Equal opportunity offices have been described as agencies of organisational change, and the term ‘cultural change’ has been used to describe aspects of equal opportunity work.Universities are sites of organisational cultures where equal opportunity officers have worked in Australia for the past decade. In this time there have been significant changes to higher education, in terms of the size of the university sector in Australia, and also in terms of funding, governance and management. These changes in universities provided the context for questions about the roles of equal opportunity officers in universities, and how they may have changed. This research investigated the practice of equal opportunity officers in universities by using a grounded theory approach to generate understandings about how this group of university staff may have impacted on university cultures. The study develops links between theories of culture and organisational change that was situated in the practices of equal opportunity officers.The research identified a central conceptual category that was described as ‘picking the pitch’, as the main theme in the work of equal opportunity officers in identifying issues and gaining support for a cultural change agenda. All of the preliminary themes that were identified, and the interactions, the observations and the analysis of culture were prerequisites for ‘picking the pitch’.The thesis uses the research for further reflection and integration of the goals of equal opportunity, and the means that were available to equal opportunity officers to achieve these goals. The interactions of power and influence, and some of the limitations on equal opportunity officers are discussed.In the thesis the usefulness of the concept of culture to equal opportunity officers is examined, along with the underpinning theories about the mind of humanity that contributed to their approach to their task.Finally, the thesis discusses the impact of the research for equal opportunity officers, and for the universities in which they worked.

Equal opportunity offices have been described as agencies of organisational change, and the term ‘cultural change’ has been used to describe aspects of equal opportunity work.Universities are sites of organisational cultures where equal opportunity officers have worked in Australia for the past decade. In this time there have been significant changes to higher education, in terms of the size of the university sector in Australia, and also in terms of funding, governance and management. These changes in universities provided the context for questions about the roles of equal opportunity officers in universities, and how they may have changed. This research investigated the practice of equal opportunity officers in universities by using a grounded theory approach to generate understandings about how this group of university staff may have impacted on university cultures. The study develops links between theories of culture and organisational change that was situated in the practices of equal opportunity officers.The research identified a central conceptual category that was described as ‘picking the pitch’, as the main theme in the work of equal opportunity officers in identifying issues and gaining support for a cultural change agenda. All of the preliminary themes that were identified, and the interactions, the observations and the analysis of culture were prerequisites for ‘picking the pitch’.The thesis uses the research for further reflection and integration of the goals of equal opportunity, and the means that were available to equal opportunity officers to achieve these goals. The interactions of power and influence, and some of the limitations on equal opportunity officers are discussed.In the thesis the usefulness of the concept of culture to equal opportunity officers is examined, along with the underpinning theories about the mind of humanity that contributed to their approach to their task.Finally, the thesis discusses the impact of the research for equal opportunity officers, and for the universities in which they worked.

Equal opportunity offices have been described as agencies of organisational change, and the term ‘cultural change’ has been used to describe aspects of equal opportunity work.Universities are sites of organisational cultures where equal opportunity officers have worked in Australia for the past decade. In this time there have been significant changes to higher education, in terms of the size of the university sector in Australia, and also in terms of funding, governance and management. These changes in universities provided the context for questions about the roles of equal opportunity officers in universities, and how they may have changed. This research investigated the practice of equal opportunity officers in universities by using a grounded theory approach to generate understandings about how this group of university staff may have impacted on university cultures. The study develops links between theories of culture and organisational change that was situated in the practices of equal opportunity officers.The research identified a central conceptual category that was described as ‘picking the pitch’, as the main theme in the work of equal opportunity officers in identifying issues and gaining support for a cultural change agenda. All of the preliminary themes that were identified, and the interactions, the observations and the analysis of culture were prerequisites for ‘picking the pitch’.The thesis uses the research for further reflection and integration of the goals of equal opportunity, and the means that were available to equal opportunity officers to achieve these goals. The interactions of power and influence, and some of the limitations on equal opportunity officers are discussed.In the thesis the usefulness of the concept of culture to equal opportunity officers is examined, along with the underpinning theories about the mind of humanity that contributed to their approach to their task.Finally, the thesis discusses the impact of the research for equal opportunity officers, and for the universities in which they worked.

Thesis advisor: Hans de Wit / The current displacement crisis in the German context has focused scholarly attention on refugee student access to higher education. However, much less research has attended to supports at higher education institutions (HEIs) for enrolled migrant and refugee students. In fact, education research in the German setting rarely focuses on students from any migrant background, though these students comprise between 20-25% of all German tertiary enrollment. This study uses Constructivist Grounded Theory (Charmaz, 2014) and a postcolonial lens to analyze “equal opportunity” plans and programs at 32 German HEIs across all 16 federal states. Data sources include the “equal opportunity plan” unique to each HEI (Gleichstellungsplan) and interviews with “equal opportunity office” (Gleichstellungsbüro) faculty and staff. Key findings include a bureaucratization and numerification of diversity in the German case, as well as an almost exclusive focus on diversity as gender. This dissertation offers a potentially transferable theoretical model, which may be relevant in national settings with increasingly diverse student populations, histories of colonial possession or fantasy, or primarily public higher education systems (Bhabha, 1994; El-Tayeb, 2016; Kilomba, 2008; Said, 1979). / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2020. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

Hugh Lafollette’s theoretical justification of parental licensing hinges upon consideration of the harms associated with raising children. If we understand Lafollette’s stance as one in which the moral status of children is equal to that of other human beings, we must consider what such a commitment might require of social institutions such as the family. Unlike other licensing programs, I argue that Lafollette’s parental licensing program serves as a tool by which fair equality of opportunity can be acquired for those living within a given society. I attempt to demonstrate how the normative views as to the sovereignty of parents serve to discount the moral status of children, thus limiting the protections offered against child maltreatment. I will show how Lafollette’s theoretical justifications align with concerns addressed in John Stuart Mill’s harm principle and Rawlsian views as to the importance of access to fair equality of opportunity.

The present study explored the relationship between God schema and work place perceptions, specifically perceptions of equal opportunity (EO) climate and indicators of organizational effectiveness (OE). The first aim of this research was to investigate the impact of God schema (i.e., God schema patterns) on EO climate (i.e., collective EO climate patterns). The second aim of this research was to explore the impact of God schema, race, gender, and EO climate on indicators of organizational effectiveness, such as job satisfaction, organizational commitment, perceived work-group cohesion, and perceived work-group effectiveness. The final aim of this study was to examine the impact of group heterogeneity in terms of God schema, race, and gender, on group perceptual agreement. Data was collected and analyzed from 1,622 United States Navy personnel who completed the DEOMI Equal Opportunity Climate Survey (DEOCS) and attached God schema research module. Using a pattern approach (i.e., cluster analysis and configural frequency analysis), the results provided clear support for a relationship between God schema and perceptions of EO climate and OE. The findings suggested the influence of God schema was expressed differently depending on an individual's race/gender identity. Lastly, the results provided support for the predictive power of God schema (i.e., God schema heterogeneity within a unit) on unit-level agreement. Taken as a whole, these findings highlighted a dynamic relationship between God schema and perceptions of EO climate and related indicators of OE. The research findings affirmed individuals’ conceptions of God are powerful cognitive schema. In addition, the research findings illustrated individuals’ conceptions of God and variations among these conceptions are measurable, and can be investigated in an objective and scientific manner. Above all, the findings supported a meaningful relationship between God schema and work-place perceptions. / Ph. D.

Thesis (LLM. (Labour Law)) -- University of Limpopo, 2012 / The purpose of the study is to address the effects of employment discrimination in the workplace focussing on designated groups, by comparing South Africa and Canada. Canada is one of the few countries that have addressed the employment barriers of target groups with one encompassing piece of legislation. In this study reference was made at the constitutional provisions towards unfair discrimination, labour law materials, employment and statutory provision so that the future researcher could see where employment discrimination in South African and Canada originate and what is the position. In order to address employment discrimination in the workplace case laws, courts judgments and other jurisprudence were used. The scope focused in this study is broad as a researcher did not look at other forms of employment discrimination. Employment discrimination in South Africa and Canada exists, this implies that the employment discrimination between two countries could be comparable. Policies and practices in order to identify employment barriers facing the disadvantaged groups were discussed. Therefore critical look focused on the employment systems, policies and practices at workplaces and also identify employment barriers facing designated groups in relation to recruitment, job classification, remuneration, employment benefits, conditions of services and promotion. South Africa and Canada emanated from a historical background of inequalities. Such inequalities lead to discrimination. South Africa and Canada’s discrimination affected blacks, Aboriginal people, women and people with disabilities. The grounds of discrimination were discussed in full for both countries.

Thesis (LLM. (Labour Law)) -- University of Limpopo, 2013 / Like other forms of prohibited discriminations, discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation has become an area of concern in the workplace. The law prohibits discrimination in whatever form and declares it unlawful to discriminate people on the basis of sexual orientation. In this work, South African anti- discrimination provisions on the basis of sexual orientation will be emphasized, whereas foreign countries will only be referred to for the sake of comparative analysis. Discrimination of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual and homosexual people (LGBTH) in the workplace is manifested by harassment and constructive dismissal through homophobia. Homophobia is a psychological concept which refers to the hatred of people after declaring their gay, lesbian or homosexual identities. This study reveals homophobic practices towards homosexuals as if they are not beneficiaries of contemporary democratic laws and dividends of democracy enshrined in Chapter 2 of the RSA Constitution of 1996 and Chapter 2 of the Employment Equity Act (EEA) 55 of 1998. To this, the research revealed an interesting corroboration in section 9(4) of the RSA Constitution of 1996, and section 6(1) of the EEA 55 of 1998, which provide that no person may unfairly discriminate another on the grounds of sexual orientation. The study has also revealed that among others, employment rights of people in South Africa and in foreign countries are being violated on the basis of sexual orientation. In most case laws, people who disclosed to their employers, that their gender identities are different to what was expected as straight genders and those who informed their employers about their intentions to undergo sex change surgeries are being hired and fired. The study also proved a point that when it comes to sexual orientation exclusion and discrimination, the same vulnerable groups of gays and lesbians are as well caught up in practices of sodomy and sexual harassments. Therefore, the remedies suggested by this research will also apply to everyone including gays and lesbians. To avoid controversy and issues, statutes and decided court cases have been stated as they are, in chapter 4 of this research, for the sake of comparative analysis in order to unravel the existing state of affairs through approaches from different jurisdictions.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the experiences of academic women in order to gain an in depth understanding of factors that encourage and discourage their career advancement. A qualitative design and a Feminist standpoint framework guided the study. 11 faculty members from different faculties were interviewed in this study: eight female academics and three male academics from three Swedish universities: Linköping, Örebro and Stockholm. The study looked at the factors that encourage women academics career advancement such as: personal, family and academic factors. While, factors that discourage their career advancement have been also discussed and such factors are: the lack of support, network and mentorship; the reconciliation of the private life and the professional life; the lack of time: excess academic and administrative workloads. The results of this study also revealed that the lack of academic support, mentorship and the combination of family and work duties appeared to be the greatest barriers for the career advancement of the female academics. study concludes that despite the Swedish government countless series of measures and reforms to improve gender equality and equal opportunity in higher education, the number of female academics in the top ranking especially professorship is still very low and the career progression is also slow compared to their male counterpart.

Les programmes de français du secondaire, qui invitent à pratiquer la lecture de l’image en lien avec la lecture analytique du texte littéraire, nous semblent reposer sur le double présupposé, que nous interrogeons, de l’identité des deux exercices et de l’immédiateté d’une pédagogie de détour. Nous empruntons à la sociologie de l’éducation (registres de l’apprentissage, malentendus sociocognitifs), à la didactique (articulation compréhension/interprétation, sujet-lecteur, conscience disciplinaire), et à l’histoire de l’art (sémiologie, iconographie). Nous nous appuyons sur une enquête réalisée auprès d’une centaine d’enseignants, sur un corpus de 350 commentaires rédigés par des élèves de troisième et de seconde, et sur des entretiens post-passation.Les enseignants attendent des élèves qu’ils conçoivent une interprétation polysémique, appuyée sur une analyse fine de l’œuvre, notamment formelle, et sur des savoirs culturels diversifiés ; ils constatent une facilitation par la peinture, que notre analyse des productions des élèves confirme : si les exigences culturelles posent davantage de difficultés, les opérations cognitives y sont mieux réussies, l’engagement subjectif et la conception de l’objet plus compatibles avec les normes lettrées. Cet écart en faveur de la peinture se creuse dans les collèges défavorisés. Nous expliquons ces différences par les spécificités sémiologiques des deux arts mais aussi par des malentendus sociocognitifs, plus profonds sur la littérature. De sorte que la possibilité d’un retour, au profit de la littérature, des apprentissages réalisés lors du détour par la peinture, est selon nous conditionnée à un cadrage spécifique. / French secondary school curricula, which encourage linking “image reading” with analytical reading of literary texts, seem to be based on two main presuppositions. This paper questions the identity of the two exercises and the relevance of a pedagogical detour teaching strategy. The thesis borrows concepts from the sociology of education (learning registers and socio-cognitive misunderstandings), didactics (links between understanding and interpretation, subject-reader and subject perception) as well as the history of art (semiotics and iconography). This paper is based on a corpus of 350 comments written by pupils aged 14 to 16 and retrospective interviews gathered from a study of 100 teachers,.Teachers expected pupils to create a polysemic interpretation based on diverse cultural knowledge and a close, formal analysis of the work in question. Teachers noted that the use of paintings helped this process, something which was also confirmed by our analysis of the work of pupils. This suggests that, whilst the cultural requirements of painting analysis are more complex, the cognitive processes and subjective engagement of students were better when using this technique and their understanding was more appropriate according to literary norms. This preference for paintings over text was accentuated in disadvantaged schools. This paper explains these differences through the semiological specificities of the two art forms but also through socio-cognitive misunderstandings, more present in literature analysis. This paper concludes that the study of literature in conjunction with the study of painting is part of a specific, pedagogical detour framework.