Revideret Ph.D. afhandling, King's College London, 1999. / bibliographical references and indexes.

Connecting with Courage (CWC) is a three-day Outward Bound self-discovery programme, designed by women for women. It was developed to bring feminist theory to bear on outdoor and experiential education (OEE). The re-thinking of OEE research from a feminist standpoint is less than two decades old. It began by challenging previous assumptions about participants in OEE as male and set out to explore women's different experiences and needs in OEE programmes. However while this new literature criticised the standard OEE literature for universalising male participants' experiences, it tended to provide a universalist and essentialist view of women's experiences and needs in OEE. More recently, this latter tendency has been criticised by a small number of writers within the women-and-OEE literature. This study examines women's experiences during and after four of Outward Bound's CWC courses in light of some branches of contemporary feminist theory. The study employs qualitative methodology placing the researcher at CWC as both a participant and observer, and carrying out individual open-ended, semi-structured, in-depth, ethnographic interviews with 21 women. The study explores the limitations of the standard OEE framework and the women-and-OEE literature. Its central contribution is to show how women's experiences at CWC and their subsequent understanding of these experiences can be interpreted differently depending on the theoretical framework used. The study highlights the potential of contemporary feminist theory in four respects. First it illustrates the value of re-thinking the universalist concept of woman by exploring how sexual identity, as one example of social difference, is relevant to experience. Second the study validates Carol Gilligan's notion of the self as relational while examining contemporary feminist theorisations of the self. Thus, third, it also demonstrates how far more nuanced and rich insights can be derived by employing a postmodern-inspired f

Hon., Trinity College Dublin, 1973 The problem addressed in the study is the low status afforded women’s knowledge in public institutions. Specifically, the purpose was to investigate the form and substance of knowledge acquired through motherhood, and mothers’ experiences of the reception of the knowledge in schools. The political aim was to promote mothers’ knowledge as deserving authoritative status. Post-modern feminist theory framed theses regarding a tension involving two areas of mothers’ knowledge -- named “authoritative knowledge” and “maternal knowledge” -- and informed the reflexive methodology employed. Participants were sixteen women teachers who were or had been mothers of schoolchildren. Each mother/teacher participated in two one and a half hour audiotaped interviews. Following the interviews, eleven of the mother/teachers met for audiotaped group discussions. The data indicated that mother/teachers take to schools a wealth of maternal knowledge acquired through both childraising and living a mother’s life. Participants claimed the knowledge is valuable to their work as teachers. They reported difficulty, however, with respect to both reception and proclamation of the knowledge in school decision-making forums. They attributed the difficulty to various causes. Participants’ talk contained key words such as “instinct” which can be diversely conceived and expressed. That the words may be readily interpreted in ways harmful to promotion of maternal knowledge was noted by the researcher through critical reflection upon her own thinking. The words, the multiplicity of concepts associated with them, and the importance of recognizing this impediment to promoting maternal knowledge, became the topic for group discussion. The findings imply that maternal knowledge could enhance the critical capabilities of frameworks which guide decision-making in educational administration; that maternal knowledge should be explained and promoted during administrator and teacher professional development; and that the notion of the tension within mother/teachers’ knowledge could be usefully applied in several areas of education research. A mismatch was revealed between many participants’ career standings and their experiences and knowledge of value to schools. This implies that when thinking about employment equity for school personnel we need to recognize that being equally qualified may not necessarily mean possessing the same qualifications.

The overall purpose of this study was to explore the effectiveness of a feminist methodology in examining the inter-organizational relationships (IORs) of a partnership for girls' education in Uganda. An in-depth case study was carried out on the Alliance for Community Action on Female Education - Uganda chapter (the Alliance). The Alliance was a multi-sector partnership between international donors, the Ministry of Education and Sports (MOES), and Ugandan non-governmental (NGOs) and community based organizations (CBOs). / Using a feminist approach to spatial mapping, interviews, focus groups and collaborative research activities, the study explored the 'lived' inter-organizational experiences of the Ugandan women and men involved in the Alliance partnership. This choice in methodology responds to the belief that there is limited attention placed on how inter-organizational relationships are examined through the lens of gender, and that there is a need to challenge the male-dominated policy discourse and literature around international cooperation and development. The findings of the study yielded evidence of two main concepts: (1) the Alliance Model---the components that make up the Alliance partnership; and (2) the Alliance Approach---the pedagogies and processes through which the partnership is carried out. These concepts articulate how participants understand the Alliance's IORs from a gender perspective and how these IORs affect gender transformation in education. / The study also discusses the challenges implicit in using feminist methodology to interrogate inter-organizational relationships through the lens of gender. The findings of the study are therefore presented as a 'mapping' of a new language on how we understand and talk about multi-sector partnerships through the lens of gender. / The study has important implications for the way development partnerships in education are designed and managed. It recommends the use of explicit gender analysis and frameworks to ensure that programs and partnerships move beyond simply meeting 'practical' needs for girls and women and focus on creating models and approaches that lead to transformative gender equality results for girls' education.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Toronto, 2006. / Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 44-06, page: 2534. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 124-129).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Melbourne, Dept. of Education Policy and Management, 2006. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (p. 275-303).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1996. / Typescript (Photocopy). eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (p. 341-360).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2008. / Title from title screen (site viewed Feb. 17, 2009). PDF text: vi, 135 p. ; 673 K. UMI publication number: AAT 3320078. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in microfilm and microfiche formats.

This study seeks to identify and examine the challenges that female principals experience. Women are slowly climbing the promotional ladder within education, yet they experience many challenges. The fact that society has the perception that women are mothers and caregivers does not make the advancement of females easy. Although the GETT report (1996) made recommendations to ensure equality in education females are still vastly under-represented in managerial positions in education. The study was conducted from a feminine perspective. It is a qualitative case study and individual interviews, a focus group interview, observation and field notes were used to collect data. A total of three females were included in the study. Participants were purposefully selected. Two of the participants are from disadvantaged schools while the third one is an ex-Model C principal. A consent form was sent to all the participants, covering all ethical issues of voluntary participation, confidentiality and anonymity. The main question was the challenges faced by female managers in education. Having spent time with each of the principals the data in the form of field notes and transcripts were analysed. It was found that the three principals experienced similar challenges. Their responses did not always reflect what the literature said regarding the challenges. All three principals felt that more formal support structures from the DoE is needed. They mentioned that the following could be implemented to ensure that they are more effective and better prepared to face these challenges: Workshops; Mentoring and Networking; Financial Assistance; and, Capacity Building.

Hon., Trinity College Dublin, 1973 The problem addressed in the study is the low status afforded women’s knowledge in public institutions. Specifically, the purpose was to investigate the form and substance of knowledge acquired through motherhood, and mothers’ experiences of the reception of the knowledge in schools. The political aim was to promote mothers’ knowledge as deserving authoritative status. Post-modern feminist theory framed theses regarding a tension involving two areas of mothers’ knowledge -- named “authoritative knowledge” and “maternal knowledge” -- and informed the reflexive methodology employed. Participants were sixteen women teachers who were or had been mothers of schoolchildren. Each mother/teacher participated in two one and a half hour audiotaped interviews. Following the interviews, eleven of the mother/teachers met for audiotaped group discussions. The data indicated that mother/teachers take to schools a wealth of maternal knowledge acquired through both childraising and living a mother’s life. Participants claimed the knowledge is valuable to their work as teachers. They reported difficulty, however, with respect to both reception and proclamation of the knowledge in school decision-making forums. They attributed the difficulty to various causes. Participants’ talk contained key words such as “instinct” which can be diversely conceived and expressed. That the words may be readily interpreted in ways harmful to promotion of maternal knowledge was noted by the researcher through critical reflection upon her own thinking. The words, the multiplicity of concepts associated with them, and the importance of recognizing this impediment to promoting maternal knowledge, became the topic for group discussion. The findings imply that maternal knowledge could enhance the critical capabilities of frameworks which guide decision-making in educational administration; that maternal knowledge should be explained and promoted during administrator and teacher professional development; and that the notion of the tension within mother/teachers’ knowledge could be usefully applied in several areas of education research. A mismatch was revealed between many participants’ career standings and their experiences and knowledge of value to schools. This implies that when thinking about employment equity for school personnel we need to recognize that being equally qualified may not necessarily mean possessing the same qualifications. / Education, Faculty of / Educational Studies (EDST), Department of / Graduate