This study sought to identify factors that deterred employees of the Saskatchewan Apprenticeship and Trade Certification Commission from accessing the training and development fund for personal and professional development. The researcher used an instrument modeled on Darkenwald and Valentines (1985) Deterrents to Participation Scale (DPS-G) and incorporated the Rosenberg (1965) Self-Esteem Scale and Robitschek (1998) Personal Growth Initiative Scale to investigate employee perceptions of deterrents to participation. For purposes of this study, participation was defined as enrolment in a course, workshop, seminar or training program for which the employee had requested prior approval and reimbursement of expenses from their employer. <p>Principal components analysis identified the combined category and factor, workplace issues as having the greatest potential for decreasing deterrents to participation for Commission employees. Results indicated (1) the mean score on the item personal growth initiative was significantly lower for respondents with one year of post secondary education than for both respondents with two years and greater than four years of education after high school; (2) the mean score on the item personal growth initiative was significantly lower for respondents in the office and clerical occupational category than for all other Commission work groups. <p>Another significant factor was that thirty-two percent of Commission staffs were eligible to retire within five years. Sixty-six percent of staffs were between the ages of forty-six and sixty. Survey data revealed the mean score on the item lack of relevance was significantly lower for respondents with greater than ten years until retirement than for respondents with three to five years until retirement. This result was anticipated, as Martindale and Drake (1989) clearly indicated that the closer one was to retirement, the less relevant education for career became. Marginally significant difference in the mean score on the item lack of relevance between respondents with one to two years until retirement and those with three to five years revealed a contradicting hypothesis. Participation in education, training, and development was less relevant to persons with three to five years until retirement than for those expecting to retire in one to two years. Personal and family constraints also influenced employee participation in educational opportunities. <p>In order for the Commission to become a learning organization as indicated in the Draft Human Resource and Organizational Learning Strategy, 2003, innovative strategies are required to include all staffs in training and development. Thus, by identifying a framework of deterrents, the Commission could use this checklist as a tool in future planning and policy development efforts related to staff professional development. Participation by Commission employees in surveys related to this study has increased their awareness of opportunities to participate in personal and professional growth initiatives.

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School districts across the country are faced with teacher shortages in critical need areas such as special education and bilingual education. Further complicating this shortage is the movement to augment the existing teaching force with minority teachers in order to more closely reflect the changing demographics of the student population. Many states/districts have turned to alternative routes to teaching certification as the answer to expedite the recruitment of teachers. A largely untapped resource for new teachers can be found among the talented paraprofessional employees already employed within the school districts. Paraprofessional employees working in today’s classrooms offer a wealth of classroom knowledge and experience in these potential teachers. Districts seeking to recruit these employees as potential students need information on how to support and promote the hiring of teachers representative of minority groups that reflect the demographic composition of the student population. The primary purpose of this study is to identify the obstacles faced by paraprofessionals in a large urban school district who aspire to become certified teachers by pursuing a bachelor’s degree. Using naturalistic inquiry techniques, paraprofessionals wishing to become teachers completed questionnaires and participated in individual interviews. The data were examined and categorized using qualitative techniques in order to identify recurrent and common emerging themes where community colleges and universities can work to increase their support of these students and where school districts can increase levels of supports.

Alternative teacher certification (ATC) programs are one method created to help alleviate teacher shortages (Cox, Matthews, & Assoc, 2001; Hallinan & Khmelkov, 2001). While much debate has arisen over ATC programs, very few have empirically examined their impact on the teaching pool (Darling-Hammond, Berry, & Thoreson, 2001; Darling-Hammond, Chung, & Frelow, 2002; Goldhaber, 2000; Ingersoll, 1999; Shen, 1997, 1999). The present study was designed to explore differences by certification type and program characteristics based on novice teachers' demographics, educational attainment, sense of self-efficacy, and sense of preparedness to enter the classroom. Results from the present study suggest ATC programs are somewhat diversifying the teaching population by bringing in more minorities and science majors, but do not appear to be bringing in more experienced scientists and mathematicians nor do they appear to be alleviating the teacher shortage. In this sample, traditionally certified teachers felt better prepared than ATC teachers with the biggest differences on Promoting Student Learning. Regardless of certification route, prior classroom experience was a strong predictor of Overall Preparedness and a teacher's perception of his or her ability to be an effective teacher. For ATC teachers, a positive mentoring experience was a strong predictor of Overall Preparedness. The discussion of whether or not ATC programs should exist should now be replaced with a discussion of how to ensure that these programs produce better teachers and improve student learning. The underlying theme from the present study was that, in order to feel prepared and have high self-efficacy, novice teachers needed instruction in the majority of the components identified by research and by the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future (1996), including positive mentoring experiences, field based experiences, and curriculum based on child development, learning theory, cognition, motivation, and subject matter pedagogy. Results from the present study support the assertion that teacher preparation programs, program components, mentoring experiences, and field-based experiences do impact teacher effectiveness in the classroom.

Texte remanié de: Thèse de doctorat--Faculté de droit--Université de Fribourg, 2004. / Bibliogr. p. XXII-XLIX.

Texte remanié de: Thèse de doctorat--Droit--Université de Liège, 2007. Titre de soutenance : La confrontation du droit judiciaire et du droit des obligations en matière d'homologation sensu lato. / Diffusé en France. Bibliogr. p. 455-501.

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Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 185-190). / ix, 190 leaves, bound ill. (some col.), maps 29 cm

Airworthiness certification of commercial transport aircraft requires a safety analysis of the propulsion system to establish that the probability of a failure jeopardising the safety of the aeroplane is acceptably low. The needs and desired features of such a propulsion system safety analysis are discussed, and current techniques and assumptions employed in such analyses are evaluated. It is concluded that current assumptions and techniques are not well suited to predicting behaviour of the propulsion system in service. The propulsion accident history of the high bypass ratio commercial transport fleet is reviewed and an alternate approach to propulsion system safety analysis is developed, based on this accident history. Features of the alternate approach include quantified prediction of propulsion related crew error, engine-level reliability growth modelling to realistically predict engine failure rates, and quantified credit for design features which mitigate the effects of propulsion system failures. The alternate approach is validated by applying it to two existing propulsion systems. It is found to produce forecasts in good agreement with service experience. Use of the alternate approach to propulsion system safety analysis during design and development will enable accurate prediction of the expected propulsion related accident rate and identification of opportunities to reduce the accident rate by incorporating mitigating features into the propulsion system/aeroplane design.