Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / Poor performance by South African students especially in literacy and numeracy are at a level of national crisis. Theory, as well as international and national systemic tests, show that the reasons for this is both multiple and extremely complex. In this study I investigated the problems relating to learner achievement levels in South African education. The main question arising from this problem, which I addressed, is: What are the possible factors that contribute to learner achievement levels in South Africa? My conceptual focus is on pedagogic practices and the socialization of identity, and how these relate to learner achievement levels, working from the premise that children from different social classes experience schooling differently. My focus is on the classroom, phase and school contexts, whilst locating these in the wider national, continental and global contexts. The disciplinary approach used in this study is in the domain of sociology of education, drawing specifically on the work of leading sociologists Pierre Bourdieu and Basil Bernstein. Bourdieu’s notions of ‘habitus’, ‘field’ and ‘cultural capital’ helped in understanding structure and agency, and the interiority and exteriority of social relations, whereas Bernstein’s ‘code theory’ and his work on curriculum, pedagogic practices and pedagogic discourse was used to describe how formal knowledge is realized and transmitted, and its effects on different social groupings. Methodologically, this study is located within a qualitative interpretivist research paradigm. Research was conducted in three purposively selected public primary schools in the Western Cape using a qualitative multiple case study research design. The bounded cases were Grades 1, 4 and 7 learners in relation to their teachers and principals. The rationale for selecting these particular cases stems from the fact that research in these particular areas of schooling is lacking. The significance of the study lies in the fact that previous research on learner achievement used teacher behaviour as a predictor for achievement, whereas this study focused primarily on learner behaviour and the learners’ views on their own achievement. The study employed in-depth data collection procedures including questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, classroom observations and various document related sources. The contextual analysis reveals that there is clearly a need to understand the nature of the learner, what they bringing into school and how they make sense of schooling. Furthermore, it shows that the ways in which learners exercise their agency is reinforcing underachievement. It further reveals that teachers are under pressure to get learners to adhere to the middle-class ethos of schooling and as a result are pushed into the regulative discourse compromising the instructional discourse within pedagogy. Pedagogically, the analysis reveals that teachers are under pressure in terms of curriculum coverage having to work within restricted time-frames, and having to meet the requirements of the ANAs that they do not see the possibility to relax framing in terms of pacing. As a result they are leaving their learners behind. Furthermore, the unnecessary strong framing at the level of pacing, not making the evaluation criteria explicit, and the heavy reliance on systemic testing, as in the case of the ANAs, is creating homogenised and standardised learner identities, which translate into differential learner experiences and ultimately differential learner achievement levels. / National Research Foundation (NRF)

Orientadores: Maria Elena Guariento, Carmen Silvia Passos Lima / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Ciências Médicas / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-24T13:11:23Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 BortolansaPacagnella_AnaBeatriz_M.pdf: 920417 bytes, checksum: 3b9eb0a9a4bf6e5a00576a95037731e5 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013 / Resumo: As doenças neoplásicas incidem mais frequentemente na população idosa, e, embora ainda não se tenha comprovação definitiva, podem ter um curso mais grave na medida em que se associam com outras enfermidades crônicas, com incapacidade funcional e com as síndromes geriátricas. Um dos recursos para melhorar esse quadro constitui-se na detecção precoce e fácil acesso ao tratamento. O presente estudo buscou avaliar algumas características sociodemográficas (idade, sexo, IDH-M, distância entre município de origem e Campinas) dos idosos com neoplasia atendidos em três das oito unidades do complexo hospitalar da Universidade Estadual da Campinas - SP (Unicamp), na busca de traçar um perfil loco - regional dessa classe de enfermidades no segmento idoso da população, e de avaliar, ainda que indiretamente, a qualidade da assistência oferecida aos idosos portadores de doenças oncológicas. Os dados sociodemográficos forma confrontados com o tempo entre primeira consulta na Unicamp e início do tratamento. Foram analisados os registros de idosos, de ambos os sexos, com diagnóstico de câncer e que foram atendidos no Gastrocentro, Hemocentro, ou Hospital de Clínicas / Unicamp, no período de janeiro de 2.000 a julho de 2010. Os dados foram obtidos junto ao Serviço de Estatística do Câncer vinculado à Fundação Oncocentro de São Paulo. Dos 5.891 registros avaliados, 66,3% eram de homens, sendo que 48,8% dos pacientes tinham entre 60 a 69 anos; 67,1% provinha de municípios que distavam até no máximo 50 km de Campinas, e 22,3% eram desse município. Além disso, 65,3% dos pacientes avaliados provinham de municípios com IDH-M entre 0,707 e 0,740. Apenas IDH-M (p = 0,003) e distância entre município de origem e Campinas (p = 0,019) mostraram associação com tempo entre primeira consulta e início do tratamento antineoplásico. Esse estudo permite constatar a relevância dos indicadores sociais no que se refere ao acesso ao tratamento antineoplásico na população idosa / Abstract: Oncologic diseases are more frequent in the elderly population, and although we do not have definitive proof yet, the elders may have a more severe course when associated with other chronic diseases, functional disability and geriatric syndromes. A resource to improve this situation is based on the early detection and easy access to treatment. This study aimed to assess sociodemographic characteristics (age, gender, HDI-M, distance between the city of origin and Campinas) of the elderly with cancer treated at three of the eight units of the hospital complex at the University of Campinas ¿ SP, Brazil (Unicamp), trying to delineate loco regional profile of this class of diseases in the elderly segment of the population, and to assess, even indirectly, the quality of care provided to elderly patients with malignancies. Sociodemographic data were faced with the time between first consultation at Unicamp and early treatment. It was analyzed the elderly profiles, of both sexes, diagnosed with cancer and who were treated at Gastrocentro, Hemocentro and Clinic Hospital of Unicamp, from January, 2000 to July, 2010. The data were obtained from the Statistical Service of Cancer linked to the Oncocentro Foundation in the State of São Paulo. From the 5,891 evaluated profiles, 66.3% were men, and 48.8% of the patients were between 60-69 years old; 67.1% came from municipalities that were far until a maximum of 50 km from Campinas and 22.3 % were from Campinas. In addition, 65.3% of patients were from municipalities with HDI-M between 0.707 and 0.740. Only HDI-M (p = 0.003) and distance between the city of origin and Campinas (p = 0.019) were associated with time between first consultation and beginning of anticancer treatment. This study highlights the relevance of social indicators to access the anticancer treatment in the elderly / Mestrado / Gerontologia / Mestra em Gerontologia

Masters in Public Administration - MPA / The subject matter of corruption is a topical one in South Africa, where many institutions in the socio-political economy, both private and public, are subject to corruption allegations which emerge from time to time in the media. A number of studies have been undertaken on this topic globally, mainly in Latin America, but there remains a dearth of published academic work on the phenomenon in South Africa. Inevitably what transpires in the socio-political economy has a bearing on the lives of the general public. Of interest in this study is public perceptions of corrupt practices in the country and how these affect ordinary people. The objective of this study is to explore how people perceive corruption in the City of Cape Town, using the residents of Brooklyn as a case study.

This dissertation is a cultural and social history of healing in Japan from the tenth to the thirteenth century. In particular, in this work I examine the connection between Buddhism and healing, and the interactions between Buddhist healers and other technicians involved in the treatment of illness, such as onmyōji and court physicians. This direction of research is informed by historical anthropology and microhistory, and constitutes and attempt towards an ethnography of early medieval Japan, an era in which Buddhism constituted the most pervasive cultural force. The study of Buddhism in its therapeutic dimension among the court elites thus doubles as a study of Buddhism in its everyday dimensions, and of its contributions to the understanding of the forces that shaped everyday life, with an emphasis on facets that are often overlooked in Japanese and western Buddhology, including the interpretation and treatment of illness, discourses on etiology, spirit possession and iatromancy (divination on disease).While generally treated as discrete entities, Buddhism, onmyōdō, kami cults, and court physicians and their therapeutic technologies existed side by side and intersected in complicated ways when seen in the daily life of court aristocrats. Through an analysis of the journals that these figures have left behind, I aim to complicate the boundaries separating these cultic realms by arguing that while distinct at the level of professional practitioners, Buddhism, onmyōdō and other spheres of specialized knowledge all functionally contributed to the culture of everyday life of court aristocracy. Focusing on practices and discourses that blur the boundaries between ritual and physical endeavors, and dealing with themes that range from spirit possession and its political implications to the relationship between kami and buddhas, from the ritual implications of an expanded access to the levers of power to the transformation of a foundational Buddhist ritual into a therapeutic practice, I criticize the tendency displayed by scholars to partition the activities of Buddhist monks, onmyōji and court physicians in epistemic terms, so that while court physicians would be concerned with the physical body, the others — and Buddhist monks in particular — would not. This distinction, which clearly echoes the modern differentiation between “medicine” and “religion,” is however inadequate to account for the complexity of the therapeutic arena of early medieval Japan. Through an examination of various practitioners of healing from the tenth to the thirteenth century, I will argue for the need to rethink neat taxonomies and sanitized epistemological spaces; rediscover the centrality of practice and redefine its relationship with normative texts and theorizations; and explore, on the ground, the complexity of daily life and its processes.

The social c lass differences in experiences which lead to cognitive development of children were investigated. A sample of 20 middle-class mothers with children enrolled in the Child Development Laboratory school and 18 lower-class mothers with children enrolled in the Head Start program in the Ogden City School District was chosen by placing the children's names in an age-ranked order. Two mothers who met the qualifications of being lower- class, but not having children enrolled in Head Start, were also included in this study. An interview outline was devised to attempt to standardize the interviews. It was concerned with five areas: (1) activities outside the home, (2) activities in the home, (3) reading, (4) toys and play, and (5) imaginative or dramatic play. The questioning was concerned with two problems: (1) are there differences between the responses of lower- and middle-class mothers in the reading and verbal interaction or conversation in which they participate with their children; and ( 2) are there differences in their responses concerning toys, play, and experience as a means of promoting cognitive growth . Differences were found to the middle-class child's advantages in the following area s : (1) activities outside the home, (2) reading, and (3) shared activi ties in the home . Differences were found also to the middle-class child 's advantage in the areas of toys and dramatic play, but not as strongly evidenced as in the three previously mentioned areas. The data suggest the following tentative conclusions which, because of the exploratory nature of the study, are stated as hypotheses to be tested: 1. Knowing the social c lass position of a family does not necessarily indicate the nature of the child-rearing practices which will be found to prevail in that home. 2 . Variations exist within each social class group, but, the middle-class home does provide important advantages in learning opportunities which are not available to children in lower - - class homes. With in the lower-class homes, however, parent education programs such as are provided in Head Start, do operate to reduce the deficits encountered by the lower-class child. Increased efforts in parent education may further reduce this deficiency.

This study examined whether commonly used social class indicators (occupational prestige, education, and income) had direct or indirect effects on mental health, and whether these relationships varied by gender, race, or family structure. To this end, 597 working-class participants were interviewed in the months before they had a child. Findings indicated that income, and not occupational prestige or education, had a direct effect on mental health, in that it was related to fewer depressive symptoms. Additionally, education and race interacted, such that for People of Color, more education was related to more depressive symptoms. Furthermore, occupational prestige and education, and not income, had indirect effects on mental health through job autonomy, such that higher prestige and education were related to more job autonomy, which in turn was related to fewer depressive symptoms. However, after examining the moderating influence of race and family structure, these indirect effects were only significant for Whites and married participants, with null or opposite effects for People of Color, cohabiters, and single participants. The findings highlight the importance that social divisions play in creating disparate experiences in society.

Alcohol and substance use among a college population has become a norm for our society. Even more intriguing are the possible factors that may lead to use and abuse of alcohol and substances. The purpose of the current study was to examine the relationship between multiple participant characteristics (i.e., ethnicity, gender, year in college, socioeconomic status) and alcohol and substance use. A total of 902 participants from the University of Central Florida answered multiple questionnaires via the Sona system. Items in the questionnaires included topics such as demographic variables, social class variables, and items regarding alcohol and substance use in the past thirty days. The majority of participants were white females with an average age of 21.58. This study hypothesized that participants who identify as white males, those classified as a junior or senior in class standing, as well as those in a higher socioeconomic status would be more likely to report alcohol and substance use when compared to other participants. The current study also sought to assess how these different factors combine to best predict alcohol and substance use among a college sample. Data in the study was analyzed using SPSS in which correlations, t-tests, and an ANOVA were used to determine how participant characteristics and alcohol and substance use among college students are related. Linear regression analyses were conducted as well to determine how different participant characteristics can combine to best predict alcohol and substance use among college students. Results indicated that those participants whom identify as being white males, participants in a higher socioeconomic status, and, participants in later years of college are more likely to partake in alcohol and substance use. Results also indicated that the main factors that predicted alcohol and substance use are social class and year in college.

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