Research on school principals has been narrowed to the factors leading to attrition or retention with little focus on the recruitment and development. The decreasing number of individuals applying for school principal positions has led some school districts to implement new methods to recruit and develop future school principals. One method being used by some large, urban school districts is the creation and implementation of leadership academies; however, few studies have been conducted to determine the effectiveness of this tool in aiding the recruitment and development of aspiring school principals.The purpose of this case study was to investigate the effectiveness of a leadership academy implemented in an urban school district to increase the recruitment of school leaders. Participants were assessed on their perceptions of the effectiveness of the leadership academy, in one urban school district, to prepare them for the school principal role. A qualitative, embedded case study approach was used to describe these perceptions. The study participants consisted of 12 individuals who were working as principals or assistant principals in the district after participation in the leadership academy. The data was based on participants' responses from 25 semi-structured interview questions, non-participant observations, and a document analysis of materials used in the leadership academy.The data revealed four assertions 1) the leadership academy provides an avenue for the district to identify individuals interested in the principal position and get to know the leadership styles of each individual; 2) participants believe the leadership academy aided in their preparation for a principal position in the district; 3) the application and selection process enabled the district to identify individuals interested in the principal position; and 4) the leadership academy was an indirect tool for recruitment. The findings showed that all study participants felt the leadership academy was a valuable experience and did aid them in their journey to becoming a school principal. The findings from this study support the use of a leadership academy as a tool to develop aspiring school principals; however, further research is needed to determine the effectiveness of the leadership academy in recruiting future school leaders.

This thesis explores the process of implementation of the FA's Charter Standard scheme in England. The football development scheme, for schools and clubs, is the first nationally led initiative to attempt instantiate structures and minimum standards of practice at the junior level of football in England. Implementation of the scheme has taken place within the context of New Labour s modernising drive for sport. Moreover, the area of grassroots football has escaped any sustained analysis in academia. Therefore, the thesis aims to provide insights into this area and re-dress the balance somewhat from the pre-occupation of analysing the elite levels of the game. The nature of implementation is complex and multi-faceted, and a primary aim of the study is to identify and analyse the dynamics of implementation in three distinct geographical areas (or clusters) of grassroots football. The study focuses on the meso level of analysis, which centres on the structures and dynamics of relationships between County FA personnel, grassroots football volunteers, teachers and sport development professionals whose responsibility it is to implement the Charter Standard. The macro level of analysis is also briefly considered, where the primary concern is to highlight how such individuals are constrained or facilitated in implementing the Charter Standard, and the relative positions of power they occupy. A qualitative methodology is utilised to elicit data in respect of implementation, generating themes and issues specific to each of the three case studies (or clusters), allowing for general comparisons. Within the case study approach, the dialectical approach to policy networks is applied to provide a framework in which to analyse and discuss theories and processes of implementation. This has proved useful in highlighting conflict and ambiguity between individuals regarding the ethos, and criteria within, FA Charter Standard criteria. Indeed, it is evident that implementing the Charter Standard is problematic for both professionals and volunteers within the context of modernisation. The study concludes by noting changes in the practice of grassroots football. Volunteers have been drawn into football development work which has altered their experience from a largely spontaneous, leisurely activity of choice, to one in which they are expected to conform to professionalised practices in order to implement, and gain Charter Standard accreditation for their club or school.

Professional learning, commonly referred to in policy and practice as continuing professional development, is presented to teachers as both a requirement and an entitlement in current education policy (Gewirtz, 2002; Ball, 2003). This work explores the ways in which professional learning is experienced by three teachers, and the meanings they attribute to those experiences. The study adopts a narrative approach to these accounts (Clandinin, 2013; Clandinin and Connelly, 1996; 1998; 2004) and is underpinned by the recognition of the complexity in the interplay between the individual teacher and their social context specifically focusing on “the relationship between the state, the ideologies of professionalism, and lived interiority” (Hey and Bradford, 2004: 693). The methodology was developed to overcome the problem of policy and aspects of practice that fail to focus on the effective involvement and engagement of teachers in professional learning: the teachers have become “missing persons” (Evans, 1999: i). The research process placed the meaning made by the teachers of their past experiences, and the way they understood them in the present, at the centre of the research (Kelchtermans, 2009; MacLure, 1993). Data were collected as part of a collaborative process with teachers who shared and analysed their narratives of professional learning through a series of research conversations. The teachers gave accounts of the people and incidents that they understood to be significant in influencing their professional learning, in relation to their expectations of themselves and of professionals and people more generally. In doing so they drew on both professional and personal contexts (Makopoulou and Armour, 2011). There were significant challenges in relation to ethics, analysis and re-presentation. This study illustrates the complexity and contingency of teachers’ professional learning through their understanding of themselves and their interaction with, and response to, significant people and incidents (Kelchtermans and Vandenberghe, 1994). Their “stories to live by” (Clandinin and Connelly, 1998: 149) illuminate the ways in which teachers explain the complexities and contingencies underpinning their experiences of professional learning. The data illustrate the crucial role that context plays in understanding professional learning (Clandinin and Connelly, 2000: 27) and the challenges teachers face in balancing their roles as policy subjects and policy actors (Ball, Maguire, Braun and Hoskins, 2011a and b). This work makes a unique contribution to the field of professional learning by using the detailed individual cases of each teacher to illustrate general concerns for the development of effective policy and practice. It also contributes to the methodological debates around the use of narratives as a means of understanding the “human condition” (Arendt, 1958). The data challenge us to consider the possibilities that narrative accounts and analyses offer for the generation of knowledge in this area with implications for both teachers and other professionals, and policy and practice.

Submitted by admin tede (tede@pucgoias.edu.br) on 2016-09-19T13:14:29Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Rosenilda Maria de Moraes Silva.pdf: 2671598 bytes, checksum: 9eb66262ea2a535c92d5c801ed1fc684 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-09-19T13:14:29Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Rosenilda Maria de Moraes Silva.pdf: 2671598 bytes, checksum: 9eb66262ea2a535c92d5c801ed1fc684 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-03-22 / This research aims to describe the regional development policies of the Midwest, especially in the states of Goiás and Mato Grosso. The Midwest is presented as area of modern production and agroindustrial strong economic dynamism, region considered until recently as a demographic void and as an area dedicated only to agricultural activities of subsistence, extraction and rudimentary mining. Public investments in infrastructure streamlined the region from the Target Plan. Policies to encourage agricultural modernization and the occupation of the cerrado areas impacted by strong growth after the 1970s in the states of Mato Grosso and Goias transformations in agriculture come diversifying the economic profile, contributing to the new scenario of the agribusiness track this is due mainly to the importance of infrastructure in the road network, which has not followed the development of the region. To theoretically support this research, we used the various authors. Among which stand out Moyses (2012), Arrais (2013), Silva (2012), Gomis (1998), Palacín and Moraes (2008), Estevam (1997), Barrat (2011) and Negret (2010), among others. The survey also shows the economic and social profile of the micro-Iporá, showing the problems that it is facing from the shortcomings of the municipal and intermunicipal road network, impacting from the production flow, to school transport, interfering with economic development and social region. / A presente pesquisa tem como objetivo descrever as políticas de desenvolvimento regional da região Centro-Oeste, em especial dos estados de Goiás e Mato Grosso. O Centro-Oeste se apresenta como área de moderna produção agroindustrial e forte dinamismo econômico, região considerada até recentemente como um vazio demográfico e como área vocacionada apenas para atividades agrícolas de subsistência, extrativismo e mineração rudimentar. Os investimentos públicos em infraestrutura dinamizaram a região a partir do Plano de Metas. As políticas de incentivo à modernização agrícola e à ocupação das áreas do cerrado impactaram em forte crescimento após a década de 1970. Nos estados do Mato Grosso e Goiás as transformações na agropecuária vêm diversificando o perfil econômico, contribuindo com o novo cenário da trilha do agronegócio, isso deve-se, sobretudo à importância da infraestrutura na malha rodoviária, que não tem acompanhado o desenvolvimento da região. Para fundamentar teoricamente esta pesquisa, recorreu-se a diversos autores. Entre os quais se destacam Moysés (2012), Arrais (2013), Silva (2012), Gomis (1998), Palacín e Moraes (2008), Estevam (1997), Barrat (2011) e Negret (2010), entre outros. A pesquisa também apresenta o perfil econômico e social da microrregião de Iporá, demostrando os problemas que a mesma vem enfrentando a partir das deficiências da malha viária municipal e intermunicipal, impactando desde o escoamento da produção, até o transporte escolar, interferindo no desenvolvimento econômico e social da região.

The central aim of the thesis is to define the approach of EU development policy towards Africa since the end of the Cold War. It focuses on the unexplored areas of the available literature on the subject, specifically the impact of EU development policy on the domain of international development and the objective of the EU to become a prominent international actor. The thesis relies on Martha Finnemore’s Social Constructivist research. It concentrates on the dynamics maintained by the EU with the normative basis that characterises the structure and agents of international development, and assesses how it affected EU behaviour, as expressed through its development policy towards Africa in the considered timeframe.1 By doing so, the thesis exposes both the marked effect of EU development policy in the domain of international development, and the form of ‘paradise’ (model of development) the EU promoted in Africa. The empirical support in the thesis is comprised of archived data, official documents, press releases, published reports, speeches, and personally conducted interviews. Following the method of research, the thesis focuses on tracing the norms that characterise EU development policy towards Africa over time. Therein, the thesis largely confirms the identified agents as the source of the norms that define the structure of international development, and the EU as its derivative. It argues that EU development policy is currently a general projection of the normative structure of international development, specifically regarding the policy orientation of its identified agents. As a result, it contends that the EU fell short of its efforts to export its form of ‘paradise’ to Africa in the proposed timeframe as a corollary of its limitations to stand as a distinct and leading actor in the domain of international development. Thus, the thesis makes a fresh contribution to the understanding of EU development policy towards Africa and the objective of the EU to become a prominent international actor in the twenty-first century.

The aim of this thesis is to examine the term balanced collection in relation to Swedish laws and the democratic assignment. The Unesco Public Library Manifesto states that libraries are to formulate a policy defining objectives, priorities and services in relation to local community needs. The Swedish Libraries Act, paragraph 7, states that municipalities and counties shall adopt plans for library services. To fulfil our aim we will answer the following questions. By which terms is the democratic assignment visible in Swedish public libraries collection development policies? Is the term balanced collection used in Swedish public libraries collection development policies? If not, are there categories describing balanced collection? Do the terms in Swedish collection development policies differ to the six categories found by Farooq M. Ali in English-speaking literature? And if so, what does this difference suggest? The method used is a qualitative content analysis and we solely examine Swedish public libraries and their written collection development policies – we have not conducted any follow-up interviews. The six different categories found by Farooq M. Ali are analysed in correlation to our coding of the terms stated in the collection development policies of Swedish public libraries. Our survey shows that Ali’s six categories are not that common in Swedish public libraries collection development policies but that there are other categories and terms with the same significance. The most common categories are books, media, representation and the category not violence, pornography or racism. The two least common categories are weeding and demand. / Uppsatsnivå: D

In Central America, two conflicting narratives are used to describe the relationship between forest cover and water availability, with implications for management of water resources throughout the region. Many resource managers believe forests increase dry season water availability, but scientific consensus refutes this perspective. This study analyzes the narratives explaining the relationship between forest cover and dry season water yields in Central America and how they influence resource management. In a case study of the Sasle catchment in Nicaragua, I use a combination of satellite imagery analysis and SWAT hydrologic modeling to investigate land use change over the past 25 years and the potential impact of these changes on the hydrology of the catchment. False perceptions of the role of land cover in hydrology are influencing management practices in sensitive headwater catchments and creating unintended results. A broader perspective on the socio-political and scientific context of these narratives is needed.

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<p>The European Union is the greatest donor of the world. Until 2002, the south African country Zimbabwe was a recipient of European development aid. Due to major disagreements over key issues, such as human rights and democratic principles, theEuropean Union has partially suspended official development cooperation in 2002. Zimbabwe has not longer fulfilled the criterions of Good Governance, which isdemanded by the European Union. In order to restore the respect for human rights and ademocratic way of governance, the EU has posed sanctions and resolutions. This study provides a study of the outcomes of these repressive measures. Have the sanctions led to a better governance performance in Zimbabwe? Before the terms Governance and Good Governance will be explained into detail, the first part of the thesis is spotting out the European Union as a normative actor.</p>

Patrimonialer Sozialismus Clan-Herrschaft in Turkmenistan Polizei in Georgien Zentralasiens Präsidenten Organisiertes Verbrechen in Bulgarien Albanien als Familienstaat Hybride Staaten im Südkaukasus Entwicklungspolitik von NGOs Afrika ad portas? Die T-Frage im Bundestag Vom Sein und Schein der Transformation