Depuis une trentaine d’années, des recherches en linguistique et en psycholinguistique ont permis de mieux comprendre l’appropriation de la langue écrite par le jeune enfant. De façon complémentaire, des travaux, à visée didactique, ont questionné les pratiques d’enseignement afin de mettre au jour celles qui sont le plus favorables à l’appropriation de l’écriture. Plusieurs études concluent que les activités d’écriture approchée, par la résolution de problèmes graphiques, suivie d’un entretien métagraphique et accompagnée d’un étayage serré de l’enseignant, facilitent la conceptualisation de la langue écrite dans les premières années de l’apprentissage. Notre recherche s’inscrit dans ces différents paradigmes. Ainsi, notre analyse met en regard l’évolution des compétences scripturales et métalinguistiques des élèves et les pratiques observées d’enseignement de l’écriture mises en œuvre par leurs enseignants. A cette fin, deux classes, de 23 élèves, âgés de 5 à 8 ans, ont été suivis du milieu de la dernière année de maternelle à la fin de la 2ème primaire et régulièrement soumis à des épreuves évaluant leurs compétences d’écriture, de lecture et leurs compétences métagraphiques. Nous nous appuyons plus particulièrement sur les résultats obtenus par 15 élèves, issus des deux groupes, qui ont participé à l’ensemble des évaluations, menées aux 7 moments de la recherche. L’analyse de deux pratiques d’enseignement de l’écriture, observées en début, milieu et fin de 1ère primaire, est croisée avec les résultats longitudinaux obtenus par les 15 élèves de notre échantillon. L’étude de cas confirme les bénéfices de la pratique régulière d’écriture approchée sur le développement des compétences évaluées chez les élèves. Moyennant certains aménagements, les grilles d'analyse élaborées pour cette étude (analyse des compétences de scripteur, des verbalisations métagraphiques et des actions d’enseignement de l’écriture) pourront être utilisées en formation d'enseignants. / The researches led in linguistics and in psycholinguistics since thirty years enabled to understand better the appropriation of written language by young children. In a complementary way, works, with didactic aims, questioned teaching practices to bring to light those who are the most favorable to the appropriation of spelling. Several studies conclude that invented spelling activities, including the resolution of orthographic problems, followed by a metagraphic interview and along with a tight feedback of the teacher, facilitate the conceptualization of written language in the first years of the learning. Our research joins in these various paradigms. To understand the essence of young writers’ written productions, our analysis looks simultaneously at the evolution of the students’ scriptural and metalinguistic skills and at the observed practices of teaching to spell implemented by their teachers. To this aim, two groups of 23 pupils, from 5 to 8 years old, were followed from the middle of the last year of kindergarten to the end of the 2nd year of primary school. The pupils were regularly submitted to tests to assess their spelling and reading skills and their metagraphic skills. We lean more particularly on the results of 15 students, from both groups, which participated in all the assessments, led at the 7 moments of the research. The analysis of two practices of teaching to spell, observed at three moments (at the beginning, middle and at the end) of the 1st year of primary school, is crossed with the longitudinal results obtained by the 15 students of our sample. The case study confirms the benefits of the regular practice of invented spellings on the development of the assessed skills. The methodological tools of analysis developed for this study (analysis grid of writer’s skills, of metagraphic verbalizations and of actions of teaching to spell) can be used in teachers' training, under some adjustments.

Originating in, and framed by, warfare, the term strategic management first appeared in the business literature in the 1950s (Carter et al., 2008). The term then started to gain more importance as organisations’ needs for implementing strategic changes increased significantly. Despite this importance, the concept is still considered to be under-developed, with complications arising from a wide variety of disciplines. In the early literature two major schools of thought could be identified: Porter’s economic deliberate content (Porter, 1979), and Mintzberg’s emergent process view (Mintzberg, 1979). The literature has shown that the majority of studies have mainly focused on large organisations, taking the traditional Porter’s content approach. However, relatively few cases have considered smaller organisations and/or explored cases from the contemporary process view, which is considered more realistic in today’s dynamic world, where extra flexibility and speed are paramount. This thesis builds on the work of Pettigrew (1987), who viewed strategy implementation (SI) as a process. His work is extensively analysed and some recommendations are made to strengthen his ‘Triangle Model’. These recommendations allow for the development of a primitive framework for SI. The framework provides a deeper understanding of contemporary SMEs and their surrounding contexts, and can be useful for future exploratory studies of undiscovered contexts and/or for organisations of differing sizes. The paucity of research on SI in SMEs in general, and particularly in the non-Western context (e.g. Middle East, and Gulf Cooperation Council), is the major motivation for this research adopting an interpretive, qualitative and exploratory approach. Using inductive semi-structured interviews, data have been collected on the SI process of SMEs in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). SMEs represent 96% of the country’s enterprises and contribute to almost one third of the national economic activity (Bokhari, 2013). Their development is a major concern of the Saudi government, which aims to reduce the dependency on the oil sector (Bokhari, 2013; Sfakianakis, 2014; McKinsey Global Institute, 2015). In addition, SMEs have the potential to contribute to reducing the accelerating unemployment rate among the ever increasing youth population (Bokhari, 2013).Theoretically, this thesis contributes to a deeper understanding of SI and its enablers/ barriers in the SME sector. Following the approach suggested by Stacey (1996a), Mintzberg et al. (1998), and Okumus (2001), this research provides a more holistic understanding of the SI process. It sheds light on the individual dynamics of strategy implementation, as well as the organisational and external environment perspectives. By exploring these factors over the longitudinal process of SI (including initiation, process, and outcome), this research contributes a SI framework based on Mintzberg’s (1979) and Pettigrew’s (1985a) emerging process view. In so doing, this research adds to the SI process literature at the individual level, as an epistemological tool, and does so in order to consider the dynamic nature of SMEs and the impact that non-controllable events have on their daily routines, on ontological ground (Hart, 1992). At the methodological level, evidence from multiple cases in different Saudi industries is provided, reflecting a developing country context, rather than the dominant Western views (Okumus, 2003; Van der Maas, 2008). From the empirical research, lessons are identified to inform owners of SMEs, policy makers and future research.

Magister Legum - LLM

This case study is a qualitative examination of a health promotion project conducted in collaboration with members of the mental health peer community. More specifically, it explores the community based participatory research (CBPR) implementation process used to conduct this health promotion project to gain a deeper understanding of the mechanisms at work in the implementation process. While there has been considerable attention to the principles that guide CBPR (Braun et al., 2012; Israel et al., 2008; LaVeaux & Christopher, 2009), there remains important work to be done in bridging these principles to implementation; what processes or mechanisms translate these principles to action. Four mechanisms were initially proposed by this writer, derived from extant literature in this area (Wallerstein & Duran, 2003). These provided the initial framework for analyzing the data gathered throughout the case study. The case report discusses the findings of how these initially proposed mechanisms have been transformed and redefined in the context of this case. The resultant mechanisms, knowledge sharing, power sharing, task sharing, resource sharing, and shared purpose (there are five, as one additional new mechanism emerged in the analysis), are described with examples of how they were reflected in this case. Implications for these findings for CBPR research, collaborative health promotion with the mental health peer community, and the social work profession are shared.

Permanent exclusion is a serious disciplinary measure and the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF, 2008) advises that in most cases it is to be the last resort after a range of measures have been tried to improve a pupil’s behaviour. Following permanent exclusion the local authority (LA) takes responsibility for a pupil’s education and for most cases seeks to reintegrate the pupil into a new school. However the process of reintegration of permanently excluded pupils into mainstream school is regarded as difficult and research has shown that second permanent exclusions frequently occur fairly soon after entering a new school. In the last four years a ‘Hard To Place Pupil Protocol’ (HTPPP) has been published in all LAs as a statutory document. This seeks to encourage all schools to admit a fair share of excluded pupils in a timely manner. There has been no published research on this protocol to date. This study adopts a qualitative case study methodology, influenced by a social constructionist epistemological stance. The participants and methods utilised include interviews with reintegrating pupils, their parents and school staff supporting them, LA reintegration officers and headteachers. Additional methods included a focus group with members of the educational psychology team, a survey to secondary school staff, documentary evidence from pupil files and LA documents, educational psychologist (EP) case work evaluation and a reflexive research diary. This study includes analysis of the findings and presents pertinent themes emerging from the data. The results section indicates that the HTPPP has been effective in increasing the number of pupils being reintegrated. However there are some areas identified as being problematic. These include: decision making, perceived fairness of the protocol, the role of parents and the relationship between the protocol and permanent exclusion. The findings indicate that there are a number of factors that can facilitate or hinder a reintegration. These include: school support, communication, individual pupil attributes, sense of belonging, familial and societal factors and the impact of previous events including the original exclusion. The research findings indicate that EPs recognise their role in supporting the reintegration process through the application of psychological theory and knowledge, supporting complex cases, helping to change perspectives of the ‘problem’, working school staff and obtaining and championing the voice of the child. School staff consider the role of the EP as providing consultation around advice and strategies, it is also about providing a current assessment of a pupil’s educational needs, offering individual therapeutic work with the pupil, supporting home-school relations and enabling a third party perspective. The discussion relates the themes to previous literature and identifies some variation in terms of the factors that facilitate or hinder reintegration, and concluded by questioning the feasibility of establishing such factors. The evidence collected to determine effectiveness of the HTPPP is helpful to establish the way in which it might be adapted to operate in the future. By considering the role of an EP in supporting the process, it is anticipated that the research will contribute to evidence based practice in this area.

This study examines the changing context and implications for evaluation practice of social program and service delivery devolved to small nonprofit and grassroots organizations. The setting is explored through a critical reflection-on-practice of over twenty years experience conducting evaluation. Using a multiple case study approach, the dissertation examines nine broad themes through two broad composite scenarios and twenty-five detailed vignettes that portray the challenges of working as a consultant with and for small nonprofit and grassroots organizations as they grapple with growing demands for accountability through evaluation. The multiple case study analysis is complemented by an analysis of case studies in two broad areas of literature; one on the impacts of devolution in the nonprofit sector, and the other examining recent trends in evaluation conducted in challenging settings, including community-based and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The five broad themes addressed through the case studies and literature on devolution are: 1) accountability, 2) capacity, 3) mandate drift, 4) competition, and 5) complexity. The four broad themes addressed through case studies and literature on evaluation are: 1) theory-based evaluation, 2) inclusiveness (participatory approaches), 3) the changing and multiple roles of evaluators, and 4) the use of dialogue, deliberative and democratic approaches in evaluation practice. The study contends that the ‘rough ground’ of nonprofit settings provides a useful lens for understanding broader challenges and trends in evaluation practice; that evaluators provide more than just technical skills and knowledge, but undertake important roles in linking communities, mediating among stakeholders, fostering dialogue and deliberation about programming, and mitigating some of the more egregious impacts of devolution experienced by nonprofit and grassroots organizations. By acknowledging and supporting the development of such roles and responsibilities, the profession and evaluators working in these settings can provide meaningful contributions to public discourse about the nature of accountability, the broad context of social programming, the complex capacity challenges being faced by nonprofit organizations, and the role of evaluation in exacerbating or potentially mitigating such effects. / Education, Faculty of / Graduate

Experiencing trauma in childhood can have a pervasive impact on child development. There is evidence to suggest that non verbal creative therapies aid the processing of traumatic memories and therefore present as a child centred treatment option for children who have experienced trauma. Art therapy is known to be an effective intervention for children who have experienced trauma however the outcomes of delivering art therapy interventions in specific contexts are not yet well researched. The present study sought to investigate the efficacy of school based art therapy as an intervention for children who have experienced psychological trauma. The study explores what areas of adjustment are achievable and how school based art therapy contributes to this adjustment. A multiple case study analysis was conducted to explore the experiences of three pupils who had attended art therapy interventions at their schools. Each case study used semi structured interviews, post intervention, to gather the views of the pupil, art therapist, a member of school staff and the pupil‘s parent / guardian. The data was analysed using thematic analysis and the results are presented as thematic network maps. The cross case synthesis revealed that after attending school based art therapy the pupils demonstrated positive adjustment in a range of areas. The thematic analysis suggested that the pupils had a greater understanding of themselves, increased resilience skills and a belief in a positive future. School based art therapy was found to be a wholly child centred therapeutic experience for the pupils, with the data suggesting that this child centred experience was facilitated by the process of the therapy, the non verbal creative art making and the context of delivery. This study provides the initial evidence to suggest that school based art therapy is an effective intervention for children who have experienced developmental trauma and presents avenues for future research.

This qualitative study explores how roles are constructed within interprofessional health care teams. It focuses on elucidating the different types of role boundaries, the influences on role construction and the implications for professionals and patients. A comparative case study was conducted with two interprofessional primary health care teams. The data collection included a total of 26 interviews (13 with each team) and non-participant observations of team meetings (2-3 meetings at each site). Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data and a model was developed to represent the emergent findings. The role boundaries are organized around interprofessional interactions (autonomous-collaborative boundaries) and the distribution of tasks (interchangeable-differentiated boundaries). Salient influences are categorized as structural, interpersonal and individual dynamics. The implications of role construction include professional satisfaction and more favourable wait times for patients. The elements in this conceptual model may be transferable to other interprofessional primary health care teams. It may benefit these teams by raising awareness of the potential impact of various within-team influences on role construction.

Small nonprofit organizations are faced with limited resources and budgets for setting and reaching their goals. Some are nevertheless able to mitigate these challenges and achieve success. This thesis examines how this can be done. Organizations with excellent public relations programs have been found to be successful in achieving their goals (Grunig et al., 2002). Through the lens of the excellence model, this thesis analyzes, using in depth, semi-structured interview data, how senior managers of seven successful small nonprofits account for their success and address challenges as well as how their practices reflect the excellence model. This thesis does not test the excellence model in the context of small nonprofits, but rather attempts to establish recommendations for communication and PR success for small nonprofits based on what is learned from a small group of successful organizations.

In the contemporary world, the fight against impunity has become a fundamental political claim, a social goal and a main concern for human rights movements. However, it is unclear how we can delimit this fight, what are its aims and, ultimately, the remedies it proposes to overcome impunity. The academic studies and human rights mechanisms referring to this issue are not sufficiently clarifying. They often lack clear theoretical distinctions and stable empirical observations. Moreover, in social discourses impunity is employed with extremely vague connotations. This research addresses this lacuna, offering a conceptualization and characterization of impunity from a socio-legal perspective. With this purpose in mind, this work develops an analysis of impunity through the study of a particular kind of criminality. The study of state crime provides a prolific perspective for the analysis of the phenomenon of impunity, allowing to visualize the constitution of different blockages against the autonomous operation of the criminal justice. Particularly, this research studies an event of enforced disappearance initiated at the siege of the Colombian Palace of Justice in 1985, through a reconstruction focused on the perspective of the victims using a combination of qualitative methods. This field work, alongside different explorations of the sociological, human rights and criminological state of art of impunity, provides a sociological reflection on the concept of impunity. In the end, taking into account the problematization of the concept and its uses in social discourses, this work proposes a conceptualization apt for overcoming the vagueness of the definition of impunity as well as allowing a delimitation of the fight against it, leaving space for possible innovations on the penal rationality and possibly reinforcing a human rights agenda, concerned with the escalation of repression through punishment and committed with the restoration of social links and the victims’ rights.