Thesis (M.A.)--Carleton University, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 108-114). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Thesis (M.A.)--Carleton University, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Cornell University, 1995. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 210-220).

Inaugural lecture delivered at Rhodes University / Rhodes University Libraries (Digitisation)

The counseling process and relationship are inherently interconnected, and each person involved, or observing, has a unique perspective on what is significant. Thus, it is important for researchers to examine this process holistically for a more complete understanding of the counseling process and relationship. The purpose of this study was to describe the experiences of counselors-in-training (CITs) and clients in the counseling process with respect to what was meaningful, and the strength of the therapeutic relationship using a mixed methods approach. The following four research questions were a guide for this study: (a) What do CITs and clients experience as most meaningful in counseling? (b) What are the similarities and differences of what CITs and clients experience as meaningful in counseling? (c) How does the strength of the therapeutic relationship correspond to the depth of what CITs and clients experience as meaningful in counseling? (d) What are the similarities and differences of an observer's perspective and the experiences of the CIT and client of what is meaningful in counseling? These questions were explored through qualitative phenomenological interviews to capture the experiences of CITs and clients in a given counseling session, a quantitative instrument to measure the therapeutic relationship, and participant observation to gain an observer's perspective of the counseling session. Data analysis of the interviews revealed several themes of meaningful experiences for clients, CITs, and observer, with many similarities and some differences. Themes for clients were as follows: Counseling Relationship, Goals, Insight, Immediacy, Emotion, and Reflections on Counseling. Themes for CITs were: Counseling Relationship, Goals, Insight, Immediacy, Emotion, Nonverbals, Transference and Counter Transference, and CIT Negotiating the Counseling Process and their Role. Finally, observer themes were: Depth of Congruence, Goals, Insight, Immediacy, Nonverbals and Intuition, and Rescuing. There seems to be a slight connection between the strength of the therapeutic relationship and depth of meaningful experiences. More often than not, the stronger the therapeutic relationship, the greater depth of meaningful experiences of participants, however, these results are inconclusive. Findings from this research have implications for CITs, counselors, and counselor educators and supervisors. / Ph. D.

no abstract available / Practical Theology / (M.Th.(Pastoral Therapy)

No description available.

In Scotland, the interest and investment in the professional development of teachers is currently focused on the ongoing development and implementation of its new curriculum: Curriculum for Excellence. To cope with ever-evolving curricular and pedagogical demands and to be able to effectively identify and meet the needs of the students they teach, teachers need to become, and be, teachers-as-learners. Accordingly, teachers and those with responsibility for defining and supporting teachers’ development are likely to have a vested interest in identifying and understanding what might best facilitate teachers’ learning. Engaging with this agenda, the purpose of this study is to promote and inform dialogue within and between all those in the educational community who have responsibility for teachers’ continuing professional development (CPD), so that some of the complexity involved in becoming and being teachers-as-learners might be recognised and better understood. With the aim to explore what we can learn from teachers’ own accounts of becoming and being teachers-as-learners in Scotland today, this co-operative enquiry was conducted with nine Chartered Teachers (CT), six of whom were fully qualified CTs and three of whom were still en route to achieving full CT status. To meet the Scottish Standard for Chartered Teacher, teachers need to demonstrate that they are teachers-as-learners. Enquiring with these teachers was, therefore, seen as particularly apposite to this study’s chief aim. Attending to the personal, professional and political influences they perceived as significant, these teachers shared their views, when they looked inwards to their own feelings, reactions and dispositions; outwards, to the professional and political environments with which they interact and backwards and forwards, over time. This is the first study to carry out an inquiry with Chartered Teachers in a way that allowed them to explore this complexity, because it sought to explore all four dimensions, i.e. inward, outwards, backwards and forwards (Clandinin and Connelly, 2000:50) of their storied accounts. Storied accounts of the teachers’ learning journeys were co-created during a loosely structured, dyadic, in-depth interview. Integral to this process, was discussion about the artefact(s) that eight, of the nine, participants had created for this study, to represent, reflect upon and record aspects of their journeying. Thematic narrative analysis has illuminated the complexity and particularity of each teacher’s learning journey as well as some important commonalities across them. This thesis further explores the teachers’ accounts of their experiences, in depth, and the key issues these accounts raise. Through examination of individual accounts, we learn, for example, that the teacher’s own disposition to professional learning really matters but, importantly, that it does not necessarily define the outcome. Sometimes supported and sometimes inhibited by the professional and political contexts in which they work, these teachers, motivated by a powerful sense of moral purpose, report that they have made significant and apparently, sustainable changes to their thinking and practice. Postgraduate CT study proved crucial to their journeying because, for the first time since qualifying, they had been encouraged and supported to make sense of why and to what extent, their day-to-day practices would, or would not, meet the needs of their students. It is this understanding why that appears to have made the greatest difference to their practice and to the reconstruction of their professional identities. It emerged as one of the most significant influences to their becoming and being teachers-as-learners. To do so, however, the teachers felt they have had to ‘dare to be different’. Their ability, willingness and commitment to talk about, promote and evaluate learning, in critically informed ways has meant they have often felt isolated. Despite this, the perceived benefits of being a teacher-as-learner were seen to more than compensate for what might be viewed as negative experiences. The findings suggest significant implications for the provision of, and teachers’ participation in, CPD in Scotland. They indicate the need to establish a much clearer and more critically informed focus on developing teachers’ knowledge and understanding of why they do what they do to promote learning and to develop their professional enquiry skills and understandings. If this is to happen, it will necessitate systemic change and support, involving, individual teachers, teachers as collectives within school cultures, CPD facilitators/providers and policy makers at all levels.

Doctor Educationis / Formal microfinance institutions have been an important tool in the fight against poverty in developing countries, but their reach for rural people and urban slum poor are limited. Following this, Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs) are established as an alternative, informal mechanism for saving and borrowing that do not require external capital or ongoing financial or administrative support from a founding organization or government bodies. Thus, this study aimed to assess the effects of women participation in VSLA on poverty reduction with a case study in Hawassa city, Ethiopia. Using a mixed qualitative and quantitative research methodology, the study tried to focus on examining the effects of VSLAs contribution to economic and social wellbeing of households, and decision makings, and women participation in community activities. The study used 254 samples (127 VSLA participants, and 127 non-participants) and collected data using questionnaire and focus group discussion. The study used propensity score matching (PSM) to estimate the impact of women participation in VSLA on average monthly household income, and the result indicated the average effect of women participation in VSLA on average monthly household income of participant women is positive and significant at 5% significant level, ranging from 169.63 Birr/month (nearest neighbor matching) to 141.55 Birr/month (Kernel matching), on average. Besides, comparison between participants and non-participants using hypothesis testing shows that women participation in VSLA has a significant positive association with improvements in household diet, health, children’s education, and women’s involvement in household decisions. However, although hypothesized, no significant association is found in relation to women participation in community activities. Findings from the focus group discussions are also consistent with the results from the PSM and hypothesis testing. Following the findings, the study recommends government and nongovernmental organizations to provide regular, timely and need based capacity building trainings for VSLA participants; Link VSLA participants with formal microfinance institutions; conduct regular monitoring and follow ups by either the city or sub-cities Women Children Affairs Department/offices or concerned government body; different concerned stakeholders in the city including government, nongovernmental organizations, microfinance institutions and others need to work in coordinated manner to solve the recurrent challenges of VSLA participants in Hawassa city; and finally government and/or nongovernmental organizations need to take best practices and lessons from existing VSLAs and expand the VSLA initiative to address more impoverished women in the city.

This thesis explores the notion of social enterprise in Greece. In particular it investigates how non-profits incorporate social enterprise in an environment facing a severe financial and social crisis. The study is done through a participatory and reflective research approach that allows the emergence of enriched results. The review of the existing literature in this area revealed that despite the lack of a universal definition, the concept of social enterprise has generally been viewed positively and has raised the expectations for social and economic transformation. Policy makers expect social enterprises to become a lever out of the crisis of reducing state funding and contribute to financial and social change. Until recently, the common assumption was that social enterprises emerge bottom-up and constitute the most ethical option of social welfare services provision after the failure of the state and the markets to provide for society. Hence, non-profits were encouraged to adopt entrepreneurial techniques to support their social purpose as a way out of the financial problems they are facing. The great interest on the effect of 'social enterprise' on the traditional non-profit sector comes from the peculiarity of the Greek case with the top-down enforcement of the concept coupled with a history of corruption in civil society. Even though researchers following a more critical stance towards social enterprises challenge the underlying assumptions of this new concept and raise awareness about its negative impacts, in Greece the 'social economy' and 'social enterprise' concepts are used as 'silver bullets' by policy makers. Wishing to follow this critical tradition, I proceeded with an in-depth case study drawing upon participant observation and reflective methods. In locating my research in an active non-profit organisation in Athens, I intended that my findings could be extended to similar organisations. This thesis found that in Greece, the top-down implementation of the concept allowed non-profits to incidentally adopt this rhetoric in order to ensure their long-term survival and then in turn influence the way society makes sense of social enterprises. The institutional environment further hinders the growth of the sector as it directs the social enterprises and non-profits towards public procurement making and any other alternative seems impossible. Lastly, based on the above findings, I conclude that social economy despite its infancy faces the risk of corruption. Hence, I suggest that policy makers' support, rather than guide, social enterprises to allow them to achieve their full potential. Future research and practice need to focus on raising awareness for the social economy and assessing social impact as a way to improve transparency and gain the trust of society.