The enduring, mythical and antisemitic figure of Ahasuerus is central to the unraveling and reframing of post-Shoah Jewish identity in Rabinovici’s novel Suche nach M for it serves as the mythological color palette from which Rabinovici draws his characters and, to extend that metaphor, how the Jews have been immortalized in European culture. There is no escape in Suche nach M. When painting the Jew, both Jews and non-Jews can only use brush strokes of color from the Christian-created palette of the mythic, wandering Jew, Ahasuerus, who is stained in the blood of deicide, emasculated, treacherous, and evil. He is the constitutional “Other.” By deploying Urie Bronfenbrenner’s (Bio) Ecological Systems Theory, the Mythic Jew and the Ikhud (“Fusion”) Models that represent an evolving psychosocial environment combined with personal reflection, this thesis explores how Suche nach M invokes yet critiques the process of Jewish male identity formation in postwar Austria. / Graduate

Syftet med denna studie är att bidra med kunskap om samverkan mellan förskola och vårdnadshavare, som har barn i behov av särskilt stöd. Studien baseras på förskollärares tankar och resonemang som samlats in genom semistrukturerade intervjuer. Analysarbetet utgår ifrån Bronfenbrenners systemteori, vilken avser att synliggöra de komplexa relationer som omger ett barn i behov av särskilt stöd. I denna studie fokuseras de tre första nivåerna i Bronfenbrenners systemteori; micro-, meso- och exosystemet. Genom att arbeta utifrån denna teori kan man få en bättre förståelse för hur olika faktorer i barnets omgivning kan påverka barnets beteende och lärande. Till exempel kan man analysera hur familjen, skolan, vännerna, samhället samspelar och skapar olika möjligheter och utmaningar för barnet. I denna studie fokuseras förskollärarnas resonemang avseende samverkan med barnets vårdnadshavare. Teorin hjälper oss att identifiera styrkor och svagheter i de olika systemen och hur man kan stödja barnets utveckling på bästa sätt. Studiens resultat visar att en god samverkan mellan förskolan och vårdnadshavare gynnar barn som är i behov av särskilt stöd. Vidare vikten av att samarbetet i arbetslagen som möter barnet fungerar, så att ett gemensamt förhållningssätt med entydiga rutiner skapas. Det behövs en nära relation mellan förskollärarna och alla vårdnadshavare för att barnets behov ska kunna säkerställas. Studien visar att förskollärare har en viktig roll i att skapa en inkluderande förskola, där alla barn kan utvecklas och lära utifrån sina förutsättningar. I detta arbete är samverkan med vårdnadshavarna av stor betydelse för att skapa tillit och en trygg utvecklande tillvaro för barnen. Nyckelord: Samverkan, förskola, vårdnadshavare, barn i behov av särskilt stöd, Bronfenbrenners systemteori, samarbetsarbete, kommunikation / The purpose of this study is to contribute to knowledge about collaboration between the preschool and guardians, with children in need of special support. Five semi-structured interview with preschool teachers’ is conducted. The analysis is based on Bronfenbrenner’s system theory, which aims to make visible the complex relations surrounding a child, in need of special support. This helps us to gain understanding of how various factors in the child’s environment affects the child’s behavior and learning. For example, you can analyze how the family, school, friends, society interact and create different opportunities and challenges. In this study, I focus on three levels of Bronfenbrenner’s system theory the micro-, meso- and exo-systems. The focus of this study is the pre-school teachers’ reasonings regarding cooperation with the child’s guardian. Using Bronfenner’s system theory, we canidentify strengths and weaknesses that enable us, as preschool teachers, to support the child in the best way. The result shows that it is important that the preschool teachers cooperate with a united approach and keep unambiguous routines. A close relationship between the preschool teachers and all guardians is necessary to ensure that the child’s needs are satisfied. The study shows that preschool teachers have an important role in creating an inclusive preschool, where all children can develop and learn based on their individual conditions. The cooperation with the guardians is of great importance, for the success, creating a trustful and safe daily care and education at the preschool for all children. Keywords: Preschool, guardian, collaboration, children in need of special support, Bronfenbrenner's systems theory, collaborative work, communication

This research study aims to investigate the significance of the gender of secondary school head teachers in influencing their leadership styles within the context of Pakistan. Pakistan's cultural milieu is characterized by patriarchal undertones that translate into low gender equality, particularly in terms of lower educational attainment and lesser professional opportunities for females as compared to males. Within this setting, this thesis views the relationship between gender and educational leadership through the feminist educational leadership perspective, while the contextual environment is analysed by employing an adaptation of Brofenbrenner's ecological development theory. A mixed-methods research design has been used to answer this study's research questions. The quantitative research method is based on a survey that was administered to a random sample of 350 secondary school head teachers belonging to the public and private sectors within nine districts of the Punjab province in Pakistan. The self-rater Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire was used to determine the self-perceptions of head teachers regarding their leadership styles. In addition, the qualitative research method utilizes semi-structured interviews of a purposive sample of 14 head teachers in order to obtain an in-depth understanding of how the contextual environment is perceived by head teachers and to investigate whether the head teacher's gender is a significant factor in influencing these perceptions within Pakistan's context. The survey generated 264 responses and the findings indicate that on average secondary school head teachers perceive their leadership style as being transformational; particularly private sector female head teachers have the highest mean score for the transformational leadership style, hence suggesting that the gender of secondary school head teachers does play an important role in terms of influencing how they assess their leadership styles in Pakistan's context. Furthermore, the qualitative analysis of the interviews reveals important gender-based differences in terms of how head teachers perceive their contextual environment and how they practice transformational leadership within their schools. This study's findings have implications for theory, practice and policy making in the field of educational leadership, as they emphasize the need for implementing gender-sensitive educational policies that may facilitate both male and female head teachers to perform their roles effectively as school leaders within Pakistan's context.

The pace of technological advancement and growth in the twenty-first century continues to soar at unprecedented levels and beyond human imagination. As the fourth industrial revolution unfolds, it has become increasingly difficult to predict the direction technological innovation will take in the not too distant future. Digital technologies have become an integral part of every aspect of human existence (work, play, schooling and personal relationships). The purpose of this study was to explore the various ways mobile technological gadgets like cell phones, tablets and laptops could be leveraged to promote a culture of leisure reading amongst a group of Zimbabwean adolescent learners. Data was collected using the literacy practices interview, mobile reading diaries, focus group interviews and the researcher’s personal field notes. Theoretically, the study was guided primarily by Urie Bronfenbrenner's Bioecological systems theory. Also, the study was supported by Guthrie and Wigfield's reader engagement model and Turner and Hicks' connected reader model. The empirical data collected through the data collection instruments were analysed inductively. The findings revealed that adolescent learners are a digital generation whose reading needs are ever growing and expectations are ever changing. The adolescent participants expect their reading to be like the rest of their digital lives, which is quick, uninterrupted, personalised and smart. It was found that the adolescent participants like to read on their terms, as they dislike being told when to read or what to read. Three reader identities were revealed namely; the eager reader, the ‘fifty fifty’ reader and the non-reader. The adolescent participants who were not already mobile readers readily accepted and adopted mobile reading as it afforded them vast reading opportunities. Besides, the findings of the study revealed that participants encountered many challenges, which in some instances militated against their mobile reading endeavours. These challenges were because of mobile phone use restrictions in schools, prohibitive data costs, a strong emphasis on academic reading as opposed to leisure reading and internet connectivity problems amongst other issues. In this study, the recommendations and guidelines outlined provide a framework with which schools, parents, mobile reading application developers and policymakers can adopt to support a robust mobile reading culture amongst Zimbabwean adolescent learners. The researcher concluded that mobile reading devices are a novel, noble and credible means through which they can foster positive leisure literacy practices amongst Zimbabwean adolescents. / Language Education, Arts and Culture / Ph. D. (Curriculum and Instructional Studies)