The purpose of this study was to investigate the work of three administrators and their staffs as they attempted to solve the ill-structured problem of integrating students with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) into their schools. A further purpose of the study was to investigate the role played by schools in influencing community responses that would enhance the post-school lives of students with FASD.<p>The study was conducted throughout one academic year and involved three schools in northern Canada. The use of Problem Based Methodology (PBM) permitted research to be conducted within the schools to generate solutions to the problem. By working with their staff, administrators were afforded opportunities to examine their theories in action and engage in double-loop learning as they searched for new theories of action and alternate constraint constructs.<p>The data for the study were derived from interviews with participating practitioners, parents, health professionals, and District Educational Authority (DEA) members. This permitted the gathering of spontaneous comments and general opinions to be turned into systemic records and detailed statements. The use of PBM determined that data selection involved a search for behaviours in classes of interest. Potential classes of interest were identified prior to the beginning of the study. By the use of a constraint structure, parameters were established for acceptable solutions that generated a theory of action for the ill-structured problem. The four criteria of explanatory accuracy, effectiveness, coherence and improvability were used in theory adjudication (Robinson 1993). Critical dialogue was used between the researcher and participants to collectively make decisions and solve problems through the exchange of the best possible information.<p>The study suggested implications for organizational theory that could better enable administrators and staff to address this ill-structured problem. The isolation and lack of resources oblige staff to create conditions conducive to inquiry and learning (Schon 1983). In the case of initial solutions the theories in action were similar, suggesting that assumptions surrounding the role of contextual factors caused by the heterogeneous nature of the schools are misleading. Prior to the study by Godel et al. (2000) lack of diagnosis diffused the urgency of the problem. Following the publication of the data from that study the lack of screening and diagnosis was a major challenge to stakeholders. Generation of data on the children with FASD in northern communities is essential to generate an organizational and professional focus.

Thesis (M.F.A.)--Texas State University--San Marcos, 2008. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 62-65). Also available on microfilm.

Mobility and migration are features of this global era. Thus, most higher education institutions are increasingly recruiting international students. Host institutions and countries benefit in many different ways from this recruitment; however, the experiences of international students are still under-researched. Although studies examining the linguistic and cultural challenges that are encountered by international students have started to emerge, little attention has been given to those who did not complete their studies, particularly doctoral students. This study sheds light on four Chinese international doctoral students and explores the reasons for their withdrawal from their studies in a Canadian context. Using a narrative methodological approach, data were collected through semi-structured and in-depth interviews in the participants’ native language: Mandarin. Four themes and two sub-themes emerged from the interview data. The themes included: academic interactions and integration; partnership and the perception of gender roles; family of origin and the importance of education; and educational differences between China and Canada. Participants’ experiences during their doctoral studies did influence their decisions to withdraw. Specifically, the incompatibility with supervisors was one factor that directly led to the withdrawal of some research participants. However, other factors played key roles as well. The participants’ intentions and willingness to fulfil their gender roles and family obligations impacted their decisions in various ways. In addition, their past experiences in China and certain aspects of Chinese culture seem to have shaped their expectations about education and the supervisory relationship. / Graduate / 2019-08-20

This grounded theory qualitative study explores conceptualizations of Diné T'áá Bi At'éego, "a well-directed person," held by eighteen Diné people, ranging in age from their 20s to 70s, from three distinctly different communities. By inquiring into personal attributes and abilities valued in Diné culture, the groundbreaking work of Navajo philosopher Kenneth Begishe is extended. The purpose of this study is to identify and document specific characteristics, attributes, skills, knowledge, practices, connections, and relationships currently honored and respected within Diné communities so they might be used to develop long-term Student Learning Objectives in the creation of a Diné culture based curriculum supporting the development of a strong Diné identity in students. The data, provided by participants through interviews, leads to the emergence of four umbrella categories (Thinking, Doing, Being, Achieving Harmony) and numerous sub-categories constituting the characteristics attributes, skills, knowledge, connections, and relationships valued and respected by the participants. The results are compared to Kenneth Begishe's (1968) model of "Diné T'áá Bi At'éego," in which he indicates important characteristics of a well-directed person. The comparison suggests that Diné people continue to value many of the same characteristics Begishe identified more than four decades ago. In spite of the affirmation of characteristics represented in Begishe's model, participants in this study provide a recurring theme that is not articulated by Begishe - the achievement of harmony, which, a review of the literature reveals, is closely related to three important aspects of the Diné worldview, K'é, Sa'ah Naagháí Bik'eh Hózhó (SNBH), and Hózhó. Study findings suggest that although Diné people who participated in the project continue to value time-honored characteristics, attributes, skills, knowledge, practices, connections, and relationships in people they admire and respect, they do hold several conceptualizations that seem to be shifting away from traditional Diné perspectives and toward those held in the mainstream. Study data further reveals four categories of narratives used by participants to communicate and emphasize characteristics, attributes, skills, knowledge, practices, connections, and relationships exhibited by those who are "well-directed." The narratives range from traditional accounts involving mythical elements, to first-person descriptions of individuals with whom participants were intimately familiar.

This thesis reveals and explores contemporary relationships between film education, film industry and film culture within a UK context through a series of interviews, data analysis, historical research and international case studies. It highlights what appear to be binary oppositions within film such as divisions between theory and practice, industry and academia or art and entertainment and interrogates how they have permeated film education to the point where the relationship between film studies and film practice is polemical. Also, the thesis investigates how a relationship between two binary areas might be re-­engaged and it is within this context that this thesis addresses contemporary issues within UK higher education and national provision of film education. There is detailed analysis of UK film policy alongside the philosophies and practicalities of filmmaking to establish how connected the practice of filmmaking is to the film industry and national strategy. An international perspective is provided through the analysis of the film school systems in Denmark and the U.S. and this postulates potential future directions for UK film education, particularly within the university sector. A main focus of the thesis is to question film education by engaging with the voices of actual filmmakers and also via data analysis of the educational background of filmmakers as a way of developing film education. The thesis is undertaken at a time of major changes across film and higher education. Film production, distribution and consumption have undergone major technological evolution and the structures that were once in place to facilitate graduate movement into the workplace are changing and shifting. Simultaneously the identity of the university as a place of skills training or critical development is under consistent scrutiny. With this in mind this thesis seeks to engage with the potential future for film education.

The submitted diploma thesis focuses on the organizational culture in terms of preschool education, particularly at nursery schools. There are specific elements of the organizational culture for preschool education as well as factors that affect organizational culture at nursery schools within the external and internal environment of the school. This thesis diagnoses the organizational culture at a particular nursery school. Based on this diagnosis, we can say that a strong organizational culture can be created even at a nursery school. There is also the relationship between organizational culture, effectiveness of organization and quality of education that implies from the positive evaluation of this nursery school. The thesis draws up recommendations for this specific nursery school, which are focused primarily on communication and foreknowledge. Recommendations are designed for founders of public nursery school as well. In terms of public nursery school, there should not be an argument of a lack of funds from this perspective, there should rather be a better utilization of that a strong organizational culture offers.

The research presented in “Creating Identity” investigates Black identity formation within the Steve Biko Cultural Institute (Biko) in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, a pre-vestibular – or college entrance exam preparation course – for Afro-Brazilian high school and aspiring college students. The curriculum, Cidadania e Consciência Negra (Black Consciousness and Citizenship; abbreviated CCN) serves as a vital pillar to the institutional approach to Black identity. In a Eurocentric society like Brazil and a world where Black identity is largely discriminated against including in educational spaces, Biko represents a movement to combat the exclusion of Afro-descendant youth from university, improve self-esteem and perceptions of the value of Black identity, and change who graduates from Bahia state universities. Over the course of nine months, in 2015 and 2016, field data were collected in the city of Salvador, Brazil and at the Biko institute. Since the research was cross-linguistic, cross-cultural, and hosted internationally, I assumed a methodologically narrative approach. The research design incorporated a survey, interviews, observations, and document analysis. Forty-two students completed surveys, twenty-six Biko students, staff and alumni participated in interviews, and well over 400 hours of participatory field observation were completed. Policy, demographic and curricular documents were also analyzed. CCN heavily influenced participants’ identity development through student and teacher discourse. The institution is a center of critical activism in the community. Aside from being a major part of the instructional approach to preparation for the college entrance exam, CCN heavily influenced the relationships between participants and their families and friends over newly affirmed Black identities. Although Biko students and alumni became more socially alert to the racial issues in their communities, they remain at risk of being racially profiled. Additionally, understanding blackness through the eyes of participants required an understanding of class and gender structures in Brazil. One major implication of the research for the participants is: blackness is CCN is Biko. Thereby, knowledge production and interaction with universities by Biko students are heavily influenced by Biko tenets and ideologies discussing race and racism, prejudice, discrimination, women’s rights, and economic development.

Thesis (D. Miss.)--Western Seminary, Portland, OR, 2003. / Abstract. Includes Survey questionnaire and responses in French. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 285-293).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Toronto, 2005.

Thesis (Ed.D.) -- Teachers College, Columbia University, 1991. / Typescript; issued also on microfilm. Sponsor: Douglas M. Sloan. Dissertation Committee: William B. Kennedy. Includes bibliographical references: (leaf 139-143).