Learner autonomy has been recognised as a desirable educational goal, especially within the domains of adult and higher education. Whereas this has led to a growing body of research addressing learner autonomy across different educational and cultural contexts, there are still contexts, including Kurdistan-Iraq (i.e. the context of this research), which have remained under-researched. On that account, researchers (e.g. Dickinson, 1996; Little, 1999; Palfreyman, 2003; Usuki, 2007) encourage examining learner autonomy within such settings. This research, therefore, was an attempt to understand the realities and complexities of the situation of learner autonomy within a public institution of higher education in Kurdistan-Iraq. To achieve that, this research included students, teachers and senior administrators as participants assuming that these are the major interacting parties that could influence and determine the overall situation of learner autonomy. This study adopted a qualitative case study design within which multiple methods of data collection were used. The data was obtained through classroom observations, focus groups with thirty-four students divided among six groups and interviews with six teachers and five senior administrators. The sample of students, teachers and senior administrators was drawn from five different academic disciplines, namely English, Kurdish, Law, Psychology and Biology across the four distinct existing faculties. The findings generally showed an unsatisfactory situation of learner autonomy within this specific context and there emerged multiple personal, pedagogical, institutional and socio-cultural constraints which altogether seemed to pose serious challenges to the exercise and development of learner autonomy. Apart from that, students turned out to be relatively more autonomous compared to their previous educational experiences and there appeared to be certain behaviours and practices not just among students as a manifestation of their autonomy but also on the part of teachers towards encouraging the sense of autonomy and responsibility among students. However, these autonomous and autonomy-supportive practices and behaviours seemed to be confined to ‘isolated individual efforts’ of some students and teachers which implies that no systematic institutional attempts were present to promote autonomy or at least to create a conducive environment within which autonomy could flourish or be exercised. The findings also indicated that the autonomous behaviours and autonomy-supportive practices appeared to mainly circulate within the non-political form of autonomy which tends to focus on personal learning gains and lack a political dimension which concerns with the need for autonomous capacities to resurge within the social and political life to serve the public good. This seemed to reflect the interpretations and values the participants associated with learner autonomy which were significantly oriented towards the non-political variant of autonomy. This study, therefore, points to the need of further research, particularly action research, aiming at promoting the political understanding of autonomy.

Revideret Ph.D. afhandling, King's College London, 1999. / bibliographical references and indexes.

This critical race qualitative research study examines the perspectives of Chicanas\os regarding their educational experiences. Critical race theory in education has been critical in the effort to bring a deeper understanding of the racism that is experienced in American schools by Chicanas\os and other children of color. This study examines the intersectionality of American education; the Chicana\o social, political and historical experiences; and racism.This study is informed by theoretical frames from the disciplines of critical race theory, Latino critical race theory and their educational implications, new racism, Chicana/o authentic caring, and critical pedagogy. These theories expose inequality and injustice that adhere in American schools, and they help me understand that Chicana/o students, their parents and their communities are constructors of knowledge and facilitators of critical transformation.The study triangulates qualitative data through two critical components: interviews and an archival evaluation of the academic impact of the Social Justice Education Project and its Critically Compassionate Intellectualism (CCI) model of transformative education. The interview component consists of one open-ended focus group interview and one open-ended interview. In the archival segment, I evaluate informal open-ended student interviews, end of the year progress reports, post-program surveys, and achievement and graduation data.These data indicate that racism remains a key variable within the educational experiences of Chicanas\os students in SUSD schools. Additional findings indicate that the student cohorts that participate in the Social Justice Education Project and experience the CCI model of transformative education have a higher AIMS pass rate and higher graduation rates than those students cohorts that do not experience both the Social Justice Education Project and its CCI model.Given these findings, the study proposes that educational leaders demonstrate the political will that is needed to discover and implement multiple forms of critical transformative educational praxis. In addition, the need for more research that centers the voices of students and that focuses on racism and the Chicana\o contemporary experience.

The theory of evolution is relatively new to the majority of teachers who teach Life Sciences in South African schools. It was introduced into the Grade 12 Life Sciences curriculum in 2008. The purpose of this study was to examine the subject matter knowledge of Life Sciences teachers regarding the theory of evolution. Furthermore the study aimed at finding out about the challenges that the Life Sciences teachers encounter during the teaching of evolution to their learners and how they deal with those challenges. This study also aimed to contribute to the field of research regarding Life Sciences teacher’s understanding of the theory of evolution in a South African context. The focus of the research was on the teachers who were teaching Life Sciences at Grade 12 level in 2008. This study was underpinned by the conceptual framework developed by Lee Shulman (1986; 1987). Shulman (1986; 1987) argues that the subject matter knowledge should be the foundation for teaching. The research was conducted within the pragmatic paradigm. The data was collected from the Life Sciences teachers under Vulindlela Circuit in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal. The methods of collection included questionnaires and individual interviews with selected teachers. Quantitative data were analysed using SPSS while qualitative data were analysed using thematic content analysis. The findings indicated that the Life Sciences teachers who were enacting the new curriculum do possess some knowledge of the theory of evolution. However there were some gaps in their understanding of the concepts related to the theory of evolution by natural selection. Probably Life Science teachers will also increase their knowledge and levels of understanding of evolutionary concepts as they teach these year after year. This was evident from the scores of the teachers under the section of genetics. They scored high marks in this section because genetics was introduced into the Biology curriculum more than twenty years ago. Fossils, biogeography and natural selection were introduced in 2008, and teachers had much less knowledge about these topics than about genetics. This study also found that some teachers do encounter problems such as the views of students which contradict with that of evolution by natural selection. Teachers mentioned that they do not know how to handle such problems in the classroom during teaching in a manner that would not criticise religious beliefs of other learners. This study concluded that professional development of teachers in the form of workshops and in-service training should be an ongoing process within the Department of Education in order to help teachers with the ever-changing curriculum. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2012.

The aim of the study was to explore the feasibility of critical pedagogy in a sampling of English Second Language classrooms in the Durban-Pinetown region of KZN. I was situated at the Abantwana Higher Primary School for eleven weeks for the first phase of my data collection. Access was negotiated with the Barnabas Shaw Primary School in Pinetown towards the end of August, this ESL-school provided me with a contrasting site for the purposes of comparison. At about the same time I commenced with my case survey of the English Second Language classrooms in the Model C (B) schools. The survey was viewed as a third site in the case study. The construct of "critical pedagogy" was placed within the context of critical theory as this theoretical vantage point was ideally suited to probing and exposing the underlying historical and social relationships of the education problem in KZN. Critical pedagogy is a specific instance within critical theory. The research was qualitative in nature, using comparative case studies of primary classrooms in KZN; supplemented by a case survey of 107 pupils. A popular children's novel was used to develop a critical curriculum suitable for Std 5 pupils. This workbook was used in the classrooms included in the study, and as a means of observing pupils' response to critical teaching processes. The research was described as an ethnographic case study because of the more bounded nature of the research and because of the fact that it was conducted over a fairly short period of time. Nevertheless, the principles of classical ethnography applied. Data was collected by means of sustained observation and participant observation, supported by interviews, questionnaires and document collection. Data analysis took place during the process of data collection and was ongoing and cyclical in nature. The research was initially described as an exploratory study, however, towards the end of the data analysis phase it appeared that the study was more explanatory in nature, as I had become aware of the inter-relatedness of the conditions which were required for the successful introduction of critical pedagogy in the English Second Language classroom. These linked conditions were described as causal links in the final chapter and a feasible set of recommendations were made in respect of the reconstruction and development of critical teaching in the senior primary phase in the historically disadvantaged schools of KZN. The inevitability of political influences on the curriculum and classroom pedagogy emerged during the final stages of the process of data analysis, and the recommendations thus included an appeal to the politicians of this province to address the issue of violence and racial integration in the province with expediency in order to normalise the provision of education for all its citizens. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of Durban-Westville, 1996.

The rationale and motivation for this study was based on my personal need to try and understand the relationship between theory and practice (praxis) and the normative and empirical variables (hermeneutics) evident in my research, so as to contribute to the body of literature around learner centredness and learners' experiences of pedagogy and schooling. Review of educational studies conducted in South Africa reveals that most research is driven by 'common sense' understandings of learner centredness or what constitutes 'good teaching practice'. These studies illustrate that well intentioned but simplistic acceptance at the level of policy is hazardous and that we need to know more about practices within the classroom. Similarly, within South African policy documents, a paradox exists around the pedagogic discourse for learner centredness. The majority of education policy documents implemented after 1994 advocates a learner centred approach to teaching and learning, which is associated with weak framing over the instructional and regulative discourse while the National Curriculum Statements calls for a strongly framed pedagogic discourse. This paradox has significant implications for policy implementation at the classroom level. The objective of my study was to capture and analyse learners' experiences of Grade 3 teaching within one school context by focusing on control and regulation within the pedagogic relationship. Consequently, the research focused on the 'how' of pedagogic practice i.e. how do learners experience the transmission of knowledge through the educator's pedagogic practices? The case study involved non - participant observation to illustrate how different modalities of pedagogic practice provide for acquirers the principles for the production of what counts as a legitimate text. Bernstein's concept of framing was used to understand and analyse the locus and relative strength of control of how knowledge was transmitted, how it was received and of what may or may not be transmitted in the pedagogic relationship. The methodology employed in the research was based on developing an external language of description derived from Bernstein's internal language of description. The internal language of description was drawn from Bernstein's theory of pedagogic discourse. The external language of description provided textual pointers of specific characteristics relating to the internal framing of educational knowledge. It provided the means to identify specific pedagogic practices of educators and teaching strategies employed in the transmission-acquisition process. The findings depicted a mixture of pedagogic practices within one school context with one being based on a mixed pedagogic mode and the other on a performance pedagogic mode. The study revealed the possibility of extrapolating findings reliant on interaction with relevant literature around the framing of pedagogic discourse and the data obtained in the study. The conclusions reached in the study revealed strong framing over evaluation criteria, selection and sequencing of educational knowledge. While research has shown that weak framing over the pacing of knowledge is more likely to promote learning, the study revealed differential pacing of knowledge ranging from weak to strong. However, it was evident that learners had adapted themselves to the educators' modus operandi. Both educators in the study attempted to cater for differential learning needs of learners by the utilising different teaching strategies. The study revealed strong framing over hierarchical rule in terms of learner-learner interactions and educator-learner interactions. The research illustrated that giving learners control at the level of hierarchical rule posed a significant challenge for both educators. Both educators would make use of school and classroom rules as a means of maintaining social control. The study contributes to a better understanding of pedagogy and schooling. It makes clear that for learners to acquire the competencies and knowledge laid down in policy documents, the educator would need to make a pedagogic assessment in terms of the level of difficulty of the lesson, concepts and knowledge to be acquired and the differential needs of learners. This is more likely to increase the success of learners so that their enhancement, inclusion and participation in schooling does not become an existence of virtual reality. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2006.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Melbourne, Dept. of History, 2005. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 197-213).

Thesis (M.A.). / Written for the Dept. of Integrated Studies in Education. Title from title page of PDF (viewed 2008/01/14). Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--York University, 2002. Graduate Programme in Women's Studies. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 361-399). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/yorku/fullcit?pNQ72008.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Murdoch University, 2010. / Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Arts and Education. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 436-461)