In this research, I endeavoured to ascertain how the literacy levels of parents relate to parental involvement in the education of their children in Libode district in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. The methodology was qualitative and it included focus group and individual interviews. Specifically, there were four focus groups where each comprised of four parents. A total of thirteen individual interviews were conducted with eight learners and four Heads of Departments (HoD). The results indicated that the literacy level of parents can have a negative or positive impact in their children’s education. Recommendations were made and directions were given regarding the implementation of the programmes that would improve parents’ literacy and result in effective parental involvement, ensuring an improved learner performance. According literature, parental participation plays a role in the performance of children at school. Research shows that effective parental involvement programmes use personal contact, cultural sensitivity, accommodation and communication to reach parents and learners. The study revealed that parents with a higher level of literacy tend to participate in the school activities and support their children more than those parents with a low literacy level. The programmes that were put in place by the schools and other stakeholders improved the literacy levels of most parents that took part and enabled them to assist their children with homework. Parents’ level of literacy, according to the study,has an impact in the manner in which they get involved in their children’s education. Parents with low literacy levels seem to be willing to be involved in the education of their children but find it very difficult to do so. Parents with low literacy levels find it difficult to assist their children at home as they rely on siblings and neighbours for assistance. According to the study, parents only visit the school when they are invited. However, parents and schools seem to have a good relationship showing positive attitude towards their children’s education.Parents of low literacy levels attach a value to the education of their children even though they cannot assist them with homework. Recommendations were made and guidelines were given regarding the implementation of programmes that would improve the literacy in parents and result in effective parental involvement. Effective parental involvement would ensure an improved learner performance. Volunteer teachers should be used to assist schools in helping parents improve their literacy levels. Reluctant parents should be identified and provided with guidance and direction as to how they can be involved to assist their children. Teachers, through the schools, must make special efforts to keep regular contact with parents. Schools should be familiar with the learners’ backgrounds in order to respond effectively to any particular needs in assisting the learners and parents where necessary. Working parents should be accommodated in the school by holding school meetings during the weekends so that they can be in a better position to attend these meetings. Schools should ensure the maximization of parents’ participation in school activities. / Educational Leadership and Management / M. Ed. (Education Management)

This study sought to answer if the Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY) program had a positive academic impact on Hispanic English language learners (ELL). HIPPY is a free, 2-year, home-based early intervention program for 4-and 5-year-old children. The program is intended to provide educational enrichment to at-risk children from poor and immigrant families, increase school readiness, and foster parent involvement in their children's education. A quasi-experimental design and quantitative measures were used to measure the academic success of Hispanic ELL students in reading, mathematics, and language arts. The sample included an experimental group and a purposeful control group. Hispanic students who attended an early childhood school as 4 year olds and participated in the HIPPY 4 and 5 programs were compared to Hispanic students who attended an early childhood school as 4 year olds and did not participate in HIPPY. Results from the Texas-mandated criterion referenced Texas Assessment Knowledge and Skills (TAKS™) Test and the TerraNova® and TerraNova SUPERA® norm referenced tests were used in this study. Results from the TAKS Reading and TAKS Mathematics Grade 3 and the TerraNova reading, language, mathematics, and total composite scores were analyzed using a one-way analysis of variance. The treatment group and control group results from both assessments were measured and compared. A statistically significant difference was found in 5 out of the 6 null hypotheses tested. The treatment group statistically significantly outperformed the control group in the TAKS Reading and the TerraNova and TerraNova SUPERA reading, language, mathematics, and total composite assessments. This study substantiates that the HIPPY program works and can have a positive impact on a child's school readiness. Additionally, a significant range of sustainability was also established since the results were measured from assessments administered in the third grade and 5 years after the treatment group began participating in the HIPPY program.

Thesis subject: The Role of Family Carers in the Nursing Home for Persons with Cognitive Impairment. The theme of this thesis is the role of the family carers in the nursing home for persons with cognitive impairment. This topic is very actual due to the aging of society and to the increasing of life expectancy. A proportion of the old people in society increases but in the same time there is a decreasing number of people who could take care of them at home (due to negative population balance, disintegration of traditional family, economic situation and high requirements of the care etc.). Many seniors who are depending on the help of the others (such as people with dementia) spend their old age in institutional care. The qualitative research in this thesis shows that families continue in caregiving even after the admission of their relatives to a nursing home. The aim of this research was to describe the involvement of families in the institutional care and to identify factors that influence this phenomenon. Research was conducted in one nursing home for persons with cognitive impairment. Semistructured interviews were conducted with a sample of informants consisting of five professional nurses and four family carers. The analysis of data was carried out using the grounded theory. Research...

Cette thèse, en portant une attention particulière sur les entreprises familiales turques et par l'utilisation d'une approche fondée sur la théorie de l'agence, a pour objectif de mettre en lumière les implications du capital familial sur la performance, la distribution de dividendes et les avoirs étrangers. Elle étudie premièrement en s'appuyant sur une méta-analyse, la relation entre l'impact net du capital familial sur la performance de l'entreprise et l'effet de modérateurs sur cette relation. Ensuite, elle examine si, en Turquie, le capital familial comble ou profite des lacunes institutionnelles et étudie comment les entreprises familiales diminuent les préoccupations relatives à l'expropriation des actionnaires minoritaires. Enfin, elle explore comment dans le cas turc, les investisseurs étrangers perçoivent le capital familial et les pratiques de gouvernance appliquées par les entreprises familiales pour éliminer les préoccupations de ces investisseurs concernant l'expropriation de leurs droits. Les principaux résultats de cette thèse démontrent que l'impact du capital familial sur la performance des entreprises est positif mais faible. Le niveau de développement des institutions formelles du pays dans lequel les entreprises familiales opèrent, modère la relation entre le capital familial et la performance des entreprises. En Turquie, un niveau modéré de détention du capital par la famille est bénéfique car la performance comptable atteint un pic à ce niveau de détention et les investisseurs valorisent un tel niveau de détention du capital par la famille. En outre, lorsque les familles détiennent un niveau substantiel de droits de vote et participent activement au management de l'entreprise, le versement de dividendes se réduit et la gouvernance familiale profite des lacunes institutionnelles pour exproprier les autres actionnaires de leurs droits. Enfin, en Turquie, le recours effectif par les entreprises familiales à des pratiques de gouvernance diminue les inquiétudes des investisseurs étrangers concernant l'opportunisme de la famille. / Using insights mainly from agency theory, this dissertation intends to shed light on performance, dividend payout and foreign holdings' implications of family involvement in firm with an emphasis on Turkish family firms. The dissertation first investigates the net effect of family involvement on firm performance and the effect of moderators on that relationship by conducting a meta-analysis. It then shifts the focus on Turkey to examine whether family governance fills or abuses institutional gaps and look into how family firms alleviate concerns of expropriation of minority shareholders. Finally, it investigates how foreign investors perceive family involvement in firm and firm-level governance practices of family firms to mitigate investors' expropriation concerns in Turkey. The main findings of this dissertation show that the impact of family participation on firm performance is positive but modest. The development level of formal institutions in countries in which family firms operate moderates the relationship between family involvement and firm performance. In Turkey, moderate levels of family involvement in ownership are beneficial since accounting profitability reaches a peak at these levels and foreign investors value these levels of family participation in firm. On the other hand, when families have substantial voting rights and actively participate in management, dividend payouts reduce and family governance abuses institutional voids by expropriating other shareholders. Additionally, the effective use of firm-level governance practices by family firms mitigates foreign investors' concerns about family opportunism in Turkey.

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Le aziende a controllo familiare sono considerate in molti Paesi la struttura proprietaria dominante, e la ricerca accademica si è progressivamente concentrata negli ultimi decenni sugli aspetti peculiari che differenziano le aziende familiari dalle altre strutture proprietarie. Nonostante questa convergenza, molti studi hanno sviluppato teorie contrastanti, in modo particolare sulla capacità delle aziende familiari di generare performance finanziarie superiori. Di converso, pochi studi hanno concentrato l’attenzione sulle scelte strategiche che posso spiegare il (maggiore o minore) differenziale di performance delle aziende familiari. Partendo dall’assunto che punti di forza e di debolezza possano coesistere nelle aziende familiari, identificare se siano gli uni o gli altri a prevalere è una sfida complessa se non si prendono in considerazione le scelte strategiche effettuate dalle aziende familiari. Partendo da questo gap nella letteratura, il presente lavoro cerca di misurare l’impatto che la proprietà familiare può avere sulle performance aziendali concentrandosi su tre aspetti principali della strategia d’impresa: il livello di conformità strategico alla media di settore (mediante la creazione di un indice che approssima le principali determinanti della business strategy), l’avvio di un processo di internazionalizzazione attraverso investimenti diretti esteri (IDE), e le implicazioni delle strategie di acquisizione. / The family business is widely considered the dominant property structure around the world and the research on this field has increased rapidly in the last decades to understand whether and in which aspects family firms differ from other organizations. Despite this convergence, the actual body of research on family firms is populated by conflicting theories and findings, especially on the relationship with financial performance. On the other hand, few studies focus their attention on which strategic choices may explain the financial differences between family firms and non-family peers. Starting from this research gap, we think that both positive and negative aspects may coexist in family firms, and it would be difficult to identify which predominate without considering how family principals frame strategic decisions. In our thesis, we try to disentangle the effect of family ownership on firm performance focusing on three main aspects of firm strategy: the level of strategic conformity through the creation of a composite index (in which we incorporated six items that can be considered as key determinants of the business strategy), the departure of the internationalization process through foreign direct investments (FDI), and the implications of acquisition strategies.