Department of Educational Psychology

Permanent URI for this community

https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/87

Browse

Browsing Department of Educational Psychology by browse.metadata.advisor "Cilliers, C. D."

Now showing 1 - 6 of 6
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    An assessment of the psychological needs and problems of standard six pupils
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 1993-12) Abrahamse, Petra; Cilliers, C. D.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Education. Dept. of Educational Psychology.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The aim of this investigation was to determine the needs and problems of Standard six pupils in schools controlled by the Department of Education and Culture (Administration: House of Representatives) and the extent to which these are being addressed by existing educational structures. The investigatior: consists of two parts, a literature study and an empirical investigation. The literature study consists of an examination of South African and international research relevant to the investigation. An analysis of South African and international school guidance programmes aimed at meeting the needs and solving possible problems is included and an overview is given of the role that the school, both nationally and internationally, can, is and should be playing to meet these needs and help solve these problems. The empirical investigation examined standard six pupils' problems and needs concerning extra-mural activities, relationships with peers and older pupils, teachers and parents and personal adjustment. A questionnaire to determine these needs and problems was administered to a representative random sample of secondary school pupils in the Cape Peninsula. To determine what is being done to address these needs and problems, a second questionnaire was sent to the 58 dual-medium state controlled schools in thE~ Cape Peninsula for standard Six guidance teachers. A third questionnaire was sent to the Department of Education and culture (Administration: House of Representatives) to determine whether the Department agreed that the school guidance programme for Standard six pupils had been adequately applied by the school guidance teachers. Both South African and internati.onal research indicates that many adolescents experience adjustment problems on entering secondary school. Education authorities worldwide address these problems in various ways. In South l~frica, guidance and counselling services are available through elll the education departments, but their effectiveness and implementation need to be clarified because uniform control is not being exercised. The present research showed that most of the secondary schools in the survey do not have an orientation programme to assist pupils to bridge the gap between the primary and the secondary schools. Although this research does not offer conclusive evidence that Standard Six pupils are adversely affected by their present circumstances, the following needs were established: pupils • need to belong, supported by their opinion that extra-mural activities should be compulsory pupils' need for parent~; to be more lnvolved in school activities pupils' need for satisfactory relationships with teachers pupils' need for satisfactory peer relationships. Bas~~ on the~e findings, a number of recommendations have been made. These include: a sound orientation programme and the Careful selection of teachers who are sensitive to the needs of standard six 1Jupils an extra-mural programme where teachers and senior pupils can play a significant role to enhance the formation of constructive social groups and engender a sense of belonging a guidance programme incorporating group work and which teaches coping and problem-solving skills one non-racial education department with equal financing for all pupils and a uniform system of examination and certifica.tion the establishment of "mini-schools" or "middle schools" and the adoption of extended support for pupils to reduce adjustment problems.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Democratising intelligence towards life-long learning : a practical strategy for primary school educators in South Africa
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 1999-12) Lopes, Deborah Veronica; Cilliers, C. D.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Education. Dept. of Educational Psychology.
    ENGLISH SUMMARY: In post apartheid South Africa, the democratic government has prioritised the provision of an effective education for all South African children. This is envisioned as an education system whereby learners are empowered and encouraged to take responsibility for their own learning. Such a system would seek to promote analytical, creative and practical thinking, which is anticipated to create an inner· drive and an ongoing desire towards new knowledge. One of the great challenges facing the new South Africa is finding employment for all its people, a vital component of ensuring economic resiliency. Increasingly, young learners demand that schools equip them for the job market, and hence the re-evaluation and restructuring of the education process. The purpose of this study is to research how democratising intelligence may lead a way for learners towards life-long learning. This has far reaching implications for the economic wellbeing of South Africa, its educators, learners and society at large. The following are the main findings of the study: • Educators and Learners need to make a paradigm shift towards viewing themselves as active participants of the education process. • All role-players in education will need to, amongst others, understand the theories of Gardner and Sternberg, in order to gain an understanding of how these theories lead to their cognitive development and a sharing of a common vision towards becoming a life-long learner. • By educators superimposing the Triarchic Theory and the Theory of Multiple Intelligences, learners are able to develop their intelligences, facilitating their growth towards life-long learning. • Educators will need ongoing direction and support in carrying out the practical strategies needed to implement the theories of both Gardner and Sternberg, in addition to those of the new outcomes-based education process.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    The design and evaluation of a cognitive skills assessment checklist for educators
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2001-12) Coosner, Carroll Diane; Cilliers, C. D.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Education. Dept. of Educational Psychology.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Post-apartheid South Africa has seen a shift to process-centred, outcomesbased (OBE) education. Within this paradigm much has been written and recommended as regards assessment, specifically authentic assessment, which needs to be continuous. Within this transformatory model of teaching and assessment, it is vital for the educator to understand how the learner learns in order to assess him/her authentically. Because cognition has to do with how learners acquire, store and utilize information, the best way to assess cognitive ability is to assess those thought processes that are involved in arriving at the products of cognition directly. Being process-based and judging the learners' responsiveness to instruction, it becomes important for the educator to examine how a learner learns, before educators can hope to categorise and analyse the learners' ability to learn. The paucity of the data base search revealed that the design of such a cognitive checklist was imperative. The checklist had to be easily understood, practical and easily impiementabie. The researcher based the checklist on Feuerstein's (1980) model, which is underpinned by the concepts of structural cognitive modifiability (SCM) and the mediated learning experience (MLE). SCM is based on the assumption that human beings have the capacity to modify their cognitive functions and adapt to life's changing demands. They are thus open systems which are amenable to cognitive changes. Structural changes are pervasive and determine cognitive function in a broad series of mental activities. Feuerstein has suggested a list of deficient cognitive functions at the input, elaboration and output phases of the mental act. These serve as guidelines for observational and mediational efforts. The identification of the deficient cognitive function, the level of modifiability and the mediation required to change them are considered to be of vital importance to predicting future learning. This basic assumption shifts the responsibility for a person's modifiability from that individual to the mediator or educator. The basic parameters of the cognitive process are subsumed into the cognitive map. These include: content; operation; modality; phase (input, elaboration, output); level of complexity; level of abstraction and level of efficiency. The present researcher reframed all the basic components of the learning phases into easily accessible English and provided examples of sub-skills (150) necessary for the successful acquisition of learning at that phase of the learning process. The literature study was followed by a pilot-study. This was carried out in order to refine the checklist and make sure that it was, indeed, user-friendly, easily understood, impiementabie without training and that it yielded information which the educators found to be professionally beneficial and enriching. The results of the pilot-study were incorporated into The Checklist To Assess Cognitive Skills' (Chapter 4). The result of the research was unanimous as regards the above-mentioned goals. The educators all realised the necessity of linking assessment to instruction and understood how crucial it is that educators understand and appreciate how a learner learns and hence, develops.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Funksionele bemagtiging van die opvoeder van volwassenes in die Wes-Kaap
    (Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch, 2009-03) Jansen, Edward Henry; Cilliers, C. D.; University of Stellenbosch. Faculty of Education. Dept. of Educational Psychology.
    According to the latest available statistics, 9 million people in South Africa are illiterate. A large number of these people did not attend school. This can be attributed to a number of factors, amongst others no entry to any form of schooling, economic realities and a expectation of low quality of life It is especially after 1994 that Adult Basic Education and Training was scrutinized in order to address the backlogs. A more closer investigation has shown that the adult education centres at a convenient sample of 3 secondary schools in the Western Cape (N = 18) are merely an extension of mainstream education, without taking into account the notion of the Andragogy (The Teaching of Adults). This study aims to determine guidelines to assist the educator of adults on the path to empowerment, in order to help to ensure the above scientific accountability
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Multicultural education in secondary schools in South Africa : an analysis of teachers' needs
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 1997-12) Van der Merwe, Ann-Marie; Cilliers, C. D.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Education. Dept. of Educational Psychology.
    ENGLISH SUMMARY: The aim of this research was to determine the perceptions and problems of teachers regarding their black pupils in the areas of language, cognitive, inter-personal, and intra-personal development in selected secondary schools in which these pupils had been enrolled, with the purpose of determining the implications for the development of teacher training programmes pertaining to multicultural education. In addition, the study aimed to determine the extent ·of the teachers' training in these fields and the extent of their needs to address these problems. The opinions of 106 teachers Were obtained via an extensive needs analysis questionnaire for teachers, which was compiled with the assistance of the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) (Cape) and specialists in the areas covered in the questionnaire. The results indicated that the majority of respondents regarded language and the lack of self-esteem as the two main problems regarding the black pupils in their classes. Most problems were found to be in the areas of intra-personal skills and language skills and to a lesser extent in the areas of cognitive development or inter-personal skills. Most teachers regarded problems relating to the inter-personal skills of black pupils as Of minor importance. The respondents on the whole did not perceive their black pupils as having problems with general cognitive development. The majority of respondents had received little or no formal training in inter-personal skills or intra-personal skills; and indicated a strong need to be trained in these areas, especially regarding the understanding of the black pupil's home environment. In addition they need knowledge of second language methodology in order to assist their black pupils to cope with the English language.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Transformative learning : an exploratory analysis of theory and practice in a study and thinking skills programme
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2001-12) Kilpin, Elsa Margaretha; Cilliers, C. D.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Education. Dept. of Educational Psychology.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Many students that embark on higher education do not have study and thinking skills that are sufficiently well developed in order for them to become autonomous, selfdirected learners. This is partly due to the fact that the historically authoritarian and rigid approaches to teaching in some schools have discouraged independent thought. Other contributory factors such as negative beliefs, attitudes and dispositions, and distorted concepts of the self and of learning, also prevent effective learning from taking place. The focus of this research is a study and thinking skills programme. This programme is part of a four week bridging course for freshmen at the University of Stellenbosch. It is based on a comprehensive rationale derived from cognitive education theory, comprising a number of well known theorists such as Piaget, Vygotsky, Feuerstein and Lozanov. This is further supplemented by instruments from authors in the field of thinking skills (de Bono, Buzan). The purpose of this research was to identify elements of the programme which might be responsible for aspects of transformative learning, as defined by Mezirow in his Transformative Learning Theory. These aspects initially became apparent from students' responses in post-programme evaluations. The responses represented an unexpected outcome, as Mezirow's theory was not represented in the programme's rationale. Eight criteria were developed from Mezirow's theory, operationalised as questions, and then utilized to assess transformative learning in the context of the programme. In a conceptual analysis, four categories of the programme (the rationale, the objectives, the course material and implementation procedures) were compared and contrasted with criteria from Transformative Learning Theory. From this analysis it was apparent that several criteria of Transformative Learning Theory were present in the programme: it facilitated learning in both instrumental and communicative domains; it provided opportunities to explore meaning structures and to investigate distorted meaning perspectives; and it instigated disorientating or conflicting experiences with regard to these. Some criteria were absent from the programme in that it failed to promote rational discourse according Mezirow's definition, it did not adequately promote reflection on premises, and it did not intentionally address the transformation of meaning perspectives. These three omissions may be traced to the lack of an "adult learning" focus in the programme's theoretical structure. Despite this, a number of parallels were identified which may explain the representation of Mezirow's criteria in the programme, and hence the students' responses. Conclusions are drawn regarding a theoretically justified view of transformative learning in the context of the Study and Thinking Skills (S&TS) programme, and practical implications for educators are explained. Finally, recommendations are made for enhancing trans formative learning within the Study and Thinking Skills (S&TS) programme, and for the design of similar programmes. Recommendations are also proposed for further research in this area which, in the contemporary South African educational context, clearly deserves more attention in adult education and related settings.