A systematic management approach to skills development within an organisation

Includes abstract.Includes bibliographical references.The Skills Development Act has recently become law in South Africa. The act seeks to develop and enhance the skills of the workforce and proponents argue that it encourages companies to become learning organisations. Under this law, employers are obliged to pay a skills development levy. The levy is essentially a tax, a portion of which can be reclaimed depending on the type of training a company undertakes. The purpose of this project is to explore the implementation of skills development within the new paradigm created by the legislation

Residual cognitive deficits 50 years after lead poisoning during childhood

The long term neurobehavioural consequences of childhood lead poisoning are not known. In this study adult subjects with a documented history of lead poisoning before age 4 and matched controls were examined with an abbreviated battery of neuropsychological tests including measures of attention, reasoning, memory, motor speed, and current mood. The subjects exposed to lead were inferior to controls on almost all of the cognitive tasks. This pattern of widespread deficits resembles that found in children evaluated at the time of acute exposure to lead rather than the more circumscribed pattern typically seen in adults exposed to lead. Despite having completed as many years of schooling as controls, the subjects exposed to lead were lower in lifetime occupational status. Within the exposed group, performance on the neuropsychological battery and occupational status were related, consistent with the presumed impact of limitations in neuropsychological functioning on everyday life. The results suggest that many subjects exposed to lead suffered acute encephalopathy in childhood which resolved into a chronic subclinical encephalopathy with associated cognitive dysfunction still evident in adulthood. These findings lend support to efforts to limit exposure to lead in childhood

Students’ attitudes towards science: a long term perspective

In this study the attitudes of four pupils, two boys and two girls, towards science are followed over the course of six years. Data were obtained in two ways. First, and principally, by annual interviews undertaken in the pupils' homes throughout their science education from the ages of 11 to 16 years, and at the age of 17, one year after the ending of their compulsory schooling; secondly, by means of observations made during their science lessons in an English state (non-fee-paying) school from 1994 to 1999. Each pupil's attitudes towards science and their experiences of their school science education are described by means of quotations and episodic biographical vignettes. These allow us to track the ways in which the pupils' attitudes about science developed over the course of the study. The findings help to shed light on the reasons why many pupils lose interest in science during the course of their secondary science education