For hundreds of years leadership of religious organisations has been dominated by males, despite the acknowledgement that much religious work and support of the institutions has been done by women. Historically, leadership carried the notion of masculinity and the belief that men were born with certain leadership traits and therefore make better leaders than women. Nevertheless, current thinking contests this view and argues that leadership can be taught and learned and it is possible to develop leader traits in any individual, regardless of gender. This research sets out to contribute in promoting women’s leadership in faith schools. The research employs a qualitative method of data collection, and adopts the critical realist and feminist theorising standpoint. This research presents results of case studies involving the Catholic, Anglican and Muslim faiths. Through in-depth interviews, an exploration on the views of religious authorities, school authorities and female teachers, regarding the role, and position, and experiences of female teachers within faith schools is presented. The research reveals the reality and complexity of barriers encountered by female teachers from a cultural, social, institutional and religious perspective that hinder women’s career advancement. These case studies provide strong first-hand evidence that is hoped to influence both practice and policy. Through the interaction and involvement of head teachers, school governors and religious authorities concerned with the management of the schools, the research aspires to support a process of enlightenment — particularly to individuals who influence decision making processes — to implement strategies that will allow equal representation among the genders in leadership positions within education in faith schools.

Despite an array of research focusing on elite sport in the UK, less attention has been afforded towards academy football within these elite environments, particularly in relation to the educational programmes that the players aged 16-18 are required to undertake. Little is known about the perspectives of these players and therefore the aim of this thesis was to explore their attitudes towards education and identify the factors that influenced them. A relativist ontological position was adopted in fitting with the constructivist paradigm in an attempt to understand the phenomenon from the perspective of the scholars focusing on one specific Premier League club. A phenomenological case study approach was adopted to understand the shared meanings created by the scholars in relation to their educational programme at the club. After undertaking eight focus groups and a further six in-depth interviews six main themes emerged in relation to the scholars’ attitudes and the factors that influenced them. It was clear from this research that the scholars at this club were diverse by way of past educational attainment and levels of engagement, they had mixed views of their educational programme at the club and their attitudes towards education were influenced to varying degrees by parents, peers and experiences with teachers. The scholars were focused more on their football ambitions and their intentions were to pursue careers in elite football with education being perceived as a back-up. Staff changes at the club resulted in a renewed focus on education, yet this was still set against the backdrop of the ambiguous and uncertain world of professional football. Due to the methodological approach that underpins this study, the findings are not expected to be regarded as generalisations across all elite level football clubs. They are intended to serve as a starting point for practitioners in these settings to develop practice accordingly.

<p>  </p> <p>The purpose of this research was to understand: (1) how students perceive a polytechnic high school model in relation to students’ college and career readiness, as well as (2) the challenges and successes that this type of school model presents, from the student perspective, after attending a semester of higher education at the model's collaborating university. To address these two research objectives, the authors conducted a case study of a novel public-charter high school developed by a state’s flagship research-intensive university in partnership with community, industry, and academic leaders. What makes this polytechnic high school model unique is its focus on supporting urban youth to pursue passions through science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) focused experiences, that are situated within industry-driven, hands-on projects, and a personalized learning environment. More specifically, this study examined the perceptions of this polytechnic high school model from its active senior class as well as its first graduating class after matriculating to the collaborating university. This study was conducted to better comprehend the model in relation to students’ college and career readiness (defined here as 21st century skills [creativity, communication, and collaboration], sense of belonging, and college/career intent). This was achieved by analyzing beginning of the year survey results from one school’s current seniors, as well as administering pre- and post-surveys to graduates of the unique polytechnic high school as students began and ended their first semester of post-secondary education at the collaborating university. In addition, data were obtained from a focus group with the alumni after completion of the first semester at the collaborating university. The resulting data were then analyzed to identify the participants perception of the innovative school model in relation to students’ 21st century skills, sense of belonging, college/career intent, as well as determining the challenges and successes encounter after transitioning to the collaborating university. While this research discusses the outcomes of a case study specifically focused on a polytechnic high school that is an innovative school-university collaborative model, the resulting data can be used to provide more information surrounding innovative educational approaches so that schools, educators, and other educational stakeholders have the necessary information needed to make informed decisions as they attempt to transform secondary learning experiences in response to societal changes.</p>

<div>In 1972, visual arts giftedness was recognized as an aspect of giftedness that needed to be nurtured and developed (Marland, 1972). However, students with gifts and talents in visual arts continued to be overlooked in the field of gifted education. Addressing these gaps in the field of gifted art education, I conducted a mixed methods study to examine the issues. The quantitative part of the study consisted of developing a survey instrument, Perceptions about Art Giftedness, and conducting an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to investigate construct validity of the instrument. The initial instrument consisted of 23 items. Due to the focus of the study and the specificity of the survey, it was necessary to be selective in recruiting the participants. The inclusion criteria are: (a) they must be art teachers in an arts school or a public school that serves middle or high school grade levels; and/or (b) they must be teaching visual arts or fine arts. A total of 150 participants completed the survey. For the qualitative part of the study, I contacted the participants who completed the survey and asked if they were willing to be interviewed (n=11). Since this was an exploratory study, I began with the qualitative analysis. Three major themes were developed from the qualitative analysis: (a) attitudes and behaviors aligned with Art, (b) attitudes and behaviors aligned with giftedness, and (c) the participants’ use of the selection process and the limitations. These themes highlighted how differently art teachers perceived visual art giftedness from the common understanding about giftedness and the importance of creative behaviors in art giftedness. Additionally, these art teachers also commented on the similarities between visual arts giftedness and conventional understanding of giftedness. They shared examples of characteristics, such as being self-directed and able to work independently that they observed among their gifted art students. From the quantitative analysis, the EFA results indicated a two-factor model with Factor 1 had a Cronbach's Alpha of .89 and Factor 2 has a Cronbach's Alpha of .91, suggesting that they were reliable estimates of the data’s internal consistency. After examining the factor loading for the items, four items were eliminated due cross-loading and low communalities. Of the 19 items were retained, 10 items (.467 to .895) loaded onto Factor 1 and nine items (-.451 to -.937) loaded onto Factor 2. After examining the items for each of the factor and based on the results from the qualitative analysis, new descriptors were developed. Factor 1 (dispositions towards creative giftedness) consisted of items focusing the artistic attitudes and behaviors demonstrated by students who were gifted in visual arts. Factor 2 (dispositions towards conventional giftedness) contained items focusing on attitudes and behaviors that were traditionally associated with giftedness. In summation, results from qualitative and quantitative analysis helped to illustrate how participants were looking for characteristics in gifted visual arts students that goes beyond those highlighted by researchers in gifted education. The participants were not only focused on creative behaviors when identifying gifted art students, but they were also looking for conventional gifted characteristics; such as self-directedness, independence, and task commitment. The participants recognized that for students with gifts and talents in visual arts to develop their potential, they would need to possess both sets of characteristics. Interestingly, although there was consensus among the participants about the characteristics and behaviors observed in gifted art students, there was no agreement among them when asked about specific art making skills.</div>

No description available.

No description available.

Over the past decade, and particularly since the publication of The National Plan for Music Education (DfE, 2011), there has been increasing opportunity for community musicians in England to work with young people with challenging behaviour in Pupil Referral Units (PRUs) and in Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties (EBD) Units. This study identifies and discusses six key elements that influence community music delivery in these settings. These elements are: what the children bring, organizing structures, ideas and materials, focus and energy, reflection and reflexivity and the intentions of the leader. These elements emerged from the data collected through the study. This study combined action research and grounded theory. It employed a number of data collection methods, including participant observation, semi-structured interviews, focus group work and a literature review. The environment of PRUs and EBD Units are based on formal schooling but are both volatile and academically ineffective (Taylor, 2012). Community musicians, who frequently work outside the curriculum, need insights and understandings beyond traditional educational practice if they are to be successful in engaging children in these environments. Community music practice addresses not only musical but also personal and social development. This, and the nature of PRUs, and of the children within them, makes the work complex. Through understanding the role all six elements can play in shaping the child’s experience, the community musician can use this knowledge to develop programmes that address these children’s complex needs, allow them to place themselves at the centre of their own learning and encourage their ownership of their own creative expression. This can give them a sense of meaning for their own often troubled histories and may offer them a pathway to reconstructing their own self concept away from conferred negative identities as excluded children towards seeing themselves as learners and musicians.

<p>This dissertation explores motivation in Japanese American learners of their heritage language. This area of study is significant because existing research primarily looks at heritage language learners as “balanced bilinguals” and limits their learning purpose to professional motivations. Also, research on “passive” or “receptive” bilinguals and the impact of history and ethnicity on motivation builds new knowledge in the field from which other scholars can construct their own studies. Through my interview-based case studies and autoethnography, I found that historical, social, and ethnic identity factors contribute considerably to the motivation to maintain or reject the heritage language. My findings reveal that the traumatic events of WWII such as the forced incarceration of over 110,000 people of Japanese descent led to the loss of the heritage language and a denial of the heritage culture. I also discovered that third generation Japanese Americans are motivated to learn Japanese for professional reasons whereas fourth generation Japanese Americans study Japanese to gain a stronger sense of ethnic identity.</p><p><br></p>

<p dir="ltr">The importance of art education in rural schools was researched. The benefits were listed. Barriers to access to art education in rural schools was identified as a problem. Ways to increase art education access in rural schools as solutions have been proposed. Public art in local rural community was described with ties to the classroom. </p>

<p>  </p> <p>The positions of the school board and superintendent have been in place for years and in that time not only have the dynamics of education changed, but the societal structures have also evolved. This quantitative study examined the relationships that exist between the school board’s engagement in training and professional development and their effectiveness in the areas of creating a vision, using data, establishing goals, communication, and trust. All aspects of the board’s effectiveness and engagement in training were scored based on the superintendent’s perception of them using the <em>Effective Board Leadership Practices Survey. </em>Using the Spearman’s <em>p </em>correlation coefficient, significant correlations were found between board training and all five of the forementioned characteristics. The strongest correlation was found between the board training variable and the goal-setting variable. While still significant, the weakest correlation was found between the board training variable and the use of data variable. The impact of this study for superintendents is to gain a better understanding of often used educational terms in the strategic planning process and offer potential improvements in implementing these different characteristics. The study recommends that superintendents should build trust with their school boards by facilitating ongoing training in the processes used to develop the district’s vision, processes used to define the district’s goals, and using data to not only make decisions, but to monitor the progress of those decisions. The study also recommends that superintendents need to understand the importance of working with the board to effectively communicate these different processes with the community stakeholders. </p>