The education of youth in the United States has become a highly contested subject over the past decades. This thesis argues that one of the earliest institutions American citizens encounter – the public school system – organizes the work of many teachers in ways that reproduce inequality of opportunity for students. Drawing on qualitative data from fourteen in-depth interviews with experienced elementary school teachers in Los Angeles, this thesis illustrates how teachers experience and navigate specific structural barriers to the pursuit of equity in the classroom. Applying social reproductive theory to teacher interviews, this research discovered how, despite rhetorical commitment to equality of opportunity in education student outcomes continue to vary according to the socioeconomic status of the student population. This will help us understand systemic barriers built into the structure of the education system. These barriers operate as obstacles that teachers and students must navigate, in order to achieve success. This thesis argues that teachers should begivenmore flexibility to assess the needs of each specific class and adapt their curriculum and strategies to meet those needs. Unfortunately, in the current test-score driven system, schools with the lowest performing students are the ones whose administrations are under the most pressure to improve the low scores rather than fix the problems associated with low scores. As such, the teachers that need this flexibility the most, are the ones whose administrations keep them on the tightest rein, further reducing their ability to utilize their knowledge and implement effective strategies in the classroom. The result is the self-perpetuating cycle of inequality reproduction that we can see across North America today. / Graduate / 2019-08-13

The general aim of this thesis is to illuminate the process of learning as it occurs in formal and informal contexts. The study focuses on South African scholars attending school in rural areas where the contrast between learning in formal and informal learning contexts is more pronounced than that in urban areas. The research draws on rural scholars' local knowledge of formal and informal learning contexts in order to gain a rich insight into how cognition is situated in different learning contexts. This is accomplished through investigating the structure of the respective learning tasks, the mediators involved, the task objectives and the means for achieving these objectives in the different learning contexts. The thesis draws on a socio-cultural approach to the study of cognitive development to probe the activity of learning in a formal and informal learning context. Through the use of a context sensitive methodological methods especially Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) tools and techniques, it was possible to illuminate tacit local knowledge structures and to get participants to actively explicate their understandings related to learning in different contexts The research results illustrate the assertion that the activity of learning is fundamentally situated in the learning context from which it arises. Learning is framed by the community of practice which structures affordances for situated learning, through mediation, within zones of proximal development. Learning in a formal context such as the school is often abstract, rule-based, standardised and theory related. Learners also find it difficult to reflect on the learning tasks and the mediational means used in a formal learning context. In contrast, the learning which takes place in an informal setting is often practical, individualised, flexible and environment based. This learning is structured around everyday activities and is dynamically defined and supported. In a situation where a learner is exposed to dislocated learning contexts, the essential goal of educational initiatives is to bridge the gap between the two. This can be achieved through mediators creating effective zones of proximal development which facilitate the individuals adaptation between learning contexts. Exposing rural scholars' local knowledge of learning in formal and informal contexts allows for a fuller understanding of the cognitive development structured within formal and informal communities of practice. It is this understanding that is necessary to address the situation where learning contexts, drawing on different knowledge bases find ways of thinking, prove challenging and/or conflicting to the scholar.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T14:36:11Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 AndrezzaMBNT_TESE.pdf: 2562403 bytes, checksum: 38b78cd772fbf9e933f4d70fb4f45429 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-06-30 / Coordena??o de Aperfei?oamento de Pessoal de N?vel Superior / This thesis concerns the problem about the pedagogue actuation in the social education into no scholars places. It search to understand the context and the social pedagogue role to his praxis and formation that enlarger the possibilities of the social educative practices into no scholars places. In this direction, we developed an investigation about the actuation of the pedagogues-educators in Natal city, in the 2007-2010 periods, into Municipal Secretary of the Labor and Social Assistance (SEMTAS). Considering that pedagogues are regularly attached in social educators profession as municipals public employees, we re the objective to evaluate their role into the social executed in the no scholars places, with the focus in the environmental dimensions of theirs work s places, pedagogical organization, institutional management and the professional formation. It privileged in this research the Specialized Reference Center of Social Assistance II (CREAS II), the Passages Houses I, II and III, the Social-Educative Measures in Open Environment Execution Program of Natal city (PENSEMA) and the Pitimb? Educational Center (CEDUC-Pitimb?). To realize this study it developed a research with qualitative nature by critic ethnography approach privileging those information collected with the social pedagogue-educators of the mentioned places. Through the methodological procedures adopted; beyond the bibliographical review we remarked the documental research, the semi-structured interview, the questionnaires-routes and the field observations. The analytical results revealed that the politics to the social education in Brazil historically came been dimensioned by the fight of social movements demanding the fundamental rights to the excluded people; that the SEMTAS politics of social education present a relative basic social protection to the excluded children and young people specially into law view; that the politics of social education in Natal city it s close of the logic of sanitarian attention about the disadvantaged groups; that the conceptual, methodological and formatives fragilities needs to the social pedagogues-educators praxis into non scholars places made difficult the operation capacity of a educative proposition anchored in a institutional action guided by the idea of emancipator education; that the SEMTAS take face several difficulties to developed a web assistance as preview in the reception proposition elaborated by the social pedagogues-educators. However in despite the tensions we remarked the value of this potentiality to the non scholar social education in her attempt to constitute herself in a legitimate space to the pedagogue professional actuation. In despite the obstacles to work and formation quotidian, across those non scholar spaces in the municipalities institutes to the social politics, it demonstrated personal sensibility and professional creativity in learning mediations and educative action to the children and younger derived from exclusion process and the social iniquities / Esta tese aborda a problem?tica da atua??o do pedagogo na Educa??o Social realizada em espa?os n?o escolares. Busca-se compreender o lugar e o fazer do pedagogo social para oferecer reflex?es de pr?xis e de forma??o que ampliem as possibilidades da pr?tica educativa social em Espa?os N?o Escolares. Nesse sentido, desenvolvemos uma investiga??o sobre a atua??o de Pedagogos-Educadores Sociais, junto ? Prefeitura Municipal do Natal. Privilegiamos a Secretaria Municipal de Trabalho e Assist?ncia Social (SEMTAS) por seus Pedagogos estarem vinculados regularmente ? profiss?o de Educadores Sociais na condi??o de servidores p?blicos efetivos em Natal-RN. A Tese objetiva desenvolver uma avalia??o do papel do pedagogo na Educa??o Social realizada nos espa?os n?o escolares da SEMTAS em Natal-RN, no per?odo de 2007 a 2010, enfocando as dimens?es ambiente f?sico-institucional, organiza??o pedag?gica, gest?o institucional e forma??o. Em outras palavras, busca-se conhecer, compreender e avaliar os espa?os de Educa??o Social em Natal, real?ando a legitimidade da atua??o do Pedagogo nesses Espa?os N?o Escolares. Privilegiamos nesta pesquisa o Centro de Refer?ncia Especializado de Assist?ncia Social (CREAS II), as Casas de Passagens I, II e III, o Programa de Execu??o de Medidas S?cio-Educativas em Meio Aberto da Cidade do Natal (PENSEMA) e o Centro Educacional Pitimb? (CEDUC-Pitimb?). Para realizar o estudo, desenvolveu-se pesquisa de natureza qualitativa, por meio da abordagem etnogr?fica cr?tica, privilegiando as informa??es coletadas junto aos Pedagogos-Educadores Sociais desses espa?os citados. Dentre os procedimentos metodol?gicos que materializaram a pesquisa, destacamos revis?o bibliogr?fica, pesquisa documental, entrevistas semiestruturadas, question?rio-roteiro, observa??o, fotografias e di?rio de campo. Os resultados das an?lises revelaram que as pol?ticas destinadas ? Educa??o Social no Brasil, historicamente, v?m sendo dimensionadas por meio da luta dos Movimentos Sociais que reivindicam os direitos fundamentais dos exclu?dos; que a pol?tica de Educa??o Social da SEMTAS apresenta como aspecto mais importante a relativa prote??o social b?sica de crian?as e jovens exclu?dos pela ?tica do direito; que a pol?tica de educa??o social do exclu?do em Natal-RN se aproxima da l?gica da aten??o sanitarista; que as fragilidades conceitual, metodol?gica, democr?tica e formativa necess?rias ?s pr?xis dos Pedagogos-Educadores Sociais em Espa?os N?o Escolares dificultam a operacionalidade de uma proposta educativa ancorada em um processo intencional possibilitador da educa??o emancipadora; que a SEMTAS enfrenta in?meras dificuldades para desenvolver o atendimento em rede previsto na proposta de acolhimento dos Pedagogos-Educadores Sociais; por?m, apesar das tens?es, ressaltamos o valor dessa possibilidade de educa??o social n?o escolar pela tentativa de se constituir em espa?o leg?timo de atua??o do pedagogo, que apesar dos obst?culos do cotidiano do trabalho e da forma??o, t?m demonstrado sensibilidade e criatividade na media??o positiva de aprendizagens sobre consci?ncia com a diversidade, consci?ncia das injusti?as e a possibilidade da transforma??o social

Social work encourages social change, solving problems in human relations, strengthens and liberates people, in order to fulfill their personal welfare. Its goal is to let all people to fully develop their abilities and prevent failure. The point of social work in humanitarian aid area is removal of significant negative factors, which could negatively influent already difficult social situation of individual or whole society. The goal of providing humanitarian aid to suffering is alleviation of consequences of their social situation and providing self-sufficiency for individual and whole society. There have been radical changes in social area since 1990. Various social problems are growing and so is growing the need for solution. Social worker skill requirements are increasing. Social working education had to be re-gained to university level as a professional activity. Minimum social working education standards emerge, universities got accreditations for additional areas of social work. Newly emerged humanitarian work field prepares student for quality work in humanitarian and developing help. New ways of competence for social work are sought. The theoretical part of thesis informs about traditions, goal of humanitarian and developing aid, current education possibilities, describes method, theory and ethics of social work. It also focuses on effect of traumatizing events on individual and society. The research part of thesis uses experience, views and opinions of social workers on problematics of social workers role in humanitarian and developing aid, opinions of social working students about education in humanitarian and developing aid. Motivation for the thesis was also own interest in social working domain, the need to inform social workers about specificity of work in humanitarian and developing organizations and current options for education of social workers. The thesis can also be useful source of information for wide public and social working or humanitarian aid applicants.

Doctorat en sciences sociales, politiques et économiques / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

The purpose of this study was to explore individual characteristics that allowed college achievement in Latina women who experienced teenage pregnancy. A specific objective of this study was to examine strengths for overcoming barriers and obstacles to higher education.

This quantitative study investigates the disparity that exists between girls and boys and how changes can be implemented to keep boys from disengaging from reading. It examines the reading materials that are available to increase boys' interest in reading and discusses ways in which teachers can develop programs and parents can take action to change boys reading habits. The study employed teacher surveys and student surveys from sixth grade boys in three San Bernardino middle schools.

The thesis deals with the construction of inequalities in the access to the tertiary education with the special emphasis on entrance exams to the universities. The aim is to explore how the entrance exams as the gate to the universities are perceived by students - the actors who are the most affected by these inequalities in education, according to relevant research of these inequalities. The thesis studies how these actors perceive their position and situation within the entrance process, what situations (if any) are constructed as unequal by these actors, who is affected by such inequalities and how does he/she copes with them. The research question is seen from the perspective of interactionist constructivism and answered by applying methods of grounded theory and semi-structured in-depth interviews.

Every year many immigrant families become members of United States communities. Among these are international graduate students whose lives and identities, as well as those of their families, are changed as they negotiate between cultures and experiences. In this study, three Saudi graduate students share their stories about culture, education and literacy. This research employs narrative inquiry to answer the following question: What stories do Saudi immigrant students tell regarding their educational beliefs and experiences, as well as the experiences of their children in the U.S. and in Saudi Arabia? The participants' interview texts are the main data source. The three-dimensional narrative inquiry spaces of temporality, sociality, and place help identify the funds of knowledge in place throughout these narratives. Data analysis uses funds of knowledge as a theoretical lens to make visible the critical events in each narrative. These events point to themes that support the creation of a third space in which the participants negotiate being in two cultures as well as their storying across time to understand their own experiences. Themes of facing challenges, problem solving, adaptation, and decision-making connect these stories and support the discussion of findings within the personal, practical, and social justifications for this narrative inquiry. The participants' negotiation of being in two cultures as revealed here serves as a resource for educators in understanding the instructional needs of immigrant families. The findings also have the potential to contribute to changing existing misconceptions about this minority group and other immigrant groups. In a rapidly growing global community as the United States, such narratives provide insights that invite personal understandings and connections among diverse people.

In this qualitative investigation, the ways in which four ethnically diverse mothers' perceptions of early childhood education combined with the school experiences of their children were examined. Research tools included audiotaped interviews with Mexican-American, Korean-American, African-American, and Anglo mothers; videotaped school experiences; and a video message with a viewing guide requesting written reaction.