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Although physical education (PE) provides a school-based platform for the enhancement of learners' physical health, implementation challenges can have a detrimental effect on learners' motivation to participate in physical activities and their fitness levels. Within the framework of the Self-determination Theory (SDT), meeting learners' basic psychological needs of autonomy, competence and relatedness in the PE class, can promote their fitness levels by enhancing their intrinsic motivation to be physically active. The purpose with this study was to investigate the effect of an in-service PE teacher training programme including needs-support teaching strategies on the physical and motor fitness levels of the learners of the participating teachers. Using a pre- and post-test experimental design, the fitness of 1 control and 4 experimental groups were assessed using standardised tests before and after the intervention programme. The intervention included implementing the needs-support teaching strategies acquired by the teachers during the once-off, 5-day teacher training programme, for 4 months while receiving continued support from the instructors of the course during those 4 months. The results show that the programme had a positive effect on the fitness levels of the learners in most of the tested fitness components, warranting the recommendation of SDT-based in-service training of PE teachers to support learners' motivation towards physical activity and fitness.

Objectives: Transfers between health facilities of people living with HIV attending primary health care (PHC) including hospital to PHC facility, PHC facility to hospital and PHC facility to PHC facility transfers occur frequently, affect health service planning, and are associated with disengagement from care and viraemia. Data on transfers among people living with diabetes attending PHC, particularly transfers between PHC facilities, are few. We assessed the transfer incidence rate of people living with diabetes attending PHC, and the association between transfers between PHC facilities and subsequent HbA1c values. Methods: We analysed data on HbA1c tests at public sector facilities in the Western Cape Province (2016–March 2020). Individuals with an HbA1c in 2016–2017 were followed‐up for 27 months and included in the analysis if ≥18 years at first included HbA1c, ≥2 HbA1cs during follow‐up and ≥1 HbA1c at a PHC facility. A visit interval was the duration between two consecutive HbA1cs. Successive HbA1cs at different facilities of any type indicated any transfer, and HbA1cs at different PHC facilities indicated a transfer between PHC facilities. Mixed effects logistic regression adjusted for sex, age, rural/urban facility attended at the start of the visit interval, disengagement (visit interval >14 months) and a hospital visit during follow‐up assessed the association between transfers between PHC facilities and HbA1c >8%. Results: Among 102,813 participants, 22.6% had ≥1 transfer of any type. Including repeat transfers, there were 29,994 transfers (14.4 transfers per 100 person‐years, 95% confidence interval [CI] 14.3–14.6). A total of 6996 (30.1%) of those who transferred had a transfer between PHC facilities. Visit intervals with a transfer between PHC facilities were longer (349 days, interquartile range [IQR] 211–503) than those without any transfer (330 days, IQR 182–422). The adjusted relative odds of an HbA1c ≥8% after a transfer between PHC facilities versus no transfer were 1.20 (95% CI 1.05–1.37). Conclusion: The volume of transfers involving PHC facilities requires consideration when planning services. Individuals who transfer between PHC facilities require additional monitoring and support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flow batteries are promising for large‐scale energy storage in intermittent renewable energy technologies. While the iron–chromium redox flow battery (ICRFB) is a low‐cost flow battery, it has a lower storage capacity and a higher capacity decay rate than the all‐vanadium RFB. Herein, the effect of electrolyte composition (active species and supporting electrolyte concentrations), Fe/Cr molar ratio, and supporting electrolyte type (HCl and H2SO4) on the performance (current efficiency (CE), voltage efficiency (VE), energy efficiency, discharge capacity, and capacity decay) of an ICRFB is investigated. The storage capacity of the optimum electrolyte (1.3 m FeCl2, 1.4 m CrCl3, 5.0 mm Bi2O3 in 1.0 m HCl) is 40% higher (from 17.5 to 24.4 Ah L−1), while the capacity decay rate is tenfold lower (from 3.0 to 0.3% h−1) than the performance of the previously used 1.0 m FeCl2, 1.0 m CrCl3 in 3.0 m HCl. At the optimum Fe and Cr concentrations and ratio in 0.5 m HCl, a near constant CE (92.3%), VE (78.7%), and EE (72.6%) are obtained over 50 cycles. The significantly higher capacity decay when using 1.0 m H2SO4 (1.6% h−1) compared to 1.0 m HCl (0.3% h−1) confirms that HCl is the more suitable supporting electrolyte. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The focus of this article is on the role and contribution of policy research in contexts of social transformation. With reference to education transformation policies in post-apartheid South Africa, the argument is developed that research studies vary in their contribution to change, as a function of the paradigmatic assumptions and methodological choices of the researcher. Based on an analysis of post-colonial theory and transformative perspectives on policy research, a framework is proposed which could be used to evaluate research contributions. This is then used to evaluate a selection of policy research reports on Inclusive Education published since 1994. Findings from this exemplary analysis suggest that there is a disjuncture between policy research practices and transformation imperatives inherent to current policies, and that these reflect the paradigmatic and methodological assumptions made by researchers. Strategies are proposed which could strengthen policy research contributions to social change in South Africa.

Since 1994, education policy documents in South Africa have prioritised the goal of equity in education, understood as increased access to programmes, more equitable staff and student profiles, and curricula that are more responsive to the needs of all students. The challenge of effecting the goal of equity at levels of teaching and learning in university classrooms still remains. This article therefore focuses on notions of "learning equity" in an attempt to problematise the need for equity at the level of teaching and learning. The purpose is to use a learning theory perspective to develop a deeper understanding of the challenges of equity in practice in order to make recommendations for a more responsive and responsible pedagogy in university environments. Based on an analysis of equity theory, this article develops an understanding of what equitable learning could entail. Drawing on situated learning theory as espoused by Brown, Collins and Duguid (1998), Rogoff (1990) and others, a framework was developed in terms of which situated learning could be meaningfully facilitated. This framework is used to analyse the scope for learning equity in a specific undergraduate course in Education. From the analysis it is concluded that a careful consideration of learning situations, learning activities, semiotic tools, and the various trajectories students find themselves in open up spaces and options for the facilitation of more equitable learning. The article contributes to the argument that learning theory perspectives allow closer analyses of the challenges of equitable learning.

In this article knowledge productivity, a process that creates conceptual artifacts, is used as a way to investigate the outcomes of collaborative and enquiry-oriented activity by teaching professionals. It is an outcome of the motivation to learn (self-regulation) in that it studies the issues from different professional perspectives (reflection on action) while aiming towards the construction of new knowledge and understanding (conceptual change). A team approach was used in order to examine how teachers working together as a team could become knowledge-productive learners in their work environment. In three different cases the outcomes of the study team process were evaluated against three different criteria of knowledge productivity: (a) improving knowledge and understanding; (b) shifting individual perspectives; (c) achieving commitment to the outcomes for professional practice. Process accounts and retrospective evaluations by the three study teams themselves were the basis for judging evidence of knowledge productivity. The approach has revealed insights into ways in which the teachers accepted the study team's (collaborative) outcomes, especially their initial (un)easiness for sharing existing knowledge and their (un)certainties about practicing the results of their collaborative enquiry. (Contains 2 tables and 1 note.)

In study 1, human resource consultants collaborated on knowledge productive learning. In study 2, teacher researchers collaborated in inquiry. The projects demonstrated how professionals use authentic ways of developing expertise to renew their knowledge base and become knowledge productive learners. (JOW)

Examines the most important internal and external environmental influences directing or hampering national and institutional quality assurance and management developments, as well as their implementation, in the South African higher education system. (EV)

Provides an overview of the initiatives and development of policies to establish a workable quality assurance system for institutions of higher education in South Africa in the last decade. Notes challenges such as the government's emphasis on programs of study and its requirement that quality assurance systems include institutional auditing, program accreditation, and quality promotion. (DB)

Researchers examined what South African and Israeli teachers reflected on in their portfolios when writing about professional growth. Teacher interviews and portfolio analyses indicated that what teachers included in their portfolios related to external factors (what was publicly rewarded and valued as good performance). Teachers viewed good teaching similarly. Differences related to teaching context (school facilities, autonomy, and social norms). (SM)

Examines discrepancies between a proposed new framework for recognition of research in South Africa and existing policy on research recognition and funding, and argues that work on quality control in research done in other countries may provide the needed insights into research assessment for South Africa. (MSE)

This article provides an analytical review of the implementation of the performance management system (PMS) of the Botswana public service, covering the period 1999-2014. It employs a case study and a survey method, using literature review, document analysis, questionnaires and interviews as data sources. There is limited literature examining in detail and holistically the key components of Botswana's PMS and the challenges that affect the design, implementation and integration of these components. Although the PMS of the Botswana public service has eight key components, the current literature focuses mostly on one component, notably performance monitoring and evaluation system. The analysis reveals that components such as balanced scorecard and performance-based budgeting were ineffective and poorly integrated because they were developed as distinct systems and were not customised. This article contributes to the literature by providing a synthesis and analysis of these components, highlighting the challenges encountered by the Botswana public service in designing, implementing and integrating these components. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although Physical Education (PE) is valued for its educational outcomes and the potential to enhance learners' physical health, the professional implementation is often lacking, leading to a decline in learners' intrinsic motivation levels and negative perceptions of PE. PE teachers can enhance learners' motivation and perceptions of PE by meeting their basic psychological needs, according to the Self-Determination Theory (SDT), first developed by Deci and Ryan in 1985. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of an in-service PE teacher training and support programme, based on the principles of the SDT, on the perceptions of PE participating learners. Four months after the five-day teacher training programme including teaching strategies to support the needs of learners, data were collected through focus group interview, from Grade 7, 12- to 13-year-old learners (n=28). The participating learners generally perceived PE more positively after their teachers attended the training programme. It is recommended that PE teacher training programmes include needs-support strategies to enhance learners' perceptions and motivation levels in the PE class. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]