During recent decades the educational community around the world has witnessed an increasing interest in programmes aiming at providing teachers as well as learners of all ages with direct access to personal computing devices and the vast amount of information such provision enables. These types of programmes are known as “one-to- one computing”, a term that indicates a very widespread distribution of computers in educational settings. Research into such patterns of provision has accordingly become a priority. Understandably, the realities of one-to-one programme implementation vary considerably across the nations, since cultural setting, educational system, customs of technology use and teachers’ experiences are all significant aspects that influence the process. However, there can be certain commonalities across all these aspects in countries whose educational systems have a largely shared history, as is the case in the former Soviet Union states. Azerbaijan’s experience in the field, as one of the countries with a post-soviet educational system going through curriculum reforms, was very attractive for a comprehensive study with the primary focus on identifying the factors influencing the infusion of one-to-one computing into learning and teaching. The research question developed for this study was: “What factors influence the integration of one-to-one computing into teaching and learning?” Qualitative research methods were used to gather data at three purposively selected schools, two in the capital city of Baku and one in a provincial town. The research data were collected by conducting classroom observations, interviews and focus group discussions with main stakeholders of the programme allowing for investigation of students’, teachers’ and parents’ experiences throughout the implementation process. Using a constructivist grounded theory approach the gathered data were analyzed in two major stages: the first one employed the ‘helicopter view’ approach to attain a preliminary picture, followed by the process of coding, memo-writing and analysis. The second stage of the analysis resulted in a thematic summary into teacher, student and classroom-dynamics-related categories. The findings revealed that the students were the most enthusiastic about the changes brought to the learning process with the introduction of the lightweight, small and inexpensive devices, commonly known as netbooks. The students improved their technological skills and knowledge and applied these skills in acquiring domain knowledge. By providing students with netbooks, the one-to-one programme introduced anytime, anywhere, and individualized learning opportunities. The study also revealed that the introduction of netbooks was leading to students developing collaborative learning skills. In addition, the study found that most of the teachers were developing new teaching methods to continue the programme implementation. They invested extra time and worked hard, notwithstanding the lack of guidelines both on the integration of technology with pedagogy and on meeting newly-set National Curriculum standards. Some teachers overcame the technological challenges that arose along the way eagerly, while others used them as an excuse to discontinue the programme implementation. The parents’ opinions varied considerably, some of them supported the innovation, while others considered the frequent usage of technology excessive, unnecessary and potentially damaging to their children’s health. The latter group of parents expected their children to be taught similarly to them, with a primary focus on the development of handwriting and speaking skills as well as the habits of reading printed books. The research has identified eight major factors influencing the integration of one-to-one computing into teaching and learning: embedding ICT in the curriculum, fostering of exploratory learning, student satisfaction, new learning practices, professional development, school leadership support, teacher beliefs and parental support. Most importantly, the findings have revealed the importance of addressing teacher professional development in terms of integrating technology with pedagogy and meeting curriculum standards through technology-infused teaching methods. These factors indicate the improvements needed for successful programme implementation. It is hoped that the results can be adopted by educational leaders to inform their decisions on one-to-one programmes, thereby contributing to successful integration.

Abstract This single, embedded case study focused on educators’ experiences of educational change as they adopted, implemented, and sustained a one-to-one computing innovation over 20 years. The purpose of the study was to explore the innovativeness, the capacity of a school community to take on change for continuous educational improvement over time. Through interviews and focus groups with administrators, teachers, students, and graduates, observations of current classroom practices, and archival data, the study provides an understanding of how individuals experienced change and how a school sustained change over an exceptionally long period of time. Data analysis revealed multiple rationales for the implementation of one-to-one computing, including the development of a constructivist environment, the empowerment of women, preparation of students for college and the 21st century work force, and the need to keep the school’s educational program on the “cutting-edge.” The study of this individual school community suggests the importance of a strong educational philosophy, flexibility of implementation, an environment that encourages risk-taking, and collegiality. The study also demonstrates that change occurred on a continuum and continued to progress as hardware, software, and the Internet evolved, and as faculty became more knowledgeable of the application of the program to teaching and learning.

Attempts to restructure public high schools by establishing separate school-within-a-school (SWS) models have not endured beyond 3 to 5 years. This qualitative case study examined a SWS that has thrived for more than 12 years. The study investigated how teachers at the school explained the success of the SWS, their experience of working at the SWS, and their resilience in addressing the challenges that led to the lack of success of other SWS schools. The theories and models of educational change developed by Fullan, Hargreaves, and Giles and Hord provided a conceptual framework for the study. Data were collected through open-ended questions in individual interviews with 8 teacher participants who each had more than 5 years of experience at the SWS. According to study results, teachers experienced the challenges that led to the closing of other SWS high schools. However, at the inception of the SWS, the leadership established a commitment to the vision of the SWS, a tradition of collaboration among the SWS teachers, and a positive reputation among parents and alumni. The faculty of the SWS maintained its commitment through multiple leadership changes, changes in school/district policies, challenges to the vision, and changes to SWS teachers' workloads and classroom assignments. Sustaining educational change depends on the strength of implementation of the change: strong leadership, stakeholder commitment to the vision, and establishment of a collaborative professional community of teachers. These results provide guidance for educational leaders attempting to implement and sustain educational change, such as the implementation of a SWS.

Thesis (PhD. (Education)) --University of Limpopo, 2010 / This thesis is a study on the effect of resistance to change on quality education in Limpopo Province. The study investigated basic challenges in the change process at schools. The empirical research was done by using semi-standardized interviews where predetermined questions were posed to each participant in a systematic and consistent manner but allowed the participants to go on discussing issues on the effect of resistance to change on quality education beyond the questions confines. (cf. Struwig & Stead, 2001:98). Observations and perusal of documents complemented the interviews to gather information. Data was analyzed through tables. The study has revealed the reasons why do people (educators) resist change, pin-pointing the source of the resistance which makes it possible to see what needs to be done to avoid resistance or convert it into commitment to change. The literature review has brought to the light that change is not only needed because of what has happened in South Africa in the past, but made it very clear that education is changing everywhere in the world. South Africa has not only an opportunity to heal the crippled system of education but to simultaneously catch up with the world. The relevance of theory to the effect of resistance to change on quality education has been highlighted. The study is based on the ambiguity theories which stress uncertainty and complexity in schools and other organizations characterized by problematic goals, unclear technology and fluid participation in decision making with reference to the new approaches of facilitation and learning The study also attempted to look at policy initiatives with reference to uniform systems for schools and governance to promote quality education. Also, an attempt was made to integrate educational laws, policies and regulations with regard to the provision of quality education. Finally, recommendations to deal with resistance to change were high-lighted. In education, the megatrends are already making themselves felt for those who attempt to resist the change, the future holds frustration, unhappiness and ultimately defeat. For those interested in the improvement of quality education and for those who are willing to recognize the changes coming, there will be opportunities, challenges and the thrill of having participated in one of the most existing periods in history. It is the researchers wish that each South African hope to be equal to the task, for failure will have disastrous consequences not only for our learners, but ultimately for the System of Education and the entire Society.

Thesis (MPA.) --University of Limpopo, 2011 / The advent of democratic governance in South Africa necessitated changes in all sectors of the country; the education sector also required urgent reform. The policy framework for education reform was passed nationally and implementation strategies were cascaded to provinces and districts nation-wide. The outcome of national policies manifests itself at district levels where implementation takes place in schools. This study assesses the manner in which public high schools in Ekurhuleni South District of the Gauteng Department of Education, implement educational reforms. The research was conducted as a qualitative study to determine the role and experiences of key stakeholders in the implementation of educational reform in the district. The investigation focused on what I termed the „basic drivers of reform‟ in education, namely: school governance (SGBs); performance management (IQMS); Outcomes Based Education (OBE); and redeployment of teachers. Other aspects that influence change in education were not excluded from the discussions, but were treated as complements of these basic drivers. An in-depth literature review was conducted to assess the views of other researchers on the topic. The study found that there has been lot improvement in the education system, especially in public high schools, since 1994. However, there are serious challenges related to policy directives and implementation strategies, which need to be addressed in order to reap the full benefits of a reformed education system. Some of these challenges are the results of policies formulated out of excitement for the newly created democratic order after 1994 while others are associated with shortage of skills and resources. Underestimation and exaggeration of education-related challenges also seem to prevail in public discourse, hence the reality is sometimes distorted. The results of the fieldwork and literature review were used to formulate recommendations to improve implementation of the reform process. Building the confidence of teachers in the education system by involving them in all reform initiatives seems to be a realistic solution.

Thesis advisor: Lauri Johnson / While the academic and social success of two-way immersion programs in the public school sector is widely documented, little research has been conducted on how US Catholic school leaders have managed this whole school reform. Through an exploratory case study, the motivations and perceptions of 28 Catholic school administrators and change agents/key informants (including teachers, assistant/vice principals, board members, and consultants) from ten Catholic elementary schools were interviewed regarding the conversion to a dual language immersion model. Findings considered how Hargreaves and Fullan’s (2012) concept of professional capital and Grace’s (2002; 2010) notion of spiritual capital contributed to the leaders’ capacity to meet the school’s change needs. Most schools began with limited resources and knowledge about the technical aspects of dual language immersion, but made use of key local and national social networks as well as drew upon their own biographies and Catholic vision to increase enrollment and engender professional learning among faculty. Implications for future research and practice include attention to the nuances of academic excellence and the complex language history of Catholic schools. The study concludes with recommendations for Catholic school principals. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2018. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum and Instruction.

This interpretive study investigated South Australian participants' perceptions of their experiences of professional development and partnership through the Innovative Links Between Universities and Schools for Teacher Professional Development Project (Innovative Links Project). The researcher was one of the academic participants. Data were collected in the final eighteen months of the project using participant observation, the researcher's journal, interviews, document review and a written questionnaire. The data analysis revealed findings about three phases of the project: the initiation phase; the implementation phase; and the reviewing outcomes phase. The findings for the initiation phase were: 1. Many teachers in the selected schools, and teacher educators at the university, did not have the opportunity to participate in the project. 2. Most participants were motivated by personal reasons and a commitment to organisational and/or partnership goals. 3. Participants varied in the extent to which they knew about and had the opportunity to interpret project expectations at the local level. The findings for the implementation phase were: 1. There was wide variation in the extent to which participants valued professional discourse, critical reflection, action research and professional reading and writing as processes for school reform. 2. Some participants found it difficult to learn project processes quickly. 3. Most participants were not able to manage the demands of the project without extending their hours of work and workloads. 4. Some relationships developed within the project were undemocratic and inequitable in some respects. 5. Only some aspects of the contexts in which participants worked supported achievement of the project expectations, while others proved to be a hindrance. The findings about the reviewing outcomes phase were: 1. Participants learnt about improved teaching, learning and educational reform from working together, but some opportunities for reciprocal learning were missed. 2. Participants' ability to translate learning into educational improvement was impeded by contextual constraints. 3. Many participants found it difficult to determine whether improvement had occurred. 4. Most participants found that working in the partnerships enhanced their relationships and professional standing with other participants, but not with non participants. The findings illuminated four areas of complexity in the research and development partnerships that were studied. Firstly, the extent to which the implicit assumptions underpinning project expectations were congruent with the reality of the conditions impacting on participants influenced their achievement of the expectations. Secondly, the interaction of a complex array of personal, structural and cultural conditions supported or hindered participants' ability to achieve the project expectations. Thirdly, participants' experiences, and the conditions that influenced them, changed as they moved through the different phases of initiation, implementation and reviewing outcomes. Finally, the key challenges that were evident in the research and development partnerships were: developing equitable ownership within each organisation and the partnerships; managing the affective dimensions of research, development and partnership; reconceptualising and restructuring educators' work; reconciling disparate constructions of learning, teaching, research and reform; and facilitating reciprocal learning for teachers and academics. The areas of complexity illuminated by the study suggested a series of recommendations for ways that future school/university research and development partnerships might be improved. / thesis (PhD)--University of South Australia, 2002.

This study explored change in six Victorian secondary colleges some four years into the major school-system change program known as ?????Schools of the Future?????. The purpose of the study was to identify successful models and practices for positive school change by exploring school change from the school level perspective. A focus of the investigation was an organizational development program designed by a North American professor of organization and management in which Victorian school principals were trained as their schools entered the ?????Schools of the Future????? program. The project was guided initially by four major research questions to which six additional research questions were added as the research progressed. The research methodology was qualitative. The data for this investigation were collected in 1997. The main means of gathering them was the in-depth interview of the principals of the six schools in the study and of the four members of staff they nominated as knowledgeable about their school?????s change processes. A follow-up questionnaire to the interview, a telephone questionnaire that asked principals for background information about their schools, and a study of school documents were also sources of data. The analysis and interpretation of the data related to charge in the schools was presented in the forms of six case studies and a multisite study. Eleven variables and eighteen insights identified the aspects associated with successful change across the sites. The study?????s three major findings identified the critical importance in the success of change of the school?????s organizational culture and individual participants in change processes, its relationship to elements in its external environment and the nature of its planning for change. A theoretical framework for positive school change environments was developed. It combined the elements associated with successful change in the study. This framework may prove useful as a basis for further research on systemic change in schools and as a point of reference for those actually engaged in leading the change process in schools and school systems.

This thesis examines the rise of modern Chinese libraries between the1840s and the 1930s in the context of educational reform, intellectual development, national regeneration and state building. It focuses on how educational reform and other factors influenced the way in which modern libraries came into being in China. It argues that the establishment of modern libraries in China was a complicated and long process, as China followed neither the “industrialisation and democracy” model of the United States nor the “modernisation” model of Meiji Japan. Modern libraries were introduced into China in the closing years of the Qing Dynasty (1644–1911) to facilitate educational reform and national regeneration. The Nationalist government, established in 1928, further stimulated the expansion of Chinese libraries as part of the government’s state building efforts. This thesis examines the Chinese case in the emergence of modern libraries: the case of “underdevelopment” with distinctive Chinese characteristics. To explore the factors that contributed to the underdevelopment of modern Chinese libraries as they emerged, this thesis employs a case study of the Metropolitan Library of Beijing—the predecessor of the National Library of China—between 1909 and 1937 in terms of its formation, early development, and problems. This analysis reveals that both the macro and micro factors conducive to library development were not present in China before the 1920s. Even when the conditions improved during the 1920s and the 1930s, especially during the Nanjing Decade, the development of modern Chinese libraries was far from satisfactory for various reasons, with low library consciousness being an important one. The Conclusion of this thesis outlines the continuing impediment of low library consciousness in China today. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This thesis explores the phenomenon of academics’ resistance to materialism in Australian universities. In common with many other public sector employees, academics have experienced significant changes in the management of their institutions over recent years. Many of these changes are associated with increasing ‘managerialism’ – the application of methods and approaches commonly associated with the private sector, to public sector organizations. While previous studies indicate that academics are broadly opposed to such changes, little Australian research has considered how they might be resisting managerialism, in their daily working lives. The study found that academics were resisting managerial practices in a variety of ways. These included public acts of protest, refusal and more ‘everyday’ forms of resistance, such as avoidance and strategic compliance. This resistance was underpinned by shared understandings, values and norms embedded within traditional academic culture, and reflected academics’ negative assessments of the consequences of managerial practices within their institutions. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)