The first years in the teaching profession are challenging, unforgettable, and shape the professional development of novice teachers. This study aimed at exploring the participation experiences of novice teachers in English teaching communities of practice and examining if this participation influenced their reported approaches to teaching English. Wenger, McDermott and Snyder’s theory of communities of practice was used and data was collected from online close and open-ended surveys, interviews, and staff meeting observations. The findings show that, independently of the social background of students and the financial resources of different school contexts, community support has a direct impact on the quality of the practices of novice teachers in CoPs, their participation and integration in the communities, and their reported approaches to teaching English. Moreover, in supportive contexts, NTEs’ approach to teaching was communicative-focused because their communities allowed them to experiment with language and try new ideas. This study extends the work of Wenger, McDermott and Snyder on organisational and managerial communities by providing insights into the field of second language education. Furthermore, it extends the work of scholars with novice teachers in English language teaching by addressing the socioeconomic aspect of their experiences and by connecting community support directly to the approaches to teaching of novice teachers. This research offers insights to novice teachers on the practices carried out in English teaching communities in the Chilean context and offers experienced teachers the opportunity to reflect on how they treat and work with novice teachers.

President Hugo Chavez was first elected President of Venezuela in 1998 on an anti-neoliberal platform that promised “power to the people” via processes of state-grassroots collaboration. The current process of social change is framed within a wider discourse and policy that aims to build “Socialism for the 21st Century” through the development of new forms of political, social and economic engagement based on new conceptualisations and practices of democratic participation. Central to this process are the Communal Councils and Social Missions; initiated by the government not only to provide essential services, but also to help educate and encourage marginalised individuals and communities to organise and mobilise for change. Supporters argue that the “Bolivarian Revolution” is promoting social inclusion, protagonist participation and the redistribution of power. On the other hand many critics see Chavez’s reforms to date as an outmoded, top-down model of social change or as a classical populist project that serves to consolidate authoritarian social structures. Based on extensive fieldwork in Caracas from January 2009 to April 2010, I look beyond the rhetoric to uncover whether or not the ongoing processes of social change have contributed to new forms of political awareness and popular agency and whether or not there has been a transformation of power relations and structures. In doing so I contribute to theoretical debates into how radical change can be achieved in the 21st century, through a focus on grassroots movements, education and their changing relationship with the state.

The growth of state authority in the societies of modern liberal democracies has resulted in a diminished scope for the exercise of individual obligations, duties and rights in private life. The decreasing sphere of individual authority may be partly explained by liberal theorists', and particularly John Locke's contention that individuals cannot provide without the coercion of the state, those public goods such as justice which distinguish the state of nature from civil society. For while man can be benevolent in private life, in public life he cannot be trusted to see beyond his own self-interest. Therefore, Locke and others concluded that public goods, which are produced by many and consumed by all, must be provided by the state. The thesis argues that benevolence or altruism is a theoretically possible if not prevalent motivation in public life. The spread of state authority manifest in the welfare state, reduces the opportunities and atrophies the willingness of individuals to behave altruistically. Moreover, different kinds of situations impose constraints upon the choice of an altruistic course of action. In a formal analysis of simple variable sum noncooperative games of the 2 x 2 order, altruism is shown to be a choice alternative in only a minority of games. But where altruism is not constrained, it is a demonstrable pressure on subjects' choices in two experiments. The subjects in the two experiments were required to choose between the two alternatives of a 2 x 2 game where decision pressures were defined over the payoff values of the matrix. The decision pressures represented in the games were benevolence, Pareto optimality, collective rationality, competition, and individual gains maximization. While the pressures of individual maximization and competition were revealed as the strongest by a multiple regression analysis, benevolence was shown to have a surprisingly strong influence upon the subjects' decisions. The finding supports the contention that individuals may be capable even in highly competitive albeit abstract situations, of sufficient benevolence to provide some of the public goods now supplied by the state. The findings therefore lend weight to the classical liberal argument for a reduced if not minimal state. / Arts, Faculty of / Political Science, Department of / Graduate

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of parental involvement in the reading program at home, while controlling the effects of teacher instruction and curriculum content within the school reading program. A major difference between this study and others reviewed herein is that comparisons of reading gains were made within class groups for children who were involved in a home reading program and children who were not involved in a home reading program, thus controlIing teacher and school curriculum variables. The study addressed two questions: (1) Would children who regularly read to their parents at home and received coaching demonstrate better achievement on a standardized reading test than children who did not? (2) Can the relationship between intelligence and reading achievement be used to explain the gains in reading achievement which may be registered by children involved in a home reading program? Eight class groups representing grades two to seven and consisting of a total of 190 students were used in the research. The students in each class group were arranged in order of performance using pre-treatment scores from a Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test (1965). Then students in each class group were assigned to either the experimental (home reading) group or the control (non home reading) group, using a method of controlled alternate assignment. The Otis-Lennon Mental Ability Test (1967) was also administered, with parental permission, to the students in the eight class groups so that the results could be used as a covariate measure with post-treatment reading scores obtained from another administration of the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test (1965). Pre-testing of reading ability was carried out in February of 1985. Students were assigned as described above to experimental or control groups and the Otis-Lennon Test of Mental Ability (1967) was administered in September of 1985. Experimental intervention began, with experimental group children reading to parents at home, in October of 1985 and continued until February of 1986. Control group children were involved in math and spelling tasks at home during this period. Post-testing of reading ability was carried out at the end of February 1986. Analyses of data followed. The experimental treatment had made a difference. This was indicated by the following observations: 1. Question one was answered by the fact that the difference in mean T-scores of the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Tests (1965) for the experimental and control groups was greater after the experimental treatment had been applied than before; 2.92 T-scale points difference after treatment compared to 1.27 T-scale points difference before treatment. 2. Question one was also addressed by the analysis of covariance which was conducted using Gates MacGinitie and Otis-Lennon test scores to answer question two of this research. An examination of tables 4 and 5 wl11 show that a significant difference existed between Gates-MacGinitie scores for the experimental and control groups on the post-test measure which had not existed between the groups on the pre-test measure . (P <0.05) 3. An analysis of covariance was conducted using Gates-MacGinitie and Otis-Lennon test scores. As expected there was a highly significant relationship between reading pre-test/post-test scores and Otis-Lennon scores. (Pearson's r = .6145) Question two was answered in the affirmative by the fact that when the effects of I.Q. were statistically controlled a significant difference existed between post-test experimental and control group reading scores (p < 0.05) which had not existed at the beginning of the study. The results of this study led to the conclusions that involving parents at home in listening to their children read and giving them support and encouragement does make a difference in the student's reading ability. This study supports the conclusion of similar earlier studies that I.Q. differences amongst subjects cannot explain differences in reading achievement gains that result from such a home reading program. Another important conclusion to be drawn from this study is that teacher and curriculum variables within the school cannot be used to explain differences in reading performance gains for experimental group subjects. The results of this study also generated some recommendations for parental involvement in reading programs and some suggestions for further research. Educators who are interested in the teaching of reading may wish to pursue these recommendations and suggestions further. / Education, Faculty of / Language and Literacy Education (LLED), Department of / Graduate

Although the planning and implementation of recent transportation projects have attempted to involve the public at critical stages, the persistence of conflicts between an efficient metropolitan transportation system and the needs of residents of the quiet enjoyment of their communities suggests the need to study and evaluate the effectiveness of participatory planning. This thesis explores the role of citizen participation in urban transportation planning and proposes an evaluation framework which is tested through its application to two recent transportation projects. This framework includes nine requisites for effective citizen participation which were drawn from the literature and the review of other related transportation case studies. These requisites relate to: •Objectives Defined •Good Timing •Effective Communications •Accessibility to the Process •Government Responsiveness •Community Representation •Commitment •Credibility •Flexibility By drawing on the experiences and perceptions of key participants of each case, the thesis assessed the effectiveness of each program. An evaluation matrix which is also based on these requisites is also proposed as a planning tool. The framework is tested through its application to the Cassiar Street Connector case in Vancouver and the Kensington Avenue Overpass project in Burnaby. Selected participants covering the local community, and appointed and elected municipal and provincial officials who were involved in each case were interviewed. Through their perceptions and insights, the framework was used to assess the effectiveness of the citizen participation component of the case. Results suggest that the framework can be considered a positive step towards a more general framework and towards a general improvement in the field of evaluation. While not a conclusive or exhaustive list of requisites, the framework does offer the advantage of including those requisites which, according to both the literature and the interviewees, are fundamental to participatory planning. The proposed matrix should be considered as an effective planning tool which allows for evaluation and monitoring complete participation programs as well as focussing on a specific requisite. Furthermore, it can be used as both an interim and final report card on a citizen participation program. The matrix also lends itself to a spreadsheet application. The thesis suggests the importance of a well defined organizational structure for citizen participation such as an advisory body or supervisory committee. These structures appear to offer advantages in providing a forum for the major participants, including the affected communities, to participate effectively in the planning process. Furthermore, the thesis recommends that the Provincial Ministry of Transportation and Highways' transportation planning efforts would benefit from a strong public consultation function, to complement its engineering and technical mandates. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

The object of this dissertation is to argue a case for industrial democracy as a corollary to political democracy; to examine the historical development towards worker participation in the management of industry as conceived by the British Labour Movement, and to assess the capabilities and limitations of these achievements. Chapter One provides an initial theoretical discussion on the problem of what industrial democracy may be taken to mean by examining the views of various theorists on the topic. The chapter also offers a set of defining characteristics of industrial democracy, in particular the separation of ownership from control and the sole right to participate in the control of industry as being derived from the function of labour. Chapter Two charts the ascendancy of British Trade Unionism and the development of collective bargaining as the single mechanism of worker representation to the exclusion of strategies for industrial democracy. The tentative demands for some form of industrial democracy from the 1960's are explained in terms of worsening economic conditions, Britain's forthcoming entry into the E.E.C, and a: radicalization of the Labour Movement. These factors, it is argued, provided the main stimulus for the Bullock inquiry on industrial democracy. Chapter Three deals in some detail with the Royal Commission on Industrial Democracy, 1977. The main proposals put before the Committee are outlined together with the supporting evidence, and discussion is given to the Committee's rationale behind the proposals it eventually recommended. Reaction to the publication is discussed with regard to the Labour Government, the Confederation of British Industry, the Trade Union Movement, the media and academics. Chapter Four is concerned with the weaknesses of the Bullock Report and with the limitations on any future development of industrial democracy in Britain. Two "formative" Labour Governments (1929-31 and 1945-51) received particular attention and their inevitable failure is explained through a critical focus on Fabian ideology. It is argued that Fabianism has prevented a coherent and committed Labour Party policy on industrial democracy in the past and will continue to act against any possibility of future legislation on the subject. Similar treatment is given to the nature of trade unions whose insistence on the preservation of collective bargaining also works against the development of a unified labour demand for full industrial democracy. The final concluding chapter offers some analysis of moves towards workers' control in other countries. It concludes, however, that while Fabianism and collective bargaining remain sacred cows of the British Labour Movement the potentiality for real industrial democracy in Britain remains weak. / Arts, Faculty of / Political Science, Department of / Graduate

This research study examined African American farmer participation in Virginia Cooperative Extension as a step toward fully understanding the role participation plays in supporting African American farmers as legitimate learners within the Cooperative Extension system.  This study, therefore, focused on exploring participation in African American farmer programs through the single case of Virginia Cooperative Extension\'s Small Farm Outreach and Technical Assistance Program.  This program, which is housed at Virginia State University, aims to support minority farmers who have limited access to benefits from USDA programs.  Historically, limited resource farmers have been challenged to gain full access to programs offered by Cooperative Extension. Using a qualitative case study design, individual interviews were conducted with African American farmers, extension specialists, small farm agents, and the program administrators.  Two focus groups were conducted with the Small Farm Program agents and another with African American farmers that participated in the program.  A review of the findings indicated that the Small Farm Outreach and Technical Assistance at Virginia State University provide various educational opportunities to African American farmers. The program provides one-on-one technical assistance, distribution of information, USDA loan application assistance, workshops and conferences, and networking.  Participants stated that agents being "hands on" was a great way to talk and effectively provide assistance to them.  The findings for the study characterized barriers relaying from challenges in the program to communication between program and farmers. Family motivation, technology, and the USDA were other unknown barriers that were revealed in the study. The data suggest improvements for the program; first, the involvement of more farmers in the program planning of educational opportunities at Virginia State University would increase participation. Second, the current evaluation of strategies should be continued as a method of usage.  However, a pre and post survey should be conducted to analyze and discover farmer's usage in modern to traditional communication systems. Third, providing additional technological advancement training to agents, specialists, and director to be more advance in the new age, and lastly at conferences and/or workshops, construct more engaging informative discussions on adult learning and farm family motivation factors. / Master of Science in Life Sciences

Includes bibliographies. / West Coast Renosterveld, once prevalent on the south-western Cape lowlands of the floristically rich Cape Floral Kingdom, is now South Africa's scarcest vegetation type. Delimitation and measurement of the 55 "island-remnants", scattered amongst agricultural lands indicated that only 3% of the original vegetation remains. Measured soil quality, gradient and rainfall (critical agricultural criteria) were used to derive agricultural 'threat' indices (probability of agricultural clearance) for each remnant. The indices agreed well with observed trends in the recent clearance of remnants not deliberately conserved by landowners. This new approach has potential for determining which remaining natural sites most urgently need preservation. It was demonstrated that agro-technical innovation poses a long-term threat to even the low agricultural 'threat' rated renosterveld. Pasturage, invariably practised in renosterveld, was assessed by comparing "grazed" with "ungrazed" plant species covers. Within the test site, heavy grazing increased Asteraceae and Iridaceae, decreased Poaceae and Rutaceae, and eradicated Proteaceae. These changes may reflect local trends associated with modern grazing regimes. Total plant diversity and cover were not found to be affected. Therefore, controlled pasturage reflects a relatively minor threat to the extinction of floristic elements. Private landowners are found to control the destiny of 80% of West Coast Renosterveld. The conservation attitudes and behaviour of a random sample of these critical decision-makers were analysed. A new approach was devised to assess 32 subjective, bias-prone "intangible" variables. This required additional assessors to provide independent, non-parametric ratings of the author's tape-recorded interviews with the landowners. Results were pooled and "inter-assessor" measurement error was estimated. Altogether 52 variables, including a further 20 "tangible" variables, were rated under categories: 'Demographic', 'Psycho-Social, 'Land Use' and 'Conservation Strategy'. A correlation matrix portrays inter-relationships between variables and their correlations with landowner "Conservation Behaviour". Landowners' knowledge of biota, rapport with interviewer, education, affluence, bilingualism, and parents' education all correlated positively with conservation. Linear equation models were derived (using Best Subsets Statistical Programme) to predict 'Conservation Behaviour'. Although most conservation related variables are "fixed" (e.g. it is not possible to change parents' education), the understanding of these background factors (not previously applied to conservation of natural ecosystems) enables choice of the most appropriate strategy to persuade landowners to conserve. Different groupings of landowners having similar ratings of key variables have similar needs and constraints to be considered vis a vis improving their "Conservation Behaviour".

This report analyses the NHES: 2005 data to present the state of American education in reference to “adult” participation in education. Psychosocial interaction theory is applied to the social event of attaining adulthood to analyze and report the propensity of American adults to participate in non-compulsory adult education. The review of the literature of perceptual demographic variables of adult attainment: age, prior education, subordinate responsibility, child-age dependent care, marital status, job stability, and home ownership. The analysis compares the data of participants and non-participants of non-compulsory adult education using binomial logistic regression analysis with tests, for a 95% confidence level and .05 significance. Included is a discussion of how appropriately aligned development opportunities and experiences may further increase education effectiveness and performance outcomes.

Since the second half of the 20th century, public participation in local governance has been widely recognized and promoted by planning theorists and practitioners. Nevertheless, in practice, public participation has faced multiple criticisms, such as a disconnect between process and outcome, low levels of substantive representation for participating community groups, and rigidity in participatory methods. These three criticisms raise the question as to how effective public participatory programs are for multicultural cities, such as New York City, with their increasing numbers of ethnic residents. The goal of this three-article dissertation is to evaluate the current official participatory process in New York City while focusing on effectiveness, representativeness, and inclusiveness, that is, the three aspects of the process receiving the most criticism. Using path analysis, the first article compares and contrasts the effects of Community Board recommendations with those of the recommendations and reviews of other key representatives during the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure and neighborhood characteristics. The results indicate that, although Community Board recommendations have greater direct and indirect effects than those of the borough president, the second model, which incorporates neighborhood variables, reveals that increases in the socio-economic factor and decreases in the immigrant concentration factor are positively associated with changes in decisions within the procedure. Moreover, the second article observed the level of substantive representation in terms of Community Boards using the annual Statement of Needs and survey of residents. The research finds that, Community Board opinions exhibit a high correspondence with the opinions of residents on the need of affordable housing but that the opinions of residents and Community Boards diverged in other topics. Comparatively, Community Boards tend to choose topics that are related to developmental policies as the most pressing issues, while residents find topics relevant to redistributive policies as problematic. The research also reveals that the opinions of ethnic residents are represented less well than those of their non-ethnic neighbors. Lastly, the third article searches for the equity necessary to bring forth inclusive planning processes using interviews with leaders of Community Boards and community-based organizations. The research observes the choices that planners make and finds practical limitations, including legitimacy challenges, linguistic barriers, and definitions of culture. In conclusion, the article proposes that equity comes in multiple forms, including structured collaboration and communication among relevant participants and stakeholders, diverse participation methods for multiple cultures and publics, support from the City, and assistance from planning scholars. Although all three articles point out existing ethnic disparities, the dissertation concludes that an effective, representative, and inclusive participatory process is required for both ethnic and non-ethnic residents in multiethnic, multicultural New York City.