School textbooks and teachers' choices : a contextualizing and ethnographic study

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dc.contributor.advisorEsterhuyse, Janen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorReynolds, Mary Janeen_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2016-03-07T06:55:42Z
dc.date.available2016-03-07T06:55:42Z
dc.date.issued1997en_ZA
dc.descriptionBibliography: pages 140-157.en_ZA
dc.description.abstractThis study provides evidence that most teachers choose their class textbooks haphazardly and without evaluating them. As a result, bad textbooks are as likely to be chosen and to succeed commercially as good ones are. One consequence of this is that many publishers and authors continue to get away with producing bad textbooks. The study begins by describing the context in which school textbooks are chosen. It gives an overview of the textbook's role, and concludes that it is an indispensable part of an effective education system, especially where other resources are lacking. The study then considers the degree to which South African textbooks fulfil their roles; it concludes that most textbooks in schools are poor, many being incomprehensible to their audiences, but attention is also drawn to some positive textbook development that has taken place. The study next considers how and why so many poor textbooks have been selected by educators: it summarises the part played by education departments and publishers, and reviews the state of textbook evaluation as a discipline. It concludes that South African educators are poorly equipped to evaluate and select textbooks. Against this background, the study describes an investigation of how teachers select textbooks for their classes. The findings are that choice is haphazard and that evaluation, in the rare instances when it takes place, is usually unsystematic and superficial. In conclusion, the study recommends that research into textbook development is done to provide a theoretical framework for effective evaluation, and that training and other support in textbook evaluation for teachers is established to improve selection practices. The study hypothesises that the resulting demand from a broad base of well-informed textbook-selectors in schools will give authors and publishers a more powerful incentive than any other pressures can to produce materials that withstand systematic, critical and wise evaluation.en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitationReynolds, M. J. (1997). <i>School textbooks and teachers' choices : a contextualizing and ethnographic study</i>. (Thesis). University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,School of Education. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/11427/17551en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationReynolds, Mary Jane. <i>"School textbooks and teachers' choices : a contextualizing and ethnographic study."</i> Thesis., University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,School of Education, 1997. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/17551en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationReynolds, M. 1997. School textbooks and teachers' choices : a contextualizing and ethnographic study. University of Cape Town.en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Thesis / Dissertation AU - Reynolds, Mary Jane AB - This study provides evidence that most teachers choose their class textbooks haphazardly and without evaluating them. As a result, bad textbooks are as likely to be chosen and to succeed commercially as good ones are. One consequence of this is that many publishers and authors continue to get away with producing bad textbooks. The study begins by describing the context in which school textbooks are chosen. It gives an overview of the textbook's role, and concludes that it is an indispensable part of an effective education system, especially where other resources are lacking. The study then considers the degree to which South African textbooks fulfil their roles; it concludes that most textbooks in schools are poor, many being incomprehensible to their audiences, but attention is also drawn to some positive textbook development that has taken place. The study next considers how and why so many poor textbooks have been selected by educators: it summarises the part played by education departments and publishers, and reviews the state of textbook evaluation as a discipline. It concludes that South African educators are poorly equipped to evaluate and select textbooks. Against this background, the study describes an investigation of how teachers select textbooks for their classes. The findings are that choice is haphazard and that evaluation, in the rare instances when it takes place, is usually unsystematic and superficial. In conclusion, the study recommends that research into textbook development is done to provide a theoretical framework for effective evaluation, and that training and other support in textbook evaluation for teachers is established to improve selection practices. The study hypothesises that the resulting demand from a broad base of well-informed textbook-selectors in schools will give authors and publishers a more powerful incentive than any other pressures can to produce materials that withstand systematic, critical and wise evaluation. DA - 1997 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 1997 T1 - School textbooks and teachers' choices : a contextualizing and ethnographic study TI - School textbooks and teachers' choices : a contextualizing and ethnographic study UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/17551 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/17551
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationReynolds MJ. School textbooks and teachers' choices : a contextualizing and ethnographic study. [Thesis]. University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,School of Education, 1997 [cited yyyy month dd]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/17551en_ZA
dc.language.isoengen_ZA
dc.publisher.departmentSchool of Educationen_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Humanitiesen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.subject.otherLanguage and Literature Educationen_ZA
dc.subject.otherTextbooks - South Africa - Evaluationen_ZA
dc.titleSchool textbooks and teachers' choices : a contextualizing and ethnographic studyen_ZA
dc.typeMaster Thesis
dc.type.qualificationlevelMasters
dc.type.qualificationnameMPhilen_ZA
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceThesisen_ZA
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