This study examined 11 programs designed to prevent violence in youth intimate relationships with a focus on programs for male youth currently or recently used in Ontario. The BIAS FREE Framework was used to reveal hierarchies and biases in the program materials and to help formulate solutions to the identified problems. Gender, race, class, geographic location and at risk factors were considered. Most programs maintained and denied gender hierarchies by failing to examine differences and using double standards, mainly due to second person and gender neutral language. Programs for mixed-sex audiences were found to be biased in favour of male, urban audiences. Programs for male youth were biased in favour of urban audiences. Most programs examined contained many useful elements. Recommendations include the need for gender inclusive practices, audience-specific intimate violence prevention program content, particularly for male youth, communication across involved sectors and consistency in related definitions and terminology.

The aim is to empower all students to achieve academic success by overcoming the educational barriers that exist within the school system. This thesis examines what sociological factors are at play that encourages the academic success of Black students. The emphasis will be to identify how other Black students can replicate the success of their high achieving peers. Another theme in this thesis focuses around the idea of success and who it belongs to versus which groups of learners are ignored. Other related themes look at the power of educators to transform the lives of students where schooling is viewed as a family approach offering hope for all stakeholders. Furthermore, the resiliency of Black learners and their ability to rise above racial pressures and adversity is an important theme that addresses the need for policy to change and the implementation of anti-racist strategies.

The heavily privatized and socially stratified schooling system in Uttar Pradesh, India offers low income children limited opportunities for social mobility via education. In that context, this thesis presents the results of interviews with low-income mothers in the city of Varanasi, gathering their perspectives on the relationship between their children’s current schooling and anticipated adult futures. The results indicate that these mothers see education as an essential investment in both their boys’ and girls’ ability to “stand on their own feet” as independent adults. Study participants dream of a life for their children, especially their daughters, which differs dramatically from their own, and pursue this dream through strategizing to secure the highest quality education possible within their means. Alongside their strong commitment to education, mothers are filled with uncertainty about the adult futures their children will face, especially given the current climate of economic, educational and social change in India.

The novel Bifocal, a fictional young adult novel that examines the racist backlash that occurs at a high school after a male Muslim student is arrested on terrorism charges, was published in 2007 and has received wide critical acclaim for its portrayal of issues of racism. Working from an anti-racist framework, this research interviews two teachers who have used the novel in their classrooms, and considers the value and limitations of the book as an anti-racist teaching tool. Through discussions about specific themes in the novel and its overall presentation of racism, I argue that, while Bifocal presents some useful interventions, it also reflects a simplistic and individualistic perspective on racism and how racism can be addressed. I also examine the ways that Bifocal – and young adult literature in general – can be read in order to encourage more critical discussions about systems of racism and privilege.

Reform as a social process is underresearched in the case of Tibet. This study addresses this gap using Social Movement Theory, which sees social change as a complex process involving various Tibetan social groups and external reformers, the Communist Party of China (CPC). This approach was applied by comparing recruitment and mobilization efforts of several key internal and external reform movements in 20th century Tibetan history. Findings include that internal reform failures can be explained by their narrow social and geographic basis and limited mass appeal. Moreover, initial CPC reforms succeeded through recruitment and mobilization across Tibetan regions and social groupings. Subsequent reforms failed due to decreased attention to recruitment and mass mobilization of Tibetans. A major implication of the study is that understanding social reform in today’s Tibet requires a SM Theory approach, which currently is lacking among scholars of the Tibetan question and political representatives of both sides.

Although human capital investment is often proposed as a solution to improve the labour market prospects of individuals who reach adulthood without obtaining a post-secondary credential, little is known about whether skills upgrading actually pays off. Using three national cross-sectional surveys on adult education as well as longitudinal data from the Panel Survey of Income Dynamics (1992-2005), I analyze how returning to school affects the earnings trajectories of men and women who enter the labour force with low levels of initial education. There are two major findings related to the earnings and advancement question. First, although both Canadian and American adults with low levels of initial education are significantly less likely than their more educated counterparts to participate in education and training, when they do participate, they are more likely to report it helped them increase their earnings. Second, these perceived gains are matched by substantial gains in actual earning growth. While the opportunity cost of returning to school is quite high – returnees experience a sharp drop in annual earnings during the years while they are in school – for both women and men, this investment yields a significant increase in earnings in the post schooling period. In addition, I address the question of why – if the earnings gains are so substantial – do so few less educated adults return to school? There are three key findings related to the participation question. First, even after accounting for a rich set of covariates, the effects of family of origin socio-economic status on educational attainment persist over the life course. Second, despite these enduring effects, current family and labour market dynamics matter as well. Consistent with the human capital model, I find evidence that, educationally disadvantaged individuals return to school to improve their labour market prospects. Taken together these results demonstrate that at least for some educationally disadvantaged adults, human capital investment is an effective strategy for labour market advancement. This conclusion challenges the standard ‘cumulative disadvantage’ view of adult education as simply another mechanism that serves to reproduce inequality.

This thesis explores the revolutionary adult education learning dimensions in a Canadian Black anti-racist organization, which continues to be under-represented in the Canadian Adult Education literature on social movement learning. This case study draws on detailed reflection based on my own personal experience as a leader and member of the Black Action Defense Committee (BADC). The analysis demonstrates the limitations to the application of the Gramscian approach to radical adult education in the non-profit sector, I will refer to as the Non-Profit Industrial Complex (NPIC) drawing on recent research by INCITE Women of Colour! (2007). This study fills important gaps in the new fields of studies on the NPIC and its role in the cooptation of dissent, by offering the first Canadian study of a radical Black anti-racist organization currently experiencing this. This study fills an important gap in the social movement and adult education literature related to the legacy of Canadian Black Communism specifically on the Canadian left.

Situated within Toronto's expanding and increasingly segregated educational marketplace, this study examines how parents of students at one elite publicly funded specialized arts high school make meaning of their school choice decision. Utilizing a Neo-Marxist framework, I explore the role that material and symbolic resources play in making this school choice both available and exclusive. I conduct a critical discourse analysis of parent narratives to expose how they mobilize dominant discourses of the arts in order to produce the school as a good choice, and themselves as good parents. This research challenges dominant conceptions of the arts in education by showing how the arts are used to reinforce, obscure, and justify existing social hierarchies in school settings and society at large. This study further serves as an example of how arts education research can move beyond positivist conceptions of the arts.

Situated within Toronto's expanding and increasingly segregated educational marketplace, this study examines how parents of students at one elite publicly funded specialized arts high school make meaning of their school choice decision. Utilizing a Neo-Marxist framework, I explore the role that material and symbolic resources play in making this school choice both available and exclusive. I conduct a critical discourse analysis of parent narratives to expose how they mobilize dominant discourses of the arts in order to produce the school as a good choice, and themselves as good parents. This research challenges dominant conceptions of the arts in education by showing how the arts are used to reinforce, obscure, and justify existing social hierarchies in school settings and society at large. This study further serves as an example of how arts education research can move beyond positivist conceptions of the arts.

Le contexte social actuel est caractérisé par les effets des processus qu’on attribue à la mondialisation tels que la diversité, l’(im)migration et la mobilité. Ces processus dits mondialisés ont un impact sur les individus, les populations et les institutions ; cela influence les idées de l’éducation en général et de façon plus spécifique la mission et le fonctionnement des écoles de la minorité linguistique francophone. Cette étude de cas ethnographique, sociolinguistique et critique, explore les expériences des jeunes issus de l’immigration dans une école de langue française à Toronto (Canada). Les deux principales questions de recherche sont les suivantes : 1) comment les jeunes issus de l’immigration se positionnent-ils par rapport à l’école de langue française en milieu minoritaire ? ; 2) comment l’école de langue française doit-elle se réinventer pour être plus inclusive de sa clientèle qui est de plus en plus diversifiée aux niveaux linguistique, socio-économique et ethnoculturel ? L’argument central avancé soutient que l’école de langue française en situation minoritaire est en décalage entre la vision et le fonctionnement de la langue à l’école et en dehors de l’école. Ce décalage entre l’idéologie et la réalité linguistique crée des inégalités pour certains membres de la clientèle scolaire plus que pour d’autres, et surtout pour les jeunes immigrants. Les thèmes analysés comprennent l’attrait et le choix des écoles de langue française pour les immigrants (chapitre 5), l’accès au bilinguisme dans le sens canadien (à savoir avec l’anglais) chez les élèves immigrants (chapitre 6) et le rôle de la langue dans les activités des jeunes (chapitre 7). Les résultats de la recherche indiquent que l’accès au bilinguisme en milieu scolaire francophone n’est pas équitable pour tous, que les programmes scolaires ne sont pas nécessairement adaptés aux besoins et aux attentes de la clientèle issue de l’immigration et que les jeunes immigrants rencontrent des obstacles importants à l’école et dans leurs parcours postsecondaires à cause du manque de capital, notamment de capital linguistique. La thèse se termine avec un résumé des implications de la recherche pour les programmes scolaires, pour les rapports école-communauté et pour les parcours postsecondaires chez les jeunes immigrants. Elle fournit également des recommandations pour les divers acteurs intéressés par l’éducation francophone en situation minoritaire.