<p> Despite the growth in the US population of persons of color and the need for allied health professionals to improve healthcare disparity, people of color make up only 20% of the total enrollment in professional occupational therapy education programs (American Occupational Therapy Association [AOTA], 2016a). Inequalities in the participation of people of color can lead to diminished educational experiences for all students, isolation for occupational therapy students and professionals of color, and decreased healthcare quality for minority clients. This five phase, qualitative interpretive/constructivist study explored the academic experiences of occupational therapists of color, guided by the following research questions: </p><p> 1. How do occupational therapy practitioners of color ascribe meaning to their educational experiences in their OT program? </p><p> 2. How do occupational therapy practitioners of color describe their perceived facilitators and barriers to educational success? </p><p> 3. In what ways do occupational therapy students/practitioners of color navigate their culture of origin and the majority White culture in order to succeed in occupational therapy educational programs and in professional practice? </p><p> AOTA (2016b) professionals (<i>N</i>=14) were solicited by email through their Multicultural, Diversity and Inclusion Network and participated in Phases I, II, and III. Participants completed demographic and interest questionnaires in Phase I; a reflective questionnaire regarding educational facilitators and barriers in Phase II; and depth interviews in Phase III. Using Colaizzi&rsquo;s data analysis strategy (Colaizzi,1978), the results of the Phase III interviews were used to complete the Phase IV elite informant interviews with OT leaders (<i>N</i>=4). Phase V consisted of a document analysis of historical and current policy documents. </p><p> Six themes emerged from this study: 1) Decision to Enroll in an OT program, 2) Educational Program Culture, 3) Faculty Relationships, 4) Peer Relationships, 5) Student Resilience, and 6) Working Professionals.These results reveal participant persistence towards professional OT goals; however, academic and leadership success did not shield participants from marginalization or racism. These results may inform OT professionals regarding enrollment strategies for students of color and the imperative for student-centered program standards and zero- tolerance policies regarding discrimination within OT educational programs. </p><p>

<p> Policy changes influence various aspects of art education such as K-12 art education curricula, state licensure systems, and contexts of art teacher preparation. Despite strong relationships between art education policy and practical fields, few studies have attempted to understand art education from the perspective of policy analysis. This study explores the connections between art education policy and the field of art education through a focus on art teacher preparation in Indiana. Additional attention was paid to perceptions of the appropriateness of alternative licensure routes in relation to policies of academic and quality standards and the extent to which visual art teachers&rsquo; sense of identity as teachers and artists is affected by appropriation of these standards.</p><p> The theoretical framework of this study is the need to understand policy appropriation of standards (including visual art and art teacher preparation standards) as an on-going process, that is continually influenced and changed by internal (human level) and external (institutional level) factors. The appropriation process is effectively expressed through practices, narratives, and texts of practitioners.</p><p> To understand the status and factors of the art education policy appropriation in art teacher preparation, I collected data as printed or digital documents, and as interviews with faculty members and pre-service art teachers in two traditional visual art teacher preparation programs in Indiana. I analyzed external (institutional level) and internal (human level) factors to adopt and work with state and national standards. While national standards for visual art education (were adopted by many states and presented as voluntary policy, in Indiana the national standards were built into the Indiana&rsquo;s Academic Standards for Visual Art Standards for K-12 students. Visual art teachers were required to complete a traditional teacher preparation program and pass examinations to become licensed to teach art.</p><p> Findings reveal that faculty of higher art teacher education programs in Indiana paid attention to the national and state standards in K-12 visual art and the standards for teacher education when preparing students to become licensed K-12 art educators. External motivations were accreditations system for teacher preparation requested by Indiana Department of Education related to NCATE. Schools and districts could be external motivations that pre-service art teachers adopt the standards in order to succeed in a job market. Internal factors were respects of roles and leaders of art education associations, desires to train/be qualified teachers and attain balanced knowledge between art studio and art education. Alternative routes to licensure were viewed as economically advantageous but not supportive of high-quality education. Policy had little impact on issues of identity. I concluded with recommendations for improvement in art teacher preparation that were needs of supportive policies for pre-service teachers&rsquo; teaching and teaching licensure including traditional and alternative licensures.</p><p>

<p> The effects of the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) and the Free Secondary Education Policy (FSEP) on access to secondary school education in Kenya&rsquo;s Yatta sub-county have not been adequately explored in available public policy literature. Hence, this qualitative multiple-case study was designed to understand the effects of the 2 policies on both enrollment and dropout among secondary school age children in Yatta. The study was conducted in 1 mixed-boarding secondary school and 1 secondary day school in Yatta. The study was built on an adapted Huisman and Smits&rsquo; theoretical model on dropout among students in developing countries. The data were gathered through semi-structured interviews with 14 purposefully selected participants: 2 principals, 2 deputy principals, and 10 parents whose children had benefited from the CDF bursary scheme. Interview data were inductively coded and then subjected to Braun and Clarke&rsquo;s thematic analysis procedure, which aided in identification, analysis, and reporting of patterns (themes) in the data. Results showed that the CDF had contributed significantly to the improvement of enrollment with the establishment of new day schools that are more affordable, hence making secondary school education less costly and thus more available to low income families. The study&rsquo;s findings also showed that student dropout had declined with both the CDF and FSEP. The positive social change implications of this study are that it provides evidence for advocacy among policy makers for increased allocation of resources to the education sector through the CDF and FSEP. Increased allocations will contribute to Kenya&rsquo;s progress toward universal access to secondary education.</p><p>

Black and Hispanic students continue to be excluded from the learning environmentmore than three times the rate of their White classmates. The effects of this include low student achievement, reduced chances of graduating from high school, and an increased chance of entering the school-to-prison pipeline. Restorative justice was introduced to schools and school systems as an alternative to suspension and other exclusionary practices. The purpose of this study was to examine how school personnel implement and sustain restorative justice practices to reduce the number of Black and Hispanic students disproportionately affected by zero tolerance policies or exclusionary practices. The overarching research question of this study was the following: How do school personnel describe and understand the implementation of restorative justice practices? To address my research question, I conducted a single case study of a school in a large Atlantic coast school system. Data collection methods included: semi-structured interviews of school personnel and leadership, observations, and document review. Four major findings emerged from this study: (1) Cultural understanding, understanding implicit bias, and student-school personnel relationships create the conditions to reduce schoolwide disciplinary infractions and improve climate and culture; (2) School leadership intentional about supporting the mindset shift of staff from punitive to restorative contributes to the development of a positive learning community and supports the implementation of restorative justice and its associated practices; (3) Sustainability of restorative justice depends on the following levers: consistency of restorative justice practices, staff support, and onboarding of new staff members; (4) Professional development, specifically professional development at the school and district level, served as the vehicle to build the capacity of staff as it relates to restorative justice theory, mindset and cultural proficiency (cultural understandings).

This study explores the concept of partnership in community development programs. The purpose of this study is to investigate the concept of partnership, and acquire a comprehensive understanding of community development programs called partnership programs. In the past few years the international development community, especially the nongovernment organization (NGO) community, has been discussing the importance of establishing partnerships between organizations and people from the developed countries with organizations and people from the emerging nations. Also, during the past fifty years community development programs have become the dominant type of development program for communities working together to improve the living condition of the community members. In the last few years a new concept called, "partnerships and community partnerships" is being heard as a new type of development program. What are these partnerships? How are they different from community development programs? Are these partnerships worthwhile? And if they are, how, and to whom? These questions need to be answered in order to decide if and how development organizations should implement partnership programs. The following research hopes to answer these questions. Six programs have been studied, five short cases and one longer case study. The issue of power and empowerment have been examined in detail because it is important to understand exactly how partnership members empower themselves to improve their lives for themselves. Three other dimensions used in this dissertation to understand partnerships are: different types of teaching pedagogies, participation, and different types of community development organizations. By examining partnership programs through these four dimensions the author was able to better understand and explain why and how partnership programs are different from community development partnership programs of the past. The study concludes with a description of what partnership pedagogy is, and how the author believes that creating partnerships in development is one way of transforming our institutions into more effective systems for human beings to work and live together.

Thesis (M. Soc. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1984.

Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1984. / Also available in print.

The current coalition government in England has expressed its commitment to establishing an autonomous teaching profession. This study argues that such autonomy cannot exist in a system that is ideologically driven by market forces and neo-liberal policy. The best situation that most teachers can hope to experience – barring a seismic shift in material conditions – is an earned and scrutinised autonomy, which is an oxymoronic concept. It is argued that the tight control exercised by the state over what happens in schools through its promotion of market forces, reinforces the ideological nature of schooling in England. The theoretical and ontological basis of the study resides in an orthodox Marxist perspective and analyses the way in which neo-liberalism has formed the basis for the material conditions under which teachers currently work. It develops this idea to demonstrate how this dominant ideology pervades current discourse about pedagogy and curriculum, reducing such discourse to a narrower consideration of ‘standards’. It considers how this diminution of what the curriculum has become has, in its turn, had an impact on teachers’ view of their professional autonomy. Data are gathered from two rounds of interviews with 22 serving teachers complemented by some written responses from them. Six others with a professional interest in education policy-making, four of whom are headteachers, are also interviewed. The conclusion is drawn that teachers’ autonomy remains restricted, with any independence of action largely contingent upon the production of outcomes measured against limited, pre-determined and ideologically driven outcomes. The study identifies a disconnection between the aspirations of teachers with regard to their professional autonomy and those of some, but not all, headteachers. A further disconnection between the aspirations of teachers and the policies of central government is also identified. Significantly, teachers may enjoy more professional autonomy in those schools which currently, and possibly temporarily, enjoy market popularity. In terms of a contribution to the debate about teacher autonomy, the study demonstrates that, notwithstanding the effects of the current policy ensemble, teachers maintain a sense of what education could offer young people that goes beyond the existing, reductive models that frame their working lives.

Rizvi and Lingard (2010) suggest that there have been shifts in the development and institutional implementation of education policies, as the values promoted by national systems of education are not just established by the policy actors within the nation state but forged through transnational and global entities. In current studies, there are a number of reductionist accounts of global effects on education policy which do not take account of historical context. Drawing on the policy sociology literature, this thesis empirically investigates the policy process at University College Dublin when it modularised its undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. It reviews how supranational processes (including European integration and the work of the OECD) and policy making affected UCD's institutional dynamics and policy production during this process. In documenting and analysing the production of this institutional education policy, evidence suggests that policy is shaped predominantly by local policy actors and global influences situated outside of the nation-state. To explore the influence of macro factors on this policy process, UCD provides an outward-focused case study into this policy process at a micro level. Insight into this process is evidenced by collecting data through textual analysis of policy documents and semi-structured interviewing of 23 key policy actors at UCD and other influential policy agencies. To investigate the ‘black box’ by which power is exerted in this policy process, Bourdieu’s theoretical tools are utilised. Bourdieu’s ‘conceptual triad’ is pervasive in the education policy literature, clarifying why some of these policy practices remain national and localised within the global policy field. The study evidences the effects of globalisation manifest in UCD’s modular policy which responded to both internally generated reform and agencies external to the state. The pursuit and implementation of this policy demonstrates the capacity of non-national political structures, e.g. the EUA, OECD, and Bologna Process, to shape not only national policy (Henry et al., 2001) but also institutional governance and policy. The manifestation of these structures also provide confirmation of governance without government (Rosenau, 1992). This study sustains the suggestion of a global policy field (Lingard, et al., 2005) and demonstrates a resultant reconstitution of the local education policy field.

<p> The purpose of this qualitative research study was to explore the overall lived experiences of DACAmented Latina/o students enrolled within the California Community College system. Adding to the limited research on the undocumented student population, specifically those who are Deferred Action recipients, findings highlight the experiences of students who have persisted in higher education by drawing on their cultural wealth to pursue their dreams and aspirations regardless of their status. From the voices of 10 students three themes emerged, (a) coming of age as undocumented, (b) navigating higher education, and (c) the impact of DACA. These three themes will demonstrate how this population makes sense of their status and navigates higher education within a time of constant change and uncertainty in our country at both the federal and state level. This study adds to the research on DACAmented Latina/o community college students, offers recommendations for practice and state and federal policy are also discussed.</p>