This study sought to investigate the involvement of parents in the development of their children’s literacy. The study was conducted in a rural school in the Omaheke region of Namibia, a school selected for reasons of representativeness and convenience. The research took the form of an interpretive case study focussing on a study sample of nine parents, their children, and one teacher in the Ngeama community. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and then subjected to comprehensive descriptive analysis. The findings of the study indicate that parents in the Ngeama rural community have not been effectively involved in their children’s acquisition of literacy, for a number of reasons. These include the parents’ not feeling appropriately empowered to influence the development of their children’s literacy, the absence of environmental literacy programmes within the community, and the shortage of literacy materials such as newspapers and magazines. Perhaps the most important factor is that there is no public or school library in the Ngeama community. In view of these findings, the study recognizes a need for parental empowerment in terms of knowledge, skills, understanding and resources allocation regarding the education of their children. It recommends that a relationship of trust and understanding be built between the school and the community to ensure the sound development of literacy skills. The study further recommends the establishment of a library in order to enhance the literacy levels of teachers, parents and children alike.

The National Curriculum of Education was implemented with the broad view of including all learners as laid out in the document Toward Education for All. The curriculum emphasised that the topic distillation should be studied. According to the Examiners Reports, the topic distillation is one of the topics where learners face difficulties in the Namibian Senior Secondary Certificate Ordinary (NSSCO) examination Grade 12. This led me to do research on understanding how Physical Science teachers mediate the topic distillation in Namibia specifically in the Kavango region. The study was carried out at two rural schools with two teachers teaching Grade 11. The community member who I asked to demonstrate the making of Kashipembe was also a participant during this study. Kashipembe is a local cultural brew alcohol beverage commonly made in the Kavango East and West Regions of Namibia, which was used as a learning context in this research study. The study used a qualitative case study underpinned by an interpretive paradigm. Data was generated through the use of document analysis, semi-structured interviews, stimulated recall interviews, lesson observations, brainstorming and practical demonstration of making Kashipembe. These different methods of data gathering were used with the aim of triangulating and validating the data. Therefore, my theoretical framework adopted Vygotsky’s (1986) mediation of learning, social constructivism and pedagogical content knowledge according to Shulman’s (1986) theory. The emergent themes were identified inductively and they were colour coded. These themes were later developed into analytic statements which were used in the study. The findings indicate that the use of community knowledge and experience during the teaching of scientific concepts like distillation is important. These findings can also be used by the practising teachers to make their teaching more effective in the curriculums where distillation is included. Therefore, the Namibian curriculum developers need to include this community knowledge in the curriculum to make it easier for the learners to make sense of the topic distillation.

Submitted by Jakeline Ortega (jakortega@unoeste.br) on 2017-06-03T14:27:00Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Edileuza Donizete Rocha Mirandas.pdf: 571682 bytes, checksum: 00c1758789574dd66711ca57d937607e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-06-03T14:27:00Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Edileuza Donizete Rocha Mirandas.pdf: 571682 bytes, checksum: 00c1758789574dd66711ca57d937607e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-12-15 / Due to the increase of violence in the school environment related to several situations that involve verbal, physical and symbolic aggressions carried out by basic education students, the Secretariat of Public Education of the State of Sao Paulo (SEESP), in partnership with the Secretariat of Public Security (SSP), has instituted the System of Public Protection in the State Educational System and the role of School and Community Mediator Teacher (PMEC), which aims to coordinate planning of actions destined to prevention, mediation and resolution of conflicts in the school environment. This investigative proposal has the goal of questioning the effectiveness of school mediation through analyses of the PMEC’s considered good practice in a public school that is connected to a Board of Education (DE) in the inner state of Sao Paulo. A case study was methodologically carried out and oriented by a qualitative research approach, in which techniques for data generation consist in analyses of normative resolutions, reports and evidences from the performed work, book of occurrences and semi-structured interviews. This thesis has shown many fragilities regarding the School Protection System, as these public policies interfere direct and indirectly in the effectiveness of the PMEC’s work in the Sao Paulo State schools. Through the obtained data, it was noticed that school mediation goes through a strong transition period, going from the Retributive Law, which has a more punitive nature, to the Restorative Law, based in restorative practices in conflict resolution. It was possible to perceive the effectiveness in the PMEC’s work through what is considered good practice; however, many things need to be reviewed so that a more pacific school environment can be implemented. This will only be possible with a collaborative work between the school agents, investments in formation, monitoring and assessment of projects. Finally, this research’s results aim to assist in subsidizing other PMECs’ work, broadening the debate on public policies and contributing with proposals that can come to improve the work performed by these professionals on behalf of constructing a peace culture inside and outside schools. / Devido ao aumento das violências, no ambiente escolar, em relação às diversas situações que envolvem agressões verbais, físicas e simbólicas protagonizadas por estudantes da educação básica, a Secretaria de Educação do Estado de São Paulo (SEESP), em parceria com a Secretaria de Segurança Pública (SSP), instituiu o Sistema de Proteção Escolar na Rede Estadual de Ensino e a função de Professor Mediador Escolar e Comunitário (PMEC), que visa a coordenar o planejamento de ações destinadas à prevenção, mediação e resolução de conflitos, no ambiente escolar. A presente proposta investigativa tem como objetivo problematizar a efetividade da mediação escolar a partir das análises das consideradas boas práticas do PMEC, em uma escola pública pertencente a uma Diretoria de Ensino (DE) do interior do Estado de São Paulo. Metodologicamente, efetuamos um estudo de caso orientado pela abordagem qualitativa de pesquisa, cujas técnicas para a geração de dados consistiram em análises das resoluções normativas, relatórios/evidências dos trabalhos realizados, livros de ocorrências, entrevistas semiestruturadas. Essa dissertação demonstrou muitas fragilidades, no que se refere ao Sistema de Proteção Escolar, pois essas políticas públicas interferem direta e indiretamente na efetivação do trabalho do PMEC, nas escolas paulistas. Pelos dados obtidos, percebemos que a mediação escolar passa por um forte momento de transição, da Justiça Retributiva de cunho mais punitivo para a Justiça Restaurativa, que tem suas bases nas práticas restaurativas de resolução de conflitos. Pôde-se observar a efetividade do trabalho do PMEC, através das consideradas boas práticas, no entanto, muitas coisas necessitam ser revistas, para a implantação de um ambiente escolar mais pacífico, o que só será possível por meio de um trabalho coletivo entre os agentes escolares, investimentos em formação, acompanhamento e avaliação do projeto. Enfim, espera-se que os resultados desta pesquisa sirvam para subsidiar o trabalho de outros PMECs, ampliando o debate sobre políticas públicas, contribuindo com propostas que venham a aprimorar o trabalho realizado por esses profissionais, em prol da construção de uma cultura de paz, dentro e fora das escolas.

This program evaluated the effectiveness of the program interventions implemented during the 2002-2003 school year in the Riverside County Office of Education's Cal-SAFE pregnant and parenting minor program. Two researchers divided the twelve school sites, gathered data and formulated information to assess the effectiveness of the program on continuance or completion of high school after teen pregnancy.

Bibliography: pages 101-111. / This minor dissertation examines the nature of cooperation between schools and business/industry in an opportunity-deprived, less wealthy, disadvantaged sector of a specific community in the Western Cape. It will attempt to show that a community created by Apartheid and stripped of both political and economic power, can demonstrate the willingness and determination to work together and with business/industry towards forming, amongst others, sound, sustainable and effective school business/industry partnerships.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the current practices of school and community partnerships in five North Texas elementary schools. In addition, the study focused on the influence community partnerships have on at-risk students based on at-risk indicators data. The literature revealed that when schools, parents, and families work together, students tend to earn higher grades, attend school more regularly, stay in school longer, and enrolled in coursework beyond high school. The target population included approximately 350 administrators, teachers, and paraprofessionals from five North Texas elementary schools. Also included were the respective partners from each of the five elementary schools. This research included online survey instrument and data were gathered and analyzed through a combination of statistical procedures and descriptive and inferential statistics. The results may provide other schools with a profile of school and community partnerships that can be implemented as a method to help their at-risk student populations. Findings included a descriptive analysis of factors that contributed to the success of community engagement efforts as well as those factors that limited those efforts. A secondary purpose of this study was of continuous improvement in developing these approaches through a goal-setting approach. Schools included in the study provided a next steps plan by describing their major goal(s) for improving existing school and community partnerships over the next 3 years.

Community day school graduates enter society with decisions about college, career, and work. Community day schools operate as a non-traditional education system that provides a separate and often unique education to many disenfranchised students, with lessened accountability protocols to assess whether these systems prepare graduates for life after high school. The number of community day schools and enrollment is declining, due in part to excessive changes within the law and stricter guidelines required to be met.

The problem of this study is a comparison of minimum competencies needed for high school graduation as perceived by local professional educators to those perceived by the local school community. The source of data is Community Survey of Essential Student Skills. This survey instrument is a rating of the importance of minimum competencies by 1,931 patrons in the local school community. A total number of 401 professional educators had previously rated these competencies. The following conclusions are based on the analysis of each hypothesis and observations during the study. 1. There is an increasing amount of emphasis in the literature that major perceptual differences exist between professional educators and school communities. Educators need to identify and act upon the perceptions of their patrons. Increased emphasis upon community involvement is supported by findings of this study. For example, the community could be involved in curriculum development for life skills. Patrons, students and parents could serve on advisory committees to school boards. 2. There is evidence that increased communication efforts are needed to narrow the gap between perceptions of educators and school communities. Educators perceived the reading and writing skills in this study as Essential but patrons did not. Better clarification to patrons relating to why and how skills are taught would be helpful. Otherwise, it will appear to patrons that schools are out of step with requirements for coping in today's society. 3. Inflation has increased the cost of education, and taxpayers are not willing to support a system that they feel may not be doing an effective job. While there is a large majority of the American public that still has confidence in schools as indicated by the 1978 Gallup Poll, there needs to be a bolstering of support. It behooves educators to set and monitor expectations of achievement, provide resources to meet needs of diverse students, inform and involve patrons and promote a caring, disciplined atmosphere in all classrooms.

The purpose of this study is to examine educators' (teachers and school administrators) level of knowledge about the professional role of school social workers and the value that educators place on the functions carried out by social workers as pupil support personnel.

Good public relations as a necessary element. By good public relations for schools we mean that the school should carry on its work well and keep the whole community informed on how well it is doing. Since the total program of the school should be a sound one for acceptance by the public, each worker in the school is immediately involved. Not only administrators and principals but teachers, pupils and custodians must be well informed on what the school is trying to accomplish and how it is doing so. All participate in helping to inform the public. Newspaper coverage of Palm Beach High School by The Palm Beach Post, The Palm Beach Times, and The Palm Beach Post-Times Sunday paper, Aug. 18, 1952-June 12, 1953. / "A Paper." / Typescript. / "Submitted to the Graduate Council of Florida State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts." / Advisor: Herman F. Frick, Professor Directing Paper. / Includes bibliographical references.