Curriculum reform in Lesotho: exploring the interface between environmental education and geography in selected schools
- Authors: Raselimo, Mohaeka Gabriel
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: Curriculum planning -- Lesotho Curriculum change -- Lesotho Educational evaluation -- Lesotho Environmental education -- Study and teaching (Secondary) -- Lesotho Geography -- Study and teaching (Secondary) -- Lesotho Agenda 21 (Program)
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:1488 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003369
- Description: This study sought to explore the interface between environmental education (EE) and school geography with a view to understanding a process of curriculum reform in the context of Lesotho. The research was based on the curriculum reform process that was initiated by a Danish donor-funded project, known as the Lesotho Environmental Education Support Project (LEESP), which operated from 2001 to 2004. Driven by a sustainable development imperative, the project was intended to assist Lesotho in the implementation of local action for Agenda 21 by introducing environmental education into the formal education system. Deviating slightly from much published research on geographical and environmental education, which focuses on how geography contributes to environmental education, this study explored how the latter has shaped the former in terms of content and pedagogy. Using the lens of critical curriculum theory, I sought to understand the political nature of the curriculum and of curriculum change, focusing on the LEESP curriculum policy development, dissemination and implementation at classroom level. The study employed Bernstein's concepts of classification and framing to illuminate issues of power and control between discourses, and between teachers and learners. Operating within an interpretive qualitative research orientation, the study used a case study method focusing on five secondary/high schools in Lesotho. The data was generated through document analysis, interviews and classroom observations. The study examined the assumptions, values and ideologies underpinning environmental education curriculum intentions as reflected in LEESP documents. It also investigated the social process of conceptualising and disseminating environmental education to understand the challenges faced as education practitioners made sense of environmental education innovations in the specific contexts of Lesotho, and how these could possibly influence what happens at the classroom level. The analysis of the LEESP documents revealed that while there are many areas of synergy between the LEESP environmental education policy guidelines and the national education ideals in Lesotho, achievement of the transformational visions of action competence, which was the overarching concept in the reform process, would require major structural changes. The study also highlights issues of participation, contestations, tensions and contradictions associated with the conceptualisation and dissemination of environmental education. At implementation level, there is a disjuncture between environmental education policy intentions and practice. Geography teachers in the research schools generally understood the existence of environmental education in their schools in terms of environmental management. The findings also revealed that while there is generally a strong environmental dimension in geography content, as reflected in both curriculum materials and classroom practice, the subject still retains its disciplinary boundaries and makes little use of knowledge from other subjects or the everyday knowledge of the learners. Finally, it emerged that while the geography teachers in their rhetoric espoused learner-centred methods, in practice they generally employed traditional teacher-centred and book-centred methods. The study concludes that a lack of change in school geography in Lesotho, of the sort envisaged in LEESP, may be attributed to contextual and structural factors such as an overemphasis on examinations, and certain perceptions on the part of teachers and learners embedded in the history and culture of their society. A model of teacher professional development capable of supporting curriculum change is therefore proposed.
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Testing Guidano's model of psychopathology in eating-disordered individuals : a multiple case study
- Authors: Hajayiannis, Helen
- Date: 1998
- Subjects: Psychology, Pathological Eating disorders -- Case studies Guidano, V F Eating disorders -- Etiology
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:3192 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1008557
- Description: This thesis sets out to critically examine Guidano's model of psychopathology in eating-disordered individuals . The literature review highlights the diverse etiological approaches that have been taken in understanding eating disorders. Guidano's model is presented as an alternative to traditional approaches . It is a developmental, unitary model of psychopathology, conceptualised within a systems/process-oriented approach to organised complexity. Within a qualitative framework, case study methodology is utilised to test the viability and limitations of Guidano's model. Four in-depth case histories are presented which offer appropriate material for the testing of the model. The data is analysed using the reading guide method and presented in terms of the four features of Guidano's model: (1) dysfunctional patterns of attachment; (2) sense of self; (3) major themes on systemic coherence; (4) common coping strategies. The findings of the research support Guidano's model of psychopathology in eating-disordered individuals. The findings are: (1) attachment styles are ambiguous, "intrusive, and enmeshed; participants experience a disappointment in the preferential attachment relationship; (2) that participants' sense of self is blurred and wavering; (3) the major theme on systemic coherence is the oscillation between seeking and avoiding intimacy; (4) common coping strategies are: the seeking of supportive intimacy with minimal self-exposure; withdrawal into the self; perfectionism; the development of an eating disorder; continuous thoughts about food, eating, and weight which prevents participants from becoming aware of the real issues confronting them. An evaluation of Guidano's model in terms of its specific contribution to knowledge and research on the role of father in child and adolescent psychopathology, as well as how father effects evidence in eating disorders, demonstrates the model's value as an explanatory tool and raises implications for future treatment, theory, and research practices of eating-disordered individuals.
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The invertebrates of temporary rivers in the Eastern Cape, South Africa
- Authors: Uys, Amanda Cloete
- Date: 1998
- Subjects: Rivers -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Stream ecology -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Freshwater invertebrates -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:5628 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004908
- Description: Temporary rivers in dryland regions are subject to highly variable and unpredictable rainfall and flow, and are considered unstable systems relative to perennial rivers of temperate zones. Little is known of the ecology of South Africa's temporary rivers, despite their abundance. The research presented focusses on the aquatic invertebrates inhabiting intermittently-flowing rivers in the 'arid corridor' of the Eastern Cape, South Africa. The major aims of the work were: to investigate which invertebrates inhabit these rivers, how the fauna is affected by environmental variability at various spatial and temporal scales, whether or not a characteristic fauna can be associated with these rivers or the hydrological phases which characterise them, and to establish to what extent faunal overlap occurs between different temporary rivers and between natural and modified temporary and perennial rivers. Research results indicate that the fauna of the Eastern Cape temporary rivers shows little structure at the scales of investigation, and that communities are generally non-equilibrial in character. The major forces shaping the biota are considered to be physical rather than biological, and the most important of these are: present and antecedent hydrological conditions and their duration; time of year; and biotope character, extent and heterogeneity. Three groups of fauna were identified as inhabitants of the temporary rivers: 'residents', 'facultative taxa' and 'opportunist colonists'. Taxa were tentatively allocated to these groups. Faunal resemblance was fairly high in Eastern Cape temporary rivers at the level of family, but not at more detailed taxonomic levels. A comparison between faunas of temporary and perennial rivers in different regions of South Africa illustrated the influence of geographical location on diversity. Within regions, however, there was no indication that perennial rivers were more diverse than intermittent rivers. The relatively high diversities in temporary rivers in this study are attributed at least in part to the heterogeneity in surface water conditions over time. A conceptual framework envisioning a continuum between perennial and temporary rivers is proposed as a basis for ongoing research into these rivers. A supporting terminology for the range of river flow types in South Africa is presented.
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