This study is an exploratory investigation of Greek primary and secondary school teachers' attitudes towards educational equality and the relationship of these attitudes with their classroom behaviour. Three aspects were investigated: (a) the relationships between teachers' attitudes towards educational equality, (b) teachers' classroom behaviour (teachers and pupils interactions) and (c) the associations between teachers' attitudes and their classroom behaviour. The research method employed was a mixture of qualitative and quantitative methods. Qualitative methods were employed at the early stage of the research to enrtch validity of the attitude statements and observation categories. Quantitative methods were employed at the main study to enable the generalisation of the findings and the reliability of the data collection tools. A combination of questionnaires and observations was used to investigate teachers' attitudes and their classroom behaviour. The research was carried out in Greater Athens, Greece, on a representative sample of two hundred and sixty schoolteachers. Main findings indicated that: (a) teachers' attitudes towards educational equality combined the liberal egalitarian, strict egalitarian and fair inegalitarian models of educational equality and (b) in classroom practice teachers applied the liberal egalitarian model of educational equality. Teachers' attitudes preference for combining the educational equality models confirms the assumptions that attitudes contain conflicting and contradictory elements; and that teachers try to resolve tensions created when meeting different pupils' needs. The Greek educational equality model is an example of a western state, which combines the models of educational equality in its legislation. In Greek school reality though, the dominant educational equality model is the liberal one. This finding is revealed in teachers' classroom practice. It is argued that the increasing application of the market approach of differentiation to Greek education is the most significant reason for explaining the dominance of the liberal egalitarian model in classroom practice. An alternative model of school education, which focuses on the social aspect of schooling, is presented. Policy implications include reflection on teaching and teachers' training. Stimulations for further thinking and research include: apply the research in different national contexts; investigate how significant factor teachers' training is for affecting teachers' attitudes towards educational equality; investigate the extent of spatial differentiation to education; investigate the condition of educational equality after the inflow of immigrants; and investigate the extent to which the perceived quality of schooling is push migration factor and to what extent is pull migration factor.

This thesis is a study on the Brazilian policy of funding scholarships abroad for postgraduate studies. The main purpose of this research is to analyse the changing rationale for this type of investment over time. The focus of the investigation is on the Programme of Scholarships Abroad of CAPES, a major funding agency of scholarships for postgraduate studies in Brazil and abroad. To do this, the research was conceptualised in two distinct layers of investigation. The first layer referred to the historical processes that have shaped the issue of education abroad in Brazil. In the other layer of investigation, the way the policy of CAPES was and is put into practice was examined. To link these two layers of investigation, research interviews with people who know the Brazilian academic environment well were conducted. In order to develop these themes, the thesis has been strategically divided into six chapters. Chapter One is the Introduction when the problem is located, the strategy adopted to develop the topic is explained, and the concepts most used in the research are defined. Chapter Two provides a historical review of the custom of studying abroad among Brazilian upper classes, from colonial times up to the early twentieth century. Chapter Three describes the emergence of an institutional infrastructure to build up high-level personnel, from the fifties onwards. Chapter IV provides a type of more detailed information on what scholarships abroad consist in practice, where a set of numerical data is offered. Chapter V is the analysis of the interviews collected during the fieldwork. Finally, the closing Chapter VI is an attempt to bring together the evidence gathered throughout this study and to present an overall interpretation of the role of the policy of scholarships in Brazil.

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