Department of Currirulum Studies and Educational Management / MEDCS (Curriculum studies)

Sustainability has emerged in mainstream higher education over the last few years, and the fields of community-based learning and sustainability education are closely linked through their emphases on active, experiential learning in place-based contexts. In order to create ecologically literate citizens to more adequately address environmental problems, there is a logical connection between teaching about sustainability and engaging students in the community, which can serve as a relevant forum to address sustainability issues. However, there is a problem in that educational programs and courses dealing directly with sustainability topics across the higher education landscape often do not emphasize or include experiential, community-based elements. Understanding this relationship is crucial to advance the field of sustainability with meaningful community engagement. This research investigated the pedagogical strategies and frameworks that are foundational in undergraduate capstone courses that include sustainability education and community-based learning. A sample of five community-based, interdisciplinary senior capstone courses at Portland State University was examined through semi-structured interviews with course instructors and syllabi review. Three broad themes emerged as common values among the instructors: connectedness and relationships, community and place, and diversity and inclusiveness. Reflection was a tool utilized universally by instructors to personalize the learning process, cultivate understanding of connectedness and relationships, and incorporate feelings into the learning process. Competencies and skills related to sustainability and those related to civic engagement were very similar; engagement in community is a sustainable practice. This study provides cogent support for the notion that achieving meaningful, transformative sustainability learning requires community-based learning.

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Text in Afrikaans / The researchers' own interaction with the community caused her to recognize that the safety of pre-schoolers and toddlers in high risk areas are being jeopardised because sexual education is not applied soon enough. The aim of this research study was to determine the needs of role-players in the high risk area in terms of community education regarding the safety of pre-schoolers. A quantitative approach was followed, which focussed on applied research and the exploratory and descriptive objectives of the research in order to facilitate a better understanding of the research phenomenon and to understand the specifics of the situation. The Randomised Cross-sectional Survey design was implemented. The analysed findings were presented graphically and interpreted in order to reach conclusions and present the recommendations of the study. The general conclusion based upon the empirical findings of the study is that there is a great need for community education regarding the safety of pre-schoolers in the high-risk area, Danville. / Social Work / M. Diac. (Play Therapy)

Text in Afrikaans / The researchers' own interaction with the community caused her to recognize that the safety of pre-schoolers and toddlers in high risk areas are being jeopardised because sexual education is not applied soon enough. The aim of this research study was to determine the needs of role-players in the high risk area in terms of community education regarding the safety of pre-schoolers. A quantitative approach was followed, which focussed on applied research and the exploratory and descriptive objectives of the research in order to facilitate a better understanding of the research phenomenon and to understand the specifics of the situation. The Randomised Cross-sectional Survey design was implemented. The analysed findings were presented graphically and interpreted in order to reach conclusions and present the recommendations of the study. The general conclusion based upon the empirical findings of the study is that there is a great need for community education regarding the safety of pre-schoolers in the high-risk area, Danville. / Social Work / M. Diac. (Play Therapy)

Agricultural and educational researchers recognize the critical value of an integrated, multidisciplinary approach to education in building a food-secure world, reducing poverty, and conserving and enhancing natural resources. However, schools generally contribute little to communities in the context of food growing and environmental learning. The main objective of this qualitative research was to explore the role of school-community relationships in enabling environmental learning in the context of food growing activities. Findings suggest that the role of school-community links in enhancing environmental learning is more likely where community members are actively involved in school programs that have an emphasis on an experiential learning approach. However, this depends to a large extent on the availability of parents or concerned community members and their willingness to engage in voluntary school-based activities. Factors that could potentially strengthen the role of school-community links in supporting environmental learning include: allowing space for informal learning, mediating learning in civil society settings, ongoing facilitation by a committed coordinator, community buy-in and accountability, and addressing public interests through tangible benefits. A major challenge is to find an appropriate balance between social justice and practical food security concerns, while remaining true to ecological considerations.

The thesis deals with the theoretic concept of Contextual Pedagogy and its application in the context of a disempowered and marginalized society, the Ju/'hoansi ("Bushmen") of Nyae Nyae in North Eastern Namibia. Contextual Pedagogy derives from the notion of Contextual Theology and is thus initially based on a pedagogical analysis of the KAI ROS-Document, whereby its sociopolitical content and its inherent methodology are being transferred into a context of pedagogy. Referring to theoretical concepts of Critical Theory and Liberation Pedagogy, Conditional Fields are being identified in a first analysis which determine and explain the pedagogical situation in a colonial context of Apartheid South Africa. During a three-year qualitative field research, central aspects of Contextual Pedagogy are being applied within the framework of the development of a post-colonial and community-based school programme in Nyae Nyae, the Village Schools Project. This school programme comprises a curriculum for a teacher training course as well as a curriculum for Grade 1-3 learners in five selected villages of Nyae Nyae, and is based on the dynamic processes between the communities, the Student Teachers and the author as their Teacher Trainer and Village Schools Co-ordinator. A further theoretical evaluation and reflexion of the field research gives rise to a pedagogical superstructure of Contextual Pedagogy, which also investigates the notions of power, empowerment and over-empowerment within a context of development work. By doing so, the previous Conditional Fields of pedagogic work within a theoretical framework of Contextual Pedagogy become extended in relevance for a pedagogical context of a post-colonial society with special reference to marginalized subjects. In conclusion, the finalization of the research project and its subsequent handing-over process to the Namibian government analyzes the paralyzing effects of an excessive bureaucracy, and the resurgence of conservative and colonial thought in the young and fragile democracy of Namibia. / Educational Studies / D.Ed.(Didactics)

This study is based on a need for community involvement in farm schools to enhance effective teaching and efficient learning. The rationale behind it was to determine the current state of community involvement in farm schools in the Pietermaritzburg area, with a view to determining the extent to which the current community i nvolvement, namely, the active participation of parents, teachers, the farmer, the church, the state and the private sector could be extended on a large scale. The study revealed that the community involvement dimension of schooling is central to the teaching profession. If neglected, no effective teaching and efficient learning can materialise. The role of the farm school principal in the realisation of this goal is indispensable. The empirical survey and literature revealed that farm school principals can address the serious shortcoming concerning the participation of community members in the affairs of farm schools. / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (Comparative Education)

Cette recherche a pour but d’étudier le rapport à l’école et à la scolarisation de parents d’élèves récemment immigrés au Québec. Plus précisément, elle étudie les représentations sociales (RS) de ces parents sur les systèmes scolaires de leurs sociétés d’accueil et d’origine ainsi que les stratégies qu’ils déploient pour soutenir l’expérience socioscolaire de leurs enfants dans le contexte scolaire québécois. L’originalité de notre étude réside à la fois dans le recours aux RS pour étudier le rapport à l’école des parents, dans la considération de leur situation prémigratoire et dans le croisement de deux points de vue sur la situation d’intérêt, soit celui de parents récemment immigrés ainsi que d’intervenants et d’intervenantes communautaires scolaires interculturels (ICSI). Ancrée dans une démarche qualitative interprétative exploratoire, notre collecte de données s’est faite auprès de six ICSI (6) et de vingt-cinq parents d’élèves québécois récemment immigrés (25). Les deux groupes de sujets ont été rencontrés dans le cadre d’entrevues semi-dirigées. La technique d’associations libres a aussi été mise à profit auprès des parents, afin de favoriser l’accès à la complexité de leurs RS (Carassus et Dosquet, 2010; Vidal, Rateau et Moliner, 2006). Selon nos résultats de recherche, les RS des parents récemment immigrés sur le système scolaire québécois s’ancrent plus largement dans leur expérience migratoire : motifs d’immigration et conditions d’établissement expérimentées dans la société d’accueil. Aussi, nos résultats ont montré la pertinence de structurer les RS des parents autour de quatre grands thèmes : l’intégration scolaire, sociale et professionnelle assurée par l’école; le développement intellectuel et la forme scolaire; divers enjeux de socialisation véhiculés à l’école et dans la société québécoises; les relations école-familles immigrantes. Dans ce sens, bien que les parents mettent en contraste divers éléments des systèmes scolaires de leurs sociétés d’accueil et d’origine, leurs RS du système scolaire québécois sont surtout ancrées dans des perspectives d’avenir pour leurs enfants, interpellant fortement la capacité de l’école à intégrer ces derniers dans les milieux scolaires et socioprofessionnels de la société d’accueil. Aussi, nos données convergent vers le désir de nombreux parents que le capital humain de leurs enfants soit actualisé à leur plein potentiel dans le contexte migratoire. Nos résultats montrent aussi l’ancrage de l’école à un moment et dans un espace donnés, alors que les RS des parents illustrent souvent des valeurs socioculturelles véhiculées à l’école québécoise et des modalités des relations école-familles pas toujours connues des parents récemment arrivés au Québec. Le croisement des regards des parents et des ICSI révèle aussi de nombreuses stratégies mobilisées par les parents récemment immigrés pour soutenir l’expérience socioscolaire de leurs enfants dans la société d’accueil que nous avons catégorisées ainsi : stratégies déployées «à la maison», stratégies déployées «à l’école» et stratégies déployées «en lien avec la communauté». Nos résultats tendent à montrer que l’actualisation du rôle de parent d’élève «à l’école» est soumise à des modalités plutôt instituées par le milieu scolaire. Aussi, les résultats de notre recherche mettent en lumière un décalage intéressant entre la mobilisation et la proactivité accrues de nombreux parents récemment immigrés ainsi que l’invisibilité de ces dernières pour le milieu scolaire, surtout lorsque les stratégies sont déployées dans l’intimité du milieu familial ou dans des contextes liés à la communauté. Le croisement des données recueillies auprès des parents et des ICSI permet aussi de préciser les besoins d’accompagnement des parents récemment immigrés pour une meilleure maîtrise des enjeux du milieu scolaire de la société d’accueil et permet de faire ressortir des pratiques des milieux scolaires et communautaires qui semblent soutenir cet accompagnement. De manière générale, nos résultats convergent vers la pertinence d’accorder une plus grande considération aux parents dans le processus d’intégration des enfants récemment immigrés à l’école du Québec et de favoriser l’établissement de relations école-familles ancrées dans une perspective de partenariat. Enfin, il semble que l’école ne puisse arriver à elle seule à soutenir l’intégration des familles récemment immigrées dans le milieu scolaire québécois ainsi que la réussite scolaire des enfants et que les ICSI représentent des ressources stratégiques à cet égard. / This research aims to study newcomer students’ immigrant parents’ relationship in regards to school and education in Quebec. Specifically, we examined these parents’ social representations (SR) with respect to the host and home societies’ school systems as well as the strategies they deploy to support their children’s educational experience in Quebec’s school context. The originality of our study lies in the use of the SR concept to explore the relationship between newcomer parents in Quebec and school, the consideration of their premigratory situation and, in crossing two views on the situation of interest: newcomer immigrant parents and community, education and cross-culture worker (CECW). In the context of a qualitative interpretative exploratory approach, our data collection was done with six CECW (6) and twenty-five newcomer students’ immigrant parents in Québec (25). In both cases, we have made semi-structured interviews. Also, to access the complexity of SR, we used the technique of free associations with the parents (Carassus & Dosquet, 2010; Vidal & al., 2006). According to our results, parents’ representations of school system in Quebec were mostly based on their migratory experience: reasons for migrating and conditions of establishment in the host society. Also, our results revealed the pertinence to structure parents' SR around four main themes: children’s school, social and professional integration into the host society; intellectual development and school structure; various socialization issues conveyed into school and into society; relationship between school and immigrant families. In this regard, although parents compare various elements between school in the host and home societies, their SR of school in Quebec are generally related to the future of their children, and these SR highly raise school’s ability to integrate their children in the school and socio-professional contexts. Also, our data converge to express many parents’ the desire to see their children’s human capital being at its full potential in the migratory context. Our results also shows that school is rooted in a specific context, while the parents’ SR often illustrate socio-cultural values conveyed in Quebec’s school, and while the terms of relationship between school and families are not always known by immigrant parents. These two points of view - those of parents and CECW -, when put into perspective, also reveals the several strategies mobilized by immigrant parents to support their children's educational experience in the host society. These strategies have been categorized as follows: strategies deployed "at home", "in school" and "with community". Our results suggest that the actualisation of the role of "in school" students’ parents is subject to some terms imposed by school. Also, our results highlight an interesting gap between parents mobilization and proactivity to support their children, and the fact that their actions are invisible for school, especially when strategies are deployed in the privacy of the family environment, or in collaboration with the community. Putting into perspective these two points of view also led us to clarify the support needed by newly immigrated parents to manage different issues related to school and schooling in the host society. Also, we have been able to identify practices deployed by school and community that are likely to support newly immigrated parents in the school context. Overall, our results converge to the pertinence of giving greater consideration to parents in their children’s integration process in Quebec’s school and on the necessity of encouraging greater partnerships between school and families. Finally, it seems that school cannot ensure on its own the integration of newcomer immigrant families and the academic achievement of newly immigrated students in Quebec's schools. In this regard, ICSI seem to be strategic resources.

The thesis deals with the theoretic concept of Contextual Pedagogy and its application in the context of a disempowered and marginalized society, the Ju/'hoansi ("Bushmen") of Nyae Nyae in North Eastern Namibia. Contextual Pedagogy derives from the notion of Contextual Theology and is thus initially based on a pedagogical analysis of the KAI ROS-Document, whereby its sociopolitical content and its inherent methodology are being transferred into a context of pedagogy. Referring to theoretical concepts of Critical Theory and Liberation Pedagogy, Conditional Fields are being identified in a first analysis which determine and explain the pedagogical situation in a colonial context of Apartheid South Africa. During a three-year qualitative field research, central aspects of Contextual Pedagogy are being applied within the framework of the development of a post-colonial and community-based school programme in Nyae Nyae, the Village Schools Project. This school programme comprises a curriculum for a teacher training course as well as a curriculum for Grade 1-3 learners in five selected villages of Nyae Nyae, and is based on the dynamic processes between the communities, the Student Teachers and the author as their Teacher Trainer and Village Schools Co-ordinator. A further theoretical evaluation and reflexion of the field research gives rise to a pedagogical superstructure of Contextual Pedagogy, which also investigates the notions of power, empowerment and over-empowerment within a context of development work. By doing so, the previous Conditional Fields of pedagogic work within a theoretical framework of Contextual Pedagogy become extended in relevance for a pedagogical context of a post-colonial society with special reference to marginalized subjects. In conclusion, the finalization of the research project and its subsequent handing-over process to the Namibian government analyzes the paralyzing effects of an excessive bureaucracy, and the resurgence of conservative and colonial thought in the young and fragile democracy of Namibia. / Educational Studies / D.Ed.(Didactics)