In the climate of poor student achievement and a lack of skilled teachers in natural science and mathematics, the main research question of this study was: How can the professional development of primary school teachers be managed by means of action research? The aim of the study was to develop, implement and evaluate a site-based collaboration programme to promote the professional development of the teachers in these subjects within a home-based or semi home-based teaching context. The theory of situated learning within a community of practice (CoP) was used as conceptual framework. Purposeful and convenient sampling was implemented to select participants. Five grade 4 teachers, five grade 5 teachers, four grade 6 teachers and eight members of the school management team participated in the three year study. During the planning phase a needs analysis was done. During the action phase, lead teachers were responsible for the planning in one or two subjects. The teachers met once every six school days (about 30 meetings per year), for up to two hours to discuss content and methodological issues, plan assessment strategies, analyse and reflect on results and decide on intervention strategies. The grade 4, 5 and 6 groups completed six, four and two action research cycles respectively, and the school management team six action research cycles of about six months each. To evaluate the professional development that resulted, data collection was by means of observation, field notes, typed minutes, four focus groups, 12 individual interviews, teachers’ files, a questionnaire and students’ books and achievements. The results indicate that the professional development of primary school teachers could be managed and constantly improved by means of action research. When school managers organise teachers into communities of practice and implement action research cycles, the teachers learn in a context-sensitive way. This learning is characterised by two social stages involving participation in the subject and grade CoP, and an independent stage of personal involvement when teachers internalise knowledge and practices of other teachers. The professional development of the teachers was in the areas of content knowledge, pedagogic content knowledge, assessment literacy and professional attitudes. Student achievement improved. / Educational Leadership and Management / D. Ed. (Education Management)

The objective of education authorities worldwide is to enhance teachers’ professional capacities and practices through the supply of quality continuous professional development (CPD) activities. The South African education system has been subjected to many changes during the past two decades which have seriously affected the quality of education provided in schools country wide. Professional development (PD) of teachers has been found to be a key factor in raising standards in South African schools. Although the National Department of Education has identified teacher development as important, very little has transpired in the education system. School leaders should, therefore, take on the responsibility of providing their staff with PD opportunities. To support teachers in special schools and to enhance their professional capacity, the researcher designed, implemented and evaluated a collaborative PD model in six special schools in Gauteng. The aim of the study was to establish the value of the CPD programme on teachers’ learning, learners’ outcomes and whole school change. This multi-phased case study research was positioned within a bigger study conducted by the Gauteng Department of Education and in particular the Early Childhood Development Institute (ECDI). This larger study was based on the fact that most of the burn related accidents in South Africa occur in the 0-4 age group, which served as the rationale for including the fire safety programme in the ECD curriculum. The focus during the research was on the adaptation of fire safety activities and learners and teacher support materials for an inclusive classroom. This research reports on a two year study on the implementation of a CPD model based on collaboration and peer coaching. The theoretical framework for this study links to theories of constructivism, organisational theory of Senge, network and social capital. This research serves as an example of where valuable internal and external networks were formed for the benefit of all involved with the study. During this research theory and practice were successfully integrated for the benefit of the individual, the school and external organisations. / Department of Educational Leadership and Management / D. Ed. (Education Management)

Il progetto di ricerca muove dall’interesse per l’emergere di nuove epistemologie della formazione professionale che riconoscono la pratica condivisa come contesto epistemologico di produzione e sviluppo di competenze. Recenti ricerche collegano le possibilità di crescita professionale del singolo allo sviluppo complessivo delle organizzazioni, interpretate come sistemi di comunità che apprendono. Il tema di fondo su cui si confronta la ricerca attiene alla trasformazione delle conoscenze dell’insegnante, all’interno dei vincoli e delle possibilità connesse all’attuale fase di transizione, in favore dell’apprendimento organizzativo. Più in dettaglio, la ricerca indaga il ruolo che assumono le conoscenze tacite nella trasformazione di conoscenza dal livello individuale a quello collettivo. / The research project originates from the interest in emerging new epistemologies of professional formation which identify shared practice as the epistemological context of competence creation and development. Recent research relates the opportunities of individual professional growth to the overall development of the organizations, considered as learning community systems. Given the limits and possibilities connected to the present moment of transition, the main point the research deals with is the transformation of the teacher's knowledge in favour of organizational learning. To be more precise, the research investigates the role of tacit knowledge in the transformation of knowledge from individual to collective level.

This thesis focuses on sibling interaction and children’s everyday media practices in their homes. Ten sibling pairs, aged four to nine years, have been followed in their homes during a six-month period with media ethnographic methods. The data mainly consist of video recorded sibling interactions. The thesis draws on sociocultural theories, cultural sociological perspectives and insights from social interaction research. The analyses are grounded in the social interaction and meaning making acts that take place in media activities in the home settings. However they also extend to a broader societal context, in order to show how social structure and social action are constantly interwoven in children’s lives. The thesis documents how the media represent an important part of the child's everyday culture. Media create key reference frames and common platforms for the children’s games and play activities. The siblings use media and various artifacts to negotiate, challenge or assume desirable positions. Media artefacts can also be used as a way to present oneself. The younger siblings progressively work their way into the older siblings’ media landscapes, and the elder siblings become guides or role models in handling video games, music, and YouTube activities. In addition to purely practical skills when it comes to handling the technical equipment, the older siblings also mediate local taste hierarchies, norms, and values. The thesis also describes how children are social actors who interpret and reinterpret the constant ongoing movements in the media landscape. Moreover, the thesis highlights how consumption is closely linked to media practices. Mobiles, games consoles and membership on virtual gaming sites become highly valued phenomena and status markers in children’s media worlds. / Detta arbete undersöker hur syskon samspelar och skapar mening och social ordning inom ramen för olika mediepraktiker. Med hjälp av medieetnografiska metoder har 14 barn i åldrarna fyra till nio år (tio olika syskonkonstellationer) följts i hemmiljö under en halvårsperiod. Materialet består främst av videoinspelad interaktion. Avhandlingen bygger på sociokulturella och kultursociologiska perspektiv, där individen ses som en aktiv, meningsskapande och samspelande aktör som påverkar och påverkas av sin sociala och kulturella kontext. Analysen är i huvudsak relaterad till de handlingar som äger rum i lokalt situerade aktiviteter och undersöker vad syskonen gör med medier i olika verksamheter, men visar även hur samhällelig kontext och barns aktörskap är parallella aspekter i barns liv. Avhandlingen synliggör hur medier utgör en stor och viktig del av barns vardagskultur. Medier är självklara referensramar och skapar gemensamma plattformar för barnens samtal och lekar. Syskonen använder medier och olika artefakter för att förhandla, utmana eller fördela positioner. Småsyskonen tar sig successivt in i de äldre syskonens medielandskap, medan de äldre ofta blir ledstjärnor eller ger sig själva tolkningsföreträde. Vidare visas hur kunskapsförmedling är ett väsentligt inslag mellan syskon. Utöver rent praktiska färdigheter i hur de tekniska apparaterna ska hanteras, förhandlas även smak, normer, värderingar och tillgång till symboliskt kapital. Spel, musik, TV, YouTube och medieartefakter används som resurser för självpresentation.  Analyserna pekar på barnens aktörskap; barnen tolkar, omtolkar, utmanar och förhandlar innebörder och föreställningar om vad som är kultur för barn. Avhandlingen belyser även hur konsumtion intimt hänger samman med mediepraktiker. Mobiler, spelkonsoler och medlemskap på virtuella spelsidor blir åtråvärda artefakter och statusmarkörer i barnens medievärldar.

The focus of this study has been to connect the idea of developing schools as learning organisations with the notion of developing learning leaders and building school capacity for our knowledge economy. Therefore, this action-inquiry self-study has examined the issues of curriculum reform in the context of more general organisational reform. It has explored the notion of schools being recultured or reconstructed to work as learning organisations in a climate that focuses on the improved social and academic learning outcomes of their students. This self-study represents two significant chapters in my professional life and captures approximately four years of professional snapshots. It has allowed me to examine my practice of partnering, conversing, arranging and developing shared vision across two schools. This study recognized these as powerful reculturing mechanisms and affirmed that conversations about learning, shared beliefs mission and vision, enabling leadership that reflects parallel learning relationships and enabling organisational arrangements are critical for sustainable reform. Consequently the exploration of the relationship between teacher learning, teacher leadership and a professional learning culture has been the main focus for this research. Analytical processes for this study first explored the relationship between teacher learning, teacher leadership and a professional learning culture through an examination of current curriculum reforms. This is followed by a layered analysis of the two narratives based on my leadership in two different school settings. A rigorous mapping and scanning process then assisted the analysis of these narratives. This process was supported by a number of specific conceptual frameworks that underpin the school reculturing process and reflect key qualities of schools that work as learning organisations. Six significant snapshots emerged from the analysis of the two narratives. The deeper analysis of these snapshots, which have been referred to as close-ups, formed a number of my first tentative propositions. These layers of investigation were also supported by the responses of several key snapshot participants and reader respondents, before the final propositions were made. These responses recognised that an organisation that works together, learns together; and that there is strength and powerful learning when leadership can assist practitioners to work as a learning community. These qualities were found to be directly related to this study's proposed reconstructed model for developing schools as learning organisations. The reconstructed model recognised a number of other less visible elements that can be seen in a school working as a learning organisation. These elements relate directly to enabling/capacity building leadership and the associated relationship skills of leaders. They were found to be necessary elements for effective collaboration and for creating spaces for conversation, reflection, spontaneity and risk-taking. This study also recognised that any deconstruction and reconstruction of a school as a learning organisation is first a reconstruction of core beliefs and values. These beliefs and values are reflected in a school's culture and are inclusive of the visible and less visible elements. The constant examination of one's assumptions, ideas, values and beliefs has been considered to be essential to the analysis process, as well as to the process of reform and achieving organisational change. The study revealed, therefore, that enabling/capacity-building leadership is a key to the process of reculturing a school as a learning organisation. The data from respondents also indicates that this notion of leadership as being enabling/capacity building has also been a primary focus for answering the second of the key research questions: 'How does a process of deconstruction and reconstruction take place?' The additional points of difference/interest that emerged from the various respondents suggest that the process of deconstruction and reconstruction of a school as a learning organisation would be assisted by realising that energy and passion are needed for enabling/capacity building leadership. This form of leadership requires moving from being top-down and become more parallel with renewed learning relationships. This study affirmed that this focus on establishing parallel learning relationships assists in the development of parallel learning leadership and parallel learning partnerships. Enabling/capacity building leaders working in parallel with their teachers can also play an important role in developing/supporting flexible and imaginative school organisation. In this way enabling/capacity building leaders can work as learning leaders and brokers to assist the development of other learning partnerships/alliances. This community building strategy can consequently develop opportunities for teachers to work and learn collaboratively as learning leaders. Enabling/capacity building leadership is correctly placed as the key to considering how the deconstruction and reconstruction process takes place. Further, the reconstruction process taking place reflect a culture of dynamic inquiry. This is made possible when enabling/capacity building leaders share and commit to similar notions of schools working as learning organisations and teachers are assisted/brokered to work collaboratively for professional alliances and professional growth. Consequently this study proposes that teachers cope better with the ever-increasing demands of curriculum reforms if: * schools can work as learning organisations * schools allow teachers to work as learning leaders * administrative leaders support/enable and model risk-taking, spontaneous and collaborative practices * there are shared beliefs, mission and vision; organisational arrangements/support; conversations for learning; shared approaches to pedagogy, and parallel relationships * enabling/capacity-building leadership for learning alliances allows for a professional culture of dynamic inquiry that can evolve with a renewed focus on conversations for learning. The findings of this study have theoretical, methodological and practical significance. In the first instance it presents as theoretical significance, the reconstruction of a theoretical framework for schools working as learning organisations. The methodological significance is reflected in this study's emphasis on theorising through layers. The methodological contribution acknowledges a legitimate and rigorous form of practitioner research, revealing self-study methodology at a level that is more then mere self-indulgence. In presenting its final contribution, the thesis acknowledges the practical contribution of the study by emphasising the process involved in creating a culture of dynamic inquiry. The transformative nature of this action- inquiry self-study is therefore confirmed in this study. The layered analysis reflects a process of making sense of the messiness of practitioner research, and consequently provides a true sense of this established form of practical theorising in the teaching profession. These characteristics should be seen not as limitations, but rather as authentic strengths.

Τα τελευταία χρόνια όλο και πιο επιτακτική είναι η ανάγκη αξιοποίησης των ψηφιακών δεδομένων τα οποία συλλέγονται και αποθηκεύονται σε διάφορες βάσεις δεδομένων. Το γεγονός αυτό σε συνδυασμό με τη ραγδαία αύξηση του όγκου των δεδομένων αυτών επιβάλλει τη δημιουργία υπολογιστικών μεθόδων με απώτερο σκοπό τη βοήθεια του ανθρώπου στην εξόρυξη της χρήσιμης πληροφορίας και γνώσης από αυτά. Οι τεχνικές εξόρυξης δεδομένων παρουσιάζουν τα τελευταία χρόνια ιδιαίτερο ενδιαφέρον στις περιπτώσεις όπου η πηγή των δεδομένων είναι οι ροές δεδομένων ή άλλες μορφές όπως τα XML έγγραφα. Σύγχρονα συστήματα και εφαρμογές όπως είναι αυτά των κοινοτήτων πρακτικής έχουν ανάγκη χρήσης τέτοιων τεχνικών εξόρυξης για να βοηθήσουν τα μέλη τους. Τέλος ενδιαφέρον υπάρχει και κατά την αξιολόγηση λογισμικού όπου η πηγή δεδομένων είναι τα αρχεία πηγαίου κώδικα για σκοπούς καλύτερης συντηρησιμότητας τους. Από τη μια μεριά οι ροές δεδομένων είναι προσωρινά δεδομένα τα οποία περνούν από ένα σύστημα «παρατηρητή» συνεχώς και σε μεγάλο όγκο. Υπάρχουν πολλές εφαρμογές που χειρίζονται δεδομένα σε μορφή ροών, όπως δεδομένα αισθητήρων, ροές κίνησης δικτύων, χρηματιστηριακά δεδομένα και τηλεπικοινωνίες. Αντίθετα με τα στατικά δεδομένα σε βάσεις δεδομένων, οι ροές δεδομένων παρουσιάζουν μεγάλο όγκο και χαρακτηρίζονται από μια συνεχή ροή πληροφορίας που δεν έχει αρχή και τέλος. Αλλάζουν δυναμικά, και απαιτούν γρήγορες αντιδράσεις. Ίσως είναι η μοναδική πηγή γνώσης για εξόρυξη δεδομένων και ανάλυση στην περίπτωση όπου οι ανάγκες μιας εφαρμογής περιορίζονται από τον χρόνο απόκρισης και το χώρο αποθήκευσης. Αυτά τα μοναδικά χαρακτηριστικά κάνουν την ανάλυση των ροών δεδομένων πολύ ενδιαφέρουσα ιδιαίτερα στον Παγκόσμιο Ιστό. Ένας άλλος τομέας ενδιαφέροντος για τη χρήση νέων τεχνικών εξόρυξης δεδομένων είναι οι κοινότητες πρακτικής. Οι κοινότητες πρακτικής (Communities of Practice) είναι ομάδες ανθρώπων που συμμετέχουν σε μια διαδικασία συλλογικής εκμάθησης. Μοιράζονται ένα ενδιαφέρον ή μια ιδέα που έχουν και αλληλεπιδρούν για να μάθουν καλύτερα για αυτό. Οι κοινότητες αυτές είναι μικρές ή μεγάλες, τοπικές ή παγκόσμιες, face to face ή on line, επίσημα αναγνωρίσιμες, ανεπίσημες ή και αόρατες. Υπάρχουν δηλαδή παντού και σχεδόν όλοι συμμετέχουμε σε δεκάδες από αυτές. Ένα παράδειγμα αυτών είναι τα γνωστά forum συζητήσεων. Σκοπός μας ήταν ο σχεδιασμός νέων αλγορίθμων εξόρυξης δεδομένων από τις κοινότητες πρακτικής με τελικό σκοπό να βρεθούν οι σχέσεις των μελών τους και να γίνει ανάλυση των εξαγόμενων δεδομένων με μετρικές κοινωνικών δικτύων ώστε συνολικά να αποτελέσει μια μεθοδολογία ανάλυσης τέτοιων κοινοτήτων. Επίσης η eXtensible Markup Language (XML) είναι το πρότυπο για αναπαράσταση δεδομένων στον Παγκόσμιο Ιστό. Η ραγδαία αύξηση του όγκου των δεδομένων που αναπαρίστανται σε XML μορφή δημιούργησε την ανάγκη αναζήτησης μέσα στην δενδρική δομή ενός ΧΜL εγγράφου για κάποια συγκεκριμένη πληροφορία. Η ανάγκη αυτή ταυτόχρονα με την ανάγκη για γρήγορη πρόσβαση στους κόμβους του ΧΜL δέντρου, οδήγησε σε διάφορα εξειδικευμένα ευρετήρια. Για να μπορέσουν να ανταποκριθούν στη δυναμική αυτή των δεδομένων, τα ευρετήρια πρέπει να έχουν τη δυνατότητα να μεταβάλλονται δυναμικά. Ταυτόχρονα λόγο της απαίτησης για αναζήτηση συγκεκριμένης πληροφορίας πρέπει να γίνεται το φιλτράρισμα ενός συνόλου XML δεδομένων διαμέσου κάποιων προτύπων και κανόνων ώστε να βρεθούν εκείνα τα δεδομένα που ταιριάζουν με τα αποθηκευμένα πρότυπα και κανόνες. Από την άλλη μεριά οι διαστάσεις της εσωτερικής και εξωτερικής ποιότητας στη χρήση ενός προϊόντος λογισμικού αλλάζουν κατά τη διάρκεια ζωής του. Για παράδειγμα η ποιότητα όπως ορίζεται στην αρχή του κύκλου ζωής του λογισμικού δίνει πιο πολύ έμφαση στην εξωτερική ποιότητα και διαφέρει από την εσωτερική, όπως για παράδειγμα στη σχεδίαση η οποία αναφέρεται στην εσωτερική ποιότητα και αφορά τους μηχανικούς λογισμικού. Οι τεχνικές εξόρυξης δεδομένων που μπορούν να χρησιμοποιηθούν για την επίτευξη του απαραίτητου επιπέδου ποιότητας, όπως είναι ο καθορισμός και η αξιολόγηση της ποιότητας πρέπει να λαμβάνουν υπόψη τους τις διαφορετικές αυτές διαστάσεις σε κάθε στάδιο του κύκλου ζωής του προϊόντος. Στα πλαίσια αυτής της διδακτορικής διατριβής έγινε σε βάθος έρευνα σχετικά με τεχνικές εξόρυξης δεδομένων και εφαρμογές τόσο στο πρόβλημα διαχείρισης πληροφορίας όσο και στο πρόβλημα της αξιολόγησης λογισμικού. / The World Wide Web has gradually transformed into a large data repository consisting of vast amount of data in many different types. These data doubles about every year, but useful information seems to be decreasing. The area of data mining has arisen over the last decade to address this problem. It has become not only an important research area, but also one with large potential in the real world. Data mining has many directives and handles various types of data. When the related data are for example data streams or XML data then the problems seem to be very crucial and interesting. Also contemporary systems and applications related to communities of practice seek appropriate data mining techniques and algorithms in order to help their members. Finally, great interest has the field of software evaluation when by using data mining in order to facilitate the comprehension and maintainability evaluation of a software system’s source code. Source code artifacts and measurement values can be used as input to data mining algorithms in order to provide insights into a system’s structure or to create groups of artifacts with similar software measurements. First, data streams are large volumes of data arriving continuously. Data mining techniques have been proposed and studied to help users better understand and analyze the information. Clustering is a useful and ubiquitous tool in data analysis. With the rapid increase in web-traffic and e-commerce, understanding user behavior based on their interaction with a website is becoming more and more important for website owners and clustering in correlation with personalization techniques of this information space has become a necessity. The knowledge obtained by learning the users preferences can help improve web content, find usability issues related to this content and its structure, ensure the security of provided data, analyze the different groups of users that can be derived from the web access logs and extract patterns, profiles and trends. This thesis investigates the application of a new model for clustering and analyzing click-stream data in the World Wide Web with two different approaches. The next part of the thesis deals with data mining techniques regarding communities of practice. These are groups of people taking part in a collaborative way of learning and exchanging ideas. Systems for supporting argumentative collaboration have become more and more popular in digital world. There are many research attempts regarding collaboration filtering and recommendation systems. Sometimes depending on the system and its needs there are different problems and developers have to deal with special cases in order to provide useful service to users. Data mining can play an important role in the area of collaboration systems that want to provide decision support functionality. Data mining in these systems can be defined as the effort to generate actionable models through automated analysis of their databases. Data mining can only be deployed successfully when it generates insights that are substantially deeper than what a simple view of data can give. This thesis introduces a framework that can be applied to a wide range of software platforms aiming at facilitating collaboration and learning among users. More precisely, an approach that integrates techniques from the Data Mining and Social Network Analysis disciplines is being presented. The next part of the thesis deals with XML data and ways to handle huge volumes of data that they may hold. Lately data written in a more sophisticated markup language such as XML have made great strides in many domains. Processing and management of XML documents have already become popular research issues with the main problem in this area being the need to optimally index them for storage and retrieval purposes. This thesis first presents a unified clustering algorithm for both homogeneous and heterogeneous XML documents. Then using this algorithm presents an XML P2P system that efficiently distributes a set of clustered XML documents in a P2P network in order to speed-up user queries. Ultimately, data mining and its ability to handle large amounts of data and uncover hidden patterns has the potential to facilitate the comprehension and maintainability evaluation of a software system. This thesis investigates the applicability and suitability of data mining techniques to facilitate the comprehension and maintainability evaluation of a software system’s source code. What is more, this thesis focuses on the ability of data mining to produce either overviews of a software system (thus supporting a top down approach) or to point out specific parts of this system that require further attention (thus supporting a bottom up approach) potential to facilitate the comprehension and maintainability evaluation of a software system.

This study captures the transformation of a research methodology module and the workplace learning resulting from teaching research to senior police officers. Using ethnography, the study explores the initial development and transformation of the research module content and the ways in which the police trainers developed their practices to teach research methodology in the regulated police work environment. Through interviews, observations, document analyses and an ethnographic essay, the researcher uncovers the experiences and construction of knowledge at a SAPS Academy where research was taught and in the workplace during the ensuing experiential learning. The study revealed how the research module evolved through compensations made for shortcomings in the initial design. This was done by addressing changing organisational expectations and responding to specific needs of the adult learners. The trainers subsequently adapted their teaching approaches to cater for the specific needs of the learners and the organisation. At the same time, they also protected the reputation of the organisation and the integrity of the research module. The findings indicate that informal learning, constructed unintentionally, was more prominent in the workplace than the intended development of research skills. Evidence suggested that learning is indeed reliant on personal agency and that learning in communities of practice is very effective for the community. However, culture can become a barrier to learning when newcomers resist entry into such community or when its sub-culture conflicts with that of the bigger organisation. These experiences and lessons enabled the construction of a new three-phased research teaching model for organisations that wish to inculcate research as a problem–solving mechanism. The study has implications for policy-makers and educators as it emphasises the need to understand the theory of workplace learning and the necessity of making a deliberate effort to support learning in the workplace. When learning is not supported, employees develop undesirable skills to cope with the pressure of having to work and learn simultaneously. The study contributes to the existing knowledge of workplace theory, ethnographic research in police settings and research teaching pedagogy. The study highlights the need for further exploration of knowledge construction in communities of practice in regulated work environments where sub-cultures are in conflict with the organisational culture. / Educational Studies / D. Ed. (Philosophy of Education)

This study investigated how institutional conditions and cultures enabled or impeded the development and implementation of academic professional development programmes in Zimbabwe State universities. The study was prompted by undervaluing of academic professional development in Zimbabwe State universities manifested by its absence in half of the institutions. Literature suggests that factors that enable or impede implementation of academic staff development programmes include irrelevant academic professional programmes and influence of departmental cultures. The critical theory paradigm guided this study because the intention was to change and transform teaching practices by gaining insights on academics‘ perspectives on conditions that influence implementation of academic staff development programmes. A qualitative study was employed where interviews, focus group discussions, documents and questionnaires were used. Two state universities were conveniently sampled from which sixteen academics, four deans, two Directors of the Teaching and Learning Centres and two Vice Chancellors were purposively selected to participate in the study. The research produced findings reflecting that disciplines have huge influence on the development and implementation of academic professional development in higher education institutions. The scholarship of research constrained the scholarship of teaching in higher education practice. It was realised that academics‘ research interests subordinate teaching interests and by implication academic professional development programmes. This influences academics to have negative attitudes towards academic professional development programmes resulting in poor uptake of the programmes. It also emerged from the findings that promotion policies favour research over teaching resulting in academics marginalising teaching in their academic roles. It also emerged clearly as well that good researchers are not necessarily good teachers and that holding a PhD does not translate an academic to be a good teacher. However, it also emerged that departmental cultures can be used to promote interdisciplinary research which academic professional development might embrace in its practice. The research experienced limitations in terms of time and threat to confidentiality but their effects were countered through control measures effected by the researcher. The study recommends that State universities should set up teaching and learning centres that will lead in the development of a culture that values teaching and learning in faculties in which academic professional development programmes will professionalize university teaching The study also recommends that academic professional development should address needs of academics for them to be relevant and that their approach should include formal courses such as Post Graduate Diploma in Higher Education in which teaching in higher education is valued / Curriculum and Instructional Studies / D. Ed. (Curriculum Studies)

This dissertation explores the types of professional communities that are built when teachers work in initiatives that, in various forms, link them to teachers from other countries. In doing so it explores the types of knowledge that may be exchanged by the building of these communities and the value that teachers put upon these different forms of knowledge. Therefore, this study is situated in the broad theoretical context of discussions related to the building of professional communities but explores this within a specifically international context. The most significant findings that this dissertation identifies are: that the teachers involved built the professional communities that are most important to them in more exploratory ways and with more agency than is suggested by other related research, and in connection to this that those professional communities that the participants attached most significance to were consistently alternative to the immediate workplace. It was also found that whilst the teachers involved in this study problematised the possibility of directly transferring specific classroom strategies, stories about teaching were seen by all to be useful vehicles for exchanging other forms of knowledge, for enabling affirmation and for co-constructing moral purpose. These findings have potential implications for policy and practice as they indicate that structures that focus exclusively on developing communities within schools may need to be enriched by those that provide teachers with the flexibility to discover and build communities in alternative ways too. The primary data collection method used when conducting this research was interview. The participants who were interviewed came from two countries, namely England and Macedonia. This entirely qualitative approach is positioned within an interpretivist paradigm. However, it is argued that contributions to theoretical debates regarding the nature of professional communities can still be made.

Submitted by Andre Luis de Castro (ancastro@gmail.com) on 2017-08-05T12:57:36Z No. of bitstreams: 1 TESE - O FANTASMA NA MAQUINA - ANDRE CASTRO - Versao Final - 2017.pdf: 2023758 bytes, checksum: f1d27c99ae1d44a54e033be627f867ba (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Maria Tereza Fernandes Conselmo (maria.conselmo@fgv.br) on 2017-08-07T16:59:07Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 TESE - O FANTASMA NA MAQUINA - ANDRE CASTRO - Versao Final - 2017.pdf: 2023758 bytes, checksum: f1d27c99ae1d44a54e033be627f867ba (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-08-07T17:23:48Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 TESE - O FANTASMA NA MAQUINA - ANDRE CASTRO - Versao Final - 2017.pdf: 2023758 bytes, checksum: f1d27c99ae1d44a54e033be627f867ba (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-07-11 / The increasing complexity of the State, in particular the use of new information and communication technologies have led to the emergence of new types of bureaucracies such as system-level bureaucracy and screen-level bureaucracy. The first is composed of specialists who develop information systems for public policies, while the screen-level bureaucracy is formed by middle-level and street bureaucrats who act at the end of the provision of public services, depending on the systems to perform the work. The present work has as object of study the analysis of the relations between these bureaucracies in the implementation of public policies, with emphasis on the coordination problem. In this inter bureaucratic relationship, communities of practice, discretion and expertise are important analytical elements, since they allow the creation of strategies of action by the actors and the coordination of the policy. The theoretical references on bureaucracy and implementation of public policies were constructed not only in classical texts such as Weber (2007), Wildavsky and Pressman (1973) and Lipsky (1980) that discuss the relations between bureaucracies in the implementation of But also in the more recent work by Guy Peters (1998) and Bovens and Zouridis (2002) on the coordination and role of ICTs in policies. From a methodological point of view, it is a case study comparing two public policies that differ in the way in which the relations between system level bureaucracy and screen level bureaucracy occur. In the two informal, mutually dependent, close and complementary, informal learning networks allow actors to create and use action strategies that contribute to coordination. The distinction between policies has occurred in the identification of greater coordination problems in education policy. The explanation first relates to the substantive difference of the tax collection policy, which is of greater importance to the government and has a greater maturity in the development of information systems than other secretariats, which provides greater expertise and more collaborative relationships. Empirical evidences related to the organizational characteristics of the secretariats contribute to explain this distinction, such as: the greater turnover of the bureaucrats of the Department of Education (SEED); The separate physical location of the education systems and teams development team, different from what occurs at the Treasury Department (SEFA). / A complexidade crescente do Estado, em particular, o uso de novas tecnologias de informação e comunicação, tem gerado novos tipos de burocracias, como a system-level bureaucracy (SYB) e a screen-level bureaucracy (SCB). A primeira é composta por especialistas que desenvolvem sistemas de informação para as políticas públicas, enquanto a SCB é formada por burocratas de nível médio e de rua que atuam na ponta da prestação de serviços públicos, dependendo dos sistemas para realizar seu trabalho. O presente trabalho tem como objeto de estudo a análise das relações entre essas burocracias na implementação de políticas públicas, com destaque para a problemática da coordenação. As referências teóricas sobre burocracia e implementação de políticas públicas foram construídas a partir de Weber (2007), Wildavsky e Pressman (1973) e Lipsky (1980) que discutem as relações entre burocracias na implementação de políticas públicas, e também se baseou em trabalhos mais recentes de Guy Peters (1998) e Bovens e Zouridis (2002), concernentes à coordenação e ao papel das TICs nas políticas. Do ponto de vista metodológico, trata-se de um de caso comparado entre duas políticas públicas: a de arrecadação fiscal e de educação básica do estado do Paraná enfocando os processos de desenvolvimento de sistemas de informação com a participação da CELEPAR (Companhia de Tecnologia da Informação e Comunicação do estado do Paraná). Tais políticas se diferenciam pela forma como ocorrem as relações entre a SYB e a SCB. Nas duas políticas, redes informais de aprendizado, mutuamente dependentes, próximas e complementares, permitem aos atores a criação e utilização de estratégias de ação que contribuem com a coordenação. A distinção entre as políticas se deu na identificação de maiores problemas de coordenação na política de educação. A explicação relaciona-se primeiro, à diferença substantiva da política de arrecadação fiscal, que possui maior importância para o governo e maturidade maior no desenvolvimento de sistemas de informação se comparado a outras secretarias, que confere maior expertise e relações mais colaborativas. Características organizacionais das secretarias contribuem para explicar as implicações dessa distinção, como a rotatividade maior dos burocratas da Secretaria de Educação (SEED); a localização física separada da equipe de desenvolvimento de sistemas e equipes da educação, diferente do que ocorre na Secretaria da Fazenda (SEFA).