This dissertation focuses on how rural community college students make decisions regarding their post-secondary plans. To understand these decision processes, I interviewed students, faculty and administrators at Southeast Community and Technical College in Harlan County, Kentucky. The literature informing my research reflects on rural college going patterns. Most studies connect place and post-secondary plans. Central Appalachia has among the lowest population percentages with Bachelor degrees in the country. Studies argue this is because of limited application for such degrees in the region. Matching their education and training to local job market requirements, people hesitate to complete advanced degrees when little if any local application requires such additional education. This study discusses how place informs and shapes students’ decisions around college and degree selection. Unlike those who connect advanced education with outmigration patterns, my research highlights students who pursue post-secondary training in hopes of applying these degrees locally to build their communities and families’ quality of life in a rural place. From the twenty-eight student and fifteen faculty and administrator interviews conducted, rationales regarding the purpose of post-secondary degrees and training surfaced. Through selected follow up oral histories, students further described the application of their degrees towards terminal, transfer and/or transformative ends. Their articulated positions regarding the purpose and application of higher education in Central Appalachia adds to the continuing studies on how advanced degrees informs students’ decisions to stay or leave rural areas. From the Southeast interview data, I provide a critique of policy directives related to advanced education and economic development. Given many of the urban assumptions embedded in development theory, my study was interested in how these rural students, in a place considered underdeveloped partly because of low college attendance rates, attain and then apply their degrees and the rationale they articulate in doing so. As US policy makers continue to require advanced education for more and more of their citizens, my research shows the complications and complexities such rhetoric evokes when people, committed to rural places and ways of life, apply them in their local contexts.

This single case study in Peace Education (PE) was conducted in Central Mexico where violence is manifest in different ways and consequently, PE may be an important intervention. The aim of this study was to acquire an understanding of the impact of PE in Mexico and to understand how students conceptualize peace and violence and how these phenomena impact their aspirations. Participants in this study were a school principal, teachers as well as 9th grade students from a telesecundaria. This research produced a number of key findings: Mexico does not have one concrete conception of PE; the student participants’ definition of peace and violence reflect their reality; and their aspirations can be commensurate with the principles of PE. One of the main conclusions drawn from this study is that although there are a several practices of PE in Mexico, the country needs one concrete proposal of PE tailored to its specific reality.

This single case study in Peace Education (PE) was conducted in Central Mexico where violence is manifest in different ways and consequently, PE may be an important intervention. The aim of this study was to acquire an understanding of the impact of PE in Mexico and to understand how students conceptualize peace and violence and how these phenomena impact their aspirations. Participants in this study were a school principal, teachers as well as 9th grade students from a telesecundaria. This research produced a number of key findings: Mexico does not have one concrete conception of PE; the student participants’ definition of peace and violence reflect their reality; and their aspirations can be commensurate with the principles of PE. One of the main conclusions drawn from this study is that although there are a several practices of PE in Mexico, the country needs one concrete proposal of PE tailored to its specific reality.

The purpose of this research was to explore how Nunavut Educational Leadership (ELP), a school principal preparation program in Nunavut Territory, Canada, fulfills Inuit (the indigenous people of the territory) educational aspirations. In accordance with this purpose, the study focuses on answering four specific questions: (1) what are Inuit educational aspirations? (2) What is the context for Inuit education? (3) How is the Nunavut Educational Leadership Program organized to meet its objectives? (4) How do the activities of the Nunavut Educational Leadership Program (ELP) fulfill Inuit educational aspirations? Adopting an exploratory case study design grounded in qualitative approaches and undergirded by critical interpretative perspective, the research triangulates both primary and secondary sources of data. The primary data sources come from individual semi-structured interviews of 35 respondents (18 community members, 3 program development members, 3 presenters/facilitators, 7 program participants, and 4 educational officials) selected across Nunavut Territory. These sources are complemented with relevant secondary documents from 1987 to 2010. Using constant comparative and word-in-context as the main data analysis methods, concepts and themes were delineated from the data sources to form categories, with the research questions and conceptual framework guiding the process. The research results revealed, among many other things, that the Nunavut ELP partially fulfills Inuit educational aspirations as defined in the research. Issues arising from the data analysis and interpretation are also discussed under (1) Inuit culturally appropriate education/ self-determination in education, (2) Issues associated with Inuit and mainstream relationship, (3) The relationship between context and principal preparation and development programs, (4) Preparation programs for fulfilling local educational aspirations, (5) Framework for principal leadership practice, (6) Educational Governance Related-Issues, (7) University contribution to principal leadership preparation and development programs, (8) Nunavut ELP goals, and (9) Leadership Conceptualizations. Along with these are recommendations, theoretical implications and directions for future or further research. Though the research does not purport to design an educational leadership program for Nunavut school leaders, its evidence-based analysis and results may assist in any conversations toward the restructuring, improvement or enhancement of the Nunavut ELP as well as any educational leadership development programs in post-colonial societies.

The purpose of this research was to explore how Nunavut Educational Leadership (ELP), a school principal preparation program in Nunavut Territory, Canada, fulfills Inuit (the indigenous people of the territory) educational aspirations. In accordance with this purpose, the study focuses on answering four specific questions: (1) what are Inuit educational aspirations? (2) What is the context for Inuit education? (3) How is the Nunavut Educational Leadership Program organized to meet its objectives? (4) How do the activities of the Nunavut Educational Leadership Program (ELP) fulfill Inuit educational aspirations? Adopting an exploratory case study design grounded in qualitative approaches and undergirded by critical interpretative perspective, the research triangulates both primary and secondary sources of data. The primary data sources come from individual semi-structured interviews of 35 respondents (18 community members, 3 program development members, 3 presenters/facilitators, 7 program participants, and 4 educational officials) selected across Nunavut Territory. These sources are complemented with relevant secondary documents from 1987 to 2010. Using constant comparative and word-in-context as the main data analysis methods, concepts and themes were delineated from the data sources to form categories, with the research questions and conceptual framework guiding the process. The research results revealed, among many other things, that the Nunavut ELP partially fulfills Inuit educational aspirations as defined in the research. Issues arising from the data analysis and interpretation are also discussed under (1) Inuit culturally appropriate education/ self-determination in education, (2) Issues associated with Inuit and mainstream relationship, (3) The relationship between context and principal preparation and development programs, (4) Preparation programs for fulfilling local educational aspirations, (5) Framework for principal leadership practice, (6) Educational Governance Related-Issues, (7) University contribution to principal leadership preparation and development programs, (8) Nunavut ELP goals, and (9) Leadership Conceptualizations. Along with these are recommendations, theoretical implications and directions for future or further research. Though the research does not purport to design an educational leadership program for Nunavut school leaders, its evidence-based analysis and results may assist in any conversations toward the restructuring, improvement or enhancement of the Nunavut ELP as well as any educational leadership development programs in post-colonial societies.

Abstract The majority of young Australian women aspire to be married with at least one child and in some form of paid employment by the time they are 35 years of age. In an age of increasing female labour force participation, it seems then that young women really can have it all. However, while younger generations of women are now more likely than their male counterparts to go to university, Australian women, compared to women in other countries, have low workforce participation rates after childbearing; and many move to part-time positions characterised by lower earnings, less responsibility and less opportunity for training and promotion. Further, there continues to be significant occupational segregation in the workplace, and women continue to earn significantly less than men. Why are Australian women not utilizing their skills to their full potential? The issue of balancing paid work with family responsibilities is central to this debate; and crucial is the role of Australian work-family legislation, which has previously focussed on improving Australia’s low fertility rate through financial aids rather than recognising women’s increased attachment to the paid workforce. This underscores the need for further research on how young Australian women negotiate work and family, to contribute to the evidence base for the formation of policy that supports the needs of young Australian women. This thesis takes an innovative approach of examining the work and family aspirations of a new generation of young Australian women negotiating work and family, transitioning from their late teens/early twenties to their early 30s. A prominent theoretical model of women’s work and family preferences, Lifestyle Preference Theory, postulates that women’s work and family outcomes are primarily the result of what they had always aspired, and that all women living in contemporary society can ‘choose’ their preferred type of lifestyle. However, as argued in this thesis, this model doesn’t take into account women’s circumstances, systemic-level supports and life changes that impact upon women’s decisions. Further, compared to previous generations of women, when most of the research on women’s aspirations was conducted, there is a new development process bridging adolescence and early adulthood, termed Emerging Adulthood. Using a mixed-methods approach of quantitative and qualitative analyses, this thesis examines young Australian women’s work and family aspirations according to their life experiences and within the social and structural constraints on their lives, during this developmental period of the life course and new socio-historical context. Chapter 1 provides a historical context to women’s changing roles and increasing workforce participation over past decades, while also discussing the pervasiveness of gender stereotypes and gender differences in the workforce. Chapter 2 discusses the Australian context in more depth; including work and family trends and systemic-level work-family support. This section also introduces theoretical contributions in the area of women’s aspirations, and developmental changes likely to affect young women. Chapter 3 then provides an analysis of young Australian women’s work and family aspirations, including the consistency of their aspirations over time, using nationally representative data from the younger cohort of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health (ALSWH). Chapters 4 and 5 examine the representativeness of Lifestyle Preference Theory as a model of young Australian women’s work and family aspirations. Chapter 4 investigates whether Australian women can be categorised as ‘types’ committed to pursuing a particular lifestyle while Chapter 5 investigates whether women’s aspirations are independent of context, as theorised by Lifestyle Preference Theory, or correlated to women’s circumstances and the constraints on their lives. Chapters 6 and 7 aim to give voices to the experiences of young Australian women forming their aspirations during this period of the lifespan, by analysing qualitative comments from the younger cohort of the ALSWH. Chapter 6 provides a context of what is important and happening in the lives of young Australian women, while Chapter 7 provides a more thorough discussion of women’s comments about their aspirations and with a comparative discussion of their comments to current theoretical models. Through an analysis of focus group material, Chapter 8 continues to examine the experiences of young women during this developmental period of the lifespan. This Chapter reviews young women’s thoughts on their aspirations for work and family, how they anticipate making work and family decisions, and how they perceive and experience this developmental period of the lifespan. Chapters 9 and 10 return to the quantitative data of the ALSWH to investigate why women change their aspirations over time, and specifically look at the impact of first birth and life events on women’s motherhood and employment aspirations. These Chapters discuss the role of systemic-level work-family support on women’s changing aspirations. Chapter 11 provides an integrative conclusion of findings, which show that women are forming and adjusting their aspirations as best they can within their circumstances and the constraints on their lives, and the broader context of Australia’s work and family support systems. This Chapter provides recommendations for policy and directions for future research.

Thesis (Ph. D.) -- University of Western Sydney, Nepean, 2000. / "A thesis submitted to the University of Western Sydney in fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy" "January 2000, reprinted 2003" Bibliography: p.191 - 218.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Wyoming, 2007. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on June 17, 2009). Includes bibliographical references (p. 111-121).

Dissertation (Ph.D.)--University of Toledo, 2009. / Typescript. Submitted as partial fulfillment of the requirements for The Doctor of Philosophy Degree in Higher Education." Bibliography: leaves 96-106.

Thesis (M. Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1991. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 103-109).