<p>Development thinking in the 21st century has embraced the challenge to inform development practice towards managing the relationship between the macro and micro level of development,&nbsp / with an emphasis on people-centred development (PCD) and a participatory development approach (PDA). People-centred development advocates a process focused on people, which&nbsp / enables beneficiaries of communitydevelopment initiatives to empower themselves through participation. People-centred development has been universally accepted in the development&nbsp / community as the only viable option, with the potential to reverse decades of top-down approaches to development through the engagement of community stakeholders in a meaningful participation process. The social development scene in South Africa is characterised by a strong presence of the civil society in general and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in&nbsp / particular, which are major role players in socio-economic development at the grassroots. Most of these organisations are committed to participatory development methodologies in order to&nbsp / meet the needs of povertystricken communities in South Africa. This thesis critically assessed participatory development in the Small Business Development Departments&rsquo / (SBDD)&nbsp / programmes/projects at the Elgin Learning Foundation, in the Overberg district of the Western Cape. A qualitative research methodology was applied throughout the study. This research&nbsp / approach was chosen&nbsp / because the purpose of this project was to understand and describe community participation at the SBDD from an insider&rsquo / s perspective, and not to predict social action&nbsp / or make generalisations about it. Accordingly, observation, in-depth interviews, documentary analysis, and focus-group discussions were utilised for data collection. The study also used&nbsp / secondary sources of information, namely policy briefs, project proposals, annual evaluation reports, and minutes of meetings. The findings indicate that the community-development activities&nbsp / of the SBDD are very visible in the Overberg region, and that the organisation maintains good relationships with community stakeholders. In addition, the department contributes significantly towards entrepreneurship and skills development in the&nbsp / community, through its training and mentorship programmes. However, results also suggest that community-development at the SBDD is not always people-centred because training&nbsp / programmes are largely externally designed, monitored and evaluated, without taking into consideration the felt needs of the people. Participation that is perceived as a means to an end, rather than an end in itself can be described as tokenistic. In this light, the study recommends that the SBDD develops context-specific strategies to implement participatory methodologies at all stages&nbsp / of project-cycle management, in order to provide an enabling environment for the genuine participation of people at the grassroots. This approach can empower community members and build&nbsp / local institutional capacities to ensure project/programme sustainability in the long term.</p>

No abstract available. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Durban-Westville, 1991.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal

This study examined the degree and frequency to which school counselors' utilized accountability measures and deliberate practice and their impact on perceived levels of counselor self-efficacy, as well as, perceived levels of student academic success. This study attempted to answer several critical questions regarding school counselor accountability and deliberate practice. It assessed the relationship between receipt of formal training in the American School Counseling Association Model (ASCA) or another counseling model and likelihood of using ASCA principles, the relationship between years of work experience and use of accountability measures and deliberate practice, the relationship between use of accountability measures and deliberate practice on perceived levels of counselor self-efficacy, and the relationship between use of accountability measures and deliberate practice on perceived levels of student academic success; that is the degree to which counselors' believe their services impact students' outcomes. This study included a national sample of 1,084 currently practicing school counselors who were members of ASCA and responded to a web-based survey on school counselor practices. Three of the four hypotheses were either partially or fully supported and one hypothesis was unsupported by the findings. The first hypothesis was fully supported in that participants who received formal ASCA training were found to be more likely to implement ASCA principles (accountability measures and deliberate practice) on a regular basis. The second hypothesis was unsupported by the findings, which indicated years of accumulative school counseling experience would be positively associated with use of ASCA principles. The third hypothesis was partially supported in that, years of work experience and use of accountability measures would be positively associated with increased levels of perceived self-efficacy, while deliberate practice was found to have no relationship with perceived levels of self-efficacy. The fourth hypothesis was fully supported by the findings in that an inverse relationship was found between years of work experience and student outcomes and a positive relationship existed between use of accountability measures and deliberate practice and student outcomes. Limitations to this study include lack of generalizability, self-reporting, and missing data. The findings of this study can only be generalized to working school counselors who work at the K-12 level. Additionally, self-reporting was a limitation due to bias and missing data is a limitation due to participants agreeing to participate, starting the survey, but failing to complete the entire survey. Suggestions for future research include conducting other national surveys that incorporate questions asking participants how long they have been following a national counseling framework and if they believe utilizing these ASCA principles improves their work performance. Other future suggestions included conducting studies on the best way to train counselors to use ASCA principles in order to enhance their work performance. Lastly, future studies need to be conducted in order to determine which interventions elicit the most positive outcomes for students to achieve academic excellence. This study also provided contributions to the field of counseling. Results of this study provide insight for working school counselors, counselor education programs, and professional associations regarding the beliefs of school counselors pertaining to the impact that utilizing accountability measures and deliberate practice have on perceived levels of counselor self-efficacy, as well as, perceived levels of student outcomes.

Žiniasklaidos atskaitingumas – prieš pusšimtį metų Jungtinėse Amerikos valstijose užgimusi idėja apie žiniasklaidos priemonių socialinę atsakomybę ir atskaitingumą visuomenei, tapo daugelio visuomenės informavimo priemonių bei komunikacijos tyrinėtojų, mokslininkų diskusijų objektu. Demokratinėse valstybėse žiniasklaidos atskaitingumo procesas yra lyg pusiausvyros taškas tarp žiniasklaidos laisvės ir kontrolės, kuris užtikrina žiniasklaidos turinio kokybę. Lietuvos viešojoje erdvėje žiniasklaidos atskaitingumas nėra plačiai diskutuojama tema. Žiniasklaidos atskaitingumo tyrimai Lietuvoje taip pat nėra vykdomi. Iki šios dienos yra atliktas tik vienas žiniasklaidos atskaitingumo tyrimas palietęs Lietuvą, o tiksliau tik didžiausius šalies leidinius. Tai paskatino atlikti mažesnių šalies žiniasklaidos priemonių atskaitingumo tyrimą. Empirinis darbo tyrimas buvo orientuotas į didžiausių Lietuvos regionų centrų žiniasklaidos priemones. Pagrindinis tyrimo tikslas buvo ištirti regioninės žiniasklaidos organizacijų atskaitingumą ir nustatyti, kokias žiniasklaidos atskaitingumo priemones savo veikloje integruoja tiriamų Lietuvos regionų – Kauno, Klaipėdos, Šiaulių, Panevėžio, Utenos ir Alytaus, žiniasklaidos organizacijos. Tyrimo metu buvo apklausta 10 regioninės žiniasklaidos priemonių ir atlikti 2 pusiau struktūruoti interviu su žiniasklaidos ekspertais. Apklausos metu buvo siekiama išsiaiškinti, kokias atskaitingumo priemones savo veikloje integruoja regioninės žiniasklaidos... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Media accountability is the idea of media accountability and social responsibility to the public that have born in the United States of America half a century ago. The idea of media accountability became the subject of discussion among many media communication researches and academics. In democratic countries the media accountability process is like a point of balance between media freedom and control that ensures the quality of media content. Media accountability is not a widely discussed subject in the Lithuanian public sphere. There are not many researches which concern media accountability as well. Up to this day, there is developed only one media accountability research in Lithuania. The accountability research concerned only the main publications of the country. Hence, it encouraged to develop the research of regional media accountability. Empirical research was focused on the regional media organizations of the largest regions of Lithuania. The aim of the research was to explore the accountability of regional media and to find out which media accountability tools are integrated in to the activities of Kaunas, Klaipėda, Šiauliai, Panevėžys, Utena ir Alytus regional media organizations. The research was based on a survey of 10 regional media organizations and a semi-structured interview with two media experts. The research was intended to clarify which media accountability tools are integrated in the activities of regional media organizations and to find out which... [to full text]

<p>This dissertation consists of three essays on the topic of education policy. In the first essay, I evaluate the impacts of a teacher quality equity law that was enacted in California in the fall of 2006 prohibiting superintendents from transferring a teacher into a school in the bottom three performance deciles of the state's academic performance index if the principal refuses the transfer. The primary mechanism through which the policy should affect student outcomes is through the mix of the quality of teachers in the school. Using publicly available statewide administrative education data, and two quasi-experimental methodologies, I assess whether the policy had an effect on the district-wide distribution of teachers with varying levels of experience, education and licensure and on student academic performance. I extend the analysis by examining whether the policy has differential effects on subgroups of schools classified as having high-poverty or high-minority student populations. I find that, as a result of the teacher quality equity law, low-performing schools experienced a relative increase in fully-credentialed teachers and more highly educated teachers, but that did not necessarily translate to an increase in academic performance. I also find evidence that the dimension along which the policy was most effective was in improving teacher pre-service qualifications in schools with high minority student populations.</p><p>In the second essay, I estimate racial, ethnic, gender and socioeconomic differences in teacher reports of student absenteeism and tardiness while controlling for administrative records of actual absences. Subjective perceptions that teachers form about students' classroom behaviors matter for student academic outcomes. Given this potential impact, it is important to identify any biases in these perceptions that would disadvantage subgroups of students. I use longitudinal data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-99 in conjunction with longitudinal, student-level data from the North Carolina Education Data Research Center to employ a variation of a two sample instrumental variables approach in which I instrument for actual eighth grade absences with simulated measures of eight grade absences. I find consistent evidence that teacher reports of the attendance of poor students are negatively biased and that math teacher reports of male attendance are positively biased. There is mixed evidence with regard to student race and ethnicity.</p><p>The third essay is a co-authored work in which we employ a quasi-experimental estimation strategy to examine the effects of state-level job losses on fourth- and eighth-grade test scores, using federal Mass Layoff Statistics and 1996-2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress data. Results indicate that job losses decrease scores. Effects are larger for eighth than fourth graders and for math than reading assessments, and are robust to specification checks. Job losses to 1 percent of a state's working-age population lead to a .076 standard deviation decrease in the state's eighth-grade math scores. This result is an order of magnitude larger than those found in previous studies that have compared students whose parents lose employment to otherwise similar students, suggesting that downturns affect all students, not just students who experience parental job loss. Our findings have important implications for accountability schemes: we calculate that a state experiencing one-year job losses to 2 percent of its workers (a magnitude observed in seven states) likely sees a 16 percent increase in the share of its schools failing to make Adequate Yearly Progress under No Child Left Behind.</p> / Dissertation

Throughout their history in America, museums, including those of art, have adapted according to their environment. One result of this adaptability is that objects in art museum collections are not as permanent as those outside the museum field tend to believe. As scholarship, funding, and audiences change, objects which at one time were considered pertinent to a museum collection may be deaccessioned, the term used for when a museum removes an accessioned object from its permanent collection. Yet deaccessioning in America tended to remain the exception, rather than the rule, until the last three decades of the twentieth century. How deaccessioning became a normal element of collections management in the late twentieth century can be understood as a consequence of a number of factors, including a change in the institutional and economic climate in which art museums operated. Examining some of the factors leading to the normalization of deaccessioning, at least for those in the museum community, can help us better understand the implications of such a shift.

In 2014, the Swedish leisure-time centres after school became widely criticized on several occasions by school authorities. The cause for its criticism was a reflection of leisure time-centres with lots of untrained staff and a lack of pedagogical aspirations. The conclusion of the criticism was that these leisure-time centres do not fulfil their potential. However, these assessments has only to a limited extent become a part of the public educational discourse in Sweden. This discourse has mainly focused on the decreasing results in the Swedish school, which has caught the attention in the media and ended up on the political agenda. The flaws in the leisure-time centres have been far more overlooked and its function has been unclear. This study explores representations of the leisure-time centres and its missions and aims. It also examines how after-school teachers and their skills, duties and attributes are represented. This has been done by studying descriptions of the leisure-time centres in three different municipalities and 154 recruitment ads for after-school teachers. The results of these data collections shows a dominant cooperative discourse, where many of the leisure-time centres and the after-school teachers most important tasks and assignments is more to be found in school activities rather than at the leisure-time centres. The conclusion of the study is that the leisure-time centres have lost its value-based core and instead its function has been integrated as a resource center in school to make sure that the aims for school is to be achieved. That has transformed the after-school teacher into a flexible employee, which constantly has to be prepared for and have a positive approach to new circumstances.

Background During the 1990s, Tanzania, like many other developing countries, adopted health sector reforms. The most common policy change under health sector reforms has been decentralisation, which involves the transfer of power and authority from the central levels to the local governments. However, while decentralisation of health care planning and priority-setting in Tanzania gained currency in the last decade, its performance has, so far, been less than satisfactory. In a five-year EU-supported project, which started in 2006, ways of strengthening fairness and accountability in priority-setting in district health management were studied through action research. As part of this overall project, this doctoral thesis aims to analyse the existing health care organisation and management systems, and explore the potential and challenges of implementing Accountability for Reasonableness approach to priority setting in Tanzania. Methods A qualitative case study in Mbarali district formed the basis of exploring the socio-political and institutional contexts within which health care decision-making takes place. The thesis also explores how the Accountability for Reasonableness intervention was shaped, enabled and constrained by the interaction between the contexts and mechanisms. Key informant interviews were conducted with the Council Health Management Team, local government officials, and other stakeholders, using a semi-structured interview guide. Relevant documents were also gathered and group priority-setting processes in the district were observed. Main findings The study revealed that, despite the obvious national rhetoric on decentralisation, actual practice in the district involved little community participation. The findings showed that decentralisation, in whatever form, does not automatically provide space for community engagement. The assumption that devolution to local government promotes transparency, accountability and community participation, is far from reality. In addition, the thesis found that while the Accountability for Reasonableness approach to priority setting was perceived to be helpful in strengthening transparency, accountability, stakeholder engagement and fairness, integrating the innovation into the current district health system was challenging.   Conclusion This thesis underscores the idea that greater involvement and accountability among local actors may increase the legitimacy and fairness of priority-setting decisions. A broader and more detailed analysis of health system elements, and socio-cultural context, can lead to better prediction of the effects of the innovation, pinpoint stakeholders’ concerns, and thereby illuminate areas requiring special attention in fostering sustainability. Additionally, the thesis stresses the need to recognise and deal with power asymmetries among various actors in priority-setting contexts.

The intention of this thesis is to gain a greater understanding, to how communicators who has been convicted for gender discrimination by The Swedish Advertising Ombudsman, view their own creative process and their ethical responsibility in society. With their answers we hope to be able to approach a greater understanding of why sexism in the advertising industry still occurs. To approach the question we have conducted qualitative semi-structured research interviews with communicators involved in the creative process of advertisements that have been convicted by the Swedish self-regulatory organization, The Swedish Advertising Ombudsman for gender discrimination. Our question is focusing on their creative process for the current ad, personal values and responsibility and how the conviction has affected them and their future processes. In the result we found out that external factors such as time, money and the client had a major role in the process but also in their general work. Most of the respondents answer to only themselves when they make moral judgements and they generally have a misplaced view of the definition of gender discrimination, or sexism. All respondents agree that communicators, including themselves, have an impact on our society but they do not consider their own work to be a part of reproducing values and stereotypes. Almost all respondents express a strong distrust for The Swedish Advertising Ombudsman where most of them do not agree with their decision. The convictions haven’t lead to any major consequences, although, most of the respondents claimed that they will spend more time reflecting about their ads before publishing it. Some of the respondents also said that they are going to ask the client twice if they really want to publish this work, even though it’s a risk that it might be convicted for gender discrimination. Many of these factors shows that the conviction has not led to any major consequences.