Canada supports developmental efforts in Ghana through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). This dissertation investigates how Canada partners with Ghana to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for education by 2015. The study focuses on achieving equity and access to education in Ghana, and examines how far Ghana’s policy and Canada’s aims and objectives (through CIDA) for adressing these developmental issues converge or diverge. The principal methodology for accomplishing this study includes literature review and a content analysis of CIDA programmes and documents related to education in Ghana. The study concludes that CIDA programmes and operations in education in Ghana have a clear focus on issues relating to equity and access to education, and complement governmental efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals for Education in Ghana. The thesis ends with recommendation for further study on using spirituality and indigenous knowledges to enhance and provide holistic education in Ghana.

Scholars suggest that when students use information and communication technology to complete and present identity texts about their own cultural background, such as self-authored literature, artwork, and multi-media texts, they learn about themselves and others and they can improve literacy skills and proficiency with technology (Chow & Cummins, 2003; Cummins, 2006). In this exploratory case study five middle-school students attending a diverse inner city school, and each representing a different demographic, were asked to complete an identity text project. In question was whether they would consume or critically deconstruct the negative hegemonic discourses they might encounter in the process. Results indicated that student response to these discourses was inconsistent, that students minoritized as black were especially vulnerable to them, and that student-led constructivist projects like this should be preceded by effective inclusive schooling and media literacy pedagogy to help ensure student engagement with multi-literacies is enhanced as intended.

The no borders movement has been an important site of anti-imperialist resistance, and as such it provides a valuable point of entry into problematizing the contradictions that constitute the relations of consciousness, praxis and ideology. By tracing the recent history of no borders activism in relation to the intensification of neoliberalism, and the prevalence of diffuse models of power, the analysis illustrates the ways in which critical praxis has been limited by the current milieu. Working from an anti-racist feminist perspective I utilize examples drawn from no borders activism to demonstrate the very real limits of informal and incidental learning in social movements. The analysis argues against the supplanting of consciousness with subjectivity as a way to avoid the problems associated with structuralist analysis. Instead, I have suggested that critical education for social action requires a dialectical engagement with the social relations that we live in, contest and transform.

This thesis presents the argument that the World Bank’s education policies are discursively inconsistent due to the concurrent adoption of conceptual frameworks – namely the neoliberal and global public goods frameworks – which are arguably in conflict with one another. More specifically, the World Bank presents education as both a public and a private good. This assessment is reached via a critical analysis of the Bank’s education policy discourse. The Bank’s policies are furthermore argued to be grounded in market economics and therefore are in tension with the notion of education as a human right – a legal and political framework, advocated by other development organizations, but neglected by the Bank. Over the course of this thesis, neoliberal influences on the World Bank’s education policies are critiqued on several levels, including potential ethical ramifications concerning equity, discursive logic and questionable use of evidence. This dissertation furthermore suggests that the Bank can re-conceptualize education in a light that does not engender these critiques, by embracing a rights-based vision of education. It is argued that it is not necessary for the Bank to relinquish an economic conceptualization of education, and that it is possible for the human rights and economic discourses to go hand-in-hand. Despite some tensions, education can be supported by both a public goods and rights-based framework, and that via such measures as collaboration with organizations that conceive of education as a right and reducing the dominance of economists within the organization, the Bank’s policies will become aligned with this rights-based vision. This thesis argues that World Bank education policies can take steps toward improvement if the neoliberal notion of education as an exclusive, private good is abandoned in favour of education as a non-exclusive, public good, and a right.

This thesis presents the argument that the World Bank’s education policies are discursively inconsistent due to the concurrent adoption of conceptual frameworks – namely the neoliberal and global public goods frameworks – which are arguably in conflict with one another. More specifically, the World Bank presents education as both a public and a private good. This assessment is reached via a critical analysis of the Bank’s education policy discourse. The Bank’s policies are furthermore argued to be grounded in market economics and therefore are in tension with the notion of education as a human right – a legal and political framework, advocated by other development organizations, but neglected by the Bank. Over the course of this thesis, neoliberal influences on the World Bank’s education policies are critiqued on several levels, including potential ethical ramifications concerning equity, discursive logic and questionable use of evidence. This dissertation furthermore suggests that the Bank can re-conceptualize education in a light that does not engender these critiques, by embracing a rights-based vision of education. It is argued that it is not necessary for the Bank to relinquish an economic conceptualization of education, and that it is possible for the human rights and economic discourses to go hand-in-hand. Despite some tensions, education can be supported by both a public goods and rights-based framework, and that via such measures as collaboration with organizations that conceive of education as a right and reducing the dominance of economists within the organization, the Bank’s policies will become aligned with this rights-based vision. This thesis argues that World Bank education policies can take steps toward improvement if the neoliberal notion of education as an exclusive, private good is abandoned in favour of education as a non-exclusive, public good, and a right.

Social movement activism throughout the 1960s and 1970s provided space for feminist concerns in a variety of arenas. Women's movement activism and women's scholarship in history challenged the ways in which women’s experiences had been marginalized or omitted in school history programs and curricula. Women's organizations developed and broadened networks, created and published resources, and lobbied governments and institutions. Their widespread activism spilled into a range of educational circles and influenced history teachers in altering curricula to include women in course materials. Advocating for women, on a curricular or professional development level, however, was complicated because of entrenched neo-liberal systems in place within education institutions. Although the Ontario Ministry of Education and the Toronto Board of Education demonstrated clear support for a wide range of gender equity-based initiatives, they committed to implementing a 'piecemeal' approach to curricular change. The fundamental work to include women in history curricula relied heavily on grassroots networks that allowed for women’s experiences to leak into classrooms, and were responsible for bringing women’s voices into the history curricula. This study explores the initiatives of the Toronto Board of Education from 1968-1993, with particular analysis of women’s committees, teacher/librarians in resource centers, Affirmative Action representatives, individual teachers and administrators. Within the broader public sphere, the contributions of concerned parents, activists, small independent publishers, educational reformers, political leaders and women’s history organizations lent their voices to ideas about how the inclusion of women in history curricula should take shape in Toronto schools. Ministry gender equity policies and history course guidelines provided incremental and therefore politically safe responses to educational change. The Toronto Board's "add-on" approach to including women in course examinations avoided instituting major "top-down'" curricular change, which kept the integration of women’s history within classrooms on the periphery of most course work. The substantive grassroots activism and the commitment of women’s organizations and individual teachers, however, allowed women’s history to flourish within individual classrooms in Toronto and demonstrates the ways in which "bottom-up" initiatives can be a powerful force in curricular change.

This thesis explores the relationships between pre-service teacher training, peace education, anti-racism education, gender equity education and conflict resolution. Specifically, this study investigates the mandatory School and Society course within the Initial Teacher Education Program at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto, to explore peace education training within the pre-service teacher education program. The methodology employed involves the combination of a curriculum analysis and reflective case study; both are utilized to illustrate the author’s experiences as a pre-service student, and the training received during this program. The findings illustrate that components of a peace education curriculum are observable in the Initial Teacher Education program. There is however, no formal requirement for delivering peace education within the program. As a result, this thesis offers recommendations for the development of formal peace education training in OISE/UT’s pre-service program.

This thesis investigated the literacy practices of a group of Somali refugee women participating in Canada’s federally‐funded ESL program LINC (Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada). Assuming that many Somali women arrive in Canada with limited experience with print literacy, and so encounter novel challenges in their settlement and learning experiences, I interviewed 4 Somali women about their uses and perceptions of the value of literacy in their lives and their experiences of learning to read and write in Canada. A cross‐case analysis revealed how social forces constrain and enable the women’s literacy practices, shaping both how they access and use literacy, as well as the ways in which they understand and value literacy. Implications are outlined for ESL educators, researchers and policy makers.

Thèse numérisée par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal. / Au cours de l'année 1986, l'Agence Canadienne de Développement International (ACDI) proposa un virage important en redéfinissant sa vision de la coopération, et donc son implication dans le développement international. Les projets et l'aide aux pays en développement devaient s'orienter davantage vers une coopération dite de développement que vers une coopération reposant sur une substitution des ressources, particulièrement sur le plan humain. Le développement des personnes-ressources dans le pays aidé devient alors la pierre angulaire de toute intervention. C'est dans ce cadre qu'est apparue la notion d'homologation, notion centrale de la recherche. Après avoir précisé le contexte et le problème de la recherche, nous précisons le sujet de la recherche, soit l'homologation, comme moyen de développement en coopération internationale, ainsi que le contexte de vérification de l'homologation soit, le projet de formation scientifique et technique Canada-Gabon, phase III, qui sert de matériel d'interprétation pour la présente recherche. Il s'agit donc d'une utilisation particulière de l'homologation adaptée à un contexte précis, qui permettra de dégager une vision opérationnelle de l'homologation, prenant en compte des éléments plus englobants et parfois débordant le projet, afin d'élargir l'analyse et de préciser également certains aspects pratiques de cette réalité. L'objectif de la présente recherche est d'analyser les résultats obtenus en ce qui concerne les activités d'homologation planifiées et réalisées dans le cadre de ce projet, afin d'en dégager des éléments de compréhension et d'analyse permettant de mieux connaître certains aspects de l'homologation en coopération internationale. Dans cette optique, nous avons procédé à deux niveaux d'analyse selon les secteurs formel et informel de la culture, le déclaré et le non-déclaré. Dans un premier temps, l'analyse des résultats obtenus nous permet de confronter les informations recueillies aux attentes initiales et aux difficultés rencontrées, ainsi qu'aux éléments structurels des cultures en présence. Il s'agit d'une analyse des documents produits dans le cadre du projet à l'étude. Dans un deuxième temps, une analyse critique des résultats obtenus, confrontés au schéma théorique, nous permet de vérifier jusqu'à quel point certains facteurs informels, non-déclarés, de la culture influencent les résultats obtenus à la suite d'une intervention d'homologation en coopération internationale. L'étude, en plus de dégager les principaux éléments de compréhension et d'application liés à l'exercice de l'homologation, fait ressortir, entre autres, l'importance des facteurs culturels non déclarés que constitue la vision du monde propre à chaque culture. En ce sens, le résultat du fonctionnement par homologation, en coopération internationale, est lié à la compréhension et au respect des visions du monde en présence. La démarche permet de valider l'importance de cette perspective dans l'atteinte des objectifs de l'homologation, soit le développement des ressources humaines en coopération internationale.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Special Education, Counseling and Student Affairs / Judith Hughey / Social organizations known as fraternities exist on many college campuses in the United States. Many of these organizations have a residential home either on the campus or off campus for the students known as a fraternity home. One of the values that many fraternities seek to ad-here to is found in the area of leadership (Long, 2012). Leadership has been studied for decades as has the social organizations known as fraternities. The outcomes of both of these areas of studies presented spirited and often complex discussion on how to define a) leadership and b) what is the role of the fraternity on the college campus. This qualitative study of 12 students focused on fraternity members who lived in a residential setting of a fraternity home. The purpose of this study was to understand what factors of the fraternity home experience have on one’s leadership identity and to explain how these factors can help guide college professionals in fostering in positive college student development. The researcher used two primary methods of data collection (a) focus groups and (b) in-depth individual semi-structured interviews. A case study research design was utilized to help understand the experiences that take place in the lives of the participants. The analysis of the data in this study helps explain how a college student living in a fraternity home takes on a leadership identity. Furthermore, this study pointed to six themes that emerged to help inform how a residential living setting of a fraternity home shapes the leadership identity of the students. Multiple support systems allow for students to have values tested and reinforced though a fraternity home experience. Diversity of other viewpoints are present in a fraternity and allow for students to see differing perspectives. Older fraternity brothers have a positive influence on younger members in terms of self-confidence, mentoring, and other areas. Positional leadership roles of the fraternity allow students to engage with managing conflict and interacting with adult advisors and mentors. Brotherhood events provide students the opportunity develop relationships and interpersonal skills. Formal chapter meetings allow a venue for students to engage with each other in a manner that produces improved communication skills and critical thinking. Student affairs professionals and leadership educators working with students including but not limited to Greek organizations can take the findings of the study to assist them in their work. A leadership identity is being formed through a fraternity home setting as evidence of this study. Leadership educators can use this study to help their thoughts on how college students, especially fraternity members, view and exercise leadership. This study also presented areas for future research based on the information that was gained from the participants. Colleges continue to need contemporary studies to help them in working enhance the academic and social experience. The information provided in this study can be a catalyst for helping the understanding of leadership and for student development.