 2014.Access to credit is very important as it allows consumers to buy goods that they cannot necessarily buy with one month’s salary. Having access to credit also allows consumers to start small businesses. This not only benefits individual consumers, access to credit also helps the economy of a country to grow. However, due to the history of South Africa, many poor consumers were not able to access the formal credit sector as they did not have the necessary security to obtain credit. Many poor consumers had to use the informal credit sector or ‘mashonisa’ (informal money lenders) where they were open to abuse by credit providers who did not care about the law. At this point in time the credit industry was regulated by the Credit Agreements Act 75 of 1980 and the Usury Act 73 of 1968 which had certain requirements which made access to credit for poor consumers difficult. The South African government tried to make access to credit easier for poor consumers by introducing two Exemption Notices. However, an unintended consequence of this was that credit providers were able to offer many small loans to one consumer at very high interest rates. Levels of over-indebtedness then increased to the point where the government became very concerned about the situation both for consumers and for the economy as a whole. After an in depth study by the Department of Trade and Industry, the National Credit Act 34 of 2005 (NCA) was enacted. The NCA was specifically introduced to stop reckless lending by creditors and to prevent consumers from becoming over-indebted. When the Act came into operation it was very difficult for consumers to obtain loans. This was because of the onerous penalties provided for in the Act and because the Act established the National Credit Regulator (NCR) and the National Consumer Tribunal (NCT). These two bodies were established to ensure that credit providers, debt counsellors and credit bureaux were complying with the Act. The NCR investigates allegations of non-compliance with the Act and refers matters to the NCT for a hearing. If credit providers are found to be contravening the Act the Tribunal can impose heavy administrative fines or they can deregistered the credit provider. However, after a period of time, it seems that credit providers discovered that the Act was not being enforced properly and so it became easier for consumers to obtain loans.This has created a situation where over-indebtedness is still on the increase. It also shows that the mechanisms put in place by the NCA have not worked and more and more consumers are becoming over-indebted. This has caused the government to relook at the NCA and it has introduced amendments to the NCA. By introducing the new regulations the government believes that the regulations will close the loopholes and will bring down levels of over-indebtedness. However, whether these amendments will achieve this will ultimately depend on how the NCR and the NCT are able to enforce them. If they cannot enforce the NCA properly then credit providers might just continue to offer loans to consumers who cannot pay them back

Natural sciences teachers' continuous professional development through a community of practice

CITATION: Philander, C. J. & Botha, M.-L., 2021. Natural sciences teachers' continuous professional development through a Community of Practice. South African Journal of Education, 41(4):#1918, doi:10.15700/saje.v41n4a1918.The original publication is available at http://www.sajournalofeducation.co.zaYears of research on teacher quality indicate that the quality and effectiveness of teachers have a significant influence on learner achievements. The quality of teachers and their teaching practice is widely debated where quality may depend on the teacher having acquired sound and relevant knowledge and skills to ensure effective teaching. The continuous professional development of teachers is a key element in ensuring the required quality in teaching to enhance learners’ achievements. Utilising Wenger’s construct of a Community of Practice (CoP) as theoretical framework, with the investigation reported on here, we aimed to understand how natural sciences teachers, from a specific rural school district in the Western Cape province, South Africa, experienced a CoP as a continuing professional teacher development (CPTD) strategy. This investigation was informed by a naturalistic case study method where open-ended questionnaires, semi-structured interviews and observations were utilised for data generation during CoP sessions. Thematic data-analysis revealed themes (words/phrases) for interpretation and discussion. Preliminary findings highlighted some emerging characteristics that influenced the effective operation of a CoP and suggested that participants acknowledged the importance of a CoP, indicating that their natural sciences knowledge and skills had notably increased. We argue that emerging CoP characteristics can assist in the advancement of motivation, effectiveness and professional development of natural sciences teachers in rural areas, affording quality teachers and teaching practices.Publisher's versio

Determining the Managerial Skills’ Training Needs of Retail and Wholesale Industry in Tshwane Area of Gauteng

The paper determines the managerial skills training needs of Retail and Wholesale industry in Tshwane area of Gauteng. Several researches identified range of problem with retail and wholesale businesses emanating from lack of managerial skills without identifying the lacking skills. Survey research method was adopted. The population of study was the retail and wholesale businesses in Tshwane area of Gauteng from which sample were selected using multistage and convenience sampling technique. Questionnaire was used as research instrument, validated through content validity while reliability was done through test-re test method .The Cronbach alpha value was 0.836. Descriptive analysis was employed to analyze data and make decisions. The paper identified business management, financial management, marketing and sales management together with access to funds and adequate financial record keeping as the major challenge as well as the managerial training needs of the retail and wholesale. In effect the big challenge is the conceptual skills that is lacking. The paper concluded that management effectiveness of the retail and wholesale industry will strongly depend on adequate managerial skill in the business. By implication, business operators are exposed to relevant managerial training required of them while the various support servicesto small and medium scale enterprises are to focus on the conceptual needs of theretail and wholesale industry for ultimate effective performance and contribution to economic development

Does Language Matter? Identity-First Versus Person-First Language Use in Autism Research: A Response to Vivanti

In response to Vivanti’s ‘Ask The Editor…’ paper [Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 50(2), 691–693], we argue that the use of language in autism research has material consequences for autistic people including stigmatisation, dehumanisation, and violence. Further, that the debate in the use of person-first language versus identity-first language should centre first and foremost on the needs, autonomy, and rights of autistic people, so in to preserve their rights to self-determination. Lastly, we provide directions for future research.Output Status: Forthcoming/Available Onlin

Plant poisonings in livestock in Brazil and South Africa

Information on intoxication of livestock by plants in Brazil, in terms of cause, clinical signs and pathology, is compared with information on livestock poisoning by plants in South Africa. Plant poisoning, including mycotoxicosis, is considered to be one of three major causes of death in livestock in Brazil, which is one of the top beef producing countries in the world, with a cattle population of more than 200 million. Cattle production in South Africa is on a more modest scale, but with some 600 species of plants and fungi known to cause toxicity in livestock, as opposed to some 130 species in Brazil, the risk to livestock in South Africa appears to be much greater. The comparisons discussed in this communication are largely restricted to ruminants.http://www.jsava.co.zaam201

Phase I of the DiaVACCS screening trial : study design, methods, population demographics and baseline results

BACKGROUND. Human papillomavirus (HPV)-based primary screening guidelines are based on screening test performance and prevalence data generated in high-resource areas with low HIV infection rates. There is an urgent need for local data on infection and disease prevalence, as well as screening test performance, among both HIV-positive and HIV-negative South African (SA) women, in order to inform updated screening guidelines. OBJECTIVES. This study describes the baseline characteristics of participants in the cross-sectional phase of the multicentric DIAgnosis in Vaccine And Cervical Cancer Screen (DiaVACCS) screening trial. The objective was to determine the prevalence of positive screening and pre-invasive disease using different tests and strategies in the SA HIV-positive and HIV-negative population. METHODS. A total of 1 104 women aged 25 - 65 years and eligible for screening were included, 465 HIV positive and 639 HIV negative. Visual inspection and molecular and cytological screening tests were done on self-sampled and healthcare worker-collected specimens. All participants who screened positive and 49.1% of those who screened negative were invited for colposcopy and biopsy, and those qualifying for treatment were recalled for large loop excision of the transformation zone as part of the trial. The worst histology result for each participant was used, and for untested women, multiple imputation was used to estimate verification biasadjusted histology values. RESULTS. Visual inspection was positive in 50.4% of HIV-positive v. 20.9% of HIV-negative women, cytology (atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance) in 39.9% v. 17.0%, and high-risk HPV DNA in 41.2% v. 19.6%. Overall, high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion-positive cytology peaked in the age group 30 - 39 years at 16.7%. After adjustment for verification bias, histological diagnosis of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN)2+ was suspected in 44.7% v. 23.5% and CIN3+ in 23.3% v. 10.2% of HIV-positive and negative women, respectively. Invasive cancer was diagnosed in 15 women (1.95% of histological studies performed), and verification bias adjustment suggested 20 cases (1.8% of the study population). CONCLUSION. The baseline findings from the DiaVACCS trial confirm a high prevalence of HPV-related cervical pathology in the SA HIV-negative screening population, showing a clear need to reach these women with a screening programme. Among HIV-positive women, prevalence values were almost doubled. The prevalence of existing invasive cervical cancer was 1 - 2% of all women. Further analysis of the performance of single and multiple screening tests between the two subgroups will contribute to the choice of the most effective strategies to identify women at risk of developing invasive cancer.http://www.samj.org.zadm2022Medical VirologyObstetrics and Gynaecolog