In 2003 school geography was in a state of crisis: enrolment in GCSE geography courses had fallen by a third over the previous eight years. In response, a radical new ‘pilot’ geography GCSE course was designed and implemented in England. The GCSE was an attempt to rejuvenate a school subject that had become out of date, with little change to its content since the inauguration of the National Curriculum in 1988. With student-centred learning at its heart the GCSE aimed to make the subject much more exciting and relevant to young people. The following thesis examines alternative pedagogical approaches to teaching school geography that draw on young people’s experiences as citizens and consumers to make geography more relevant and interesting to them. Written as an unfolding story this multi-sited ethnography began by exploring the networks behind the pilot. This involved not only several different actors/groups of actors (including geography educators, academic geographers, geography teachers and school pupils) but also several different spaces (including schools, classrooms, organisation headquarters, working group meetings and publications). It moves on to examine how the GCSE’s approaches to teaching, learning and assessing were being played out in practice and to what extent its aims, claims and intentions were being realised in the classroom. Through exploring the pilot’s approach to the pedagogy of school geography my research became action-oriented in approach, and I became involved in co-creating critical, connective curriculum materials for the GCSE. The development of these new materials and teaching and learning strategies are situated within debates in human geography about critical pedagogy, young people’s geographies and public geographies and the thesis forges links between these different theoretical strands. I conclude by asking what lessons can be learnt from the pilot GCSE and its implications for the role of geography within a wider educational context. Written autoethnographically to reflect the collaborative and iterative nature of my research my intention has been to critically engage with multiple publics who are involved in this area.

The purpose of this action research study was to improve the education of Indigenous students enrolled at an inner-city urban alternative high school for adolescent mothers and/or mothers-to-be. Seven adult students agreed to participate in this study, as did the English Language Arts teacher who facilitated the critical literacy classroom activities. The study investigated the impact that critical mathematics and critical literacy activities had on developing students’ critical consciousness (Freire, 2000), which is a key component of transformative learning (Mezirow, 1997). The findings indicate that the cumulative effect of the critical curricular activities enacted during this study led to critical consciousness development in students, and thereby contributed to a more transformative learning experience for them. The findings also indicate that action research was integral to changing the mathematics and English Language Arts classroom practices in this study. / February 2017

In 1968, Dr. Margaret Walker Alexander, professor of English at Jackson State College, founded a Black Studies Institute in Jackson, Mississippi. This study is an intellectual, institutional and social movement history that utilizes archival research and textual analysis of Alexander’s writings, poetry, and work as teacher and director of the Institute in the context of the Black Campus Movement (BCM) and Black Freedom Struggle. It pushes the boundaries of historiographical scholarship on BCM that overshadows the epistemological and aesthetic politics of women faculty-activists who ushered forth racialized and gendered analysis as well as developed the foundations of Black Studies.

There is a growing movement of indignation around the world that is calling out injustice and developing creative strategies to stand up to power and change the world. These are sparks that have flared up in the Arab spring, the occupy movement, idle no more, massive strikes in South Africa, environmental protests and many more. A growing body of literature suggests that movements such as these are not isolated instances but a growing global movement, despite what the mainstream media suggests (e.g. Brecher, Costello and Smith 2002; Hall, Clover, Crowther and Scandrett, 2012). This participatory action research tells the story of one grassroots environmental protest campaign. The protest campaign is ongoing and organized by non-native environmental kayaktivists in Coast Salish territory. It culminates each year in a five-day human powered flotilla of 100 people through the Salish Sea to connect communities and protest increased tanker traffic and a fossil fuel based economy. The research was both suggested and guided by the organizer activists. Their voices are openly represented in the research in order to reflect and appreciate their expertise and role in the research. The story this research tells demonstrates the role and value of protest campaigns in challenging root inequalities and presents practical strategies for building capacity for a global movement of social and environmental change that connects and addresses intersectional oppression globally. It also problematizes activist settler and First Nations relations. The research situates these campaigns as important sites of public learning and presents practical strategies for teaching and learning as if the world mattered. The organic and experiential approaches to learning revealed are applicable to informal, non-formal and formal learning practices. The research challenges the incestuous, white male, Eurocentric, hierarchical control of knowledge and knowledge making that has been used for centuries to justify and hide oppression and exploitation of imperialism, colonisation and war. This research emphasizes the need for creative solutions to the planetary crisis at hand, which require a reflection on the world and our position in it from diverse cultural perspectives. This means listening and learning from the wisdom of those who have been silenced. It requires a new type of learning that values wisdom over cleverness and places peaceful co existence at the centre of the curriculum. Learning in grassroots protest campaigns, such as the one represented in this case study, offer possible strategies for carrying out such learning. / Graduate / 0516, 0768, 0700 / capelton15@gmail.com

Orientador: Newton Duarte / Banca: Dermeval Saviani / Banca: Ana Maria Lombardi Daibem / Banca: Juliana Campregher Pasqualini / Banca: Lígia Márcia Martins / Banca: Nadia Mara Edit / Resumo: O Estado de São Paulo é o principal centro mercantil, corporativo e financeiro brasileiro. A Secretaria de Estado da Educação de São Paulo (SEE) administra mais de 200 mil professores, quatro milhões de alunos e cinco mil escolas. Diante desses números, verifica-se a importância de se desvelar a política educacional na rede estadual de ensino de São Paulo. Nossa tese central é que o construtivismo, implantado pela Secretaria de Estado da Educação de São Paulo em 1983, é elemento estratégico de sua política educacional e tem implicações decisivas para a baixa qualidade da educação destinada aos estudantes da rede de ensino paulista. O objeto da pesquisa é, portanto, a concepção pedagógica construtivista e sua tradução nos documentos oficiais da Secretaria de Estado da Educação de São Paulo. O objetivo deste trabalho é examinar, à luz da pedagogia histórico-crítica, a relação entre o construtivismo como referencial pedagógico e a política educacional do Estado de São Paulo dos governos de André Franco Montoro, Orestes Quércia, Luiz Antônio Fleury Filho, Mário Covas Júnior, Geraldo José Rodrigues Alckmin Filho e José Serra, situando o contexto de produção e implantação dos programas e documentos da SEE, em especial aqueles publicados pela Coordenadoria de Estudos e Normas Pedagógicas (CENP) e Fundação para o Desenvolvimento da Educação (FDE), relativos ao Ciclo I do ensino fundamental no período de 1983 a 2008. O método de coleta e análise dos dados desse trabalho é o método materialista histórico-dialético, que se fundamenta nos pilares da contraditoriedade, totalidade e historicidade. Nossas conclusões remetem à constatação de que o construtivismo, como filiado ao neoliberalismo e ao pós-modernismo, tem sido adotado hegemonicamente por se adequar aos interesses da classe dominante em ofuscar uma verdadeira formação... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: The state of São Paulo is the main trading, corporate and financial center of Brazil. The Ministry of Education of São Paulo (SEE) manages more than 200 000 teachers, four million students and five thousand schools. Given these numbers, it appears to reveal the importance of political education in state schools of São Paulo. Our central thesis is that constructivism, implemented by the Ministry of Education of São Paulo in 1983, is a strategical element of its educational policy and has decisive implications for the low quality of education for students of São Paulo. The object of this research is therefore the constructivist pedagogical concept and its conversion in the official documents of the Ministry of Education of São Paulo. The aim of this work is to examine, in the light of historical-critical pedagogy, the relation between constructivism as a pedagogical framework and the educational policy of the state governments of Sao Paulo namely André Franco Montoro, Orestes Quercia, Luiz Antonio Fleury Filho, Mário Covas Júnior Geraldo Jose Rodrigues Alckmin Filho and Jose Serra, setting in the context of production and implementation of programs and documents from the SEE, especially those published by the Department of Studies and Pedagogical Standards (CENP) and Foundation for the Development of Education (FDE) for the first cycle of basic education in the period 1983 to 2008. The method of data collection and analysis of this work is the historical dialectical materialism method, which relies on the concepts of contradiction, totality and historicity. Our conclusions refer to the fact that constructivism as affiliated to neoliberalism and postmodernism has been adopted for the adjustment to the hegemonic interests of the dominant class obscuring true emancipator education by highlighting assumptions which undermine the possibilities of schooling as an actual contributor to overcome the capitalist society / Doutor

This quantitative, non-experimental study was conducted to investigate the link between school principal influence actions, climate, culture, and school performance. Additionally, this study sought to determine if the influence of these variables or the relationship among them is altered by individual and/or institutional characteristics. The first phase of the study was conducted to determine whether or not the Customer Survey aligned to distinct dimensions. Two factors were identified: Staff Attitudes and Student Disruptions. The second part used regression to examine the relationships among four constructs and test the seven hypotheses. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2014. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Esta pesquisa argumentativo-narrativa propõe-se a investigar a construção do multiculturalismo como conceito no Brasil, especialmente no contexto das propostas de diversidade, como tema contido nas propostas de currículo nacional (Parâmetros Curriculares Nacionais), no contexto do ensino de Língua Estrangeira. O ensino de línguas no Brasil é permeado por uma pedagogia tecnicista, em que o conceito de diversidade é vinculado à multiplicidade de experiências culturais, dissociado do conflito cultural, garantidor de tolerância e consenso. A Pedagogia Crítica, ao propor uma abordagem dialética de cultura, como fenômeno social em processo, e a educação/o currículo como uma forma de política cultural, possibilita uma crítica do currículo, da escola, e das propostas educacionais brasileiras, e reconhece tais espaços como interceptados por interesses particulares, posições macropolíticas específicas e narrativas mestras identificadas com um discurso neoliberal, que formatam nossas subjetividades e as práticas culturais que nos governam. Esta pesquisa, defendendo uma abordagem multicultural crítica, investiga um conceito de diversidade que reconheça o poder da diferença, que questione e desafie as estruturas de poder dominantes, que mascaram a desigualdade. Em especial esta pesquisa examina propostas alternativas de hibridização cultural no currículo, sob a perspectiva de uma pedagogia reflexiva, crítica e transformadora. / This argumentative-narrative research investigates the multicultural construction in Brazil, especially the diversity proposal contained in the Parâmetros Curiculares Nacionais, in the context of Foreign Language teaching. Language teaching in Brazil is also permeated by a technicist pedagogy, in which the concept of diversity is connected to the multiplicity of cultural experiences, dissociated of the cultural conflict that guarantees tolerance and consensus. The Critical Pedagogy, when proposing a dialectic approach of culture, as a social phenomenon in process, and considering education/curriculum as a form of cultural politics, enables a criticism of the curriculum, of school, and of the Brazilian educational proposals that recognizes such spaces as intercepted. They are intercepted by particular interests, specific macropolitical positions, master narratives identified with a neoliberal discourse, which format our subjectivities and the cultural practices that guide us. This research, in defending a critical multicultural approach, investigates a diversity conception that recognizes the power of difference, which interrogate and challenge the domain structures and power relations that disguise inequality. Especially, this research examines alternative proposals of cultural hibridity in the curriculum, from the perspective of a reflexive, critical and transformative pedagogy.

Thesis advisor: Sharlene Hesse-Biber / Service-learning is an experiential form of education that moves students outside of the walls of academe to meet community-identified needs through the application and renegotiation of a set of theoretical and methodological skills. It is simultaneously a teaching strategy, an epistemological framework, and an educational reform movement. This research takes the form of multi-methodological case studies of service-learning classrooms and service-learning partnerships, examining the translation of feminist pedagogy to the service-learning experience. The voices of students, faculty, pioneers, administrators, and community partners articulate the common and uncommon struggles of teaching a new generation of students to learn and serve in agencies while simultaneously recognizing their own capacity for agency. This work provides evidence that applying feminist pedagogical principles to service-learning initiatives creates more meaningful transformations for our students, faculty, and communities. The interdependent Feminist Service-Learning Process posited here is an innovative framework for moving our students across the civic borders necessary for community engagement. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2010. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Sociology.

A mudança do paradigma analógico para o digital, emergente da revolução tecnológica pela qual passamos, juntamente com o grande interesse atual pelo uso das TICs nos processos de ensino e aprendizagem da língua inglesa, motivaram esta pesquisa. Com o objetivo de investigar os processos de (des)construção de sentidos tanto dos alunos como dos professores, além de vivenciar a complexidade que emerge das aulas de inglês pensadas a partir da presença das TICs, a pesquisa se desenvolveu em duas fases: 1) elaboração do projeto Familiarização com o uso da língua inglesa através do computador, implementado na escola pública com alunos do quinto ano do Ensino Fundamental, e, 2) a observação, no ano seguinte, de aulas de inglês e de informática, para uma turma de sexto ano da rede pública. A pesquisa mesclou as metodologias qualitativa (MAXWELL, 2005), interpretativa (ERICKSON, 1986) e de fundo etnográfico (GEERTZ, 1973), enquadrando-se no gênero da autoetnografia (PRATT, 1992; ELLIS; ADAMS; BOCHNER, 2011). Os dados, aqui chamados de momentos significativos, ou seja, momentos que apontam para aspectos da mudança de paradigma de analógico para digital foram analisados a partir dos pressupostos das teorias pós-coloniais (BHABHA, 1994), pós-modernas (VATTIMO, 2004), do letramento crítico (MENEZES DE SOUZA, 2011; SHOR, 1999), dos novos letramentos (LANKSHEAR; KNOBEL, 2003; BURGESS; GREEN, 2009) e multiletramentos (COPE; KALANTZIS, 2000). A análise dos momentos significativos corroborou a hipótese de que há uma relação entre os processos de ensino e aprendizagem de inglês e as novas tecnologias que pode contribuir para mudanças na construção de sentidos dos atores envolvidos. Para tanto, é necessário haver um forte investimento no processo de autoletramento crítico por parte do professor. Entendido como exercício de auto-observação no encontro com o outro durante o processo de construção de sentidos, o autoletramento crítico pode auxiliar na compreensão da complexidade das relações entre professores, alunos e construção de conhecimento a partir do paradigma digital. Nesse exercício de auto-observação, o presente trabalho foi elaborado na forma de narrativa, entendida como um processo de criação de significação, uma forma de fazer sentido (BRUNER, 2001), com foco principal nas ações (ARENDT, 2010) dos atores envolvidos no processo de ensino e aprendizagem, recortados aqui nas figuras dos alunos, professores e pesquisadora. / Emerging from the present technological revolution, the change from the analog to the digital paradigm, together with the ever-rising interest in the use of ICTs in ELT motivated this research. Aiming at investigating both teachers and students meaning-making processes as well as experiencing the complexity involved in the teaching of English as a foreign language as far as ICTs are concerned, this research was developed in two phases: designing the project entitled Familiarização com o uso da língua inglesa através do computador (English language familiarization via computer), implemented in the Brazilian Public School with a group of fifth graders and, in the following year, the observation of English and Computer classes for a group of sixth graders. This research follows a methodology which combines qualitative (MAXWELL, 2005), interpretative (ERICKSON, 1986) and ethnographic (GEERTZ, 1973) perspectives, fitting into the autoethnolographic genre (PRATT, 1992; ELLIS; ADAMS; BOCHNER, 2011). The data, here named meaningful moments, that is, moments which point to aspects of paradigm changes from analog to digital were analysed using the theories of post colonialism (BHABHA, 1994), post modernism (VATTIMO, 2004), critical literacy (MENEZES DE SOUZA, 2011; SHOR, 1999), new literacies (LANKSHEAR; KNOBEL, 2003; BURGESS; GREEN, 2009) and multiliteracies (COPE; KALANTZIS, 2000). The analysis of the meaningful moments confirmed the hypothesis that there is a relationship between the English teaching and learning processes and the new technologies which may contribute to changes in the meaning making process of those involved. Thus, a considerable amount of investment in the process of critical self-literacy is necessary on the teachers part. Taken as the exercise of self-observation in the very moment when the self meets the other in the meaning-making process, critical self-literacy may foster the understanding of the complexity of relationships between teachers, students and the construction of knowledge within the digital paradigm. Throughout this exercise of critical self-observation, the present dissertation was written as a narrative, as a meaning-making process, a way of making meaning (BRUNER, 2001), focusing mainly on the actions (ARENDT, 2010) of those involved in the teaching and learning processes, represented here as the students, teachers and the researcher.

Given the demands of the era of accountability and standardization, the purpose of this study was to explore how educational leaders construct their identity and agency. The study utilized overlapping post-structural and critical theoretical frameworks on identity and agency to analyze how high school principals interpret and enact comprehensive school reform rhetoric and their state’s educational leadership standards. In addition to several cycles of coding, a critical discourse analysis was performed with the input of the participants’ high schools in order to further analyze the form and function of discourses, socially situated meanings, and ideologies that constitute being an educational leader and doing the work of an educational leader. The findings from the study revealed that the high school principals discursively construct their professional identity and agency by engaging in discourses and social practices related to managing the personnel, numerical data, and external expectations of the organization. As a result, the participants use the comprehensive school reform rhetoric as a way to legitimize and rationalize their duty as educators. The socially situated meaning attributed to the state’s educational leadership standards is not as clear, with the participants dismissing their value for a lack of context. In interpreting and enacting the school reform policy mandates set forth by the district and the state, principals conserve a corporatized model of school leadership that borrows much of its neoliberal language from the business sphere. The principals are positioned as mid-level managers, confirming Foster’s (2004) description of the contemporary school leader who is preoccupied with controlling the numeracy, information systems, and language of the organization. Future research should focus on performing critical discourse analysis studies with the upper levels of management, including, but not limited to, the central office and the office of the superintendent, as a way of exploring a more transcendent meaning of schooling and school leadership that focuses on human development. This study has the potential to provide leadership preparation programs and policymakers significant insight into the problems, paradoxes, and possibilities of school reform rhetoric and its impact on local school leaders. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2016. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection