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In order to expand the knowledge base on learner misbehaviour and disciplinary strategies in Lesotho, the present study reports on findings from an inquiry on how school levels, school control and school size relate to disciplinary strategies. A cross-sectional survey design was used to collect data from Lesotho teachers. The data were analysed by means of frequencies and the one-way ANOVA test. The frequency tables illustrate that there are some differences in the popularity of 22...

This article explored conceptions that teachers hold about classroom assessment and how these conceptions influence their classroom assessment practices. The qualitative study employed a case study approach. Semi-structured interviews, observations and document analyses were used. The study utilized Brown's (2004) conceptual framework on conceptions of assessment. The findings reveal that teachers' conceptions of assessment are influenced by the social and education context in which they...

In this study, the sociocultural view of science as a language and some quantitative language features of the complementary theoretical framework of systemic functional linguistics are employed to analyse the utterances of three South African Physical Sciences teachers. Using a multi-case study methodology, this study provides a sophisticated description of the utterances of Pietermaritzburg Physical Sciences teachers in language contexts characterised by varying proportions of English...

During 1990s, disaster risk reduction emerged as a novel, proactive approach to managing risks from natural hazards. The World Bank, USAID, and other international donor agencies began making efforts to mainstream disaster risk reduction in countries whose population and economies were heavily dependent on rain-fed agriculture. This approach has more significance in light of the increasing climatic hazard patterns and the climate scenarios projected for different hazard prone countries in...

Education and research are two fundamental pillars to ensure progress. Without an appropriate education, quality research is not feasible. In the case of developing countries, these issues become more challenging since literacy and access to information are still unsolved. In this regard, numerous initiatives around the world have been launched for promoting education by applying Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). However, introducing such technologies without considering the...

The commercialization of smallholder agriculture has been considered a key strategy for sustainably reducing poverty and for achieving equitable growth in many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. The level of success of the strategy in different countries in the region has however been varied with some countries exhibiting far greater success than others. The key underlying factors influencing success and failure of the commercialization process all point towards the need for strong public and...

Drawing on fieldwork in a primary school in rural G ambia, West A frica, this article foregrounds the notion of voice as analytical heuristics for understanding language in education. Arguing for more attention to voices from the field and for critical reflection on the researcher's voice in research, the article addresses the ways in which school children, teachers, parents, and other stakeholders voice their opinions and concerns about language in education in relation to official policy and practice.

While communicable diseases are the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in Malawi, the contribution of nosocomial or hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) is unknown but could be substantial. The single most important method of preventing nosocomial infections is hand hygiene. We report a study which was conducted in 2011 to investigate adherence to hand hygiene protocols by clinicians and medical students working at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre, Malawi.There were two...

Central to the discourse on disability is the question of systemic disadvantage, characterised by the discrimination, and often complete exclusion, of persons with disabilities (PWDs) in society. In an effort to address the problem, on 13 December 2006, the international community adopted the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), which entered into force together with its Optional Protocol on 3 May 2008. In Africa, prior to the advent of the CRPD, the idea of a...

Since independence, the Kenyan government has developed strategies and promotion programs aimed at promoting the micro and small enterprise sector. Entrepreneurship training has been cited as one of the most important of these. The purpose of this study was to examine the components of the entrepreneurship training program and their impact on performance of entrepreneurs. The conceptual framework takes the form of a structural equation model where entrepreneurial behaviour is seen as a...

Child labor is pervasive across sub-Saharan Africa. The common assumption is that monetary poverty is its most important cause. This paper investigates this hypothesis with empirical evidence by exploring structural, geographic, monetary, demographic, cultural, seasonal and school-supply factors simultaneously that can influence child labor. It is a first attempt in the literature to combine quantitative with qualitative methods to identify a broader range of potential factors—on the demand-...

The primary aim of this study was to determine factors affecting sport participation among 197 (103 females and 94 males) students aged 15–18 years (mean age: 16.5 years; s = 0.8 years) who were drawn from three secondary schools in Pretoria, South Africa. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data. Results indicated that participants were affected mainly by sports conflicting with their studies, loss of interest to participate in sport, lack of transport after school...

Using a within-student analysis, we find no average impact of textbook access (ownership or sharing) on primary school achievement. Instead, it is only for students with high socioeconomic status that one form of textbook access–sharing–has a positive impact.

This study explores the acceptance of online learning (OL) for continuous professional development among lecturers at Kenya Medical Training College in 2009. The large and multi-campus College faces logistical and cost challenges in ensuring that its 700 lecturing staff have access to continuous professional development. Online learning potentially provides an effective and efficient solution to this problem. A questionnaire was administered to a sample of the lecturers to assess the...

To report on the current career destination of the University of Ghana Medical School (UGMS) qualified doctors in the year groups, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005 and 2008.Interview of doctors from each year group currently working at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital corroborated by phone calls to the doctors.All Ghanaian doctors from each graduating year group.1. Current location of employment in Ghana or abroad, 2. Gender ratios of the doctors retained in Ghana.Three hundred and seventy-two (372)...

Individuals, generally, in this environment are known to rate their oral health status favourably despite the presence of oral diseases and conditions, probably due to sub optimal awareness level about oral health, however it is not known if this is the case with members of the dental team especially those who assist the dentist in day to day procedures.This study assessed the self ratings of oral health status amongst student dental surgeon assistants on clinical rotation at the Dental...

In this sobering context, this book provides an opportunity to learn from a bold experiment in teaching and learning taking place across two very different South African universities, one historically black, and one historically white and ...