The study was to explore the degree of involvement of teacher union in the policy decision ¡Ðmaking process of the education authorities at the central and local level, to analyze the strategies the unions adopted during the participation, and to identify the viewpoints of these involvement from the related people, including policy decision-makers, legislators, and union leaders. Then, a theoretical model of teacher union¡¦s involvement in the decision-making process was testified against the cases in Taiwan. Finally, through the consultation with the experiences of UK and USA, an ideal operational model would be proposed for teacher unions around the island. To achieve the above aims, the researcher adopted documentary analyses and questionnaire survey as the major research methods. The questionnaire was developed by the researcher based upon the literature review and documentary analyses. Surveyed sample of the central level included standing members and executive staff of the National Teacher Union(NTU), congressmen belonging to the Education and Culture committee of the country¡¦s Congress, employees of the Ministry of Education. Surveyed sample of local level included standing board members and executive staff of eight local teacher unions, county councilors belonging to the county council¡¦s education section, local PTA members, and employees of local education authorities. The following 13 findings have been concluded: 1. Staff of the NTU cited the budgeting and management of education finance and the enactment of educational personnel regulations the most-often involved topic by the staff. 2. The perception of NTU¡¦s staff regarding the organization¡¦s involvement was ¡§high level of involvement, low degree of satisfaction,¡¨ which could lead to the more radical approach by NTU while dealing with the education authority in the future. 3. A more radical embarrassmen approach and a mild information approach were considered suitable measures by the NTU¡¦s staff while negotiating with the central education authority. 4. Much more policy makers than NTU¡¦s staff considered the NTU¡¦s role in the policy making process active. 5. All sample agreed that NTU use the information approach to influence the policy making most frequently. 6. Either central or local level, all sample regarded information approach and the alliance approach the two most appropriate measures. 7. All local sample considered the involvement of local teacher union was restricted to those sphere relating to the teacher¡¦s rights and privileges. 8. Local teacher union staff expressed ¡§low level of involvement, low degree of satisfaction¡¨ of their participation in the local policy decision-making process. 9. Compared with NTU, local teacher union showed limited use of different approaches of lobbying. 10. Alliance approach and information approach were considered by all sample the most used measures by the local teacher unions. 11. Local teacher union staff considered information approach the most appropriate measure in lobbying the policy makers, nevertheless, they showed willingness to utilize other approaches. 12. There were significant difference between the perceptions of PTA and local union staff concerning the teacher union¡¦s involvement in the policy making process. 13. County councilors¡¦ needs for educational information was extremely high, as a result, they showed support for the local teacher union¡¦s use of information approach in lobbying. Finally, 12 suggestions were provided to teacher unions at both central and local level as well as the education authorities by the researcher.

As Ontario is home to more than half of Canada’s immigrants (Statistics Canada, 2006), Ontario’s school enrolment is very diverse. Levin (2008) provided some statistics: 27 percent of the population of Ontario was born outside of Canada; 20 percent are visible minorities. Toronto, with approximately 40 percent of the province’s population, is one the most diverse urban areas in the world, and receives approximately 125,000 new immigrants each year from dozens of different countries. Accordingly, as the number of immigrant families in Toronto increases, it is increasingly important that teachers and administrators understand how immigrant parents want to be involved in their children’s education, and how to best support these parents’ needs and the needs of their children. The purpose of this case study was to examine the involvement of immigrant parents in one classroom. Specifically I examine: (a) how one school involved immigrant parents in their children’s education; (b) how immigrant parents perceive they have been involved; and (c) how immigrant parents want to be involved in their children’s education. This constructivist case study examined immigrant parent involvement from the perceptions of different stakeholders--the vice-principal, teacher and immigrant parents from the one teacher’s class. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the vice-principal and one teacher of one model middle school in the Toronto District School Board to elicit information about their school and their experiences related to immigrant parent involvement. In addition, a parent questionnaire was used to explore parents’ perceptions. The parent questionnaire was distributed to the one teacher’s class of parents (all but one who were immigrants). The data analysis revealed five core themes related to immigrant parent involvement. The educators suggested that parents lack the knowledge of how the Ontario education system functions, while the immigrant parents said that they were unaware of what is being asked of them or offered to them. No communications sent home to the parents were translated. Suggestions for future research and recommendations are offered to the school and school board in order to provide additional support to immigrant parents. / Thesis (Master, Education) -- Queen's University, 2012-05-08 21:52:46.287

In today’s educational climate highly focused on accountability, often measured through high stakes testing and graduation rates, it is critical that school leaders return to a focus on the initial aim of public education and ensure all students are afforded a quality education until graduation. Unfortunately, over 25,000 school-aged children in Florida are arrested for a felony offense annually, which is just one of many paths leading to an interruption in their learning and often entrance to the school-to-prison pipeline. Additionally, these students are often not allowed to return or have their return to traditional school settings postponed by being placed at alternative school settings. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenology study was to describe the K-12 educational experience as perceived by males ages 15-21 who had an interruption in their education while attending a public school in Florida. The perceptions of the K-12 educational experiences were generally defined as what each participant reported as his personal experience while attending a K-12 public educational setting. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2020. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

As set in the Indonesian context of changing policies regarding the language of instruction in a particular stream of public schools, known as the International Standard Schools (ISSs), the study reported in this thesis explored the experiences of Science and Mathematics teachers regarding the introduction, implementation, and reversal of the use of English as the medium of instruction (EMI). Through this study, I aimed to develop insights with regard to teachers' experiences of educational language policy change and reversal. A qualitative, narrative-based approach to the study was adopted. I sought to attend to the meanings that seven Science and Mathematics teachers attributed - through their narration with me - to their experiences of the language of instruction policy change and reversal. A broader context for their meaning-making narratives was gained from the narrativised experiences of one curriculum leader and one teacher trainer. The narrations took place in the participants' preferred language of Bahasa Indonesia with a mixture of some vernacular languages, and, having restoried their narrations into reader friendly texts in the original language(s), I then analysed them from holistic and categorical content perspectives. Next, as informed by this analysis and my reflexively-surfaced understandings of this context, I explored the influences that may have shaped the teachers' experiences. This study identified main patterns in the teacher experiences of change, namely: i) a willingness to embrace change - struggle - fulfilment - disappointment; ii) a willingness to embrace change - excitement - fulfilment - disappointment; and iii) a resistance to change- struggle - fulfilment - relief. There were both internal and external shaping influences on these patterns. Such internal influences include teachers': i) language confidence; ii) perceptions of EMI, and iii) stage of career. These internal influences may have shaped teachers' willingness either to make the most of their involvement in the programme or to simply be part of the programme without many expectations. Possible external shaping influences include: i) societal perceptions of EMI; ii) support from school and government; iii) opportunities to interact with other teachers; and iv) support from colleagues. These external influences seemed to have created an environment which either facilitated or hindered the teachers' performance as EMI teachers and their continuing development for and through the EMI programme. My study also identified three stages of experiences of reversal, i.e.: Stage One - turbulence, intense-emotions, and feelings of nostalgia; Stage Two - readjustments; and Stage Three - acceptance and adaptation. The teachers who responded negatively towards the reversal tended to experience all the three stages. Meanwile, those who were relieved by the reversal directly moved to Stage Three: acceptance and adaptation, without experiencing Stage One and Stage Two. My study has implications for how educational language policy change and reversal may be addressed in countries with a complex linguistic landscape, e.g. Indonesia. It also offers some suggestions for policy makers and teacher educators regarding teachers' experiences and needs when potentially reversing existing or introducing a new educational language policy.

Inclusive education was introduced into the Malaysian school system as a pilot scheme in 1994, involving a small number of elementary schools throughout the country. This study examines teachers' and principals' conceptions of inclusive education, their understanding of the Inclusive Education Policy and their attitudes towards the pilot implementation of inclusive education. Using individual interviews and surveys, the researcher explored the views of regular and special education teachers from pilot and non-pilot elementary schools. A total of 36 special and regular classroom teachers and six principals from six geographically representative pilot schools and 18 traditional classroom teachers from six matching non-pilot schools participated in this study. Data examination showed that differences existed in the teachers' conceptions of inclusive education. Seven hierarchically ordered conceptions of inclusive education were identified. They ranged from the provision of educational opportunities in the traditional classroom for all students regardless of disability to the provision of enrichment for students with special abilities. Teachers were found to have limited understanding of the educational policies related to inclusive education. Many principals and teachers, nevertheless, favoured inclusive education but the teachers were concerned about an increase in workload as a result of the inclusion of children with special needs in their classes. Class size was also seen as a barrier to implementing inclusive education. It was concluded that principals and teachers were concerned about the inadequate professional preparation of teachers for inclusive education and the difficulties of coping with children with special needs when placed in the traditional classroom settings. These findings have serious educational implications and support the need for comprehensive inservice training programmes that are designed to meet the needs of teachers during pre-service programmes and in in-service training. The researcher also gave some attention to the process of change as it occurred during the pilot implementation of inclusive education while her discussion of theoretical issues, related to the implementation, led to the development of an explanatory model to assist understanding of an approach to the further implementation of inclusive education in Malaysia.

No description available.

The education of immigrant children is a persistent concern in many western countries. Taiwan has begun to face this challenge in the last decade. The immigrants in this context are mostly females from Southeast Asia and mainland China, on the basis of marriage to a Taiwanese resident. Since Taiwanese society holds a prejudice against them, the children born to foreign mothers are believed to have a negative impact on the quality of the Taiwanese population and to create particular educational problems. The study employs an interpretive approach combining components of international comparison and policy research. Within this qualitative methodology, mixed methods were used to collect data and gain multiple understandings of the phenomenon in Taiwan. These methods of document analysis, semi-structured interviews and participant observation of foreign mothers’ communities, along with a documentary review of the UK experience of educational policy for immigrant children from the 1960s onwards, provide a comparative perspective that has considerable reference value for Taiwan. It was found that the children of immigrant mothers in Taiwan do not appear to underachieve or fall behind, in contrast to the prejudice held by Taiwanese society. The study also explores the characteristics of disadvantage of children born to immigrant mothers. Through the comparative historical review of the UK and Taiwan, the study also found that when people are faced with different cultures, their attitudes appear to move through in a similar process of adjustment which interacts with and responds to policy formulation. In addition, some recommendations for educational policy for children of immigrant mothers in Taiwan are discussed. The study proposes that learning plural mother tongues is a means to improve these children’s self-identity, allowing them to develop bilingual advantages and contribute to the country’s competitiveness.

No description available.

Most departmental policy statements on the education of gifted and talented students recommend their retention, where possible, in mainstream classes in neighbourhood schools. The educational experience in such classes, of 14 students identified as academically gifted by their teachers, was investigated using a case study approach. Their cognitive style was studied by reference to information processing strategies as revealed in WISC-R subtest scores. Interpersonal and communication skills were investigated through classroom observation and structured interviews. The theories of deviance and authority were applied in interpreting this data. Results indicated relationships between students' cognitive style and teachers' identification methods, and between students' cognitive style and their school satisfaction. Sex differences in teacher response and student interaction were also noted.

This project examines the communicative structure of the contemporary rhetoric of crisis and reform narrative dominating public conversation about education, as a post-industrial body of discourse deeply embedded in historical ideals for a mass system of public education. In challenging the crisis-centered narrative, this work seeks to identify historical discourse strands that have shaped thinking and action in the construction of educational policy, legislation, administration and pedagogy. This work evaluates the misalignment in the assumptions which guide the perception that an academic relationship exists between higher education and secondary school which is in contrast to the original purpose for a mass system of public education. In part, this research is a response to discourse that applies responsibility to colleges and universities in the ongoing rhetoric of crisis and reform calls for greater accountability and assessments as a means by which the problems of education may be reversed. It is the position of this research that these systems are not aligned yet increasingly, public discussions about educational failures assume that secondary school is the preparatory ground for the transition to higher learning. / McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts / Communication and Rhetorical Studies / PhD / Dissertation