Browsing by Author "Jeram, Ramesh"

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    Interpreting the effects of collegiality and collaboration on mathematics teachers' efficacy in a school based professional development programme : a case study
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2013-03) Jeram, Ramesh; Hill, Lloyd; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Sociology and Social Anthropology.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study is a tale untold by quantitative data. The main role-players in this tale are two mathematics teachers at an urban high school situated in a low socio-economic area and involved in a professional development programme in the Western Cape, viz. the SPARK project. It is a case study of how their levels of collegiality and collaboration positively influenced their levels of efficacy, whilst being part of an in-service professional development programme. This interpretive qualitative case study is explored using two data sets: one being the classroom observation reports generated via participant observation during the first three years of the project; and the other is a focus group interview done three years later. The data sets were analysed to produce a rich, thick descriptive and interpretive account of the supportive environment of these two teachers and how it played a significant role in their professional growth and levels of efficacy. The findings of this study are then used to highlight the importance of establishing collaborative cultures within in-service professional development programmes and the positive influence it can have on the efficacy levels of teachers.
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    On bridging the gap between theory and practice: a conceptual analysis of practice in relation to a teacher professional learning programme at Stellenbosch University
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2018-12) Jeram, Ramesh; Davids, Nuraan; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Education. Dept. of Education Policy Studies.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT : There are extensive efforts to improve the quality of teaching and learning of teachers in South African schools. The South African government has experienced numerous challenges to address the educational neglect of the previous 350 years. Since 1994, there have been curriculum changes coupled with various training initiatives, to enhance the capacity of teachers in South Africa. The focus of these training initiatives has been on improving the efficacy of teachers. However, many of these training initiatives have been decontextualised and without support to teachers, that is, these teacher training sessions took place outside of the context within which the teachers practice their profession and without the required support to make the paradigm shift from learning as a finite activity, to learning as a lifelong activity. It has now become necessary to explore other means of teacher professional learning to make this paradigm shift. Practice-based professional learning has increasingly been offered as an approach to continuous professional learning through which the impediments (overly theory-laden contents, not relevant to the context within which teacher work, no clear link between theory and practice) of conventional mostly transmission-mode training could be addressed. After an in-depth survey of the literature as well as critical reflection on own practice, the intention of this research was to find ways of improving continuous teacher professional learning initiatives by utilising a practice-based approach to teacher professional learning, using practice theory as a theoretical and conceptual framework. Using conceptual analysis and phenomenology as research paradigms, this study explored the current research on practice theory and offers suggestions on how to improve the efficacy of teacher professional learning programmes within the South African context. The study examined the effectiveness of the current abstract, theory-laden modes of teacher professional development initiatives in South Africa, and suggests alternative ways of effective professional learning that has been proved to elicit changes in teachers’ practices, taking into account the contexts within which teachers learn while they interact with others on practice-based issues. This study therefore recommends a practice-based professional learning approach where teachers could learn in and from practice rather than in preparing to practice.