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No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

Urban School Boards and City Councils in British Columbia worked in tandem with provincial officials in Victoria to expand the state school system in the 1890s. In discharging their responsibilities, the Boards functioned with considerable independence. They built and maintained schools, appointed and ranked teachers, and organized students. During the course of the decade, City Councils acquired the responsibility for school finance. Nineteenth-century British Columbia education history, written from a centralist perspective, has articulated the idea of a dominant centre and subordinate localities, but this interpretation is not sufficient to explain the development of public schooling in Nanaimo hi the 1890s. The centralist interpretation does not allow for the real historical complexity of the school system. Neither does it accommodate the possibility of successful local resistance to central initiatives, nor the extent to which public schooling was produced locally. It is important, then, to examine what kind of context Nanaimo constituted for state schooling in the last years of the century. This study concludes that civic leaders and significant interest groups in the community believed schooling played an important boundary making role in forging civic, racial, gender, and occupational identities. In carrying out their interlocking responsibilities for providing physical space and organizing teachers and students, the Nanaimo School Trustees created opportunities for local girls and, within limits, for women. The Trustees limited opportunities for local men, and went outside the community for men who had the professional credentials which were increasingly desirable in the late-nineteenth century. Both the traditions of self-help and the imperatives of corporate capitalism intersected in school production in late-nineteenth century Nanaimo. The focus on securing identities through the differentiating processes of boundaries and hierarchies which was evident in Nanaimo was typical of a wider colonial discourse at the end of the nineteenth century.

This research study deals with educators' experiences and daily encounters within two diverse school settings. Educators from both schools are from diverse religious, racial and cultural backgrounds. The study focuses on issues of social groups based on religious affiliations and was guided by theories of oppression and social justice. The following questions were the focus of the study: 1. What have been the experiences of non-Christian educators in a predominantly Christian school around religion? 2. What caused these experiences to be constructed in a way they did? 3. To what extent have the experiences of non-Christians at the school been similar to earlier experiences in relationship to religion in their lives? 4. To what extent are the experiences of non-Christians evidence for describing their situation as one of 'religious oppression'? A qualitative approach was used. Semi-structured interviews were conducted at one school and questionnaires were completed at the second school, as the researcher was unable to interview educators because of time constraints. The results of the research indicated that educator experiences differed from one school to the next. Although it is not possible to make a judgement about religious oppression based on such limited contexts, there is significant evidence of social exclusion based on religion at the one school. At times these issues are caught up in racial and gender issues, or issues between non-Christian religions. However, at the second school educators experienced a high degree of inclusion. The research raises questions about the ways in which schools in South Africa are addressing the constitutional and policy requirements concerning the acceptance of religious diversity. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2006.

The Post-Provisioning Model (PPM) is a Resource Allocation Model (RAM) used by the Department of Education to optimize the distribution of available educator resources to public schools. The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education adopted the PPM to distribute the total available posts to all public schools in an equitable, transparent and resource-efficient manner. The PPM is a formula-driven model that primarily allocates educators, as human capital, to public schools based on learner enrolment numbers. In addition to allocating teaching staff, the PPM allocates the School Management Team (SMT) to each school. The outcome of the PPM formula is called the Post-Provisioning Norm (PPN). The implementation of the PPM has presented various challenges in the management of public schools. The primary aims of this study were to investigate any possible weaknesses of the PPM and to critically evaluate and explore school managers’ views of the PPM in the management of public schools. For the purposes of this study a complex probability sampling procedure was used. The participants were chosen from the principals within KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education in iLembe District. A sample size of 217 principals participated in the survey, which was drawn from the population of 420 school principals. The literature review undertaken in chapter 2 and the field research conducted in chapter 4 revealed that there is a gap between the ideals of the PPM and its implementation. It was found that there was a poor understanding of the technical aspects of the PPM formula among principals of public schools. There is evidence of equitable quantitative distribution of posts through the PPM. However, it was discovered that the PPM does not take into account the distribution of qualified educators. Hence, some of the allocated posts in public schools were often filled by under-qualified or non-qualified staff. The appointment of qualified educators was skewed. Further findings of this study revealed, amongst others, the inability of the PPM to provide for and promote the needs of a diverse curriculum in rural areas, and the inability to factor in and balance for the variable that some public schools raise millions of rands in school fees, which enables the advantaged schools to employ additional educators. The primary recommendations of this study are that principals be trained, on an annual basis, on the workings of the PPM and that the South African schools Act No.84 of 1996 must be amended to grant authority to the Head of Department of the province to appoint and deploy qualified educators to public schools. / Thesis (MBA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2012.

ABSTRACT ROSS CARTER Traffic-related Pollution Exposure Assessment of Fulton County and Atlanta Public Schools (K-12) in Proximity to Major Highways and Expressways Background: A number of studies have linked traffic-related pollutant exposures to asthma in children. Health conditions such as asthma can contribute to school absenteeism and missed learning opportunities as well as place a major burden on health resources. Although children spend a significant amount of time in school, few states have adopted school siting policies that prevent the placement of schools near major highways. Furthermore, schools often fail to take appropriate steps (e.g. adequate HVAC and air filters) to address indoor air quality concerns for students. The study was designed to identify the number of schools and the number of children in Fulton County and Atlanta Public Schools that attend schools in proximity to major highways and expressways where they are likely to have greater exposure to traffic pollution. The results of this study can be used to build an evidence base for stricter school siting guidelines, for planning safe routes to school, and for mitigation strategies to limit pollutant exposures for children who attend high-risk schools. Methods: Highway, expressway, county, and school shapefiles were overlaid using ArcMap in ArcGIS version 10.1 (ERSI, USA). A circular buffer with radius 0.5 mile (~ 800 m) was created for each school. ArcMap geospatial tools were used to identify major highways and expressways with these buffers. Results: A total of 119 of the 225 schools in Fulton County and Atlanta Public school districts were identified as being located within 0.5 miles of a major highway or expressway. Of the 119 schools meeting the intersection criteria, 72.2% (86 of 119 schools) were designated Title I. Conclusion: Approximately half of schools were located within 0.5 miles of a major highway or expressway. This may result in elevated levels of traffic-related air pollution on the school campuses and potential increased exposure for students. Proper air filter selection, HVAC maintenance, and air quality programs as well as land use, planning, and assessment measures are recommended for these schools to help mitigate exposures.

In my critical discourse analysis of The Intown Academy's (TIA) various documents and media—including the school's charter petition, charter, Parent-Student Handbook, and website—I articulate the school's subjectifying narratives and analyze how these narratives function to (re)produce particular subjects according to tropes of threat/crisis, opportunity, corporate/non-profit benevolence, and personal responsibility. Identifying these subjects, I analyze how they are effected/affected by the practice of education at TIA. To this end, I examine the various practices of school discipline codified in the Parent and Student Contracts in TIA's 2012-2013 Parent Student Handbook, including mandates for the wearing of school uniforms, volunteer labor, and reorientations of the family and the private space of the home. I conclude that TIA discursively produces indebted subjects whose educational and economic survival depends on the reorientation of their lives in service to the school.

There is no abstract available for this dissertation.