No Abstract available / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / D.Th. (Practical Theology)

While considerable attention has been paid to the supposed qualitative outcomes of changes in level of financial support for public school education, comparatively little is known about the effects of funding changes on the provision of educational services. An examination of the levels of government expenditure on education in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba from 1976 to 1987 reveals a strong relationship between the state of the provincial economy and levels of financial support. During this period funding levels increased and decreased in all the provinces, with British Columbia experiencing the largest and most frequent fluctuations. Indices were developed for this study to measure the changes in levels of educational services provided. These changes were found to be closely associated with funding levels. Analysis of data obtained from a sample of 20 British Columbia school districts revealed a similar pattern at the district level. In addition, the mix of services was studied, and significant changes were evident in the percentage of teachers employed in instructional as opposed to administrative and support positions. These changes were associated with changes in levels of financial support. Certain characteristics of school districts were identified as having the potential to explain different responses to funding changes. Regression analysis was used to test the resulting hypotheses, and produced largely inconclusive results. This study concludes that although the level and mix of educational services provided in western Canada varied as funding levels increased and decreased over the period studied, in the main school systems proved sufficiently resilient to maintain or even to increase the levels of service they ordinarily provided without dramatically altering the mix of instructional and support staff. / Graduate

This study characterizes the content and internal structure of a set of conceptions of outdoor education. Fifty-four English speaking Canadian university programs or courses which were labelled, or contained as essential parts of their descriptions. The term outdoor education or any of a series of related terms provide the basis for analysis. A conception is defined as a coordinated set of central concepts, values and procedures which are explicit or implicit in course documents. The study employed a methodological triangulation. Content analysis of course documents provided the description of the values, central concepts and procedures associated with each course. Q methodology was performed by course conductors to review the 'values' and 'central concepts' components found in the content analysis and to express their views of the significance of those values and central concepts. A focused interview was conducted with fourteen course developers to confirm, refute or extend previously obtained data. Q methodology produced a typology of outdoor education comprising five primary conceptions¹ and one secondary conception: The Outdoor Recreationist, The Adventurer, The Education, The Life Skills Entrepreneur, The Environmentalist, Distinguishing features of each conception and features common among the primary conceptions are discussed. Focused interviews produced information about course conductor attitudes and training , the program's relationship with other fields of study, the concept's need for clarification, the need for a common knowledge base in outdoor education, and its relationship with the natural environment, teaching, recreation and education. Suggestions for further investigation are briefly discussed. "Environmentalist", "The Educator", "The Life Skills Entrepreneur", and "The Administrator" are heuristic devices which refer to an ideal type of individual who embodies a co-ordinated set of central concepts, values, and procedures which are explicit or implicit a conception of outdoor education. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate

This survey study attempts to investigate the status and role of school psychologists in Canada and the extent of variation of their status and role across Canada. Canadian literature has almost nothing to say about school psychologists in Canada. Data were gathered on the distribution of personnel, the scope of the service, working conditions, qualifications for the position, activities undertaken, the nature of pupil problems referred, and views on the status and role of school psychologists held by educational officials and the school psychologists themselves Sources of data were a questionnaire survey, communications with educational officials prior to distributing the questionnaire, and documents submitted by departments of school psychology. Fifty nine (59) returned questionnaires plus evidence from documents implied a total of ninety five (95) school psychologists in Canada. The breakdown by province is as follows: Nova Scotia (3); New Brunswick (1); Quebec (6); Ontario (40); Manitoba (16); Saskatchewan (6); Alberta (13); British Columbia (10). A lack of official position regarding a status and role for school psychologists is characteristic of most Provincial Departments of Education, School boards, however, have considerable interest in school psychological services. School psychologists working for these school boards are given adequate status and direction in their work. Function, though not defined for Canada, shows pattern in the kinds of problems faced and in approaches to their solution, in the somewhat excessive scope of those duties that are preferred by school boards, and in professional activities. The preferred school psychologist seems to be one who possess an M. A. degree in psychology or a closely related, equivalent aspect of educations School psychologists express unhappiness caused by an over-emphasis on testing with minimum follow-up and by awareness of problems, both pupil and professional, that are impossible to cope with under present conditions. In terms of status and role, it is possible to distinguish school psychologists from other special service personnel such as guidance and counseling personnel. / Education, Faculty of / Graduate

This thesis is the study of the activities of the Agricultural Agents of Canada. As a background to this study the history of the Agricultural Extension Services was investigated and a brief historical record presented. Following the history is a study of the methods used to contact farmers by Agricultural Agents during the ten year period 1952 to 1961. The historical record begins with the "Agricultural Instruction Act" of 1913 which led to agricultural instruction being carried out by each province. When the assistance given under this Act terminated, agricultural instruction was left the responsibility of the provincial governments, and typically, each evolved a separate section to house the Agricultural Extension Service within its Department of Agriculture. Within this section the Agricultural Agents find a great degree of individual freedom but also the responsibility of carrying out many duties, some of which relate little to extension work, and consequently, detract from their effectiveness as Agents. The activities of the Agricultural Agents during the ten years 1952 to 1961 were studied, chiefly from information given in the annual reports of the provincial departments of agriculture, and, in particular, numerical data were sought and accumulated. The numerical data were copied onto key sort punch cards and from thence built into tables for each activity, most of which fell into the three classifications Individual Methods, Group Methods, and Mass Media Methods. With the aim of detecting any changes in the methods used over the ten year period, the first five years were compared with the second five years for each method and the change expressed by the difference as a percentage of the first five years. From these changes general trends and exceptions are perceptible. The interest of farmers in extension was studied and as judged by their requests to Agents per farmer, interest increased by 19.5 per cent. However, at the same time, attendance at group events decreased. The numbers of services for farmers performed by Agents were presented in consideration of the opportunities they provide to contact farmers. The data for the number of times each method of contact was used by Agents in each province were not always complete and this imposed some limitation on the usefulness of the data. However, the number of Agents, and hence the number of times an activity was used per Agent, was available in most cases, and the calculated changes of activities per Agent are apparently indicative of the actual situation. The results of the study show that there was a slight increase of less than one per cent of individual contacts, a decrease of 15.5 per cent of meetings, and 36.7 of other group events, but a great increase in the use of mass media. On a per Agent basis, the average Agent made 5 per cent less individual contacts, organized 13.7 fewer group events, but used mass media more extensively. When the number of contacts per farmer is considered, the increases were greater because of a decrease in number of farms. Individual contacts per farm increased by 10 per cent, meetings decreased by only 7.3 per cent, and the use of mass media per farm showed a greater percentage increase than the percentage increase of mass media events. / Land and Food Systems, Faculty of / Graduate

This study traces the development of union education within the Canadian Labour Congress and its predecessors. During the period when union education in Canada originated immediately after World War II, there were two large Canadian Congresses, the Trades and Labor Congress (T.L.C.), and the Canadian Congress of Labour (C.C.L.). The C.C.L., formed in 1940, and its affiliated industrial unions had a pressing need for union education to familiarize its members with union principles. The T.L.C. as a long-established (1883) affiliation of craft unions had a tradition of loyalty toward union aims and was less interested in educational programs. When the two Congresses merged in 1956 and became the Canadian Labour Congress the expansion and growth of membership increased the need for education within the unions. Before the unions organized educational programs for their own members other agencies such as the Mechanics Institute and the Workers' Educational Association attempted to provide a program of liberal arts programs. The programs contributed toward the development of the individual competencies of workers who were not necessarily union members. The peripheral organizations declined as the unions became more adept at administering union education programs. The C.C.L. with its larger affiliated unions is considered to be the originator of union education in Canada. Howard Conquergood, A.L. Hepworth, and Andy Andras, executives of the first education committee in the C.C.L., had a lasting influence on union education trends. The characteristic methods used in union education programs were week-long and weekend schools devoted to giving the student a thorough knowledge of the union as a viable organization dedicated to furthering the economic and social interests of the member. The rise in membership is identified as a factor in the development of the union education program. With the merger of the T.L.C. and the C.C.L. in 1956 to form the Canadian Labour Congress (C.L.C.), more resources could be directed to education. A description is given of the role of the labour movement in adult education through various co-operative activities such as the Labour University Conference in 1956, the National Citizens Forum, and the Canadian Trade Union Film Committee. The co-operation of the C.L.C., McGill University, and the Université de Montreal, led to the establishment in 1963 of the Labour College of Canada as an institution of higher education for trade union members. The College provides an eight-week residential program for workers of Canada and also those of foreign countries. Also pointed out is the broad interest shown by the unions in International affiliations and the study of education in emerging countries. The study concludes by identifying general trends in union education in the past and suggesting some new directions and program areas for union education in the future. / Education, Faculty of / Graduate

This survey of the literature provides a comprehensive and comparative report on continuing education in the four senior health professions, medicine, dentistry, nursing, and pharmacy, covering the period from 1960 to 1970. Findings disclose that while continuing education is gaining momentum in the health field, each of the professions reviewed in this report admits that it has been far from successful in its implementation. The problems facing the professions, although in differing measure, were found to be: 1) the lack of resources—funds, qualified adult educators, and clinical facilities; 2) the need for more and better adult education research; and 3) the limitation of program goals within the context of the rapidly changing health care system. Recent public pressure to make continuing education a condition for practice, coupled with accelerating technological and scientific advances, indicate that continuing education can no longer be relegated to a secondary place in professional education. Due to the scarcity of substantive research, specific recommendations were not possible. However, it was suggested that: 1) more effective methods of defining learning needs be developed and tested; 2) more stress be placed on clinically oriented programs and those with built in evaluation schemes; and 3) regional centers be established to facilitate the development of ongoing, interrelated programs on both a uniprofessional and interprofessional basis. (Detailed descriptions of more innovative programs and evaluation practices are included.) / Education, Faculty of / Educational Studies (EDST), Department of / Graduate

Little data exist on continuing professional education (CPE) participation among geoscientists. This study sought to establish an understanding of CPE participation amongst geoscientists through their behaviour, attitudes toward CPE and felt need of CPE. Members in the Mineral Deposits Division (MDD), an affiliate of the Geological Association of Canada (GAC), were used as the population for the survey. A mail survey questionnaire of the 819 members of MDD produced a response rate of 72%. The findings revealed the majority of geoscientists held positive attitudes toward voluntary participation in CPE. The respondents participated in both instructional and informal activities such as, attending field trips and reading professional journals. Eighty percent of the respondents indicated having participated in instructional CPE activities during the previous 12 months, with a mean of 6 activities. In addition, 100% reported participating in the informal activity of reading professional journals for an average of 0.5 hours per week. Contrary to findings in the literature, no significant relationships were found between educational level, attitude, occupational positions, barriers to participation and the extent of CPE participation. These findings reflect the homogeneity of the sample's socio-economic status: high education levels (39% B.A's/B.Sc's, 32% M.A's/M.Sc's and 27% PhD's), with a mean income of $44K. The general character of a MDD member is one who specializes in geology (68%), works for industry (60%), holds an occupational position of either project geoscientist or middle management (57%). Few barriers to participation were identified: scheduling difficulties and lack of time. The anticipated future of the geoscience profession was reflected in the perceived CPE needs of the group. Geostatistics (59%), oral presentations (49%), mining laws (50%), and geochemistry (49%), were items most frequently cited. Sixty five percent reported that sponsors of CPE other than their own institution were better providers of CPE activities. Although the lecture format was the most frequented CPE format during the previous year, field trips were the preferred format. T.V and video as CPE delivery systems were not favoured by geoscientists which contrasts trends amongst other professionals, particularly engineers in the United States (Greenburg & Beidenburg, 1987). These findings are of importance to those in geoscience who sponsor, plan, provide, or evaluate CPE activities, but particularly the MDD in developing its CPE policy, and to those in the field of adult education conducting participation research because data has been gathered specifically pertaining to mineral deposit geoscientists in Canada. Recommendations were proposed for the national umbrella organization, the Canadian Geoscience Council, which has the structure and influence to establish CPE as a priority within geoscience in the areas of programme planning, CPE policy development and resource management. / Education, Faculty of / Educational Studies (EDST), Department of / Graduate

Prisons are organized to hold and control inmates. Inmates traditionally oppose authority, and the social ecology of prisons resists change-oriented programs. Successful educational programs appear to neutralize certain negative aspects of the social ecology while engaging inmates in setting and working toward pro-social goals. One initiative is the Simon Fraser University prison-based baccalaureate program in the humanities. Inmates in this program appear to develop positive student roles. Explanations for the program's apparent success had not previously examined the interaction between inmates and the social ecology of the program. Previous accounts of the program relied on anecdotal reviews and psychological explanations of inmate development. To bridge this gap, this study was designed to explicate a theoretical model to explain student roles and associated feeling states and expectations, to operationalize it, and to examine relationships with various socio-demographic and carceral variables. Three approaches were used. The first involved formulating the model, drawing on previous studies and experience with inmates in this program, literature about the program, and role theory. A model of role development was posited. It has five stages: (1) Recruitment, (2) Disorientation, (3) Separation, (4) Transition, and (5) Solidarity. The second phase involved operationalizing the model. Seventy written statements were constructed representing inmates' feelings toward prison, and the university program, at each stage of the model. They were judged by five experts in correctional education who strongly concurred in assigning the 70 statements into respective stages. The second phase also involved a card sort of these 70 statements by 33 inmate university students in one prison. They sorted the cards according to: (1) "how I feel now"; (2) "how I used to feel, but not now"; (3) "never felt like this"; and (4) "don't know." For the third phase, data were analyzed using Pearson correlations and ANOVA statistical procedures. The major conclusions which emerged from the study pertained to the three purposes. With regard to the explication of a model of role development, it was concluded that (1) Role theory is an appropriate framework for articulating a model of prison ecology, and (2) Inmates experience five distinct and sequential stages of role development. With regard to the operationalization of the model, it was concluded that (1) Judges found the overall model plausible and workable, (2) Judges were able to reliably discriminate items into stages, and (3) Inmates' responses confirmed intra-stage reliability. With regard to relationships between scores obtained from operationalizing the model and various socio-demographic and prison-related variables, it was concluded that (1) The expected associations were not confirmed, (2) Inmates' forwarding of feelings from previous incarcerations supports the Importation model, (3) A counter-intuitive finding (university term by Recruitment) is probably an artifact of previous penitentiary experience, and (4) The university program does foster pro-social role development, thus providing support for the "some things work" position. / Education, Faculty of / Educational Studies (EDST), Department of / Graduate

In the last decade, the concept of competence has become a powerful ideological force as a component of public policy in the post-compulsory sector of vocational/technical education in Canada. It has served as a device for articulating vocational policy and practice to the changing conditions for capital accumulation in the context of economic and social restructuring. This process of articulation is most readily visible at the level of broad public policy statements and political rhetoric calling for reform of the relation between education and work. Less clear is how competency measures give practical expression to these broad policy objectives at the level of routine curricular and institutional arrangements. These issues form the central empirical focus of the thesis, through an investigation of the work process of teachers and administrators involved in implementing competency measures in the college setting. The central argument is that competency measures effect a fundamental transformation in the organization of curriculum decision making in the college setting. They accomplish the suppression of broad, long-term educational goals in favour of narrow, short-term ones, as a means to increase "flexibility" in labour supply. They limit the use of educational theory as the basis of curriculum decisions and replace it with a set of ideological procedures for constituting "needs" and "requirements" related to job performance. These changes are brought about in part through the imposition of formal, documentary information systems to replace the discretionary judgment and interpretive practices of instructors, making the instructional process accountable within a centrally determined policy process. Through this re-organization of educational decision-making, learning is displaced by managing as the form of praxis which gives shape to curricular organization. The form of competence that is brought into being is not a feature of the performance ability of individuals but an aspect of "good management practice" in educational settings. / Education, Faculty of / Graduate