Thesis advisor: Maria E. Brisk / This dissertation analyzed how exemplary mainstream teachers of English Language Learners (ELLs) taught these students across contexts--English monolingual immersion and bilingual. The research for this study was grounded directly in the teaching practices of exemplary teachers for English Language Learners (ELLs). Teacher participants undertook inquiry into their own practices to provide the knowledge and information needed to assist other teachers in improving their practices with ELLs. The research in this case drew upon previous research in the area of professional knowledge and expertise. The major goal was to understand from a holistic viewpoint the successful teacher of ELLs--their backgrounds, knowledge and practices, and how these were mediated by teaching contexts--English monolingual immersion and bilingual. Using a constructivist grounded-theory design, four descriptive case studies were the focus of the dissertation. Using interviews, observations, recall sessions, and a focus group, each teacher was studied to determine their backgrounds both personally and professionally, teaching practices, and attitudes towards ELL students, in order to create a theory of what it takes to be an effective teacher of ELL students. The results suggest that certain background experiences can positively impact the teaching of ELL students: learning a second language, being immersed in a culture different from one's own, and an understanding of second language development. The results also indicated common patterns among the teachers' planning and preparation, teaching practices, and attitudes towards their ELL students. Commonalities in teachers' planning and preparation included the use of themes and units, language goals for their ELL students, knowledge of students' backgrounds, and preparation of exemplars and models. Commonalities in classroom practices included repetition of key vocabulary and phrases, prompting and coaching ELL students, thoughtful grouping and pairing, frequent check-ins with ELL students, and, in the bilingual context, use of the students' first language for learning and instruction. Finally, all of the teachers demonstrated common observable attitudes towards their ELL students such as kindness, sensitivity, and encouragement. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2008. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Curriculum and Instruction.

The role of literacy skills in learning and the ability to have the cognitive learning skills necessary to receive, process and make meaning of information is core to academic achievement at school. Many learners whose underdeveloped literacy skills prove to be a considerable barrier to learning struggle to make any significant progress at school, particularly at secondary school if these learners have come into their grade eight year from a remedial primary school where only a limited curriculum is taught. Often these learners drop out of the educational system altogether with no real alternatives available to them. Inclusive education policy states that schools must do everything they can to make the curriculum accessible to all learners regardless of their barrier to learning. This research project examined the critical success factors of implementing a one-on-one mediated literacy programme to eight selected grade eight learners as part of their school programme. The learners selected to be participants on the programme were identified from an analysis of background history, educational testing, and parent and teacher recommendations as learners whose specific barrier to learning was associated with inadequate literacy skill ability. The programme was called the Integrated Approach to Literacy Instruction(IATLI), and it combined the mediation of literacy skills simultaneously with metacognitive learning strategies. The research project was participatory in nature, as the researcher was the mediator of the programme to the eight learners. The project was based on participatory action research theory, and was a case-study design implemented at an independent secondary school in Johannesburg. The methodology used to evaluate the research project was a mixed research design incorporating structured surveys of the teaching staff, pre- and post-testing of the eight learners using standardized educational tests that evaluated literacy ability, semi-structured interviews with the teachers who taught the eight learners, and commentary from the learners themselves recorded in the researcher’s journal. Quantitative and qualitative analysis of the data indicated that the programme was a worthwhile initiative, and that certain critical success factors of the IATLI programme’s implementation emerged. Of these critical success factors, highlighted in the research sub-questions, success was often more evident in some learners than others. The data also highlighted a number of challenges that the programme’s implementation exposed, notably sustainability of the programme in the long term, as the programme was driven by the learning support specialist and the factor of burnout with regard to the intensive nature of the programme and its demands on the learner participants and the school’s internal structures. Other challenges that emerged were the practical aspects of integrating an inclusive education initiative into the demanding high school curriculum, and addressing the paradigm shift necessary to get all educators collaborating with learning support programme outcomes and then supporting initiatives in their own teaching.

The aim of this study was to examine the protruding school concept NPF-säkring at the public school Källbrinksskolan in Sweden. Pupils with neuropsychiatric disabilities are particularly at risk to not reach the goals of the education and to have high school absence, which can lead to social exclusion later in life. The school in this study are well-known through Swedish media and claim that they have a solution to the challenges the Swedish school system face today therefore they have formed their concept specifically to the pupils with neuropsychiatric disabilities. The aim of this study was to perform a case-study to examine what the concept implies, it’s main logics and how it affects the institution. Using triangulation while studying various documents connected to the school concept, as well as one observation at the school after school hours, five main logics of the school concept became distinguishable. The analysis were divided into two parts where the first part focus on the main logics of the concept analyzed through Universal design of learning as a theoretical perspective and the second part consists of the theory of the Institutions three pillars to understand the institutional function and its relation to its context of the society. As a conclusion it came apparent that the main logics consists of physical environment, flexible structure, relational approach, encouragement for students' self-determination and overall approach at the school. The institutional function of the concept is distinctly connected to the increased awareness regarding the consequences of neuropsychiatric disabilities throughout society and by developing a new school concept, the institution there-by question the traditional Swedish school-system.

Background: Family businesses are a complex, overlapping system of business, ownership, and family, which contribute between 70 to 90 percent of the World’s economy. Family businesses do however struggle to survive over generations, to which only 30 percent makes it to the second generation, emphasizing the need for further research within this field, in order to increase the survival rate and positively affect the World’s economy. Purpose: To fill the research gap within succession in family businesses, by investigating the phenomenon of succession planning and how history matters, through the use of the path dependence framework. For this, we are analyzing the second generational Swedish family business, Holtab, which have undergone a conflicted succession in the past and now are planning for the next succession, to which we seek to answer, “How does path dependence influence succession in family businesses?”. Method: Qualitative, single case study with a relativistic ontology and a social constructionism epistemology to showcase how actors construct their realities, which follows an interpretivist philosophy. We follow abductive reasoning with an explorative research strategy to investigate the theory of path dependence, applied to the Swedish family business named Holtab.            Data was collected through in-depth interviews, both semi-structured and unstructured with open-ended questions. Conclusion: Our findings, with the framework of path dependence, clearly show that history matters, as the acknowledgment of it triggered the process of professionalization at Holtab and set a focus for a planned, well-thought succession process, in order to learn and build on the mistakes of the past [history].

Background: Sweden is the home to many successful startups. The lack of IT-developers causes companies to use offshore outsourcing to realize their ideas. In research, there are studies on what needs to be done to outsource successfully. Researchers and practitioners argue that different perspectives on the impact of success need to be considered. Many studies show that the quality of the partnership relationship between customer and supplier is essential for the success of an outsourcing project. However, there are little studies on how success in outsourcing for a start-up comes about in the pre start-up phase and from which factors this depends. Purpose: This research has the purpose to understand why software startups outsource offshore in the pre-startup phase and how success can be achieved in these outsourcing projects. The partnership relationship has an influence on the success of outsourcing and is influenced by several factors. This research aims to find critical success factors in the pre start-up phase for offshore outsourcing. Method: To find answers to our research questions a multiple case study within 9 Swedish start-ups was conducted. Therefore, we collected all data through semi-structured interviews based on an interview guide. The critical success factors in outsourcing in the pre start-up phase were analyzed using content analysis methods. Conclusion: Our results show that outsourcing was an essential business step for all the examined software start-ups in order to realize their idea. In most cases, tactical reasons like availability of resources and costs savings were why start-ups chose to outsource software development to a provider abroad. The quick confirmation of ideas was another important aspect for some start-ups:  "fail fast and fail cheap". All investigated factors play a role in offshoring success, but communication, which directly influences trust, has the biggest influence on outsourcing success in the pre start-up phase of a firm. All other success factors influence the trust between client and vendor, which has a positive influence on the outsourcing success. It turns out that factors such as performance become more relevant in a more mature phase of the business.

With growing attention to sustainable development, the role of sustainable innovations has gained increasing significance. Due to their high innovativeness, research has begun to recognize the importance of small companies that base their entire business rationale on sustainability, as they have a central role in creating solutions to some of the most critical environmental issues of today. The key aim of this paper is therefore to explore the emergence of ecopreneurial startups with sustainable innovations in order to develop a deeper understanding of how they grow and operate. By using a case study approach based on semi-structured interviews and secondary data sources, this study examines four Finnish startup companies. The results suggest that the emergence of the studied startups is highly linked to the ecopreneurs’ ability to identify potential business opportunities and to innovate through exploiting both their own and others’ previous knowledge. In addition, various internal and external aspects such as the work teams’ skills and expertise together with different push and pull factors contribute to the innovation development process around which the emergence of the companies is built. / Till följd av växande uppmärksamhet på hållbar utveckling har rollen av hållbara innovationer blivit allt viktigare. Mindre företag kännetecknas ofta av en hög grad av uppfinningsrikedom, och kan därmed ses som viktiga aktörer i att utveckla hållbara lösningar till några av de största miljöhoten idag. Forskning har följaktligen börjat att rikta fokus på speciellt de små företag som har byggt upp deras hela verksamhetsidé på hållbarhet. Huvudsyftet med denna studie är att undersöka uppkomsten av nystartade ekoprenöriella företag med hållbara innovationer för att få djupare förståelse om hur dessa företag växer och fungerar. Genom att utföra en fallstudie baserad på semistrukturerade intervjuer och sekundära källor granskar denna studie fyra finska nystartade företag. Resultatet visar på att uppkomsten av ekoprenöriella nystartade företag är starkt sammankopplad till ekoprenörens förmåga att identifiera potentiella affärsmöjligheter och innovera genom att utnyttja både sin egen och andras förkunskap. Vidare finns det diverse interna och externa faktorer, såsom teamets förmågor och expertis samt olika push- och pull-faktorer som påverkar innovationsutvecklingsprocessen som lägger grunden till företagens uppkomst.

[pt] Esta dissertação tem por objetivo avaliar a eficácia da gestão do processo de mudança organizacional de uma empresa familiar brasileira da área de saúde que está passando por uma fase de sucessão e busca de maior profissionalização. Para atingir este objetivo foi realizada uma pesquisa de campo e uma análise qualitativa, comparando os dados levantados com os conceitos identificados na literatura. Os dados foram coletados através de entrevistas informais, análise de documentos da empresa e observação participativa, no período de julho de 2005 a janeiro de 2006. O estudo verifica se o processo de mudança organizacional da empresa estudada foi ou não bem sucedido e, também, o avalia à luz do modelo proposto por John P. Kotter para a implementação eficaz de mudanças nas organizações, comparando os oito passos propostos pelo autor com o ocorrido na empresa. A avaliação do processo de mudança levou à constatação de que este não foi bem sucedido. O resultado desta pesquisa sugere aplicabilidade do modelo de Kotter à medida que evidencia que diversos passos apontados pelo autor não foram seguidos e tal fato ocasionou problemas no processo de mudança da organização. / [en] This essay aims to make an assessment regarding the management of the organizational change process and its effectiveness within a Brazilian familiar company. The object of this study is a health company that is going through a succession period and is in search of improving its professional profile. In order to achieve this goal, a field research and a quality analysis were realized, comparing the data obtained and the concepts identified in a selected literature. Data was collected through informal interviews, analysis of the company`s documents and as a participant observer, from July 2005 to January 2006. This study evaluates if the organizational change process has succeeded or not, also considering the model proposed by John P. Kotter for the efficient deployment of changes in organizations, comparing the eight-stage change process proposed by the author to what actually occurred in the company. The analysis of the change process led us to the conclusion that it was unsuccessful. The result of this research suggests that the eight-stage change process is applicable to the situation studied since it makes clear that several stages mentioned by the author were not followed and this fact has caused problems in the organizational change process.

Most recent research show that the role of the modern controller has changed from thetraditional bean counter towards a business partner role. However, all literature does notagree with this notion, claiming that the controller is still more of a bean counter. Further,what it actually means to be a business partner also differs between researchers. The rolechange has also brought several new challenges for the controller. The purpose of this studyis to examine what it means to be a controller at a consultancy company in the IT industry,and what challenges and opportunities exist for business partnering. This is achieved usingcase study as the research design, including qualitative data from interviews of ten controllersof different seniority. The findings are analyzed through a theoretical framework consistingof role theory combined with previous literature on the topic. The findings of the study showthat the role of the controller at the case company shared more similarities with the traditionaldescription of a bean counter than a business partner. While more elements of businesspartnering started to appear as seniority increases, the controllers still felt like they weredoing too much bean counting activities. However, some opportunities for businesspartnering were still found at the company. The study suggests four major challengescontributing to role issues and hindering the controllers from becoming business partners.The four challenges are related to (1) lack of adaptation to new technology, (2) a centralizedorganizational structure, (3) the interplay between financial and business departments, and (4)accountability issues.

I analyzed the hairy experience of seven women participating or linked to MaYHAIR initiative, through the ex/in-corporation framework (Zeiler, 2013). MaYHAIR is a movement inviting to question the double standards on body hair by challenging people to keep their body hair for the whole month of May. Although previous studies mainly focus on hairlessness and body hair removal, I concentrate in this study case on the - feminine – experience of body hair and the excorporation feeling that realization of the hairless norm may create. I address the acceptance of one’s body hair leading to the acceptance of one’s body; the politization associated with hairiness; the importance of intersectional concern leading to challenging choice rhetoric; as well as the necessity for support and diversity of representations.

The Circular Economy was developed as a response to the prevailing linear model of material use. The goal of the concept is to eliminate waste and mitigate environmental impacts by transforming the economic system into one that pursues a circular flow of materials and resources, in contrast to the current make-use-waste paradigm. While the concept has gained some momentum in the past years, there is still no definition that is agreed upon by scholars and practitioners. While the goal of the Circular Economy is clear, the perspectives on how this can be achieved differ. This study focuses on the Circular Economy at the city level via a case study of Uppsala, Sweden. The aim of this study is to gather the perspectives of actors active in circularity and to determine whether they agree on how the Circular Economy can be achieved. While there are a large number of actors involved in Circular Economy in Uppsala, this study focuses on two actor groups: the municipality and businesses. Semi-structured interviews were conducted and the actors' responses were analysed in regard to the actor's underlying ideology, their role within Circular Economy and their perception on how a transition to a circular system should occur. The study's results reveal that the actors in Uppsala lack an overall consensus on how the Circular Economy should be achieved, even though they tend to agree on some aspects. Furthermore, the interviewed actors do not take into account the systemic perspective of the transition. In response to this finding, the waste hierarchy was updated with the aim to draw attention to this notion. Additionally, it is found that most of the interviewed actors mention co-operation among different organisations as being the key to achieving the Circular Economy, which could help to promote the Circular Economy in the future.