Tomé Awshar Mapotse
Department of Science & Technology, College of Education. University of South Africa (Unisa), South Africa
Mishack Thiza Gumbo
Department of Science & Technology, College of Education. University of South Africa (Unisa), South Africa
Ladda ner artikel
Ingår i: PATT 26 Conference; Technology Education in the 21st Century; Stockholm; Sweden; 26-30 June; 2012
Linköping Electronic Conference Proceedings 73:35, s. 301-308
Publicerad: 2012-06-18
ISBN: 978-91-7519-849-1
ISSN: 1650-3686 (tryckt), 1650-3740 (online)
The extent of South Africa’s (SA) un- and under- qualified teachers amongst technology senior phase teachers has intensified and reinforced that action research (AR) be regarded as a tool for emancipation in the teaching of technology as is apparent from this study. The purpose of the paper is to report DEd inquiry findings from the action research activities that took place in selected schools of Limpopo Province. For technology education – a foreign concept to many teachers and a new learning area in the school curriculum both nationally and internationally – has found its way into the school environment successfully and effectively through engaging informants with the action research approach. In all the spiral activities of planning; observation; action and reflection during the AR cycle contact sessions with participants; the main goal was to address the following research question:
How can an action research intervention be used to improve the teaching practice of senior phase technology teachers who are under qualified? The presenters argue that inadequate training of technology teachers impacts negatively on their teaching practice. The study did identify the gaps and an appropriate progressive intervention was embarked on.
The research was designed from both a critical theory perspective and a participatory paradigm. The following instruments were used as a means to gather data: observations; interviews; questionnaires; field notes; video recording of lesson plans and logs of meetings. The research findings reveal that most technology teachers were not trained or qualified to teach technology with confidence and every chance of success until an intervention in the form of action research was introduced which has successfully change their situation.
Technology education; technology teachers; action research; reconnaissance study; curriculum transformation/reform; emancipation/empowerment
Creswell; J.W. (1994). Research design: Qualitative and quantitative approaches. Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Department of Education. (2003). Revised National Curriculum Statement Grades R-9 (Schools) Teacher’s guide for developing learning programmes Technology. Pretoria: Government Printers.
Ferrance; E. (2000). Action research. Virgin Island: Brown University.
Gay; L.R. (1987). Educational research: Competencies for analysis and application (3rd Ed.). Columbus: Merrill.
Gumbo; M.T. 2010. A critical reflection on curriculum review of technology education in South Africa. Proceedings of the 4th Annual Teacher Education at a distance conference. SA; Gauteng; Valverde Country Lodge; 5 -7 October.
Jones; A.; Buntting; C. & De Vries; M. 2011. The developing field of Technology Education: a review to look forward. In the International Journal of Technology and Design Education; 05 June 2011. Netherlands: Kluwer.
Lovington; D.S. (2009). Problems experienced by educators in the training of technology at Etwatwa schools. <http://152.106.200:8080/dspace/handle/10210/2013> 29 February 2012.
Maree; K. (Ed). 2010. First Steps in Research. Pretoria: Van Schaik
Maree; K. & Pietersen; J. (2010). “Sampling”. In Maree; K. (Ed.); First steps in research. Pretoria: Van Schaik.
McNiff; J. (1988). Action research: Principles and practice. New York: Macmillan Education Ltd.
Memorandum No. 202 OF 2004. Technology Workshops: Gauteng Department of Education. Gauteng: Government Printers.
Nkosi; D.F. (2008). Technological process as a framework for the improvement of instruction of technology. MEd dissertation. Johannesburg: University of Johannesburg.
Potgieter; C. (2004). The impact of the implementation of technology education on inservice teacher education in South Africa. International Journal of Technology and Design Education; (14): 205-218.
Pudi; T.I. (2007). Understanding technology education form South African perspective. Pretoria: Van Schaik.
Rauscher; W. (2010). The technological knowledge used by technology education students in capability tasks. International Journal of Technology and Design Education. 21: 291- 305.
Tholo; J.A.T.; Monobe; R.J. & Lumadi; M.W. 2011. What do boys and girls think about Technology? US-China Education Review; USA; 8(12); 2011.
Tooley; W. R. (2000). Political rationality & government mechanisms: Maori education policy in the new millennium. MA in Education dissertation. Auckland: University of Auckland.
