A case study approach was used to generate a description and an understanding of the experience of withdrawal from a career in professional sport. The informants were ten males who had withdrawn from their careers during the years from 1976 to 1987 inclusive. The informants were selected from team and individual sports, involving four key informants from each of hockey and thoroughbred horse racing, plus one subsidiary informant from each of football and racquetball. Narratives rich in description were derived from personal interviews and were validated by the respective informants. These narratives were synthesized into a general story of voluntary withdrawal from sport which reflects both common experience and turning points for varying plots. This general story was validated by the informants as well as an expert authority who has been professionally involved in sport for some thirty-six years. Withdrawal from sport was a process which frequently began soon after the athletes became engaged in the career. When confronted with a variety of catalytic events which reminded them that the career was short-term, they addressed the potential for withdrawal in varying fashion and typically re-immersed themselves in the career. The potential eventually became more immediate, more urgent but frequently arose in the context of an enlarged perspective on the self and the profession. Thus, they were confronted with both internal and external pressures for change. As they began to assess their prospects for life after sport, they often became concerned about perceived limitations. They experienced a period of great confusion and indecision which was the most difficult and trying component of the story. In the middle of the story, the athletes frequently sought direction in their careers, scrutinized the profession more carefully, and uncharacteristically reached out to others for ideas and support. Eventually, a culmination point arose, resulting in a decision to withdraw. The athletes were typically relieved by this decision because they were weary of their confusion and often were weary of the physical and emotional demands of the career. A variety of new career opportunities were available to them. Some were planned and some were unexpected. Chance encounters played an important part in the process of leaving sport. The story ended with the establishment and acceptance of a post-sport career and lifestyle. In reflecting on the decision to withdraw, the athletes were typically glad that they quit when they did, even though they were reluctant to do so at the time. Their withdrawal allowed them to preserve health, self-respect, and the regard of others. It also allowed them to develop other competencies and to express a more nurturant dimension of themselves as their interests had turned toward their emerging family lives. Most have found the transition to a new career and lifestyle relatively easy, frequently accepting a more modest lifestyle than they had experienced as professional athletes and usually finding some means to continue their participation in sport in a recreational or leadership capacity. The study includes several theoretical implications which reinforce the importance of contextual considerations, the significance of chance encounters, and the changing personal meaning of work in life paths. The study supports criticisms of the traditional expectations that a career should follow a rising trajectory, as well as criticisms of the application to this topic of theoretical perspectives borrowed from social gerontology and thanatology. Furthermore, the study finds no evidence to support the contention that this experience is extraordinary and traumatic. Rather, the experience seems to be characteristic of transitions in general. The study supports and offers extensions to Schlossberg's (1984) model of transitions. The practical implications of the study include the utility of the general story as a model, knowledge base, and alternative perspective for individuals experiencing similar transitions and their helping practitioners. Recommendations for interventions include the use of Schlossberg's content-process model as a framework to assist individuals through a transitional experience such as leaving professional sport. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

This study focused on the experience of involuntary job loss for managers and professionals. Fifteen males and females provided details of their experience through in-depth interviews. The critical incident technique was used as the approach to identify the high points and low points during their term of unemployment. The most frequently reported positive incidents included interviews, positive feedback from others, support of friends, family and counselling, and lack of financial pressures. The negative incidents most frequently reported included leaving the previous employer, rejection, lost role, interviews and lost career opportunities. In addition, the research participants reported shock and relief as the two most frequent responses to the termination. When asked about whether a change in attitude to work had occurred 11 reported some change following termination. The most prominent result of this research points to the experience of unemployment as largely an individual experience, only four categories of critical incidents included incidents reported by more than 50% of the participants interviewed. Counsellors may benefit from this research which provides information particular to this group and which will assist them in determining appropriate counselling techniques and interventions. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

Objectives: The management of depression and anxiety in primary care in the UK is not consistent with clinical guidelines. This has led to training initiatives that aim to change practice by improving the implementation of research evidence, but little is known about what constitutes effective healthcare professional training in this area. This thesis addressed this issue by identifying what determines effective training to improve the management of psychological distress in primary care. Methods: The research was undertaken in three stages. A systematic review and narrative synthesis was conducted to investigate the effects of controlled trials of training interventions delivered to primary care practitioners (PCPs) to improve the management of psychological distress on process outcomes (practitioner behaviour, knowledge, attitudes). Then two qualitative studies using semi structured interviews with PCPs (n=18) and experts in training/behaviour change (n=16) were conducted to explore their perceptions of effective healthcare professional training in this area and in general. The qualitative data were synthesised to produce recommendations for designing effective healthcare professional training to improve the primary care management of psychological distress. The research findings were used to develop a taxonomy of training intervention components for use in the design and reporting of healthcare professional training interventions in this area and more widely. Results: Forty Papers (36 studies) were included in the systematic review. The papers reviewed provide a mixed picture of the effective characteristics of training interventions. Two components: the inclusion of skills practice (role-play) and the use of theory to inform intervention content were associated with positive outcomes. Limitations with outcome measures, absence of theory and poor descriptions of the interventions made it difficult to determine effective intervention components. The analysis of the qualitative studies resulted in the development of the Perceived Effectiveness of Training (PET) framework. It incorporates five themes or core areas that underpin effective training: social interaction, credibility, relevance, information processing, and practicalities. The PET framework was used to identify effective training intervention components. Finally, the qualitative synthesis led to the development of a taxonomy of training intervention components, which was evaluated for comprehensiveness by mapping the training components to the interventions identified in the systematic review. This culminated in a 171 item taxonomy with hierarchical groupings divided into three phases: pre-training, training delivery and post training. Conclusions: Healthcare professional training to improve the management of psychological distress in primary care can be optimised for effectiveness using the PET framework to address core quality training standards. It is recommended that the taxonomy of training intervention components should be used to improve the science of healthcare professional training interventions. Further research to develop the taxonomy and to establish valid training evaluation measures would provide further scope to identify which training components can predict healthcare professional behaviour change and improve the management of psychological distress in primary care.

Magister Curationis - MCur / In our constantly changing healthcare system and with large numbers of staff shortages in hospitals, newly qualified professional nurses are expected to be competent and work unsupervised in leadership capacities soon after they have completed their nursing programs. The study was aimed at determining the perceptions of professional nurses of newly qualified professional nurses' competency as well as factors that influence competency. A quantitative approach using a descriptive survey design was employed, using 34 experienced professional nurses working in selected private hospitals in the Western Cape. Data was collected by means of a peer evaluation questionnaire, namely the Competency Inventory for Registered nurses. Data was analyzed, using IBM SPSS 19 with the assistance of a statistician. The results of the 55-item Competency Inventory for Registered Nurses indicate that newly qualified nurses were perceived as highly competent in clinical care, leadership, interpersonal relation, legal/ethical and professional development. Newly qualified nurses were perceived as low in competency in teaching/coaching, critical thinking and research aptitude. All the factors identified using literature, were perceived as having an influence on competency. Recommendations were made to the institutions to assist newly qualified nurses in competence development.

When international graduate students and their families participate in study abroad experiences, there are many challenges and opportunities that accompany these experiences. Depending on the context of the study abroad experience, some might be characterized as both opportunities and challenges. International graduate students and their families experience cultural and linguistic challenges/opportunities while also facing conscious (and unconscious) decisions of assimilation and acculturation. Education opportunities are rarely neutral and may be accompanied by uncertainty, discontinuities, and result in identities that shift and change in the course of crossing boundaries that are geographic, educational, emotional and metaphoric in nature. The ways in which international graduate students and members of their family take advantage of opportunities and address the challenges is the focus of my research. In this study, I draw on Akkerman and Bakker's theories of learning in the context of boundary crossers and boundary objects to document and describe my family's journeys between Indonesia and the United States while in pursuit of educational goals. Data sources for this qualitative study involve stories documented in field notes and recorded in email exchanges between family members. These stories illuminate tensions and dilemmas we faced as a transnational family as each of us dealt with issues of acculturation, assimilation, linguistic and cultural differences in the context of international moves from 2001 until 2012. I use narrative analysis in order to understand the deeper meanings of family experiences captured in stories we told, recorded in writing, and shared with each other. These stories reveal our transitions and interactions as boundary crossers. Central to my study is the use of books as boundary objects to address the dilemmas and tensions my family faced in the midst of our transnational journeys. Books, in the form of children's literature, often served as the means to create figured or "as if" worlds and provided the means for prompting dialogues among members of my family so that we could explore and discuss the cultural tensions and dilemmas that face many transnational families. In particular, one book served as a critical moment in my family's transnational experience. In order to better understand the value of this book as a boundary object, I made use of content analysis to understand the larger themes and document the role of the book, in family discussions as we anticipated our return to Indonesia. The methods of my study as well as the findings I describe may serve to benefit other international students who explore educational opportunities abroad while accompanied by their family. I document the ways in which identities of my family are dynamic and changing in the context of our transnational journeys. The use of books as boundary objects situated at the intersection of geographic, cultural, and emotional boundary crossings may provide transnational families with dialogues to explore dilemmas and tensions. Finally, the process of recording family stories may serve international students and families as they become cultural and linguistic boundary crossers themselves.

Following up on the educational reform initiatives of the 1990s and early 2000s, which are centered on the notion of accountability, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan's Race to the Top initiative strives to bring such accountability down to the level of the individual teacher through the use of advanced statistical parsing of student achievement data. Through the calculation of "teacher value-added," a given teacher's "effectiveness" can be measured and ranked, hence assigned a value. Duncan's rhetoric around the issue, and the assumptions visible in the studies of teacher quality and effectiveness that he and other reformers cite, suggest that at long last we as a society will be able to know and to communicate just who our best and our worst teachers are. Such an ability will allow us as a polity, on this view, to direct public funding much more efficiently than has heretofore been possible: armed with this new knowledge, we can reward the best teachers to ensure that they do not abandon the profession for higher-paying employment, and cull the worst teachers so that they may be replaced with more effective personnel. The newfound ability to distinguish between good and bad teachers also has transformative implications for teacher training programs. By analyzing the practice of the highest-quality teachers, one might discover "what works" in classrooms, the specific behaviors, skills, or mental states involved in highly effective teaching. Once discovered, these behaviors, skills, or mental states might then be given to pre-service teachers, which would dispense with what Duncan considers to be the overly theoretical and largely abstract curricula of current teacher education programs. The problem outlined above is obviously philosophical in nature. The method of investigation involves a conceptual analysis of Race to the Top's teacher-quality and achievement-data initiatives, comparing the policies to the Secretary of Education's public rhetoric employed to market the policies to the public. Taking the public rhetoric as an expressing the various needs to which the policies will be responsive, this thesis tests the coherence of the underlying assumptions about teaching and learning, and assesses the conceptual fit between the needs visible in the rhetoric and the outcomes sought and measured according to the proposed policies. The thesis finds that Duncan's public rhetoric expresses largely unproblematic needs, fears, or disquietudes around questions of teacher quality, but that the policies intended to answer those needs are wholly insufficient to the task. At issue is a misconception of teaching as a skillful endeavor, a mistaken idea about what teaching is. This thesis concludes that the needs and desires expressed in Duncan's rhetoric do necessitate a response, but that any adequate response will require a different view of teaching and learning entirely. The thesis offers the fundamental requirements of a different notion of teaching and learning, one better suited to the needs of the public, as the Secretary of Education expresses them.

Although studies have addressed high school English language arts (ELA) instruction, little is known about the decision-making process of ELA teachers. How do teachers decide between the resources and instructional strategies at their disposal? This study focused on two monolingual teachers who were in different schools and grades. They were teaching mainstream students or English Language Learners. Both employed an approach to writing instruction that emphasized cultural mediation. Two questions guided this study: How does the enactment of culturally mediated writing instruction (CMWI) in a mainstream classroom compare to the enactment in an ESL classroom? What is the nature of teacher decision-making in these high school classrooms during English language arts instruction? Data were collected and analyzed using qualitative methodologies. The findings suggest that one teacher, who was familiar with CMWI’s principles and practices and saw students as partners, focused her decisions on engagement and participation. The other teacher deliberately embedded CMWI as an instructional stance. Her decisions focused on empathy, caring and meaningful connections. These teachers enacted CMWI in different ways to meet their students’ needs. They embraced the students’ cultural resources, used and built on their linguistic knowledge, expanded thinking strategies to make difficult information comprehensible, provided authentic learning opportunities, used formative assessments as instructional guides, and delivered just-in-time academic and non-academic support.

The intent of this thesis is to indicate the economic cost and professional value that result from earning a graduate teaching degree. Data gathered to formulate study conclusions came from questionnaires distributed to master's recipients from five Texas teachers colleges.

This thesis examines the awareness of national and state standards established for teachers by teacher associations. Data for this study came from questionnaires filled out by teachers taking courses at North Texas State University.

Environmental Education (EE) has an overall goal of fostering eco-literate citizens who are capable of building a more sustainable planet (North American Association for Environmental Education, 2019). While EE is associated with a plethora of benefits, it is still not widely implemented in the field of education due to the many types of barriers as well as the complexity of EE content knowledge and skills. Professional Development (PD) in EE may be a viable way to increase effective implementation of EE, yet PD in EE is not widely attended or offered. It is, therefore, imperative that PD programs are designed in a way that will maximize the benefits for participants. This mixed methods case study examined the experiences of K-5 educators who attended a one-day, Everglades Literacy Teacher Training Workshop in order to understand the effective components of the workshop, changes in teacher content knowledge and self-efficacy, and experiences of teachers after the implementation of the Everglades literacy curriculum in their classrooms. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2021. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection